WALTARI [release info for radium round 1999]
They come from Finland, their style does not fit in any broad category and they are supposedly 'every journalist's nightmare' (Rock Hard Encyclopaedia). The motto 'Music From The Next Generation' coined by the musicians themselves becomes apparent when the main songwriter, Kärtsy Hatakka, ignores all conventions and simply follows his own artistic ideas. We are talking about WALTARI and their latest release 'RADIUM ROUND'. An album which will again take everyone by surprise because of its unlimited variety of styles and will arouse interest across the world due to the enormous intensity and scale of creativity on all twelve tracks.
The press will probably not be able to agree on which category to place the album under this time either. In the past there was talk of 'Metal-Rock-Pop' with a totally new sound combining techno beats, hip hop passages and gentle pop melodies. Even during the periods when they had a more definable approach, with early work such as 'Monk Punk' (1991) and 'Torcha!' (1992), the Finnish rockers never made life easy for the media. 'We play 'Underwear Rock',' the band used to joke.
Now they cannot think of a musical category where 'RADIUM ROUND' would fit. 'If you are looking for a term, 'post-modern crossover' would be the most appropriate,' says Kärtsy. 'We try to stick to a concept in our albums despite the wide variety of styles. We don't think about how the songs should sound. They just arrive, but they do have to fit together in the end.'
On 'RADIUM ROUND' any ideas which were too ridiculous fell victim to the internal WALTARI censors. The main criterion is a central theme all the way through the record. From the more than 25 songs which WALTARI wrote for 'RADIUM ROUND' 12 ended up on the final album. Hiili Hiilesmaa produced it (Apocalyptica, HIM amongst others) and the recordings were mixed by Miko Karmila, regular mixing engineer for WALTARI for many years. 'I love the Cardigans, I like the latest Madonna album and I've also listened to the radio a lot over the past years. I definitely wanted to make a more commercial and poppy album,' says Kärtsy about the background to the new work.
Here he is referring to songs like the first single to come off the album 'Every Bad Day' or the opening track 'Radium Round' which combines jungle beats with rock elements. 'Broken Bizarre' on the other hand is a typical Waltari song in which pop, metal and dance influences are carefully blended together.
In addition there are two real ballads 'Love Rocket' and '4000 Years'. 'This is new for WALTARI,' says Kärtsy. 'The song 'Love Rocket' reminds me a bit of British pop groups like Oasis, whereas '4000 Years' uses Finnish-Slavic folk melodies.'
In addition to the permanent band members Kärtsy Hatakka (vocals, bass and keyboards), Jariot Lehtinen (guitar), Roope Latvala (guitar) and Janne Parviainen Waltari worked with two female vocalists in the studio. On 'The Plan' and 'Back To The Bottom' there are vocals by Jeanette Olsson from Stockholm, who sings in a Scandinavian dance band. 'Love Rocket' also features Carla Schubert, singer in the Finnish group Smiling Horse. Also making appearances (as background singers) are Tote Hatakka, Kärtsy's brother, who normally plays keyboards with the band live, and BOW Ebanks (Bombfunk MCs) who raps on 'Back To The Bottom'.
Fans will probably ask what is going to happen with the other material which was not used on 'RADIUM ROUND'. Kärtsy is not sure at the moment. 'I'd like us to release all of the outtakes from the last years on a double CD sometime. Maybe we'll put out a proper box set for our twentieth anniversary,' he laughs. That should happen sometime between 2005 and 2007. Kärtsy is therefore thinking well ahead. As we mentioned at the beginning: Waltari announce the arrival of the 'Music From The Next Generation'.
HISTORY
At the end of the eighties WALTARI (named after the Finnish novelist Mika Waltari) started with a clear tendency towards dark metal styles (and wild hair styles), dived to the deepest depths of the genre and particularly liked tuning their guitars to a rumbling underground level. Together with short trash attacks the Scandinavians played a sound conglomeration favoured above all by head bangers from the heavy metal field. The band called their clash of sounds 'Progressive Doublebassdrum Punk' back then combining heavy metal and crossover with death metal, country and pop elements. The debut album 'Monk Punk' appeared in 1991 on a small Finnish label. Shortly afterwards WALTARI made a guest appearance at the Independent Days festival in Berlin and signed their first real record deal. The follow-up 'Torcha!' was finished just twelve months later and the Finns took it on tour all over Europe. Songwriter Kärtsy Hatakka longed for even broader style facets and quickly directed his colourful compositions towards more experimental areas. 'Who wants to hear the old verse - chorus - verse - solo tunes over and over again? That gets on your nerves after just one record,' he says. Also: 'The nineties are about unconventional genre combinations, style-crossing sound mixtures and varied arrangements.'
All conventions were declared to be passé at this point. With 'So Fine', the third album, came WALTARI's international breakthrough; the single of the same name was given a high level of airplay on some Scandinavian radio stations. ''Big Bang' was the first attempt not to sound like we do on stage,' says Kärtsy about the concept for the fourth WALTARI release. 'You can't reproduce the live atmosphere in the studio anyway. You just end up with an attempt to come as close as possible to it. You have to try something new sometimes, experiment and break away from the norm.'
His willingness to take risks and love for experimentation did pay off. 'Big Bang' received rave reviews and 1995 turned out to be one of the most successful years for the band. Kärtsy composed a rock opera called 'Yeah! Yeah! Die! Die! (Death Metal Symphony In Deep C)' together with the Finnish conductor Riku Niemi which brought together a wide range of styles. The album reached the German Top 100 Charts. Following this WALTARI parted ways with their long-standing guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö and replaced him with Roope Latvala who had previously played in a band called Stone. The next album 'Space Avenue' was produced by Rhys Fulber (Frontline Assembly) and was the start of a new era for WALTARI. 'RADIUM ROUND' now closes a circle which sees WALTARI as one of the most imaginative rock/pop bands of the last ten years. The Finns want to prove this again on a tour planned for autumn/winter of this year. Don't miss it - the tour will include all the frills and excitement for which the WALTARI shows are known all over the world.
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