Manitou
Don't let the idian
name mislead you. MANITOU are hailing from Finland and they play progressive
power metal. Marrku and Matti had the kindness to reply to our answers
and tell us which are the plans and some info about this new band.
1.HELLO! SINCE YOU ARE A NEW BAND, I THINK
IT IS PROPER FOR YOU TO INTRODUCE YOURSELVES TO THE METAL FANS AND TELL
US A FEW THINGS ABOUT YOUR STORY AS A BAND. WHAT KIND OF PERSONS ARE MANITOU?
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MARKKU: yeah, Manitou is hailing from Karhula-area
(the majestetical suburban of Kotka), Finland. Manitou was formed somewhere
near 1998 with a little bit different line-up. The main point of a band
was then and still is to make traditional heavy metal mixing little bit
of a proggy elements here and there.
2.MANITOU IF I AM NOT MISTAKEN IS THE NAME OF
A SPIRIT WORSHIPED BY INDIANS. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE IT? ARE YOU INTERESTED
IN THE HISTORY AND TRADITION OF THE INDIANS?
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MATTI: Heheh... Mainly this name has come through
a beerful night and from memories of reading HOPEANUOLI "silver arrow"
(Comic Book). No special interests in the history of the Indians.
3.MUSICALLY I BELIEVE THAT YOU MOVE ON THE TRAILS
OF EUROPEAN POWER/PROGRESSIVE METAL AND YOU REMINDED ME OF CONCEPTION AND
DREAM THEATER. DO YOU AGREE? WHICH OTHER BANDS DO YOU THINK HAVE INFLUENCED
YOU?
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MATTI: Many bands have affected on development
of our style. Artists like Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, Queensrÿche..
interesting part is that there are many kinds of musical tastes in our
band as you may notice if you see personal data from our homepages.
4.YOU COME FROM FINLAND, BUT YOU SOUND SO DIFFERENTLY
FROM OTHER BANDS OF YOUR COUNTRY THAT SOUND LIKE STRATOVARIUS CLONES. HOW
DID THIS HAPPEN? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT BEING DIFFERENT WAS AN OBSTACLE FOR
YOU TO FIND A CONTRACT EASILY OR BE MORE FAMOUS IN YOUR COUNTRY?
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MATTI: Maybe one part that has caused this, is
the fact that Stratovarius ain't really our biggest favourite, and what's
the point in making of music if it's just another clone some lyrics and
solos changed... Our biggest obstacle getting the deal may have been our
laziness when it comes promotion... getting famous is then a bigger step..
I guess as a heavy-band you have to be at least a little famous abroad
before you get "famous" in Finland..
5.NOW, A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE LYRICS, THAT HAVE
A REALISTIC APPROACH. HOWEVER, YOU ALSO USE SYMBOLISM. AM I RIGHT? WHERE
ARE YOU REFERRING TO? WHAT KIND OF TOPICS INTRIGUE YOU AND WHO WRITES THE
LYRICS?
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MARKKU: yes, correct. there is lot of symbolism.
most of the stories come from everyday live, but are written in different
shape. There is added more dramatic and so on... Finland is a dark place
to live, specially at the winter time. winter is long and cold. so there´s
no nice stories to tell. Anyway the main point is to do nice melodies.
It´s great when melodies and lyrics are in harmony, yin/yang you
know...hehe
6.BEFORE "THE MAD MOON RISING" YOU ALSO RELEASED
THE DEMO "VALLEY OF EVERGREEN". DO YOU HAVE ANY SONGS INCLUDED HERE ON
YOUR OFFICIAL RELEASE?
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MATTI: Both songs from that demo are included,
though both songs are re-recorded and arranged. We were almost forced
to do so because of the recording schedule, there wasn’t enough time to
do new songs that would have satisfied us… Our songwriting is pretty time
taking job…
7."THE MAD MOON RISING" IS A VERY POETIC ALBUM
IN MY OPINION. WHY DID YOU NAME IT THIS WAY? WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU WANT TO
SAY?
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MARKKU: symbolism again...it´s pretty hard
to explain. Spinning of thoughts would I say. When you read the lyrics
of first track you might have some dark feelings. It´s a kind of
suicide. not so nice stuff.
