With:	Tuomas Saukkonen
Conducted by:	RaduP (video)
Published:	22.09.2018
Band profile:	Wolfheart

Tuomas Saukkonen shocked the world five years ago when he put all of his bands to rest to start anew with Wolfheart. Now the band is becoming a household name on the metal scene, so we figured last year's interview wasn't enough to get a grasp of this Finnish melodic death metal band. Tuomas was kind enough to answer a few more questions over Skype.




Radu Pătroiu: So, you have a new album coming up in a few days, is there any specific concept behind the music or the title?

Tuomas Saukkonen: The title is a metaphor for inner darkness. Each song on the album is a different interpretation, but I wouldn't call it a theme album still. I don't know why but this time it came a little bit more like war and battle oriented.

RP: Yeah, I could see that in your last clip.

TS: Yeah! *laughs* I do like to reflect the mood of the album in the video of the song and it came almost warrior-like, almost by accident.

RP: So in that case, is it music that gets you pumped if it's really warrior-like?

TS: Yeah, I do like when I write music to create a song also not just a story and a riff but also the song has to have a certain energy.

RP: So what do you think sets the upcoming album apart from its predecessors?

TS: It's better. *laughs* That is a tricky question to ask of the songwriter because, of course, the new album is fresh.

RP: And nobody is ever gonna say "Yeah, our new album is alright but you should check out our previous ones".

TS: That is true, the latest one is always the one that's fresh for your ears, and you're naturally excited of the new songs, at least I'm waiting to get to play these songs live, so that is like a completely new arsenal of songs that we have. But of course, with each album we try to do things better in the studio. Better with the production. Better with the preparation. Naturally, when it comes to writing, we write better, a better album, a better concept.

RP: So better.

TS: So constant efforts to do better, quality-wise, than with the previous albums.




RP: So what exactly does better mean here? What has been done differently?

TS: Uhh... we did a lot better pre-production this time around. It's the second album where we have the keyboard player Olli from Finnish band Shade Empire. The orchestration and the strings have ... I wanted to have a more thorough pre-production, so I would get him also on board before the actual recording so that he would integrate better into the songs. And I had the sound engineer also inside the songs from earlier so he knew a lot better what to do when we went into the studio, what is actually gonna be recorded. Those are the biggest issues, with a lot of the pre-work this time. We've been doing so many albums with all of our bands as members so I don't think we could do that much better in the studio itself, because we know how to rehearse, how to get better as a musician. When we go in the studio, we are always prepared. So I don't know how that can actually be better, but the pre-production can be quite a bit, especially since we are leaving with 4 different CDs of the members of the band, so this time I was able to do the songs in a way that the guys had a lot more time, a lot more opportunities to listen to the songs thoroughly, to get prepared, and also to put in their ideas.

RP: It feels like yesterday that you released Tyhyys, but you're releasing a new album soon. I thought it was weird that you're releasing a new album one year after the previous one but Tyhyys was early 2017 and Constellation Of The Black Light is late 2018, so this one-year-and-a-half-to-two-years gap has been quite constant in your career. How do you manage to keep such a constant working schedule and do you ever get writer's blocks?

TS: I never noticed any writer's blocks, but then again, I have long periods where I don't even touch the guitar, so basically when it comes to writing songs, I only pick up the guitar when I have a certain mood, when I know there's a new song coming. I also do most of my songwriting during the winter. Finnish winter is quite long and cold. So there's a lot of time to actually pause on the music, and I've been working as a gardener for 22 years now, which means that I'm super busy during the summers, doing a lot of long hours at work, and winter is like a full vacation for me. So I have time to really focus on the music during winter. So it's really easy for me to write one album each winter, it's a natural pace for me when it comes to releasing albums.

RP: Do you find it easier to write music constantly now that you only play with one band instead of diverting your focus or do you find it in some ways limiting that you can only write music that would be fit for Wolfheart?

