ARTICLES | MP3 | VIDEO | MERCHANDISE | PICTURES

Hateform is one of these bands that as soon as a label listens to their music, they shouldn't lose time, but they'd rather rush to offer them a record deal! Uptempo and catchy melodic death/thrash metal might be ordinary nowadays, but composing music that can maintain your interest intact, isn't something we get to find and hear every day!

1.FIRST OF ALL PRESENT THE BAND MEMBERS TO THE READERS AND POINT OUT THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS OF THE BAND'S HISTORY
... The band consists of the following members:Tuomas Vähämaa-Drums, Joni Suodenjärvi-Bass, Ville Vänni-Guitars, Petri Nyström-Vocals and Tomy Laisto-Guitars. Most important moments of the band's short history would be the moment we got the last member of the band, which is Ville, in August 2004. Worth to mention are also when we did a mini-tour here in Finland in October with our good friends Death Du Jour, among Swedish acts Insision and Godhate, the studio-session in February and band's 1-year party 15.4.2005. Good friends and a bottle(s)of booze.

2.I THINK YOUR MUSIC IS AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE OF DEATH/THRASH OR HARDCORE, NAME IT HOWEVER YOU LIKE! SO, WHICH ARE THE BANDS THAT HAVE INFLUENCED YOU THE MOST AND SET THEIR SEAL UPON YOU?
Thank You. Each and everyone of us have their own likes and dislikes, but I think it would be safe to say that we are influenced by bands such as Carcass, Death, Pestilence, At The Gates, Meshuggah and Arch Enemy, to name a few.

3.IF A METALLER CAME ASKING YOU TO PRESENT HIM YOUR WORK, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL HIM? WHICH WORDS WOULD YOU CHOOSE?
Ok, I would say that we are Hard-hitting, yet melodic, aggressive, fast, with a few nuances here and there. But mainly I would say we are metal. With a certain groove to it.

4.TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE SONGWRITING AND RECORDING SESSIONS. DO YOU WORK AS A TEAM OR ARE THE COMPOSITIONS THE WORK OF ONE PERSON ONLY?
The songwriting process could be described like this:Tomy brings the fresh meat to the table and all together with the boys we'll take it through the meat grinder. So,in a way, everyone participates. No opinion will be unheard. I think this also keeps the band's spirit up. No one gets pulled down. Lyrics are written mainly by Tomy, Joni and Petri. The recording session went very smoothly, no pressure. It lasted 3 days, containing 2 a bit "moisty" nights, if you know what I mean...Hard playing, hard (heavy) drinking.

5.YOU HAVE MANAGED TO CREATE AN INCREDIBLE AND VERY PROFESSIONAL SOUND. WHO WAS THE PRODUCER AND WHERE DID YOU RECORD IT? ARE YOU SATISFIED OR IS THERE ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO CHANGE?
The band is the producer, but for the sound, we must thank Henri Virsell(co-owner of Fantom-studios, Tampere, Finland) who did a hell of a job! We are quite satisfied with it, though there was a limited time. Generally, you can always find something to improve, you know, but it might get off hands. Anyway,we are very pleased with it.

6.COULD YOU PLEASE REVEAL TO US WHICH THE SOURCES OF YOUR INSPIRATION ARE AND TELL US BRIEFLY THE MAIN TOPIC OF EACH SONG?
Sources of inspiration for the songs come mainly from everyday-life, no swords, elves and goblins, just things that makes you feel angry etc. (It usually is about something that pisses you off, wouldn't be interesting to sing about the flowers and the bees...). "Dead"is about someone choking your will, this one is an uplifting song, I think. It basically tells you to do what you want to do, not what others want you to do. "Warbringer" is about people who start wars, let others else do the killings. "Despise" is about someone who has always lived "silver spoon" in his mouth, you know, and still complains about everything. Spoiled bastards. We are just jealous... "I won't kneel" is actually about my former boss, or should I say, my former boss's wife, who was literally a pain in the ass! She was really a sick-ass person. Manipulative,cold and mean. So the song title tells it all. Written after a little "conversation" with that witch.

