Interview with Tero
www.excalion.com

A few months ago Finnish band Excalion released their second album Waterlines. I have sent them a few questions through my contacts and here are the results in the form of the answers coming from the band’s bassist Tero Vaaja.


MR: Hi Excalion; Congratulations on your latest release. But before we talk more on this I would like you to introduce your band shortly to our Danish audience who still might not be familiar with your work?
Tero: Hi and thank you! Excalion is a melodic metal/hard rock band from central Finland, founded in 2000 and acquired the current five-member line-up in 2005. Our first album Primal Exhale was recorded late in 2004 and released in the following year, the second album Waterlines was released a couple of months ago worldwide. In Waterlines our style has evolved more towards more compact and less high-speed songs, away from the slight progressive influences of Primal Exhale and more into traditional hard rock.

MR: So how would you describe the music you play? I would call it a symphonic power metal. Would you agree on this description? The reason I ask you this is because I read somewhere that you don’t like being called a power metal band, why?!
Tero: Yes, sometimes we have felt that the term power metal is too narrow a category, the picture it brings to people´s minds maybe does not fit Excalion very well. But many people seem to understand power metal less strictly, so I´m OK with them using that term. But I don´t really see where the symphonic part comes from. Our label has marketed us under the title of Symphonic Power Metal, but I have never really understood that. Someone like Rhapsody of Fire or Nightwish are symphonic, but us? It is funny, and interesting, how people´s opinions differ.

MR: …and now an introduction to your latest release. Can you tell us a few more details about when, where and how was the recording process?
Tero: Waterlines was recorded as early as the spring 2006 in Studio Watercastle in the city of Jyväskylä, with sound engineer Arttu Sarvanne, with whom we worked already on our first album. We had a little over three weeks of studio time booked in May, and we actually worked very fast, because in the end some booked days were left over. I think that is enough to tell that the process ran very smoothly, we had a pretty good idea of how we wanted the songs to be and how the album should sound. We were a bit more experienced in studio work now, compared to the making of the first album. All the music was ready and almost completely arranged before going to the studio and the lyrics were ready as well, so we only had to record the stuff, search for fine sounds and some little extra things for the songs. It was really a fun and relaxed process.

MR: Who was responsible for cover artwork and for the mixing process in general?
Tero: The artwork is made by an artist named Jason Juta. The mixing was done in the Studio Watercastle also, by the same people as the recording. We were basically all present in the mixing, Arttu did the technical job and we were there telling our opinions and views. Our keyboard player and songwriter Jappe was maybe the one who was the most active of us in the mixing.

MR: To what degree is the band as a whole involved in the arrangements for songs?
Tero: Much. Usually the process goes like this: Jappe brings a song to the rehearsals, when he has the main structure of the song, chords and melodies. Sometimes he has more details ready too, things like rhythm ideas or bass lines. Then we start to play the different parts of the song together, and the song begins to evolve. Everyone has a chance to bring something in. Sometimes the song finds its form very quickly, sometimes the end result is very different from our initial arrangements. It varies.

MR: What are the similarities and differences between the lyrics by the band's two main writers, themes, inspirations, writing habits? How is it decided which of you will handle lyrics for a particular song?
Tero: When Jappe writes a song, sometimes he also comes up with lyrics for it at the same time. When he doesn´t, usually he hands it over to me and I write the lyrics. There is much difference between us, I think. Jappe goes by instinct and feeling, I often analyze and re-write lines. He draws inspiration from books and movies, I cannot usually say where the texts come from. He writes story-like lyrics more often than I do.

MR: What are your lyrics mainly about? Or let me ask in another way – where do you find inspiration when creating lyrics? I actually find them very interesting.
Tero: Thanks. It is always nice when someone pays attention to the lyrics. As I said in the previous answer, Jappe sometimes uses literature, for example, as an inspiration. But usually, I think, our lyrics are inspired by everyday life, experiences and feelings which are well known for everyone. Jappe maybe has a habit of going more straight to the point, my texts often tend to be metaphoric. I think there is not many restrictions about Excalion´s lyrics, they can be almost about anything, but we certainly want to stay away from the most obvious cliches. Anyway, on Waterlines, there seem to be several texts which are pretty obviously about relationships, and that is kind of funny... It takes some courage to write about that age-old subject, at least for me. But I don´t think those lyrics turned out to be bad at all.

MR: Is there anything you would have done different if you had a chance to change something now or are you completely happy with the final result?
Tero: I must say that we are very happy with the album this time. Maybe there are some tiny little things, but generally Waterlines turned out just the way we wanted it to.

MR: How does, if it is the case at all, this new opus differentiate from the previous one?
Tero: There is much difference, starting from the fact that it is a new line-up. Our guitarist Vesa brought his great sound and technique for the band, and that is one of the defining characteristics of Waterlines. As I said before, our style has also changed a bit. On Primal Exhale, many songs were long and had many parts, there was some complicated stuff on drums, and generally there was maybe a bit too much of wrong kind of ambition in the arrangements... In retrospect, we ruined some of the good songs on that album by putting in extra parts and solos that didn´t really serve the song at all. Our idea in making Waterlines was that we only want to do what is essential for the songs and cut off all the unnecessary parts.

MR: Do you have favourites amongst the songs on the album, and are there ones you prefer live vs. the studio version?
Tero: I guess the guys of the band each have different favourites, but everyone seems to agree that "Delta Sunrise" is one of the best, and "I Failed You" is a clear favourite for some. Myself I have liked "The Wingman" since the first day. Most of the faster songs of the album seem to work really well live, "Between the Lines" seems to be a surprisingly great live song. But its album version is just as good, too.

MR: So are you soon going a tour in order to promote your new material?
Tero: Right now we are not going to do a large-scale tour abroad, we don´t have a chance for that this year. We have to see what we can arrange for 2008.

MR: Do you have any clue where is the biggest number of followers and lovers of this kind of music except Finland for you?
Tero: Hard to say, of course there is some big market in Japan, and also in South America and Europe... Maybe in Scandinavia and in countries like Germany and Italy. I understand that in Germany many Finnish bands have reached some large audiences.

MR: I know it might sound too early but what are your plans for the next album? I mean are there any ‘left-overs’ or songs that didn’t fit to this current release that you’ve kept for the next one?
Tero: It is not really too early, because we have new music coming all the time and there are already some songs ready which may be showing the way for the next album, whenever that comes. There was only a couple of songs that were considered for Waterlines and then left out, and I´m quite sure we are not going to use those for the third album. There is more than enough new material coming. Everything else is more or less open when it comes to the next album, we don´t know yet who will publish it and when. But I´m sure those things will begin to get clearer soon.

MR: Any plans for the release of a DVD material soon?
Tero: No, we just don´t have that kind of publishable material yet. We´ll have to see that again later.

MR: Have you ever played in Denmark and what are the chances for you to do that in the near future?
Tero: So far we have not had the time and organizers to tour outside Finland. You will not see us in Denmark this year, but it is just a matter of time. Maybe already in the next year! It is in our long-term plans to get some good European tours arranged.

MR: Thank you, it was brief but interesting interview. Say your last words in order to close it up.
Tero: Thanks to you and greetings for all the Danish metalheads reading this. Excalion has just made a great album called Waterlines, check it out, you just might love it as much as we do!

Interview done by Bato