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Finland blijft kampioen in het voortbrengen van uitstekende muzikanten die vervult van melancholie albums uitbrengen van hoge kwaliteit. Half september kwam ‘Ghost Of Devotion’ uit, het debuutalbum van Depressed Mode, een band die momenteel vaste contouren begint aan te nemen maar eerder vooral het geesteskind was van Ossy Salonen. Zwaar beïnvloed door klassieke muziek en Burzum schreef hij zijn eigen doomsymfonieën die elke doomfanaat meteen in de juiste stemming brengen. Natuurlijk wilden we daar graag alles over vernemen en legden mastermind Ossy Salonen (zang, synthesizers) een aantal vragen voor. Het resultaat kan je lezen in het volgende interview.
Text: Vera
Ossy Salonen, you are the mastermind behind Depressed Mode, so let us start this interview with telling how you got into music, then metal and eventually doom metal. Were you into music as a kid already, did you got a musical education?
I started with drums when I was seven and played rock with my drums a couple of years. At the age of twelve I started to play the piano and I loved it so much that I played sometimes eight hours per day, and after a couple of months I began with classical music and I was rehearsing as hell. My piano teacher was quite happy with me so she gave me lessons to make sheet music and MIDI arrangements of classical/pop/rock songs. That was kind of fun; and I still do it, but only to MIDI and only my own songs (laughs). After one year of playing and rehearsing with the piano, I started to make my own songs. These songs were kind of poor and didn’t have any cool rhythms or anything, but I found my own thing with metal music. My sisters were horrified with my interest in metal but now they are quite happy with my musical success. After I went though different genres of metal, black, death, progressive, power etc. I found my way to doom metal and I loved making it! Normally I don’t listen to doom metal, neither do any of us guys in Depressed Mode, but I love making and playing doom metal, with guitar and with the piano. My two big-sisters played also the piano but they never learned to play any classical or complicated songs, not even if they’ve played for several years, but the key to the piano was motivation and my sisters were not that motivated with the instrument as I was!
On the website is mentioned as influences: Bach, Beethoven and Burzum. I think this is a bit too few?
Is it? I do not have so many influences to Depressed Mode, because I don’t listen to doom metal.
So I think those three are my biggest influences for this music, and I still have to add one: Jean Sibelius.
Anyway there is a Burzum cover on the album ‘Dunkelheit’, but you made a very deviating version of that song which I applaud. Why covering exactly this song?
‘Dunkelheit’ is a very personal song to me. ‘Dunkelheit’ reflects the gloominess of Ghost of Devotion album and fits to the theme of this album. There are no racist influences or anything like that behind our album or our music at all.
It is not easy to imagine that the songs we hear on ‘Ghosts Of Devotion’ – or at least some of them – were once pieces of music without guitars. Can you tell a bit more about your view and the music at that time?
Well, every song ever recorded has been a while without guitars before the guitars were recorded! First of all, the songs that I first made (‘Words Of Silence’, ‘So Long’, ‘Sun Is Dead’) were not to be released at first, cause I made the songs just for myself. I played the songs to my friends and they encouraged me to put the songs to a Finnish artist site Mikseri.net and the songs had many listeners and people told me that the songs rock but I have to add the missing part: Guitars and Bass! I asked my close friend Tomppa Turpeinen to play guitars to the songs and after I added the songs with guitars to Mikseri.net Depressed Mode got a little of “fame” and success and Natalie Koskinen from Shape Of Despair contacted me and after a few chats she was willing to sing female vocals and choirs to my songs. We contacted Firebox Records with a demo that included seven or eight songs and just a couple songs had guitars, and Firebox got interested in our music. They offered a two album deal and we signed the contract. Natalie’s first visit to Pori followed in November 2006 and our first recording session was in my closet! In January we contacted Jori Haukio to record and mix our album. Our record session began on late January 2007 and lasted for several months!
But I guess the world was not ready for such an unusual approach? (I have to admit, even I love those heavy yet melodic guitar sounds on the album)
Actually I don’t know because I don’t follow the press or reviewers much.
It was a very long recording process with some exceptional details. I would like to know more about that…
Well, I started to re-record my vocals at home in October/November 2006 and the synths. As I said Natalie came to Pori to record her vocals in November 2006 in my closet (laughs). The rest of the recordings started in late January 2007 with Jori (cello, guitars, bass, drums, rest of my vocals). It took the time cause of our massive synth lines and our lack of time. But we had really fun during those months!
How did you get in contact with Natalie Koskinen of Shape Of Despair? Isn’t it strange to include female vocals in death/doom, almost funeral doom parts?
No it’s not strange. Natalie’s vocals fit to our music as a fist in the face! She brings the missing elements into our music! I don’t consider our music to be funeral doom, I think the correct genre is death/doom, and our next release is filled with more death metal riffs and sounds, but the synths will be even more massive!
Jori Haukio (ex-Mors Principium Est) did not only mix the album but he also plays cello on it. Can you tell a bit more about his role in your music and about this versatile musician?
Jori is a good friend of mine and these days he plays also guitar in Depressed Mode, so please welcome Jori with big cheers! Yes he still plays cello on our future albums and guitar on our live shows, but maybe also in the studio! We are recording all of our material with Jori at his studio!
Can the line-up on this CD be seen as a band now or will it remain a project with ever changing guest musicians?
I think Depressed Mode has finally found its line-up and we also found our bass player and he is Henri “Henu” Hakala! Marko Tommila and Jori Haukio really enjoy our music and are in our current permanent line-up and will be playing on our future albums!
In that respect, are you planning to play live?
Yes we are! We are currently searching for places to play and hoping we’ll get some tour in Europe!
You signed a record deal with Firebox Records for two albums. Are you already working on new songs?
Is George Bush the president of USA!? YES! I’m making new songs at this very moment; we just recorded a demo to be sent to Firebox Records! It contains a little bit faster and more symphonic material from us. And we just recorded last week a song with only piano and female vocals included; it came out quite beautiful and sad.
Did internet have a big role in spreading your music? Is it a blessing or a curse for you?
I have to admit that without www.mikseri.net and www.myspace.com we would not have any fans! So internet is a blessing for us, and I know people are sharing music, including Depressed Mode but maybe after listening to the music, people will go out and buy the album.
Finland is a kind of promised land for us here, when looking at the metal scene. But maybe you can give your personal and more realistic view on the music (metal/doom) scene in Finland?
I don’t know about the doom metal scene, but the metal scene mainly is quite big. Finland is the promised land for metal. But not only Finland gives me the goods of metal!
If there is some other news we can mention, please tell us now…
As I told you in one question, Depressed Mode is a full band now so please welcome: Jori Haukio, Henri “Henu” Hakala, Marko Tommila!
And to occlude… a jolly question (don’t get mad at me hehe) When I saw the name of the band “Depressed Mode” I immediately smiled and thought about the resemblance with Depeche Mode. Of course your music has no affinity with them, but was it is tricky derivation with a wink of an eye?
When thinking of band names, I didn’t think of Depeche Mode, actually it never even crossed my mind that there’s a band named Depeche Mode (cause I don’t listen on electronic music), but we are Depressed Mode, and I think the name describes our music very well!
Thanks a lot for the interview. ‘Ghosts Of Devotion’ and you deserve much respect and success. I wish you all the best!
Thanks Vera, hope to see you and every one of your readers on our future live shows!
http://www.mikseri.net/depmode
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