interview with Callisto
What´s the name of your band? Callisto
How was the band formed? 2001 in Kokkola, Finland, due to friendship of the original members.
Can you tell about your band? We play experimental music, first it was kind of straight forward metalcore/sludge but then we started to write longer songs that were a bit slower in tempo and some progressive elements came into our music.
Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band?
Originally we are from Kokkola, Finland, but from 2002 on we have been based in Turku, Finland. During the last few years half of us have been living in Helsinki area and another half still in Turku.
Jani Ala-Hukkala - vocals
Arto Karvonen - keyboards
Tero Holopainen - guitars
Markus Myllykangas - guitars
Juho Niemelä - bass
Ariel Björklund - drums
Jani Rättyä - percussion & throat singing
What was the ambitions of the band when you started? Just play the kind of music we all loved. To express ourselves in creativity through music.
Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? Lengthy songs, many parts different in mood in almost each of the songs. Heaviness from atmosphere, not necessarily from "distortion". We have released four full-length albums, one mini-cd + some other releases.
Where was your first gig? Our first gig was in Kokkola, Finland, in July 2001.
Where was the latest gig? The latest gig was in Hamburg, Germany, in the end of the first leg of our European Tour 2015.
Who writes your songs?/ who writes the music who writes lyrics? We write collectively. Most of us bring riffs, melodies and parts to the rehearsals. We arrange and compile the songs all together. 3-4 of us write the lyrics.
Who has the best since of humor in the band? We all have somewhat different sense of humour, but we all love humour, so this is a bit difficult to answer objectively. There is this certain style of humour that we all share within the band, and that usually comes out only when we get together to rehearse or play shows / being on the road.
What's good/bad with the band?/What genre do you feel you are? We don´t feel we are particularly in any certain genre.. Many people still hold us as a "post-metal" band but I´m not sure if that term really describes our music. We are not a "basic metal band" either. We play some kind of a progressive noise rock these days. I don´t know, we just make music. :)
Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about? We haven´t picked any style on purpose, we have just made the kind of music that has come out from us naturally. Usually after an album is finished, mixed and mastered, we can look at it and see what kind of style it ended up sounding like.
Do you write your own material or mainly covers? We write our own material.
Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they?
We have made four full-length albums.
True Nature Unfolds (2004)
Noir (2006)
Providence (2009)
Secret Youth (2015)
Do you have any clips on YouTube? Yes, we do. You can try searching for "Callisto live" for example or "Callisto official".
How old are you?/What got you started in music? Most of us are 33-34. A couple of us are coming close to 40. We all have quite different backgrounds in music.
At what age did you start playing? Some of us already in the elementary school, some of us at teenage.
How old were you guys when you first stood on stage? With other, previous bands we were around early teenage / teenage. With Callisto we were 20.
What year was the band started? 2001
Best/worst gig you've played? Difficult to answer... The best gigs have been big festival gigs with big crowds, although our music works best in a bit smaller club circumstances.
What places will you be playing in in the imidate future? Next we will head to Russia, to play Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Where have you played from then till now? In most European countries and once in the USA & Canada.
Witch band is the best you´ve seen? For me personally, Wovenhand and Sufjan Stevens have been the best shows I have witnessed.
Is it always the same songs live? Not quite but on tour we are playing almost the same set every night, sometimes changing a song or two.
Have you had any bigger tours from start to now? Usually we have done 2-3 weeks of touring in Europe at a time. Sometimes a bit smaller tours. In Finland we sometimes play individual shows.
How big crowds do you usually play for? It changes a lot. Sometimes for 30-40 people, sometimes for 500 people. Usually around 100-200. At festival shows the crowd can be much bigger sometimes.
What are the plans for the rest of the year? To play shows.
Where do you usually play? Mostly in Finland but we try to tour in other countries as much as we can, every time when we have a new album out.
How do you get psyched up for a gig? Just concentrating and taking it easy.
What are your goals with your music? To create music that we love, the kind of music that comes out naturally.
When did you decide to go all in for the music? We have never done music full-time with this band. Most of us have jobs.
Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? Both, I would say.
What are your sources of inspiration? Everything, the life, the world, other music... Personal experiences in life.
What's the first step when making a new song? Usually composing a riff or a theme of melody
How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums?
We hope people could still buy music from small labels and bands. Streaming music (legally) is ok and also for the good for the bands, even though the royalties are usually too small.
What would be your dreams for the band? We go day by day but we hope we can always find a strong spark for making another new album & tours.
Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? We listen to a lot of different music, these days we have a very wide taste in music.
What do you hold most dear? Our closest ones, the families.
What would be your greatest fears for the future? Difficult to answer...it´s so personal for every member.
When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? You are so concentrated on stage that there are not that many thoughts streaming in your head while playing... So no fear on stage, I would say.
Have you been part of any other projects? Yes, many. Folk/alternative country/many kind of different projects back home.
Have you been in any other bands? Yes, see the previous answer.
What do you work with outside of the band and the music? Some of us are nurses, some of us are media workers, some are artists.
What would you do if there was no music? Don´t know. Anything that we would find interesting to do.
How important are your fans? It´s always great if people like your music but it´s just "plus", we are not dependent on that.
What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you? A big box of local delights, cookies and candies. Another one was a painting.
How often do you rehearse? Not very often these days, since we live in different cities at the moment.
Where do you rehearse? In Turku, Finland.
What do you feel is the best live band you've seen? There have been so many. For me personally, probably Converge, Wovenhand and Sufjan Stevens.
What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? We have never made a living with Callisto, so this is difficult to answer... Most of us have jobs.
Do you have any webpages?
www.facebook.com/callistochaos
Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? Just be yourselves, don´t try to be anything else.
Describe your show, visually and musically It´s an atmospheric wholeness, entirety, rather than different songs performed one after another. We don´t speak that much, we let the music do its job.
How do you view the musicindurty of today? It´s very difficult for small bands and record labels. All the money goes where the money already is.
What advice would you like to give other bands? Just be yourselves and follow your own vision. Don´t try too much. But work hard.
What are the biggest obstacles for a band? Personal differences in personalities between band members, many times it seems to be the reason for bands splitting up. Also bands need to keep on working hard even though success doesn´t come after one ore two years. Must keep believing (if you really have your own vision and enthusiasm).
What is best/worst with playing the clubs? Stage sound is always a big question mark. Sometimes good, sometimes horrible. Acoustics in clubs are always different. For a big band of seven members it is a challenge sometimes. The best thing is when the club, even a small one, is full of people, and the atmosphere & speechless interaction between the crowd and the band is inevitable, it gives you a lot of energy & feeling.
Tell us about upcomming gigs and why we should be at them? Next we will go to Russia, then a couple of Finnish shows and later on this year we will probably return to some European countries.
How would you describe your sound in one sentence Atmospheric, ethereal, moody and heavy.
Do you have anything to add? Thank you
