SOLITAIRE are an incredible speed metal band from Finland who sound like they are straight from the mid-80's speed metal underground. Their debut cd "Rising To The Challenge" ,on Iron Glory Records, is a triumph which easily ranks with the best work of EXCITER as a speed metal masterpiece.
Guitarist Riku Salminen was kind enough to do an interview with me about SOLITAIRE,their music,and their mission. Read this interview,then check out the bands webpage because this is one band that has to be heard to be believed.
Interview by - Chris O'Brien (RUSH OF POWER WEBZINE)
C.O.-How long have you been playing guitar? Who were your influences? What got you interested in heavy metal music?
R.S.-I’ve played guitar for 12 years, I started back in 1991 when I was 15 years old, so I’m 27 now. My influences were (and still are, by the way…) traditional British Metal bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Motörhead, many other great NWOBHM bands from the 80’s and some more aggressive stuff like Exciter and Speed / Thrash Metal like Slayer, Kreator and early works of Metallica. What got me interested in Hard Rock and Heavy Metal in the first place back in the 80’s when I was a kid was Twisted Sister (still one of my favorites) and then bands like W.A.S.P., Kiss, Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe and Ozzy Osbourne came along. Nowadays I listen all kinds of stuff, a big variety of music and it’s cool to get all the different influences and metalize them to 100 % proof Heavy Metal that is Solitaire.
C.O.-Were you in any bands prior to forming SOLITAIRE?
R.S.-We don’t have that many previous bands. My first band was Deafening Silence, more melodic guitar based rock / hard rock band in which I played for 3 years in ’91 – ’94. Mika, our vocalist, had a Ramones styled punk band called Beathovens and we shared a rehearsal room back in those days, early 90’s and our drummer Kalu played previously in a hard rock band Mental Hangover.
C.O.-How did you assemble the first ever SOLITAIRE line-up? How many band members were changed before you released your first demo?
R.S.-I left Deafening Silence in late ’94 and started looking for musicians to put a new band together. I got to know Mikko in May ’95 ’cause we had a same type of vision of a hard hitting Heavy Metal / Speed & Thrash band and so we teamed up. Me and Mika knew each other already, since we played in a same rehearsal room and we got our first drummer from another local band, so mostly we picked up some old friends we already knew but I also had some ads in local newspapers. Our first drummer left and we found Waaqqu, our other guitarist through a newspaper ad and he knew a drummer, Onni Kilkku, that joined us in February ’97. So actually there was just one change (the drummer) in the band before we made our first demo in May ’97. We were a four-piece back then, Waaqqu didn’t join us until later in ’97. After this and our second demo in early ’99 Onni left the band ’cause of his dayjob, he had told us about leaving before and we already had worked out a replacement for Onni and that was Kalu, who joined us around Christmas ’98. We also had met Kalu earlier, we played on the same gig, a band review actually, in ’94. We’ve had the same line-up for almost 5 years now and hopefully we can take this band as far as we can to the future.
C.O.- Was the scene in Finland supportive of the band? Is there a strong metal scene in Finland?
R.S.-I don’t think the scene in Finland has ever been supportive for this our style of Heavy Metal. Sure, we have sort of a ”Metal scene” but it’s mostly about more melodic power metal stuff like Stratovarious, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica and so on. Those bands are really big in Finland but bands like us are pretty much in the underground. We don’t fit in this ”Finnish Metal scene”, we’re far too aggressive, basic and straight forward for the Finnish scene which I think has refined way too far from the original Heavy Metal roots. I like my Heavy Metal old fashioned, the raw energy, fast guitar riffs and thundering drums. Nothing fancy nit-picking, but just pure live feeling. Yeah, we have some great friends and fans here in Finland too, who like the band and understand what’s our point but like I said, it’s mostly in the underground.
C.O.-How many demos did the band record before there was a contract offer? What labels contacted the band? What made you decide to go with Iron Glory records?
