SOURCE – What makes Amain Crimfall’s best album to date?
Jakke Viitala (Guitar) – Everything is bigger and better this time. The songs, the sound, the band. Everything! We spent lot of time and resources to finish this massive production… And It really shines this time.
SOURCE – Have you filmed any videos for this new CD?
Jakke Viitala (Guitar) – Yes we have! The video will be released later this summer. I already saw some raw footage and must say it looked amazing! Really looking forward to release this.
SOURCE Do you feel that Crimfall has a wide potential for crossover with the number of different elements in your sound?
Jakke Viitala (Guitar) – I really don’t know… Never have thought it like that. But yes, we do have lots of different elements in our music, but have never been kissing the audience with those. Crimfall is more like a melting pot of my favorite musical elements. Also all of the Crimfall members listen to very different kinds of music and I want to hear these personalities on the album as well.
SOURCE – You’ve been around in the metal world and the music business for a long time. Tell us what your vibe is on the metal scene today as opposed to earlier Crimfall days.
Jakke Viitala (Guitar) – I think that few years ago the scene reached it’s highest peak (at least in Finland). Metal music was everywhere. In the radio, in the festivals and so on. It was a bit easier times back then to get the attention, but in the other hand there were gazillions of bands fighting over the same support slot in the festivals… And it kind of felt that quantity was more important than the quality back then.
But today the things are different. It is more difficult to get record deals, to play in concert and to sell albums… Everything. But in the end I think it’s only a good thing. Only the strongest bands and most unique artists will survive and music which has no potential will vanish slowly and painfully… I Hope.
… and I’m not going to talk you about the streaming services like Spotify. They are just killing the bussiness for bands who are not in the top of the charts.
SOURCE – Metal is sometimes known to be a very negative type of music. Does the band write better in that positive mindset?
Jakke Viitala (Guitar) – Hmmm… I do need somekind of mindset to write music. If I’m in an “emotionless”-state, my songs end up being hollow and boring. With somekind negative (usually) or positive state of mind it is easier for me to tell stories and present emotions with Crimfall music.
SOURCE – What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
Jakke Viitala (Guitar) – The biggest negative aspect is definitely the lack of money. It affects everything. We barely have money to pay our rehearsals place. We cannot play all the gigs we want to, because they are too expensive to do. We could have bought a new car with the money we spent on the album. That’s why we all need to have our daily jobs… And when balancing your work, family-life and music, it takes ages to compose some new material for example…
The best thing is that we have kind of network of metal-heads in Finland who are in the same situation. Therefore we understands each other and want to help other bands when possible.
SOURCE – Living in Finland, which has a very large metal scene, which bands out there do you think will make an impression in heavy metal?
Jakke Viitala (Guitar) – These bands are not necessarily my cup of coffee, but we have some groups that have changed the metal scene for good (or bad). To name a few: Children of Bodom, Nightwish, HIM, Stratovarius, Finntroll and the list goes on. I think these are the most well known bands from Finland which have created their on music style that has been copied by many many people around the world.
SOURCE – Tell us a little a bit about your interests outside of making music. Don’t you ever feel like taking a break from it all since you have so much going on at once that is purely music related ? What is it that you like to do not dealing with music?
Jakke Viitala (Guitar) – After AMAIN was mixed I felt like “I’m not going to touch my instruments ever again”. This is pretty common feeling I have after a long projects like AMAIN was. But as music is not just a hobby for me, but it is more like a way of life, I just had to start writing some new music after a few months to keep me sane. On top of that I have my daily work which is more or less dealing with music as well. And believe it or not, I DO have some other hobbies. BUUUT I’m kind of boring person what comes to those. I’m not doing base jump or anything cool or interesting… I just do some regular sports, skiing, fishing, hunting, playing video games… I never stand in one place, I always have to do something… Anything.
SOURCE – The album will probably ’leak’ online fairly soon. Do you care if your fans, or potential fans, download your album before its released?
Jakke Viitala (Guitar) – I would put it this way… Do they care if there will be another Crimfall album after AMAIN? We spent all of our savings for making this album and I can guarantee we can’t afford to do that again. So… I think it is not too much to ask to from our fans to support us by buying the CD. With this support there WILL be new Crimfall releases in the future! Composing music is not that expensive, but when making album with best possible quality just for our listeners, that costs a fortune.
SOURCE – Anything else youd like to say to the Brazilian fans and the readers of Source?
Jakke Viitala (Guitar) – Hi there you crazy metal heads! Get your hands to our new CD and you won’t be disappointed. It will be one of the BIGGEST album releases in 2017.
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