Interviewer: Jesus C. (Saqrangel)
Answered by: Jani Koskela
LET ME DREAM is an old metal band from Finland that newly is giving that to speak due to the release of their last album " Soulshine ", the disc is very varied with dynamic and melodic guitar rhythms next to aggressive and clean vowels, their music could be described as melodic metal with Gothic and Dark influences ... here the interview:
Your band is 15 years old of existence. Why do you think that took so much to achieve some international recognition?
Jani: We have always played such music that hasn't been among the biggest trends in the underground scene. Then on the other hand, our music has never been commercial enough to gain mainstream success. One reason could also be that, so far, it has always taken us five years to release a new album. Each album has, however, gained us more international recognition. There're people who remember us since 10 years, some go even longer way back to the demo days.
Best way to promote this band and gain more success would be to go out there and play shows - unfortunately we can do that rather rarely. There're a lot of those who had not heard us before the "Soulshine" tour, or before they got the album in their hands.
Underground scene changes all the time, people come and people go.
'Soulshine' is different to your old works. Do you want to maintain a balance between catching rhythms and attractive melodies with darker and more aggressive shades?
Jani: We like to keep our music dark & atmospheric, develop it further within these themes and hopefully manage to keep it different, diverse and interesting. We have a strong gothic influence in our music. However, we always felt that - in our kind of music - it's very important to maintain metallic aggression & heaviness. That's where today's "gothic metal" has generally - in my opinion - gone to hell and lost its track.
To answer your question - yes, it's very important to keep the balance between melodiousness & aggressiveness, but in our case, it comes out quite naturally. I think that bands like ROOT (Czech) and MOONSPELL do it really well. In a way we have a
similar kind of idea, but we like to do it our own and traditional way.
How have been the sales with 'Soulshine'? Have you received good comments about? I think yes!
Jani: The feedback has been great! It has been better than what we have received for our previous releases, which of course is very positive. Honestly, I wasn't sure whether or not today's underground scene is willing to hear this kind of music. Luckily there're always people, who look for something different.
The sales haven't been that great yet. We released our own limited edition in January 2004, just before our latest European tour. This edition has sold out by now. The problem is that the record company, Nocturnal Music (Italy) who released our previous album "Greyscales", hasn't released the official version of "Soulshine" yet. We have been waiting for that to happen for almost a year now. At the moment we are negotiating with another label about doing a license print of "Soulshine". I hope it works out! If it doesn't, then we'll do another print on our own. I think this album deserves more attention.
Tell us about the album concept song by song...
Jani: Wow, that's a pretty demanding one (laughs)! Well, here we go: "Soulshine" - Quite an aerial song, varies pretty nicely from heavy & aggressive parts to more mellow parts.
"Roses on the Silver Plate" - A rhythmical song with cool keyboard passages. Starts melodic, but ends in quite aggressive way. This one has gained most positive feedback from reviewers.
"I Resonate" - The main riff is one of my faves on the album, simple but heavy, aggressive and catchy. It's one of those songs where dark metal and gothic metal elements meet in such harmony that you can't hear the transition from one to another.
"Domain of Despair" - Quite doomy heavy metal song. Somehow it reminds me of Candlemass, but more in traditional heavy metal way.
"Powered by the Moon" - One of those songs that I would define as pure gothic metal. We have released a live video on this song. It was shot during our latest European tour at the Celtic Rock Indoor Festival in Germany. Check it out on our website!
"Babel" - The most experimental & brutal (on our scale at least!) song on the album and a cool live number.
"As the Souls Embrace" - Shows the other side of Let Me Dream. Straightforward & atmospheric song. Could be some kind of a "hit", if it would get a chance.
"Dust of Time" returns back to our most common atmospheric & dark metal sound. Cool chorus verse. Rather short & compact song - very often an opener for our live gigs. We shot a live video of "Dust of Time" during one of the "Soulshine" tours - mainly in Russia but there are some shots also from our shows in Holland and Belgium. This video is available only on the limited edition of "Soulshine". The official version will contain the video of "Powered by the Moon".
"The Autumn Twilight" - Quite a passionate song, which starts as a ballad, transforms to more aggressive heavy metal direction and gives the album calm and acoustic end.
The last choirs in the song 'As the Soul Embrace' are made by a woman?
Jani: Yes, Heidi Bergbacka from the Finnish band I.O.U did the backing vocals for that track and also some voices for "Babel". Her band performed in the same town where we were recording the "Soulshine" album. We saw the show and asked if she would be interested in doing some backing vocals for our record. So it was quite a spontaneous idea - for once we were in the right place at the right time (laughs)...
Most of Gothic metal bands (included you) it use for their covers art girls pictures.
Jani: The female theme on our covers has been almost incidental. It's something that always came from our CD cover artists. There's no way that we could have refused to use Jan Yrlund's work on "Soulshine" - it's really outstanding! If you think about the feeling of our music, you can see that the dark & decadent cover fits the "Greyscales" album just perfectly. In a way, it also kept alive the same theme that we've had since the cover "My Dear Succubus" album. This wasn't intentional - it just turned out that way. Nevertheless, I wouldn't mind if there wouldn't be a female theme on the next CD, but we shall see.
