Notes From The Other Side

For a band that started as sort of a one-off project, Finnish quintet Thunderstone has covered a lot of ground and made a lot of fans over their three-CD career. I recently spoke to bassist Titus Hjelm (that’s Dr. Titus Hjelm to you and me) and laughed my butt off at his story about being drunk and nude on the tour bus…

TH: Hello?

BM: Hi, is this Titus? How are you doing tonight?

TH: I’m good, I’m good. But a little hung over, because of the — I don’t know if you follow the Eurovision Song Contest in the States, but there’s this like, European-wide song contest, and the Finnish metal or rock band, Lordi, won it, actually. Whole Finland went crazy and went drinking.

BM: Oh really?

TH: Yeah, yeah.

BM: [laughs] So instead of sports there, you guys are into metal, is that the deal?

TH: Yeah, pretty much. This is like, sort of the last nail in the coffin. Finland is definitely a metal country now for everybody else in the world.

BM: [laughs] That’s good, ‘cause I’ve got a question about that later on.

TH: Ok, alright.

BM: You know, your latest album — by the way, thank you very much for taking time tonight to talk to me. I appreciate that.

TH: No problem.

BM: Tools of Destruction is a great album. It’s really, really cool. It sounds a little more aggressive, though, than your first two. Was that intentional? Did you set out to do that beforehand, or did the songs just turn out that way?

TH: We sort of like, it’s half and half, I should say. Because the band started as more or less, not a joke, but just a project for a guitarist’s songs that he had made, these power metal kind of songs. And we didn’t think it would go anywhere. We just thought that, fine, we will make a couple of records, and if somebody’s interested, that’s good. But then, things started happening actually much faster than we thought. And then when we started thinking about the second album, we already moved sort of in the direction that we really, really wanted to do, the music that we like ourselves. It’s not that we don’t like power metal, but as you can hear from all of the albums, especially with Tools of Destruction, we’ve gone a long way from the basic power metal kind of thing. I think so, at least. So in a way, it’s been a natural development, in the sense that this is just the kind of music that we’ve always wanted to do. And the other half is that we were thinking of doing something different than the basic, average, power metal you get a lot nowadays.

BM: I was gonna say, your first album does sound a little like, it reminds me a little of Stratovarious.

TH: Yeah.

BM: Very power metal.

TH: Yeah, yeah, we got a lot of those comparisons in the beginning. And of course, it’s justified in the sense that there’s a really strong power metal element in there. What pisses me off is that people still say that we sound like Stratovarious, or Sonata Arctica and it really doesn’t. I don’t think that’s really true nowadays anymore.

BM: No, not for Tools of Destruction for sure. You have your own sound now.

TH: Yeah, yeah.

BM: Yeah. Your second album, by the way, it really is a progression. And there’s some great, great songs —I love “Sea of Sorrow” and “Drawn to the Flame.” Your vocalist was really going for some high notes on that album [The Burning], wasn’t he? [laughs]

TH: Yeah, yeah. We were really pushing him. But afterwards, I don’t know, he really doesn’t train his voice that much, and I think it’s gone lower with this heavy metal thing, because he used to sing like basic rock and power songs and stuff like that before he joined Thunderstone, so I don’t know if he can actually do those notes nowadays.

BM: [laughs]

TH: [laughs] We ruined his voice.

BM: [laughs] I was gonna say, his voice sounds a little more — it actually sounds like a David Coverdale kind of thing on the latest album.

TH: Yeah. He’s a huge fan, and you can really hear it. And I think that he wanted to be comfortable with the metal kind of singing on the first album, and you can hear it compared to the first album. On Tools of Destruction you can definitely hear the confidence that he’s had over the years for singing the metal, and he sounds so different from the first album. He’s really, really going all out. And also, he’s really found his own voice, I should say.

BM: Definitely. What is your favorite song to play off Tools of Destruction? To play live?

