DARK RHAPSODY

Finnish power metal band Sonata Arctica boasts something no other band from that region of the world can: the incomparable vocalist/songwriter/keyboardist Tony Kakko.

Tony, a nice guy in addition to being one of power metal’s most charismatic front men, called me at 8 a.m. the day after the listening party for Unia, SA’s latest album. Tony was in New York. I was in Michigan. All things considered, I’d rather have been in New York, too. But what are you gonna do?

BM: Hello?

TK: Hi, this is Tony from Sonata Arctica. Bill?

BM: Tony, yes. Hi, this is Bill.

TK: Hi, how are you doing?

BM: Good. How are you doing?

TK: [laughs] Just fine. Totally hung over, but otherwise cool.

BM: [laughs]

TK: We had a listening party last night, so…

BM: Yeah, how did that go? And isn’t this kind of early for a rock star?

TK: Uh, yes, this is kind of early. Usually though, at home I wake up like 7 am my own time, but when you are spending night in bar, then it’s early.

BM: [laughs] Yeah. How did the listening party go?

TK: It’s cool, it’s cool. It was a pretty ok attendance there, a lot of people, so the only bad thing was a lot of the young ones had to go out, they couldn’t stay there in the bar. So they were standing outside, under 21s.

BM: I see. Well, I appreciate your time this morning, especially given the hour and the hangover. [laughs]

TK: No worries. [laughs] It’s cool.

BM: Well, I’d like to talk about a few things, cover some ground here for people who may not have heard of you, some ProgPower USA readers and whatnot. Even Kemi. I’d like to talk about your home town.

TK: [laughs]

BM: But tell me about YouTube a second. Have you ever looked at how many Sonata Arctica videos are on YouTube?

TK: Yeah. Too many. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TK: I’ve checked some of them. Usually when we go on tour some places, it’s nice to have kind of a peek what we have actually done.

BM: [laughs] Does that—

TK: A lot of it is really terrible crap, but there are also some ok clips there.

BM: Yeah, some of them look almost pro shot, and some of them are obviously just camera, you know, cell phone stuff. But do you guys look at that as a help to the band, or is it a hindrance to the band? How do you view that?

TK: Well, we maybe, it’s good thing to approach this thing from direction if I like some band, and do I enjoy looking clips of that other band I like, from YouTube. And I do. [laughs]

BM: [laughs] Yeah.

TK: I suppose it’s nice. Of course, it’s, like, it’s me there. So that is bothering me. But generally I suppose it’s good.

BM: [laughs] Well tell me about, let me jump back a second, the new album, Unia?

TK: Yeah, that’s cool. In Finland we say ooh-nee-ya, but you-nee-a, I tell everybody that it’s you-nee-a, so that’s cool.

BM: In Finland, it’s more of an ooh sound — ooh-nee-ya?

TK: Ooh-nee-ya, yeah.

BM: Cool. And it means dreams?

TK: Yeah, correct.

BM: Why did you name the album that? Is there a theme to it about dreams, or is it just a word you like to use?

TK: No, it was actually, it’s kind of a think, I mean in the book, like when you see it, and in print it might be better, because dreams are like pictures of everybody’s kind of, you know, your own end of the rainbow kind of thing. And where you want to end up. If everything were to end now, where would your life, what would you like your life to be like. But the original title I had for it was totally wrong and I changed it around Christmas. [laughs] But at that time already, the inlay, all those great pictures, they were almost finished, so it was too late to totally change the theme and anything. So I had to find another word that would, or some kind of title for the album that would, not ruin everything there.

BM: [laughs]

TK: So I figured, well, using Finnish word would be cool, because it might be a bit exotic too. So I changed it to Unia.

BM: What were you going to call it?

TK: Excuse me? No, no, no. I can’t tell you. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TK: It was not, it was kind of thing that people can kind of twist it, find double meanings from it, and I’m sure that’s really bad. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TK: And it’s a good thing I understood it, but I could have done that earlier. But nobody told me. Although the guys knew about it.

BM: Oh, they just thought it was funny that you were choosing that title, huh?

TK: Well, it would have caused them pain as well. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TK: If we had published it.

BM: Well, the new album, tell me about the recording of it. How quickly did it come together for you? Was it any easy album compared to your others, or more difficult?

TK: Recording-wise, well it was easier, but definitely we had to do more work for it. It was fairly easy because the songs were ready this time.

BM: I see.