TS: The good thing about Wolfheart is that the music style is really wide, we have elements from doom metal, melodic death metal, melodic black metal, so I can create a lot of versatile music for Wolfheart. Now that you mentioned, I've been writing songs for my solo project for almost two years now, but I'm a little stressed to talk about it more or record the solo stuff yet, so there's a lot of stuff also that I've been writing that wouldn't fit for Wolfheart.

RP: So this is why you feel the need to get something that's just yours?

TS: Yeah, that is a good thought actually. I do also like to work as a solo artist in the studio. It's personal creation stuff. I don't have to think about the band or the tours or the schedules or anything. I can just focus on the music. So I do need a certain amount of a solo project thing all in all. But it doesn't need to be that active. Wolfheart is now the man band, so I will focus on the solo stuff at some point in the future when I have more time.

RP: If you had the time and resources to start a new project, which you already said that you are doing, but it had to be in a completely different genre, which genre would it be?

TS: Hmm... The one already existing in not completely different, but it's not the same as Wolfheart. But... I don't actually know how to answer, because I already have the vision and the sound of the solo project and a lot of the songs ready so I wouldn't imagine doing anything else from that thing I already have going on. But... doom metal. Dark and doom metal, that would be the style of the music.

RP: Ok, that would be interesting to hear.

TS: It would still be metal, so it wouldn't be completely different. But since this project is already ongoing, I wouldn't see myself doing anything else.

RP: You're already in that state of mind, you can't see yourself changing that.

TS: It's not like a decision, the music decides itself.

RP: You've mentioned in previous interviews for Tyhyys that you were already working on what is now Constellation Of The Black Light. Is that the case as well now? Are you already making plans for album number 5?

TS: Well not actually plans yet, but I've been recording ideas already. I have quite many riff ideas already for future songs, but now it would be way too early for actual planning or actual songwriting. But I also can't stop getting ideas, for the guitar or the drums or whichever instrument it happens to be. So if somebody held me at gunpoint and forced me to write one Wolfheart song in one hour, I would have the riffs already. *laughs* But we're probably gonna focus a little bit more on actually writing the songs, probably on the next winter.

RP: Because winter is coming quite soon.

TS: Yeah, winter's quite soon.

RP: You mentioned in an interview around the same time that you're hoping to tour North America, something that's going to happen quite soon. How did that come to be?

TS: We've had offers for North American tours two times already but previously I felt that the situation wasn't good enough for the band. And now that we have Napalm Records, which has a really strong office in the US. Our management, HardImpact, is an American company, and we also have Continental Concerts as a booking agency. I feel a lot more secure. Going to the US is always, compared to European tours, is a bigger financial risk, with the Visa, with permits, with flights. But I've been waiting for some time to tour in the US and the tour is stating in eight days so we're excited. Really really excited.

RP: Now that you got North America off your to-do-list, which other countries are you looking forward to tour in for the first time? Australia? Africa? Greenland?

TS: Australia definitely. That would be insanely cool. Japan and China are not new for me, but I would really love to go back there. We've already had some offers from Dubai, which would be really cool, not like a traditional metal country. Those would be the biggest, but Australia would be insanely cool.

RP: Well probably by the time we get our next interview with you, you're gonna be already confirming plans for Australia and New Zealand.

TS: *laughs* I do hope so.

RP: And since you've technically been to North American waters on the 70k Cruise, can you tell us about the experience?

TS: It was interesting, especially since I'm a Finnish person, which means that I do like my privacy and a certain solitude. And I'm straight edge, which is not that common in the metal scene. So being stuck with 3000 drunk metalheads *laughs* for four days in a row, can be quite exhausting. I was a little bit nervous about how am I gonna be able to cope with all the constant partying going on, but it was actually really cool. Really cool experience overall. I'm actually hoping to get back there.

RP: You've released two videos so far from the new album. Which was more painful: diving clothed into Icelandic waters or pulling out your teeth with no anesthesia?

