Sonata Arctica Interview

Interview
Tony Kakko & Henrik Klingenberg
Sonata Arctica

Lineup:
Drums: Tommy Portino
Guitar: Jani Liimatainen
Vocals: Tony Kakko
Bass: Marko Passokoski
Keyboards: Henrik (Henkka) Klingenberg

Tony Kakko of Sonata Arctica (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt)

North American Crusade 2006
Sonata Arctica
Ion Vein
Grigori 3
1/26/06
HOB
Interviewer: Karma E. Omowale
Photos: Erika Kristen Watt

“I am getting in better shape and know the things that I can do especially with my vocals.”

A dominant force in power metal for one decade (as the band formed in 1996), Sonata Arctica from Kemi, Finland is best known for their sing-songy, anthemic melodic hard-hitting tunes and are ever improving. The lads performed one hell of a set at the House of Blues earlier in the evening before this interview was conducted. Worn out after their exhausting set, vocalist Tony Kakko and keyboardist Henrik Klingenberg obliged FourteenG with this late night update into their world on their current tour, their upcoming album... Read on.

Karma: First off, thanks for doing the interview guys!

Tony & Henkka: Thank you, no problem.

Karma: Since the New Year is freshly underway, did you make any New Year’s resolutions?

Henkka & Tony: [Laughs] No!

Henkka: I don’t do those, its something you break so easily.

Karma: So true! You guys don't make it over to this part of the world much, good to have you back! Even though I know it's only the ninth date in but how's the tour going so far?

Tony: [Smiles] Great! It’s been fantastic, much better than I anticipated. We knew already that in some of the cities we would do okay from when we toured here about a year ago but Chicago was a pleasant surprise.

Karma: Oh good! I understand you have a big stance against downloading. Now is this your opposition to downloading without paying for it or do you not have an issue for paying for the right to download?

Tony: Now that’s a different thing of course. It’s the same thing as buying a CD without the CD itself.

Karma: Fair enough. What is the greatest challenge that you feel the band has been able to overcome in order to get you where you are at this point in your career?

Tony: Surviving the lifestyle, for me it’s been very difficult. It’s getting better though with each tour.

Karma: Why has it been so difficult for you in the past?

Tony Kakko of Sonata Arctica (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt) Tony: I’m in bad shape to be honest; I wasn't taking care of myself all the time. I thought I was in okay shape then I started jogging and I noticed, “Shit”… it was not good! [We all laugh]

Karma: How about you Henkka?

Henkka: With my shape? [Laughter ensues]

Karma: No…

Henkka: …So and so. When I first joined the band, I was in really good shape. I was boxing and practicing five, six times a week. [Smiles] Since then it’s been a downwards spiral. But, I think I’m in pretty good shape right now though not as good as the past few years.

Karma: Well that’s always a good thing. Now what has been your biggest challenge that you’ve needed to overcome?

Henkka: I think the main thing was to get into get into the band and on the first tour get to know everybody then after that I was okay from there.

Karma: Off the latest release Reckoning Night, as far as the artwork’s [direction – Janne “ToxicAngel” Pitkänen] concerned it is a really beautiful cover. What was your inspiration for it?

Tony: I have a lot of songs that are subjects and I gave all of the ideas to Janne which is that you see on the cover.

Karma: What’s the one question you wished someone asked you about the album that no one has asked yet?

Henkka: Where can I buy it? [We all laugh]

Karma: “The Boy Who Wanted to Be A Real Puppet”, is this a reverse Pinocchio thing?

Tony: [Smiles] Yes, exactly.

Karma: I know that “Victoria’s Secret” is not about the lingerie store, so what is it really in reference to?

Tony: Right, we have a song with a title that everybody recognizes and knows about it, so it gets their attention. It’s got the name and it gets people attention… [Snaps finger, raises his eyebrow and laughs]

Karma: What’s been the biggest lesson learned thus far after releasing four albums? Which lesson will you not repeat?

Henkka: Nothing!

Tony: Hmm…maybe you don’t have to sing as high as you can all of the time. We are gradually learning because there’s no way I can do that live, it’s just not comfortable to [imitates himself hitting high note quietly]. Now at the same time I am getting in better shape and know the things that I can do especially with my vocals.

Erika: What have you learned about your vocals? I mean have you ever had vocal training before?

