Off the Record with Elias Viljanen & Tommi Portimo of Sonata Arctica
One of the original best Finnish power metal bands is back around with a new album this year, called “Clear Cold Beyond,” which had a pre-listening session in mid-January where I had the rare opportunity to talk to some of the other band members for a change: Tommi Portimo (drums) and Elias Viljanen (guitars). However, since this series is called Off the Record, rather than talking about the new material, I asked them to reflect on their musical journey, share some stories, as well as some lessons that they’ve learned along the way.
Unfortunately, this interview was in a very dark bar, with a lot of background noise, so I opted to just type it out rather than force people through something they can neither see nor hear very well. In the future, I hope to keep my interviews restricted to quiet, well-lit places!
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk a little bit off the record today. The first thing that I wanted to ask you guys was, because you’ve been around since the ‘90s—Tommi, your time in the band even predates the big 2000s rush when Finnish metal started to get popular around the world—so many things have changed in the scene and industry since then, so what do you remember most from the ‘90s when you were changing your name from Tricky Beans to Sonata Arctica?
Tommi: Well, basically, there are some black holes in my mind from when we started, because everything happened so fast. I was 14 when I joined the band. When we had our first record deal, I was 17. Then the first album, second album, touring a lot… there are only highlights in my mind… tour with Stratovarius, tour with Gamma Ray. But between those tours, not so much. For example, I don’t have any memories from the studio session from the first album, because everything went like [snap, snap, snap] you have to go to the studio, you have to… argh! The clearest thing is that everything happened so fast.
Of course, in the early 2000s, you had bands like Children of Bodom, Nightwish, you guys… again, you were all just starting to pop up overseas. I was a weird little fantasy geek in Canada, wondering where all this cool music was coming from… what was it like to be a part of that wave of metal, when it started to become a bit more widespread?
Tommi: Of course, it was super cool. For example, with Nightwish, I saw them or met them for the first time in 1999 because we had the same record company, Spinefarm. Nightwish, Children of Bodom… and all of a sudden, those bands were the big thing in the metal scene. So it was super cool to see that all of your friends are doing really, really well and are becoming a main part of the whole world’s metal scene. It was really, really cool and something that I was really proud of, of those guys. Of course, we were there as well, so it was fun.
Elias: For me… I wasn’t in the band, of course, but I watched it myself as well, as a sort of fanboy. The first time I heard Sonata was on the radio, “The Last Drop Falls.” I was at work and I had a headset on and I stopped working, thinking, “Oh my god, could this be some band from Finland maybe!?” And it was! It was Sonata. At that point I realized that we were starting to have some really good stuff coming out of Finland.
That’s so cool, and then you [Elias] joined when the band was already pretty well established, and not only that, you were filling the shoes of a really popular guitarist [Jani Liimatainen]. There’s always an adjustment curve with fans, so how do you feel you were received on the whole?
Elias: Yeah, I think it went well, but it took some time. It wasn’t just one year or something. [laughs] It took more time.
Tommi: From that time, I remember the first time in South America with Elias. In Mexico, social media wasn’t a very big thing at that time. Before the show, everybody started shouting “Jani!” and we were like, “fuck, they are rude!” but after the show, everybody was like, “who is that guy?” They didn’t even know, because they didn’t have that big thing called social media yet.
Elias: It was fun to walk on stage. [laughs] Everybody was shouting, “Jani!” and when they realized that I’m not Jani, they sort of started to shut up. [laughter]
You were already filling in for Jani on the tour for “Unia”—is it a different vibe to tour for an album that you weren’t a part of the writing process for?
Elias: Yeah, it is. [laughter] It is totally different. I had to practice all of the songs from “Unia” and I hadn’t recorded that album, so it was challenging. I didn’t know the songs. The next album I was in, “The Days of Grays,” it was much easier and more comfortable to do the tour as well.
That [2009] was the year that I moved to Finland, so there were a lot of musical welcome gifts when I got here, like “The Days of Greys”! It’s been really fun to follow you guys over the years, because your sound has been really varied: power metal, progressive, slower… do you feel like there’s been any change in your musical style that reflects where you are at as people over the years?
Tommi: For us, it’s been really natural, even though we’ve changed the style a lot.
Elias: Yeah.
Tommi: Like with “Unia.” For us, it was so natural.
Elias: We don’t think too much. We just do what we do and think afterwards. [laughter]
As I mentioned before, you guys have gone through a few phases musically, so how do you feel your own playing style has or has not evolved over time?
Elias: I think I just like to play really hard, all the time. Well, not all the time these days.
Tommi: I still have the same idols that I had when we started the band. Basically, I’ve been trying to be as good as they are, even if we’re playing prog or something softer. I still want to be like them.
Nowadays, there is so much access to and demand for music, without much understanding of how much effort goes into making art, especially when the creation of things seem easier than ever. Do you have a message that you would wish the average person would know about making music?
