Dark The Suns

30.08.2009

Dark The Suns are a young but promising Finnish melodic death metal band founded in 2006. In the beginning there was just Mikko Ojala, songwriter, singer and guitar player. Now he is accompanied by Inka Tuomaala (bass), Juha Kokkonen (guitar),     Pinja Hajkala (keyboards) and Markus Lehtinen (drums). Over the three years of its existence Dark The Suns recorded full-length albums “In Darkness Comes Beauty” (2007) and “All Ends in Silence” (2009), and also released a single called “The Sleeping Beauty” (2008), which is now owned by all visitors of the band’s first Moscow gig. We met the guys and girls from Dark The Suns backstage at Club X.O. shortly before the show, and tried to find out more about the band’s unexpected, but smooth start…

This is your first time here in Moscow, isn’t it? So what do you think about it?

Pinja: We are impressed. It’s such a big city. You have something like 10 million people here…

More that that… About 20 million, I guess.

Pinja: Oh! And in Finland we have something like 5 million people, so you see… It’s such a huge city for us.

I believe so! Ok, Mikko, the next question is for you, because you are a kind of “creator” of the band. Why did you start the whole thing, and why did you choose this very style?

Mikko: I used to listen to many melodic metal bands. And the main point for me was to do melodic metal with very beautiful piano melodies combined with dark vocals and heavy guitars.

And when you got the idea you started recording your first demo…

Mikko: Yes, I made it all by myself and it was awarded “Demo of the Month” in Inferno Magazine. Soon after that I decided to form a band and started to search for members. And I found these people…

And how did you do it?

Mikko: I had some contacts in the Internet, and it actually helped me very much. I put an announcement in the Internet…
Inka: That you were looking for players.

What was so special about this project that made all of you join it?

Inka: I loved the piano melodies. They were so beautiful and dark and… emotional.
Juha: More or less the same…
All: Yea, the same.

And who writes your songs now? Is it you, Mikko, who still does all the stuff?

Inka: We two write them together. I play piano and he plays guitar and we compose all the songs.

And you also write the lyrics together, don’t you?

Inka: Yes. We write them in English, because we want to play abroad and to be famous in other countries.

As far as I know you’ve released 2 albums, and the second one is quite “fresh”…

Inka: Yes, it was released in March in Finland, but I don’t know if it was released here…

I guess none of your albums have been released here yet. Can you say a few words about both of them for those who had no chance of listening to them?

Mikko: Well, on the first album “In Darkness Comes Beauty” the synth is more…
Inka: Dominant.
Mikko: Yes, dominant. And the second album “All Ends in Silence” is a little bit darker and heavier.

What are the main themes of your lyrics? What are you singing about?

Inka: On the second album there is a story behind all the songs…

A kind of concept?

Inka: Yeah! It’s a story about lost love or lost romance in life… And the realization of that…

What makes you write that kind of songs? What inspires you?

Inka: First of all it’s nature… It’s very nice…

So all of you are very romantic people, aren’t you?

All: Yes, of course!

You’re soul mates, I see. But you know, you’re the first band I’ m interviewing with guys and girls in it. Isn’t it difficult to have both genders in one band?

Inka: I’ve always believed that it doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl. (everybody nods in agreement, though looking at each other thoughtfully)

Where do you record your songs and how do you do it?

Mikko: We make all the arrangements together and there we go to Juha’s home studio and record our music there.
Markus: We record everything except vocals there.

Is it a kind of “hard work” for you, or do you do it just for fun?

Juha: No, it’s not work. We don’t get much money from selling records, so we have to do something else.

So you have some “normal” jobs, don’t you?

All: Yes!
Inka: I work in an art museum.
Mikko: I work in a mental hospital. (everybody laughs)

Are you a doctor?

Mikko: No, I’m a nurse.

And what about the rest of the band?

Markus: I’m a postman.
Pinja: I’m a student. I study music.
Juha: I’m working in software industry. Computers and stuff.

Great! As far as I know you have not only recorded your own songs, but you have also made some covers. One of them was a HIM song. What do you think about this band? Would you agree if I say that lots of young Finnish bands experience their influence?

Mikko: HIM is really a great band. I have been listening for them for a long time – for 10 years or maybe more. And of course it has influenced me very much. That’s why we decided to cover their song “When Love And Death Embrace” – but we made it in our own manner, with dark vocals and melodic synth and hard guitars.

Are you going to record any covers in the future?

Inka: We don’t have any plans for that yet.

Do you think that covers help young bands to become more popular? Isn’t it a kind of promo move?

All: Maybe… We don’t know…
Inka: It depends on a band, you know.

Ok, you’ve somehow characterized your style, and how do you think your fan base should look like?

Markus: Our fan base is quite broad. There are pretty young people and there are also people in there 50-s or 60-s. All of them are cool.

Can you describe yourself on stage? I mean your performing…

Pinja: I think we’re energetic. We really enjoy our playing.

Do you think that every member of the band should have his or her own role – something like “the leader”, “the soul of the band” and so on?

Pinja: I don’t really think so.
Juha: I think our roles change all the time.

What do you expect from Russian audience?

Inka: We’ve heard that Russian people are quite enthusiastic about new bands. And that they like melancholic music… So we hope they will like us.

And what about other countries? Do you have any plans to go somewhere else?

Mikko: We have some plans to play in Cyprus. Maybe next year. But it’s not sure yet.

I think Eastern people are “enthusiastic about new bands” too. Don’t you think about going to Japan or China? Some Finnish bands are popular there…

Juha: We are not! (everybody laughs)
Mikko: I think our records have never been released there – so they don’t know us.

Do you take part in Finnish musical festivals? As far as I know they are really popular in Finland.

Mikko: We have played in a couple of festivals this summer.
Markus: In Finland it’s hard to become a part of a famous festival, because there are so many good metal bands there. Not to mention foreign bands. It’s a bit overfull.

Why are rock and metal bands so popular in Finland?
 
Juha: We don’t know! (everybody laughs)
Markus: Yea, we know we have tons of metal bands, but we really can’t say why.
Mikko: But people really listen to metal bands. And they play metal on radio all the time…

Do you have any future plans to share?

Mikko: First of all we have to make our first music video. And then we want to record our third album, because we have lots of songs already.

Which song will be chosen for your first video?

Inka: We haven’t decided it yet. We’re in the process of choosing.

Ok, then good luck to you!

Dark The Suns on the Internet: http://www.darkthesuns.com

Special thanks to Vera Dmitrieva (Spika Concert Agency) for arranging this interview

Interview by Ksenia Artamonova
Photos by Dmitry “Ward” Kulikov
August 14, 2009
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