Interview: Lessons from Flirty Spice, Apocalyptica's Paavo December 7th 2007, Amsterdam, the Netherlands



As you can see by the amount of times this band is featured in our reviews, we love Apocalyptica. We did an e-mail interview with Perttu in 2006, but this time we’ve managed to get a real one with Paavo when the band played in Amsterdam on December 7th 2007. That’s the short crazy one, sitting at the right side of the stage, or Fat Sporty Spice, as Perttu and Eicca like to call him. We’ve renamed him Flirty Spice. You will find out why below. You can read the review of the shows in Amsterdam and Groningen here.

Annika: The band has changed a lot over the past years; different line-up, writing your own music, walking around on stage... How far are you in discovering the identity of the band?
Paavo: You know, we have been existing already for thirteen years. So, a long time, and all the changes over the years have been step by step. It was very natural, there have always been reasons for changes. It’s a never ending process.
Imre: If a band had been the same for thirteen years it would have been boring, not just for you but for the fans as well.
Paavo: *nods* Like Iron Maiden or AC/DC, they never change. It is important to us that there is progress and development all the time.
Annika: How did the running around on stage happen, because for example on the first DVD you were all sitting.
Paavo: We changed to a wireless system. Before, we had the cables and we couldn’t run around too much. So it was a technical development, that’s helped us a lot. It made things easier, and also complicated. Technical stuff is always risky.
Annika: How about the pointy end of the cello, did you ever stick it in someone’s eye?
Paavo: Lucky enough, no.
Imre: Did you ever want to?
Paavo: *shocked and surprised* No! Why?
Annika & Imre: *evil laugh*
Imre: Do you like doing photoshoots and interviews, or would you rather just play?
Paavo: Of course the playing is the main point. Making music and playing for the audience, we love to do that and I think it’s the greatest part of our profession. I think talking about music is a waste of time. Basically if you want to write something about the music it’s for journalists, not for musicians.

[Vocals]
Annika: About the different albums and the addition of singers; how do you come by those people? Do they come to you, or do you go to them? Paavo: You know we’ve done collaborations for quite a long time. The first one was Path, and actually that even wasn’t the first time. We were doing collaborations with other bands, because we were asked to play on their albums. In the final end it was so that there was only a singer and us in there. We would play a full version with a singer and then some internet nerd would make a remix and there was nothing to hear of Apocalyptica. So we did those collaborations and we thought ‘yeah, that’s interesting! Why not change it around and make it our project so we can say what kind of mix it should be.’
Imre: And then leave the singer out! *evil grin*
*all laugh*
Paavo: Yeah! Hehe.
Imre: Who writes the lyrics for the songs? Do the singers write them?
Paavo: Yeah, the singers. We’re not good writers. I don’t understand anything about the lyrics. Basically I don’t listen to the lyrics at all. It’s a secondary thing for my way of listening to music. I think that you should hear the story by the tone of the singer’s voice. Even if you don’t understand the language.
Imre: If your songs have a meaning for you, do you tell singers to write that story?
Paavo: There is no rule. Every singer tells his own story. The lyrics have to be so that we can stand behind them, that there is no satanic shit or something like that. They are singing those lyrics from their heart, that is what’s most important.
Imre: But a song still has to be so that you can play it on stage without singers.
Paavo: Yes, many songs are also instrumental songs originally. Many times we will write the songs and someone else adds the lyrics, but for this album many songs have been made for singing, like I’m Not Jesus was made as a singing version, but SOS for example was an instrumental song originally.

