Wave Gotik Treffen 2009, Leipzig

Barren Earth - The new band from Finland

[F]Some of our readers may never have heard about you. Please give us a short briefing in the band's biography. Who are you, what was the main reason to form an new project?!
[A]The band was formed by Olli-Pekka Laine two years ago. After having played stoner-rock for some years he wanted to play metal again. He got in contact with all the players and played us some homemade demos. We all liked them, so it went from there. We already knew each other from previous projects, so that made everything easier. The band consists of: Mikko Kotamäki - vocals, Sami Yli-Sirniö - guitar, Janne Perttilä - guitar, Kasper Mårtenson - keyboards, Olli-Pekka Laine - bass, Marko Tarvonen - drums 
[F]What is the message (maybe your personal massage!) of the new (Mini-EP) record, your songs in front of the new styles and imgae of Metal nowadays (kids like a lot of Nu Metal, Hip Hop, Rap & normal Rock/Metal too). May you wanna create a new project like the idea of Anders, Jonas & Co. with Bloodbath?!
[A]Umm no, no at all like that. I see Bloodbath more like a side project. Barren Earth is a real band although we have members in some other bands as well. We all like this stuff and make this very seriously. Barren Earth is as much a death metal band as it is a progressive rock band. Meaning: we don't necessarily look like death metallers, we don't hangaround with death metallers nor we are some tree hugging hippies doing marijuana. We don't know anything about that or today's DM underground. We're doing this music for everybody with open minds and wanting to experience something different.
 
[F]How and why did you choose the great album cover; is there a further meaning behind it?
[A]The  EP cover was designed by Niklas Sundin. We were in a hurry to get a decent cover, as the deadline was in 48 hours. Somebody recommended Sundin. We asked him, if he had anything usable in the archives, and indeed he had. We picked this one. There's no real connection with the music although it fits quite well with the title.
 

[F]Are there some lyrics that are special to you, tell us something about them.
[A]All of them are special as I see the lyrics are as important as is our music. I was able to write lyrics for 2 songs for the 1st time in my life. It was a new experience which I actually like a lot. I tried to envision an apocalyptic scene of life on earth and mixed it with some human relationship.
 
[F]Do you think we (fans) would get some more of Barren Earth in the future?
[A]Yes our full length album will be released in March 2010. It will have the extended version of Our Twilight + 8 new songs. After that we're going for tour I hope plus some summer festivals all over.
[K]Yeeeeeeaaaaah!!!
 
[F]…last but not least, say hello to your fans:…
[A] Thanks for the interview! Eat lots of sauerkraut and don't forget that the smoke will always follow the sheep-fucker! What?

Barren Earth homepages:http://www.barrenearth.com/v2/index.html and MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/officialbarrenearth