Greetings. Could you please get us acquainted with the latest news
from AS DIVINE GRACE if there’re any?

- Well, we finally got a basist into our band, his name is Marko Taipale. This way Jukka Sillanpää can concentrate only on the keyboard. We've got eight new songs ready, actually me and Sami Långsjö composed yesterday another new song. Next time we have a practice with the whole band we're gonna arrange it and then we have nine new A.D.G songs! If everything goes well, we'll be able to start recording a new album in autumn.

Unfortunately, I have only promo of “Supremature”, however it’s enough to ask this question: looking at the front and back covers of this effort, something makes me to assume that these are not just the pictures you have used occasionally… Let me suppose that someone of those involved in AS DIVINE GRACE is responsible for some weird kind of visual concept…

- The truth is that none of us in the band has been responsible for the covers. My brother Sami Ala-Miekkaoja took all the pictures, so the covers are all from his point of view. We gave him the freedom to do his kind of covers that would anyway reflect our music and the are absolutly gorgeous. I think that Sami is one of the best and talented cover designer. He's already concentrating on our next covers.

Why did you stop collaborating with your former label, Folter Records? Joerg blamed everything on the band who changed it’s musical direction, however let me wonder about YOUR point of view.

- The reason our co-operation ended with Joerg was quite natural and painless. When Hanna Kalske became our singer, it gave us the possibilities to develop our music into a whole new level, in my opinion. With Avantgarde everything has worked out really well. We collaborate with them constantly. But of course we still are gratefull to Joerg that he published  our first album.

How would you comment the musical evolvement of AS DIVINE GRACE throughout years?

- A lot of evolvement has happened in ADG during the years. When we started as a band twenty-year old young man, me, Sami Långsjö, Jari Mäkiranta and Matti Tuohimaa. PARADISE LOST's album called "Gothic" gave us our musical direction at that time. It was the kind of music we wanted to do: melancolic and beatiful. Our first album, Romantic beautitude of faded down was basic metal music, i guess we were still searching for our own style. While practicing Lumo- songs we decided that we would have to change the singing style in order to be able to show people that were not the same as the other "gothic" bands. We wanted to create a style and sound of our own. When Jukka Sillanpää joined the band our sound became "wider", because of his great knowledge of tecnichal things and Jukka is very good player also. But betting a female singer in the band had always been our "dream". When Hanna Kalske joined the band it gave us the possibility to develop. As me and Sami have from the beginning composed all the songs of ADG, the development of our playing skills also done our music better and got it further. And hopefully were now only in the beginning of our evolvement.

Who’s responsible for adding female voice to your band’s sound and further making it a leading one? Where did you find Hanna? Does she have any classical education?

- Hanna had boasted about her singing skills to one of our good  friend and then he told us about it. Me and Sami decided to give her a try to sing with the band as we had the music of "Lumo" almost ready. She sang a short melody and right away we knew that we wouldn`t have to keep searching for a female voice. She has some kind of musical education but i think that she has been "studying" music by her own.

Where have you recorded both, “Lumo” and “Supremature”?

- "Lumo" (album published in 1997) was recorded in Pori, in my home town. "Supremature" (made in 1999) was also recorded in Pori but in an old villa on the seacoast. We used Jukka`s equipment in both recordings. Jukka recorded the bass at his home in Sauvo and vocals were recorded in Turku in a studio called Musamuusa. Also the mixing was made by this studio and that might have been our greatest mistake during the recording sessions. Maybe the stuff there is professional but they had no clue how to mix our kind of music; they were totally lost. Our first and last time using that firm! Anyway we want our next album recorded and produced by on outsider.

Do you believe that some kind of living spirit lives within man? If the answer is “yes”, what is it to you?

- I have to admit that personally i don`t believe in any kind of spiritual things. I´ve got my feet firmly on the ground!

Are you a religious person? Would you like to comment anything on the greatest myth of our time, the myth of “god”? What are the reasons for it growing so strong with centuries passing; even now, the hi-tech era, the era which should signify pure atheism with itself, even now many of us believe if some sort of supreme being… you know, sometimes I can’t stand this, crying out “where’s your logic, men?!” inside myself…

- As i just said, i´m not really interested in those kind of things. But if people want to believe in something so be it. I just thing that it´s always personal thing and thats why people should keep their convictions to their selves.

What are thoughts upon all kinds of genetic experiments as well as cloning living creatures?

- I do approve genetically manipulated food and of course allmost everything that has something to do in curing people from terrible deceases. But kloning animals is totally innecessary and sick. Who knows maybe someone is even trying to klone a human being somewhere, right now.

Do you know anything regarding Russia? What is your attitude to the country of mine as well as it’s people? Any Russian bands you’ve heard lately?

- We do follow things that happen in Russia all the time on TV, not only because of our countries common history. And actually my greatest idols in ice hockey (as well as Sami's) during my childhood were russians like Makarov, Krutov, Larionov, Fetisov, Kasatonov... One day I just heard some Russian technoband's music and an interview on radio and it sounded quite interesting. I just missed the band's name...

Any final words you’d like to share with us?

- To my final words I'd say that listen to good music! And the easiest way to find good music is to listen to AS DIVINE GRACE!

AS DIVINE GRACE contact -
Email: asdivinegrace@destool.com