[Touring]
Imre: What is the best part about touring?
Paavo: Meeting nice girls... *wiggles eyebrows*
*Imre & Annika laugh at him*
Paavo: *in dark voice* No, kidding. I’m married, so... Eh... You know, being on tour basically is waiting, hanging around the shitty backstages, this one is ok but I have seen so bad ones... We’re waiting the whole day to get on stage, depending on how late we play. The best part of the day is always the show. And when we are on tour, our aim is to be as good as possible on stage. We have like a daily routine. I try to sleep till 12 o’clock, or something like that. If I’m fast after a show I can sleep at 1.30am or 2 o’clock, the show starts quite late. I try to sleep quite long.
Imre: You’re old, you need it.
Paavo: *sad* Yeah, that’s true. And then after that some eating, some breakfast, and then I try to practise a little. After that we have a sound check and some promotion. And then I try to do some exercise, some jogging or push-ups. Now we have boxing stuff that we take backstage.
Imre: Do you ever go sightseeing?
Paavo: Today for example we had a museum day. We went to the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum.
Imre: Not the sex museum?
Paavo: Sex museum?! No, after two weeks on the road I can’t stand that kind of stuff. Better stay away...
*all laugh*
Paavo: I still have one week to go so... This tour is for three weeks. Then we have a few weeks off and we go to Mexico in February. We have shows in different cities every day and sleep on the bus. Have you seen our bus? It’s a double-decker. It’s like a moving 3-star hotel! It has play stations, surround sound, back lounge, front lounge, refrigerator full of beer... We drink non-alcoholic beer, we never drink alcohol before a show. We want to be good on stage. I can’t understand those bands that are drinking the whole day.
Imre: *sarcastically* But that’s the rock and roll life!
Paavo: That’s bullshit! It’s not true. That’s not rock and roll at all. It’s got nothing to do with the music and strong emotion. And energy. You know, if you have two beers your energy level goes down, that’s why I never drink so much. *thinks* Do you prefer sober men, or drunken men? *looks at us intensely*
Imre: A little drunk is not bad.
Paavo: Ok...
Imre: Are you different on stage than you are off stage? Do you get into a different mood or psych yourself up?
Paavo: Of course it’s a different vibe when you are on stage, but you know we have done it for so many years and in a way it’s like a... You push yourself there on the stage and you are like a... How do you call this? You are ready to humiliate yourself. You should not be scared of humiliation, otherwise you can’t be open for the audience and the music. It takes a lot of courage. It’s like taking off your clothes, you are naked there. Everybody is looking at you, and if you’re not scared that’s not so bad. But it means that you should not close yourself. There are many musicians that act some role when they are on stage. They have some hard outer shell. It’s not honest at all. You’ve got to be yourself. It doesn’t mean I am the same kind of person on stage and in normal life, but my stage person is real. I’m not acting.
Imre: You’re always trying to get the crowd going.
Paavo: Of course. There always has to be interaction between the audience and us. You’ve got to watch their eyes.
Imre: You do that, we’ve seen you!
Annika: Many times! *grins*
Paavo: Having a good time together. *wiggles eyebrows*
Imre: Something like that, yeah. My boyfriend wasn’t very happy last time.
Paavo: *innocently* Why?
*all laugh*

[Random]
Imre: I’ve seen pictures of you horse riding, do you do that a lot?
Paavo: You know, not too much, maybe two times a year.
Imre: Are you any good?
Paavo: You know, I’m not so good, but I can manage with a horse well. So no problem for me, I have good basic skills. It’s good to do something else sometimes. You know something about riding.
Imre: I do. I have two horses.
Paavo: Ok, so then you know that if you have not been riding for six months you have lost control. *makes hip movements*
*all laugh*
Paavo: But you’re still at a certain basic level.
Imre: I’ve stopped riding for two years and when I started again...
Paavo: And it all feels so weird! *grins*
Imre: Yeah! But I could still do it.
Paavo: You get it back soon, but you need a lot of work to get to the higher level again. It’s fun to do sometimes, but I have so many different kind of hobbies that I don’t have time for everything.
Imre: *gets picture* That’s mine. He’s an Icelandic.
Paavo: Icelandic! Ok! I have been riding Icelandics a couple of times. It’s called ‘tőltti’ right? I’ve been riding in the snow with Icelandics in central Finland. They were really good! And not too high!

Annika: We have a present!
Paavo: Ooh, from the sex museum?!
Annika: *sighs* No!
Paavo: Your boyfriend wouldn’t let you go?
Imre: My boyfriend would come with me!
Paavo: Ok!
Annika: Here in Holland on December 5th it’s like a children’s celebration day called Sinterklaas. And typical candy if chocolate letters, everyone gets one in the first letter of their name. The kids also get presents on that day with little rhymes. So we have chocolate letters and rhymes for all of you!
Paavo: Thanks a lot!
Annika: You have to read the poem!
Paavo: Ok. *reads* *grins*
Annika: Can you give these to the others?
Paavo: I will.
Annika: You can eat them all yourself of course... *grins*
Paavo: *laughs* They are all so fat... *shakes head*
Note: You can read all the poems Annika wrote for the band here.