TH: It’s difficult to say. Most of them are really good. But of course, some of the songs that are more difficult are not so fun to play live, because you actually have to concentrate on the playing, and you can’t just run around and mosh all the time. [laughs] But there are some I really like. I really like — I forgot the metal song — “Welcome to the Real.” That’s one of my songs. I like it. I think it’s a good song, even though I’m saying it myself, “I think it’s a good song.” And I think it’s really heavy, it’s just the kind of groove that you can really bang your head to. I really like that one.

BM: I really like “I Will Come Again.” That’s a great song.

TH: Yeah, yeah.

BM: “Feed the Fire”? That’s great stuff. It’s good. Where did the name Thunderstone come from? Who came up with that?

TH: It was Nino’s [Nino Laurenne, guitarist] idea at first, and nobody really, actually liked it. And we were trying to figure out something different. The problem was that it sounded like a heavy metal band name. There was no story behind it, actually. And then we tried to come up with something else, but believe me, those were even worse. So actually, it just stuck, just stuck. And you know, some people find it corny, but now it’s just so part of us, the name, that it’s impossible to think of us as anything else.

BM: [laughs] You know, I asked Michael Romeo once about the Symphony X name. And he said they were just sitting around one night, possibly doing a bit of drinking, and somebody said, “Let’s call it Symphony X” and it stuck. And now he says, “God, I wish we had come up with something else.” [laughs]

TH: Yeah, yeah.

BM: So I know how it goes. You gotta pick something.

TH: Yeah, exactly, yeah. And in a way, because when we started, we weren’t really like, deadly serious about this also. And we thought that if we waste our days thinking about something really heavy sounding, serious stuff, it wouldn’t sound any better than Thunderstone does, after all, at the end of the day. So it just stuck.

BM: Well, the reviews of Tools of Destruction have been overwhelmingly positive, from what I can see. The only somewhat negative comment that I read on the Metal Rules website, the guy wrote, “The only negative thing I can come up with is that the music has the slight tendency for being a bit too melodic at times.” [laughs] Say what? It seems like melody would be the hard thing to come up with.

TH: Yeah, well it’s sort of, what I think of as our strength is that we combine melody with heavy stuff. Now this is, we’re in the process of making the new album and the stuff is even more heavier, I think, than on Tools of Destruction. But now it really doesn’t sound like Thunderstone at all, because it doesn’t have vocals yet. But then, you put on the beautiful melodies and catchy choruses and stuff like that, then it becomes Thunderstone. Even if the background is really heavy and sounds like — well, I can’t say what it sounds like — but still, it’s what makes Thunderstone is the combination of melody and heavy riffing.

BM: Oh yeah. You’re right about that. Tell me about the creative process for creating an album. What comes first, the music or lyrics? How do you guys come up with an album?

TH: It’s funny you should ask that, because we are, as I said, we are in the process of writing songs for the new album. And this is actually been a really different process from the first three ones, because on the first three ones the basic process was that either Nina or me had a song pretty much figured out from the beginning to the end, and then we just brought it to the rehearsal, the studio, and arranged it as a band. So, at the end of the day, all the songs are a bit of every one of us, because everyone brings their own creative input to the arrangement process. But basically, the music and the lyrics are pretty much thought-out when we bring those songs into the rehearsal room. But the new album, which we are starting to record in September, it’s been really different, because we’ve never really jammed as a band before. And now we actually just sit together and play and start feeling out some riffs and practice stuff. “Ok, I have this, let’s put them together.” So actually, this, the new album will be a joint effort in a totally different way than the previous albums have been.

BM: Oh that’s cool. Tell me what kind of memories you have of the first three albums here? Like when you think of Tools of Destruction, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind about the process of making it?

TH: It’s a — I remember there’s just a lot more stressful than the first two. The first one was of course, because we had like no idea if people were going to like it or not. And we actually didn’t even care. We weren’t stressing about the process or anything. We were just like, “Let’s make this album and see what happens.” And then it did quite well actually. The second one was a bit more stressful, but still it was like, “Oh, let’s do this stuff and see how it goes.” And so on. But with the third album, we were already getting this like stress and pressure about, you know, having to make a good album, otherwise blah blah, and we want to sell more and more and stuff like that. So that, and also some practical arrangements. Matt, for example, was too recording some other band at the same time as he was recording our album. And that was really stressful because it was a lot of schedule hassle and stuff like that. So it’s quite stressful. But at the end of the day, I was really happy with the end product.

