Few words about your music... Can you tell our readers what CRIMSON
MIDWINTER is all about?

- CRIMSON MIDWINTER is about playing and performing aggressive, catchy and atmospheric metal music which hopefully creates different kind of moods and opinions among the listeners. Exclusively, of course...

A lot of changes occured in both, music and lyrics, of your band... Songs became more Norse and less symphonic with the complete lack of keyboards, while lyrics aren't so mystical anymore - now they deal mainly with anti-christian attitude - no more romanticism, no more nature's dark descriptions... Do you consider it as a natural progression or it was some kind of other thing that forced you to change CRIMSON MIDWINTER into completely different band? Don't you think that rejecting synths you're moving to deliberate regress?

- Hmmm, now you have completely misunderstood some things. First of all, we haven't rejected synths, we just couldn't record them on the promo tape which we made in our rehearsal in about 2 hours in the beginning of summer, mainly to get to listen how the new songs would sound like. The recording of this promo was more or less a failure, since we couldn't handle properly the 8-tracker we were using. On the forthcoming debut album some synth parts will be added to the first song on the promo (the other two are not going to be included on the CD). Secondly, I don't think my newer lyrics are dealing with any kind of anti-christian topics, where the hell did you get that? Also I think that there are already enough bands writing about nature's beauty, winter's coldness and so on and also I think I don't have anything new to bring to that kind of lyrics at the moment. So, I want to write my own kind of lyrics, which please myself, and they don't need to be any fantasized visions or "weather forecasts" to be appropriate for a CRIMSON MIDWINTER song. Now, synths are not forgotten in the upcoming songs and my lyrics are not specially anti-christian, so your question has no meaning anymore. It's only life, making mistakes and correcting them!

"Us Mere Mortals" was an excellent tape, and it's very strange that no label was interested in signing your band right after it was out...

- Actually two record labels were interested in releasing our debut album back then after hearing the demo. Unfortunately neither of them didn't offer a deal which we would have been satisfied with, so the both offers were turned down after a couple of negotiations between band members and label /  band.  We didn't demand big amounts of cash, royalties, etc., but just wanted to be secure and certain about the deal, which wasn't possible when reading the offers of these two labels. Promises in letters are not the same as terms in signed contracts, if you know what I mean... The other label's offer wasn't good enough because of this and the another couldn't have paid our studio expenses beforehand, which is the least a label should do for a band to show its reliability and will to support the new signed band.

Tell me more about your deal with Black Mark... This label doesn't have a lot of BM bands, therefore can you tell me the reasons why Boss decided to sign your band?

- Our song "Utopia Falls" was featured in Black Mark's compilation CD "Out Of The Box", released in Summer 1997, and 'cause Black Mark received so much positive response and great feedback of our appearance on the compilation, the label / Boss wanted to give us a chance to release our debut CD under the sign of the Black Mark (have I heard that before?). Although it's quite "safe" decision for Black Mark to sign a band after having received the listeners' opinions, I'm still very satisfied with this deal. The deal is for one year only (a testing time, I would say) and one full length CD. We have a reasonable budget big enough to cover the studio costs + making a sketch (or something like that) for the CD booklet. Naturally the distribution net of Black Mark is very wide and our CD will be spread throughout the heavy metal listening planet (almost...), hopefully we'll also get some other support in form of advertisements, promotion, etc. NECROPHOBIC is the only band from the darker side, which I can recall to be on Black Mark. I don't consider CRIMSON MIDWINTER a black metal band, so Black Mark still doesn't have any BM-bands (if you don't count BATHORY's first albums), which is not a disadvantage in my opinion.

You're the only one left from the original CRIMSON MIDWINTER's lineup, why?

- Another mistake, although it's probably caused by me, sorry! On the
cover of our first demo Kukko and Jaska played guitars, but actually Kukko is / was just Jari's nickname and Jaska - Jaakko's.  Understood? Our former bassist Mikko left the band because he didn't want to play that kind of stuff anymore and Teppo was kind of kicked out 'cause he wasn't really a metal drummer, but just the only guy we knew at that time who could play drums somehow. Sami left the drummer's place after having played with us less than year, cause he began his military service and also lost his interest in playing in any band or participating more or less actively in the metal underground scene.

One of your brand new songs is called "Our Bastard Race", hence it seems that you're not of very good opinion about mankind. Would you like to tell me what is the main reason, justifying your hate geared towards humanity? Do you hate yourself also (for being human)?

