Interview: Joe Letz (COMBICHRIST)

   This awesome dude is someone who's name won't need much introduction, not anywhere near the industrial scene anyway, in which he's insanely active! Joe Letz, drummer of Combichrist and Emigrate, and his awesome sense of humour are here for a chat with playdeadnation!

pdn: Heya, Joe! And thank you for taking some time for this. Firstly, please tell me, how was the name Combichrist born?
Joe: COMBICHRIST was Andy's conception, he was doing the band for a year or 2 before I teamed up with him on it, so that's really an Andy question. But I've been around him enough to be able to tell you that it was the name of a comic book character that he created. The idea of the character was that he was a "do-gooder" by day, and "evil do'er by night. He'd basically go out each night and get wasted, black-out and rape pillage and plunder. Then wake up the next day, not realizing he'd been the one on the warpath and run around trying to clean up the community and help everyone out. Pretty much a day in the life on the road for us.

pdn: I'm curious, at what age did you initiate your musical path? When did you start playing drums?
Joe: I was around 8 and I found out that if I wanted to learn to play an instrument that I got out of class for a half an hour a week. I was all about it cause my teacher was fat and yelled alot. So I guess I can thank her for being my first inspiration to start focusing my time and energy on music... THANKS MS. BOYLE! You're probably dead now. So, rest in peace Ms. Boyle.

pdn: What are the main things, subjects that inspire the songs and just the whole concept of the band? 
Joe: Well if you pay attention to the lyrics in the songs like "Enjoy the Abuse" and "Shuttup and Swallow", it's pretty obvious that we draw a large inspiration from the christian faith and the history of the women's rights movement. 

pdn: What are some of your musical, as well as personal further aspirations in life?
Joe: I've always just wanted to be able to play music around the world and to live comfortably while doing it. As my career grows older I keep meeting and befriending alot of the people who I grew up idolizing, and some part time collaborations are being born here and there. I really look forward to working a little more full time on some of these projects like EMIGRATE with Richard Kruspe, and nursing them to flourish.

pdn: You've played with numerous bands before Combichrist, like Wednesday 13, Mortiis, Hanzel und Gretyl, etc. What was one positive or negative memorable moment in your vesatile carreer, up to date?
Joe: How about playing at one of the most famous arenas in the whole world, in my hometown of NYC: MADISON SQUARE GARDEN.... but having played most of our set in the dark because the lighting guy that we hired for the event wasn't familiar with our set-up and blew up some of the lights!....that's both positive AND negative HAHA. I still have nightmares about that performance. They've replaced my "standing in front of my whole high school on a stage naked" nightmares.   

pdn: You do DJ-ing between tour; do you have any time left for anything else other than music, have any other main passion or priotity?
Joe: My son and my girlfriend.

pdn: You've shared the stage with many bands, including opened for Rammstein! What other bands would you like to collaborate with someday?
Joe: I wanna be invited on stage with Limp Bizkit to do guest vocals for the break-down in "Break Stuff" and I wanna play drums for New Order on a tour. I might also consider doing a little behind the scenes work for George Michael; perhaps some light wardrobe work, or something having to do with conveniently hanging around men's rooms urinals dressed like a cop.

pdn: What are Combichrist's plans for this year? Tour and new material-wise.
Joe: Andy has been spending like the longest time he's ever spent in one shot recording music for a video game and a new COMBI record. I've heard a bit of it, and it's really intense and could possibly shoot us off in a whole new direction musically. It'll really come down to how he finishes off the other half of the album though. I'm EXTREMELY excited about it.

pdn: Thank you so much! Anything you would like to add for your fans, friends around the world?
Joe: Thank you come again. :-)

www.combichrist.com
www.myspace.com/combichrist
www.last.fm/music/Combichrist

Interview: Ville Laihiala (POISONBLACK)

   Posionblack started out as a side-project of Ville Laihiala, who first played guitar in the band. He was also the frontman of Sentenced from 1996 until 2005, when they disbanded. He then decided to take over the vocal parts as well, along with the guitars in Poisonblack, band that has been flourishing ever since 2003 and up to date. Ville was really nice to talk to us about the past, present and future!

pdn: Greetings, Ville! First of all, please tell me how did you come up with the name for Poisonblack?

Ville: I had a song title Poison/Black.It was about the dualities in life etc. but it never got finished.I think it was JP, our first singer who said that why don`t I use it for the name of the band and so I did.

pdn: For about two years you were active in both Sentenced and Poisonblack, right? Was it difficult with two projects?

Ville: Not really because my priority was Sentenced at the time.Musically not difficult either cos the songs I wrote for Poisonblack were from the totally different source.The hardest part was and is that people sometimes cannot seem to understand that a person can express him- or herself in various bands at the same time.And when something dies usually life goes on…

pdn: At what age did you start playing music, and what was your first instrument?

Ville: I began to play the guitar at the age of 12.I also took some drum lessons at some point when I was a teenager but I felt that I got more deeper into what I got out of the chords and riffs I was trying to play that I quit the drums.

pdn: What were some personal and musical influences that guided you to make music?

Ville: Metallica and their 3 first albums really got me through some hard issues in my youth and really wanted me to play music and pick up the guitar.I pretty much learnt every fucking note that`s on those albums and tried to play as tight as James Hetfield does.Still trying…

pdn: Who writes the lyrics and music for Poisonblack? What inspires them the most, what are the main themes?

Ville: I write them.About life, myself, how I feel about whatever.Usually it is the shit that is coming out so it feels cathartic and it is something that I really cannot shut down.Same thing with the music, death by the blues…

pdn: I am sure you've had a lot of experiences of all sorts with both bands, but what would be one that you will never forget, if such? Either positive or negative.

