Poisonblack – 20-05-2010

Interview with: Ville Laihiala & Janne Markus
By: Sabine van Gameren

Poisonblack is on the road again. After the release of their fourth album “Of Rust And Bones” the band did some Finnish shows and a few dates in Germany. A Japanese date is set as well and when being in Cologne on the sunny day to speak with the band, it seems that there is a good atmosphere hanging around. Singer Ville Laihiala and guitarist Janne Markus joined for a talk about the new album and how Poisonblack is doing nowadays.

The first thing of discussion was the recording of the album. The band have chosen to record their album more like a live situation rather than their traditional way of working. Something totally new for this band, instead of going to the same routine again they choose to try it this way. Why they did not stick with the old way of recording is something that Ville carries out during the whole interview: “When you do it like that it starts to feel like work” he says.
It is obvious that the band want to remain having fun in what they are doing, playing the music. The band clearly enjoys their times of rehearsing and the touring more than being in the studio, but they take it for granted that this has to be done as well. With this way of recording they could really bring the atmosphere of the rehearsals into their album.
However things have been changed, the band says this did not influence the way they write the songs. There are some longer songs on this album as well as bluesy elements that were not that present in previous albums. Ville doesn’t really have an explanations for it. “When I was writing that music, I kind of found out that I was doing it in a way that there were this blues elements. So to me, this also came naturally” he tells. He seemed a bit surprise about this outcome as well as he continues: “It’s weird, because I don’t even listen to that much blues. It comes out from somewhere, I don’t know”. Even though Ville does not know where this comes from, he seems to be sure this will return in future albums as well. He could surely say that, telling that already ten to thirteen new songs have been written. They won’t rehearse them until after the summer, but a little view into the future is given by his words. “Album by album we are more discovering the way we write songs and so it seems that in the future there are also some blues elements in our music” Ville tells about what will be coming up next.
The fact that the songs got longer may have to do with the fact that the band puts stress on the things they like most, which is playing their music, instead of thinking about it too much. “These longer parts you can just close your eyes and play” says Ville when his eyes light up a bit. They don’t feel like thinking about the outcome and if it would be played in any radiostation, but make the music as their heart comes up it.
Considering “Of Rust And Bones” there is also one other thing that has changed since before. This time the band took an external producer instead of doing it themselves. When I wonder if they weren’t afraid to give their baby out of hands when they are used to handling it all themselves Janne and Ville both are telling that it felt very confidential. Hiili Hiilesmaa has worked with Ville before in his previous band Sentenced and seemed to have an approach that falls good with these guys. “He’s this kind of person that tries to get what the we want to express with the music instead of being the producer and getting his own ideas of it. He had some good ideas, but still he starts to built the album by the standards of the band”,V ille tells and Janne adds that he felt like a sixth member of the band.

Discussing the outcome of this album leads to the conclusion that many reviewers considered it less gothic, the band have never considered themselves as being gothic and tried to talk people out of this label already since the very first album. Though, whatever they have been doing was never the intention to do it just because they want to step away from the label that people have given them. For the band it is not even clear why they get labeled like that. They always considered themselves as a rock band and does not see why people would link them to gothic music. “I don’t even understand the whole concept of being a goth. The only thing I can appreciate, or like, from the gothic scene is the atmosphere in the music, but that is pretty much it” according Ville. He continues by asking: “Look at me, do I look gothic?” Even though the band often tells in interviews they don’t feel like being gothic thay claim not to feel frustrated about at all. The only thing that seems to bother them a bit is that people might not bother to check out their music because of that label they got, while they actually might like it better than they would expect. Ville says: “We are five ugly men making rock music, if someone want to call it gothic I don’t really care” and that seems the perfect way to end the conversation about this subject.

As final topic of our conversion we drive a bit more to the future. It’s hard to say what is up next, but what I was wondering most is if the band has any plans to do something acoustic. In the bonus DVD that comes with “A Dead Heavy Day” there is acoustic material to find. Those who bought the limited edition of “Of Rust And Bones” can find an acoustic version of the song “My World” also and the whole album holds acoustic elements anyway. Ville admits that the band have talked about this idea already but furthermore says that nothing has been arranged or any steps in that direction have been made. The band seemed positively surprised when I asked about it and a spark of enthusiasm can be heard in either Ville and Janne’s voices when we talk about it. Ville says: “If we do it, we will do a kind of a mini tour, not just one show”. Mainly, because making their songs ready for being played acoustic comes with some work as Janne explains.
Ville have been a guest singer in various bands. The teenage rock band Negative have welcomed Ville’s vocals in the song “Until You re Mine” and more recently Ville could be heard on the latest Catamenia album in the song “Blood Trails”. While Ville is guesting a lot, it could be interesting to see if there is some musician to guest on future Poisonblack albums. He does not have to think long when being asked about it. “There is one female singer in Finland, She is called Anna Puu. Her voice is so fragile, so unique, I would love to do something with her, musically” he tells.
As final future plans the band tells, beside the already confirmed festivals in the summer that they hope for a tour in Finland in September and maybe a tour in South America. “But we go with the flow” as Ville says finally.

Links:
Poisonblack MySpace
Poisonblack Official