INTERVIEW WITH SADISTIK FOREST: (DEATH METAL FROM FINLAND)
How did your band start?Antti: We started Sadistik Forest in August of 2007. I'd been having some kind of an old school metal phase or revival going on about that time in my life. I listened to a lot of 80’s and early 90’s thrash and death metal, and I remember thinking to myself for a long time, what is the reason that nowadays every new metal band sounds so boring and safe and all the old stuff is just killer and relentless all the way through. Then it just hit me when I happened to watch some youtube clips from the Possessed’s comeback show in Wacken, that the main thing in music is just relentlessly push forward all the time without thinking too much, and that I actually have to start doing this kind of old school relentless stuff by myself, because nobody else will do it for me. At first I thought I'll try to make the songs exactly in the same style as the old school legends, but pretty soon I realised, that there's no use just in copying those, because that's already been done perfectly. So I decided that the only thing to take from the legendary bands is their attitude and way of thinking, and then just to do what I want and put my own stamp to the extreme metal music. Then I send text messages to the people I knew would be on the same track with me, we set up our first rehearsals, and the rest is history so to speak.
Who are the original members?
- Antti Heikkinen (gtr), Jarkko Lahtinen (gtr), Markus Makkonen (bass & voc), Vesa Mutka (drs)
Who are the current members?
- Antti Heikkinen (gtr), Markus Makkonen (bass & voc), Vesa Mutka (drs), Matti Salo (gtr)
What inspired the creation of the band?
Antti: Possessed and other old school death and thrash metal bands. I think my main goal was that the music should have the same feel as the first or second albums of these old legendary bands.
How does your band form concepts and ideas for songs?
Who usually comes up with them?
Markus: We work in a usual rock band method. Somebody writes a body for a song, then we start to work on it as an unit in our rehearsal place. In this phase songs tend to morph a bit and they definitely get better. Four minds always find more solutions than one.
What are your most used sources for inspiration?
What concept/idea has had the greatest impact?
Markus: It must be the relentlessness and unforgiving nature of the old school metal classics. Real playing, nothing over produced and most of all – always in constant motion. And most of all – it’s still all about the songwriting. It’s not a speed or brutality contest, it’s about the riff and does the song work or not.
Do you focus on one topic for most of your writing?
Markus: On our previous album, Death, Doom, Radiation, there was a loose overall theme on lyrics, but it don’t have to be like that always. In extreme metal there should be no rules, so you cannot bind yourself into something, just keep on exploring.
Have your inspirations changed? If so, how?
Markus: Well, musically speaking, not that much. We all had been playing in bands for good ten years before Sadistik Forest, so we’ve all done our homework. I’d say Sadistik Forest still focuses on same feeling and concept as we did in 2007, only they are probably executed a little better these days…
When did you join?
What made you join?
Markus: I got a text message from Antti at 2007. He was asking if I’d be interest of taking part into a new extreme metal band he was forming. I think I said yes at the spot. We had been talking for a long time that if we ever would end up in a same band, that would work.. And yes - it did.
How did you come into contact with the band?
Markus: We knew all each other from the demo scene circuit of Finland’s underground. Antti played in a black metal band Fall of Man (they were great, by the way!!), Vesa was in Rosemary and me in Farewell and Entrail Tension Experiment. Our bands played gigs with each other and we all knew each other already before Sadistik Forest.
What are some things that helped get your band noticed?
What was the most helpful?
Markus: One thing crucial for us was the deal with Violent Journey Records. Vesa Ruokangas of that label has done a marvellous job for our band by promoting and spreading the word relentlessly. I know that Sadistik Forest would not be here today, without Violent Journey Records.
How did they happen?
Markus: We had the material of the first album recorded and we were looking for a record label. We had a couple of contacts, but Violent Journey Records was by far the most keen to work with us. They believed in us and that made it very easy to decide with whom we should work with.
Who are some of the people responsible?
Antti: I must say that also our friends and fans have been very eager to spread the word about us, so that has helped us very very much too.
How did you choose your style?
