Swallow the Sun // Interview with Juha Raivio

Interview by: Mary Evans

Date: 03 December 2008

Venue: Carling Academy, Liverpool, UK
Photographs: Mary Evans / Spinefarm

Label: Spinefarm

Hi Juha… First of all how are you?

I am fine thank you. I have been a bit sick but otherwise I’m ok.

Not self induced with you, because you don’t drink do you?

No, no!! Just water.

Ok, so 2008 is quickly drawing to a close… what has the highlight been for you this year?

This year we took everything a bit more slowly because we did an EP - Plague of Butterflies - and just did, I don’t know how many gigs we did this year, but not too many. I haven’t been counting but compared to last year this was more like, how do you say, a year off to do the EP and just take it a little easier.

And the worst part?

The worst part? Not to do so many gigs (laughs)

This tour started last night in Oxford… how did the show go?

Ahh that was great. There were loads of people! I don’t know how many people, maybe 700 – 800… I don’t know, I didn’t count them one by one but I think the pre sales were pretty good and you know, it was good. People checking out about ‘who are these geezers’? People seemed to like us. The stage sound was good and the place was good so everything went fine.

So the crowd reacted really well?

Yeah, it got better. It was good. One girl gave us applause!! (laughs)

Where are you most looking forward to playing in the UK on this tour?

Well I have to say the Astoria gig in London. I have been there one time and of course it’s like a cult club and I was there to see My Dying Bride a few years ago and I was just checking the stage and woooh! It’s a huge stage and we’ll be playing there so I’m waiting for that!

Speaking about My Dying Bride you’ve cited them, amongst others, as one of your main influences, but who or what else inspires you when you are writing?

I’d say that old Marillion, well maybe it’s hard to hear from the…

Ohhh hey, yesterday I met Steve Rothery from Marillion at the Oxford gig and what a great bloke!

Old Marillion is a big influence for me and of course Iron Maiden and Metallica. Iron Maiden, Rush, Marillion, Type O Negative besides My Dying Bride… and of course Duran Duran!

So you’re the main writer for the band. Do the others have any creative input in the initial stages or more so when you start recording?

Yes… it’s more like with everybody’s own individual playing style that, you know, adds lots of things for the songs then.

So more when you are recording then?

Yeah, and when we are rehearsing the album. Then of course everybody does their own thing and adds their own kind of style for the music, so that’s basically the only thing that comes.

When you originally started the band you were working with Pasi in Plutonium Orange. Can you tell us a little bit about the band, I’ve been looking and it seems you’re coming back?

Yeah, well I’d say that we are just at the line to sign a contract with Plutonium Orange so hopefully there’s going to be an album soon. This will be the first forum ever to tell about this and that it seems that we’ll do an album now.

So how does the music differ from Swallow the Sun?

Well, quite a lot! It’s totally different. It’s more up-tempo, let’s say like metal rock. It used to be more like a stoner rock band but I never… well maybe the first demo was more like stoner rock. I don’t know, maybe if you put Foo Fighters, a bit of Muse and then… I don’t know it’s hard to say. Just metal rock!

You’ve got samples on myspace…

Yeah, there’s a few songs you can find on there.

Your demo, Out of This Gloomy Light, was recorded in early 2003 and by November the same year you’d released your first album… Can you remember how you felt when the album was released?

Well, you know, that was my first born from Swallow the Sun and I think that was like the first album I ever did with a deal and so it was really, really important and the whole thing started, the whole band started as a project so basically everything that came up with only that demo was like a plus to get those demo songs out of my system. It was just a nice surprise basically. We did the deal like right away.

So since 2003 you’ve recorded your demo and released three full albums and three EPs. Which would you say reflects Swallow the Sun most accurately?

(thinks) All of us love Ghosts of Loss like our best album but Plague of Butterflies, I think it’s pretty similar to Ghosts of Loss too, like in some mood things and mood is more important for me than even the songs. I think we pretty much found our own style from the first album, from the first demo already, and of course everybody is saying the same crap. I know we sound a lot like My Dying Bride and Type O Negative and these influences that you can really hear through our music, but I’ve never been ashamed to give respect and thank you for those guys in those bands and if somebody hears them through our music I’m happy and I did something right! But I don’t know, all the albums sound like Swallow the Sun for me but I have to say that Ghosts of Loss and Plague of Butterflies are like the best albums to us.

Originally you were signed to Firebox Records but more recently you’ve moved to Spinefarm. How has this changed things for you as a band?