TK: I’ve been slowly writing for like two years for this album, and some of the songs I’ve re-written like three, four times even. And they have changed to better each time. And we had the last show the end of August in our hometown, Kemi, last year. Then we took a, like few weeks off and started rehearsing for one month, and entered the studio in the beginning of November. And spend there, recording for like two months. Well, not actually in that same one studio, we had a lot of studios. Then I sang all my vocals at home, and played all my keyboard parts there. I actually played most of the keyboard parts on this album. [laughs]

BM: Wow. [laughs]

TK: So there’s a lot of symphonic stuff I came up there, kinda programming, arranging and stuff. And Henrik [Klingenberg] did the same thing, he recorded in his home studio, and then went into better studio in his hometown of Kokkola. His friends got his Hammond organ, like real, real deal, and he played that on the album. Real nice.

BM: Wow. That brings back like a ‘70s or ‘60s sound.

TK: Yeah, yeah, I know it. It’s cool, it’s great. Sounds like it’s, when you’re actually there in the room when he’s playing that, it’s like wow.

BM: Huge.

TK: Yeah, it’s amazing. [laughs]

BM: Yeah.

TK: Yeah, and then extra guitars were recorded in Helsinki. And actually Jani [Liimatainen, former guitarist] recorded all the guitars in Helsinki. In one studio. So you’ve got the picture, a lot of little studios we used.

BM: Well that sounds more difficult then. It’s strung out.

TK: Yeah, it does. But it was, anyway, it was easier, because people were like controlling themselves and directing themselves. I didn’t have to do, I went, I didn’t have to be there pulling a chain all the time, doing things for them. It was easy. I didn’t have to explain to them all the time what to do, they knew already. Which was something we didn’t have in the last two albums. I had to be in the studio constantly, because nothing would happen there.

BM: Really?

TK: They had no idea what should go there, because I just brought the song in the studio in the morning. [laughs] And they hear it for the first time.

BM: [laughs]

TK: And that’s kind of, well, diamonds are made in real heavy pressure. [laughs]

BM: Yeah. [laughs]

TK: But it’s not, definitely it’s not a healthy way of working.

BM: Well, the album artwork for Sonata Arctica is usually very elaborate, colorful, tells a story. But Unia, it seems more simple and laid back. Stripped back, even.

TK: Yeah.

BM: What was the idea behind almost a complete change in artwork?

TK: Already with the [Reckoning] Night album, we got a lot of contacts from people, both fans and business people, and thought that this really colorful and detailed, rich artwork we’ve had, it’s kind of giving a wrong, mixed message about our music. It’s not in line with the music. I love this kind of rich graphics, I love, yeah, that’s why we’ve had them. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TK: Now they are actually, we have still those, but they are in the booklet. Like well, other people told us it might be good to kind of make something more simple, because some people who didn’t actually buy the album because they thought it’s totally something different. And just by chance they heard a few song and then they bought the album. But the cover art was weird for it. Well, this time around, and I like the local thing is beautiful. It will turn out well on shirts and stuff.

BM: Well, when I look at clips of you, let’s say on YouTube, and I watch the DVD on the last album, For the Sake of the Revenge, I see that you can really whip up an audience. I mean, you can stir them up to be really loud and flamboyant and clapping their hands, and you can bring tears to their eyes when you’re singing. What is it like to have that sort of influence over an audience?

TK: Well, I don’t, I don’t notice that really, because I’m right there with them. You know, so of course, it’s a lot of power to have in your hands.

BM: Oh yeah, it is.

TK: Yeah. It’s like, like I wrote in one song, “Gravenimage” from Revenge, we are just rehearsing it, actually, for the tour, that’s why I remember this. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TK: I wrote there that I can change one note and make you cry. Music is a powerful thing.

BM: Oh yeah. That’s true.

TK: Yeah.

BM: In fact, you know, your ballads. It’s hard to say, on YouTube for example, the comments you get from readers or watchers of your videos, whether they really like the fast songs better or the ballads better, or if it’s just the girls, the women that like the ballads. But “Tallulah” or “Shemandalie” they seem to speak of broken relationships or unrequited love. Wistful and romantic sort of stuff. What is it about yourself that’s in those lyrics? Are you sort of a romantic, wistful guy, or is it purely fictional?

TK: Well, in a way, yeah. I am like this romantic type guy. If you ask my wife, I’m sure she’ll tell that.

BM: [laughs]

TK: But we’ve been together like, almost 11 years now, [laughs], so I haven’t lived all that hardship what I write in the songs.

BM: [laughs]

TK: It’s the same thing if you ask Stephen King, “Have you actually lived all this things, or is it from imagination?” Invariably you will get, “Yeah, it’s imagination. It might surprise you, but it’s imagination.”

BM: [laughs]

TK: [laughs] I would be a really broken piece of human matter [laughs] if I had lived through all that writing about.

BM: [laughs] If, ok, let me ask you then, if you’re a really happy guy, especially in your marriage, and if you’re such a romantic, why are the songs kinda sad? Why don’t you write really happy, like, “This is a great life” and “Boy, love is swell?”

