MERGING
FLARE
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MERGING
FLARE IS BAND THAT ROSE UP FROM THE ASHES OF ANOTHER BAND FROM FINLAD CALLED
"DISEASE". I LISTENED THEIR VERY BEUTIFULL SONG "STAR ODYSSEY" AND I'VE
DECIDED TO MAKE AN INTERVIEW. I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO THANK MATTI FROM ULTIMATIUM
CAUSE HELPED ME TO CONTACT THE BAND. ANYWAY' A;WAYS WAS A PLEASURE FOR
THE BEHIND THE VEIL WEBZINE TO GUESTS INTERVIEWS OF NEW BANDS.
1.FIRST OF ALL POINT OUT THE MOST SIGNIFICANT
MOMENTS OF THE BAND'S HISTORY UP TO DATE. WHICH IS THE CURRENT LINE UP?
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Our current line-up is: Kasperi Heikkinen:
Guitar, Henri Pyy: Drums, Joni Hattuniemi: Guitar, Harri Leinonen: Bass
and Matias Palm: Vocals (that's me, hehehe!). About the most significant
moments... hmm... I guess all the significant moments will happen in the
future. So far, it's been quite quiet as we haven't released any proper
recordings for years, except for the song "Star Odyssey" which we released
on the internet. I guess that would be the most significant moment for
us so far.
2.WHY DID YOU CHANGE YOUR NAME FROM
DISEASE INTO MERGING FLARE? DISEASE SOUNDS MORE EXTREME DON'T YOU THINK?
DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THE BAND NAME SHOULD ALSO ACT AS A MUSIC INDICATOR
FOR THE BAND?
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We simply changed the name because
we didn't like the word "disease". In our opinion it's really not the best
choice for the name of a heavy metal band. And yes, being also a kind of
music indicator a bandname like "Disease" doesn't give people right impression
of the music we play. Disease indeed sounds extreme, though, but we just
felt that we needed to change the name.
3.HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC?
HAVING THE CHANCE TO LISTEN TO "STAR ODYSSEY" YOU SOUNDED TO ME THOUGH
YOU COME FROM FINLAND VERY CLOSE TO TE ITALIAN METAL SCENE. DO YOU AGREE?
NAME SOME OF THE BAND'S INFLUENCES.
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Hmm, that's an interesting opinion.
I never could combine our music to this new Italian Power Metal scene but
rather thought that we play in the same veins with bands like Helloween,
Gamma Ray, Symphony X, Stratovarius and Running Wild (these are bands we
all like very much to listen to). I would just call our music Melodic Heavy
Metal with some Progressive Metal elements.
4.HOW MANY DEMOS DO YOU HAVE? YOU ARE
PLANNING TO RELEASE AN ALBUM SOON. COULD YOU TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT
IT AND COMPARE IT WITH YOUR PREVIOUS WORKS?
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We aren't releasing an album, just
a demo CD as we don't have a record deal, at least not yet. In total Disease
released 4 demos before becoming Merging Flare. With Merging Flare this
new one will be our first actual demo. There will be 3 songs and one of
them is "Star Odyssey". There's also one older song too called "Midwinter
Magic". The 3rd song is "Children Of The Night" and it's the newest one
of those and at the moment it's my favorite song. It has some very heavy
elements and the verses remind me a bit of Judas Priest during their Painkiller
era. Compared to previous works this new demo is faster and a bit more
progressive, I think.
5.WHAT ARE YOUR LYRICS TALKING ABOUT?
WHICH THEMES ATTRACT YOU TO WRITE FOR? DO YOU PREFER REAL LIFE STORIES
OR IMAGINARY SITUATIONS?
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We don't actually write our lyrics
but it's our very close friend called Oskari Tammenmaa. And the reason
for this is that he just can write some hellish good lyrics. These stories
that the lyrics tell aren't based on real life but they're just tales mostly.
Like Star Odyssey for example is about finding a new world to live in,
a new planet for the whole human race. There are some darker topics as
well. For example one song is about a man getting crazy.
6.HAVE YOU DONE ANY LIVE SHOWS? DO
YOU LIKE PERFROMING LIVE? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT A METAL BAND COULD EXIST
WITHOUT PLAYING LIVE OR DO YOU BELIEVE THAT TOURING IS ESSENTIAL?
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We haven't done any live shows with
this line-up yet. The last time this band did a live concert was in the
beginning of the 1999 if I right remember. But that was before I joined
the band and the band was known as Disease. So, Merging Flare has never
done a live show and this is partly because in our area no one ever arranges
any happenings that could provide a chance to play live. It's also our
bad luck I guess.
7.WHICH ARE YOUR DREAMS THAT YOU WANT
TO MAKE TRUE THROUGH YOUR MUSIC?
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I guess the dream behind this band
with every band member is the same: to release an album and tour like hell.
8.WHICH ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?
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Our next plan is to finish the new
demo CD and then send it to record companies, magazines, web zines everywhere
in the world. Also it would be nice to do a live concert somewhere sometime.
9.SOMETIMES IT'S HARD FOR US TO COME
UP WITH UNIQUE QUESTIONS, SO HOW DIFFICULT IS IT FOR YOU TO GIVE UNIQUE
ANSWERS?
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Extremely difficult, hehehe! But these
are good questions so it's fun to answer them.
10.YOU HAVE YOUR SONG UPLOADED IN THE
NET. SO ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FEEDBACK YOU GET? ARE YOU IN FAVOR OF
THE USE OF MP3'S AND THE INTERNET IN GENERAL?
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Yes, we have got some nice feedback
for the song so I would say we are satisfied. Internet is a useful channel
to get your music known and MP3 is a good thing when it comes to promoting.
Instead, I don't like people spreading whole music albums on the internet,
and I mean people who don't have rights to them.
11.WHICH DO YOU THINK IS THE BEST AND
WHICH IS THE WORST PART IN YOUR MUSIC? WHERE DO YOU BELIEVE YOU NEED FURTHER
IMPROVEMENT?
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Hmm... the best part I guess would
be all the melodies in our songs and the worst... I must say that the worst
part is us ourselves, hahaha! We need more rehearsing.
12.IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET THE
CREATURE THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ASK HIM?
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I think it would be enough for me just
to know who did it and I probably couldn't get any question to my mind.
Do I really have to pick one question? I'd probably ask that why did you
create all those blood sucking bugs, like mosquitos, heheh!
13.IF YOU COULD TRAVEL IN TIME, WHICH
HISTORICAL PERIOD WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT AND WHY?
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I'd probably like to visit the ancient
Finland just after the Ice Age to see how the people in here looked like
at that time and also to see if I understood anything of their language,
hehehe! Also I'd like to visit the ancient Egypt. Well, that was a cliché,
heheh!
14.WHICH IS MAN'S BIGGEST TEMPTATION?
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Woman of course. But in our case it's
also beer, heheh!
15.WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WEREN'T
ABLE TO COMPOSE MUSIC?
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We'd probably play cover songs.
16.WHAT TITLE WOULD YOU LIKE THIS INTERVIEW
TO HAVE?
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That's a hard question. I don't know!
What about "Merging Flare"? Haha!
17.THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK
YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?
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You're welcome and thank you too! Can't
get anything worth mentioning to my mind right now... I just say to all
the people reading this interview that if you like Melodic Metal feel free
to visit our website at: www.mergingflare.cjb.net
NIck "William_Kidd"
Parastatidis