Korpiklaani

With one of this year’s coolest albums, Finland’s Korpiklaani (‘Forest Clan’) have really brought folk metal to the fore as well as their strong pagan and ecological message. At a recent Finnish metal day I got a chance to drink and meet with the inspiration and driving force (and token ‘wood hugger’!) of the band - Jonne Järvelä:

-Shan Siva

Jonne, although Korpiklaani is a new band, your inspiration for this style of music goes back to the early 90s when you formed Shaman, so pls tell me what your interest is in Sami culture and music (are you Sami yourself?) and how did you develop this (did you live with them, study the music at university perhaps etc).
I moved to North of Finland early 90's. I met there Sami girl who was from old yoik family. We started to make music together and we moved more up north, Lapland with Sámi people. There I got into reindeer hunting and true forest life. Nearest shop was 90 kilometres away, so we went there only once a week. Hunting was the main thing to get food. Little bit later we got a permanent "work" place from ski resort, Levi and played Sámi folk music for tourist all over the world. We did this few years, 7 days a week, every night, through ski season, which lasts about 7 months of the year there in Lapland. Also we did one kid during that time :) Later 1997 we quit doing children and playing together, I moved back to southern part of Finland and I continued the same musical thing as there in Lapland. Only difference at the first was, I asked some metal musicians around me and the band called Shaman was born.Korpiklaani is the straight continuation from Shaman. First Korpiklaani album "Spirit of the forest" (2003) should be at first 3rd Shaman album but we were forced to change our name 'cause from Brazil came another band called Shaman. It was already pretty well noted. It was a band of ex-Angra guys. We decided to change our name avoid mix-up between the bands. Now I still live here in south part of Finland with my family, including one 12 years old Sámi boy. Anyway, I have a strong connection to Sámi people still and I'm glad they think that I'm spreading their culture around the world also these days. There is still some yoik parts as a memory from my years at Lapland.

How close is Sami music to Finnish folk and is Sami music something that is well known throughout Finland or is it mainly confined to the Sami people themselves? How interested are Finnish people in Sami things and are the Sami an ethnic sub group in Finland or are they treated as 'Finns'?
Sámi folk music is not so close to typical Finnish folk music. Sámi music sounds lot of more shamanistic. It is more close American Indians traditional music. Sámi people are own ethnic group. They are origin people of Finland, Norway and Sweden.
Hundreds and hundreds years ago we "vikings" deported them to up north and there they still lives with their own rich culture and reindeers.

The songs on your latest album 'Korven Kuningas' were amazing (I liked the album on the first listen and then couldn't stop playing it until my girlfriend chucked it out ha ha) so tell me, are these your original compositions or your adaptations of traditional songs?
Nice to hear that you like the new Korven Kuningas album. We are thinking too, that it is our best album...so far. All the songs are our own. Not traditionals. We couldn't put traditional songs or melodies under our own name.We are actually very proud of the fact that many people suppose, that our melodies are traditionals. This is the proof, that we can write authentic folk music dressed to metal.

How similar or different is 'Korven Kuningas' to your previous (Korpiklaani) albums?
I think it is little bit darker somehow than our previous albums. Of course there is lot of typical Korpiklaanish joy also but somehow it is more dark and serious. When thinking it its production side, it is pretty much like last few albums. Recorded at the same studio with the same recording engineer Samu Oittinen but now I took a whole responsibility about the production. Samu is named at the cover as a producer with me but the fact was, that now he left that work to my shoulders. I don't know the reason for that but it just went like that. I also recorded some parts of the album.Recordings of Korven Kuningas started already spring 2007, then we started whole summer festival season around the world. After that we continued the recordings again at autumn. I have very good memories about the recordings although it was pretty burdensome for me. Many times I had to stay to the studio keep up the recordings when recording engineer had to go home 5:00 pm. Sometimes we recorder through the night until he came back to work at morning. Then I took nap when he went through our recording session from the night. Every night the session wasn't so good if we started to drink too many beers there in the studio. Other hand it was two times when we succeeded even better because of good drunk sessions. It is vocals for the song Runamoine. I was so drunk, that I forgot the melody lines which was for the vocals, so I sung it like it is now on the album. My totally different drunk version about the melody lines was ten thousand times better than the original one. After that it came a morning with terrible hang over. I used that feeling for the vocals of Kipumylly (Mill of Pain). Actually I was forced to do that because we were getting out of our studio time and budget. It succeeded also better because of the hang over.Everyone can hear the pain from the vocals of that song.

