Poisonblack
No Last Goodbye

03.07.2007

After Finland’s most famous gothic metal band, Sentenced, decided to call it a day, nobody expected the solo project of the band’s lead singer Ville Laihiala to become so successful and reach high positions in national charts so quickly. However, Poisonblack create the music that is quite different from what most of the bands on the local love metal scene do, this music is unique and attractive, and is beautifully complemented by Ville’s sensual voice. Thus, it’s not so surprising that the new Poisonblack album was hailed by both critics and fans. Russian promoters decided not to stay aside as well, and arranged a one-off Moscow gig for the band. This gig was advertised as Poisonblack’s farewell show in Russia, so we decided that we’ve got to be there and try to talk with the musicians. However, in the conversation with Ville and keyboard player Marco Sneck, a lot of interested facts were brought to life, and one of them is that the band is actually quite far from breaking up…

The new album “Lust Stained Despair” (2006) sounds heavier than the previous one, “Escapextasy” (2004). Why did you decide to move away from a more gothic style?

Ville: The case is that we turned away from the gothic style came from within or around us. I guess I went with some new stuff during that year while I created the music and there were the emotions that needed to be expressed in a bit heavier way. And also we have never really felt comfortable in the gothic style. That was also the reason to step away from the gothic thing. Even though there are still some gothic elements on the album, but they are not as present as they were on the previous album. And already we have been rehearsing the material for the next album. And I think it will be even more away from the gothic thing.

Is the material for Poisonblack exclusive or did you write some of the songs for Sentenced but they were realized in this project?

Ville: All the songs are exclusive. I do have the songs that I wrote for the Sentenced, but we never used them for our albums, and we are not going use them with Poisonblack. The thing is that these songs belong to Sentenced and they will stay there, because this music and lyrics are Sentenced’s stuff, they have the spirit of that time.

Why did you decide to make “Rush” a single?

Ville: “Rush” is a single song because that song embodies much of the energy that the album has, so it can express the idea of the album. And the video, I guess, was mainly director’s view of the song. Originally our plan was a bit different but it’s always a matter of money, but after we saw the finished video, I was really happy because that new director had a really full idea of the song and he did the right clip for it.

You produced the new album, as well as the previous one. How do you like it? Was it easier this time?

Ville: All the whole production things are on the person who has the last word. But still we do the albums as a band. And we want actually to know each other’s opinions, we talk about the stuff and even sometimes argue about something, but the point is that I do all the music, and I feel that I have the right to have the last word.

You also decided to take the vocal duties yourself. How did it happen?

Ville: We were searching for a new vocalist after JP (Leppaluoto) left the band, but I started to feel that as I was writing the lyrics and I have the inner feelings, so I was the person who had to think about all those things to get them right, attitude and the mood. And I just started singing at the rehearsals, you know, just to make it a bit more interesting during the play. I guess it gives the songs more feelings when they are performed with my voice, and it fits the music well. (laughs)

You received a lot of demo tapes from singers, one of them was Christopher from Canada, and you even considered him as a candidate for vocal duties. Why wasn’t he chosen?

Ville: First of all, we live in Finland, and he lives on the other side of the planet, even though he is a good singer. But his voice was, to my opinion, a little too gothic for the music we are having. And the band has to be as a tight unit, we have to be friends and have the things that create the chemistry for the music, so I think it wouldn’t have worked because he would be on the other side of the planet…just, you know what I mean…

Did you think about female vocals on the album?

Ville: Well, no… I never thought about that.

Why don’t you sing in Finnish?

Ville: (thinking) We don’t sing in Finnish because we want the music to be universal, and that’s the reason why the language is English. And it’s, you know, easier to write stuff in English, and we never tried to record anything in Finnish.

How do you like the recent tour with Lacuna Coil?

Ville: Oh…traveling was a pure hell, but the shows were really great, and that was really great to see all the people who love our music…But we also had a lot of fun during this tour.

Marco: There was a lot of new experience for a new person of the band, because I had never toured before.

Can you tell me about the song “Raivotar” written by your former bass player Janne Kukkonen? Why did you decide to put it on the new album?

Ville: This song is great, it’s really a black song, so that’s the reason why we put it on the album.

Can you tell me the story how JP kicked out his tooth? (everyone laughs)

Ville: He banged it against the microphone while we played the show for about an hour. He managed to bang it like that (showing how he did it), and then he turned around and there was no tooth.

Marco: I know the whole story of this tooth; it was actually broken before the tour in his home, as a result of a fight in his house. And in the morning when he woke up he had no tooth, so now he has a plastic copy for his original one.

You mentioned some time ago a joint project with Jesper Stromblad from In Flames…

Ville: We were talking about it during the tour and we would like to do something, but because In Flames were touring all the time and we also were touring all that time, we really didn’t have time to do anything. Maybe in the future we will do something, but I don’t know.

Could you comment on the information about your decision to dissolve Poisonblack?

Ville: I think that was a mistake, that was not the truth. We are already rehearsing new songs for the next album. And we are going to play two new songs tonight.

So when do you start recording the new album?

Ville: I think we will go to the studio in September.

What do you want to do in the future apart from that?

Ville: I have an offer to produce or pre-produce the album of one band, but I don’t want to say the name of the band because it’s not confirmed. But that’s such a promising band and we will see if I work with it.

You have been playing guitar for about 20 years, but can you play any other instrument?    

Ville: I can play drums, bass, and guitar, and I think that’s enough for creating music.

What do you think about the love-metal scene in Finland or in Europe?

Ville: I don’t follow any scenes, I just listen to the bands that I like, and usually they are not from the same scene. Just compare In Flames, Tori Amos and Slayer. I am a bit selfish when it comes to music, I mostly focus on the stuff that I have within myself. I only know a few things about all the style and scenes. As for the new bands, it’s very difficult to find the mood for checking out new bands and hard to make an opinion about them. On many occasions we don’t even check out our supporting bands.

Poisonblack on the Internet: http://www.poisonblack.com

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

Victoria “Ewigkeit” Bagautdinova
March 31, 2007
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