Perttu Kivilaakso – Apocalyptica

I’m never entirely sure what’s in the water in Finland but that country is home to some of the most amazing musicians/bands in the world, Apocalyptica being one of them. Starting off as a group that did covers of some of Metallica’s greatest hits, time induced change and they eventually got to composing their own material resulting in their upcoming release.  After releasing  their first live album ‘Wagner Reloaded’ in 2013, composing the theme song for ‘Angry Birds’, an touring extensively around the world exposing people to their enchanting and powerful brand of cello metal, ‘Shadowmaker’ which will be the band’s 8th studio album. The band are also set to bring their cellos and their music to our shores for Soundwave 2015 and needless to say I was stoked beyond explanation to talk to the ruggedly handsome and charming Perttu about the band’s latest album amongst other things.

” Hey! I’m fine thank you, we’re all doing really well. We’re so happy about Shadowmaker, it’s going to be an amazing album – just the thrill of working with such brilliant people and putting so much effort into it, it’s all coming together really well. We’re definitely really excited especially with the fact that we’re getting to work with such a high profile guy! [ Nick Raskulinecz] ”

Having told him that I had a sneaky preview of the new album and how beautiful it sounds, Perttu said that the band  feels  they’ve achieved more clarity in their music and style with the new album.  ” We knew exactly what we wanted to do before we started recording because with this one, we really spent time on figuring out what works -if this guy plays with this equipment and we use this amp, we’ll get this kind of sound etc. The tricky thing for our band especially is that we don’t really have ideas to follow because we are cellists that play a different kind of music and so we need to keep exploring – what effects work or what amps to use. Of course because it’s the same guys, there aren’t too many changes in the soul of the music so we just always need to explore.”

He also shared how he felt that the band were more prepared than ever for recording this time with the number of rehearsals they did and the huge impact their Grammy-award winning producer Nick had on their music. ” I think once again but even more this time we were concentrating on improving the bands sound and  we spent a good part of it in the rehearsal room more than we  ever have before. Literally most of last year we were composing the tracks and then playing our assess off! We spent the whole summer just rehearsing , playing and trying to find the  soul of each track. We even went to rehearse with Nick for ten days before recording and it was great having the producer there, we never did such a thing throughout our pre production. This time he had a major impact on  how the music developed and therefore you can also hear in the final result that kind of everything is clear and clarified, we just followed the feeling we got with each track. If I had to be more critical of our earlier albums, I’d have to say at many points they sound messy because we were always exploring. But this time we were so prepared before we started recording, we knew  everything every single note and what we wanted to do. When I got the final mix I honestly couldn’t believe it! I’m a cello nerd and my first reaction was ” What the f***!?!” It’s truly amazing how it’s turned out.”

‘Shadowmaker’ available April 2015

The album title definitely holds some underlying meaning but is there some hidden message or concept in ‘Shadowmaker’? ” As a title, it reflects this kind of feeling that there must be something lurking inside everyone’s skins, some strange dimension that we cannot explain. It’s also what the artwork represents – the face is sort of covered etc and it is bringing in some kind of mystery. The other thing is that the song ‘Shadowmaker’ which we’ve already released; we thought was the most defining track of the album – structure wise, having this epic instrumental, mellow kind of feel to it and being a very strange vocal song actually. We wanted to point out this this is now the direction for Apocalyptica. We wanted our own vocalist  because we wanted to change this routine of always featuring somebody as a guest musician on our tracks.”

And find their own full-time vocalist they did in American musician Franky Perez making this release their most unique offering yet! “Actually we held a worldwide audition but we did it in secret. We  didn’t put it out there but we sent out around 200 emails to some key people in music – if anyone had a person in mind as to who could be a suitable vocalist for Apocalyptica. For us the other thing was that he had to be able to tour with us as well, not just record an album. That’s basically how it started; so we went through a bunch of demos and we picked up the 20 best singers. There were so many entries it was a difficult decision –  I think it took maybe two months because we asked people to record old songs trying to find the perfect person. Apart from talent, it’s crucial to have a cool guy, someone who’s easy to be with and tour with and Franky turned out to be that lucky bastard [laughs].”

” Earlier we always wanted to keep the focus on the cellos and  that was why we were inviting different people, different musicians we had met  during our career to work with us but this time the choice was really simple because  we just wanted to Apocalypticas own dude for vocals. Frankie is very talented, he does so many different styles in this album – soft parts and then screaming –  we were really fortunate actually. This material is also much more connected because we have one vocalist and a solid structure.”

But with three cellos and a drum kit – how does a band manage to keep up a consistent level of creativity and originality?  ” Yes, of course, for us that is a challenge. The cello is a brilliant instrument and it is capable of doing many things but it is also limited as well. We always have in mind that we don’t want to repeat ourselves or make the same kind of album – that’s why the only right thing to do was to have a vocalist. It is a big change and I’m sure it’s going to be difficult for a lot of people who see Apocalyptica as a purely instrumental band but for us it was the only natural thing to do. Like last year we performed with a live orchestra in Europe and it was all about the instrumental material but this time we just wanted one dude on the vocals and make this album epic in that sense.”

After a three year gap, the band is all set to return to Australia for this year’s instalment of Soundwave and judging by Perttu’s voice, they’re pretty damn stoked about the whole thing! “Yes! We’re really really excited about coming back to Australia and to be performing with such an amazing line-up so we’re happy to be a part of it. There’s lots of cool bands and old friends so it’s definitely going to be a good time. Plus I have so many good memories from the previous  Australian shows that we did some years ago its a great place to come.”

Perttu Kivilaakso had one last message to the Aussies before him and his band hit the country! ” Well we are so excited to come play at Soundwave, I love the country, the animals, the people and I’m sure we’re bringing along some new songs of course because it is always exciting to play the songs live so we can’t wait! See you soon!”

Catch the Finnish cello metallers on their run of shows at Soundwave 2015 as well as Sidewaves with Marilyn Manson and Deathstars.

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