TK: I don’t get kicks out of happy songs, in that sense. I’ve tried it, but they tend to be corny.

BM: [laughs]

TK: Like really, really, really corny. [laughs] At least I think so.

BM: [laughs] Well—

TK: I think, maybe on the next album I will start to learn, you know, teaching myself how to write about happy love.

BM: [laughs]

TK: [laughs]

BM: Which of your songs really makes you the most emotional when you’re singing it?

TK: At the moment, from the new album, “Under Your Tree.” It’s a touching piece of music for me, because it’s about burying your child or your dog or whatever. Because I have a dog, basically I wrote this about my dog, because I, she’s like a child to me in a way. I love that dog. But it’s breaking my heart to know that I will outlive that lovely little thing, and I’ll have to bury it one day. And this is something that no parent should do, bury their child. So it’s hard song.

BM: What kind of dog do you have?

TK: Nova Scotia Duck Tolling.

BM: Wow. Where do your lyrics come from, in terms of, when you’re composing your songs for an album or whatever, do you carry around a little notebook? Or do you watch movies and read books? How do the songs get on the albums from you just walking around?

TK: Yeah, it’s actually all what you just said there.

BM: [laughs] Really?

TK: [laughs] Not the notebook, my cell phone is my notebook, actually.

BM: Is it really?

TK: Sending, yeah, also when we are on tour, I remember actually on last tour, I came up with this song like that. When I came from stage and I went back in the bus and changed my clothings, I started humming something, “Hey, this is pretty good.” And I recorded it right away on my cell phone.

BM: Wow.

TK: It’s cool.

BM: That is cool.

TK: It’s a nice way of working. If then when you’re home, you’re listening going, “What the fuck am I doing here?” [laughs] Then you get a hang of it, and, “Ah, ah, good, good, good.”

BM: [laughs] Do you, your stories, your songs, a lot of them are, they’re actual stories. It’s like little books. Have you ever thought about writing a book or a movie or anything? Because your lyrics are very detailed and very picturesque.

TK: Yeah. Kind of my ideal form of making art would be movie with a lot of music on it, in a way. So writing a book, I’m not sure if that is my cup of tea. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TK: But certainly, I’ve thought of it. Because like, on this, I’m phrasing this thing every time I’m writing lyrics, because I don’t do much of them there. Then when I start singing, I notice that, “Dude you have neglected the breathing parts here, ok. And you can’t sing this unless you have some kind of tube up your ass.” [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TK: So I’m like begging myself many times. Too many words and I have to cut them down. That’s kind of killing me.

BM: [laughs] There’s one video, there’s a few videos up there, let’s see, on YouTube of you guys doing the solo acoustic stuff in Tokyo.

TK: Yeah.

BM: How is that, to be just you and a guitarist on stage? Do you get nervous that way? You gotta feel kind of naked up there, don’t you?

TK: Yeah, definitely. You can imagine if I’m asked to sing something like a cappella, a alone up there without anything, that’s weird. I need to be really drunk. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TK: I think, but doing that guitar thing with Remy, that acoustic set, it was pretty ok. Actually, there’s a CD/DVD that was released in Japan that was like bonus material. Well, it was ok. You just need to get your mind in the right mood and just take the audience with you. If you just stay there being really shy, then it doesn’t work at all. You’ve got to be the rock star, even if you’re pretty naked. [laughs]

BM: [laughs] Yeah.

TK: On the safety of all the stage and everything that’s happening there, and the other guys. That’s the thing, basically, you need to have other guys there. We’d be terrible to have a piano there and just play and sing. Ew, that’d be scary.

BM: [laughs] Yeah. Sonata Arctica seems to have extremely devoted, loyal, rabid fans. I mean, when I read their comments, I read articles, what is it about your music that seems to bring out such loyalty or devotion among people?

TK: I don’t know.

BM: [laughs]

TK: [laughs] Well, I like the music I’m making, so it comes from the heart. So I don’t know. It’s different. I recognize that myself, even. It’s slightly different than the usual music. In good and in bad, both. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TK: I’m like, rating myself here. But we’ve kind of found some kind of originality, maybe. And it’s the persons that we are too. So we are not taking ourselves too seriously. And at the same time, we are not joking around too much. Like, we are not trying to be a joke, but we want to have fun on stage and try to take the people with us there, and make people happy. And when they leave the show, I want to have everybody smile and drive carefully home.

BM: [laughs]

TK: And not beat up anybody. [laughs]

BM: No. [laughs] A couple of your songs, the melody to “Tallulah” is gorgeous, that piano intro. Wow. Where did that come from?

TK: That was I think, back in ’97, I figure. And I just wrote the song. It’s like 10 years ago, so it’s hard to remember where that came from, but I was just playing around, and there you have it.

BM: Wow.

