SOURCE – Obviously, we’re here to talk about your album, Beyond The Aeons. How are you feeling about the release?
Olli-Pekka Laine (Bass, Keyboards) – I am happy with how it turned out, and the response has been really good, so I feel good and grateful that people have been open to this kind of music.
SOURCE – You’ve been working on some solo material for a while. What led everything to coalesce to make this the right time to release an album?
Olli-Pekka Laine (Bass, Keyboards) – The plan has been to come out with a totally “out of the box” kind of release at some point. But I didn’t want to make anything forced, so the end result has quite a lot of familiar elements after all. It just happened that I realized I had enough material for the solo album, had the time, and knew the right musicians, so there was no excuse not to put it together anymore.
SOURCE – How did you decide which vocalists to ask to participate on the album? There are a couple that you chose that South American fans probably aren’t familiar with, like Petri Eskelinen (Feastem) and Jón Aldará (Hamferð).
Olli-Pekka Laine (Bass, Keyboards) – I wanted to have all the vocalists that I have worked with in the past, and I nearly made it. Petri Eskelinen is the only one with whom I haven’t collaborated artistically, but he’s been on my mind since the 90s. Pasi Koskinen was supposed to be on the album too, but unfortunately, we ran out of time and resources. Jon comes from my other band, Barren Earth, as well as Mikko Kotamäki. Tomi from Amorphis should be familiar to you, I guess?
SOURCE – Were these compositions ever destined for Amorphis, or were they visions you knew didn’t fit and needed to be held until the time was right?
Olli-Pekka Laine (Bass, Keyboards) – I think these songs just didn’t fit Amorphis’ current style, so it was more practical to use them myself. I usually don’t compose for any particular purpose, so it is kind of hard to come up with Amorphis-like or any other specific material. Therefore, I will probably keep on producing stuff for Octoploid in the future as well, ha ha!
SOURCE – The album particularly shows fans that you are not stuck in any one type of music. Your influences, whether it is Death Metal or classic Prog Rock, you have woven these influences into a magnificent whole.
Olli-Pekka Laine (Bass, Keyboards) – Thank you very much. Yes, I want to keep all the influences there, since that is the most natural way for me to write. My roots are in metal, but I mainly listen to jazz, classic rock, and prog rock nowadays. I know it chases some listeners away, but I like the idea that the opinions about the music are strictly divided rather than trying to please everyone.
SOURCE – You did a video for “Human Amoral” featuring Tomi Joutsen. How important are videos these days?
Olli-Pekka Laine (Bass, Keyboards) – It seems like they are pretty important, yet in a different way than in the past. Octoploid’s videos have gotten a good amount of streams, which is really important for promotion. This time it was fun to do the videos too; hopefully, it shows!
SOURCE – How do you see the future of this project? Obviously, you’re very busy with Octoploid, mostly with touring. Is Octoploid something that you’d like to work on more in the future? Would you ever consider taking this to the stage?
Olli-Pekka Laine (Bass, Keyboards) – Well, if there is demand for Octoploid, I will definitely want to tour and make more albums too. We are actually playing one gig in Helsinki in early August, and that will indicate if this could be a long-term live band. Hopefully, so.
SOURCE – Finally, is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Olli-Pekka Laine (Bass, Keyboards) – Thank you for reading this, and I hope you will dig Beyond the Aeons. Keep on searching for new music and keep your minds open in all senses!
Contacts:
Video:
Photo Credit: Pete Voutilainen
NOTE:
Parts of this questions were generated by ChatGPT, an AI tool developed by OpenAI, on August 2024. The AI was employed to aid in generating ideas and drafting text.