Charon
By Melanie Haack
With their third album Downhearted they are finally on a European tour and therefore for the first time on German stages: CHARON accompanied NIGHTWISH during their journey through all those concert locations in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Spain. In between a stop at Summer Breeze and at the Metalfest in Vienna,and then the tour went on. It started on August the 20th - now they are back at home.
Gothic metal or gothic rock might be a good term for their music. Gothic metal that sometimes reminds of SENTENCED, sometimes of HIM, but still captures their own style. And where else should the band with frontman Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto come
from than from Finland? Melodic, catchy, hard and sometimes aggressive - that's the way they sound. But one thing can't be forgotten: the melancholic and dark atmosphere finnish bands are known for ...and of course, the deep emotions that fill the songs.
Their first album Sorrowburn was released at the end of 1998, Tearstained about one year later. Then they changed their label and went to Spinefarm (Finnish) after having tried it with Emancipation Productions and DieHard Records (both Danish). Downhearted was released in their home country at the end of 2001 and went straight to number three of the official Finnish charts. Unfortunately, the Germans had to wait for that album until the beginning of September: When CHARON signed the deal with Spinefarm they couldnt conclude a licensing agreement for Germany. Now they are at Motor Music. And finally the non-scandinavian fans can see these guys live on stage! They havent been much famous here - there were only few people knowing them but because of great CD-reviews in big magazines and because of the tour, that should have changed somehow.
The tour with NIGHTWISH was the best thing that could have happened to CHARON: NIGHTWISH often played in front of a sold-out location and that meant more than 2000 people watching the gig. And how else should they get the possibilty to perform in front of such a big audience? A better chance is nearly impossible. So it is not astonishing that frontman J-P appeared in a good mood to the interview before their concert on the "Reeperbahn" (Große Freiheit 36) - sold out, what else?!
/bandpics/charon2.jpg
Tell me about Summer Breeze. It was your first festival gig in Germany, wasnt it?
Yes, thats right. And it was our second gig in Germany ever. Our first one was in Dortmund just before Summer Breeze. The first tour gig was in Belgium in Antwerpen and it was really nice. The festival was also very good. I really liked it very much because if you are playing in that time in Finland it is not gonna be the same with the audience than it was at Summer
Breeze [CHARON were playing early afternoon]. It was great. And everybody else sad that it was quite surprising the way the audience behaved.
What do you think about the festival in general?
I wish I could have had more time to walk through the festival area to see people and the whole place. But unfortunately I only saw everything that was backstage. We didnt have so much time because we had a gig in Vienna the next day. Our driver wanted to sleep so we had to go to a place where that was possible and we decided to leave Summer Breeze. Of course, I would have loved to stay there a bit longer.
The European-tour with NIGHTWISH - I think it is the biggest tour you have ever done...
Yes and I think NIGHTWISH is the biggest Finnish band we can tour with right now. I think Finnish people dont understand that NIGHTWISH are actually very big in Germany and in many other parts of Europe. They are a really great - lets say "partner" - for us.
Two years ago you were on Finland-Tour with Sentenced. So why didnt you come here with them? They will be here in November.
They are playing in smaller places... (laughter). I think the main reason is that we are on the same record company - Spinefarm - as NIGHTWISH are. And we both have the same agency: Kingfoo Entertainment. So we have the same offices. We have made some plans about another tour here in Germany but nothing is for sure yet. So lets see. It would take place with Paradise Lost. It would be great for us.
What kind of experience was the tour with SENTENCED?
It was a great experience. The guys from SENTENCED are so great. They come from the same place where we live. The gigs we did with them were really good because the audience was so similar to our own. Those were our first big gigs in Finland. This year we were headlining a tour there with 36 gigs. It was great to see that we have our own audience in Finland. I really
have to say that those gigs during the Sentenced-tour helped us a lot. It helped us to get the deal from Spinefarm - we got noticed by Spinefarm guys from the very first gig. So that tour was very important for the band.
What was the first tour gig here in Germany like? Nervous?
Yes, of course. I had to shit several times. So I really was nervous. I wasnt that nervous in Belgium before the first tour gig. Somehow the place was very different than in Dortmund where three to four thousand people could go in. Oh my god... But I think it went cool. You can only do a great gig if you are excited. As I said: I need to be under pressure.
Downhearted has just been released here. Why is it published by Motor Music?
I dont know. I dont really have a picture of it yet because its a quite new thing for me and for the band. So lets see what happens. I hope something bigger will happen and motor music will do their job.
How would you describe the development from the first to the newest album? I mean on Sorrowburn there are songs from about four years.
