Interview with Insomnium vocalist/bassist Niilo Sevanen
by John Haseltine
With the latest release,’Since The Day It All Came Down’, the Finnish melodic death metal act Insomnuim unleash upon the world their own , infectious brand of death & sadness. Driving forward with this release, the long awaited follow up to the highly acclaimed debut,’In The Halls Of Awaiting’.
- Thank you very much John! It's the vocalist/bassist Niilo Sevänen here who is answering your tricky questions.
JH: Tell us a brief history of Insomnium.
- Well, this is really brief one. Band was founded 1997 when we were a bunch of high school metalheads wanting to form a fierce band. From the original line-up there are still three guys in the band: guitarist Ville Friman, drummer Markus Hirvonen and bassist/vocalist Niilo Sevänen. It took some time before we learned to play and compose properly, but in 1999 we made our first demo-cd. It received rave reviews but did not give us a deal yet. 2000 we made another demo and this time Candlelight records from UK got interested. In spring 2001 we attached guitarist Ville Vänni to the band and entered the studio in July to make our first album. "In the Halls of Awaiting" was released in April 2002 and it received mostly excellent feedback, especially in Germany, North America and Finland. We recorded this second album during the summer 2003 and now "Since the Day It All Came Down" is released.
JH: What is the meaning behind the name?
- Insomnium is a latin word and it means both nightmare and insomnia. Our lyrics are often dreamlike tales of love and death so the name fits us well.
JH: In the beginning you were a cover band?
- Well, we played first other's songs because naturally in the beginning we didn't really have own songs. But we started to make own songs right away, so I wouldn't say that we were a cover band. All young bands learn to play together by playing the songs of their favourite bands.
JH: What bands did you cover?
- Sepultura, Paradise Lost, Amorphis, Entombed.
JH: How did you come about to incorperate more melodic and sorrowful sounding parts to your music?
- It has been there ever since we started this band. Personally I have always liked metal bands that are quite melodic, I've never been into brutal death metal or grind core. Metallica was my first favourite and they have quite a lot of sorrowful acoustic parts, like in One, Fade to Black, Welcome Home, Unforgiven, To Live Is to Die etc. So I have always wanted to make music that is both furious and melodic, fierce and sorrowful.
JH: You're all very talented musicians. How long have you all been playing?
- I have played bass about ten years now. Markus has played drums and guitar ever since he was a kid, and drums more seriously about 7-8 years now. Ville Vänni has played guitar about 12 years or even more and Ville Friman something like 8-9 years.
JH: How well was your debut 'In The Halls Of Awaiting' perceived? Were sales good?
- Reviews were very good, so we were happy. Germans especially liked the first album and Americans as well. Anyway the sales haven't been that great as we have sold maybe 5000 copies so far. So we are still a challenger in this league. We do hope that the first album will now find some new buyers as the new album is receiving even better reviews than the debut.
JH: I noticed on the website there are only a number of shows , all of which are in Finland with one in Russia and one in Lithuania. Are these all the shows Insomnium has played in the past couple of years?
- We don't have an agency so getting some quality shows is hard work. So we have done maybe 4-5 shows each year. This spring and summer we'll do at least ten shows, so things are looking a bit better now.
JH: Are there plans for some more extensive touring in Europe in the works?
- Candlelight has talked about a European tour, so we'll see what happens. It would be great to make even a short tour outside Finland. England and Germany would be the first targets I presume.
JH: Are your demos still availible?
- Nope. They have all been sold a long time ago. People ask them quite a lot so maybe we invent a way how people could get them. But there are only three demo-songs that are not on the first album.
JH: How would one go about getting some?
- At the moment they are unavailable. But maybe in the future.
JH: The new album is amazing. How long was the writing/recording process?
- Thanks! Writing process took about two years. We want every song to be great so it takes a while. Recording took about 4 weeks and mixing was done during some weeks. So all in all it's a long process.
JH: I reviewed it for the site, but I would like to hear you describe it to the readers in your own words.
- Well, Insomnium combines all the best elements of Scandinavian melodic death metal and traditional Finnish tunes:) A lot of sorrowful melodies, guitar duels, soothing acoustic passages, progressive shades and changing atmospheres are the ingredients of Insomnium's music. We use lot of contrasts to create versatile, interesting songs, so the outcome is quite challenging.
JH: What do some of the lyrical contents entail?
- This new album has one story that goes from the beginning to the end. Still the lyrics are made so that each song works on its own. Our lyrics tend to be very sad ones, usually someone ends up dead:) Seriously, the main themes on this new album are death, love, loss and guilt. I don't want to reveal more since I want that people can interpret the lyrics on their own way. Explaining the lyrics too much might spoil them from others.
JH: I realize it's only been a couple of weeks,but how are the sale going so far?
- I have no idea. Reviews have been great everywhere, so we hope for the best.
JH: What types of promotions are will you be doing for it?
- We make lot of interviews all the time. So far mostly German, North American and Finnish magazines have been interested.
JH: What kinds of things do you do in the bands off time? Is there an off time?
- We are all students and some of us have part-time jobs. So that also explains why it takes time to compose new material - we are so damn busy. Other interests that I have are for example literature, movies, sports and board games.
JH: Finland has a strong metal scene. How do you feel it compares to the rest of the world?
- Finland is maybe the most "metal" country in the world. Or how should I know. But here there can be several metal albums in top10 album charts every week. And lot of new metal bands are coming all the time.
JH: How well do you all agree when it comes to the finished song writing process?
- We are a very democratic band in that respect. Each time when someone brings a new song to the rehearsals everybody will say what they think about it. And everyone's word counts. So if any riff wants to end up on some of our albums it really has to please four guys. Most of the stuff won't get through, so those tunes that are accepted have to be pretty damn good:)
JH: How much time goes into composing a typical Insomnium song?
- Process may take some months, or a few years. It depends how it is counted. I have a lot of riffs on my computer that are just waiting for a proper song. It might take a long time before there are so many same kind of parts that you can make a whole song out of them.
JH: What do you want the future to bring for Insomnium?
- We want to make better and better albums and develope our music. It would be nice to have some real success but that's not the important thing. This all is so much fun that we will keep doing this in any case. The guys in the band are my best friends and we are always having great time together. Touring Europe and America and Japan would be a dream, but we shall see what happens.
JH: Anything you would like to add?
- All friends of melodic and yet furious metal, check out our albums! Visit our website http://www.insomnium.net to download songs and see other stuff. See ya!
- Thank you very much for this interview John! Let's keep in touch! Cheers man!