TS: Iceland definitely.

RP: Can you tell us about that video? How did you manage to do that?

TS: We've always wanted to have deeper scenery and beautiful nature in Wolfheart videos. We've been shooting in a few national parks in Finland, we've been in the Finnish Lapland, we've been in northern Norway already. So with the "Breakwater" video we wanted to go a little bit further with landscapes and Iceland is a beautiful country. So we went there with my camera guy and were able to spend four days just moving and trying to find cool sceneries. It was really cool.

RP: You've directed among others most if not all of the Wolfheart videos. Is there any benefit for directing your own videos as opposed to hiring someone else?

TS: Financial. It's the biggest since I also do the production and the editing for the cideos. So that means that with the same budget we can do double the ammount of videos. And my camera guy, he's partly directing. He's one of the leading guys in Finland when it comes to moving pictures, shooting, and he has one of the best eyes I know, and a good camera and stuff. Always when I'm in front of the camera myself, he's basically directing me and I trust him completely. So I would be wrong to say that I direct the videos alone. But I do the producton, I do the planning and I do the editing.

RP: What's the name of the camera man again?

TS: Valtteri Hirvonen.

RP: Have you ever had plans to direct something unrelated to music?

TS: Well not really. We have been playing around with the idea with my camera guy that maybe someday we're gonna make this short movie, but it would have music in the background constantly, like a soundtrack but it would be like a long extended music video that actually turns to be like a small movie. But it would require a lot of time and a lot of money. We don't have either of those. So it will remain as an idea. The crucial thing for me is music. I wouldn't know what to do when it comes to directing a video if there's no music, so not really interested.

RP: If you could get any living director to direct a Wolfheart video, who would it be?

TS: That is an interesting question. *pause* I can't even name anything now. That is a really good question. Never thought about that and it has never been asked of me either. There's a lot of cool directors but they have such different styles also. But I salute you! That is a good question. One of the best ones.

RP: Ok, then what are some of your favorite directors?

TS: Hmm... I like [David] Lynch[/url] a lot, but he's a bit weird.

RP: Yeah, I know, I know. What's your favorite Lynch film?

TS: Let me think... was it Eraserhead?

RP: Yeah, Eraserhead, that's his first movie, from '77.

TS: That is really dark. I really like the not just dark but the weird and really depressive and... you need to be in a certain mood to be able to enjoy his movies. But I like him because he can also break boundaries. Nobody else does that kind of stuff that he does, that leaves you with more questions that answers. And that I would like to have in my video also. Maybe actually it would be him, but I would never actually think that he would actually agree to make a music video because he seems like he has a really strong personal vision and he wouldn't take any input from the outside. And a music video is already a compromise because I would give him a song and he would need to make stuff for the song not make his own idea. But I think he would make really intersting music videos. Nothing that people have seen before.

RP: Let's hope that happens.

TS: *laught* I'm not hoping too strongly, but it would be cool if it would happen.

RP: What other arts besides music are you interested in?

TS: As a form of art, that's what I'm most interested in.

RP: So mostly music.

TS: Mostly music. I'm really fascinated by the history of culture, so during the tours I visit museums and stuff, but that is not a form of art either way because history contains all the different forms of art. I'm fascinated by all of them but personally only interested in music.

RP: Back to music, last year you performed again with Before The Dawn at John Smith, but this year you performed again at Nummirock. How did that come to be?

TS: Accidents. *laughs* We weren't supposed to play any songs and any gigs ever. But both John Smith, the promoter of the festival, who is an old friend of the band and we used to play many times in his venues; same thing with Nummirock festival. So both were like the nostalgy thing that we wanted to do, but it doesn't mean that we would be interested in playing any other gigs in other festivals or venies. I'm pretty sure that last summer was the final. We've already done the nostalgy trip two times. No need to do it again. Ever.