Antti: I was fed up with the modern sound of metal and wanted to go back and do something in the vain of good old old school metal, but of course, there was no use in trying to repeat exactly what the legends did in the 80's and 90's, so we had to figure out our own take to it, and I think that came quite naturally when we started to mix our ideas.
Why did you choose it?
Antti: In playing extreme metal there's no rules. You can basically do anything you want to.
Markus: We had a rough idea how Sadistik Forest would sound like. In the very beginning we were thinking if we should be more a thrash or death metal band, but of the style of ours… Let’s say that it chose us. This is the sound that comes out of us naturally, when we four play in a same room, so there is no choosing really. It’s all just a matter of naturalness and development.
Has your style ever changed? If so, how and why?
Antti: As Markus said above, at first there were some songs more in a vain of thrash and some more in a vain of death and black metal. Then when we started playing them together, the style kind of morphed into one it is now. But then again the style is morphing still, so I think the slogan Extreme Metal of Death describes our style just perfectly :)
Who had the idea?
Markus: I think it was Antti’s fault..hahah.
Antti: Yes, I confess :)
Was it a good idea?
Markus: Playing extreme metal is always a good idea.
What are your influences?
Markus: There are many groups that have influenced our sound… Classic names like Celtic Frost, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Vader, Behemoth etc., but also the bands we have been touring with. You always pick something up from the road.
Antti: Each of us listens to music in so wide a scale, that it's hard to narrow it down to a few, but as for the metal side, I have to also add Slayer, Kreator, Sodom, Possessed and Deicide. Basically all old school stuff. As for guitarists my main influences are Hanneman/King, Criss Oliva, Alex Skolnick and Ralph Santolla.
How have they influenced your music?
Markus: Crucially. When you grow up with this kind of metal, it just comes out of you naturally. Like sweat.
Do you consider your influences to be diverse or stay within a certain category?
Markus: We are a band that consists of four music freaks. We all listen A LOT of music and with very varied taste. We all have also a little bit different personal favourites, but it just works for the benefit of the group, when you have plenty of different ideas to work with.
Have you met any personally? If so, what was it like?
Markus: Well, personally the biggest sole “meeting” was the chance to shake hands with Tom G. Warrior of almighty Celtic Frost, in the backstage of Jalometalli metal festival in 2010. That was pretty damn amazing. There we met also guys from Carcass and Suffocation, plus had a great drink down with Dream Evil. I’ve also got to know Antti Boman of Winterwolf and Demilich –fame by touring and he is one of the nicest guys ever.
Antti: I try to avoid meeting them as much as possible, because I get so easily starstruck, that there would come nothing good out of meeting them. I just settle to admire them from a far :) Although I have met Ralph Santolla and Tom G. Warrior once. They were very cool guys :)
What kind of influence do you think you have on new bands?
Antti: We are so young band still, that it's kinda hard to say at this point yet, but if I had to say something, I think it would be the relentlessness of our music and especially live shows. There's no dull second in our show. That I would like the new bands to take influence from us: Destroy. All the time.
What would be your biggest inspiration?
Markus: To me it must be Celtic Frost. That band changed my viewpoint of how to write music in the first place and I’ve got to say, that without them, Sadistik Forest would be a different kind of story.
Antti: Slayer.
How has your band evolved?
Markus: I’d say we’ve become more focused and tighter than we were in the beginning. Also we’ve found now the great and working line up, when Matti Salo has joined the forces. Music is a everlasting learning process and we are on a path, so evolving is only natural. This doesn’t have to mean a great stylistic change, but more like doing the things we do better and with greater effect.
What caused the changes?
Do you think the changes have made an impact on you?
Would you prefer to go back to an earlier style/status of your band? If so, why?
Antti: I think there's no turning back at any point ever. Life is constant changing and evolving, and so is our music.
What's the biggest difference between now and when you joined?
Markus: We are way more professional these days, but haven’t lost all that rock ‘n roll hooliganism either.. hahah.
Do you think the difference is good or bad?
