Hello, Henrik! How are you? How's the weather in Kemi?
Hi, Marina! Everything's good. The weather is quite nice and much better than it was a couple of days ago - it was raining and really cold. How are you?
Everything's fine too, even though we haven't really had a summer this year. Let's start our conversation - my first question is about your new album, of course. Tell me, how is it?
Well... we're releasing a new album after a long break. It was a good chance for us to relax, and then after some time we returned to the studio and started writing new songs.
Great! And now you're starting a promo tour with Dragonforce. What do you expect from it?
Well, this tour is very important for us. Dragonforce is a good band and they play bigger venues than we usually do. So let's see what happens. We're very excited!
Can you compare this new album with your previous ones? Maybe you've changed something in the sound?
Yes, if you compare it with the other albums, you'll notice a lot of new sounds. Compared to the deep and complex "Unia", we kept some things, drew on our experience from earlier works, but also used new approaches, mixing new sounds with previous ones. We used a lot of orchestral sounds on this album. So it's going to be something new combined with something old as well.
A couple of words about your last single - why did you decide to ask your fans to create the cover for "The Last Amazing Grays"?
Well, it was our idea. First we thought about asking our fans to make a cover for the album, but then we decided to do it for the single and the other stuff instead. We felt it would be right to let our fans design the cover. It's also a great opportunity for them to become a part of SONATA ARCTICA's history. A lot of fans took part in this small competition, and it was great to receive so many different covers. It was really hard for us to choose just one.
I can see you enjoyed the process! And by the way, all of your album covers are very distinctive and recognisably Sonata's. How do you create your covers?
Well, first we come up with an idea for the cover. We describe it to our designer - some variants, etc. Of course, we don't design it from start to finish ourselves. But while the designer is working, he shows us drafts and we give him suggestions.
OK, and a typical question - what do you expect from the release of your new album?
Well... it's always difficult to say what we expect from it. We hope that people will like it. Now everything is ready and... we'll see what happens. It's very interesting to find out what people will say - hopefully they'll like it! That's the most important thing for us.
Are you going to have any surprises for fans who come to see your promo tour?
Of course, we always have something new for our fans, and there will be a few things this time. We'll play some old songs that we haven't played for a very long time, plus we have a new stage setup and some other things.
Do you have a place in the world where you'd like to start your new tour and where you'd like to finish it?
I... I don't care where the tour begins - I mean, it WILL start somewhere - but it would be nice if... of course, it was really nice ending the last tour in russia, but I'd be very enthusiastic about ending it in Finland, and if I could choose a city, it would be at home in Kemi.
Do you think your album "The Days of Grays" will match the success of "Unia"? Do you hope to add another gold record to your discography?
Ha-ha... of course I'd like to have another gold CD in my collection. And of course we hope, when we're making a new album, that as many people as possible will like it. We're doing the best we can and we'll see how far we can go with it. I really hope people will like it even more than "Unia", but we'll see what happens.
Do you hope to gain some new fans with "The Days of Grays"? And what should your ideal fan look like?
Yes, of course I always hope to find new fans. Honestly, I don't care what our fans look like - I don't care if they're old or young, girls or boys... it really doesn't matter. Of course, when we play shows it's nicer to look at girls (laughing), but anybody who loves our music is welcome at our shows. It really doesn't matter to us. Some bands, you know, really don't like teenagers listening to them - we don't care! I don't care if you're 5 years old or 50 years old. If you like our music, then... that's great!
Do you have a favourite song from "The Days of Grays"? Maybe we should pay more attention to one particular song?
I think you should pay attention to whichever song speaks to you personally. But for me, I like "Deathaura" because it conveys a lot of different emotions and has a lot of interesting things going on. So right now it's probably my favourite on the album, followed by "The Truth Is Out There".
How difficult was it for you to record "The Days of Grays"?
Ohhh, we didn't really have any problems - it was just six weeks of really hard work. At first there was a lot of stuff to learn, and then we arranged it all. We worked really hard during those weeks, but I mean, that's the way it should be if you want to come up with something good.
OK, and apart from the album, what do you personally prefer - touring or the studio?
If I had to choose, I'd choose touring. Of course, since I have a family, it's important for me to be at home, but I really like to tour because I love the shows, I love seeing people enjoying themselves. On the nights we're playing, we have a lot of energy, and we do the best we can, and people appreciate it. Playing live is the thing I enjoy the most.
OK, but for example, if you have like 15-20 venues on a tour and you're moving from city to city, seeing a huge number of different faces, hearing a ton of (mostly the same) questions... don't you get tired of it?
Not really, because on one hand it's really interesting to see that no matter where you go, people are somewhat the same. Of course they have different hair colour or skin colour, they speak different languages, but emotionally a lot of people are the same. Of course sometimes you get bored and homesick, but I'll tell you the worst thing about touring - it's when you're on a bus for three weeks, or taking a plane, or waiting for a plane, or going by train. The travelling is the worst part.
Is it fun touring with SONATA ARCTICA? Do you have good parties?
Yeah, we used to party really hard. And it's still not too bad now - we like to have a few drinks after the show, sometimes maybe more than a few (ha-ha). It wasn't that intense on the last tour, but of course when you play a show almost every day, you can't party every night. Every couple of days we have something after the show. But for example, Tony doesn't party if we have a show the next day because he needs a lot of energy. As for me, Elias and Marko, we can have a party because we don't lose as much, but of course we need to rest as well. And for Tommy, since he plays drums and it takes a lot out of him physically, he's also careful. I mean, this is our job and we can't mess it up just because we partied too hard the night before.
And lastly, are you going to come to russia with "Days of Grays"?
Yeah, we're coming to russia, and of course it took us 10 years to get there - that's a shame! We enjoyed visiting your country on the last tour and we'll return at some point next year. Actually, I know when we're coming, but I can't say yet. We'll be there pretty soon though. It's going to be a couple of shows.
OK, thank you very much, Henrik, for such an interesting conversation. Good luck with your promo tour, and we hope to see you in moscow very soon!
I'm looking forward to coming back soon - we had a really good time in russia. Thank you all and see you very soon at our shows. Thank you, Marina! See you soon. Take care!
We extend our gratitude to Alexei Kuzovlev and the Irond label for organizing this interview.