Silent Voices

Definitely not silent, mind you

It's been almost ten years since Finnish metal band Silent Voices were formed in the "town risen from a sea", Kokkola. Demoing stuff for years, the debut album 'Chapters of Tragedy' came out in 2002 and now, two years later the sophomore album 'Infernal' has been released. In the beginning, they were influenced by Dream Theater and Rush, but now their music is heavier and faster. And definitely unique!
AM contacted the band via e-mail in the end of November and bass man Pasi Kauppinen answered the questions. This interview was translated from Finnish.

AM: Good November's day. Have you already digged out your skis from attic and gone skiing? How's the life after 'Infernal'?

Pasi Kauppinen: Hello. I haven't digged out the skis yet, actually not for the last decade or so. I think I'm not going to hit the ski tracks this winter. Motorized equipment is more interesting during wintertime and that's how I keep terrorizing good people who try to hit the ski tracks, hehe.
There is life after 'Infernal'. We've slowly begun to build up a setlist for this winter's and next spring's concerts. We did not manage to complete it during a few rehearsals only, because Henrik (Klingenberg, keyboardist) is touring with Sonata Arctica and we had to find him a stand-in.

AM: Well, it's winter and it's raining... Water! I don't own any waterskis, so I like to spend time on computer anyways.
It would be nice to witness the live power of Silent Voices. Now that Henrik's main band is touring, did you think about a possible tour with Sonata Arctica?

Pasi: We haven't had any talk about going on tour with Sonata Arctica. We're not seeking for fame by sponging them off.
We have been waiting to hit the stage for a long time and as I said, we're about to start playing live. We had to find the session keyboardist and our old acquaintance Jukka Hänninen will stand in for the keyboards on forthcoming gigs. I'm really looking forward to hitting those stages!

AM: Are you going to play those concerts in Finland only?

Pasi: Yes. We played on December 4th at Bar 15 in Seinäjoki, and there's more gigs coming up early next year. Not any dates yet, but a few concerts around Finland.

AM: Do other members have any other band activities? Or possible projects in the future?

Pasi: Yeah, we all got other bands to refresh our minds. These bands are really okay and they help us to get inspired and draw new influences from different sources and from our fellow musicians.
It keeps this thing virile, so to speak, and prevents us from being fixed to our habits, hehe.

AM: How have the fans received 'Infernal'? It's a few good notches heavier and darker than your debut album, so did it scare the fans or what?

Pasi: The feedback's been very good. As far as I know, nobody's been shitting him/herself too badly when they've heard our new more vehement album, so I guess it has its place.

AM: How about the reactions of the press?

Pasi: 'Infernal' has received incomprehensibly good reviews in the press. We've collected articles on our website www.silentvoices.net, so everybody check 'em out! If all potential listeners would read those reviews, we'd sell shitloads of our records, hehe!

AM: How does your co-operation with Low Frequency Records work? Is 'Infernal' available woldwide already, or as far as it's possible for metal music anyways?

Pasi: Being a small company, Low Frequency Records have worked for us really well. Although 'Infernal' was postponed a bit, the album is already available in over fifty countries in Europe, Asia and North America. In the beginning of 2005 the album will be released in South America, so it could be said that it's going great...

AM: When listening to the new album, it's clear that Silent Voices' influences are exhaustive. Which artists and bands have influenced your life and how you became a musician? What have you been listening to lately?

Pasi: Generally, I've been listening to all kinds of music, because I work as a music teacher. Nowadays I don't listen to much music at home, because after a long day's work, my ears are numb enough, if I can even stay awake.
When having a bottle of red wine I get moved and dig out those Slayer albums, that I listened to as a teenager. I've been a bit ambiguous about filtering my influences. I dig bands such as aforementioned Slayer and of course Metallica, Testament and later on Yngwie Malmsteen, Dream Theater and Symphony X. As for my inspiration to pick up a bass, I've found them from totally different artists, for example from Billy Sheehan, Dave LaRue and Tony Levin.

AM: All of those guys are bass players, by the way.
Well, what you think of Les Claypool? Primus' stuff is very bass-heavy and Les Claypool is a living legend, and to tell the truth about the only bass master whose album's I own.

Pasi: Haven't heard anything from him in the last ten years. What is he up to nowadays..? Does Primus still exist? I think I got a hole in my liberal education, hehe.
As a kid, I marvelled at Les's sound and playing, but it wasn't straight nor heavy enough for my liking. Nowadays, I don't care about all those virtuosities, because there's a lot of 'em. After all, the music is what matters...

AM: I stopped buying Primus stuff after 'The Brown Album', which I founded boring compared to old warped classics. Les Claypool seems to release a record or two every year with different projects.
Back to Silent Voices now... How do your songs born? Usually, the whole band have been credited for music. Does every member has his say?

Pasi: Yes, everyone of use has his own sight and contribution in a completed song. Our songs are done so, that one of us brings his idea to the rehearsals. Usually that idea is a riff or melody, which we all start jamming together. When each of us knows what to do with that piece of music, we move on or try to come up with continuation. When we have enough parts, we compose a song and refine it. After this, we send this musical preform to Turku to Miki (aka Michael Henneken, vocalist), who works with vocal melodies and lyrics. This is the Silent Voices routine.

AM: Michael is responsible for all the lyrics. His texts are dark and fit perfectly with the music.

Pasi: He works the lyrics to the music we send him, so it isn't possible to sing any happy things.

AM: Have you thought about the next album already?

Pasi: Actually yes and we have demoed something already. We have planned the next album to be released in autumn 2005, so next summer and grill parties are going to change to studio sessions.

AM: Great to hear that! Onto the last question.
If Silent Voices' music would be heard in a movie, does that movie exist already or should a new movie be directed?

Pasi: A good question to a movie freak like me. I'd like to hear our music in The Godfather trilogy, even though it wouldn't suit musically to it. It would be some sinister movie. In fact, when we were making 'Infernal', we were thinking about Se7en and From Hell. We gave those ideas to cover artist, when he asked us to describe our music. I don't know if there's those movies in 'Infernal's cover art, but in lyrics there is, for example on 'Infernal Mind'...

Silent Voices (from left to right): Pasi Kauppinen (bass), Jukka-Pekka Koivisto (drums), Michael Henneken (vocals), Henrik Klingenberg (keyboards), Timo Kauppinen (guitar).

12/14/2004 16:15