Well basically we have started the whole thing from the beginning with the Hope album. Firebox was a really, really good label and I like the label and the guys there and everything and they did a lot for us but of course it was such a small label that we couldn’t get any tour support or anything and I don’t know about the distribution. I don’t know if you can even get the albums. We get loads of mail that people can’t get our albums anywhere, the first two, so with the Hope album and Spinefarm we finally we got a chance to start touring and promoting the album because you have to promote the band, it’s the only way.

So I have to say that it’s almost like our first album is Hope and the first gig for the band. I’m glad that we had a pretty good fanbase already because of the two albums so it was kind of easy to start touring because people already knew us, so in that way it wasn’t our first album but anyways I think it is!! (haha)

So, going back to Plague of Butterflies, you recently released that. What has the reaction been like so far?

It’s been really, really good and really, really bad and I knew that there were going to be loads of people that don’t understand the album and the whole thing there but I couldn’t give a shit about the good and the bad things because I am happy with the album and that’s always been the first thing on my mind. Maybe that’s a bit clichéd too but that’s really true in our case because we are always going to be an underground band and play underground music so there’s no reason to try to do something that would make us like Nightwish or something like that.

On this release you included tracks from your demo. What made you decide to do this now?

Well I think it was a good chance to put it there because the album was like thirty five minutes. I know that’s even longer than many full length albums bands are doing these days, but anyways we wanted to and people were asking about this demo from day one. We only sent three out and it was really hard to find, even from the internet, the whole album, so it was good to show where the band is now and the first roots and even the first note of the demos. I don’t know, it doesn’t sound so different. You can really tell it is still the same band.

You recently played your first UK show at Bloodstock. What was the experience like for you as a whole?

Ohhh that was so perfect and I’m not just sucking up to English people here but you know, playing in the home country of our music was like a really, really big thing for me and that’s why I’m so happy about this tour as well, to be in the home country for this music. Of course, we’ve got a Finnish sound and we’ve been taking all the good things about the English death doom scene, well I’m not going to say doom music because somebody is going to lose nerves again, but death doom.

I know that when we were talking we were saying it was good to see you back out here, but were you surprised about how quickly you got this tour?

Yeah. I knew that from Spinefarm UK and Universal were saying we’ve got to get you back really soon as they had released Hope and Plague of Butterflies the same day so it was really important not to wait six months or one year to come here but I’m really glad we got to tour these big venues with a big band so that’s a really good thing.

Going back to Bloodstock, spending some with you all we soon realised that you’re quite an entertaining band off stage. Would you say you’re the biggest joker?

Me!? (laughs a lot) No, it’s up to other people. I don’t feel like that. Maybe I am but not in a good way (laughs again).

Yes, but no alcohol fuels your insanity and you just keep going and everyone else is sat in the corner drunk!

Well you have to entertain yourself somehow!

You do some rather amusing impersonations. Do you have any other party tricks you can tell us about?

(laughs) Other than Big H!!? No! No, no, I don’t think so! Maybe, ok, what is it? No, next question!

I seem to remember an exotic combination of chicken and strawberries being eaten at some point. Is this a normal meal for Swallow the Sun?

Yeah, maybe it is, maybe it is you know! That is really doomy stuff because it tastes so awful!

Many bands these days don’t make it past the first year or so, or if they do they lose band members along the way. So far you’re all still together, what is the secret to keeping a band together?

I don’t know! We all hate each other so maybe that’s it! (laughs). I don’t know, basically it’s maybe the Finnish … we talk straight about everything. I could do some good things with better musicians, so send me emails, with better personalities! (laughs)

You will have done countless interviews by now but what is one question you’d like to answer but have never been asked?

(thinks) How come I can find some Steve Rothery sounds in your guitar playing style!? (laughs) That happened in one album review. Somebody got that and they said there was some Steve Rothery thing in there and that was like a big celebration day for me! So strawberries and chicken!!

Your writing is very personal to you and like many others you draw from your own experiences. Going on from that which has been the most difficult album for you to write and record?

That was definitely the Ghosts of Loss album and you can hear it from that. It’s so doomy, well not doomy, doom deathy. All the true doom fans don’t get angry! I think the Ghosts of Loss was really hard to write and there’s lots of personal stuff too around that theme and everything, dying and that kind of stuff, so maybe that’s why it became one of the most important albums for me.

Finland is pretty much renowned in metal circles as having some of the best bands in the genre, why do you think this is?

I don’t know! Finnish people they are just singing high and you know fast songs so don’t ask me. They do good in Japan and Germany, don’t ask me! Not our market!

Ok, so metal in general?

I really don’t know. Everybody is playing in a band. You cannot find a dude with long or short hair that isn’t playing metal in a band. I don’t know, Finnish people are just so f***ing smart. They have good taste in music!

Going back to touring, I’ve seen that you’re going to be playing at the new festival here next year, MetalFest.

