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CD: Can you tell us a bit about the history of the band, how you came to form and why you chose the name?
Wille: Well, a couple of years ago I just started coming up with these heavier and “moodier” riffs that didn't really fit the band myself, Janne and Veli-Matti had back then. It was a rock band, not metal. For a while I just kept these riffs to myself but as time passed by I started playing with the idea of forming a band around these riffs. Veli-Matti came to my house one day, listened to the demos and said he really likes them and some weeks later we put Ghost Brigade together. We asked Janne from our old band to join because we knew he'd like this type of stuff and also, he's a long-time friend and a good player. Then we asked Tommi and Manne from another local band to join, basically for the same reasons. Aleksi from Swallow The Sun came to the picture a little bit later. We needed someone to spice up the songs with keyboards and he was pretty much our only choice. He's kind of a half-member of the band. Then we took some time off to record a 4-track demo, sent it around and after some months of negotiations with a few labels we signed to Season Of Mist. And here we are, the first album was just released a few weeks ago.
Janne came up with the word “Ghost” because apparently he just happened to like the word. Then I came up with “Brigade” which I took from a song called “Snow Brigade” by a Danish pop band Mew. One of the best pop songs ever, by the way.
CD: It seems that the metal scene at the moment is obsessed by pigeonholing bands into genres. Have you felt any pressure to conform to that?
Wille: We haven't felt any pressure at all. We know we're a bit of outsiders in this game and don't necessarily fit into any specific genre. We knew that already when we formed the band so it's ok. But what's driving me nuts is the media's constant need to find us an easy tag. I mean, we decided not to name any influences in our biography when we wrote it and now some of the media are totally confused about that. They don't know how to describe us because we didn't give them ready answers on paper. And that's just...cheap. The whole music business is so disposable these days.
CD: Your site says that before you sat down to write the album, you decided not to limit what influences you would bring to the process. Was that hard to do? Did it make the editorial process difficult? I can imagine that there must have been a fair few ideas that didn't make the grade!
Wille: Nah, it wasn't that hard. We just do what we do and that's all there is to it. We know that when the five of us write music together and the music comes from the heart it will always sound like Ghost Brigade. We don't really waste out time thinking what we should or shouldn't do, you know. Besides, one of the coolest things about being in this band is the open-minded approach to writing music. This band exists because we had a need to express ourselves freely and that's exactly what we did with this album and intend to do in the future as well. As long as we like the music ourselves, we know we're doing the right thing.
CD: The production on the album is brilliant. I know that you recorded at Seawolf studios – what was the recording process like?
Wille: Thanks! But to be honest, the recording of this album was everything else but easy. For starters, we didn't have nearly enough money to record the whole thing at Seawolf. But with little help from the studio staff, we managed to record most of it there. We are eternally grateful to them for that. The whole recording session was just a very nerve-wrecking, stressful process as we didn't know how long we could stay there before they'd basically throw us out of there. Sometimes it felt like we were fucking cursed or something because minor problems just kept popping up constantly. There was always something. Not anything big but still..
Some of the parts were also pretty difficult to play so everyone had to give their best at all times to make the record sound as good as it does. Not forgetting that when you play this kind of music, your playing has to be very precise or otherwise it's gonna suck. There was no place for sloppiness. So recording some parts on this album took quite a long time.
I haven't personally ever worked so hard to get anything done in my life, I'm just glad it's all done now and it ended up sounding good. It was a hard album to make but we learned a lot and next time I believe things are going to run a lot smoother.”
CD: Again, on your bio you say that you sat down and tried to write songs that you would like to hear your favourite bands play. Who are your favourite bands and why?
