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Hi Pekka! First of all, how would you introduce Sotahuuto? What
are its origins?
Most of us have been playing together for 10 years. We ended previous
bands in 2003 and took a fresh start under the name Sotahuuto.
 We
are now a solid group with all of us having a certain role in the band.
I think we are strong together and things are going great at the moment!
Sotahuuto means War cry... what does this name signify for you?
It marks the end of an era for the band, in a certain sense; why did you
abandon your former name to mark this change?
The name Sotahuuto comes from a song with that title. It describes our
attitude. We see lots of bad things in the world and we want to fight
back. We want to take a stand and encourage others to do the same. We
wanted to get rid of the old name since it wasn't a very good one. At
the same time we took the music more seriously and our sound changed a
lot. We felt it was a good idea at the time and we still feel that way.
In Finland, we all know, there's a wonderful metal scene... how did this
influence you? Were some bands important for your musical grow up? And
which bands do you appreciate most, both christian and not christian?
We all love hard music but also some other kind of stuff. The style we
play is a mix of our musical tastes and it has developed pretty much by
itself. The fact that metal is doing great in Finland hasn't really
 affected
to the style we play, but it certainly helps us to get recognized. We
all love Living Sacrifice and I think they are the biggest single
influence to our music and attitude. Besides that we all love different
bands and there aren't too many common favourites.
According to you, has the climate of you land a strong influence on
the music you play? Or on the choice to do this?
I don't think that the climate influences to the music.
Do you consider yourself mostly a metal band or a christian band?
We do have a christian perspective in the lyrics and we are open with
our beliefs. We all believe in Jesus. This gives the label "christian
metal" to us and it's not the biggest problem we have. I guess it's ok.
However I don't like the separation between christian and non christian
bands since our mission is to play to both christian and non christian
 people.
We call us a metal band but it doesn't matter if someone wants to call
us a christian band.
What would you say to person who doesn't consider metal an
appropriate way to talk about faith?
It really depends on the way the lyrics have been written. I've
seen some very good christian metal lyrics but also some very bad ones.
Faith is a radical thing and so is metal.
Some bands prefer to express their Christianity directly in their
lyrics, you are in this
category according to the little bit I have understand from yours,
aren't you?
I guess so. We have some very bold lyrics but not all of them. Some
things need to be said straight.
The lyrics are one of the most important channel to convey a message...
According to you, for a
christian band is there a kind of lyrics ( introspective, biblical, or
about actuality) better to express its creed?
I think the good way is to be on the same level with the listener, not
above. We like to tell about real life situations and how God can work
in them. We don't like to just list truths from the bible,
but to apply the faith in real life. I think it's as important to live
the faith outside the stage as it is on stage. For me metal is about
being honest and bold about who you are. People see it if you don't live
the way you preach.
Why have you chosen your mother language for your songs?
Do you think you will use English in your future works?
We tried English some time ago but it didn't feel as good as Finnish so
I think we'll stay in Finnish. It's easier to write lyrics in Finnish
and the language sounds brutal. It also helps us to get noticed. The
lyrics in the new album have been translated to English in the booklet
but they have been recorded in Finnish.
For Sotahuuto, what does it mean to be a band? What kind of bonds
exists among you?
We are good friends and we like to hang out together also outside the
band. Matti is my brother and we have known Eero for over 15 years. Some
of us also play together in other bands.
You've put three videos on youtube about the recording process of the
new album, I think you were very relaxed during that, aren't you? (And
really is Eero's drumming all self-taught?)
The recording and mixing process was really hard, we were in the studio
14 days straight. It was surprisingly hard to stay really focused all
the time. We tried to keep up a light atmosphere to make it easier and
that can be seen in the videos. It was rough but we also had some great
time there! Yeah, Eero is pretty much self-taught.
Soon your forthcoming album will be released: can you tell us
something about its features and themes? Musically, what differences
will we find with "Ihmisen Jälki"?
The new album will be a bit more encouraging than "Ihmisen Jälki". We
tried to write stuff that would be more aggressive but less dark. I
think we succeeded in that. All of us had some hard time in life last
year and we tried to put all that aggression to the music and lyrics.
The music is a bit faster and maybe there's a bit more thrash metal in
it this time. We have developed as musicians and so the new stuff is a
bit more technical than on the previous albums.
You've been playing
in Finland, Sweden and Norway and last year you went for two dates
 also
in the USA... what are you expecting now for your future? Will we ever
see you on a European music festival?
We like to play shows, that is the most fun part in this. So we hope to
play some good shows in the future and we hope to play abroad also. We
are playing one show in Sweden in august and few others in Finland
during the autumn. It would be nice to get to some countries we haven't
played in yet. Let's hope we get an invitation!
Thank you very much for reveling us something about Sotahuuto,
Pekka. Would you like to leave a message for our readers?
The new album will be released in august 5th and it will be the most
aggressive album we've made so far. There will be a couple of new songs
in myspace soon. Go check it out!
Sofia Agostini
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