RP: So it's finally chapter closed.

TS: Well who knows. I'm not gonna make any promises. Definitely we will not make any music together. We don't do any tours. But who knows. Maybe after 5 years we wanna play the old songs and enjoy playing together and make one gig. Who knows.

RP: Do you feel that now that Before The Dawn is only playing ocassionally instead of being fully reunited, you get all the benefits of the band without all the downsides that made you drop the band or is it more like that ex you keep coming back to or staying together for the kids?

TS: Now that you mentioned, both times we played, John Smith and Nummirock, it was really cool to be onstage with the guts and I miss the songs. I really enjoyed playing the songs. But even with those seperate two gigs I also was strongly reminded about the downsides of the band. So one gig with Before The Dawn is like a miniature... really reminds of the good and the bad sides. So it's not like having fun without the negative sides.

RP: You mentioned that you are straight edge. How long have you been and what made you take the decision, and was it the Minor Threat song?

TS: What?

RP: There's a hardcore band called Minor Threat, which released a song called "Straight Edge" which basically spearheaded the movement.

TS: I don't actually know the song. I've never been that much into the hardcore scene. I do know that that's where the straight edge movement has begun. I'm not quite sure. I've never actually made the decision. I've never bee drunk in my life, so I've been always straight edge. I've never tasted any strong alcohol. I've tasted beer two times in my life. So it was never a decision that I've actually made, I just never got interested in trying. I've been playing gigs in bars since I was 16 years old so there have always been free beers and booze availabe. Just never was interested.

RP: I don't think I've ever talked to someone who said that they never ever drank alcohol.

TS: *laughs*

RP: Especially from Finland.

TS: Yeah I get that a lot.

RP: Do you feel awkward not drinking alcohol in Finland where vodka is so popular?

TS: No no no. I've been hanging out, spending a lot of time in bars, with people who are drunk. People have gotten used to the fact that I don't drink. It's not really an issue. And there's actually a few guys in Finland like the songwriter of Swallow The Sun, Juho Räihä. He's also straight edge. And we've been on two tours together, one with Before The Dawn, one with Wolfheart. That was cool, to have another guy who also doesn't drink at all. It's not that much of an issue, but when I was younger I had to explain it quite many times.

RP: There was a lot of peer pressure?

Well actually I never felt that. It different when you go, for example, to Russia, where it's kinda like a personal insult if you don't drink vodka with the person who is offering you the drink. It's a little bit tricky to explain why I don't accept the drink, but usually it goes quite easy.

RP: You think part of this decision is because you've seen people who've abused alcohol?

TS: Not really actually. There's nobody in my family, not even longer distance relatives who had any problems with alcohol. The people I know who started drinking as regular teenagers are normal, but get drunk occasionaly. All my bandmates drink ocassionally. I don't know the reason. As far as I can remember I've been determined to do things the way I want to do them. I never felt any pressure from the outside world to do things because I am supposed to do things.

RP: Do you get to visit a lot of places when you're touring or do scheduling and time constraints keep you from roaming as much as you'd like?

TS: The scheduling is a little bit difficult especially since we are not playing headliner tours yet. That means that the loading and sound check times usually happen during the best time that you would wanna go see the city. But during festivals we book the flights in a way that we can see the city in the previous night and the morning, to see some places, because I do like to wander around. Touring can be difficult, you have to follow the tour schedule, quite often the venues are not near the center and we'd need some public transportation to get to the interesting places.

RP: What are some of your favorite sites that you've visited?

TS: Tokyo is insanely cool. Doesn't matter where you are, everything is cool. Even though there's pressure with the vodka, Moscow and St Petersburg are both really cool cities. What else would it be...

RP: Maybe some museums that really impressed you?

