RD: Alright! Let me welcome you to this interview via phone!

Pasi: Thank You!


RD: Let us begin with some questions about the history of Amorphis. When you started at about 1991 you were really playing straight Death Metal. Over the years now you changed your sound completely. What was the matter for that? Just a natural progression in your eyes?

Pasi: Yes! The point is when you have been doing Death Metal for a certain time to a certain point you can't go forward in this style. It's just that we wanted to let our music grow bigger, more atmospheric and get new different vibes into it to keep it interesting for us. So it's really just a natural progress in my eyes.


RD: So how would you define the music you are playing today?

Pasi: I think as far as Amorphis has been around for such a long time and we always did our own style so I would describe it as Amorphis!


RD: As far as I know the band name Amorphis is coming from the English amorphous. Did you choose this name because it is - lets say the concept of the band, not to be pressed in a certain form?

Pasi: I think it goes back to the old days, but the reason why we just choosed it was because it sounded good at that time. And this is still the way that we work. Not to plan how we will make something before we start doing it. It just comes that everybody puts his own piece of art into our performance and records and so on.


RD: Lets go over to your new album coming out next month - "Far From The Sun". How would you describe it by your own words?

Pasi: Well, I describe it as a sort of a compilation of the whole career of Amorphis. The band has now come to a certain point, has grown to it. And as I see us as professional musicians now that we do more serious work for our music. Of course with a smile in our face, you know what I mean?


RD: In my eyes it is the quite natural progression from your last album "Am Universum". I think it is harder and a bit more rockbased and more straight. Would you agree with me?

Pasi: Yes, definitely! All the songs were composed during we were training, we wrote them especially when we played our old songs. So we composed new material while playing old material. It's a compilation of old and new Amorphis. And because we played so much and the songs were already made before we went to the studios it is different from the other albums. On the albums before it often was that we had only a few ready composed songs and we made them in the end in the studio

RD: The song I like best on it is the first one called "Days Of Your Beliefs". I like the straight rock guitars combined with the great melodies. Tell me something about the lyrics. What is this song about? Something like the end time?

Pasi: Yeah! It's about the end of the world. If you look a bit around it's quite a mess for the last few years and its growing all the time. We will meet our day of our beliefs someday!


RD: So this is quite a very actual theme!

Pasi: Yes, that's true!


RD: What about the title track "Far From The Sun". Is it about dying as I far as I understand it?

Pasi: Yeah, it could be. It's like this cold feeling you have while saying good bye. It's a sort of a door to the melancholic world of Amorphis which is quite far from the sun!


RD: So is this the world you prefer when you are writing your songs?

Pasi: It is! I don't know, maybe I am such a limited person that I can't see anything good in a way of lalala things like this happy, happy, joy, joy... It's more touching when you do it in this melancholic way and it touches me because I write these things for myself. I try to keep it in a way that there are several layers, that you can understand the lyrics in many different ways. Then if you really start to think and get into the words it's like even get something out of it for yourself.

RD: On the last Albums you only used clean vocals. I really think they fit to your music, but could you imagine to use ever again - lets say grunts like in Amorphis' beginning?

Pasi: I think we won't compose that type of music anymore but we still keep on playing old songs live. The best description of this is our setlist that we play today. It's like a good compilation of our albums. And there are also songs like "Black Winter Day" and these old classics from the "Tales (From The Thousand Lakes)" Album we like to play very much.


RD: The cover Artwork shows the symbol of the anchor - is there any special meaning in it, like it is the symbol of power and the album is more powerful, heavier?

Pasi: Well, there are two points of this cover. We were looking for some sort of simple one that lets the music speak. It's only like a key to it, like a keyhole. And the other thing is that this anchor is on the cover is that we haven't forgotten our past, that we are still the same.

RD: Ah right, I see, as you used it on the old covers like the "Tales(From The Thousand Lakes)" Album, but much more hidden at that time. This time you worked with a very band orientated concept on the album, no guest musicians this time. Do you think it is tangible in the result? Was it necessary for the further way of the band?

Pasi: Well it was just that we had these visitors on our albums in many different forms. This time because the music was composed already and it felt really completely ready we were not in need of this. So we thought it is unnecessary to use any different players this time.


RD: You also changed for that album to your new label Virgin! Do you think this is an important step for the whole band?

Pasi: Yes I see it as a step forward that we are able to do better deals and better tours because that company supports us more. It's a bigger label of course and in a way we are doing the same things but even we might get better results. They don't force us to do anything!


RD: What is your opinion about your collaboration with Virgin? Are you satisfied?

Pasi: Oh yeah definitely. I am very happy with this label and there are so many people there we have known for years, doing some little things for Amorphis and been our friends for a long time. And now they are the connection in Virgin so we still keep working with the same people. Only the production is a bit bigger, the whole release, that's the only difference.

RD: I think there are a few projects of Amorphis members outside the band on now! Can you tell me something about them?

Pasi: Yes, all the rest of the guys - no, no there is Niclas, Santerei and Tomi together in "Verenpisara". They sing in Finnish and it's also extremely depressive. And I have "Ajattara". And "Shape Of Despair" but I only do the vocals for it. I don't get involved so much in the composing of "Shape( Of Despair)" but at "Ajattara" I do all the songs and all the music. I also play the whole albums, except the drums and the bass. And of course Niclas helped Moonspell in the studio because Sérgio, their bass player, left the band. I don't know the reason why. It's that we toured in America together in the year 2000 and we were with them together in good and bad times in the same bus so we became good friends. And Moonspell have done records in Finland before so it's always nice to see these guys. I think it was just that they wanted to ask Niclas because he is a friend of Moonspell as we all. But it's only for the studio!


RD: Have you already got any tour plans now to support the new album, especially in Europe all around?

Pasi: Oh yes, definitely. We start here in Finland at this autumn, we have a few festivals and we do a little two week tour here. It's a small country and you can tour this in two weeks. And afterwards we come to Europe and may be the States.


RD: And festivals here in Germany?

Pasi: I haven't seen the schedule yet but I am waiting to get into the festivals because especially in Germany it's very nice to play even there.


RD: Alright, so I hope to see you soon here in Europe on Tour! Thank you very much for your time and keep on rocking hard!

Pasi: Oh yeah, of course! Take care!


RD: Take care Pasi!


martin