TK: This is actually how the songs come. I don’t usually remember where they come from when I actually wrote them. And those were the days when I was doing a lot of other things too, and music was really, really only a hobby. So and I played just for fun, and I wrote “Tallulah.” I got the name, actually, from one movie called, Bugsy Malone [1976].

BM: Really?

TK: Yeah, they had, Jodie Foster was playing there, her name was Tallulah.

BM: Yeah. Well, there’s one of your songs, and I don’t know if you intended this to be, even though the story isn’t that funny when you read it, when I look at the lyric, the title of the song, it makes me laugh every time. It’s “The Boy Who Wanted to be a Real Puppet” [from Reckoning Night] [laughs]

TK: [laughs] Yes.

BM: That’s great. [laughs] That is very cool.

TK: [laughs] Thanks.

BM: Anyway, that wasn’t a question. It was just a comment.

TK: Oh, ok. [laughs] I was waiting for it. Like, ok, where’s this going?

BM: [laughs] That was it. Tell me about Kemi.

TK: Right.

BM: The official website for your hometown tells me that its nickname is, “The City of Snow and Sea.”

TK: Yeah.

BM: It looks like a very open community. In fact, there are even financial statements for the town listed on the Internet. It looks like a city that’s very open and honest and straightforward with people. Is that generally how the people are there?

TK: Um, well, I’m not sure. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TK: I don’t meet the people there too much, you know. I live actually outside the town, outside Kemi. Well, open? Some of them. It’s like, I suppose it’s the same everywhere, that there are very different kind of people, even in our small Kemi. We have 22, 23 thousand people living there. There’s like, whole rainbow of people there. Small and big and stupid and smart. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TK: Well, generally, Finnish mentality is pretty shy and introverted.

BM: Is it really?

TK: Yeah. When you go there, they are really, then tend to be talkative and aggressive when they drink. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TK: And I’m talking about them, because I don’t really drink that much, I don’t go to bars and things.

BM: Yeah.

TK: I’m one of them, certainly. I’m sure I have a little Fin inside me. [laughs] Somewhere.

BM: [laughs] Well, it’s interesting to see the attractions, the things going on there. The snow castle, there’s even a restaurant called Snow Restaurant.

TK: Yeah, it’s in the Snow Castle, yeah.

BM: I get the impression that it’s a very snowy, cold place.

TK: Yeah, during the winter, yeah. But this winter for example, it’s really odd, we got some snow around Christmas, and then it all melted away. And it was mid January when we got really cold first of all. It was like minus 40, which is same in Celsius and Fahrenheit, so you know what I’m taking about.

BM: Oh yeah.

TK: So it’s cold, and we got pretty ok snow cover there, but it’s only like one meter at the moment, and it’s melting away, of course, because springtime is here. It was weird, but well, climate change is certainly doing something. Winter seems to get shorter and shorter every year, especially this winter was weird, like I mentioned. But in the summer, we don’t have the snow castle there.

BM: [laughs]

TK: And we don’t have polar bears walking around.

BM: [laughs]

TK: [laughs] It’s actually, it’s pretty much the same as everywhere else.

BM: Everywhere else.

TK: Yeah. Everywhere else.

BM: Well, what is your favorite memory of growing up in Kemi, or near Kemi?

TK: Well, favorite memory. That’s a question I haven’t premeditated on at all. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TK: Oh, favorite memory. Oh, maybe some of the games we had when we were really young, with the innocent times of childhood, when I was like four or five. What I remember from those times, they were my favorite. We had a lot of friends there, the whole neighborhood would always gather together and play some kind of games together, football and baseball type games. And those were fun. And you tend to lose those when you grow up.

BM: Yeah.

TK: It’s a shame.

BM: Yeah, I think I have those kinds of same memories too. When you’re small, the neighborhood, fact, when I go home now, the neighborhood looks tiny. But when I was a kid, it looked huge.

TK: Yeah, exactly.

BM: Well, what is it about Sonata Arctica’s music, well, let me rephrase that question. Is there anything unique to your music that sounds like Finland? Is there something about your music that we could listen to, and think, “Yeah, that’s coming from their growing up in Finland?”

TK: Well, the sad melodies.

BM: Is it really?

TK: Yeah. In Finland, we are like this Slavic family nation, and we have a lot of sad music. Not too many happy songs. That’s why I maybe can’t write this sort of stuff easily. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TK: You know, genetic code somewhere. [laughs]

BM: [laughs] Well, why is that? What is it about the Slavic and the Finnish?

TK: It’s a state of mind. You are prone to be that way. And you grow up with that sad music, and you kind of, it’s in you, and you love that it’s sad. We have, like

NOTE: This is the end of Part One. For the entire interview with Sonata Arctica’s Tony Kakko, see the official ProgPower USA VIII program.

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