TS: Not any particular museum actually. They are all just a collection of a lot of things. So it's more the artifacts and not the actual presentation that they have. When it comes to my fascination with history, I've been spending a lot of time in Athens. I really like the atmosphere and my latest rental flat that I spent time there was that 50 m from the ruins of Zeus. Every morning when I woke up, I saw the old pillars of the temple as the first thing. That was really cool because the history if ancient times was still so present. You didn't need to walk into a museum, you just walk out into a place where a lot of the ancient history took place. So I really like the atmosphere there.

RP: So what do your tattoos mean to you?

TS: They tell quite a long story about myself. Each tattoo has a certain meaning and a connection, a personal one about how I think about things or what has happened or about my attitudes and emotions, but I never explain the tattoos to anybody else.

RP: You mentioned that you work as a gardener. Me being someone with zero knowledge in the subject, can you explain what makes gardening interesting to you?

TS: Well there's a project I'm working on now and that I hope to finish before we go on tour. The coolest thing is that I can design and build something completely completely new. There is one really really old and expensive house in Helsinki and we are building all the surroundings. It's been basically almost abandoned for like 15 years. It's like a jungle. We're gonna take it down with the excavator. We're gonna plant new trees. We're gonna put new grass. We're gonna put the stonework. So it's like this before and after picture. What used to be a jungle in two weeks it's gonna look like a brand new yard, everything super cool and nice. I do like the creation and when you can really see your hands' work.

RP: Just like in music.

TS: Exactly but what I also like about the regular job, because music business is really really shitty business, is the honestly of the job. You plant a tree and somebody will play you a salary for planting the tree. But when you're making music, in the music business things are a lot more complicated. Everybody is trying to benefit from your music and make money before you do. So it's also a good contrast from the whole music business.

RP: Do you feel like the fact that music is a business instead of you being able to freely make your art does ever influence how you go about making music?

TS: No. I always negotiate the contract in a way that I retain artistic freedom. It's a good example with the new album. The first song of the album is ten and a half minutes which is business-wise a really stupid thing. On digital platforms like iTunes, Google Play, especially Spotify, it's not a good thing to have a first song that long. But I had the freedom from the label and the management to do things my way if I feel like it is the best way for me to do it. The music only becomes part of the business after I give the master files to the label. But the music writing and recording, that is yet not part of the business and that's the way I want it to be. Only the product is part of the business, not its creation.

RP: If you could collaborate with any non-metal artist who would it be?

TS: Argh... wait a second... non-metal artist... that is a really good question. Been getting a lot of standard questions lately, so it's refreshing to actually need to think about things a bit differently. Now non-metal. I would really love to have Gavin Harrison play drums on one of my songs, the drummer of Porcupine Tree. And ... well Trent Reznor is almost like a metal musician, with Nine Inch Nails.

RP: Yeah, it's on the border.

TS: He makes really good different stuff, it would be a really cool guy to work in the studio with. And... let me think... Ed Sheeran. He would be cool.

RP: Ed Sheeran?

TS: Yeah.

RP: *laughs* Ok.

TS: He's definitely not metal. And he's really like a creative guy, does his own music. I've been curious, I've been checking out his career, especially how he started. Really cool fellow. I don't listen to his music that much but I think voice would be a good contrast in metal music, in this mellow part. It would be cool.

RP: Well if I ever get an Ed Sheeran interview, I'll tell him about it.

TS: *laughs* Thanks.

RP: It's been about 25 years since melodic death metal released its first landmark albums and it still remains a relevant genre today, especially in Finland. Why do you think that is?

TS: I don't really know. I think it's the certain melancholy with every Finnish person. There's winter, darkness, the beauty of nature, it's a good combination to like melodic death metal. Because it's heavy and dark but also melodic and beautiful. I think it fits really well for the melancholy of Finnish people.

RP: Do you feel like you've experienced difficulties entering the music scene with Wolfheart despite being involved in the scene with your previous bands? How do you think Wolfheart would've fared if it was your first band?

