Katla

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Interview : Tomi from Katla

When and how was your band created?
Katla was founded October 1999. I had been dreaming about my own band for several years. Katla was actually an accident. I just bragged to my schoolfriends that I have a "band" (me and my friend) and then more guys just joined "the band". We didn't have any idea what kind of music we would play. We played lot of finnish covers and a few of my own songs. Little by little others became greatly interested in writing their own songs for Katla.

Where is the name of the band coming from?
There is a dragon called Katla in Astrid Lindgren's book "The lionheart brothers". There is also a volcano named Katla where I think that also Astrid Lindgren took the name for her book.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
To mention some musicians, here's the list: John Lennon, Juice Leskinen, Martti Syrjä, Irwin Goodman and Pelle Miljoona.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
Music as a hobby is very popular here so it's easy for example to find other people who play some instrument. But if you think this from a professional musician's point of view, it's very, very hard to make a living by just playing music. This is such a small country so that the amounts of records sold are also very small.

How could you qualify your style of music?
That is very difficult. And the reason is that I think we have created our own style. You'll have to listen to understand. But if you say it simply, we play hard finnish rock with versatile influences.

During the years how has your musical style evolved?
At first we made songs that were more like rock with pop and punk influences. One reason for that was that we didn't then yet know how to make it harder. But the main reason for our musical evolution is that every member of our band writes songs and we also write together and we all like different kinds of music. So it took time that all the influences merged into our own music.

How do you explain these changes?
We have learned to know each other and we have learned to play better.

What are stories/topics you tell/address in your songs?
We have four lyricists in our band so the lyrical topics are various. Still, by accident I have noticed that we all have written something about nature. So you could say that we are not city boys making city music for city people. That is just an observation. Not a conscious choice. But we do not write about society, rather about different feelings, diversity of life and the unlimited stupidity of man by using some new point of view.

Have you ever considered the possibility to change your style of music radically? If so, what style of music would you choose?
No we haven't. But we do a lot of different kind of songs so we are not stuck in some particular style. Our style actually is that we really don't have a one and only one style in our songs. We play almost anything as long as it goes under the name of rock. We can do for example a hip-hop song just for the fun of it.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
"Vitium Cordis Congenitum". It's varied and still melodic and catchy. It's hard but not aggressive. And the lyrics are successful. But playing live is a matter of it's own. My favorite song to play live is "Kaarne".

Do you tour regularly? Do you prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
Yes. We tour each year as much as possible. I prefer performing live. The feeling when you play on a stage is inexpressible.

During the process of making a song or an album, what is the moment that you prefer?
When I have an idea for a song and the idea grows and finally evolves to a song. Making that grow is a great feeling. Also a great moment is when we are in the studio and we create something new to a song and the song becomes something more than it has ever been.

What kind of music / What artists do you currently listen?
Mainly hard finnish rock but also pop, punk and reggae. Here's a list of artists I listen: The Beatles, Bob Marley, Oasis, Apulanta, Eppu Normaali, Lenny Kravitz, CMX, Kotiteollisuus, The Rasmus, Juustopäät, Tehosekoitin, Green Day and Chuck Berry.

A stupid question but... what is, among all the songs you've been listening in your life, the BEST song? Why?
John Lennon: "Imagine". Reasons: the lyrics, the melody, the feeling and the singer. Every time I hear it the feeling is awesome.

What are your actual and future projects?
Right now we are in studio making our second album. It will be released at the end of the year in Finland. After that, some touring, writing new songs and enjoying music in every way.

Interview by Vincent Lefrançois - 2004