interview with Saattue
What does "Saattue" stand for? Jani: For (funeral) procession.
What made you to be baptized to just "Saattue"? Jani: The band needed a new name and Saattue felt like fitting. Originally the band was called Kiduttajat. The name was changed at the time when Kivisydän CDEP was released in 2004.
Who started the band? Jani: The original core of the band came together in 2001. The line-up of today has been together since 2005, with exception of a drummer change in 2010.
Tell us a brief introduction of who you are?
T. Koskinen - Vocals
T. Kalliomäki - Guitars
H. Lampinen - Guitars
J. Koskela - Guitars
S. Lahtinen - Bass
S. Köykkä - Drums
Where are you from? Jani: Southern Finland.
How did you meet? Jani: It must have been one of those moments in Bar Papillon.
What was the plan when you started the band? Jani: I think that the plan was to go to have a beer and then to nobody’s surprise to have a few more.
Explain to those who have not heard you, how is your music? Jani: It’s slow, heavy, dark and quite multidimensional metal music with Finnish lyrics.
Who writes the songs? / Who does the music? Jani: T. Kalliomäki writes the music and T. Koskinen is responsible for most of the lyrics.
What you drive for music style? Jani: Saattue plays saattometal exclusively.
What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs? Jani: The darker sides of life.
Do you write your own songs or play covers? Jani: We rarely do any covers. It’s mostly our own music. The last song that we covered was Mana Mana’s “Kuolla Elävänä”.
Have you released any albums or singles? Jani: As Saattue; 2 CDEPs and 2 full-length albums. The 3rd album is in the makings.
What are they called, and what year they were released?
Kivisydän CDEP 2004 (Self-released)
Ikiuneen CDEP 2006 (Self-released)
Jäähyvästi CD 2008 (Spikefarm Records)
Vuoroveri CD 2009 (Spikefarm Records)
What do you sell for merchandise gadgets? Jani: At this moment our merchandise items are almost completely sold out. We do have some Jäähyvästi girlie shirts left in S & M size.
What does it cost? Jani: 15 euro (including postage to EU).
Have you done any music videos?
Kaaosmaa (Jäähyvästi album 2008): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rqHBKNEBJg
Vapahtaja (Vuoroveri album 2009): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU1xpo5FDeU
How has your music evolved since you began playing music together? Jani: The progression has been quite natural. The more you write, the more you keep developing.
What are your dreams with the band? Jani: At this moment, to get the 3rd album finished.
Describe your show, visual and musically. Jani: In contrast to our music being quite slow, I think that we are quite energetic band on stage. It’s all about the music of Saattue and being ourselves on stage. There isn’t really any additional visual side to it.
How tags you for a show? Jani: We book our own gigs. You can reach us by sending mail to saattue (at) gmail . com.
Have you had any previous bands? Jani: Some of us are active with Embassy Of Silence, 0xíst, Concrete Swine, National Napalm Syndicate and have been active with Yearning, Let Me Dream, Colosseum, Carcase Inc in the past.
What would you do if the music would not have fans? Jani: Each band starts out by writing music to themselves only. I think that they should also finish it off that way.
What is your goal with your music? Jani: To write songs, to make new releases and to play shows.
Where have you played from 2011 to 2013? Jani: We have played in southern, central and eastern Finland. The only foreign gig so far was in Estonia in 2006.
Do you always play the same songs live or vary it? Jani: We do vary the set a bit for each gig. At this moment we play stuff from both of our past albums and also from the upcoming one.
Have you had to set up a concert? Jani: A lot of the concerts that we do are set-up by ourselves.
How many people usually come to your gig? Jani: I guess the average attendance has been around 60-70 people. Sometimes more, sometimes less.
Where do you plan to play the rest of the year? Jani: Wherever they will invite us to do a concert and can compensate our traveling and other necessary costs. Hopefully we get to play places where we haven’t been to yet.
What do you think of downloading music from the internet instead of buying records? Jani: At this moment it seems that the best way to get our music is to purchase it as iTunes download, or to stream/download it on Spotify. Apparently physical copies of Saattue releases are very difficult to get and making them available again probably ain’t on the interest list of our old label.
What is your outlook on the record industry today? Jani: Not positive at all. It would be cool if the bands could do everything on self-financed basis and make it work out on their own. However it’s difficult, since producing records can cost a lot of money and promoting them will cost even more.
What are your web pages?
Jani: At this moment we have:
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Saattue-Official/211390135601291?fref=ts)
Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/saattue)
What are your plans for the future? Jani: To get the third album finished and released. To play more gigs.
Something to add? Jani: Thank you for the interview!