BM: Oh yeah, the end product. [laughs] You mentioned Finland. There’s an awful lot of great power metal coming out of that country. What is it about your country that seems to produce such great bands? You know, Nightwish, Stratovarious, Sonata Arctica — there’s a whole list. Why is it coming from Finland? What is it about your country?

TH: Well, this is a question we get a lot. Believe me, I get this question like, every time I do an interview.

BM: And what do you say? [laughs]

TH: Well, I’m sort of, I’m dumbfounded myself, in a way. I think it’s the same process you have in Sweden. They have a lot of really successful bands and artists and pop music stuff. And so they keep on producing the really good pop stuff. But in Finland we have these few bands that have had a big break in the big world, so to say. And they are, of course, sort of like role models for the rest of us. Of course, I am not speaking for myself, or any of the guys from our band, because we are old. [laughs] And we are prone to a different kind of stuff, so we are not really inspired by Nightwish, because those people weren’t even born when we were playing heavy metal for the first time.

BM: [laughs]

TH: [laughs] But I think that Finnish people take music quite seriously, because I would say one of the things that has to do with having good bands here is that people actually know how to play their instruments. And I think most of the bands that come from Finland are really awesome musicians, the people in the bands. And I think that’s one quite important ingredient them, especially in the power metal type of thing, which requires quite a lot of fast stuff and so on.

BM: Well, I was gonna say, I looked up a few websites that talk about Finnish music, and one of the sites says, “The strength of Finnish music lies in its originality.” And also, and I’m not sure I’m pronouncing this correctly, the Kalevala?

TH: Mmm, yeah.

BM: They say a lot of the music is sort of inspired by the mythological — it seems to lend itself to power metal themes, like rising above, triumphing and all that.

TH: Yeah, yeah.

BM: So I could see that. And speaking of your influences, on your website, you list a lot of bands I remember growing up: Kiss, Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Motorhead, Led Zeppelin — those are great bands to choose.

TH: Yeah.

BM: Yeah. What is it about those bands that you like more so than, let’s say, what’s going on right now?

TH: I don’t know, because like you said, I also grew up to those bands, so it’s like in my blood to listen to those bands. And in a way, I like them because they are totally timeless. If you listen to some ’80s stuff, it’s totally, totally obsolete. It’s so ’80s sounding. But if you listen to Zeppelin, of course it’s ’70s sounding, but still it’s like timeless in the sense that it always sounds good. So I really like those bands because of that. And I’m really, I think that the last 20 albums that I’ve probably bought from the store, maybe one has been made after ’75 or something like that, so I’m really bad. For example, we were compared to — let’s see, what are some of the bands — we were compared to Masterplan once I think. And I was like, “Yeah, nice. Is it good? ‘Cause I haven’t ever heard Masterplan.” So I was like, “Well, I don’t know if that’s a good comparison or not.” [laughs] I couldn’t say. But of course, there’s not a lot of good stuff coming out, but I’m not, when you play in a power metal band, I’m not really keen on going to see, even going to check out any power metal or heavy metal band’s performances and totally not keen on going to regular ones. It’s like, I get enough of heavy metal by myself.

BM: [laughs] Sure. How old are you?

TH: I’m 31.

BM: 31?

TH: Turning 32, yeah.

BM: Really? That doesn’t sound old to me. [laughs]

TH: Well, but you know that if you look at the bands, especially Finnish heavy metal bands nowadays, of course Stratovarious guys are older, but most of the other guys are really kids. Sonata Arctica are children, they are like 26, 27 at the most, and I’m the youngest guy in our band, so basically, we are old.

BM: [laughs] You know, when you mention your favorite singers, and I definitely agree with that, they’re all very powerful vocalists: Coverdale, Gillen, Hughes — those are all great vocalists.

TH: Yeah, yeah.