- No, I'm not actually hating mankind for anything, it would be only a waste of time. Sometimes (rarely) I feel pity or sorry for the amount of stupidity on this planet, but mostly I don't give a fuck about some trendy fashion fakes or other scum. Mankind consists too much of worthless assholes, that's a fact (in my point of view) (in mine too - ED), but why should I show them any interest if there's not need to? Sometimes I feel quite pissed off, but other times happy, so there's some balance in my life, I think, although it's like racing a roller coaster sometimes. I have also my depressive times when I'm feeling down, sad or just pissed off with something, myself included sometimes. But life won't be worth living if I hated myself, although I'm forced to be a part of this bastard, self-destructing race. There are people, actually more than you'd probably except, who deserve to be trusted, being friend with, loved and respected, so minority of humanity consists of truly respectable and great persons, although I don't naturally know every fucking person on Tellus.

Your vocals are very interesting in my view... Who influenced your singing style? Is it hard to scream that way? What about using clean vocals, can your manage it?

- Interesting in what way? (original, memorable and non-typical - ED) Nobody / thing has influenced my screaming style (I prefer calling it screaming rather than singing...) Sometimes it's hard to yell my hellspells, if I'm having a hangover or feeling tired otherwise, but normally it's pretty natural, so to say. Whether some mindless savage screaming is natural or not, decide for yourself...  Naturally my throat is sometimes a bit sore after rehearsals or gigs, but as a little time goes by, it's ok again. I don't think I could handle doing clean vocals properly without going to singing lessons for awhile, but at least at the moment there's no need for clean vocals in CRIMSON MIDWINTER songs. Of course I do some whispering and speech parts for the old and newer songs if needed and that's not a problem for me, but I can't manage real singing anyway.

What CRIMSON MIDWINTER means to you? Did you start the band just for
playing music you like, or it's something more...?

- We started just for playing the music we like, were pretty enthusiastic and more or less unskilled. The beginning wasn't easy, but after we got our first demo tape out, things somehow started to move faster, and now we're on the edge of another change in CRIMSON MIDWINTER's career. For me CRIMSON MIDWINTER is an important part of life, it gives me pleasure to write and arrange lyrics for our songs but most of all I enjoy raging and screaming live on stage, which hasn't occurred too many times so far, unfortunately. Hopefully this situation will change when we have the debut CD out.

Tell me about your beliefs... What do you think about religion in the
whole? Aren't all kinds of it are just a trap for free minded personality?

- I don't have any kind of life code or way of life, whatever you wanna call it. At least I think so. I just wanna live my life mostly the way I want to, having good relationships and contacts with people I respect and like, listening to heavy fucking metal 'til old-age deafness and having a good time once in a while. If that can be called some kind of belief, so be it. I don't waste my time thinking about which religion would be better than the others, or does there exist some kind of higher force ("may the Force be with you"... heh, heh...) or godly being. That can possibly never be proved, so why bother disturbing my already poor brain cells pondering what the hell is going on if anything. Religions and beliefs which can be compared to religion are mostly worthless bullshit, which more or less enslave the follower of the sect, cult or group. Also many religions base their beliefs and dogmas on ancient or at least very old writings and cannot offer anything new, just following the same old crap which has been written god knows (or not) when, where and how.

What about Finnish black metal mafia? Do you have any information
concerning them?

- I heard about that a year or two ago, but so far nothing seems to have happened. At least to my knowledge. I'm not so fond with an idea of some "evil" penguin faced BM-lords forming a circle or mafia which fights against every other forms of underground music (that's what I understood it would have been about...) The metal underground needs unification, supporting and loyalty, not backstabbing or childish bad talking about everyone who's not considered a "true" black metaller (whatever that means anyway?).

Do you consider your music as original? Can you name few bands who
influenced you and your musical taste? Are there any? And what about
other, non-musical inspirations?

- Although I have nothing to do with creating CRIMSON MIDWINTER's music, I could say that we actually are pretty original band. We mix aggressive, blackish parts with heavy thrashing riffs and rhythms in our own way, although some influences can be heard here and there. I'm not saying we're doing something highly unique or world-changing, but for me (and us) the CRIMSON MIDWINTER stuff is original and fucking great! As Jari does all the riffs and song structures for the band, I cannot exactly tell you what influences him most. Maybe you can get some kind of picture if I name some of his fave bands (although that necessarily doesn't mean that he's influenced by them in any way): SAMAEL, EMPEROR, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, NAPALM DEATH (oh, no! - ED), MORBID ANGEL, ENSLAVED and so on. About non-musical inspirations I can't tell anything for him or for me. It's a fact that there are always subconscious influences and things that inspire you, but I can't now say anything that would inspire my lyric writing except my own mind(lessness).

