GB: Thank you Chris! It's been awesome! Just like with Guided By Fire, we knew we had done an album that we liked ourselves and were proud of but you can never predict what other people think about it. So it's been great to notice people seem to like it and that there are so many kindred spirits out there who understand what we're doing with this band. The reviews have been good too so it's great!

CD: “Guided by Fire” was an extremely accomplished debut album. Were there any lessons that you learned during the recording of that album that you carried through into this album?

GB: Many. I'm going to be honest and say that GBF was a really difficult album to record. There was a lot of minor problems all the time. It was a very nerve-wrecking experience and honestly, after we were done with the recordings, I was surprised we were still together. That's how shitty it was. But yeah, we learned many, many important lessons and I think partly because of that, Isolation Songs was a smoother one to do. You live and you learn I guess. We're wiser now than we were two years ago and more aware of what we are and aren't capable of.

CD: “Isolation Songs” has its own identity and an atmosphere all of its own. Was this a conscious effort? How was the song writing and recording process this time around?

GB: Not really a conscious effort, no. When we write songs we don't plan much at all. We absolutely never talk about what kind of song we should write next or is there something crucial missing from the album. We just try to constantly top ourselves and write better and better songs and when we have enough songs that we think are good, we record an album and try to put them into the best possible tracklisting. That's all. There's no secret formula behind our doings.

(the) Recording process was somewhat easier than before as well. We again recorded at Seawolf Studios here in Helsinki but this time with a guy called Antti Malinen. He's been recording a lot of hardcore and punk in the past, a super-talented & nice guy. Not much to tell from the sessions really. We just went there and recorded 11 days in a row. Long days too. We recorded all growls and keyboards on our own home studio later on and Antti mixed the whole thing at his studio near Helsinki. And that's pretty much it. We then sent the finished mix to Tonteknik in Sweden for mastering and they did a good job as well.

CD: It’s clear that Ghost Brigade isn’t afraid to experiment with different sounds. The press blurb for Isolation Songs mentions Neurosis and Katatonia – what other bands have been inspirational for Ghost Brigade?

GB: Well, the press blurb was written by our label so I wouldn't necessarily buy everything it says. Especially the stuff about genres and influences. But yeah, I understand they have to name some bands and throw some tags on us to give people some idea what kind of music they're dealing with so it ok. I don't know man, an inspiration to write your own songs can come from anything basically so this is a near impossible question to answer. I can listen to DJ Shadow one day and be inspired. Or Darkthrone. Or Kyuss. Or The Cardigans. Anything really, it doesn't matter. But I have noticed there hasn't been any newer bands in the past four or five years that would have truly inspired me apart from very, very few exceptions like Mastodon, Tragedy or God Is An Astronaut.

CD: How important to you are record sales? I’m interested on your take on the whole “file sharing” phenomena. Have you noticed if your album leaked before the release date? How does it make you feel?

GB: To me personally, record sales don't mean much. I mean, of course I want the album to sell some copies so that we are be able to go on tour and all that but it's certainly not a reason for me playing in a band. I would play other kind of music if I wanted to sell a lot of records ha ha. And of course you have to remember that labels release records in order to sell them so if our album does well sales-wise I'm happy for Season Of Mist. But yeah, apart from those things, I don't really care how much we sell. And I was actually surprised our album didn't leak earlier. I mean, we had already put the whole thing onto our MySpace before it leaked. So in that sense we won that game. But I don't care, all albums leak and for a small band like us, it might be even a good thing that it's out there and the word spreads. I strongly believe that those who like it enough, will buy the CD at some point anyway so it's all good.

CD: “Isolation Songs” has a notably more heavy sound than Guided by Fire. Was this by design or an accident?

GB: We actually had a conversation after GBF was done that that album is so dark and heavy that we weren't sure if we were even capable of doing something like that ever again. We had this feeling that the new one would be a somewhat mellower and in a a way, happier sounding record. I guess we were wrong. I don't know if this album is heavier than GBF though. It does have the heaviest songs we've ever done but also the mellowest ones so I guess it's a 50-50 situation.

CD: Finland seems to continuously produce great heavy metal bands – from each and every genre of Heavy Metal. What is the history of heavy metal in Finland? Is it true that to get your Finnish passport, you first have to produce proof that you’ve appeared in at least one professionally produced heavy metal demo?

GB: History of heavy metal? In Finland? Oh man, I'm definitely not the right person to answer that question. I was active in the tape-trading/zine scene during my death metal days in the nineties but I have no idea what happened before that in the scene. And dude, that passport thing is so true. And it's not all. When you've given the proof that you've appeared on a demo you have to repeat the line “first demo is always the best.” a hundred times in front of the authorities before getting your passport. I know, it's totally crazy out here.

CD: Speaking of isolation, who would you least like to be “isolated” on a desert island with? What’s your “desert island” top 5 albums?

GB: With my band of course and if I could decide we'd be rocking to Metallica, Sigur Ros, God Is An Astronaut, The Cardigans & DJ Shadow all day long! But I probably won't have a say because our bass player is usually the DJ so we'd probably be just listening to some weird alternative music that I know nothing about. Every time I look at his CD case on tour I never know any of the bands he listens to.

CD: Ghost Brigade seem to have generated a good “buzz” on the internet – through heavy metal message boards, and – of course – through your own website. How important to you are the opinions of the internet?

GB: It doesn't have an impact on our doings but of course we read the comments whenever we can and it really feels good if people are saying good things about you and your art. So we do appreciate all the comments and emails we get and we do read all of them. Or not all but everything we're aware of at least. As I said before, it has been great to notice there are so many kindred spirits who understand this band and for that we are very grateful.

CD: Still no British tour since our last interview! Just what do I have to do to make this happen?

GB: We would LOVE to come to the UK. We are actually right now planning our first proper European tour and I will meet the booker face to face in a couple of weeks. I will personally tell him that we would like to go to the UK to play on that tour. So fingers crossed!!

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Interviewed by Chris Davison

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