Yeah. Sorrowburn which was released by Emanzipation Records was a kind of compilation of what we did in between four years: 1994 - 1998. Thats the way it is. Its our first album and we have to be proud of it. But its not that great... of course, it is our first album. We tried many things in that album so people can hear which direction we chose from the songs on Sorrowburn; which songs represent the style we have now. I think its good to have three albums. So people can hear the development of the band. Personally, I would say: We started to make music more emotionally and not so technically. Finding more and different ways than before. Trying to bring more emotions into the songs, not just the technical part.
Do you think Downhearted is your best album?
I wouldnt call it that way because it is somehow different than Tearstained. That album is more a rock album. Downhearted is a very smooth CD. At first when I started to make the vocals for Downhearted I didnt mean it to be so smooth. I wanted to be more rocking but it just came that way. Maybe there was some kind of period in my life when we worked on the album in which I became smoother. I dont know.
What about the studio time: How long did it take and how hard was it?
It wasnt hard at all. All the songs were ready when we went into the studio. Of course, every song changes during the studio time. But as the songs were ready it was really easy to record them. We were something about two or three months in the studio and then a couple of weeks in Finnvox Studios to mix and master it and so on.
What about the first and the second album? It is hard to get them here. The shops have to import them... but often they just dont find them in their computer. But I thought you released them here?
Yes, we released Tearstained here. Better: We thought we released it also here in Germany because we had a record deal with the Danish label DieHard when we recorded and released the album. They were not doing the promotion that way we would like them to do it. So that was the main reason why we wanted to leave them. I think promotion - I mean interviews and such stuff - worked very well with these guys who were managing this but people couldnt find our album anywhere. So it was quite undercover - and underground.
Then we started to gain the deal from Spinefarm and that is the point when we did the Finnish tour with Sentenced - that was in summer 1999. It was quite a happy situation for us.
Are you the only one who is writing the lyrics?
Yes, unfortunately (laughter).
Your favourite subjects seem to be love and death
Yes, they are because it is so close to you every day. It is so easy to write about it. Thats the reason why these two things are my favourite subjects. My English isnt very good so I chose the subjects that are easy to put in words. It is easy to write about it because you see it every day and you sometimes experience things that have to do with it and some of your friends experience those things. You are like an observer.
What is the mood you are in when writing songs?
It depends. Normally, I can write every time and everywhere. It doesnt matter. I dont have to be in the middle of black candles or shit like that. I can do it when I am shitting (laughter) these are the best songs. Now seriously: The best time for me to work or write is when everybody else is sleeping. This is quite a cliché but this is the way I do it. I like to work at night and I like to work under pressure. In every working place that I have been Ive always done the job like that. I dont think its the right way but I am the guy who doesnt do anything on Monday, Tuesday, I start my work on Friday. I am just sitting the whole week and on Friday morning I begin and have to be ready at five oclock because I really like to work under pressure and I think I do the work then the best way I can do it.
Being called a sex symbol like Peter Steel or some Finnish frontmen - great feeling?
I dont feel like that. Yes, I think some people are trying to create such an image of me but I am old, come on - I dont know how it feels. Is it cool or bad? We just wanna be a band and not a group with anyone rising above. This is so quite new for me - everything that is happening right now: This tour, the small success we had in Finland; things like that. I am
really happy about it but somehow I havent realized it yet. I dont know what my value in media is. I dont know things like that.
Downhearted climbed up to number three in the Finnish album charts. Does that mean screaming girls in the front row?
Yes, there are. I would have lied if I had said "no". I remember one gig during which I realised how many girls there are. It was funny. It was the first time and I thought "Oh shit, there are no boys in here". That was the moment when I realized who is listening to our music. But there are also many male people listening to our music. And everytime I see them I am happy.
You will go on stage in about 1 1/2 hours. I hope you will also play some older stuff.
Yes, of course. At some places like Summer Breeze where we only have about 25 minutes to play we have to leave some songs out. I dont know why we chose the older songs to be left out but here - of course, we are playing the old songs, too. I know that this is very important for fans and I really like to play them.
And then he had to hurry up and go on stage to do his job: sound check - a little bit late.
And they didnt have much time: Just about half an hour until 20.00 and that means entry for the masses. So there wasnt much time left until the gig should start and as it used to be every time Charon had to enter the stage first before After Forever and finally Nightwish would play their gigs. And they really did their job more than good, they were rocking as hell and filled many people with enthusiasm. New Fans garanteed. A new album wont be a long time in coming because Downhearted is more than have a year old and there is already material for new songs.