Markus: It’s definitely better this way.
What are some of its effects currently (if any)?
Markus: Well, we are writing material for our third album and so far it looks like it would be a classic one. It should be like that at least. There’s a very positive ambition in the band at the moment to make Sadistik Forest better and better in what we do, so it has to be heard at some point with future recordings.
Do you feel like the difference has caused any important things to happen?
Markus: 2013 will be a great year for Sadistik Forest. Just wait and see.
What are some important connections you have made through the band?
Markus: Well, you get to know people, when you move around.. You wider your circle and get to know new bands and new people. We’ve found great crime partners in bands like Torture Pulse, Se, josta ei puhuta, Mormânt De Snagov and Inferia for example. We’ve played a lot together and you get to change ideas with the people. That's always a perfect source of inspiration, in the first place.
What have the connections helped you with? How have you helped them?
Markus: We’ve booked shows to other bands and then they return the favour by booking us again some other time. We’ve also been invited to play abroad and that is always great.
What is the most important connection? Why?
Markus: This goes a little bit back on the earlier questions, but I’d say it is Violent Journey Records. They had the crucial role in the beginnings of Sadistik Forest.
How did you make those connections?
What are some challenges you have faced in your band?
Markus: I’d say finding the right people to work with is the biggest never ending challenge. We’ve been lucky to have had the opportunity to work with our producer Samu Männikkö, legendary cover-artist Juha Vuorma and VJR for example.
Do any of them still affect your band? How?
How have you faced them?
What have you learned from them?
Have you prevented a similar incident? If so, how?
What do you think is your biggest strength?
Markus: We are not faking it. This has to have some effect on the listener, especially when we murder them live.
What effect does it have on your career?
How has it helped you/your band?
What's the best thing it has made possible?
What do you want to be stronger in? Why?
What do you need to improve?
Markus: There’s always something you can do better. When there isn’t you should retire, as the fire is gone then.
What do you have to do to make it happen?
What has made it an issue?
Is it fixable in the near future?
Are you currently working on it?
What are some facts about your band that people would be surprised to know?
Markus: At least wide spectrum of musical tastes… It is not only extreme metal, even we all love it. I’m currently listening to First Aid Kit who were recommended to me by Antti and they are great!! I don’t know if it surprises people or not, but we listen to a plenty of different kinds of music, not just Morbid Angel all the time… heheh.
What does your band name mean?
Markus: I don’t know if it means anything, but it can be seen as a mental place where you go, where the owls won't howl – they scream in pain.
Antti: I think it also describes in a some weird way the never-ending growth and movement of our band. Like it or not, the Forest keeps on growing till it's taken over everything. Nothing will stop it. The growth may be very slow or very fast at times, but it won't be stopped, so you can either enjoy the ride or suffer and enjoy the ride :)
Why did you choose it?
Markus: I think Vesa came up with it… You either love it or hate it, but no matter what, you always remember it after you hear it the first time. This is why it’s a great band name.
Were you called anything else before?
Markus: At very beginning we didn’t have a name, but the project had a working title “Satan from Hell”. hahah.
How has your band changed the way you look at the world?
Markus: The band gets you to go to places where you would not be going without it. That always broadens the spectre of your thinking patterns.
What kind of things are different now that you are in a band?
Markus: I don’t know if anything has changed that much… I have been playing in bands since I was 14 years old, so the change is not that drastic. Things are only more pro this time.
Antti: Same with me.
What is the biggest change?
How has it improved your life?
Markus: Music is the perfect outlet for everything you would otherwise have jammed in your system. It’s a great opportunity to work with talented people like Vesa, Antti and Matti. We all take little something from each other as we go on. It’s a big learning process…
Has it caused any challenges? If so, why and how do you deal with them?
Antti: I think the biggest challenge is to organise time, so that there's enough of it for the band and everything else you have going on in your life. This is an ever ongoing process.
What's the best tour you've been on?
Markus: They’re all great, but Sadistik Forest’s Irish tour was definitely a blast! Great people, good shows and plenty of drinks to go around. One of those trips you will remember always.
