Guitarist Markus Vanhala from the Finnish death metal act, Omnium Gatherum, took a few minutes out of his Sunday morning to have a cup of coffee, answer a few questions about music making, and to abuse our couch. This is a Sunday Conversation with Omnium Gatherum!Genre's are so misleading and such a way to pigeonhole bands. Without resorting to labels, how would you describe your music?
-Quality metal with sense of originality, aggression and melodicality!
Omnium Gatherum has that "Gothenburg" sound, but your sound is still distinct enough to seperate the band from bands such as In Flames or Dark Tranquility. How did you go about that? Was it a conscious effort to keep that sound yet create your own identity?-Well, people always categorize us to this Swedish/Gothenburg –thing, and they’re a lil’ bit right on that one, as at the time when we were forming OG back in the mid 90’s we were extremely influenced about this new raising wave of Swedish metal, bands like Edge Of Sanity, Dark Tranquillity, In Flames, At The Gates, Entombed. That’s from where this all started with this band and i guess that’s the legacy somewhere between the lines still. Finnish band trying to play Swedish kind of stuff, won’t happen so we’ve failed on this task and that’s why we sound original, haha. We have naturally escalated also over this category and have found that “own” thing somewhere.
Working with Dan Swano must have been a charge! What did you gain from his experiences as one of the death metal forefathers? How was he to work with in the studio? Was he hands on or did he let the band do their own thing for the most part?-In fact i’m just listening “Unorthodox” by Edge Of Sanity (Swanö..s previous band) at the moment when i’m doing this interview! When i noticed that Swanö have re-opened his legendary Unisound Studio, i immediately emailed him and asked about his interest to mix and master our coming album, as i’ve been a big fan of his work since the day one. But he just mixed/mastered the stuff so he didn’t got his hands at all on producing and recording this stuff, that’s done by ourselves and our local friend engineer Teemu Aalto in Kotka, Finland. So this is our own thing going on. But Swanö did really great job on mixing the stuff and the album really sounds killer, really what we were after! Dan is a really easy going feet on the ground –style mastermind. We have already talked with him that we do also the next album with him quite surely.
Talk to us about the song-writing process for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall into place?
-Lots of sitting in the corner of the room with guitar and polishing ideas on and on. Sometimes all comes easily complete in 15 minutes and sometimes you have to play hours and hours or days to find just one riff or the composing attitude. Nowadays it’s lots easier to work as i have my decent homestudio where to record and produce material, that’s the nasty rock’n’roll life of today! No more sleeping, all nights recording stuff at the front of computer....
In songwriting, how do you bring the song together? What do you look for in terms of complexity? Simplicity? Time changes?
-When the song sounds good for my ear, it’s ready. Naturally. You just know when it’s ready and you have some inner sense about what is coming. I don’t plan much, that now i had to do this kind of song etc... But nowadays it’s like doing song really ready at home with drum machines / keys etc. before playin’ the demoversion to others. And when boys hear the stuff and start to play, then it immediately changes and i got to use to the “new version”.
Very little is heard in the U.S. in regards to the music of the Finnish scene. Most of us have heard of Nightwish, Sentenced (R.I.P.), and now Omnium Gatherum. Who else is out there that the world needs to know about and has grabbed your attention?-The other projects of OG dudes of course - like Malpractice, Manitou, Kaihoro, Elenium and Total Devastation. Check ‘ em out and become happy!
The business of music is a brutal place. Changes in technology have made it easier than ever for bands to get their music out, but harder than ever to make a living? What are your plans to move the band forward? How do you stay motivated in this brutal business?
-We’ll do good honest music that we wanna play, and we have a nice boys in the band. That’s the recipe for goodness! Fuck the business side of music, that just ruins the spirit if we think too much about that shit.
Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?
-CD and when the artwork is really really nice an’ cool, or the case is 70’s music, then vinyl! Mp3 is lame from quality and really boring format, as the printed artwork is really important for me in the albums! That gives the flesh an’spirit around the bones in the packet.
We, at The Ripple Effect, are constantly looking for new music. When we come to your town, what's the best record store to visit?-Here in Kotka is quite shitty record stores, maybe second hand shop Levydivari Hämäläinen, because Juha the owner is always conquering the world in his computer there among the business!
Are there any parting words that you'd like to pass on to the Waveriders (Ripple readers) out here?
-Buy OG’s “The Redshift” album and mosh, or be a boring useless person...
Once again, thanks for taking the time to answer these questions, and for giving my ears something incredible to enjoy in The Red Shift!
-Thanx and cheers, hope to see ya soon and rock the US of A!
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