By Melanie Haack
With their third album Downhearted they are finally on a European tour and therefore for the first time on German stages: CHARON accompanied NIGHTWISH during their journey through all those concert locations in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Spain. In between a stop at Summer Breeze and at the Metalfest in Vienna,and then the tour went on. It started on August the 20th - now they are back at home.
Gothic metal or gothic rock might be a good term for their music. Gothic metal that sometimes reminds of SENTENCED, sometimes of HIM, but still captures their own style. And where else should the band with frontman Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto come
from than from Finland? Melodic, catchy, hard and sometimes aggressive - that's the way they sound. But one thing can't be forgotten: the melancholic and dark atmosphere finnish bands are known for ...and of course, the deep emotions that fill the songs.
Their first album Sorrowburn was released at the end of 1998, Tearstained about one year later. Then they changed their label and went to Spinefarm (Finnish) after having tried it with Emancipation Productions and DieHard Records (both Danish). Downhearted was released in their home country at the end of 2001 and went straight to number three of the official Finnish charts. Unfortunately, the Germans had to wait for that album until the beginning of September: When CHARON signed the deal with Spinefarm they couldnt conclude a licensing agreement for Germany. Now they are at Motor Music. And finally the non-scandinavian fans can see these guys live on stage! They havent been much famous here - there were only few people knowing them but because of great CD-reviews in big magazines and because of the tour, that should have changed somehow.
The tour with NIGHTWISH was the best thing that could have happened to CHARON: NIGHTWISH often played in front of a sold-out location and that meant more than 2000 people watching the gig. And how else should they get the possibilty to perform in front of such a big audience? A better chance is nearly impossible. So it is not astonishing that frontman J-P appeared in a good mood to the interview before their concert on the "Reeperbahn" (Große Freiheit 36) - sold out, what else?!
/bandpics/charon2.jpg
Tell me about Summer Breeze. It was your first festival gig in Germany, wasnt it?
Yes, thats right. And it was our second gig in Germany ever. Our first one was in Dortmund just before Summer Breeze. The first tour gig was in Belgium in Antwerpen and it was really nice. The festival was also very good. I really liked it very much because if you are playing in that time in Finland it is not gonna be the same with the audience than it was at Summer
Breeze [CHARON were playing early afternoon]. It was great. And everybody else sad that it was quite surprising the way the audience behaved.
What do you think about the festival in general?
I wish I could have had more time to walk through the festival area to see people and the whole place. But unfortunately I only saw everything that was backstage. We didnt have so much time because we had a gig in Vienna the next day. Our driver wanted to sleep so we had to go to a place where that was possible and we decided to leave Summer Breeze. Of course, I would have loved to stay there a bit longer.
The European-tour with NIGHTWISH - I think it is the biggest tour you have ever done...
Yes and I think NIGHTWISH is the biggest Finnish band we can tour with right now. I think Finnish people dont understand that NIGHTWISH are actually very big in Germany and in many other parts of Europe. They are a really great - lets say "partner" - for us.
Two years ago you were on Finland-Tour with Sentenced. So why didnt you come here with them? They will be here in November.
They are playing in smaller places... (laughter). I think the main reason is that we are on the same record company - Spinefarm - as NIGHTWISH are. And we both have the same agency: Kingfoo Entertainment. So we have the same offices. We have made some plans about another tour here in Germany but nothing is for sure yet. So lets see. It would take place with Paradise Lost. It would be great for us.
What kind of experience was the tour with SENTENCED?
It was a great experience. The guys from SENTENCED are so great. They come from the same place where we live. The gigs we did with them were really good because the audience was so similar to our own. Those were our first big gigs in Finland. This year we were headlining a tour there with 36 gigs. It was great to see that we have our own audience in Finland. I really
have to say that those gigs during the Sentenced-tour helped us a lot. It helped us to get the deal from Spinefarm - we got noticed by Spinefarm guys from the very first gig. So that tour was very important for the band.
What was the first tour gig here in Germany like? Nervous?
Yes, of course. I had to shit several times. So I really was nervous. I wasnt that nervous in Belgium before the first tour gig. Somehow the place was very different than in Dortmund where three to four thousand people could go in. Oh my god... But I think it went cool. You can only do a great gig if you are excited. As I said: I need to be under pressure.
Downhearted has just been released here. Why is it published by Motor Music?
I dont know. I dont really have a picture of it yet because its a quite new thing for me and for the band. So lets see what happens. I hope something bigger will happen and motor music will do their job.
How would you describe the development from the first to the newest album? I mean on Sorrowburn there are songs from about four years.
