Iiwanajulma – 24-01-2014

Interview with: Wille Hartonen
By: Sabine van Gameren

Finnish formation Iiwanajulma is ready for the release of their third full length album. Their previous release ‘Tuhottu Tila’ dates back to 2008 so plenty reasons to find about this new release called: “Hallelujah!”.

We are speaking with Wille Hartonen of Iiwanajulma about the new release. In general, the album is not only referred to as a piece of music, rather as art, indicating that the whole is more than music to him. An expression is perhaps a more suitable description.

Concepts
With a background in arts it perhaps does not come as a surprise as things may be seen from a different point of view. And with that we go into the concept of ‘Hallelujah’. Where does it all come from. A personal experience lays on the ground of it and that may not always be the nicest to hear considering the topic of pain comes up. “I think the main concept is the problem of pain”, Wille tells about it. But when people often turn away when it comes to topics like that, you should realize that the whole comes more generalized. Wille explains a bit more about that: “In healthcare we try to solve problems with medication or pain killers. At one point they keep the relief. But the main reason they are there is not fixed. Like in alcohol addiction or drugs addiction, the pain underneath is not fixed. It is a process of thinking of these pains. All the lyrics are about that”.

How this relates to what the band has brought before and on the next album he seems to be clear. “This is the sound of IIwanajulma. They cannot relate it to some idols or something but they can recognize this is Iiwanajulma that is playing” he tells and many who have seen and heard their music may agree. Wille makes a connection with their previous release, to which he refers as ‘the white album’, and the new release, which comes with a black cover by telling that you can find the development when you listen to those two.

A little teaser of the album has been placed online already in the form of a video for the song ‘Passiivisesta Väkivallasta’(link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9FwFy8X7As). As we ask why the choice has fallen onto this particular song Wille is quite clear and tells us it pops out of the concept. “That one was intense, it was short. We needed to show what we are, in a way”.
Also he tells us a new video is coming soon and that what is to be seen will come with contradictionaries: “It is going to be a concept of black and white. Feminine and masculine. Kind of a hazard shooting as well”

Creative process
Now the concept of the album is clear the creative process towards that comes up. Not one recording process is the same. There are multiple ways to get where you want and that seems to keep all interesting. Wille tells: “You can’t tell on forehand how it is going to be. We can have some sort of an image but it always changes some way. I think we had a subconscious or intuition of where to go all the time”.

The secret to that seems to come from the good connections the band have built through the years. Some of them have been working together for 20 years and that helps in the process. “We know how people think and react. That brings in a sort of stability”, Wille explains. That in combination with a good communication leaded to the results they wanted, but there seems one more key element involved and that concerns intuition. Intuïtion starts when someone comes into a flow for the album. A rather natural process according to Wille, but nevertheless it may be someone different each time they work on a new release. He elucidates: “The leader changes in every album. The person that makes the process going on. In this album process it was always Teemu who made it all happen. Sound wise, the vision was his”.

He also tells us about how they found some similarity to Korn’s album ‘Life is Peachy’ during the recording of the album while it was not intended that way. It may not be that obvious to all, because different choices were made. “It’s different but the same in a way. For example in the Korn album there is this bass line which makes it quite aggressive. In our album it makes it quite mellow without a clang, and that comes from the guitar, which makes our album more aggressive. So basically the choices were different but it was intuition that was driving us there. Something might always happen. You can call it luck, something just happens and the direction comes into. But you have an intuition that you follow in a way”.

Concerts
On 24 January the album will be released, having a release party at the Findustry event in Bar Bäkkäri in Helsinki. Something the band looks forward to as the whole comes alive. “We can always make albums, you have an computer, compose and its ready but it is different when you play it live”, Wille says. The whole is always a little different from the disc and that makes it vibrant. He continues: “You can be German and be accurate but in our concept it is not like that. We can be like… today this part is like that. When people are playing live, they are living through the music”.

Energetic live performances are a fact, See for example this video of about a year ago (link: http://youtu.be/Kz4xhy3Dveo). When a band is active it influences the audience right away and that is exactly what he wants to radiate. “I still believe in Rock music, I still believe in raw energy, which transfers through our music. I still believe in charismatic charms. Which opens doors and windows to subconscious. I truly want to be one of those guys”.

Also he said to feel the live performances are an excellent occasion to bring over the concept, which seems legit while art is so much more than one dimension as well as music. “I want people to understand the emotion and why is it so. It is kind of an energy transferred. It is about going into a certain emotion and keep it in there. Controlled, not like wild. You can show it like that, a dark energy”.

And so said, it will be done. You can witness it all yourself at the album release party at 25 January 2014 in Bar Bäkkäri, Helsinki (Finland) or order the album here:
http://www.recordshopx.com/artist/iiwanajulma/hallelujah/#cd

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