[Worlds Collide]
Annika: So, about Worlds Collide...
Paavo: Yeah, finally! *grins*
Annika: What’s your favourite track on the album to play?
Paavo: We have many favourites. I like Ion, Peace and I’m Not Jesus, and maybe Helden.
Imre: Who came up with the idea to translate that song?
Paavo: David Bowie. In the 70’s. There is this German film – kind of a documentary – it tells a story about a girl who is a junkie. It’s like a survivor’s story (ed: Christiane F. - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo), truly hard stuff. The girl in the film is going to a David Bowie concert and he is singing that song. In the middle of the film Bowie turns to German. He lived in Berlin for many years. But we’ve never met him... It was our producer’s dream to do the song with Till Lindemann. When he said we should do Helden, we were a bit sceptic. The song is not really our style, but Eicca thought he could do a really good arrangement for the song and of course Till’s voice is really good. But if Till wouldn’t do it, we wouldn’t have done the song either.
Annika: How long did it take to record the album?
Paavo: The whole thing was one year. We started not this spring, but the spring before. And then in the autumn we did some more demos and wrote some songs. We started to practise them in October. We did about twenty, twenty-five songs and we arranged them. We went to the studio in January.
Imre: Do you play every part separately on recordings?
Paavo: Yes, and it takes a lot of time. Our producer is so exact! Every song had to be played at least three times!
Imre: Do the songs change much when you play them live?
Paavo: Not that much. The biggest process is in the studio and during rehearsals. We try to keep them original, but sometimes there can be six or seven layers of cellos on the album and of course we can’t play that.
Imre: Do you prefer small gigs or festivals?
Paavo: Hmm, the conditions have to be good. Everything should be working technically, acoustic needs to be good, and you have to see the audience. *raises eyebrows* You have to keep contact.
Annika: *evil laugh*
Paavo: The audience has to be ready to listen to you, but if it’s raining and nothing is working or the acoustic is bad it’s not enjoyable.
Imre: The first time I saw you was at Rock am Ring in Germany in 2005. You were playing right before Slipknot and the audience was virtually men only. It was great! They were singing along to the Metallica songs.
Paavo: Was that on the main stage?
Imre: No, on the smaller one. Perttu was playing a blue cello.
Paavo: Ah, that one! That was a really bad gig. Nothing was working. The blue cello was a spare, the other broke and the sound is terrible.
Imre: Well I was hooked after that!
Paavo: I am happy to hear that, that we weren’t horrible.
Imre: Your live shows are so different from the cd’s. The energy is great!
Paavo: The energy is sehr gut!
*all laugh*
Annika: We’re coming on Sunday as well and my dad was so excited! He’s a very boring man, always wearing grey suits, very conservative, but I challenged him and now he’s coming!
Paavo: That’s great. Tell him to take earplugs, for sure! I never go to a rock concert without them. If you can choose your own place it’s ok, but if you can’t choose where to stand some places are very bad. You have to wear earplugs.

And then our time is up. When we ask Paavo to pose for a picture he refuses, not wanting them to be posted on the site because he hasn’t taken a shower yet and his hair looks messy. Bless him. But when the girl from the record company walks in, he agrees to pose if we go on the picture with him. Sure, no problem! He puts his arms around us and with a wicked grin he says: ”Let’s make your boyfriend jealous!”, after which he puts his lips on my cheek and waits for the picture to be taken. Cheeky bastard! It didn’t work by the way. He needs to try harder next time!

The show in Amsterdam is great, the one in Groningen even better. We are right at the front where Paavo is on stage, and flirted with each other shamelessly. My boyfriend is somewhere else in the crowd, I think this actually would have made him a little jealous. After the show we ask Perttu if he got his present, to make sure Paavo didn’t actually eat them all himself. Perttu: ”Yes, it is already in the toilet.” Well, they must have tasted good then...

Imre and Annika