[IMGLEFT]http://www.russell.ultimatemetal.com/Interview/amon-amarth.jpg[/IMGLEFT]By Josh Phillips
Few bands in the metal arena work as hard as Amon Amarth. Perpetually on the road, storming nation after nation, it is Amon Amarth's wish to indoctrinate you all in the ways of well done melodic metal. I was able to catch up with guitarist Olavi Mikkonen after their set in Denver and here, for your viewing pleasure, is his insight into life in Amon Amarth.
Do you notice a lot of big personality differences between crowds in different parts of the world such as Sweden, the U.S., Germany, etc. and out of all of the places you’ve toured, or from viewing the number of records sold, where are you most surprised to see that the band has a large following?
No, I’m not really surprised, I’m more surprised it took such a long time. We’ve been doing this for awhile now. Crowdwise, to me, they’re all metalheads. But of course, the European crowd is more into singing along, American is more for the mosh pit, so that’s probably the biggest thing.
You guys have been touring real hard now to support each record’s release. Do you get tired of life on the road, or does it re-energize you every time you step out on stage?
Of course you miss home you know. You miss your girlfriends, families and all of that. Still, being on the road, that’s what we’ve been wanting to do for such a long time. This is the first part of the tour for the new album, so it’s fun to play the new stuff and see the reactions. It’s 50/50 you know, when you’re home, you miss the road, when your on the road, you miss home.
You’ve toured in many places and been across a good portion of the world. I recall reading in an older interview that you’d really like to get out to Japan. Is that still a goal and out of the places you’ve already been, which had the most special meaning to you to play at?
I don’t know what’s been the most special. I guess our biggest crowd is Germany, so it’s very nice to play there because there’s a lot of people and they’re all into it. Iceland, for instance, is also very cool for us. There’s nice nature and they still have the Viking thing going on there. But, I like to play everywhere.
The new album is being praised by fans new and old alike. A lot of bands who have been around long enough to release this many records tend to lose the support of their initial fanbase. What do you think Amon Amarth is doing to continue to produce the music you want and still gain more and more fans while not losing the old?
Basically because we stick to our sound. We have never tried to include any clean vocals or anything like that. Since we recorded Once Sent From the Golden Hall, we’re still doing the same style, but I hope the fans think it’s better songwriting and we’re better at playing it, but we still consider it the same style.
How old were you when you first got into extreme metal and what bands have helped influence you to create the type of music you do?
The extreme ones were definitely Sepultura's Morbid Visions and Schizophrenia and also Death's Scream Bloody Gore, but I think Death’s Leprosy was the one that really hit me. I must’ve been 14 or something like that back in ’86 or ’87.
I’ve heard the band originally formed under the name Scum. Did you have a different musical direction planned for the band, or was the name irrelevant to what direction you’d take?
I would say, that was more hardcore, but not the hardcore these days. I’m talking about the older hardcore, Cryptic Slaughter, Accused, probably D.R.I, bands like that. I was listening to a lot of that back then as well, but also a lot of metal.
Maybe like Napalm Death?
Yeah, I love Napalm Death. The name was Scum, it was spelled in Swedish, but pronounced the same and so we changed the name after Napalm Death’s Scum album came out.
Have you ever thought about doing an album with lyrics in Swedish?
No, there are a lot of bands doing it today.
You could also reach a larger audience with English lyrics, is that one reason?
Yeah, definitely and I think it would be weird to sing in Swedish.
Did they ever teach you some of these Viking legends, history and stories of the Norse Gods in school, or did you have to do all of your research independently?
Of course, we learned a little, but not that much. That’s more something you have to pick up after school.
I know most artists don’t like to choose, but if you could, is there at least one song you’ve created that you think stands above the rest, or embodies your sound and message?
I think "Death in Fire" has it all.
Amon Amarth was one of the earliest and is still one of the only bands to use viking imagery and pagan lyrics with a death metal sound. There have been a lot of bands using a black metal aesthetic paired with pagan imagery though. Why do think there aren’t as many bands playing with a more death metal oriented sound and do you listen to or keep up with that pagan black metal scene?
I don’t really know why there’s not more bands like us. I really don’t know. But no, I don’t really keep track of the black metal bands. I mean, I like a lot of Viking metal bands like Enslaved of course. If I see a new album that has something to do with Vikings, of course I check it out, but it’s not a big priority.
One of the things about Amon Amarth that has always struck me is how emotional and melodic the music is, without making a move toward acoustics, clean vocals or minimalism in the atmosphere. The lyrics convey a lot of feeling because of the subject matter and all of the instruments gel together very well. Do you have a certain theme or emotion you want to appeal to when you begin to create a song, or does it start to form more and more after the initial lyrics or riffs are written?