Elias: I would say that we are not machines, as musicians. We have to find the spark from somewhere and if we just repeat doing something we’ve done for 30 years, it would not be possible for us. We need to just be ourselves.
Tommi: For me, it’s a bunch of feelings, the music itself. It doesn’t matter what scene it is, it’s just a feeling. It could be rap or something else, but if it feels right, it doesn’t matter what the scene is. Of course, we have to follow the road we’ve laid out [for ourselves], like we can’t go to rap, but we can move a little bit within what we are doing.
There are some bands who don’t seem to worry about genre at all, so if they start metal and go pop, they don’t really care. Do you think you could get away with such vast genre shifts, or did you come before a time that music was so free-form?
Elias: We cannot rap. I cannot rap, myself. [laughter]
Tommi: I think that I appreciate different genres, so if someone is talented and they don’t want to stick to a genre, that’s great. But for us to be crossing the lines, I don’t know.
One thing I’ve noticed about the American music scene was that they were all, back in the day, dreaming about sex and drugs and parties when they got into music. However, I’ve always found the Finnish scene to be a little bit more purehearted… so what were you fantasizing about back when you got started?
Tommi: Money? [laughter]
Elias: Money, and all that you mentioned. [laughter] It’s about music. To get to form music, to be a better player, to get have some experiences. And I always dreamed that I would see different countries, being different places, meet different people.
What’s the coolest place you’ve been to, or the coolest thing you’ve seen?
Tommi: We’ve been playing in 50 countries or so, so there are a lot of cool places, like Australia, the States, Canada.
Elias: Niagara Falls.
Tommi: Ooh, yeah. And South America is really interesting too. It’s an interesting place to tour.
Elias: There are too many places. I don’t usually enjoy [sightseeing] churches or statues. I like to meet people and try food.
Is there a country with the best food?
Tommi: Finland, yeah. [laughter]
Elias: Yeah, we have Chinese, Mexican.
Tommi: …Indian. We have everything here in Finland.
Elias: I like Mexican food. And Thai.
Tommi: I like pizza and burgers.
Are you a flatbread pizza guy?
Tommi: Italian-style.
Fair enough. What’s one of the most unexpected lessons you’ve learned on your musical journey?
Elias: Don’t trust anyone… [laughter] I don’t know.
Tommi: When we were young and started touring, we didn’t have kids. Maybe that’s the first thing. I realized that it’s really, really hard to be on tour when you have small kids at home.
Elias: Yeah.
Tommi: That’s something you didn’t realize or think about when you were 14 and joining a band. “Oh, it’s going to be really tough when you have kids,” because you were a kid yourself.
With that in mind, a lot of artists who’ve been in the scene as long as you have, tend to find that music is really over-saturated these days. Are there any new bands that have surprised you with how good or unique they are?
Elias: I’m not sure about unique, but Battle Beast have their own style. We appreciate them.
Tommi: Also, Temple Balls as well.
Elias: Yeah, Temple Balls, from Finland.
They did some opening shows for you guys at one point, didn’t they?
Tommi: Yeah, and they will again. For the Finnish tour, they will be our warm-up band. But those are at least two younger bands.
As we’ve been talking, you guys are family men these days, so what do you do to relax, if there’s not so much time for video games and that sort of thing anymore?
Elias: I go out into the forest with my dog.
Tommi: I’m watching Netflix, but not chilling. Just Netflix. [laughter]
To start wrapping up, the industry has changed so much in the last 10+ years, so what do you think some of the pros and cons of all of it have been?
Elias: Some pros are that people can find the music more easily, but cons are that we don’t make as much money. [laughter]
Tommi: [laughs] Yeah that’s pretty much it!
My last question then is, do you have any particularly fond memories from all of your years on the road that have been really meaningful or that you’re particularly grateful for?
Elias: There must be many of those. One time we played ice hockey in Canada after a show.
Tommi: Oh yeah!
Elias: Some fans brought a goal and sticks for us, so we played ice hockey.
Tommi: With a beer can, it was really fun.
Elias: They had a goalie…
Tommi: Was it Canadian guys, but somewhere else?
Elias: Oh maybe…
That sounds like right about the most Canadian thing ever! Well, that’s it for this time! Any final words?
Tommi: Sorry for my English. [laughter]
Elias: Thank you.
The interview series was born from boredom that stemmed from album-release interviews and an interview with Marko Hietala that fell through the cracks on its way to publishing in a music media. I missed the old days of talking to the artists themselves! I wanted to get off of the album-release line of questioning and into the lessons and personal growth they’ve experienced on their musical journeys, and get a little more personal. This inspired the name for the series, Off the Record! Check out more interviews with Sonata Arctica in the pictures below.
Interview with Sonata Arctica during the “Talviyö” promotional season
Interview with Sonata Arctica during the “The Ninth Hour” promotional season
