Interview with Harri Pikka of Total Devastation
by John Haseltine
With an honorable mention at the Finnish Metal Awards as one the best newcomer acts, Total Devastation are busy at work writing and producing material for their upcoming release due out at the beginning of the year. Guitarist Harri Pikka of the death metal outfit recently had a free moment to answer a few questions and to tell what the band has been up to recently. Here is what he had to say.
JH: How about a little history of the band?
HP: TD was formed back in the year 1998 by Jaakko Heinonen (vocals) and Lauri Pikka (programming) after a football game which took place in the small hours at the fields of Katajainen, Karhula Finland. Some ideas about something industrial and insane were in the air. So TD made few demos as a duo and some good reactions in the underground scene in Finland were earned. The demo “Divine-Ecstasy” (2001) was nominated as the demo of the month in several magazines, printed and online.
After getting some gig offers the line-up grew bigger, consisting nowadays two sets of brothers and the singer Jaakko. The Pikka Brothers: Harri-guitar, Jarmo-drums, Lauri-programming and vocals. The Hakuli Brothers: Saku-guitar, Pasi-Bass.
With this new line-up we recorded the demo “Left Hand of The Devil” in year 2002, and Firebox Records offered us a deal.
JH: Tell us a bit about the debut,'Road Map Of Pain'?
HP: The album includes a lot of songs from our two latest demos and some new songs. So when the album came out in summer 2003 in Europe, we didn’t feel the songs very new to us, but that’s how it goes. We are very satisfied with the result. Pretty tight schedule was in hands when we recorded and mixed the album, but everything went great, it sounds awesome. Some diarrhea and vomiting diseases were going on during the recording sessions but that’s just part of the game. Ville Heiskanen, the seventh member of the band wrote all the lyrics on the album. TD’s first demo was also called “Roadmap Of Pain” so we thought that it would be a proper title for the first album also. The name reflects also of course both the lyrical and musical side of the band.
JH: I hear there's a new album in the works?
HP: Yes, feels funny telling you about the Roadmap Of Pain album, because the new album is so much more interesting right now… We’re writing and producing the new songs at the time, recordings will take place in October 2004.
JH: Any tenative song titles?
HP: Here are some: Reclusion, Full circle, Ground Zero, Deprecate. About 11 new songs will be on the next album.
JH: When can we expect it to be out?
HP:The new album will probably be out in the beginning of 2005.
JH: How was it placing 7th as best new comer at the Finnish Metal Awards?
HP: It was really good, nothing special though. The band name just was mentioned on the newsflashes about the awards, nothing more.
JH: How have the sales of 'Road Map Of Pain', been going?
HP: A few copies have been sold, I think the Firebox pressing has been about 3000 copies and I believe there are some left from that. USA label Arctic Music Group licensed the album to US markets, no specific details about he the sales figures from there yet. Pretty good for a new comer I think. The only way is up…
JH: You classify yourselves as modern death metal. Can you explain this? Describe you sound for the readers.
HP: That term came from Firebox records when they started to promote the Roadmap Of Pain album. Of course there has to be some kind of definition about the band before it can be marketed. Modern death metal as a classify term gives people some kind of picture about the material of the band before hearing it. It can be misleading also though. Our songs are based deeply to death metal but there are lots of influences from other musical genres. We use some industrial elements and programming to spice the overall mood, so there comes the “modern” thing. Modern, old school, everything goes.
JH: How did you come to have two vocalists?
HP: I think it was when the gig offers started to pop up, Lauri the programmer machinery guy didn’t have so much to do on stage, so he started to “sing” also. It has been working really well, we can do the similar intense vocal arrangements live as on record.
JH: You've released several highly acclaimed demos in the past. Any chance we'll see some of those re-released?
HP: I don’t think so. The best songs from the demos can be heard on the Roadmap Of Pain album.
JH: Who are some of your major influences?
HP: Everybody has their own favorite bands and music so the influences come from very wide spectrum. Some collective major influences could be bands and artists like Morbid Angel, Entombed, Carcass, Mastodon, Xysma, Autopsy, Mike Patton, Neurosis etc.
JH: What do you attribute to the strength of Finland's metal scene?
HP: There are lots of great bands in Finland and there are also lots of new talents that larger audiences haven’t heard yet. There’s been a crowing audience for TD also. Hopefully we are gaining more followers and. Not quite sure if I understood your question right…
JH: Been doing any touring?
HP: We’ve only played in Finland so far. After the release of the debut album we’ve played 23 gigs. In October 2003 we did a mini tour with Finnish band Callisto. In January 2004 we did a similar mini tour which included bands Lullacry, Norther and Rotten Sound. Two gigs confirmed to summer 2004, after those gigs we will concentrate to the new album.
JH: What's TD's year ahead looking like?
HP: Finishing the new songs, album recording coming up in autumn 2004.
JH: There are a couple of videos for download at your website. How was it filming the latest 'Struggling From Chokehold'?
HP: It was fun, director Jussi Rautaniemi is very professional guy. He is going to do some more videos in the future with Total Devastation. The man struggling on the video is Jarkko Stradmann, he operates with many great finish bands as musician, so he is obviously a multitalented man. Looks like he is really suffering there…
JH: Any last words? Or anything you'd just like to get off your chest?
HP: Go check Roadmap Of Pain album and visit www.totaldevastation.org. Videos, samples and other stuff can be found there. New album coming also from Total Devastation in early 2005. Have a great summer and remember to barbeque and swim.
Thanks for the interview!
