Ensiferum
By:
Thirteen years ago, Markus Toivonen formed Ensiferum. His group expanded on the folk elements displayed by Amorphis and the melodic death/thrash of his southern neighbors in Gothenburg, Sweden. What he helped create was something revolutionary, not only for Ensiferum’s greater use of folk music, but for the group helping pave the path for the speed metal style that we have come to associate with Finnish bands such as Children of Bodom, Kalmah and Norther.
Through those thirteen years, Ensiferum has produced a number of classic albums such as Iron, Dragonheads, and Victory Songs. Although their reach has been much greater in Europe, the advent of the internet has brought on a solid, growing influx of fans in America. Ensiferum’s career has not been entirely rosy, though. All of the original members except Toivonen eventually left the group, leaving the guitarist/clean vocalist to seek out new members. Some of these newcomers include bassist Petri 'Pete' Lindroos of Norther, Sami Hinkka of Rapture and Janne Parviainen of Barathrum and Sinergy.
The revamped lineup shows a band at its career peak. According to bassist, Sami Hinkka, this lineup is the group’s least volatile. Also, this assemblage of musicians is the first to say they have toured the United States. The group recently finished their first U.S. tour as part of a pagan/folk-themed tour package known as Pagan Fest. Amid Meri Tadic of Eluveitie practicing her fiddle and other tour mates playing soda-bottle hockey back stage at San Antonio, Texas’s premier concert venue—The White Rabbit—Blistering.com spoke with bassist Sami Hinkka about this mementos tour.
Blistering.com: How has the tour been going? Is this your first tour in the States?
Sami Hinkka: This is our first tour in the States, and so far so good.
Blistering.com: I see you have an online tour diary.
SH: Our manager said we should do something useful while on tour. I’ve been pretty lazy with it; on the other hand, we did a European part before this. We were on the road for two months. We kind of got into this pattern, so there isn’t too much to tell. Like today, I woke up around six 0’ clock—a few hours before the show—after that, we are just waiting [laughs]. Maybe we could have a party, but I’m too old to do that, at least every night [laughs]. I’d like to play on a half hangover. Maybe this Saturday, we have a show on Sunday, we can have a party.
Blistering.com: I see you wrote a lot about your shows in California. How did you like hanging out in Cali?
SH: It was very nice. We had one show cancelled in Arizona, so we had a day off there. It was very relaxing. Some of us went to Hollywood, some went to the beach. I enjoyed the silence on the tour bus. I walked around the neighborhood, alone, and got some fresh food. It was very relaxing. Me and our sound engineer tried to find a good Mexican restaurant, everyday; unfortunately, most often we just got burgers. We would try to find a good Mexican place or like today, we found a really good Greek place that was just around the corner.
Blistering.com: What do you think of your tour mates?
SH: Our tour mates, the other bands…everything is going quite smoothly. I have only good things to say about everyone on this tour. Musically, every band has the same folk influences, and everybody is not too serious. They are all very nice people!
Blistering.com: Why do you think it took so long for your band to play in America? Does this tour say something about the growing popularity of pagan metal?
SH: I don’t know, but I hope it gets a lot bigger because we would like to come back and kick some more ass!
Blistering.com: How has the crowd response been?
SH: Very good! It has been a big surprise for me, actually, because I didn’t really know what to expect. Sometimes we have had big crowds, and not so much in other places. In El Paso, there was only about thirty or forty people. It doesn’t matter if there are ten people or ten thousand, if people are into it, you will get a boost to yourself. Kick my ass, but I would have to say Montreal was my favorite show of the tour. They were insane! They were insane in a positive way: they were really into the music. Every show has been good, though. There haven’t been any bad shows.
Blistering.com: How does your live show reflect the ideas of Pagan Fest? Do you sacrifice any children or have a massive, Caligula-style orgy on stage?
SH: [Laughs hysterically] you wish. It can be hard for us because we don’t make plans, things just happen. I think it’s a good way, we enjoy it, and also there are no surprises. The possibility of things happening very much reflects if the audience is into it. It is very spontaneous. We don’t sacrifice anything on stage, though. Unfortunately, we have no Caligula-style orgies.
Blistering.com: So you don’t wear goat leggings on stage?
SH: That is a secret [laughs]. No comment.
|
