Since James recently reviewed the new album, he was keen to have a chat with Sami from the band to discover a bit more about the creative and technical process:
You’re gearing up to release the brand new album, Two Paths. How do you feel the response has been so far?
There are only a few reviews out there and they have been very positive plus all comments from journalists have really surprised us, also in a positive way! It’s been interesting to hear which songs work best for every person and on Two Paths there are several songs that people like instantly instead of the album having just one or two “hit songs”. As a musician this is really rewarding to hear because every song is equally valuable to us.
You also recently released a new music video. Would I be correct in saying that Tuomas from Wolfheart/One Man Army worked with you guys on that? If so, how was it working with him?
You are right. It was really cool to work with Tuomas. We had a meeting where we brainstormed with our ideas and a few days later he sent a raw script and things just went naturally from shooting the video and editing it to the final form. He is really nice person to work with and I’m sure we will do something together in the future too.
What made you guys decide to record the new album on tape?
Simple answer would be the superior sound compared to digital recording but we also wanted to have as live feeling on this album as possible without any unnecessary editing so this recording method served this purpose well also. It was a really relieving experience to go back to the roots and I’m sure we will continue on this path in the future.
What equipment did you use for the new album in terms of basses, amps etc.
We used Ibanez guitars and basses, EHV and Mesa Boogie amps, Sans Amp distortion for bass, Roland digital accordion and Pearl drums. Our usual gear but also numerous acoustic instruments.
Aside from the currently announced tours, what are the bands plans for the next 6 months?
I would say that the next two years are going to be very busy touring wise around the world but we are already working on the material for the next album, planning the next DVD and at some point I’m sure we will do more of these acoustic gigs that we did in 2016, so it’s going to be busy times ahead but since we love to play live, we can’t complain.
Are there any plans to do a fully acoustic tour soon?
Of course now we focus on promoting Two Paths but let’s see if there is interest for promoters abroad to have us doing an acoustic tour, we are totally up for it!
If there was one thing you wanted to be remembered for aside from music, what would you want that to be?
Like all of us; from our deeds and not hollow words.
Describe yourself in 3 words and then the band in 3 words.
Me: patient, escapist, black humour lover
Band: integrity, borderless, black humour lovers
Two Paths is released on the 15th September via Metal Blade Records