Antti: I would say the same.
What made it the best?
Antti: It was the first tour outside of Finland and I didn't know what to expect from it, but everything was just awesome.
What was the best memory?
Markus: We were invited to a splendid after party in Derry by local support band. That was pretty wild to say at least… Whole band living in a same house… Metal overdose!!
Antti: In addition to Derry, also the after party's at Dublin and Belfast will always be remembered dearly, and of course, last but not least, the best of the best: Buckfast tonic wine, the drink of all drinks! :)
What was the worst memory?
Markus: I’d say the mathcore bands that supported us…
Antti: Matti's guitar got broken at the airport, when we arrived to Ireland. Damn those luggage handling people!
What were the venues like?
Markus: We played in Sandino’s in Derry, in Fibber McGee’s in Dublin and in Limelight in Belfast. Some of the Ireland’s most popular venues. Playing in Limelight is always cool and Fibber’s mean always a good hang out in Dublin…
Antti: And Sandino's was the smallest place, but the audience was the craziest!
Did the other bands connect with you?
Markus: I’d say we got along the best with 43 Seconds. Really good, straightforward hardcore. Rest of the bands were trying too hard to be like Meshuggah or something. We kicked their mathcore arses with good old rotting death metal!!
Antti: Yes, they were great people everyone and very helpful. I think the atmosphere was great everywhere, although the mathcore style started to get a little bit annoying, but you'll get over it :)
What other bands have you been involved in?
Antti: Dark/black/death metal band Fall Of Man and hardcore band VIHA. Then there's also a cover band called Thinhead at the moment.
Markus: I have been in Farewell and in grindcore group Entrail Tension Experiment. I’m also playing in Hooded Menace.
Are you still with them?
Antti: Fall Of Man hasn't done anything for a very long time, but it never basically ended, it has just kinda faded away. VIHA and ThinHead are still active.
Markus: Farewell is still basically existing, we just haven’t done anything in recent years. E.T.E. is disbanded. Hooded Menace is doing really well at the moment. We have some new releases coming out in 2013 and they will be the first ones that I play on, so it should be great.
Which other band you're in do you think resonates with your musical style/interest the most?
Antti: Well, in VIHA I can make whatever I like in the hardcore/thrash style, but I also have some other completely different kinds of projects in mind, that I would like to do at some point.
Markus: Playing in Hooded Menace gives me a great outlet to do that slower, doomier stuff. It’s a good balancing move, when compared to the beating that SF does…
PERSONAL/INDIVIDUAL
As a musician, what do you want people to think of or feel like while listening to your songs?
- Like they were caught in a very bad hurricane, that they can't get away from. They just have to go along and enjoy the ride.
What have you learned from your musical experience?
- That there's always something to learn and the only way to achieve something is to work hard. Nobody's gonna come and pick you up from home.
What would you like to see happen in the metal scene?
- More original sounding bands. Bands, who have their own distinct and recognisable sound. Although I know it is harder and harder nowadays, because there are so many bands around. I would also like to see more young musicians making music that I would enjoy listening to also. You have to remember that all these great styles like thrash, death and black metal were invented by really young guys. It would be fun, if there would come something like that again, but unfortunately it doesn't look like that. The sound nowadays is too clean, polished, compressed and dull. I would really like to see some change in that. More pure aggression, danger and cool dynamics without any limits.
What is the most rewarding part of playing your music?
- Well, as cliche as it is, I have to say that playing live and seeing/feeling that people like and go crazy from what you are doing. When playing live you kinda distract yourself from this world and are just free from everything.
What impact do you want to have on the metal scene?
- Hmm, quite hard question. The first thing that comes to my mind is to show that this isn't so serious, this is fun. Of course you do everything as good as you can, but this is supposed to be the best thing in life, so just go with it and enjoy every moment :)
How do you view your fan base?
- It's growing bigger day by day like the Forest. Fans are the ones that make all this possible and worth of doing in the end. We are lucky that we have very much loyal fans, who keep on pushing and promoting our band to everyone. We are very grateful for that.
