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Noumena - "things in themselves" is a very interesting name for a band. And it is a very abstract term closely connected with Immanuel Kant. SO please tell me how you would describe in your own words the meaning of Noumena!
Ville:
First of all, thank you for finding out the meaning first yourself. For us Noumena - "things in themselves" means the primary nature of music. The most fundamental thing is the music itself, the music which we generate as a group. On the other hand, it also describes the need to understand the surrounding world and life a bit under the surface also. This means the need to discover and comprehend causes and consequences behind the visible world, too. Anyway, as a band name, Noumena is good and reasonably short. It's a name easy to remember, too.
There are some female vocal included on "Absence" Hanna Leinonen. So how did you come up on her?
Ville:
Hanna is originally from a small Finnish town Ähtäri, like all of us. In 1998, when we did our first demo, we wanted to add some variation there in form of female vocals, and we asked Hanna, who had knowingly singed marvellously in choirs and plays before, to participate on our very first demo. She has been a part of almost all our productions ever since. She has never become a "real" member of Noumena, for her own will, and for ours too, because it brings her responsibilities, and willingness to participate in studio costs etc. But as far I'm concerned, she's really a part of the Noumena style, and we will ask her to sing on our albums and gigs in the future also, whenever it's possible to have her around.
There is also another guest vocalist - Tuomas Tuominen from Fall of the Leaf! How did you come on him for the clean vocals? Will he also be on the forthcoming albums?
Ville:
Well, we had plans to include some male vocals on top of the growls and female vocals for some songs. At the time when I was making new songs for the album, I listened a lot of Fall of the Leafe's latest release Volvere. At some stage it became clear to me that this is the right voice to be on our album. I contacted Tuomas via e-mail and he was willing to participate, fortunately. It was great to know later on, that he was not only the right voice, but he was also the right guy for the job. Tuomas is truly a great fellow and it was a real pleasure working with him. I hope that he will be a part of our future albums also, and there's no reason why that wouldn't be the plan. Another thing, I thought then that the co-operation with Tuomas and Noumena would in some way be profitable for both bands. Fall of the Leafe has had too little promotion compared to their quality, and I thought that because we have a bigger label behind us, which means usually better promotion, it might arouse some listeners' interest towards their band also. And our profit was, of course, to have his amazing voice on our album.
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As it is the first time I became advertent of Noumena - please tell our readers something about your history and some background information about you!
Ville:
We started Noumena back in 1998, and our line-up hasn't changed ever since. We were friends long before Noumena, and it has been wonderful to keep the spirit up for all these years with the guys. I guess it would have never been possible with some random guitar heroes just in band to fill the empty spot. We did two demos and a few gigs before the infamous record deal, but more from that in the next question.
As I read in the press information about you there used to be a lot of trouble with a label down in Singapore. Can you tell me something more about what happened there?
Ville:
Yes, we gained a record deal with our second demo cd in 1999 with a Singaporean label. We went to Astia-studio to record our first full-length, but unfortunately, after the recordings were finished, the label went bankrupt and the deal went off. It was a difficult situation for us, Astia-studio had tapes for our album, but there was no one to pay for it and release it. We came to a conclusion, that we should buy the album out ourselves and look for a releaser then. Fortunately, then came Pete from Catharsis Records, and wanted to release our album. All thanks to him for that! The result was finally our debut "Pride/Fall", which included 6 songs from 1999 Astia-session and 4 songs from 2001 Watercastle-session.
What do you prefer more: The long and dark Winter or the shorter and bright summer in Finland?
Ville:
I'm not really a winter or a summer type of a guy. Winters here are too cold for me and summers are too hot and bright. My favourite seasons are definitely spring and autumn. I like the spring, when everything is changing and awaking after the long and dull winter. The best season is by all means for me, the autumn. I love mild and mellow late August and September nights, when it's not too cold here and the evenings are dark, but the days are bright. It's very inspiring time for me.
If I would go on holiday in your home country Finland, which place would I really have to visit and why especially this place?
Ville:
Well, because Noumena is from Ähtäri, it's a must for us naturally to promote our home town here. In Ähtäri there's a zoo, where you can see Finnish wildlife in natural environment. We were obliged to visit it on school trips when we were kids, which may mean some nasty flashbacks for some of us, but believe me, it's a great place to see for a foreigner. Of course, then you could also have a chat and a beer with some of us at a local bar. The wilderness of Lapland and especially the period of dakness, when the sun doesn't rise at all there, is also a unique experience and really something special for foreign people. Of course there's also Tuska metal fest here for all the metalheads, with a great change to see a load of good Finnish bands live among some foreign acts.
The Finnish Metal scene is quite very well known as really good and manifold. Which place in your hometown would I have to visit if I would like to get to know it?
Ville:
I guess I answered this in the previous question, though I had no intention.
On festivals I was able to learn some "very important" words in Finnish like for example: kippis, haista vitu, perkele. Which words would I have to know in your opinion?
Ville:
The words "kalja" (kaljaa as plural, beer) and "tissit" (tits) are extremely useful. You can combine them easily with those words you already know. For example, "Kippis, kaljaa" (when you drink beer), "Tissit, perkele" (when you see tits somewhere), "Kaljaa, perkele" (when you desperately need more beer), "Tissit, haista vittu" (when you don't believe that someone has recently seen tits though he states otherwise). Of course you can try more difficult combinations, like "Tissit, haista vittu! Kippis, kaljaa, perkele!" (When you are happy for the thing that someone has recently seen tits, and cheer with beer for that with him afterwards). Beware of some combinations, like "Kaljaa? Haista vittu. Perkele, tissit, kippis!", which means that someone offers you some beer and you don't want it, but then you see tits somewhere want their carrier to breastfeed you. Finnish is a nice language, isn't it?
Thank you very much again for your time! All the best with "Absence" I really hope to hear a lot more from Noumena, Kiitoksia ajastasi, voi hyvin, kippis!
Ville:
Thank you Martin, it was a real pleasure to answer these a bit different kind of questions. Thanks for the good wishes!
martin
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