INTERVIEW: Olli-Pekka Laine – Amorphis

For the best part of 30 years AMORPHIS have continued to release high calibre albums and 2015’s Under The Red Cloud saw the band reach new heights, raising the benchmark for Finnish metal. With the release of 13th studio album Queen Of Time reaching ever closer we caught up with bassist and founding member Olli-Pekka Laine to discuss his return after a 17 year absence and what we can expect from AMORPHIS in 2018.

Niclas has left AMORPHIS after 17 years, did this come as a shock? Did you ever expect to return to the band?

Olli: It was a total surprise for me when Esa called me about the situation. I didn’t expect to be in the band again but somehow I’ve always maintained a connection with the guys so in that sense it was a natural move for me and the band.

How does it feel to be back and kind of thrown in at the deep end half way through a tour?

Olli: It was nostalgic. It’s kind of a new band now and the back catalogue is different. We didn’t play that much old material. The first gigs were in Russia and it was kind of a surreal thing to go there on train with the band after only rehearsing twice and it was unclear for me whether it was going to happen. Niclas was unsure of what decision he was going to make at that point and the guys asked him to make his mind up. It was up in the air for quite a long time and I was prepared not to join them. I have my day work and my own band so it wouldn’t have been the end of the world. The gigs were really good. There were a couple of shows in Russia where we played the Eclipse anniversary shows and we kept on playing the remainder of the Under The Red Cloud tour with a few festivals before joining VOLBEAT for a European tour and it was kind of a pretty surreal experience because it was in huge stadiums! It was something totally different compared to what we had done back in the day! It’s still weird to see my face on the advertisements [laughs]. It’s hard to believe.

Obviously you have your commitments to your other band BARREN EARTH but do you see yourself as a permanent fixture going forward?

Olli: I’m leaving my day job in June so AMORPHIS is going to be my primary focus from now on. As we have just released a new album with BARREN EARTH we are trying to find some gaps for tours and one off gigs for BARREN EARTH as we have to support the album and we enjoy playing together as well so it will go on, on some level but I’m going to concentrate on AMORPHIS from now on.

The last album you contributed to was Tuonela way back in 1999, how do you feel AMORPHIS has changed since your first tenure with the band?

Olli: I think they are going in the right direction. I have a feeling that Tomi Joutsen has been a big factor in the change in direction from the previous era, I think the albums which followed Tuonela were more of a jazzy, hard rock approach but Eclipse saw a return to the harsher, folk metal influences which is a good thing for me. I didn’t feel that much of a connection with the development of the band in the late 90’s so it’s a good situation for me.

AMORPHIS are due to release their 13th studio album entitled Queen Of Time. How do you feel this album stands up against previous releases?

Olli: I think it’s quite a natural continuation from Under The Red Cloud. Jens Bogren’s production is very evident in this effort.

Yeah, to me it feels like a resurgence of the style of old of dramatic folk/power metal elements but still maintaining the heaviness of Under The Red Cloud, was this intentional?

Olli: I was really happy when Jens was more keen to have harsh vocals and bring back more of the old death metal influences to this album which we welcomed heartfully of course! It’s hard for me to say when I can’t really be too objective yet with me being back such a short time but listening to the previous albums Eclipse was more on the death metal side but Skyforger was much lighter in comparison, now we are back to the heaviness and I think this is something that AMORPHIS fans expect. It’s good to have different albums and era’s for the band and you should never get too stuck into a certain mood for too long. Under The Red Cloud brought AMORPHIS back to death metal again and Queen Of Time continues that trend but it’s hard to say where we will go after this!

How did you find working with Jens Bogren?

Olli: I really enjoyed it! It was a lot of fun to work with him as he pushed us to play and it was kind of a totally opposite experience to what I thought it would be. I thought it would be his way to simplify things but it was not the case.  We had a lot of layers to the song and he had a clear idea of how each song should sound. He was determined to approach his vision to the end. The songs didn’t change that much but we added a lot of surprises with female vocals and saxophones. He is a really constructive and creative producer and he always wants to get the best out of the bands he works with.

