Interview with: Riku from SOLITAIRE

Hi, Grigoris! It's a terrific impression right now, I feel really great and also relieved, 'cause it was a tough job putting all this together, but we managed to do it. The album is out now, the response has been very good and the sales have started better than ever before with our previous albums.

Well, I don't know if we have any message, apart from the music itself, so in that case I would say yes, we definitely got our point across this time. We got everything done just the way we wanted to, the sound, the songs, the cover, the whole lot and I'm really fuckin' proud of Predatress.

Back in late 2006 Mika told us he wanted to leave the band. I guess he was tired and frustrated after so many years with the band and not achieving any major success. There were also some personal reasons and stuff like that, we weren't fighting or anything but I think we both were pissed off with each other. We're not in contact with him anymore, but I'm sure he's doing alright.

I never even considered searching for a new vocalist. I remember back in the early years when we were looking for a vocalist it really was hard to find one. I didn't want any of that bullshit anymore, so I told the guys I'm gonna do the vocals myself, 'cause I've written most of the songs, vocal lines and lyrics myself anyway, so I was confident it would be for the best and the guys felt the same way. It also made possible for the band to carry on almost right away, but if we would have started looking for another vocalist, it would have taken ages and we never would have got the Predatress album out by now.

It wasn't as hard as I always thought it would be. Back in the early years I always had the idea of having 2 guitarists, bass player, drummer and definitely a vocalist, 'cause I always thought I would never be able to play guitar and sing at the same time. But when I really started rehearsing vocals with guitar playing in December 2006 I got the hang of it pretty soon, so from that point on there actually weren't any bigger difficulties.

Well, I don't think so. We've played over a dozen gigs since the beginning of 2007 with me on vocals as well as on guitar and it's been going really well, no trouble at all.

Ektro Records has been around for many years and they have over 50 releases. It's an independent label which has released mainly alternative rock and more experimental stuff, so it's not exactly a Heavy Metal label at all. But Jussi Lehtisalo, who runs the label, is a big fan of SOLITAIRE, he's seen many of our gigs and he wanted to sign the band. For us it was a very good deal, 'cause we didn't get any interest from the normal Heavy Metal record companies.

No, it's just for this one. It's actually good, because I don't like these slave deals where you have to record certain amount of albums in a certain amount of time, it probably would affect the quality of the music.

Well, I think you have to ask Andi Preisig about this one...I guess Battle Cry is still around, although I thought at some point Andi had quit the label. He wasn't too interested in releasing the new SOLITAIRE album and while on the other hand there was Jussi from Ektro Records raving about how fuckin' brilliant SOLITAIRE is, it wasn't a tough choice to figure out which record company we're gonna go with. But I think it's OK now with Andi, as a matter of fact, I just heard he's handling some of the new album's distribution in Germany.

Yes, it does. Sonya Solitaire has come to life on the cover of Predatress, the fuckin' bitch is real and not just some cartoon character she has been before. We wanted to do something different with the album cover this time and we decided to have a cover photography instead of a cover illustration. We did it all by ourselves, the band and the record company, and we had a blast doing the photo shoot for the cover. It also was a tough job to put it all together, but it came out really cool and it's the best album cover we've ever had.

No, we like the way we are and the way we play and write songs. If we'd try something modern or something like that, it would be really awkward and wouldn't feel right. We've all grown up in the 80's and the music from that era is something special to us, so we pay our respect and tribute to those good old times and keep the flag flying for old school Heavy Metal and Speed 'n' Thrash.

Yeah, I'm really satisfied with the production, the sound is fuller and heavier than it's ever been before, although it's still very raw and distinct. We made no compromises, we got the sound we wanted and this is how SOLITAIRE is supposed to sound like. The rehearsing and song writing period for Predatress actually started right after when we got the previous album Invasion Metropolis done, which was in Spring 2006.

We started putting new songs together bit by bit, we played gigs and rehearsed the new stuff and eventually in February 2008 we started the recordings. We used the Base X Studio, which was actually a temporary studio we put up in our rehearsal room, so it was like being at home recording the album. The recordings took for about 4 months, which is totally crazy for band like us, we never thought it would take so long and in summer 2008 we went to Sound Doctor Studios in Pori, Finland and mixed it with our old friend Aki Peltonen. Jussi from Ektro Records and a friend of his, Tuomas Laurila, helped us with the final mastering of the album and finally we got the whole fuckin' thing done and the album was released a couple of weeks before last Christmas.

Yeah, there were a few things that didn't go as smoothly as we planned. First of all, like I said, it took too long, the whole procedure. Rehearsing the new songs took longer than it should have, so we had to postpone the start of the recordings. And when we finally got to recording the new stuff, it also took longer than it should have and it was a bit difficult to get the studio dates we wanted at Sound Doctor for the mixing, 'cause Aki had many other projects in his studio too.

It was all down to the fact that Kalu and Mikko didn't have enough time for the band anymore, it became more and more obvious during the last year, or a year and a half. They had their dayjobs and families, which took most of their time. Me and Waaqqu got really worried about it and in the end we had no other choice but to start looking for a new drummer and a new bass player. Otherwise SOLITAIRE would have ceased to exist, that's for sure. I burned myself out pretty bad during the recordings, but I'm doing much better now when we got the album out. Also, I think we already have a new bass player and a new drummer for SOLITAIRE, which would be extra fuckin' great if it works out, but that's another story, I'll tell you about it when we'll get all the pieces in the puzzle put together.

Yeah, many people have asked for a SOLITAIRE vinyl release. We've talked about it with the record company, but so far the expenses for the vinyl release have been too high. But we're definitely working on it and there's a good chance to have the Predatress album on vinyl some day. About the early albums, we're not gonna re-release those anymore, not on vinyl and not on CD, we like to keep them as they are right now, the collector's items.

Yeah, vinyl has made a big comeback during the last 10 years or so. I think it symbolizes people's desire for something solid. You know, the old school Rock and Heavy Metal fans want the releases as actual albums with big cover artwork and great photography and not just some mp3-files in the internet where you can download them to your computer or an iPod or a cellphone. That's a load of fuckin' bollocks, that's nothing real, that's not solid. A vinyl is a solid piece of record, which you can hold on to and which you can listen to and look at the cover and read the lyrics at the same time. It's real. There's also the nostalgia factor in vinyl, of course, which many old school fans definitely relate to.

Well, our first album came out in 2002 and so far we have released a new album every two years. Actually I don't have a job or a normal every day life, everything I do is always some way connected to SOLITAIRE, it's an obsession and a compulsion to me and that's what keeps me going. Although I hardly ever make any plans too far ahead, I always try to figure out the next step, what will I do next, what's next with the band and so on and that's how we've been rolling on for over 13 years now, since the band's formation in November 1995. Yeah, I'm still very hungry for this kind of music and very motivated. I can't make any promises, but it sure would be fuckin' cool if we can carry on the same way and have a new SOLITAIRE album out again in 2010.

No, we don't have any gigs scheduled at this point, because we still have have a lot of work getting the new lineup together. But hopefully we'll get it solved soon so we could play some gigs again. Of course, it would be great to play at some European Metal festival like we've done before in Germany, Holland, Estonia and Luxembourg. But right now we'll have to be patient and see how things develop.

Thank you very much, this was a pleasure. All my best regards to our fans and Metal Temple readers, keep it hot for us and we'll keep it hard for you. Cheers!

The new upcoming SOLITAIRE website: www.solitairemetal.fi