I think it’s a combination. When we start building a song, we don’t have the whole concept, usually we have a few ideas, both music and lyric wise and then together we build it. It’s like we’re creating a movie. To me, in all of our songs, the music is a soundtrack to the movie and the lyrics are the real movie. So when we rehearse, we sit down and talk about it, rehearse, play, sit down and talk just to create this emotional piece. Because the music and the lyrics have to go hand in hand you know.
How intertwined are the lyric writing and music writing processes? Give us an outline of what you start with when you begin to create a song and how things are built up from there if you could.
I don’t want to say we have one typical way. But with the songs I wrote, I have the main riff and usually make that first as it’s the real hook and then I try to build verses and bridges to that main riff and if we aren’t rehearsing, I send messages to Johan and send the song to him and he gets some ideas and we start bouncing ideas around and when I get more lyrics, I can write more. Then we go to the rehearsal place and get everyone involved.
In America, religion plays a big role. Most people are Christians and the religion seeps into a lot of daily interactions with people and into the government. Sweden seems to have less of a problem with this, but there are probably still instances when it occurs. As your lyrics deal a lot with the old ways and taking the land back, making things the way they were suppose to be; Are you ever inspired to write a new lyric after a certain news item or interaction with strangers, or does most of your inspiration come from the past more than the present?
I would say the inspiration from the songs is often taken from our daily lives, but they are written to fit our band theme. For instance, Fate of Norns, that song is Johan’s real emotions when he lost somebody, but it’s written in a historical context. Also, all this hate usually comes from people. The music industry is not a nice industry, there’s a lot of assholes and you get ripped off a lot if you don’t know what you’re doing. But that’s also inspiration. It draws from everything.
You’ve got six full-length albums and a DVD under your belt now and have toured and accomplished quite a lot over the last 10 years. Do you see the band still going another decade from now or is it too far away to tell?
It’s way too far to tell, but for every album we’ve released, we’ve grown as a band and we’re definitely not going to give up now. We have a very good position in Europe. We’re playing bigger venues than this on our own and selling everything out, so we have a great following there and what we want to do now is have that in America as well.
Thanks for the interview, any final comments you’d like to add?
Come out and check us live, we’re a live band. And buy the DVD!
Official Amon Amarth Website
Official Metal Blade Records Website
Few bands in the metal arena work as hard as Amon Amarth. Perpetually on the road, storming nation after nation, it is Amon Amarth's wish to indoctrinate you all in the ways of well done melodic metal. I was able to catch up with guitarist Olavi Mikkonen after their set in Denver and here, for your viewing pleasure, is his insight into life in Amon Amarth.
Do you notice a lot of big personality differences between crowds in different parts of the world such as Sweden, the U.S., Germany, etc. and out of all of the places you’ve toured, or from viewing the number of records sold, where are you most surprised to see that the band has a large following?
No, I’m not really surprised, I’m more surprised it took such a long time. We’ve been doing this for awhile now. Crowdwise, to me, they’re all metalheads. But of course, the European crowd is more into singing along, American is more for the mosh pit, so that’s probably the biggest thing.
You guys have been touring real hard now to support each record’s release. Do you get tired of life on the road, or does it re-energize you every time you step out on stage?
Of course you miss home you know. You miss your girlfriends, families and all of that. Still, being on the road, that’s what we’ve been wanting to do for such a long time. This is the first part of the tour for the new album, so it’s fun to play the new stuff and see the reactions. It’s 50/50 you know, when you’re home, you miss the road, when your on the road, you miss home.
You’ve toured in many places and been across a good portion of the world. I recall reading in an older interview that you’d really like to get out to Japan. Is that still a goal and out of the places you’ve already been, which had the most special meaning to you to play at?
I don’t know what’s been the most special. I guess our biggest crowd is Germany, so it’s very nice to play there because there’s a lot of people and they’re all into it. Iceland, for instance, is also very cool for us. There’s nice nature and they still have the Viking thing going on there. But, I like to play everywhere.
The new album is being praised by fans new and old alike. A lot of bands who have been around long enough to release this many records tend to lose the support of their initial fanbase. What do you think Amon Amarth is doing to continue to produce the music you want and still gain more and more fans while not losing the old?
Basically because we stick to our sound. We have never tried to include any clean vocals or anything like that. Since we recorded Once Sent From the Golden Hall, we’re still doing the same style, but I hope the fans think it’s better songwriting and we’re better at playing it, but we still consider it the same style.
How old were you when you first got into extreme metal and what bands have helped influence you to create the type of music you do?