BM: And it’s interesting your choice of bass players. When you say your favorite bass players are Lemmy or Gene Simmons or Glen Hughes. The first thing that comes to mind with those guys is that none of them are known for sort of technological virtuosity. They’re not Dream Theater type players.

TH: Exactly, yeah.

BM: What is it about these guys that you really like the most?

TH: Well, it’s just the, you know, the rawness of the stuff. And they are really different players, all of them. You know, Gene Simmons is a lot like Paul McCartney kind of thing, he does this melodic bass stuff. And Lemmy is basically a guitarist with four strings. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TH: The way he plays. And Glen Hughes is much more that funky type of thing. So they’re really different in different ways that I like. So I think that bass is supposed to, you know, support the rest of the band and work with the drums. And bass and drums provide the backbone of every good band. And I’m not really into doing solos with the bass or stuff like that.

BM: You’ll never sort of be a Chris Squire of Yes, huh?

TH: No, no, I’m not. You know, it’s nice that people do that. I think it’s wonderful that somebody take the time to learn their instrument so well. But I think in heavy metal it’s most important to keep the backbone and the beat going on. That’s what bass is for. And when we started the band, people were asking me, “Why don’t you play the five-string bass or six string bass?” I said, “Well what would I do with the strings?” [laughs] Because, I was actually so serious, thinking of playing only with two strings, because that’s all I need, basically on most of the songs.

BM: [laughs] One thing that surprised me on your website, when you were asked, “What is your favorite Thunderstone song?” You said, “Weak”.

TH: Yeah.

BM: That’s a pretty little ballad, it doesn’t seem rough at all. What is it about that song you like the most?

TH: Yeah, I have sort of an explanation for that. I have to say that those questions haven’t been updated for four years. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TH: So there are plenty of other good songs too. [laughs] But it was, why I chose that song when we first put the website together, was because it was such a surprise for me in the beginning. It’s a song that I had never heard. We never rehearsed it in the rehearsal room or anything. And then I just went to the studio and they were saying, “Hey, we did this one little piece with the rest of the guys, put your bass on this one.” And I was like, “Shit!” because it’s one of those songs that gives me the creeps in a good way. You know, makes my back tingle, or whatever you say, because I think it has a great atmosphere and Bobby is really doing, I think it’s his best work on the first album. I think he has done some better stuff after that, but I think it’s his best performance on the first album. So that’s why it sort of, why I chose that song. But it’s like I said with the name, it stuck. [laughs]

BM: [laughs] Well, you’d better get your webmaster to change it for you.

TH: Yeah, yeah. Exactly, yeah.

BM: It did say on your site about your 2003 European tour with Stratovarious and Symphony X. It sounded like you guys had a blast. What is your favorite memory of that tour? Any road story you care to share?

TH: As sort of a performance, I think the Paris gig was just awesome. It was like a 5000 seat arena and people were going like so totally nuts. It was a huge stage and we were having such a great time and people, the audience were just awesome. Everybody played their best gig on that night. All of the bands. And that’s the best performance I can remember. We have a great video of that. Now when we are playing those little clubs with 20 people, we can all say that hey, we’ve been somewhere.

BM: [laughs]

TH: At least, yeah. [laughs] But on the other front, so to say, I think one of the nicest memories, not any particular one memory, but it’s just sharing the bus with Symphony X. Because, I don’t know if it’s fair to generalize, but you Americans, you don’t really cope well with people being drunk and nude all the time. [laughs]

BM: [laughs] Drunk…and nude?

TH: [laughs] Yeah, because that’s what happens when you get five or six Finnish people really drunk. That’s what happens at the end of the day most of the time. But of course, you know, the guys from Symphony X were feeding the fire themselves because they were so totally panicking about us when we were like, starting to get our clothes off. So we were sort of like, enjoying it more and more. But it was really a great experience. Those guys were really great and we are really looking forward to seeing them again once sometime.