As a trivia question, is there a story behind the old man (Vaari) who is featured on your last few albums?
We used through the years the symbol of drumming shaman as a logo.I wanted to get some "flesh around his bones", so I introduced my idea about the old man with shaman drum to our graphic designer and album cover artist Jan Yrlund. He drew raw draft and with little changes the Vaari was born. Now he is adventuring on our album covers. What he is doing and what kind of "world", is always connecting the stories of the songs on each album. We still are using that original symbol of drumming shaman. Usually it is on the middle of Vaari's drum but for example now on the Korven Kuningas it is like rock painting there in the river shore rock.

I see that Korpiklaani has travelled outside Europe to Japan so how well received is traditional Finnish music in comparison to your home country of Finland? Is there a danger that if it wasn't for Korpiklaani that these songs might be forgotten or even lost as the country became more 'modern'?
Yes, Japan was great experience because its culture. Everything is in Japan like from the different planet for us Finns. There was full houses and extremely wild audience and Korpiklaani fan base. Actually here in Finland we are less popular than in almost every other country. Our music is too "Finnish" for Finnish people. It is sad to notice that Finland is so backward country, that because this country is full of forest and countryside, most of the people likes American street credible rap music. Even that here is not any big cities or real streets. Our horse shit smelling forest music is too close for Finnish people, so they don't has balls to like us. They want to find something different, than their own "world" what they are living. Of course we have here our own great fans but in general our popularity is not even close the level what it is for example in Japan or in Europe overall.

There seems to be a strong nature or forest theme to your music so is your interest perhaps from an scientific ecological / environmental perspective or something deeper say the pagan spiritual side of the deep forest?
The forest is somehow very magical place and full of untold stories, so it is good and endless inspiration for the lyrics.Also we like lot of beer, so it is good inpirate as well. When I was a kid, the forest was my playing field because we lived surrounded by the big forests at the little place called Vesilahti. Maybe that's why, I am very worried about the nature and weather warming things. We actually did two different kind of videos which be tanged to nature. Both of the videos, Metsämies and Keep On Galloping video stories are deal with the forest and taking care of them. On the Metsämies it is in good old way, when everything was done my hands and shoulder force. People worked with big respect of the nature and its future. On the other video is deal with the present time. Now people put down hectares of the forest with machines everywhere in the world for the money. They don't care about anything. We are doing some voodoo tricks against of this kind of way of thinking on The Keep On Galloping video.

So which members of Korpiklaani actually live this traditional life in the forest?!
Nobody of us anymore. We are living near the towns nowadays. Other guys lives around the town called Tampere and I live near Lahti. Our bass player Jarkko is from the same little forestful place, Vesilahti with me. It was then only 3000 resident there. It was only two rock bands in Vesilahti at 80's. One was mine and other was Jarkko's.

Given the power of industrial capitalism, I think you need to be pretty brave to speak up about the environment let alone actually try to live a traditional or subsistence lifestyle (just go to any continent on this planet and see how indigenous people are treated badly) so have Korpiklaani encountered any disrespect from modern society or those that believe that living in the past is for crazy people?
We haven't encountered so much that kind of persons. Of course we've met people who thinks that we are just some fuckin' wood hugging hippies but nothing more serious than that.

Korpiklaani seem to use a variety of traditional instruments so is it difficult find musicians who are willing to accept the metal element of the band and then also keep them with touring etc (it doesn't seem to be the lifestyle of a folk musician - or mebbe I could be wrong as they might be happy with lotsa beer too ha ha)
Actually old Finnish folk musicians didn't play a note if someone didn't gave some beer or booze. We have very long and deep culture with booze and playing. Much longer than sex, drugs and rock'n roll.The order was before, booze, playing and dancing, more booze and if you are lucky then sex at the haybarn. Times aren't changed so much when thinking Korpiklaani's way to live :)

To finish (geddit ha ha), what's next for the band?
We have two Finnish gigs with Skyclad this weekend here in Finland and its nice to see them again. After that it is time for summer festival season again. Unfortunately none of English festival booked us this summer but we are working of at least some of the gigs to England again November/December.Audience in England is been so good for us, so we are trying to come and play there every year.
Ok, thanks for your time and keeping the past alive Jonne!