Intervju - Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto All photos taken by Veli-Veikko Elomaa What are you guys up to for the moment? I guess the album is out, so whatīs going on?  Weīve been doing some gigs in Finland and weīve got a couple of new songs that weīll possibly record in the beginning of next year. We have on gig next week with 69 Eyes and I think we have to rehearse a couple of times, because itīs been two weeks now since our last gig and I think we are a bit rusty at the moment.
About the new album, when did you start working on it and how is it different compared to "Downhearted"? Actually, we started working with the new album right after the European tour with Nightwish. We had only one week off after that tour and then we started working and writing new songs. In the beginning of 2003 we went to the studio and we recorded the album in three months, but the company was paying for it. I donīt know, maybe itīs more produced than "Downhearted". We made straight solutions on "Downhearted", like I think that the lyrics on "Downhearted" are not the same as on "The dying daylights". I tried to write about more mature subjects than on the last album. Iīm bored of writing about love and death... Youīve got some guests on the album as well. Marco from Nightwish for instance. Yeah Marco! We met for the first time on the European tour with Nightwish and I found out that Marcoīs a really nice guy and we got a long great. So one day at the studio, there were some vocal parts that I felt were going to be too "high" for me and I couldnīt get them right. Immediately I started thinking that Marco could sing it and I called him and he said yes. It was a nice flavour and when I wrote the songs I wanted some kind of Black Sabbath flavour in the songs and bring in more vocals and thatīs when I thought of using Marco. What about the lyrics? Youīre the main writer I believe and what influence you this time? I think this time the only influences came from my own dreams. I wanted to write something that I donīt know so much about and I wanted to explore those subjects. So it was kind of nice writing about things youīre not too familiar with. And afterwards when youīre listening to your own album you can find another meaning for the words than the first time. What about the new tour? Are you going to play in Sweden, because I think youīve never played here? Never! Unfortunately not. I donīt know why. Iīve lived near Sweden, near Haparanda, I was born there but even then we didnīt play in Sweden. I think there are not too many gig booking agencies in Finland. I think theyīre trying with Germany and middle Europe first and of course Finland. I actually think this is the first time we have distribution in Sweden so weīre really looking forward to playing some gigs in Sweden. Yeah, it would be nice to see you here! Yeah, weīre doing our first shows in Russia in December. We have a couple of gigs in S:t Petersburg and one gig in Moscow, so thatīs a first as well. Are you going there with another band or...? No, weīre going alone, so weīll see what happens! We got some very positive feedback from Russia and our fans and our friends in 69 Eyes told us that the fans are relly great. But I really hope weīll have some gigs in Sweden too. Whatīs it like being on tour? You played all over Europe with Nightwish. Does it ever get boring or...? 
Ha, ha, ha! I wouldnīt say it gets boring because it was our first long tour and it felt like going to foreign countries when youīre a little boy. Oh my God, Iīm having all this for free...ha, ha, ha! But itīs nice because weīre all friends and I really donīt have any other friends, so it was nice to travel with my best friends and the live audiences...I donīt know, it was our first experience with that life. We never had the chance to get bored with it.
When did you start singing? Have you been singing since early childhood or did it come later on and what did you do before you joined the band? Well, when I was in first grade I used to sing in a school choir. That was my first time singing! Then we had imaginary bands like...one band was called Killers, named after the KISS album. It wasnīt music it was only noise and making sounds, but it was when I as eleven. Then I think I was fifteen or sixteen when I started playing the guitar, but then I started to sing when my voice allowed me to. I think I was seventeen or eighteen and thatīs when I had my first band. I remember we had something like two of our own songs, which were total crap, but we were just trying to make songs...but we played covers like...do you know a band called Peer Gynt? Oh yeah! A cover band like that and we played KISS covers, Pearl Jam covers, Soundgarden, Lenny Kravitz. Things like that! Of course Nirvana also and we had different projects that played on a few occasions and then I sang in a army choir as well. Some military songs and right after the army, the guys in Charon came to me and asked me to sing in the band, only on one promo, the "Pilgrimage" which came out in ī95. So I gave it a try at first and I didnīt know that I was going to join the band and then Teemu asked me to join them for some promo pictures of the band. Then I felt - Oh my God, am I joining this band? Thatīs when I started to make my first vocal melodies and songs. My first song was "Serenity" and thatīs how Charon got started. What about the band Poisonblack? I guess youīve released one record so far, right? Will there be more and what led up to that project? Was it something you had been talking about for a while or...? Weīve been doing it for three