Interview by Jason Williams
Finnish ‘battle metal’ heroes Turisas put out their self-titled fourth studio album ‘Turisas2013’ last summer via Century Media Records, and are currently co-headlining the 2014 edition of Paganfest America with fellow their Finns in Korpiklaani along with support acts Chthonic, Varg and Winterhymn. Over the 17 years of their existence, Turisas have developed a strong reputation for their live showmanship, and are the kind of band that forms an indelible impression on first-timers. They put on an expectedly stellar show at the House Of Blues Sunset Strip on the Paganfest LA date last Tuesday May 13th, and a few hours before the show, our man Jason Williams sat down with violinist Olli Vänskä for a chat. Read it below.
Olli, how are you doing today?
Doing good! We’re in the House of Blues (Sunset Strip) for the third or fourth time, I think? So it’s good and nice to be back in familiar sights on the Sunset Strip. It’s really nice to be back in the States.
Do you enjoy LA particularly?
Well, this area it’s always the same sights and I usually never get to see things. I think I went to the Walk of Fame once, saw some of that stuff. LA’s great.
So you’re still in the middle of the tour right now. It’s a really unique package. You have bands from Finland and Germany, and Chthonic all the way from Taiwan. How has it been going so far and what do you think of this Paganfest lineup?
Yeah, it’s good. I think it’s our first time with Korpiklaani. The guys have been around forever as well and we are both from Finland, so in that sense, it was funny that our paths haven’t crossed before earlier. I remember our very first US tour back in 2008 with some other Paganfest bands, Ensiferum, Eluveitie, and bands like that. I think this lineup is pretty good. A pretty good package. Everything’s been good. Nice venues, nice audience.
Did Turisas and Korpiklaani have a say in the bands that would be on this tour or was that more of a record label decision? Did you get to choose Varg, Winterhymn and Chthonic?
I think it was the tour organizer, Rock the Nations. They put together the tour. I don’t think we had much say in that. We are with Korpiklaani and are both doing around 75 minutes a night. It’s been pretty nice. They are closing the evenings. It’s a very good slot for us. And definitely a hard spot to follow. I know we can work out the audience pretty well.
Here in America, we don’t get a lot of really good unique tours or festivals like this Paganfest, only a couple of year. While Europe, has every single weekend they have a really amazing festival lineup. What differences have you noticed between the European music scene and coming to America? It’s a lot more difficult to be successful in underground metal in America than it is Europe.
Well, in metal, the type of bands in the metal scene in the States, it’s much more “metalcore”, “deathcore”, whatever, that kind of stuff. I think our type of stuff is certainly exotic for an American audience. I think this scene is much more, kind of, known, well maybe less exotic in Europe. Audience wise, I think we’re doing pretty good, both in Europe and in the US. We did our own headlining tour last year with Firewind and Stolen Babies. And actually, some of the places we’ve done on the Paganfest tour are even smaller than what we did for last year, so I have to say, it was really a nice experience to be able to pull off a tour on your own in this time and age. Both in the states and in Europe, there’s so many tours going on constantly. And there’s no money in the recording business anymore. So everyone’s on tour all the time, so I guess it might have some kind of fatigue effect on the audience even? You have five concerts each night for the week to choose from. The excitement for the live concert might wear off after time.
Last year you released the latest Turisas record, “Turisas2013”. I guess it’s been a, I wouldn’t say critical point in your career, but it can be said that it is a very different album than when you have done before and I’m aware there’s been some good and very different reactions, because people aren’t used to this new kind of style. What have you noticed around playing these new songs when the record was released? And what’s been the main reaction to this different style?
Yeah, certainly different stuff. And in a way, it didn’t surprise me that the fans were kind of varied. But I think live, most of the songs work really well. We’ve done around 5 or 6 songs from the new album and I think they blending in the live setting pretty nicely. Yeah, certainly the angle and the means of doing it was very different. I think many people were expecting super stories about guys with horned helmets and you know, swords. I think it was a bit different than what was expected.
Megadeth, years ago, released “Risk”, and they called it Risk because that’s what it was. It was a Risk, and with this album, is this a direction Turisas want to keep going in or was this a one-time album that you wanted to do this way?
I think production wise, I personally think it was lacking, that organic sound. I think our type of music, it kind of needs the bombastic element in there. So I think in that sense, I kind of understand the audience, and the songs themselves were great stuff. I think the kind of more organic direction there was maybe underwhelming for some. It certainly was a “risk”, and I think you should always be ready to take risks in life and not just play it safe and make it like a fucking morning post delivered on your door every morning. I mean, there used to be a time where bands were actually not afraid of surprising the audience but most of them have become this ‘commodity’ lately. Or along the years and decades. I guess some fans expect the albums to be exactly how they’re expecting them to be in their private bedrooms and they have the right to diss the band when they do something else. But of course everyone has a right to choose and I think you know, it might have been a hit or miss for us. Let’s see what happens in the future. But at least we didn’t get ‘stuck’ in the concept, so to say.
It’s a difficult thing because you either make the same album over and over and people will say, “Oh, they’re not original!” And if you make a different album, “Oh, they’re selling out!” It sometimes is very hard to please the audience, and you have to please yourself at the end of the day.
Well I think the bottom line, it’s always down to the songs and you know, of course as a band in a kind of ‘entertainment’ business. Our fans are either our fans or they’re not our fans. It’s sometimes a very thin line where you’re going and it has to be pleasing and rewarding for both sides.
What are your future plans for a new album? It was released not that long ago last year. Do you take a couple of years? Turisas only has 4 albums.
It’s been around 3 or 4 years between each album so far. Last time, it was actually kind of quicker because part of the reason for us to try different methods was to get it done and avoid the pitfall of overpolishing the music and sometimes, we’ve fallen into that. You know, obsessing with details and trying every single option possible. And then, going with something else. In some sense, it does work really well because sometimes people can appreciate the level of perfection in some of our albums.
My last question, Jaska (Raatikainen, drummer), of Children of Bodom, mentioned recently about their recent hardships on touring. Problems with airplane travel, luggage missing and some bad venues and sound problems at some shows. He gave some solid advice on how to be prepared on tour. Would you have any advice for any band, for as long as you’ve been around for? How to tour and to prepare properly?
For bands starting out? Well, leave the ego at home. Be prepared to listen to the tour manager and the production managers. Try to keep everything as smooth and easy as possible. No bullshit. But of course, you should aim at doing a good show nonetheless. There are many affordable alternatives for it, but do a good show and stay humble, I guess is all I can say. And always have enough socks, eat and take shit when possible (smiles). I think those are my best tips.
Related: Gig Review – Korpiklaani & Turisas Co-headline Paganfest At House Of Blues
Turisas links:
Turisas.com
facebook.com/Turisas
twitter.com/TurisasOfficial
Remaining Paganfest America dates:
5/17/2014 Harpo’s – Detroit, MI
5/18/2014 The Palladium – Worcester, MA