Impaled Nazarene

Samedi 21 juin (Hellfest 2008 2nd jour)

Last (but not least) interview for this second day is Mikael Arnkill, bass player from the Finnish black metal band "Impaled Nazarene". They released their tenth album last year on the French label Osmose Productions. Manifest has been forbidden in different European countries and still is banned in Germany.

Fab : Are you happy to be here at the HELLFEST ? And have you planned something special for tonight's show?
Mikael: First of all, we are very happy to be here, of course. Beautiful place, beautiful weather, and nice girls (laughter), though I haven't seen that yet. (And about) anything special for tonight's gig, not really. We just try to push it really hard, hard set, because we have only a limited time to play live. Forty minutes or something like that. So we are just tryin' to, we have a good mix of songs, from all the possible albums. Kind of like, "heat" "covercard". The best of (laughter). But we have nothing special effects or… just pure metal.

Fab: As you have a rich discography, a lot of albums, is it not difficult for you to, when you have to play only 40 minutes, to compile all this into a nice set-list?
Mikael: It's extremely hard. Because we want to have at least one song from each album, and maybe some more from some other album. Yeah, it's very difficult to make off a little 40 minutes.

Fab: Because some people are coming for you, and others don't know you very well.
Mikael: Yes, so we want to mix old and new songs in the set because, there's new people, and of course old fans. So we take songs from the latest album of course, but we don't forget the first albums like "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz" and "Ugra karma"..there's something from every album, even (if) we have so little time to play. But we have made a set-list for all the fans. And we respect all ours.

Fab : What's the secret of the incredibly lengthy and solid collaboration with Osmose Production?
Mikael: We are a family. It's a family thing because we, of course it's business, but we can't take it, we can't say it's only business. It's more like friendship.

Fab: You've never wanted to go somewhere else?
Mikael: No, no because we are in good hands with Osmose Production, so there's no need to change. We have no ambitions to be a huge tabloid band you know, because we are a marginal band, very underground still. And we want to keep it that way. And Osmose is doing us the best job we can get because we pretty much can decide what we do, when we do, how it sounds. And there's always no problem with Osmose, with money, whatever. Everything works. I think if we try to change of label now, we wouldn't get any better what Osmose is for us.

Fab :How do you explain that a country like Finland, has a lot of very good metal bands? Do you put riffs in baby bottles of your children? Or are you more open-minded than others?
Mikael: Actually, humm, I don't know. It's pretty strange to have so much metal all over the place, like metal bars, a lot of radios play very heavy metal, and it's like, it's becoming like a…

Fab: A culture?
Mikael: A cultural thing, yeah. It's like a metal culture. And it's been the past ten years turning into that, and all the time more and more. It's a good question that I can't really answer. It's just happening. There's so many bands, and some get success outside of Finland. And it just happens, I don't know, maybe it's because Finland is very dark and cold (laughter), so the atmosphere is very ideal for metal music. But we are not sad, being born in Finland, it's not like that, it's just that people like heavy stuff in music.

Fab: So I have to live in Finland.
Mikael: Yeah, it's a good place for metal. A lot of competition of course, but it doesn't matter.

Fab : Concerning the AGRIF (French Christian traditionalist organisation) who tried to ban you, do you find it very paradoxical knowing that they're very close of the extreme-right politically speaking? I mean you can't think differently from them. Don't you find it stupid?
Mikael: Yes it is, extremely. Oh it's like "whatever". We don't have any religious, or political messages in the songs. People always misunderstand us. A lot. It's very very hard and interesting topic to talk about, but I don't have any straight answer. How to react? We don't give a shit because we play to have fun, and that's it. We don't have a message, we don't have a mission.

Fab: What is your insight look about your nearly 20 years of career?
Mikael: I don't know if I can answer that because I have only been 8 years with the band.

Fab: I mean, when a band lasts so long, it means something.
Mikael: The secret of keeping Impaled Nazarene running for so long is the changing of people. Changing of guitarist, changing of the all line-up, except Mika of course and Jarno who has been pretty much from the start. It's new blood and it's very good for the band. And now again we have a new guitarist, after Tuomio who plays on "Pro Patria Finlandia" left last year. We have Tomi UG Ullgren who is actually playing for IMPALED NAZARENE since 2000 on the gigs, replacing you know if someone can't do it. But now he's officially a new member and he always brings a good new feeling into it. And it's of course a strong friendship, we are very good friends. And now, I guess, we have a line-up to last long.

Fab: A good alchemy so.
Mikael: Yeah, alchemy, this is a good word.

Fab: Any news for a DVD to come?
Mikael: Oh, we have absolutely no plans, and we don't even have the material because we never film. But we will of course. Everyone is always asking for this DVD but, I don't know, maybe we'll release Blue-Ray! (laughter). Skip the DVD, go directly to the Blue-Ray. No, but we need a guy to come with us on tour, to have a camera and film. Because we tried ourselves to film some, but it was like crap. So, not right now.

Fab: And your plans for the close future?
Mikael: This year we'll do only gigs, we're touring in Canada... Next year, we'll start to rehearse new stuff, and in the summer of 2009, we have some great plans about recording the new album, which will happen but I don't know yet where. We have some strange ideas about doing it outside of Finland. But that's still open so I can't say anything for sure. But a next album, next year, of course. We'll have one. I think, (by) the end of autumn 2009, something like that, maybe the new album will come out.

Fab : Are you staying tomorrow?
Mikael: Unfortunately not because we have the time schedule to go back. I would like to stay longer but…

Fab: There's so many good bands.
Mikael: Yeah (with regrets), unbelievable.

Fab: The HELLFEST is really becoming a very big festival.
Mikael: Yeah, It's like Tuska Open Air in Finland. It started also in a club, of 800 people inside, and now, it's like, I don't know, almost ten years or something like that. And it's 40 000 people…And I see the same in this HELLFEST. I'm very happy to be here, we all are and unfortunately tomorrow, we have to fly back, and travel schedule. We have to leave very early, and that sucks. But today, we'll try to see everything here and have a good party, and then play tonight.

Fab : And now the last question, because I know you don't have so much time.
Mikael: no, no (very nicely), it's ok.

Fab: It's a fun question : Are you going, as Lordi did, to win the Eurovision this year? I really would like to see this you know?(laughter).
Mikael: No. Of course, it would be a shock. But, I think, there should be different Metal Eurovision programs (ndi : that's a very good idea!!). Now they are mixing heavy metal into those, god knows whatever, like Tango, that kind of Opera fuckin' stuff (laughter). And I don't know if it's good or bad for the name of Heavy Metal in general. Lordi was ok, but now, everybody is trying to push it again like this year with Teräsbetoni.

Fab: You know, in France, a lot of people were shocked by Lordi!
Mikael: Of course, yes. It was something fresh. But I think it should be like that one time with Lordi, then don't try (to do) it again because it doesn't work anymore. Eurovision for me, since I was little, is no Metal, no Rock, it's like pop, soft and mainstream. So I think it shouldn't be too much confused with Heavy Metal because Heavy Metal is losing its pride also, because Heavy Metal should be resistance, you know? Like Punk was. But now, you put it to the main media, Eurovision? What the fuck?? There's no protest anymore, there's no argument so, in that case, things like these, we say no, we shouldn't be in the Eurovision contest (laughter). But if it was a Metal contest, yeah, it should be fun, but unfortunately, it will never happen. Lot of people would die of heart attack you know, the old people watching television (laughter).