Interview with Paavo Lötjönen, from Cello Metallers APOCALYPTICA

Paavo, first and foremost, congratulations on the new album Cell-0, which was released on the 10th of January. It’s an absolute monster of an album with a mix of solemn mood tracks, heavy songs, and everything in between. It takes the listener through a crazy ride of emotions, highs and lows. It’s Apocalyptica’s first full instrumental album since Reflections in 2003, so 17 years. Tell us more about the new album, Cell-0.

Even we consider ourselves as a metal band, this album is difficult to categorize as to what kind of genre it is… There is a lot of metal and heavy elements, a lot of classical elements, maybe symphonical elements, but it’s not symphonical metal in that normal sense of symphonical metal. Symphonical metal is more like Nightwish. Bombastic, heavy metal and guitar riffs with a orchestration in the background, and one of the opera singers on the top.

But in symphonical, in Apocalyptica’s case, I mean that there is a lot of different players and it’s not really easy listening or fast food kind of music. Cell-0, it’s challenging music for musical lovers, such people who have time to sit down and listen to music totally.

It’s not the music for doing your everyday things. This might be even disturbing in that sense, if you try to cook food for your kids and listen to that music (laughter ). You should take your own time, sit down, put your headphones on, and close your eyes and join our travel. This is made to be music to paint the mindscapes, mental sceneries and mental pictures, and travelling somewhere far away from your normal everyday life.

Nowadays, our lives are so full of different kind of things, all the media and so much information coming all the time, through our eyes and ears and everybody is so busy. There’s no peace anymore! Time to time, we need some mental healing and time to sit down and take your book, read in a quiet place. Or sit down and put your headphones on, and give a little off time for your brain and relax with these kind of things.

And what is the fantastic thing in instrumental music, that there is no lyrics or storytelling, which is many times your imagination stuck in some story the singer is telling. This time, every listener needs to create their own story. And at least when I’m listening to music, I start to see colors and pictures and sceneries and sometimes I even smell things. And all the different music things, they are bringing some memories from my childhood. Music is like a time machine.

Most definately.

Yeah, It brings you somewhere else, or brings the old memories and connecting the things.

This is not really album which is made for radio. This is made for music lovers and hardcore Apocalyptica fans. And it’s really an independent kind of music. It’s not made for any kind of format. Our target was to create… which is not related to anything. We are not trying to compare this to anything else. This is like in all our history, the background from the classical music and from the metal music, rock music, pop music. There is everything, our lives, our relationships, everything we have loved, what we have dreamed about.

And I have hope that all the listeners would get same kind of things in their mind when they are listening to this music. That’s a unique kind of piece of art.

We are really happy with the results and really proud of what we have done. And I wish someone would like to listen that. It’s not made to attract everybody. Yeah. We don’t care if some … And if everybody has a privilege not to like that, but I would say that they should listen a couple of times before those compositions would start to open in their minds. It is challenging music. First listen would not open these songs. And our point is that every listening time, it’s getting better and better and you will get more and more about that.

Yes there’s a lot of different moods. It’s a very … I don’t know how to describe it. It’s just there’s so much information in the music, and there are no lyrics, but you feel so many different emotions when you listen to the music.

Yes, It’s meant to be like that. And there’s a lot of different layers and when you listen again and again and again … Even I know those songs really well, we have been practicing those, I find some new layers again and again. 

That’s really cool!

I would not call those songs because there is no singing. They are not songs, then, I would say that they are pieces or compositions.

Compositions, that’s a great word.

Yeah. Yeah.

Did you guys write this album while you were touring for the anniversary of the Apocalyptica plays Metallica by Four Cellos over the last couple of years?

We’ve been touring two and a half years. That Metallica tour took 32 months. We played 240 shows in 45 countries, maybe 47 countries. It’s a long tour, but of course, we didn’t do that constantly, we had some breaks. We tried to keep the touring at it’s maximum four or five weeks. Five weeks is maximum. Then your friends get nervous, being in the same bus for five weeks, it’s already quite far, heavy stuff. (laughter )

Last winter we had almost four months off from touring. We had some time to write. We already wrote many songs during previous Autumn in 2018, and all the recording happened in February, March in 2019. The record process took four months. Yeah. So kind of while touring, but still we had a break from touring on that time, and we had some time to produce this album properly.

We were really happy to get really great sound engineer to mix the new album. Andrew Scheps did an absolutely fantastic job for mixing this album. As you know, this kind of music, it would be challenging for any, whoever the mixing engineer because there is… different kind of players. And you should hear everything properly and clear. And Andrew Scheps is one of the big stars in the world.

Oh yes! He has a very impressive history

He has mixed all … Like his CV, there is all the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He’s been Michael Jackson’s live engineer.

He did a really fantastic job for this, did the audio perfectly

Now, I’ve been reading on your YouTube channel and on your Facebook page that most of the fans are loving the new album. They love just the instrumental material. They seem to prefer that because that’s where you guys started, just instrumental without vocals, which is awesome. Now, as the band’s first instrumental album in 17 years, and there has been a lot of vocals on Apocalyptica albums in that last 17 years obviously, is the band going to redo some of the new songs with vocals as singles, or maybe do some non-album songs as singles with guest vocals?

We will release some singles later, but they are not these songs. It’s not this old-fashioned way like we did for the past, Volume II, for example. It was instrumental song in the beginning and then we created a singing song on the top of that. These singing tracks we will release later this year or next year and will be totally new songs. The perfect evil to create the songs, singers and radios, it’s a totally different kind of approach. 