8.AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE PROMOTION OF YOUR ALBUM
IS TO PLAY LIVE. SO DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS ON THIS SUBJECT? ARE THE FINNISH
SUPPORTIVE TO NEWCOMERS OR DO YOU HAVE TO SUCCEED ABOARD FIRST AND THEN
YOU WILL BE RECOGNIZED IN YOUR COUNTRY? THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS IN GREECE.
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MATTI: Well, we have some gigs for this summer,
and plans for the next fall & winter, mainly we have to arrange our
gigs by ourselves, so it's not that simple to get to play (at least places
we would like to play)! It would be nice to get some gigs abroad, but we'll
see what next couple of months bring forth.
9.WHAT, ACCORDING TO YOU, DO YOU BELIEVE IS MISSING
FROM YOUR NEW ALBUM OR IT IS NOT FULLY DEVELOPED AND YOU'D LIKE TO
IMPROVE IT ON YOUR NEXT ALBUM?
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MARKKU: wow, what a question...well, we believe
in our composing skills and so on. a new thing for the second album would
be...mmm...to be a better musicians and to get more time play together.
so then we will be more dynamic band
10.MANY PROGRESSIVE METAL GROUPS IN INTERVIEWS
WHEN THEY MENTION THEIR INFLUENCES THEY MOSTLY REFER TO NON METAL BANDS
AND THEY SOMEHOW SEEM THAT THEY DON'T KNOW MANY THINGS ABOUT THE METAL
SCENE. THE QUESTION IS WHY DO YOU THINK THEY PLAY METAL AND NOT THE OTHER
BRANCH THEY PREFER MORE? HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT? DON'T YOU THINK THAT
A METAL MUS8ICIAN SHOULD KNOW FIRST OF ALL SOME TINGS ABOUT THE MUSIC HE
PLAYS AND THEN TRY EXPANDING HIS TASTE?
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MATTI: Well of course it's good to know basics
of genre you're playing, but that may bring up some new views to the style
when musicians that don't really listen metal genre start doing it... really,
creativity is the point, not the fact how many records you have and are
those metal
11.THE COVER ARTWORK IS VERY DARK AND WHEN SOMEONE
SEES IT WITHOUT LISTENING TO YOUR ALBUM, MIGHT BELIEVE THAT YOU PLAY ATMOSPHERIC
OR EXTREME MUSIC. AREN'T YOU AFRAID THAT THIS MIGHT MAKE SOME PEOPLE THAT
LISTEN TO THIS KIND OF MUSIC, NOT BUY YOUR ALBUM?
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MARKKU: I think that the artwork is just perfect.
there is dark feeling in it and it look like us. so, I think that it´s
just a big plus that cover doesn´t look like a normal progemetal
cover with mirror and purple curtains… about buying the mad moon rising…well,
we are doing things our own way…if somebody buy it cause of coverart,
it´s just great. but I don´t know people like that...
12.WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ARTWORK? HOW IS
IT CONNECTED TO THE LYRICS AND MUSIC?
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MARKKU: Pasi Niemimaa, great artist. He has designed
all our artwork from the beginning.
13.IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD IT
BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
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MARKKU: Heh, nice question…I think that emotion
would be agony…painting would look like a numbers of boogieman sitting
on a rock. they are sleepy, hairy and smells like shit…all of them, hand
in hand, eating kebab. In the sky there might be couple of dragons and
deepred sun.
14.WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF WE LIVED IN A WORLD WITHOUT
MUSIC? HOW WOULD YOU CHANNEL ALL YOUR CREATIVITY?
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MARKKU: bad one…mmm… i´m tattoo artist,
i´d like to have more time to do that kind of art.
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MATTI: I really can’t imagine world without music…
maybe I would be hitting some trees to make some noise.
15.THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK YOU ANYTHING
AD YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?
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MARKKU: well, thank you. it´s really great
that we can do music we like. it would be great to visit your country.
I think that there is great “metalscene”. maybe we´ll see. thanks
again…have nice summer!!!
Nikos "William_Kidd" Parastatidis
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