The extreme ones were definitely Sepultura's Morbid Visions and Schizophrenia and also Death's Scream Bloody Gore, but I think Death’s Leprosy was the one that really hit me. I must’ve been 14 or something like that back in ’86 or ’87.
I’ve heard the band originally formed under the name Scum. Did you have a different musical direction planned for the band, or was the name irrelevant to what direction you’d take?
I would say, that was more hardcore, but not the hardcore these days. I’m talking about the older hardcore, Cryptic Slaughter, Accused, probably D.R.I, bands like that. I was listening to a lot of that back then as well, but also a lot of metal.
Maybe like Napalm Death?
Yeah, I love Napalm Death. The name was Scum, it was spelled in Swedish, but pronounced the same and so we changed the name after Napalm Death’s Scum album came out.
Have you ever thought about doing an album with lyrics in Swedish?
No, there are a lot of bands doing it today.
You could also reach a larger audience with English lyrics, is that one reason?
Yeah, definitely and I think it would be weird to sing in Swedish.
Did they ever teach you some of these Viking legends, history and stories of the Norse Gods in school, or did you have to do all of your research independently?
Of course, we learned a little, but not that much. That’s more something you have to pick up after school.
I know most artists don’t like to choose, but if you could, is there at least one song you’ve created that you think stands above the rest, or embodies your sound and message?
I think "Death in Fire" has it all.
Amon Amarth was one of the earliest and is still one of the only bands to use viking imagery and pagan lyrics with a death metal sound. There have been a lot of bands using a black metal aesthetic paired with pagan imagery though. Why do think there aren’t as many bands playing with a more death metal oriented sound and do you listen to or keep up with that pagan black metal scene?
I don’t really know why there’s not more bands like us. I really don’t know. But no, I don’t really keep track of the black metal bands. I mean, I like a lot of Viking metal bands like Enslaved of course. If I see a new album that has something to do with Vikings, of course I check it out, but it’s not a big priority.
One of the things about Amon Amarth that has always struck me is how emotional and melodic the music is, without making a move toward acoustics, clean vocals or minimalism in the atmosphere. The lyrics convey a lot of feeling because of the subject matter and all of the instruments gel together very well. Do you have a certain theme or emotion you want to appeal to when you begin to create a song, or does it start to form more and more after the initial lyrics or riffs are written?
I think it’s a combination. When we start building a song, we don’t have the whole concept, usually we have a few ideas, both music and lyric wise and then together we build it. It’s like we’re creating a movie. To me, in all of our songs, the music is a soundtrack to the movie and the lyrics are the real movie. So when we rehearse, we sit down and talk about it, rehearse, play, sit down and talk just to create this emotional piece. Because the music and the lyrics have to go hand in hand you know.
How intertwined are the lyric writing and music writing processes? Give us an outline of what you start with when you begin to create a song and how things are built up from there if you could.
I don’t want to say we have one typical way. But with the songs I wrote, I have the main riff and usually make that first as it’s the real hook and then I try to build verses and bridges to that main riff and if we aren’t rehearsing, I send messages to Johan and send the song to him and he gets some ideas and we start bouncing ideas around and when I get more lyrics, I can write more. Then we go to the rehearsal place and get everyone involved.
In America, religion plays a big role. Most people are Christians and the religion seeps into a lot of daily interactions with people and into the government. Sweden seems to have less of a problem with this, but there are probably still instances when it occurs. As your lyrics deal a lot with the old ways and taking the land back, making things the way they were suppose to be; Are you ever inspired to write a new lyric after a certain news item or interaction with strangers, or does most of your inspiration come from the past more than the present?
I would say the inspiration from the songs is often taken from our daily lives, but they are written to fit our band theme. For instance, Fate of Norns, that song is Johan’s real emotions when he lost somebody, but it’s written in a historical context. Also, all this hate usually comes from people. The music industry is not a nice industry, there’s a lot of assholes and you get ripped off a lot if you don’t know what you’re doing. But that’s also inspiration. It draws from everything.
You’ve got six full-length albums and a DVD under your belt now and have toured and accomplished quite a lot over the last 10 years. Do you see the band still going another decade from now or is it too far away to tell?
It’s way too far to tell, but for every album we’ve released, we’ve grown as a band and we’re definitely not going to give up now. We have a very good position in Europe. We’re playing bigger venues than this on our own and selling everything out, so we have a great following there and what we want to do now is have that in America as well.
Thanks for the interview, any final comments you’d like to add?
Come out and check us live, we’re a live band. And buy the DVD!
Official Amon Amarth Website
Official Metal Blade Records Website
