Black Light Discipline - 26-06-2009

Interview with: Black Light Discipline
By: Sabine van Gameren

On the most sunny day during Tuska festival in Helsinki, Finland we had a chance to talk with Black Light Discipline. The Finnish industrial metal act plays here tonight on one of the afterparty shows .

Their album “Empire” got released in November 2008. (review) Anno June 2009 the steam of the buzz is off. Time for reviewing what the album brought the band. Finland is not really known as a country for industrial music like for example Germany is. With internet nowadays borders fade away and there is an international word for pretty much every band. But there will always be a home base and a marked abroad. The band assents this: “I think the response in other countries than Finland have been better”. Media pick up their music everywhere though. The band tells about the feedback they receive: “From individuals we have got very good response, from media it have been very positive but also quite negative. Divided opinions.”

Now the album is out, it could be interesting to find out more about how these Finns work to get this piece music to what it is now. The progress of making the album is one that took some time is what the guys repeatedly tell. It all had started with the making of their EP ‘Humanography’. “From there we picked a couple of songs and some newer songs were made after ‘Humanography’ ” they said. When reading this you might wonder what took them so long, while some of the songs were also on ‘Humanography’. The band shared a lot about the way they worked in the studio to give an impression of what has been going on. After recording the instruments and the vocals there was a long time of mixing an mastering. “The mixing took quite a long time. Maybe the main reason for that was that we recorded it in parts. We did it in small amounts. So let’s say, first the drums. Then we had some breaks. Then the other parts” is what they explain. Sounds like there was a lot of time to think about it and reflect. This concept is one that seemed just to come up like this and not actually planned. Toni, the vocalist of the band, admits it within a split second before even asked by telling “It was maybe not very well organized. Also, we used three different studio’s. But we liked to work like that.” That last sentence might indicate that they are used to work this way, but nothing is less true. “Some of us have been in other bands and it was usually different than this” got added to indicate this is not their usual way of working. They seemed very satisfied with it and to underline this statement they said: “I think because it is industrial, with loads of machines… this way is better”

We left the subject and went on talking about the songwriting. The band has three lyricists. When you wonder how that works out, you are just as far as us and what the band mostly want to say about this is that it is usually one person who writes the lyric for a song, but three of them write like that. “They are mostly from one individual but in the end we talk about it together and make some minor changes but in general it is one person that writes the lyrics for one song” Many of the readers would have expected different, it is more a miracle how three individuals make three visions one, one that concludes ‘Empire’. Janne, who is responseable for synths in the band, seems to understand what we want to know as he said: “I think there is no red line through our album lyrics. I think we make them just so that everyone at least agrees with them. I personally think that it sounds like one band anyway. It is good that it is not one long story.”
When talking about highlights of the album there are different visions on the topic. The band names the first two songs of the album, “For All You Heavy Hearted” and “Tides”, as highlights. The first one is the newest song on the album. “It is heavy and I think it works quite well as an opening track” Janne says about it. Toni mentions ‘Tides’: “We picked that one for our music video. It’s more like a song that attracts different kinds of listeners. Headbangers and people who like more melodic sounds”.

The music video has been on the television in Finland. Channels like Ylex and The Voice have been playing ‘Tides’. As not all bands get their video on the television it shows that this must have had a certain promotional effect for the band. Janne tells that he thinks the visual part of a band is very important as a promotional tool. “A music video is a thing that does not get old. You can use it for many years. It is much more important for us than a magazine that features us, because we can use the video way longer”.
The band has said in an interview in February this year that they would not mind making another video. The ambition is still there, but it has not come that far yet. “We will make a video when we are finalizing our second album”, is what they said. About the first video the band is full of good words about the crew. “The crew has been really good to us last time. They made it for us really easy to do the video. Of course they had loads of work to do, so you should ask them if they want to do it again. It was a nice process and we were really pleased with the results”, Janne said and all of them said at the same time: “Thanks to Jesse Jokela and his team”.
When a band mentions a new album, we want to know more. So we asked how far the progress is going and it seems like we will not have to wait too long. “As a matter of fact we recorded some vocals already. We hope to release it in March 2010. But that just what we hope for. But songs have been composed and now is the time that we get together and record”. With the knowledge of how this band worked on their first album, we considered it too early to ask more about the album, because it probably will not give an fair image of what is coming. And after all, there have to be something to surprise you when hearing the new album, right?!