Philip A. Wickstrand is a contributing freelance writer for Metal Psalter Webzine. He caught up with Ensiferum bass guitarist Sami Hinkka, at the Hawthorne Theatre in Portland, OR on November 20, 2009.

In an increasingly crowded subgenre such as Viking Metal, it is nice to see that some of the forerunners are getting the attention and credit they are due. ENSIFERUM have been doing it since 1995, long before it was popular, and will continue to do regardless of whether Viking Metal's popularity will wax or wane because they are passionate about the music they create. Their most recent album, From Afar, was released last year by Spinefarm Records.

Phil: Tell us a bit about the new album, From Afar.

Sami: Well, obviously it's the best album we have made so far. [notices Phil's METSATÖLL patch] METSATÖLL. Ah, sweet!

Phil: Saw them live last year - they were amazing.

Sami: We were just on tour with them.

Phil: I know - I was very jealous. I was hoping that would come over here.

Sami: That was one idea at a certain point.

Phil: You should have them come on a future tour.

Sami: Yes. Let's see.

Phil: Markus is a really nice guy, too.

Sami: Yes - the whole band is incredible guys. But From Afar… what can I tell? There's something old; traditional ENSIFERUM stuff and also some new elements, more majestic orchestrals this time. I think a much more solid album than "Victory Songs", for example.

Phil: What specific new ideas did you try to incorporate into this album?

Sami: Well, obviously, we want to challenge ourselves as composers and the more you work with the same people, the more the synergy or whatever, I don't know, gets better. So, new ideas… well, obviously, the bombastic orchestrations were the thing in this album, but we also had a female choir and this Western stuff. Small things with arrangements and stuff like that.

Phil: Tell us a bit about the production process - how did that go?

Sami: We composed stuff on tours and (at) the end of last year we did a tour with AMON AMARTH here in North America and we noticed "Okay, we have pretty much material" and we went to do demos in February and noticed that we had eighty minutes of material, so we have already a few songs almost ready for the next album. In April, we hit the studio with Janne Joutsenniemi, who was the producer of "Victory Songs" and also Tero Kinnunen who has worked with NIGHTWISH and AMORPHIS and it worked out very well. We recorded stuff, almost all guitars, drums and bass and almost all vocals at Petrax Studios - that's in the middle of nowhere in Finland in the countryside. The two producer thing was also kind of a nice experiment and we obviously want to continue with Janne, producer of "Victory Songs"; he's an incredible guy and he has really kicked our ass big time. Also we did demos with Tero and he turned out to be an amazing guy also and so we split things a little bit. Tero did vocals, keyboards, obviously because he has recorded NIGHTWISH and that's his expertise and it worked out very well because nobody had to work like 24/7, we did shifts.

Phil: Tell us about the filming of the video for the title track.

Sami: Our part of the video isn't so big - we're just standing in it. It was hot as hell, shitloads of mosquitoes. [laughs] The first idea was to make a video out of  "Twilight Tavern", but somehow we just thought "Okay, maybe it would be good to show that this album is a little bit different", because "Twilight Tavern" is more like a traditional beer drinking song, so we wanted to expand a bit. But about the video, I don't know what to say. [laughs] They shot most of the stuff without us.

Phil: Is it possible that later on you might do a video for "Twilight Tavern"?

Sami: There is actually this kind of live video on YouTube now and there's this French guy, he came to… the day before we started this tour, we had last rehearsals, he was there shooting when we were building the first show and he also filmed the first show out. We had pyros there and stuff, so it turned out to be pretty good. It's not so serious.

Phil: What is your opinion on the over saturation of Viking Metal that is starting to happen? You guys have been around a lot longer than the current crop, so it would be kind of interesting to get the opinion of one of the forerunners of the genre.

Sami: I don't know. It's a free world - if somebody wants to do a certain kind of music, go for it. We have seen it happen to Thrash and Black Metal also, to whatever. When it comes too much bands and they have to go do something new, eventually it'll probably happen to Folk/Pagan/Viking/whatever Metal. ENSIFERUM has done this since '95 and this (is) the kind of music that we love to do, so we're going to continue doing it.

Phil: Did you have any problems in the beginning with people not taking you seriously?

Sami: We have to ask Markus because he's the founder of the band. Just give me a second. [leaves to retrieve Markus]

Phil: [to Markus] Did you have any trouble in the beginning with people not taking you seriously because you were doing Viking Metal?

Markus: (In the) beginning, problems were more like the band was so crappy. [laughter] We couldn't play and that was the biggest issue. [laugher]

Sami: I wasn't expecting that. [Markus leaves]

Phil: Now that Petri has departed NORTHER, is it possible that we could see some sort of tour featuring ENSIFERUM, WINTERSUN and NORTHER?

Sami: Why not? And for the record, he was kicked out from NORTHER. [laughs] But we had a talk with WINTERSUN guys, we talking about (in) a few years it would be nice to tour with them. Nice guys, but it seems to take a lot of time for Jari to complete the album. [laughter]

Phil: Is it five years now?

Sami: Yeah. Something like that. It would be really nice to hear it 'cause many people have heard the raw mixes and stuff like that say it's going to be an awesome album, so I really want to hear it.

Phil: Recommend a book for our readers and tell them why.

Sami: Fuck… [laughter] I read pretty much, but hmmm… [pause] Read Stephen King's 'Dark Tower' series - that's perfect. Fantasy and if you don't want to read anything too serious.

Phil: Editor's note - stop at book four. I did not like the last two - hated the way it ended.

Sami: Yeah. I hear that, pretty much. [laughs] Yeah, the first four are…

Phil: Oh, the first four are fantastic! Amazing.

Sami: Yeah.

Phil: But just reading the end, I was literally pulling the hair out of my head. [laughter]

Sami: I understand.

Phil: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Sami: Enjoy the new album.

Ensiferum's Sami Hinkka

May 27, 2010

Interviewer: Philip A. Wickstrand

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Formed: 1995
Helsinki, Finland
Label: Spinefarm Records
Genre: Viking/Folk Metal

CURRENT LINE-UP:

Petri Lindroos: 
             Harsh Vocals & Guitar
Markus Toivonen:  Guitar, Clean
             Vocals & Backing Vocals
Sami Hinkka:  Bass, Clean Vocals
             & Backing Vocals
Emmi Silvennoinen:  Keyboards & Backing Vocals
Janne Parviainen:  Drums

DISCOGRAPHY:

Ensiferum (2001)
Iron (2004)
1997-1999:Best of/Compilation (2005)
Dragonheads EP (2006)
10th Anniversary Live (DVD - 2006)
Victory Songs (2007)
From Afar (2009)

PHOTOS BY PHIL A. WICKSTRAND

(Click on Photos to Enlarge)

(Click on Photo to Enlarge)