TS: If I would've had these songs that I have with Wolfheart now when I started Before The Dawn, I think things would have gone quite well. But that's not reality. All the fans of Before The Dawn and Black Sun Aeon and other previous bands seem to like Wolfheart quite much. It didn't start from point zero at all. I was able to keep most of the fanbase of the old bands with Wolfheart so they helped really really much with the beginning.

RP: Why did you choose the bandname "Wolfheart" considering there are four more bands with the same name formed before yours, one of them even from Finland.

TS: I did know the Finnish band and they haven't been active in 15 years or so. I was thinking quite long about the name and I also liked the style of the Moonspell album. I'm pretty sure that they don't like the idea. At least I caught that impression when I was talking with Fernando the last time. I think "Wolfheart" is a really good title to express the mood of the music. Lone wolf. Lone warrior. It's a good title in my opinion.

RP: What cultural trauma has Finland experienced that caused such an amount of depressive and miserable music to come out of it, despite it being the happiest country overall according to Forbes and The World Happiness Index?

TS: I don't know where the happiness index actually comes from. I think it's based more on kind of the economy and the schooling system and stuff like that, people being happy about their workplace. But it doesn't make us that happy. I'm not saying we are miserable people but Finnish people are really good at channeling all the negative stuff out with the music. And we have kind of like this folk style, old school music from Finland that is also about channeling the negative side out and that makes you feel lighter about the average day stuff. We are not really that much reflecting our own misery through music as much as we are channeling it out so we wouldn't feel the misery.

RP: What's your favorite Katatonia album?

TS: Tonight's Decision. I do like all of the albums but that is really really dark in a cool way. I really like the drums. Daniel is one if my favorite drummers but he made his debut with the band Last Fair Deal Gone Down. But the drummer on Tonight's Decision was able to make the songs sound heavier than they actually are. It sounds like all the songs are slowing down constantly even though they are not. Really dark and cool album.

RP: What's your favorite Amorphis album?

Tales From The Thousand Lakes.

RP: The classic one. I wouldn't have believed you if you said anything else.

TS: *laughs* That is truly a classic. And of course even the cover picture having the Finnish version of the Thor hammer and everything, is really like this Finnish anthem when it comes to metal music.

RP: So it's likely one of the most important Finnish albums ever.

I would say that. It was the first Finnish metal album that was a huge success. It was selling. It was a big thing in general to have such an influential band for the younger musicians to show them that Finnish music can be also successful internationally.

RP: What is a food that you look forward to eating when you return to Finland from touring?

TS: Karelian pie. I actually ate like four of those today. It's like a... you have to google it, it's impossible to explain. But yeah, that's a really typical Finnish thing.

RP: Thank you for having us. Is there anything else you'd like to say to your fans?

TS: I do hope to see everybody. The sooner, the better. It's gonna be a really busy time starting from now on. Come and say "Hi" and see our show.




RP: Are there any plans to come to Romania?

TS: Let me check... *long pause* No, sorry. Hopefully latest is gonna be next summer again in Rockstadt.

RP: I almost caught you at Rockstadt last year, because you did have some issues.

TS: Yeah that was a horrible weekend. We lost and missed and were overbooked on so many flights but still luckily managed to play all the shows. That was a horrible weekend.

RP: And it was something that hasn't happened only to you because the previous day it happened to Leprous as well.

TS: Yeah that I heard, but that was their fault. The drummer slept too long, it was his fault. But never ever fly with Serbian Airlines. That's my advise for everybody. You will get fucked up really bad. We still didn't even get our money back from them and they almost destroyed the whole weekend.

RP: Me and my girlfriend attended Rockstadt and we decided to power through and stay until 2 AM to catch Leprous and we wanted to do the same with Wolfheart but then decided that we're too old and too tired for it, so we really need to see you again soon.

TS: Hopefully next summer at the latest.

RP: Hopefully we'll get to see you and thanks for having us again.

TS: Thank you, it was a very interesting and pleasant interview.