Ville: There are so many…The first album, touring, some great shows, friends and enemies made along the way…It is impossible to name just one or two things from a 16 year career or journey.I am still alive and doing the thing I love and that feels amazing.

pdn: What did being a part of Sentenced mean to you? 

Ville: It felt that I was a part of something original, unique and soulful. It was an honour to create music with those guys and I am gutted and sad that Miika is no longer with us.

pdn: What are Poisonblack's plans for the near future? Tours, new material maybe? 

Ville: We`ll open up for Nightwish for six shows in Finland and after that concentrate reharsing new material for the next album.I have 15 new ones waiting and I think that a couple more are dying to come out.

pdn: Thank you so much for this interview! Is there anything you would like to add for your numerous fans, friends?

Ville: Thank you, my pleasure…Eipä sitä vissiin tiiä. 

http://www.poisonblack.com/site/
http://www.myspace.com/officialpoisonblack
http://www.last.fm/music/Poisonblack?ac=poisonblack

Interview: Riku (CATAMENIA)

   Catamenia was founded in 1995 in Oulu, Finland, and they are still giving us the delight of great, 'frozen' melodic black metal, spiced up with many great covers of other famous metal songs! Guitarist and backing-vocalist Riku Hopeakoski talked to me a bit more about the band, as well as the upcoming album!

pdn: Hey Riku! Please tell me, how did you come up with the band name? Is there some history behind it or did it just sound good?
Riku: Hey there. The name, Catamenia, was invented by our ex-vocalist and co-founder Mika Tönning. We thought different names through, but somehow Catamenia sounded the best, when Mika said it to us ... so we sticked with it. Shortly after our debut album, we heard it has a meaning and we were totally surprised by that that it's got a meaning, because for us is just a name. After a long thought with the label we decided to keep the name and all, because it purely sounds freaking great!

pdn: I know you are one of the band's founding members, how did you and the other guys meet?
Riku: It was a long time ago, hehe, when I and our ex-vocalist Mika met each others. We moved to Oulu and my mom said there's a lonely boy living right next in the neighbor, so I asked him to come to play some football with my brother, Petri. We got along really well together and when we had the same taste of music, we decided to put a band together and have another hobby among ice-hockey and football. At some point we thought to make it more like a hobby and made a demo, and still nowadays we're on that road!

pdn: Did you have a role model in the process of becoming a musician?
Riku: As becoming a musician, I did not have a role model in the word, but I've always had some icons since I was dreaming of becoming guitarist. It all started when I was a kid, my dad was in his work trip somewhere in Europe, and he thought to buy some music for me and my bro. Guess what? The C-tapes were Iron Maiden and since that I've always listened to rock, metal and everything between it. Of course I listen to everything I like, I do not care which category it is :) Anyways, I would say that my role models came later in my years, like the definite one Dave Mustaine! Also Jimi Hendrix is really close to my heart.

pdn: Cavalcade brought a bit of diversity in the 'catamenian' history. Did your fans react to that change?
Riku: Yeah of course they did react on it, as we already knew it that's going to happen. That just tells that our fans are truly close to us and tells their own feelings about our music, and that's what we respect! Some of the fans liked the change, but some really hated the fact of changing the style so much. But if you listen to carefully the songs, they are not o different ;) Anyways, with the new crew, we're back into basics of Catamenia and back in business!

pdn: Which is your personal favourite cover of all the covers Catamenia had done along time, and why?
Riku: Well, my absolute fav is the new cover on the compilation album, but I cannot say the title of it yet, because I am still waiting the official release info from Massacre Records. But if we let that new one aside for a while, I would say my fav cover would be W.A.S.P.'s I Wanna Be Somebody. Blackie's always been one of my favs ever, so I thought to honor him with my version - some like it, some not :) But when we were suppoerting them once in Romania, we were little bit disappointed that they did not allow us to play the song in our song list. We respected their wish, but nowadays I think we just should have played it, because how arrogant he was after all.

pdn: Who writes the lyrics and what are the things that inspire them the most?
Riku: We all write lyrics together. It's been like that since the beginning of Catamenia and always been like that ever since. Of course one of us get the idea and we start to build something around it. So, in short, every single one in Catamenia has always made their effort in lyrics. Inspire for the lyrics? They just come from a daily life, you find something wrong or something that you never thought about, you just start to write your thoughts on paper, the same goes with itself music ;)

pdn: What bands were your favourites to tour with/ share the stage with so far?
Riku: There's no question about it. About the bands, hard to say, but few to say definitely Finntroll, Graveworm, Equilibrium, Impaled Nazarene and Battlelore. Freaking awesome bands!! Also out of the mainstream bands like Winterhorde, Vuohivasara, From The Void, etc ... we just love to share the stage with everyone, heh. 

pdn:What can you tell us about the upcoming compilation album?
Riku: I can tell that it'll break some barriers, heheh ;) The fact is that we're going  back in time a little bit, but still keeping our own thing in our music. The keyboards bring something new on the new songs, but still respecting the keys on the old songs, and in general, there are no samples or triggers or anything in the sound ... it's freaking pure metal, pure rock! And of course I have to mention Kari Vähäkuopus - again he did a freaking awesome job with the sound at Mastervox Studios.

pdn: Thank you so much for your time! Anything you'd like to add for your fans, friends?
Riku: Just check our site @ catamenia.net and be aware our compilation album will come out in April!

Also, watch out for more news about the compilation album tonight (02.27.2012) on www.catamenia.net and the band's Facebook page !