Wille: We all have very varied music taste and every one have their own favourite bands but here are some bands I personally enjoy listening to: Sigur Rós, Breach, Tragedy, Xysma, Paraxism, Entombed, Kent, The Cardigans, Carcass, DJ Shadow, UNKLE, Kyuss, The Cult, Katatonia, Neurosis, 36CF, Mew, Smashing Pumpkins, Enslaved, Big Business, Cash, At The Gates, Cathedral, The Deftones, Foo Fighters, Nirvana, From Ashes Rise, Monster Magnet, bunch of 80's crap, Burst, AIC, Gojira, Thin Lizzy, Mastodon, Metallica, The Knife, Poison The Well, Moonsorrow, The Editors, QOTSA, Only Living Witness, Mogwai, Dozer, High On Fire, Eyehategod, Lisa Miskovsky, The Misfits, Depeche Mode, Gorefest, Napalm Death, Neil Young, Skid Row, Sweatmaster and many many others – Sorry for the long list man, I just copied that from my MySpace page, haha. I won't write a deep analysis about each band because that'd take all day..I don't know..I just enjoy pretty much any kind of music. It doesn't really matter if it's death metal or electronic music..if I get goosebumps from it, it's good. It really is simple as that.
CD: Guided by fire is an album that seems to me to be all about the atmosphere. How do you get yourself into the state of mind to write and play such emotional music?
Wille: For me writing this kind of music comes very naturally. I don't need any specific state of mind for it although I have to say that if I feel frustrated, angry or sad about something, it certainly helps the writing process. I've always liked melancholic music more than happy sounding music. I probably couldn't even write a happy song even if I wanted to. That's just not me.
CD: I loved the album artwork. Did you have much influence on the art? What was the process behind getting the artwork produced?
Wille: The artwork was done by us. Tommi shot the photographs as he's a professional photographer and I put the whole thing together. I work as a graphic designer and a web coder. The guy on the cover is a good friend of ours and a Ghost Brigade fan. If anyone's interested in taking a look at what I do, here's a link: www.ghostbrigade.net/hollowman
CD: Many other Finnish bands are rising to prominence at the moment, but usually due to the presence of a violin and an accordion. Can we expect to find Ghost Brigade wearing kilts and jigging about with bottles of mead for the next album?
Wille: No way haha. I'd quit the band in a blink of an eye if we did that haha. :D:D However, I wouldn't mind using a violin some time. I like the sound of it.
CD: Any plans to tour wider this year? I'd love to see you in the UK, for example.
Wille: We are right now in the middle of negotiations with this German booker, hopefully that'll work out so that we could go on tour early next year. Hopefully UK is on the schedule as well, we'd love to come there.
CD: How have Ghost Brigade gone down live? I wonder how well the atmosphere of the music translates in the flesh.
Wille: You have to ask me that question next year when we've played more shows. We've only played a handful so far so it's difficult to generalize the typical GB audience or their reactions. So far so good though.
CD: Your website is very well put together. Who did that for you? DO you have much input into the site? (http://www.ghostbrigade.net/gbf/index.php?id=2)
Wille: That'd be me. We also maintain and update the site ourselves. This band is very DIY actually. We don't use much outside help, we like doing things ourselves, everything from music to websites to designing shirts & album covers to shooting band photos. We even book some of our shows ourselves. One thing I've learned from playing in bands for the past ten years is that if you want things to happen, do them yourself.
CD: Have you been happy with the reviews the album has got so far? Any critic you feel deserves a good old fashioned punch on the nose? (Note, not me please!).
Wille: So far the reviews have been really good or at least supportive so I feel we've already won. No one deserves a punch in the face but there has been criticism we just laugh at and don't really agree on. We are big supporters of constructive criticism but reviews that aren't based on facts are just, well, on a league on their own ;) All I'm going to say is check the facts before you start writing anything. That's the least you can do.
CD: How have Seasons Of Mist been to work with?
Wille: I've nothing bad to say about them, they've done a great job promoting this album and seem like a nice bunch of people. I believe we have many good years ahead of us with them.
CD: Anyone in particular you think you would be well suited to tour with?
Wille: Nah, not really, I think our music appeals to many different types of people so it doesn't really matter if we tour with an alternative band, a hardcore band or a metal band. I'd tour pretty much with anyone haha. I just wanna go and play as much as possible and see new places and meet new people. I can't wait to go on tour. Good times.
CD: How does Ghost Brigade fit into the Finnish Metal scene?
Wille: I have no idea yet! This whole thing is so new that I think it'll take some years 'til we find our place in the scene. We'll see.
www.ghostbrigade.net
www.myspace.com/ghostbrigade
www.season-of-mist.com
Interviewed by Chris Davison
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