Sonata Arctica has been one of my favourite bands for a long time. So it really excites me that in the run up to the release of their 11th studio album, Clear Cold Beyond, I got the opportunity to chat with bass player, Pasi Kauppinen. In this interview we chat about the new album and its production, working on their acoustic duology and going back-to-basics with this record!
Mick: How did it feel to work on a full metal album again after the 2 acoustic albums?
Pasi: It feels really good. Yeah. A lot has happened. When we were working on the last studio album Talviyö in 2018 (released in 2019) it became a much softer record than we thought when we were recording it. We felt that the album was a little too soft. Then we only had a couple of months touring with that album before the pandemic hit.
After that, we had time to record the two acoustic albums and then we toured with the acoustic albums. So yes, we’ve not had a real heavy metal feel for a while. So it was refreshing to hit with the full power again. When we heard the masters of the track from the new album, Clear Cold Beyond, we were scared that we’d gone too heavy and it was a lot faster! It feels really good to play heavy metal again.
Mick: Do you feel like you learned anything from working on those acoustic albums?
Pasi: Yeah, for sure. Doing songs acoustically is really different and we had to play fully acoustic tours. We actually wanted to play around with different composition styles before the pandemic and so when we had the time to work on different arrangements and we were in the studio recording the acoustic albums we found that it was more complicated. We ended up recording them as live tracks.
We found that when we were performing the acoustic versions live, audiences didn’t quite know how to react to them. The whole thing was different, we were sitting on the stage and the audience didn’t know whether to sit or stand for the show.
The one thing that we learned from all of that is that Tony’s compositions are really strong. I mean, we could strip them down to that bare sound and they still sound fantastic. That’s the one thing I think we learned is that the songs still hit as hard no matter how we arrange them.
Mick: How would you describe the new album, Clear Cold Beyond for the audience?
I opened my own copy of the album a few hours ago and there’s a sticker on it that says “back to the roots”. This album is so much faster than the last few albums. I mean if you listen to the early albums like Silence or Winterheart’s Guild there are maybe three or four really fast songs on those albums, on this album there are maybe six really fast songs. It’s even faster than before. I think this album is pure Sonata Arctica. Tony (Kakko)’s writing and compositions are all there. It’s back to basics.
Mick: Speaking of the “back to basics” methodology for this album. How did that work for you? As you joined the band in 2013 just before the release of Pariah’s Child.
Pasi: It was really easy for me. So I heard the demos for this album about a year ago. I think when I was working on Pariah’s Child it was much more complicated because I didn’t know how this band functioned at the time. However, for this album, it was really easy, the only thing is that the tempo is a little bit faster.
Mick So could you describe the recording process for this record?
Pasi: It was a really rough time to record it because we were on tour, we started recording just before the Latin America tour and we continued it through the festival season last summer. I don’t have a really clear vision of how it went, it just sort of happened. We just worked our asses off and then the album was completed.
This album was mixed by Mikko Karmila who mixed those earlier albums. So we recorded all of the material with him and it was just a lot of work.
Mick: I really think the artwork for the album is stunning who was the artist and does the band have any say on the finished product?
Pasi: I think that’s another thing that brings this album back to its roots. One thing is that it has to sound like the classic band and also that the album cover has to be like the old style. So it really is a throwback.
It was our drummer Tommy Portimo who coordinated that with a painter Niko Anttila. He has done T-Shirt designs for us in the past but this is the first album cover. I think Tommy would have seen the progress but I didn’t see anything until the final version. But yeah, we wanted to have those Northern Lights and icy nature landscape.
Mick: Since the band has been going so long with eleven studio albums, do you have any insight on how the setlist will now go? I imagine it’s going to be difficult to represent all eras of the band considering you only get so much time on stage.
Pasi: Right?! We’re struggling right now and we have a tour starting in a few weeks in Finland. Obviously, the focus will be on the new album, Clear Cold Beyond but we also need to balance that with classics and the must-haves. I don’t know how “must-have” they are. I think we’re really going to have to think and maybe make some brave choices. I think was have upward of 120 songs to pick from, so it’s going to be interesting.
Mick: From the new album what’s your personal favourite and what do think is going to be the most fun to play to an audience?
Pasi: We have already played “First In Line” live. That’s a really great song to play. I really like “Dark Empath” and “A Monster Only You Can’t See”. However, that answer might change when we start rehearsals just before the tour. We’ll see.
Mick: Finally just to end on. What is the hardest thing you’ve had to overcome in your professional career and how did you overcome it?
Pasi: I think when the pandemic started and the whole world stopped, it meant we were unable to go to work. At first, it was nice because we’d been performing a lot non-stop and it was good to take a breather. Then the tours and festivals were either postponed or cancelled. It was this state of just not knowing when it was coming back. There was a mindset of “what will happen if we can’t go on stage ever again?“ you know?. It was a really hard thing.
I think what got me through it was a moment of reflection. We could take a step back and really think; about what the job is and what we were doing. It was really a time were we gained perspective.
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