years now. A few promos in the beginning and then we made the album. Itīs been real educating for me singing the vocals. I had free hands when we made it but Ville of course made the melodies and so on. Ville has planned to make another one but I donīt know. Itīll be the second one but I donīt know if thereīs going to be any more later on. It all depends on the second one. I think Ville waits for how itīs going to sell, but what Iīve heard of the new Poisonblack songs, theyīre just outstanding. Itīs really great songs. Theyīre not as "easy" as the first album, made for little girls. Itīs a more mature album but I donīt know if Iīm going to sing on it. Itīs so hard when youīre a singer, itīs so hard to be in two bands at the same time. Itīs totally different to be playing bass in two bands. Thereīs som much pressure from a...spiritual side. I donīt know whatīs so exhausting, but thatīs how I felt and we discussed it and he knew that I was only doing one album. We were supposed to do only one album with Poisonblack because Ville had some songs, but it seems like itīs going to be more. We have to think about what we are going to do. Is anyone else in the band in any other music projects and are you involved in anything else besides Poisonblack? No, thereīs nothing, except we have a session musician who plays the keyboards on the gigs, because we donīt want to use the computers or recorded music on the gigs. Itīs more free to have players and you donīt have to play with a "click" (?) and unfortunately itīs the same guy who plays keyboards in Poisonblack. We donīt have many musicians in the North ha, ha, ha...The other guys donīt have any other projects besides Charon. In the beginning Jasse had the Wolfheart project. It was his own songs and it was during "Sorrowburn" and released on the same label as the first Charon album. Do you remember who came up with the name Charon? You joined in ī95 and I guess that they had already worked out a name by then. And was there any special interest for Greek mythology? I think Charon was Teemuīs idea. Heīs the one who reads a lot and during that time, ten years ago, it was black metal/death metal and they wanted to use that name. Iīve always said in interviews that Charon is better than the first name that was to be used, Nympholepsy Mutulation. The logo looked so cool ha, ha, ha! I read that the artwork for the album was done by a guy called Travis Smith. Was it specially made for the album? Yeah, of course! I was involved with Travis Smith when he made those covers. I came up with the first idea what I wanted the cover to look like. I wrote a long letter to Smith and tried to point out the subjects that I wanted to include on the cover. First I got the idea from the movie "The others". That was the mood I wanted to have on the cover art. As simple as it could be. We didnīt actually like the work of Niklas Sundin ("Downhearted", "Tearstained"), even though heīs really good with graphics. There was just too much stuff and we wanted to make it more simple. I really like the stuff on the Opeth covers and I always fancied his work and thatīs why I came up with the idea for our ecord company. They started to calculate the expenses but he was actually cheaper than Niklas Sundin. Iīve been thinking about the Finnish heavy metal scene! Itīs like thereīs been some kind of explosion in the last couple of years and thereīs tons of bands coming out of Finland. Do you have any idea why this is happening now? 
I think itīs about the generations and people who listened to Black Sabbath, Slayer and music like that in the 80īs are now at the age of playing the music themselves. And come up with their own solutions for music. Itīs time for this now! I donīt know but we have to fight the rap artists and thereīs been quite an explosion for that too. But Iīm glad thereīs so much live music here in Finland and especially metal music and rock music
Whatīs the situation in Finland? Are there any good clubs and venues to play or is it all located around Helsinki? No, itīs really a shame that...eh...it seems like when live music is raising itīs head the clubs are moving...For example Helsinki! Itīs 400 km from here to the South and itīs only Jyväskylä and the big clubs there where you can play and then comes Helsinki, Tampere and Turku. But thereīs not too many these days compared to two or three years ago. Itīs a real shame! And the other places, like big dance halls, younger people only go there to have fun at the disco and they donīt go to see bands any more. So occasioanally we have to play really strange places. Are your albums released worldwide or is it just Europe? I donīt remember the countries now, but yeah, I think itīs Europe now. I donīt know yet about USA or the UK but weīre looking into that. So, finally what can we expect from Charon in the future? More albums, more tours, more projects? I hope we are getting bigger day by day. Weīre taking this thing day by day so now weīre doing this Finnish tour and we have gigs here next year also... You should play Sweden Rock Festival! You mean Hultsfred? No, no! The big heavy metal festival at the beginning of June. Yeah, we have to talk about that! I think weīre doing festivals in Europe and hopefully Sweden. Weīre arranging a European tour at the beginning of 2004. We really donīt want to wait too long, now that the album is released. Ok! Thank you and itīs been real nice talking to you. I wish you all the best with the album and the tour! Thank you and weīll see you in Sweden! Charon - Official website
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