PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
I spoke to Sami Hinkka from Ensiferum just before their show at Islington academy in London last month…
Your latest album, “One Man army” came out last month. When did you start the writing for it?
The way we compose we always have some raw material, so the process started when “Unsung heroes” was ready. We had some songs that weren’t ready for that album so it was obvious they would be for the next album. So really the writing started a few years ago.
It’s a lot heavier than “Unsung heroes”. Was that a deliberate shift or something that evolved in the writing process?
It’s something that evolved. We wanted to do something different to “Unsung heroes” which was a slower album, dare I say even an emotional album, so we wanted to do something different and learn from the past. The main thing was that we had an idea of the sound that we wanted for the album, and the groove because Ensiferum for me is a live band, and we felt that the albums were missing that live energy. People would tell us that we sound so different live to on albums, so that was the cornerstone for this album and the reason it became a bit more aggressive.
The songs range from really heavy metal to songs like “Two of spades” which has a far more prominent folk element.
Personally I think it’s a good thing to have variety but I understand if some people think it’s too diverse. If you listen to the album – the song “Axe of judgement” then listen to the last song, then you might find it hard to believe its the same band. personally I like it because there’s always an ensiferum theme and melody.
The bonus tracks aren’t typical Ensiferum – “Candour and lies” is more Country and Western than folk metal.
It’s the same song as “Neito Pohjolan”. I can’t remember how it came about. I had English vocal arrangements for the song, and someone came up with the idea that as there’s a strong Finnish Schlaga feel to the song that the vocals should be in Finnish, then it went further and we thought about having a female vocal, so we asked Netta.
You’re on your European tour at the moment. How has it gone so far?
It’s been phenomenal, the best tour we’ve ever done in many ways. We have an extremely strong package with great bands. It’s so awesome to see every night that all the venues are packed when the first band starts. It shows that every band is interesting. The bands are all diverse from each other too.
I noticed that there is already a big queue outside and the doors don’t open for another two hours
It’s crazy they’re already there.
You’ve sold out quite a few of the dates including tonight. It must be really good news for you to see that happening.
London was sold out ages ago, and Paris yesterday with 900 people, so it’s going really well. Overall the average amount of people at shows on this tour is way higher than we’ve ever had before on our own tours so it’s a really incredible feeling. We have a really strong package, a really good album out, good management, good label (Metal Blade), good people around us.
How many songs from the new album do you play live on this tour?
Four or five. It’s important for us to do that as this is the promotional tour for the new album. Next year we’re going to mix the setlist around a little bit. It’s getting really hard to do the setlist these days because we want to have songs from every album. Plus there are people who come to five or six shows in a row, so we want to play a few rare songs for them. Then you have to play certain hit songs.
We’ve already decided we’re going to cut some songs out because there were some songs like “Twilight tavern” which we’ve had on every setlist since “From afar” came out, so we put that aside even though it’s a great live song and people go crazy and sing along, but it’s time for a change. We don’t want to get to the stage where you come to an Ensiferum show and you know exactly what songs we will play.
Motorhead shows are always predictable – you know most of the setlist. Iron Maiden though do tours where they play the entire new album and about two of the songs the fans love.
That’s really brave, but on the other hand I respect that, that they don’t want to live in the past – they’re proud of their new albums. I like the mentality
After Europe you’ve got a US tour then back to Europe for the summer festivals.
Whenever an album comes out it’s busy busy busy. Between this tour and the US we have two shows in Russia. We’re doing a tour with Korpiklaani and Trollfest in North America, then the summer festivals. There are plans for Autumn also and plans for next year as well, so it’s already pretty booked up.
You’ve got six festivals announced so far including Hellfest, Wacken, Summer Breeze and Bloodstock. Are there more to announce?
To be honest I’m not sure what has been announced. I think there is still the possibility of more being booked. I realy hope so – summer festivals are great things.
ok thank you for your time.