I'd like to add a couple of words to this gothic metal theme. I don't think that we're a pure gothic metal band. There are actually only very few TRUE gothic metal bands out there. We have gothic rock influences in our music, but when I think our music as a whole, I think that we need more words than gothic & metal to describe it. Gothic metal is a sacred thing for me for sure. In my opinion the media & record companies have ruined it during the past 10 years. People have been lead to misunderstand this genre. Gothic metal isn't by any means a synonym to words "atmospheric" or "rock/pop metal". People often seem to think that gothic metal should be beautiful music - which might also explain some female themes - but how beautiful was Bauhaus' music? It's dirty as hell and it's gothic to the bone. If anyone wants to get a hunch what real gothic metal is about, then I recommend STILLBORN's "Necropspirituals" (1989). I believe that's the first gothic metal record ever.
Which do you think that are the reasons? Do you think that is more attractive?
Jani: I can only say that the cover art of "Soulshine" is very attractive, but it also awakens deeper thoughts. It's easy to get lost and fail when you toy around with human themes. If they don't convince you at first glance, you might loose your interest right away. I'm sure that some people have bought Witchfinder General albums just because of the "attractive" covers. Nevertheless, it's the music that matters in the end. I think that people should listen to the music before they buy it. That's why mp3s are so cool! If they don't sound attractive, then the cover can't fool you to buy the product.
What memorable memories do you keep of the Celtic Indoor Festival? Was the biggest quantity in public that you had in a show?
Jani: It's the biggest show that we have played in Germany. It's also the most memorable show in Germany so far. It was the last show on our latest tour over there, so we were pretty well rehearsed and tight unit at that point. The audience were half metal people and half medieval music fans and most of them had come there to see the other bands. Regardless, we managed quite well to win over the audience. People started to get really frantic towards the end of our show!
We have played bigger shows here in Finland, which, unfortunately, are not that memorable. We have also played a little smaller shows in places like Russia & Romania, which will remain memorable for very long indeed. But, yes Celtic Rock Indoor Festival 2004 is the biggest foreign show that we have done so far.
Keeping in mind that you are from 1989, you could tell us which are your
musical likes? Have these changing through the time? What do you remember of
your early times?
Jani: Celtic Frost and Fields of the Nephilim have always been my fave bands and my greatest influences. When we started, we first tried to play a bit more aggressive & thrashy material. Soon we realised that more mid-tempo, dark & atmospheric style is our thing. The first years from '89 to '91 were pretty chaotic. We gathered around 3 times a year, just to record another rehearsal tape. Due to our playing skills and lack of rehearsing, it always sounded crappy, but it was a fun thing to do. Even back then, I had an idea that one day we're going to do an album.
1992 was the year when we found the basic sound that we still have. We also recorded our first two actual demo tapes that year. We still play a song called "When I Ride to Beyond" from those days, it fits perfectly to our present set, so I guess that changes haven't been that big!
Which bands have impressed to you lately? Tell me, which is the best release in 2004? which albums would you recommend us to buy?
Jani: I've been listening to a lot of ROOT lately. I have been aware of their existence since the early 90's, but for some reason I haven't listened to their stuff before just recently. Silly me, they're a fucking great band! In a way, I'm still inspired by the same kind of music and feelings than in the early days. Celtic Frost, Necromantia, Master's Hammer, Fields of the Nephilim, Sisters of Mercy, Samael, Sarcogfago, Saint Vitus, Solitude Aeturnus, Joy Division. Old black/death/doom stuff and REAL gothic rock. An album that I can recommend is SPIRITUS MORTIS: Spiritus Mortis, great traditional doom metal from Finland. They've got the magic!
Leaving this matter, tell us how is the life in your country? Would you like to have been born in another place?
Jani: I like it here. I have seen some other countries and there are many things why I prefer Finland above any other place. We're isolated & cold country, which means no huge traffic jams and no mega cities. That's a positive thing! Actually I like to live in small city (Riihimäki) of just 30 000 people, it's located close to Helsinki (capital city, 500 000 people). So whenever something interesting happens there, it's easy to jump on a train. I would never want to move to Helsinki, not to mention any larger cities in Central Europe.
For those that didn't still listen LET ME DREAM, describe us musical and
lyrically your last work.
Jani: Gothic/dark metal or atmospheric dark metal would be the words to give some idea of what we're doing. We like to keep our sound original and I believe that we have managed to do that pretty well. Lyrically we write about our own feelings & thoughts. Making our kind of music is like using your negative feelings for something creative.
Last words and future plans...
Jani: To get a new print of "Soulshine" out. We need to make that album more available. We have been recording a new promo; it will be mixed in few weeks. Hopefully we manage to get an international record deal for the new songs that we've written, they are our heaviest & darkest material so far. Keep on checking
http://www.letmedream.com for
news, MP3s, videos, interviews, reviews and so on. Feel free to contact us at
letmedream@letmedream.com
Thanks for the interview! Can't wait to hear the next Mortem album!
Official
homepage: http://www.letmedream.com
E-mail: letmedream@letmedream.com