7.DOES THE COVER ARTWORK REPRESENT SOMETHING IN SPECIFIC OR IS IT JUST THE RED COLOR (THE COLOR OF PASSION) DOMINATING? IT LOOKS LIKE A SKY WITH THE CLOUDS PAINTED RED
... It's a color of passion, all right... Actually, that is something that we agreed we'd keep as a secret... But it is something that really reflects our nature. We always try to put a little twist in everything we do, so you've got to figure that one out yourselves,heh...

8.DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS? HOW IMPORTANT ARE THE GIGS FOR YOU? YOU FACED QUITE MANY PROBLEMS IN THE BEGINNING. DO YOU WANT TO TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT IT
... No particular plans. We have agreed that no one stands still on a stage, so it is a quite energetic show. Everyone has seen sometimes some bands that looked like they'd rather be somewhere else rather than on stage and it is not fun to look at, so we always put ourselves to the edge. And of course there is always a little "dark humor" there also. Playing live is very important, since we are definitely a live band. We didn't have that many problems, only that we had a gig booked before we even had a band, not to speak about the material, so it was all done in a little rush. We used a replacement guitarist who had to learn all the songs, of course. And before that, the songs had to be written, too. But it all went good and we had a blast! Also finding a second guitarist was also a slight problem, but we found the right guy.

9.WAS IT DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO FIND THE IDEAL MEMBERS TO FORM THIS BAND? IT'S OBVIOUS, ESPECIALLY IN THE RHYTHM SECTION THAT THERE IS A STRONG BONDAGE AMONG YOU... SO, DO YOU HAVE TO MAKE COMPROMISES IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THIS?
No, actually not. Me, Tuomas and Joni have been playing together for 9 years, so I guess you could say we have a bond of some sort. Or bondage:) Ville and Petri also bring their own "color" to the band. But it feels that we have been playing together much longer than year, it's a funny thing. No compromises, it all rolls very smoothly.

10.HAVE YOU SENT THE PROMO TO ANY LABELS? WHAT KIND OF FEEDBACK YOU'VE RECEIVED? WITH WHICH CRITERIA WILL YOU DECIDE WHICH LABEL TO COOPERATE WITH?
The demo has been sent to very many labels, now we just wait and see.We are still waiting for responses,so lets see what happens. Feedback has been very good, people seem to like, so it's a good thing. If a record label seems "down-to-earth" and co-operation works + the terms are all right, then we will think about it.

11.WHAT KIND OF COMMENTS DO YOU RECEIVE FOR YOUR PROMO? WHAT WAS THE BEST AND WHAT THE WORST STATEMENT YOU'VE READ FOR YOUR MUSIC?
As I earlier mentioned, feedback has been great! I haven't heard many negative comments. Of course they are welcome as well! Only one that comes to mind is that the song structures are abnormal?! I think that they are quite simple,but who am I to say?

12.IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
Being an emotion, I would say that we are Hate. That's how I see the band name,too. The music we represent is a form of hate, kinda you know. Hate sometimes keeps you going. If we were a painting, we would definitely be the cover of the demo. Cause that's really us there, hehe. Not US I mean,but it reflects nicely what we are.

13.IF YOU COULD INVITE FAMOUS MUSICIANS TO PARTICIPATE IN YOUR ALBUM, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
Our drummer Tuomas would invite Dimebag Darrell. Self-explanatory.Ville would take Tapio Rautavaara, who is a heavy metal legend and Cliff Burton, whom everybody should know. Tomy would take Chuck Schuldiner of Death and Tom Waits for being such great musicians. Joni would have Teuvo Loman, his personal source of inspiration and Petri would invite Pikku-G, who is his spiritual leader in all ways.

14.WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD DO IF THERE WAS NO MUSIC IN THE WORLD?
We would still play metal and drink beer. Besides some jerks say metal is not music, haha!

15.THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?
No,thank you! I think you asked just about all the questions I am able to answer.Or maybe there would be one question you forgot to ask: If I asked Hateform to come and play in Greece, would you come? HELL YEAH!!!!

Christine Parastatidou
Behind The Veil Webzine

BACK