One of the most active musicians in the Metal scene is undoubtedly Tuomas Saukkonen, who participates in three bands. On the occasion of his visit in Athens on April 14th for the long-anticipated live of WOLFHEART , we had the pleasure to talk with him! Many things were said concerning his music projects, mythology, even why Greeks and Finns share the same passion for Metal…
– Hello Tuomas! Welcome to THE GALLERY. It’s a great pleasure and honor to be able to talk to you about your band and music. First of all, tell me what are you up to this period?
Tuomas Saukkonen: Busy times in studio with few of my bands but not allowed to tell yet which ones are working with new music. Also getting ready for first Wolfheart tour in Australia in end of March and after that we have a headlining tour in east Europe / Balkans so busy times coming also.
– You are a really active musician since throughout the years you have been a member of many bands. Even now, you are active in 3 bands if I am not mistaken. What does this condition offer to you personally? I mean, is it just a way to express different aspects of your creativity or something else?
Tuomas Saukkonen: I simply write too much or better said I need to write too much music for one band. One band pretty straight forward means I get to compose one album every other year but to satisfy my need to create the minimum is 1 album every year and ideally 2. Of course having more creative outputs I can expand the variety of music too.
– How did WOLFHEART begin back in 2013?
Tuomas Saukkonen: At that point I had been running Before The Dawn for over 10 years and started Dawn of Solace during that time too. I was really worn out by issues inside the band, issues with labels etc and needed a break from the whole music business and just focus on the music again and so W was born. I wrote and recorded all the songs and instruments and released the album on my own without any label and then things just started to happen and now it has been over 10 years with W and things are running stronger than ever.
– Since 2020, you also have a Greek guy in your band, Vagelis Karzis. How did you two meet and decide to join forces?
Tuomas Saukkonen: Wolfheart was playing a festival in Germany and Rotting Christ was playing on the same day. I did a tour some years before as a session drummer for an opener band on the same tour RR was one of the headliners and got to know the guys a bit. I had heard that they had some changes in their line-up and was curious to see the new guys on stage and both Vagelis and George blew me away. Still to this day they are one of the coolest guys on stage I have seen and after the festival I sent Vagelis a message and asked if he would be available to be a session bass player for our first US tour 2018. RR schedules collided with that tour so it did not happen but it turned out that the tour manager was a friend of Vagelis and recommended me to ask Vagelis to play guitar instead since that is his main instrument. It took few more tours until our schedules fit and we did the first tour and 2020 we asked him to join as a permanent member.
– Recently I read an article about the number of metal bands per capita in each country worldwide. Finland was on the top of that list but Greece was among the first countries too. Finland (and generally Northern European countries) and Greece in theory are two completely different countries regarding their people and their mentality. Maybe it’s the weather!! Can you explain the fact that we share the same love for metal which is considered to be a darker, in a way, kind of music?
Tuomas Saukkonen: hmmm….I think that Finnish people don’t get to see enough of the sun and that affect our creativity and we end up writing dark but beautiful metal. In Greece however the musician see TOO MUCH of the sun and their longing for cold and dark northern winter makes them write similar music too 🙂
– What we definitely share is a passion for mythology which is a great source of inspiration for metal bands. What are the lyrical themes you prefer using in your albums?
Tuomas Saukkonen: The latest 2 albums have been very clearly theme albums. Wolves of Karelia (2020) was about the winter war between Finland and Russia in world war II and our latest album King of the North (2022) was focused on Finnish mythology and gods/demigods of the nature. Mythology is very inspiring but Finnish Mythology is also very challenging because it is very badly documented and it takes a lot of work to gather information. It is like building a puzzle with a lot of missing pieces. Not sure yet what will be the theme of the next W album.
– I guess you have to be a little bit of a historian in order to treat those stories with respect as they are part of a country’s heritage. For example, Joakim Broden from SABATON considers himself as an amateur historian. How difficult is this since I guess it could take a lot of time and energy to study.
Tuomas Saukkonen: Finnish war history is what we learn a lot in the school already and of course there is some extra studying to do but very doable job if you just invest some time to it. Mythology was a different story and was a lot more work but in the end also a lot more rewarding because I also was able to learn a lot of stuff I was no aware of Finnish pagan era. I think it is something that must be taken seriously and invest all the time needed for the studying / reading / investing because you need to respect the history.
– As a band, you are very productive since you have already released 6 full length albums in 10 years. What new (musically or lyrically) does your last album, “King Of The North” can offer to your fans in comparison to your previous albums?
Tuomas Saukkonen: We intentionally expanded our range with vocals and both Vagelis and Lauri have more parts to underline their powerful voices and immense talent. Also musically there is more variety. Lyrically it is the first but maybe not the last album about the Finnish mythology.
–In “King Of The North” you have two really cool guests, Jesse Leach from KILLSWITCH ENGAGE and Karl Sanders from NILE. I wonder, when a collaboration like this happens, do you already have someone in mind for a certain song or it’s the other way around? It can be a tricky thing to combine the music style of a band with the special voice of a singer.
Tuomas Saukkonen: A song called “Cold Flame” had a part that needed very deep growling and I was struggling to get that done in the studio. One of the sound engineers we have worked together on several tours had been long time sound engineer and tour manager for NILE so the connection came very easy and Karl had the perfect voice for that part we needed. With Jesse it was completely different thing. I have been a huge fan of his work for ages and by an accident I discovered that he happens to be a fan of Wolfheart and once we started talking he told me that he would be thrilled to do some guest vocals on the album. So I ended up writing a song with his and my vocals in my mind to have perfect foundation for our collaboration.
–A few days ago, you gave 2 shows in 70000 Tons of Metal cruise. How was the experience for you?
Tuomas Saukkonen: It is very special kind of festival for sure compared to anything else. For any band it is definitely a bucket list kind of event to get to play on the boat. I had both Wolfheart and Before The Dawn on the boat so I had double amount of gigs totally 4 but still there was enough time to enjoy and relax. Specially the port at Dominican was awesome where we spent one whole day just laying on the sun by the pools.
– In April you will visit Greece for a long anticipated live show with DESERT NEAR THE END supporting you. What can we expect from this live?
Tuomas Saukkonen: We always bring our best to the stage and same can be expected this time. Great to share the stage with Desert Near The End again. Will be an awesome evening!!
– What are your plans for the near and the not so near future with WOLFHEART and your other projects as well?
Tuomas Saukkonen: Will be a busy year for all of them. Gigs, festivals, tours, new albums etc. Just can’t reveal any details yet 🙂
– That was all Tuomas! Thank you very much again for your time since I know you must be pretty busy. It was a great honor! You may close this interview as you like!
Tuomas Saukkonen: I hope to see you all 14th of April !!
Interview: Kostas Boudoukos
Text Transcription: Kostas Boudoukos
Design & Editing: Kostas Boudoukos
Date: February 26th, 2024
External Link: WOLFHEART – Official Page
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