That sounds great!

Yeah, but as you say, this is the first instrumental album for 17 years. It sounds so dramatic because, to be honest, if we think of, for instance, the previous albums Shadowmaker, or one before that 7th Symphony, these is massive symphonical instrumental songs. And in our mind, those are not really different. There is not too much difference for this album. But of course, when there is those singing songs, the singing tracks, it takes the concentration out of those instrumental songs because those singing songs are so easy to get closer. And that maybe gives them more attention than they are supposed to.

If there is somebody who loves this instrumental album, they should go back to the 7th Symphony and listen to “At The Gates Of Manala” or “Rage of Poseidon” or something, these kind of instrumental songs which are huge.

Yes, definitely.

Symphonical elements, totally same as we had on this new album. We have had this instrumental thing all the time. And it would be really unfair to say that we havent… Now we are back, we have done it all the time, but in the media it takes concentration away from the instrumental music if there’s some singing tracks.

Now, the band has had a lot of great guest vocalist over the years. You’ve had Adam Gontier from Three Days Grace, Corey Taylor from Slipknot and Stone Sour. You’ve had Gavin Rossdale from Bush, Ville Vallo from HIM, Brent Smith from Shinedown, just to name a few. Firstly, how do you choose a guest vocalist for a particular song? Do you make the song first and then choose the guest vocalist, or do you do that together with them? And also, is there any personal favorite guest vocalist song you’ve had?

I would say it’s easiest to ask the people who we know before. For instance, when we asked Till Lindemann from Rammstein, we knew him for many years because we were touring with them years back. Mikko has been playing the drums in their guitarists own project. That’s a real close connection and we had the same … Jacob Hellner was producing one of our albums and it was really easy because same musical family. Of course, it’s easy to ask those guys. And if you know the guys before, it’s easy to ask because they’re our friends.

And then many times because we are closer to the same genre and really like their music and their singing. And when you know the guys, it’s always … The record company and these kind of official contract things are going easier when you know the people. And of course, that’s always big mess when we are talking of other international big labels, their release schedule.

We have also bad examples about what how we can fuck up things (laughter ) if the release schedules are not matching. I don’t want to tell you now that thing, we have got some. There was, for instance, one … We couldn’t release one single with this fantastic song with a fantastic singer, but their own band had their seventh single going out in the radios. They had a right to say that, “We are not allowed to release that single to the radios.” Of course, radios would not play the two similar songs or two songs at the same time, in the radios where it’s the same singer. That’s stupid, really stupid, but radio world has this kind of old-fashioned rules and that’s weird.

Yeah, it’s weird.

This is not making art. It’s totally business and radio business and that bullshit, but I’m really tired of it.

Yes, it’s ridiculous. In this day and age of digital music, the radio rules shouldn’t matter, should it?

Yeah, but radios are still really important for other people because relation with radio anyhow. You know, they are driving or at home. And even the digital charts or the Spotify playlists, they are following the radio as well.

But sometimes it’s difficult to find it, new good stuff, even from Spotify because Spotify is offering you so much multiple music.

Yes, definitely. Now, I know we’re running out of time. I’ve got a lot of questions, but I’m going to have to cut a few questions out. Now, in 2011, you guys played with Metallica in San Francisco for their 30th anniversary shows. You guys played One and No Leaf Clover. What was it like playing at their 30th anniversary show?

It was big honor. And the first time we played with Metallica in ’96 when they were playing in Helsinki and we were supporting them. And they were really knocked out with the things we were doing. And since that, we have been in contact. That time we have played a support with them. And they say that we were like a support and giving them inspiration to create these S&M albums. And so we were kind of proving that the symphonical elements would fit to their music, and that’s why they did this thing as a first time, and now they did for a second time.

When they were recording S&M the first time there in San Francisco, they invited us. They paid our flight tickets and take their own limousines to our use, which was fantastic. Yeah. And we were listening to them recording. Of course, to play with them and as a support to them in their anniversary party was of course, a big honor!

Yeah! That’s crazy! A band from Finland playing cellos, performing at Metallica’s 30th anniversary … That’s totally amazing !

Yeah, yeah. That’s also proves that Metallica guys, they have courage to think outside of the box and maybe that’s why they have been so successful as well. They are clever guys and doing clever things. That’s why they have been around almost 40 years.

Yeah. Metallica, that’s the biggest metal band of the last 30 years probably. You got big metal bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, but in our era Metallica are the biggest metal band.

Yes, definitely. They have been living through all the years and renewing their music.

Now, you guys are doing a tour in Europe with Sabaton over the next month or so. I know the band only played here in Australia recently in September 2019. However, we must ask the question, When do you think you’re going to come back to Australia for the Cell-0 tour?

Yes definately, we’ll be coming back. We have such good memories this time especially playing the Sydney Opera House, which was really fantastic

Yeah, Opera House was fantastic audience. And all the shows were fantastic audience. We will start to do some our own shows this spring in Finland. Then we go to North America in April/ May. And then we’ll have some festivals in Europe and Finland in the Summer. A proper European tour will be in October/ November, And then 2021, we will come to Australia.

That sounds great! Thanks so much for chatting with us today Paavo. We love the new album, hope the tour is really successful, and cannot wait to see Apocalyptica back in Australia in 2021

Thank you

Interviewer/ Writer: Davey Rintala