It’s always good to have an outside perspective when you’re in the studio and someone who is willing to work alongside you and provide different avenues you may have not thought of.

Olli: Of course, there is also six strong individuals in the band so it’s good to have someone in charge instead of arguing about song orders and things like that! The process itself was very smooth. It was hectic obviously but well organised and it started 2 days after we played the last gig of the tour! It was a relatively short session, just a couple of months but we had really good pre-production. Jens came to Finland a week before we went to Stockholm to record the basic tracks and then we went one by one to Jens’ studio. I was there 3 days recording bass for 12 tracks and it was long days! It was from 7AM to 10PM [laughs]. It was really hectic, really intense and my fingers were aching but it was interesting to hear the end result. Jens is a great producer and I can imagine we will work with him from now on but you never know.

You mentioned about that you began working on the new album just days after the tour, do you think this was a beneficial way of working?

It is always good to have deadlines and it was something we needed to get done. Of course the production goes on and we knew the release was scheduled for Spring so we knew that we needed to have a master ready for January. There was not much choice in the situation so we had to push on! It was a good way otherwise we would have probably had a month break and gotten a bit lazy. There was a good mood in the band and the guys had played like 200 plus shows so our playing was on top form.

AMORPHIS have released the first track from the new album entitled The Bee, how has the response been so far?

Olli: Really good from the YouTube comments I have seen. It’s hard to say as there is new generations of fans these days who may not have heard some of the older back catalogue but I think both camps dig the new material equally. It’s not that far from the Tuonela era of AMORPHIS. There is something for fans new and old so it’s a great track.

AMORPHIS have a tour planned with DARK TRANQUILLITY and MOONSPELL, what else can we expect from the band for the remainder of the year?

Olli: We have a lot of festivals planned throughout the summer, a lot in Finland but the general routine.. France, Germany, Europe etc. We will go to North America and we have plans of having a bigger Finnish tour after that then tour Europe after that. We think that may be the towards the beginning of 2019. Before you know it festival season will be circling round again! [laughs]. We will be busy and have a two year touring circle from now on so… I just play the gigs and don’t concentrate on the business side too much! I’m not even sure where we are playing all summer [laughs].

AMORPHIS are approaching 30 years as a band, is it too early to be talking about potential anniversary events?

Olli: We had a big 20 year anniversary where I played as a guest seven years ago but I think within the next two or three years I’m quite positive something will be in the works! We will have some big events planned but I’m not sure what they will be yet. We will no doubt play a lot of material spanning the career of the band and there will be a huge party that’s for sure!

What variables do you think are crucial to the longevity of a band?

Olli: That’s a very good question! I’m not sure I’m the best person to answer that but I think Esa and Tomi have been really determined with the band since day one. They never really had any master plan for the band. It was just four guys playing music for fun back in the day but it got more serious with the record deals as the first few albums did so well. It kind of exploded from there. It was a huge thing for us, it turned into big tours with the likes of PARADISE LOST, DISMEMBER, THERION, ENTOMBED etc. There wasn’t too many big band who had broke through overseas in Finland back then so it was good for our country too. It was kind of accidental! There will always be that critical point where you have to decide where you want to be a serious musician or just one who plays for fun. It’s a different kind of animal as when you’re serious you have to take responsibility for the whole product. You have to play well, not be drunk on stage.. when I was young back in ’98 we played drunk and we didn’t play that well. We weren’t very professional. That is something that’s definitely changed since I’ve been gone! [laughs].

Thanks very much for your time Olli, it’s been an absolute pleasure. Good luck for the album release!

Olli: Thank you Dan, I bet we will be in England at some point on this tour so I hope to see you out there! Take care.

Queen Of Time is due for release on May 18th via Nuclear Blast Records.

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