R.S.-Apart from our first demo in ’97 which we recorded in our rehearsal room we made 3 other demos in a studio. We promoted those demos to record companies and medias and also sold them to friends and so on. We had some contacts from different labels, some bigger labels too, but it was always the ”thanks but no thanks” –letter we got. In 2000 we got to an ”online project” called Sonicattack which had mp3’s for sale in the web. I believe it was supported by Noise Records in Germany. It was fairly short-lived, ’cause you can get almost any mp3 you want in the internet for free, so why bother to pay for them… In 2001 we were promoting our fourth demo and Iron Glory was one of the companies we approached. They liked the material and offered us a record deal. We went with them ’cause they believed in us and True Heavy Metal. They didn’t interfere with anything we did musically, we had a full artistic freedom and we really appreciate it. We’re still with the company and our next album will be out on Iron Glory Records as well.
C.O.-How long did it take the band to write the album "Rising To The Challenge"? Were any songs that appear on the album appear on the old demos?
R.S.-It took us 7 years… hehe. Yeah, most of the stuff on the album was previously recorded on the old demos, so I would say the album is like a ”best of” compilation of those first 7 years we had played together. We recorded the songs properly for the album and even there’s some older songs with the newer ones, you really can’t tell the difference. I think it’s all about the fact that we had decided to go with this style of music from the very beginning, staying true to our roots and not changing musically.
C.O.-Where does the inspiration for the music and the lyrics come from? How long does it take Solitaire to write new material?
R.S.-The inspiration comes from anywhere. It may come from any kind of music, films, books, our own fiction, our own real lives… well, basically anywhere. We’ve been writing new songs and we have lots of cool stuff coming, so it’s not gonna be another 7 years this time to get new material done… hehe. A Solitaire song can start from a very simple idea, a short guitar riff or a piece of a melody. It’s important to get a good vision of a song early on while we’re writing it, we want our songs to be real songs and not just a pile of separate riffs. Once we get the point, the song may come together pretty quickly, but it’s the rehearsing that takes most of the time, to get the song going the way we want it to.
C.O.-Are there any underlying themes in the lyrics for songs like "Listen To The Priest", "Eye Of The Needle", and "Night of Bedlam"?
R.S.-I think you mean ”Escape From Bedlam” and then there’s ”A Slash In The Night”… Anyway, our lyrics are mostly fictional stuff about war, injustice, imprisonment, personal freedom and stuff like that, kind of old fashioned Heavy Metal fantasy, if you like. In our lyrics, we don’t have anything important to say, we don’t preach at anybody and we’re totally non-political, non-religious band. There aren’t really any underlying themes, maybe some, but they’re just inside jokes that will probably never be opened to an outside listener. You can interpret our lyrics the way you want, the way you feel it suits best for your own life and to give you more will and strength to carry on.
C.O.-Since the record has been released how are fans/critics embracing it? Is there anything you wish Iron Glory could do for SOLITAIRE which hasn't been done yet like tour support or recording budgets?
R.S.-Some like it hot and some like it not… hehe. We didn’t try to please anybody but ourselves and of course not everybody will like it. However, we’ve had good response for the album and some really good reviews. They’re mostly from the underground fanzines and webzines, but hey, they’re the most important ones, these people are the ones that really understand what our stuff is really about. Over the past year, since our album’s release I believe we’ve made new fans, maybe not loads and loads of fans, but people that really like it and who live the Heavy Metal life to the full. About Iron Glory, of course we’d like to have more tour support and bigger budgets but you have to be realistic ’cause money doesn’t grow on trees and Iron Glory’s not that big label. But all in all, I’m pretty satisfied with the company and I believe our teamwork with them will get even better in the future.
C.O.-I honestly feel the record has a strong kind of 80's speed/thrash metal production to it...was this a conscious decision by the band to make the record sound like this or was it a problem with the budget you were given to record the record with?
R.S.-A bit of both, actually. Yeah, it was a conscious decision, ’cause we like this kind of old fashioned sound. For me it’s a classic traditional Heavy Metal sound with sharp guitars and loud drums, very typical in the 80’s. Of course the album was done on a small budget, but even if we had more money to do it, I think it still would’ve sound pretty much the same. And after all, it’s the music that matters, what I’ve learnt from the early 80’s NWOBHM bands which made some great records on very low costs, is that you really don’t need a big budget or an ultra high-tech studio to make good music.