What's the best thing you've contributed to your band?
- Forming it? :)
What's the best memory you have with the band?
- There are so many, that it is very hard to choose. Maybe the best memories are all those times in rehearsals and gigs, when everything has gone just as we have planned everything should go.
What would be your dream tour?
- Whole world tour with some other great bands, but it's hard to say, what those bands would be. I'm tempted to say Slayer, but I'm not sure if I wanted to meet them, because I'm so big fan of theirs :) Also it would be very fun to participate to one of these 70000 Tons of Metal cruises.
How would you like yourself to be portrayed ?
- Not sure if I understand the question right, but maybe as this easy-going guy, who is relentless, hell raising live performer :)
When you began playing metal, was your musical goal the same as it is now?
- Yes, I think it was. Just to make some good music that would have the right to exist and that most of the people would like, and if there would be those who don't like, they would just have to at least admit that the music is done for the right reasons. It isn't meant to be shit, everything that is released is very thought out.
If not, how has it changed, and what do you think made it change?
How would you expect to see the scene 10 years from now?
- I think it will be more diverse, although many things will be the same. There's always some cycle going on, where other styles of metal are more popular than others, but overall I think that every style will be as much in the front as the others. There won't be anymore one style that rules for some period. Also I think the modern technology like internet etc. makes the scene become bigger or at least seem to be bigger, because it's easier to make connections and meet like-minded people. The only thing I'm a little bit concerned is that there seems to be more and more bands nowadays, and unfortunately there's not enough audience for everyone. That's why there's much more competition around. All the time it get's harder and harder to get gigs and to get noticed by people. In the end the crucial thing will be how you distinct yourself from all these other competitors.
What would be the best possible situation for you musically?
- That all my bands are alive and doing well. I trust that as long as we work hard, do everything properly and treat other people right, the things will just go bigger and bigger all the time, or if not bigger then different in a good way still.
BAND/GENERAL
When you joined the band, what was your first impression?
- I thought that this will work. Maybe this needs some adjustment, but everyone of us is very up to this and we will make this work. We have learned from our mistakes from the past and we can do things better and right way this time.
When you joined the band, what were some of the thoughts and ideas that came to mind?
- That the music must be relentless and in a constant motion forward, never stagnant, all the time pushing forward no matter how fast is the pace, but forwards all the time relentlessly.
Does your band have one person leading the way or is it more "teamwork"?
- I think Markus is the most practical of us and handles most of the business and other stuff. The rest of us are more of a dreamers, who need some pushing sometimes, but all in all everybody takes part to everything as much as they can. All the big decisions we make together, and the band is very democratic in everything. No thoughtless soloing.
Of all the bands you have toured with/opened for, who do you feel has the strongest musical connection with you?
- Maybe Inferia, Torture Pulse and Se, Josta Ei Puhuta.
Imagine you were playing a show like Wacken Open Air, with 70+ bands. What do you think would set you apart from the others? What do you think fans would remember you as?
- I put my trust in our live show. Although I know that every band always says the same, in my opinion we go little further than everybody else in our live show. We have this some kind of rock 'n' roll attitude going on, where you never stand still for a one second, and the point of this is having fun, and we want and make everybody wanting to be involved in that. If you come to our gig waiting to see some ordinary extreme metal band, you will definitely be surprised. Our goal is that the people who were still able to walk out from our gig wouldn't know what just hit them :)
What aspects of your music do you want other bands to be influenced by? Why?
- The relentless attitude and that the songs are made of catchy riffs and hooks. That way every band would make some good music for us to listen :)
Are you influenced by any music that isn't considered "metal" (such as folk melodies, classical pieces, etc)?
- Yes. I try to stay as open-minded as possible. All depends on the song, if it's good, the style don't matter, be it jazz, rock, classical, folk, world music, pop, electronic etc.
What would you say has been your best accomplishment as a band?
- Two albums and the thing that we have been able to progress and evolve all the time. There hasn't come any serious drawbacks.