BM: I’ve got a Russell Allen story for you, and it ties in with one of your favorite movies, Spinal Tap. My wife and I hung out with Jon Shaffer, Blind Guardian and Symphony X on their tour in Chicago three or four years ago. And the venue they were playing in had a backstage area that was very difficult to move around in and you couldn’t find the stage. We were back there, my wife and I had gone up to the stage. We knew where it was. But when it was time for Symphony X to come out, they came out of the green room, and they’re wandering around backstage. They said, “Where’s the stage?” And we pointed up these stairs, and Russell Allen said in a British accent, “Hello Cleveland!” You know?

TH: [laughs] Yeah.

BM: It was a Spinal Tap moment.

TH: Yeah, yeah. Definitely, yeah. He’s a funny guy.

BM: Yeah. He’s cool. What would you say are the biggest challenges you face to being a power metal band in Finland? Is it geography? Is it sales? Is it distribution? What challenges do you face?

TH: Well, you know, it’s the perpetual dilemma is that of course — it’s not a dilemma — but the problem is that of course you would always like to sell more. Because when you sell more, people are more interested, and then you can do more tours and stuff like that. But the geography is a problem in the sense that we would have done more festival shows in central Europe, for example, but the problem is you have to haul five or six because we always take our own sound man. You have to haul five or six guys with their equipment by plane. It costs a lot, so not all festival organizers are willing to pay what we require. Even if we don’t ask, it’s plus/minus zero at the end of the day what we get from those gigs because it all goes to the cost. But still we would like to do them, but it’s impossible to bring this band over to Germany for example, with just 1000 Euros or something. So that sometimes is a problem, but on the other hand, Finland is a great place in the sense that there are always interested people and people always come to check our shows. And the shows are really good always, so there are good and bad sides. As a basic line, you could always sell more.

BM: Yeah. [laughs] You do seem — on your website, you don’t really have a Forum per se, but you all have email addresses available. Do you get a lot of emails from fans, and do you answer them?

TH: We actually do have a Forum. It’s in the community part.

BM: Oh really?

TH: Yeah, you have to find it on the upper right corner, I think, there is a Forum where you can click.

BM: I missed that. Well, do you get a lot of interaction with your fans that way?

TH: Yeah, well it’s, for the last couple months the forum has been quite dead, actually. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TH: Yeah, yeah, there’s not much going on because there hasn’t been much going on with the band lately, because we’ve been just writing new stuff. But yeah, we do get some mail from our fans, and the guestbook is always funny. People leave quite interesting messages there sometimes. [laughs}

BM: Yeah, I see some. That’s one thing I found out when I talked to Thomen of Savage Circus. He’s very into keeping up. He posts to three or four Forums, about every other day he’s on one. And to him it’s kind of important to be connected to the fans.

TH: Sure, yeah. If I get a personal email, I always answer it, reply. ‘Cause I think, for me it’s an honor that somebody takes the time to write that you have a great band, or your bass playing is nice or whatever. And I always take the time to reply to those emails, ‘cause I think it’s a really good thing. I totally agree, but we, because none of us is really a computer type of guy, and our webmaster is really lazy, as you can see from the updates on the personal pages.

BM: [laughs]

TH: So it’s quite, the interaction hasn’t really worked that well. And there should be more updates. I totally agree, but so far it’s just been like this.

BM: Well, tell me about ProgPower USA. Is this the first time you’re going to be in the States?

TH: Yeah, as a band. I’ve been to the States, of course, myself several times. But yeah, it’s, we’re really looking forward to it, first of all. It’s a great opportunity. And sort of, the States has always been sort of a dream land from a European’s perspective. That’s because so few bands really make it big in the States that come from Europe. So, I’m not saying that we are making it big by coming to ProgPower, but still, it’s a big thing for us, whatever it is, to come and play. And I’ve heard only good things about the festival, and I think it’s the best place to sort of have our virginity taken. [laughs]

BM: [laughs] Well, it is definitely the top of the line. Glenn Harveston is a wizard in this. He really does it right. He does a great job, he’s got the best bands. And these people will be rabid. Talk about fans going nuts, they’ll spread the word about your band, I know that.

TH: Excellent.

BM: Well what can the fans expect from you guys there? What are you going to be doing?