Yeah. Sorrowburn which was released by Emanzipation Records was a kind of compilation of what we did in between four years: 1994 - 1998. Thats the way it is. Its our first album and we have to be proud of it. But its not that great... of course, it is our first album. We tried many things in that album so people can hear which direction we chose from the songs on Sorrowburn; which songs represent the style we have now. I think its good to have three albums. So people can hear the development of the band. Personally, I would say: We started to make music more emotionally and not so technically. Finding more and different ways than before. Trying to bring more emotions into the songs, not just the technical part.
Do you think Downhearted is your best album?
I wouldnt call it that way because it is somehow different than Tearstained. That album is more a rock album. Downhearted is a very smooth CD. At first when I started to make the vocals for Downhearted I didnt mean it to be so smooth. I wanted to be more rocking but it just came that way. Maybe there was some kind of period in my life when we worked on the album in which I became smoother. I dont know.
What about the studio time: How long did it take and how hard was it?
It wasnt hard at all. All the songs were ready when we went into the studio. Of course, every song changes during the studio time. But as the songs were ready it was really easy to record them. We were something about two or three months in the studio and then a couple of weeks in Finnvox Studios to mix and master it and so on.
What about the first and the second album? It is hard to get them here. The shops have to import them... but often they just dont find them in their computer. But I thought you released them here?
Yes, we released Tearstained here. Better: We thought we released it also here in Germany because we had a record deal with the Danish label DieHard when we recorded and released the album. They were not doing the promotion that way we would like them to do it. So that was the main reason why we wanted to leave them. I think promotion - I mean interviews and such stuff - worked very well with these guys who were managing this but people couldnt find our album anywhere. So it was quite undercover - and underground.
Then we started to gain the deal from Spinefarm and that is the point when we did the Finnish tour with Sentenced - that was in summer 1999. It was quite a happy situation for us.
Are you the only one who is writing the lyrics?
Yes, unfortunately (laughter).
Your favourite subjects seem to be love and death
Yes, they are because it is so close to you every day. It is so easy to write about it. Thats the reason why these two things are my favourite subjects. My English isnt very good so I chose the subjects that are easy to put in words. It is easy to write about it because you see it every day and you sometimes experience things that have to do with it and some of your friends experience those things. You are like an observer.
What is the mood you are in when writing songs?
It depends. Normally, I can write every time and everywhere. It doesnt matter. I dont have to be in the middle of black candles or shit like that. I can do it when I am shitting (laughter) these are the best songs. Now seriously: The best time for me to work or write is when everybody else is sleeping. This is quite a cliché but this is the way I do it. I like to work at night and I like to work under pressure. In every working place that I have been Ive always done the job like that. I dont think its the right way but I am the guy who doesnt do anything on Monday, Tuesday, I start my work on Friday. I am just sitting the whole week and on Friday morning I begin and have to be ready at five oclock because I really like to work under pressure and I think I do the work then the best way I can do it.
Being called a sex symbol like Peter Steel or some Finnish frontmen - great feeling?
I dont feel like that. Yes, I think some people are trying to create such an image of me but I am old, come on - I dont know how it feels. Is it cool or bad? We just wanna be a band and not a group with anyone rising above. This is so quite new for me - everything that is happening right now: This tour, the small success we had in Finland; things like that. I am
really happy about it but somehow I havent realized it yet. I dont know what my value in media is. I dont know things like that.
Downhearted climbed up to number three in the Finnish album charts. Does that mean screaming girls in the front row?
Yes, there are. I would have lied if I had said "no". I remember one gig during which I realised how many girls there are. It was funny. It was the first time and I thought "Oh shit, there are no boys in here". That was the moment when I realized who is listening to our music. But there are also many male people listening to our music. And everytime I see them I am happy.
You will go on stage in about 1 1/2 hours. I hope you will also play some older stuff.
Yes, of course. At some places like Summer Breeze where we only have about 25 minutes to play we have to leave some songs out. I dont know why we chose the older songs to be left out but here - of course, we are playing the old songs, too. I know that this is very important for fans and I really like to play them.
And then he had to hurry up and go on stage to do his job: sound check - a little bit late.
And they didnt have much time: Just about half an hour until 20.00 and that means entry for the masses. So there wasnt much time left until the gig should start and as it used to be every time Charon had to enter the stage first before After Forever and finally Nightwish would play their gigs. And they really did their job more than good, they were rocking as hell and filled many people with enthusiasm. New Fans garanteed. A new album wont be a long time in coming because Downhearted is more than have a year old and there is already material for new songs.
