Sonata Arctica
By: David E. Gehlke
Blistering: So you are saying your contract with Nuclear Blast is up?
Kakko: It might be, but I can’t say that will be the last. They’ve been really cool, and I haven’t thought of other labels. We are Nuclear Blast guys.
Blistering: There’s an absence of fast, double-bass songs like “This Ain’t Your Fairy Tale” and “Blank File.” What prompted you to leave those types of songs off?
Kakko: [On] at least two of the previous albums, I wrote half the album and realized that we are missing completely that kind of thing we are known for. So I would put the metronome to 165 and write a song around that. In many occasions, I felt afterwards I ruined this by just playing it faster. Still, I was talking about this “Idols” thing and . . . thinking of writing for somebody else, so I could not necessarily go into Sonata Arctica-writing mode.
Blistering: You just did a video for “Paid In Full.” How did that turn out?
Kakko: I haven’t seen it yet since we just shot it last week. The shots from what I have seen look great.
It’s something you have to do, and I want to do it. This time I think the video is something that will suit Sonata Arctica. The video is arctic, which is something you can’t say about the “Don’t Say A Word” video. We shot a lot of narrative scenes that didn’t end up being used, so most of it was just band performance. We weren’t happy since what I considered the "good stuff" was left out, and it was made under someone else’s artistic vision.
Blistering: What was the motivation behind the greatest-hits album that was released only in Finland?
Kakko: The label change. The first three albums were put out through Spinefarm and Century Media. Of course, any time you change a label, the old label will want to do a compilation, so you can either fight with them about it or work with them, and I decided it would be the best thing to work with them. Everyone should understand it is not the band’s decision to make this kind of thing—after 10 albums I might consider to put together our best tracks, but even after four albums we knew it was something that would happen anyway.
Blistering: When you started this band in '96/’97, did you think you’d reach the level of success that someone like Stratovarius has?
Kakko: No, no. We made three demos that were never sent out to anyone. We were doing it all for ourselves, and we never thought of getting a recording contract. Then our fourth demo was what became most of “Ecliptica,” and we had a friend who worked at the studio who suggested we send it out to Spinefarm because he thought they might like it.
Blistering: Take me back to when you were putting together the “Ecliptica” album.
Kakko: Obviously, we didn’t know anything about anything. I was 24 around that time. Anyway, I had never been outside of Scandinavia until we did that first tour with Rhapsody and Stratovarius. We were really green at the time, and a lot of what went on during those first few years helped us understand what this business is all about. Now we’re old men and can handle a lot of things. [laughs]
Blistering: “Ecliptica” has held up well over the years, as evidenced by the number of tracks you culled from it on the “For The Sake of Revenge” live album.
Kakko: Yeah, it’s a really good album. It has good songs in my opinion, and I can say that without being embarrassed. I didn’t notice until we were done recording the live DVD/CD that we had so many songs from that album. I genuinely like playing a lot of those songs from that album.
Blistering: What’s on the horizon for 2007?
Kakko: I know we’re going to be over in North America this fall, which is something we’re looking forward to. We’re doing the ProgPower festival in Atlanta, and we’ll hit most of the country. Before that, we have some festival gigs lined up, and we’re really looking forward to those. It should be a busy year.
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