A lot of modern BM bands say that their main musical influences are old black / thrash bands like BATHORY, SODOM, BULLDOZER, etc... Aren't they following a new trend, saying this? I don't think that SODOM or DESTRUCTION are (were) such great bands... They were first, that's right. But it's the only positive thing, regarding them. Any comments?

- I like many of the old bands too, have always done, since I started to listen to metal in '89 or so. Yes, it's true that the songs and albums of the '80s heavy / thrash / death bands weren't so brilliant concerning the quality of production or playing skills, but that awesome heavy metal feeling and neverending enthusiasism was / is so incredibly great! Just look at the debut album of POSSESSED, "Seven Churches": the guys were fucking teenagers when they recorded that album, wrote silly-evil lyrics and looked like the bastard sons of Devil Himself. But, they were among the first extreme metal bands, they got the feeling of METAL! Of course I also listen to many newer bands and like lots of them, but I hopefully always keep those first, legendary albums in my album collection. On our album you'll see some truly pompous and cliche heavy metal lyrics in one of our songs, which I just wanted to write to show my feelings and respect towards the creators and forefathers of heavy metal. Leather & metal, perkele!

IMPALED NAZARENE seem to be the most popular Finnish BM band nowadays
(although I am not that sure that they deserve to be called as black
metal)... Are they really worth this popularity, how do you think?

- At least IMPALED NAZAREBE, or mainly their vocalist Mika Luttinen, have created very extreme image and showed that with sometimes even stupid fuck-you-attitude can rise a band to that high level, when talking about album sales and popularity among the metal scene around the world.

The above-mentioned band (IMPALED NAZARENE) dedicated one of their songs (entitled "Winter War") to the red scum and I believe that Russians were implied under these words... Pretty foolish step - if some communistic scum began this war and oppressed Finland in some ways, does it mean that I, modern Russian man, born more than forty years later, am in charge for this? I am not fucking responsible for that war and it's extremely foolish to blame it on me and modern Russia!!!  For example, I don't have anything against today's Germany, despite that Germans killed millions of Russian men, burnt our cities and thrust my country far behind the limits of civilized European norms of development. But it was a long, long ago and
modern Germans are not guilty in Hitler's insanity - it would be just
stupid to curse them because of the events, which took place five decades ago... Do you agree with me? (I hope you do!)

- Yes, I agree with you. Today's Russian people are certainly not
responsible for the shots in Mainila, that started the war between Finland and Russia in 1939, so I don't really understand why someone is blaming the Russians of today for the things happened back then. No reason at all.

What is the principal thought behind your lyrics? Is there anything
special, that you try to express through them?

- Strangely, I usually notice the topic in my lyrics after I've written some part of them or when they are almost complete. I just write something that goes through my mind, without sitting down to plan to use a certain topic in the next lyrics I'm going to start to write. The words and sentences just flow on the paper and afterwards I can see the result which I'm either satisfied with or not. I think my lyrics express pretty much myself, my thoughts and personality, although it's not intentional by any means. It just happens to be that way. Of course, you can find some hints of my personal opinions about different things from the lyrics, but that's quite inevitable anyway. Nobody can write lyrics or whatever without putting a piece of him / herself to it.

The following question divides in two parts - a) Can you name any new
Finnish bands, who will definitely make a boost on BM scene in the near future? b) You will record your debut CD in Egotrippi Studio, the same place where THROES OF DAWN recorded their "Pakkasherra"... Do you know this band and if yes, what do you think of them?

- a) CHILDREN OF BODOM may probably be pretty known name after a while, since they've just released their debut CD on Spinefarm and thus following the steps of THY SERPENT. CHILDREN OF BODOM isn't actually a black metal band, but their music has elements from BM too, screamy vocals, wonderful use of keyboards and so on.
  b) Yes, I know THROES OF DAWN. I have known them since their first demo, which already showed some potential to become more than just a demo band, although they are not my personal faves. They play their style well. I haven't heard their debut CD, but the promo with the same name, and it sounded allright to me. I don't understand why they use corpse paint on stage, cause their current style sounds more melodic heavy metal with aggressive touch (and vocals) added.

What about sado-masochistic stuff in black metal? Do you appreciate this, or not?

- I think S/M-stuff is more funny and hilarious than to be taken
seriously, especially when connected to music. Thus, I don't especially appreciate it. Anyway, some sick, perverse images, lyrics and outfits bring some nice stale air to this blackish freshness, when bands like IMPALED NAZARENE take it to the extreme.

Euronymous vs. Grishnackh...?