C.O.-What is a typical SOLITAIRE show like? Has the band hit any of the larger European festivals like Wacken or Dynamo? How have the fans enjoyed the band live?
R.S.-A typical Solitaire gig is a blast of energy right up to the limits and beyond. I always say, we like to expand the human limits in terms of headbanging, running around on stage and playing really fast and loud. I think we’ve made our reputation with our live performances and many fans that have seen us on stage have also bought our album. I believe the fans appreciate the band that gives 100 % for the audience, everything the band has, every bit of strength, energy and will and yeah, the fans have enjoyed our gigs. Of course, like with our album, not everybody will like our stage act or understand it and on some gigs there might be only a handful of people watching us, but still we give ’em everything we’ve got, ’cause the fans always deserve it. We haven’t played any larger festivals, at least not yet, hopefully one day we can hit both Wacken and Dynamo and some other festivals as well. In July we played in two underground festivals in Germany, Headbangers Open Air and Keep It True, both gigs were fantastic, the vibe and the audience on both festivals were great. They were a lot of fun and I hope we can go back and play there again one day.
C.O.-Does the band have any desire to hit the United States for festivals or tours? What is the impression that the band has of the United States and the metal scene here?
R.S.-It would be really cool, yeah, to do some festivals or gigs in the States. Of course things like these would have to be well arranged, ’cause we’d have to travel half the planet to get there plus all the travelling, hotels and stuff in the States. But sure, it’s possible if something suitable will come up. To tell you the truth, I really don’t know that much about the US Metal scene now, most of what I’ve heard is some terrible nu-metal crap that’s been going on for the last couple of years, but yeah, I know some cool old school American bands (the major ones excluded) like Exiled and of course there’s the good old Omen.
C.O.-What is the band currently up to? Are you writing songs or touring right now?
R.S.-Yeah, like I told you before, we’ve been writing new stuff and currently we’re rehearsing the new material for our 2nd album. I believe we’ll go to the studio around New Year and hopefully we’ll get the album released later in 2004. We haven’t played on stage for a while, ’cause we’ve been focusing on song writing and rehearsing lately. Hopefully we can do a gig or two in the end of this year, playing live is the bread and butter in this game, but the priority is now on the new material.
C.O.-If you had to describe the music of SOLITAIRE to someone who isn't already familiar with the band,how would you describe it?
R.S.-I would say it’s very fast, very aggressive, it’s a kind of mixture between the traditional British Metal and the more aggressive Speed & Thrash stuff. We have traditional Heavy Metal riffs and arrangements but with much more tempo and aggression. If you’d like to have some bands for reference, I would say Exciter, Slayer, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, all of them molded into a 100 % True Metal package.
C.O.-Where do you see the band in five years?
R.S.-I’m not very good at making predictions. Let’s see the band five years earlier, when we were still basically on square one, we’ve made really good progress since then and hopefully we can go on developing the same way for the next five years too. I’ve never really thought about next year or next five years, it’s more important for me what’s going on right here and right now. Sure, it would be great, if we could take the band to a higher level as far as we can and that’s what we’re aiming for, but if we won’t become millionaires, billionaires or trillionaires or have multi million sales figures with every album, it wouldn’t be the end of the World. I’m happy even now, with what we’re doing and everything although I’m financially balancing on the edge of survival…
C,O,-That's the end of my questions...anything you would like to add?
R.S.-Yeah, I’d like to thank all the readers, all friends of Solitaire and all True Heavy Metal Maniacs in the US and everywhere else. Stay hard, wet, hungry and heavy, ’cause we are the chosen few to keep the spirit of True Heavy Metal alive against all trends, authorities and majorities. Stick together ’cause united we’re stronger! Rising to the challenge!
DISCOGRAPHY
Rising To The Challenge - 2002
LINKS
*** USED WITH KIND PERMISSION ***
(Iron Glory Records)