Yes, I’ve heard.

Is this the only UK appearance scheduled for 2009 or can we expect to see more gigs announced?

I have no idea. This tour and that gig is the only thing that I know about but festivals start to book bands like right now.

You’ll soon be on tour in Finland and America… Are there any other plans for 2009?

We are planning to go to the studio next fall and release the album before the end of the year, so I don’t know about other tours. We’ve been offered, because our second American tour was cancelled. Enslaved couldn’t make it now so it’s been cancelled so we will do the Soilwork tour in January. I think that we’ll try to do another tour in fall. I hope to do some festivals in Europe in summer and then go to the studio.

If you had to describe your sound to someone who’d never heard you before what would you say?

Dumb, boring, slow, fast, out of tune… um, that’s about it!

If you weren’t in a band what would you being doing now?

I don’t know! Chopping wood in a Finnish forest and cursing! (laughs)

What’s the one thing you can’t leave home without when setting off on tour?

My MP3 player.

And what is the best way to kill time on tour?

(thinks) Eating white bread and cheese…

With chicken and strawberries?

No chicken for me! No meat for me anyways so just Fanta, white bread and cheese!! (laughs) That’s it!

Ok, can you describe the rest of the guys in a few words?

The same thing that I said about our music style! (laughs)

No, for each one!

For each one something? Ahhh! (laughs) I don’t know! I really don’t know!

Mikko (vocals) – I don’t know! Most easiest going guy, maybe, drunk! They are all assholes when they are sober.

Matti (bass) – He has the best jokes of the band but he is out of his mind too!

Markus (guitar) – The tall bald guy, well he’s the most easiest guy in the band but when he is getting pissed off it’s really dangerous!

Pasi (drums) – Looks dangerous but isn’t that dangerous! (laughs)

And

Aleksi (keys) – Has a big head and plays the wrong notes on the keyboard.

I’m the perfect player in the band!

Have you, or any of the other guys, ever experienced any sort of bizarre or extreme fan behaviour?

Fan behaviour? Well some I cannot tell and some I maybe can (laughs). I don’t know…

When I interviewed Liv Kristine she said a fan was kissing her toes for the whole show.

(laughs) There hasn’t been any flying panties or bras. They haven’t been flying on stage, but maybe our girl fans are too young!

What is the most bizarre gig you’ve ever played?

That has to be With Full Force festival because we didn’t have our own gear. Fifteen minutes before the show we didn’t have anything there and you know the main stage where Korn was playing later and all these big bands and then they were recording the whole show for a DVD and fifteen minutes before our gig there was nothing. So suddenly One Man Army, they were so nice they said here’s two guitars! So we’ve got these short cables on this huge stage and no clean sounds or anything and these guitars aren’t meant to be so down and our keyboard player got this huge electric piano! Then they were like ‘ok guys, go to the stage!’. It sounded awful, it felt awful and you know that was really terrible! But it wasn’t our fault, blame Lufthansa, those f***ers!

The best gig you’ve played so far then?

I don’t know if there are any! (laughs)

Ok, the best gig you’ve been to as a fan?

All the Iron Maiden shows. Maybe the first Rush gig I saw in Stockholm. That was a few years back and was absolutely great. I think Iron Maiden gigs, I am a huge fan and Rush, they have been the best.

You can only listen to five albums ever again, which would they be?

Type O Negative – October Rust
Iron Maiden – Seventh Son of the Seventh Son
(thinks)
Rush – Moving Pictures
What have I said, I said Type O Negative already? Well, ooooh this is hard!!
Maybe from My Dying Bride – what is the name, how can I forget the name now! Dreadful Hours
And then last will be... Metallica – Master of Puppets

What are you listening to right now?

Right now!? I’m listening to you but then again!! (laughs) So if you can send this I can listen to you again!

No!!

I don’t know! I’ve been listening to the new Cradle of Filth album, f***ing great!! (laughs) I don’t give a shit if anybody thinks I’m not true, because I’m not true! The new Cradle of Filth album is really, really good and what else? I’ve been listening to that lately and Moonspell’s new album is pretty good too.

One of our writers at the website has told me that every time I interview a Finnish band I have to ask this, so here we go...

Ok!

Who is your favourite Moomin and why!?

(laughs) Ohhh, that’s a good question! I have to say this but it’s not a Moomin. It’s the Mörkö! You know the ghost monster. It’s not a Moomin. And these Hattivatti… These mushrooms!

And why are they your favourites?

Because they have the most character!

Do you have a message for your UK fans?

Bless the UK for My Dying Bride, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath!

Ok, that’s it, thank you very much! Good luck tonight!

See you!