- I don't care so much about these stupid happenings in Norway few years ago. It seems like there has been too much drunken stupidity and jealousy over there.

Are you into Finnish mythology, national books like Kalevala, Kanteletar and such...? Are you interested in the history of your country? Have you heard anything about Slavonic mythology?

- I haven't read Finnish or any other mythology and I don't know why I should have, cause that kind of things doesn't interest me so much. In general, I don't have time to read so much, except for some school books.

War. Some individuals praise it, others refuse it even as a fact... Your opinion? Would you agree with me, if I say that war will exist until the last human being turns into oblivion?

- Naturally, only humans start wars. Wars are inevitable as long as human race walks on earth and sow the seeds of hate. But, that last one couldn't battle against anyone anymore... The only positive thing in war is that some worthless scumbags get killed, but at the same time the ones who'd deserve to continue living die in senseless bombings and assaults. I cannot understand anyone who is praising war, have they ever thought how it would be if, f.ex., World War III would begin some day? Would it be so fucking cool in the middle of bullets and missiles? And when you come home, there's no place to return anymore, cause your whole hometown has been destroyed and your close friends and relatives killed, raped or seriously injured... War raises bitter hate, which leads to another battle. However, although a some kind of war or rebellion is going on every day somewhere on this planet, I don't pay so much attention to them or think about the destruction and the loss of life occurring during the battles, cause it doesn't help anyone. Wars are the spawn of mankind's sickness.

What is your personal view, regarding such feeling as love? Do you agree with those individuals who accept it as something that modern man can't live without?

- If someone says that he / she can live without love all his life, it's a lie in my opinion. Everyone needs at least some kind of care from somebody else, and suffocating one's feelings is also useless but most of all dangerous. Love and caring give person a feeling of security, worth and dignity. Without love a person turns cold inside and harms only oneself, although one ignores the fact that love (in some form) is needed by every living human being. What is love, is a matter of personal opinions and experiences, but in any case, some kind of caring is needed, although this need is not so easily shown.

A lot of black metal bands praise winter and you are not an exception. What is so exciting in this time of the year?

- Do I praise winter? Hmmm, I don't think so (and what about your band's name? - ED). Maybe you can get that kind of opinion when reading some of the first demo's lyrics, but they are more or less just imaginative tales about some visions that went through my mind when I wrote the lyrics for the first demo. Also, I don't think winter is anything special, exciting at least. It's fucking cold, you freeze to the bone and stumble through a chilly snowstorm - it's anything but exciting or great experience. Of course nature is very beautiful during winter, but I don't care going out to the woods admiring the silently falling snowflakes or pines dressed in white just because trying to get some inspiration from there. Flu is something you get easier (exactly! - ED). Just praise the powers of winter and wander in the eternal coldness if you want to, while I prefer staying at home and listening to RUNNING WILD.

Do you have any side-projects?

- I don't have any. Atte, the drummer, plays also in SHADOWS OF SUNSET (MCD out soon, check it out) and our bassist plays guitar and bass in a band called UNHOLA (one demo out) and he has also some kind of project called MOONRISE (released one demo to my knowledge).

Many today's BM bands use some female vocals, drummachine, some unusual instruments (saxophone, trumpet, clavecin, etc.) - aren't you going to follow the same path to make CRIMSON MIDWINTER's creations more diverse? Or you prefer to keep to traditional way?

- The only instrument apart from the traditional metal instruments is the synth / keyboards, which are added to the songs to give some more
atmosphere to them. We'll probably recruit a permanent keyboard player after we've recorded the album, don't know yet. If you mix too many instruments into one song, it could probably sound very diverse and original, but at the same time there's a danger that the song becomes like a puzzle with too many pieces. And if all these pieces cannot be combined to a perfect unity, result isn't so great as planned before. Some unusual instruments sound pretty cool sometimes in metal songs, but too much too often is not good in my opinion. There are bands that don't use any kind of additional instruments on their recordings, but still manage to create really great and classic songs.

Last crimson spells?

- If you snail-mail me, try to enclose an I.R.C., cause I'm not a rich son of a bitch. All letters and messages are answered some day anyway. I have also always some demos and CD's for sale, so if someone's interested, ask about them. Cheers and thanks Kai, for this interview, which was truly above average (only 'above average', huh? ;)) - ED). I wish to greet all my pals and people who've supported us in any way. In union we stand!, metal forever! and stuff like that. Respect yourselves.

CRIMSON MIDWINTER
c/o Jussi Helenius
Herastuomarinkatu 4 as. 17
21200 Raisio
Finland
metalglory@hotmail.com
(NOT in summer!)
fax: +358-2-4371877