Tony: No, no.

Erika: Really? You can hold some really heavy notes! [Laughter ensues] What have you learned as far as your temperament and in how you sing. Is it difficult for you to implement what you’ve done on your records into your live set?

Tony: Well it’s actually quite the opposite especially for the next album, it always goes like that. We have about 160 shows plus and I am sure you will hear it on the next album.

Henkka: And he’s growing up to be a man! [We all laugh]

Karma: Off the subject of music, what are your views on the States? Not so much a Henrik Klingenberg of Sonata Arctica (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt) bout politics but from a societal standpoint?

Tony: People are much easier to get along [with] here. People speak English better than I do which is not as bad…unless you need something and you don’t know how to ask for it.

Henkka: It’s okay if you ask somebody in the band then we get people that you work with and you actually need to find out stuff like where toilet is or something like that. I mean we know all of this now but that sometimes happens when you don’t understand English and people can’t speak the language we speak.

Tony: You have some huge stores here like Wal-Mart and you have those everywhere and we may be have one.

Karma: Are there any new bands on the horizon that you'd like to see blow-up next, asides from yourselves that we should be on the lookout for?

Tony: Hmmm…

Henkka: Machine Men, maybe.

Tony: Yeah, the lead singer looks like Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden.

Henkka: [Chuckles]

Karma: Are they also from Finland?

Tony: Yes.

Karma: Speaking of blowing up, which genre will be the next biggest wave?

Erika: And do you see yourselves in a particular genre come to think of it?

Tony: We’re sick of it because have been put in power metal for so long now…

Henkka: …and we don’t want to be a part of that.

Karma: Where do you see yourselves then?

Henkka & Tony: Metal, heavy metal.

Tony: Metal has such a wide range of different styles and in our music.

Karma: Since you covered a Helloween song [“I Want Out”], if you could commission a band to do a Sonata Arctica cover, who would do it and which song would it be?

Tony: Hmm.

Henkka: Wow.

Tony: I’d like to work with “Shamandalie” with Tomas [Lindberg]…

Henkka: …I’d like to see something like Soilwork or In Flames doing a cover of our songs. [Smiles]

Karma: Which song would you have them do?

Henkka: Hmm, maybe they could do “Dream Thieves”.

Karma: What does the future hold for Sonata Arctica? Especially with the new record in the works…

Tony: Yeah, I’ve written two new songs at the moment and for the lyrics…we have about six songs at the moment. We’re halfway there. This tour ends in late August in Europe and then we’ll have one month off and we can continue writing songs. I think the album should be out in the springtime, maybe April or May in 2007.

Henrik Klingenberg of Sonata Arctica (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt)

Henkka: That’s a long time away! [We all chuckle]

Karma: I heard that you had an ode to vodka for your outro in tonight’s show. [Laughter fills the room] So what’s your favorite vodka?

Henkka: Hmm…I like Finlandia, they should sponsor us…PLEASE!! [Laughs]

Karma & Erika: There you go!

Karma: Here’s a little bit of a role reversals, if your job was to interview bands, whom would you interview and what would be the one thing you’d want to know about them?

Tony: [Countenance deadpans] I could have had all day and still couldn’t have prepared for that question…. [Laughs]

Henkka: [Laughs] Yeah! Well I could I think I could interview Strapping Young Lad and I am sure I would come up with some stupid questions for them to answer.

Tony: [All attention diverts to him] I’m still thinking! [Laughs] Oh man, System of A Down.

Karma: Okay, final stop, do you have any final words or special messages to your fans?

Tony: Hopefully everybody and anyone who reads this we will like for you to come and see our shows naturally! It’s the one thing that makes possible for bands like us to tour on the North American continent. Because it had been impossible for us like earlier, the past five years or so ago. This is a new thing for us.

Henkka: And actually it’s a new market for us and we’re really not really making any profit from this tour so we need EVERYBODY [laughs] and would like for everybody to come out. And for those of you who came out, big thank you! See you next time.

Karma: Kiittääs!

Henkka: [Smiles] Kiittääs!

Tony: Ole hyvä! [Smiles]

I'd like to thank Tony & Henkka for interviewing with us, to the band's tour manager, and to the wonderful PR Dept at Nuclear Blast for setting it up.

Click here or the photos to access review/pix of tonight's show