TH: Well, we can’t bring a big show, you know, like visual-wise, of course because we are flying across the Atlantic. We can’t really bring bombs on the plane, so. [laughs] we’re gonna give the best that we have. We’re gonna do a set from all the albums, and we’re also talking about doing a new song, perhaps. But then we are not sure yet, because they are really just in the stage of being made. So we don’t really have any totally ready songs. But anyway, we’re gonna do a kick ass show, and really sweat it out.

BM: [laughs] Do you really get into it when you’re on stage? Do you really like to run around and get totally into it?

TH: Yeah, that’s what I do. Even though my neck and my back is not what they used to be five years ago. That’s what I mean when I’m talking about being old. Still, you just can’t avoid it, because when the music starts, just for me, it’s impossible to just sit tight and stand there and watch the people go crazy. I do it myself.

BM: [laughs] Well, you know the line-up for ProgPower USA. Which band are you most looking forward to seeing there yourself?

TH: Well, as you can see from my musical preferences, I really don’t know much about the rest of the bands. [laughs] That’s a slight problem. But I think I’m gonna check as much as I can of the other bands, because it’s always interesting to see new bands. And hearing performances, I think is the best way to get to know a band, because I think bands are at their best when they are live. Or, they might be actually at their worst when they are live, and that I think tells much about a band. Because there’s so much you can do in the studio these days. You can be, actually a crap drum player, for example, and it sounds great on the album. But when you go there and do it live, I think that’s kind of a trial by fire, in the sense that you have to really know how to do your job.

BM: Oh yeah, yeah. I certainly agree with that. One last thing I was gonna ask you about, I know this probably hasn’t been updated in a while, but when you were asked on your website, hobbies, it says “Reading, writing, mostly boring academic stuff.”

TH: Yes.

BM: What is that all about?

TH: Well, I have a Doctorate in Sociology.

BM: Do you really?

TH: Yes, yes. I’m a —

BM: Ph.D.?

TH: Yeah.

BM: Really!

TH: Yeah, I have a Ph.D. in Sociology of Religion. I teach at the University of Helsinki.

BM: That’s amazing, that’s great. Is that your day job?

TH: Well, sort of, yeah. But I don’t, at the moment I’m a researcher. I don’t have a sort of fixed position. I’m not a professor, so I teach only a couple of courses and I basically do research, which means that I can go there whenever I like. So that’s really good, because then I can take time off to do Thunderstone whenever I need to. But that is my day job, so to speak, yeah.

BM: That’s really cool. What drew you to that field? Why did you want to have a Ph.D. in Sociology with Religion as the emphasis?

TH: Well, I can’t remember. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

TH: It’s so long. Basically, I don’t come from a religious family or anything, but it’s just, religion interested me as a phenomenon and when I started looking at things like how could I approach the phenomenon, Sociology was the most interesting approach. And now I’ve done other things also, other than religion. I’ve done Sociology of Social Problems and Criminology also, so I do all kinds of stuff. But I’m really interested in human interaction, and I was actually thinking, I was doing a few interviews on the first tour with Stratovarious and Symphony X, I was thinking of doing sort of a Sociology of a heavy metal band on the road. But I’ve never published it. I think I might take the time off and try to write something about it one day, but never got to it yet.

BM: Well I think it would be fascinating.

TH: Yeah.

BM: Well, I really appreciate your time, Titus. I’m impressed. A Ph.D. I’ve been thinking of pursuing my Ph.D. in the next year or two. So I’m very impressed with your education.

TH: [laughs] Alright. Thank you.

BM: Well thank you very much for your time. I’m looking forward to seeing you guys this fall.

TH: Yeah. You gonna be in ProgPower?

BM: Yeah, I’ll be there. I’ll be hanging out backstage, taking pictures, talking to you guys.

TH: Excellent.

BM: It’s gonna be good. I love your music. It’s wonderful.

TH: Ok. See you then.

BM: Take care, Titus. Bye bye.

TH: Ok, thank you.

And there you have it. One of my more interesting interviews, if I do say so myself.

The official Thunderstone web site can be found here: http://www.thunderstone.org/.

And, as always, you can probably find Thunderstone’s CDs at www.lasercd.com. They’re definitely worth hearing!