interview with Syven
What is the name of your band? SYVEN: The name of our band is Syven
What is alloy name "Syven" For? SYVEN: It is an archaic, slightly poetic word for "depth". It is not found in the dictionary, but has been used by the old folk through the ages.
What made you to be baptized to just "Syven"? SYVEN: The term captures what we strive to portray in musical form. The depths of nature, the woods, the waters, and also things hidden deep in emotions and the inner workings of the mind.
What started you in music? SYVEN: We've always been interested in music. First as listeners, but once we got proficient with instruments, writing songs, etc. we of course wanted to create music of our own.
What made you form the band? SYVEN: Syven was formed as an evolution of previous musical experiences. It provides an outlet for material that was not possible with our previous bands.
Where are all remembers from? SYVEN: A.T. is from Finland. A.K-S. is originally from England but now lives in Finland.
What places will you be playing in? SYVEN: This remains to be seen. We hope to play in special and varied places, and we'll take great care in selecting places we play in.
Who plays what? SYVEN: A.T. Plays the kantele, lapland drum, synthesizers, etc. A.K-S. does the vocals. We both work on the compositions and arrangements.
How old are you? SYVEN: We're quite old already A.T. is around 35 years, and A.K-S. is somewhat older than that.
How do you get psyched up for a gig? SYVEN: The promise of performing something personal and hopefully unique to an audience that appreciates it gets us fired up for playing.
What was the ambitions of the band when you started? SYVEN: Our ambition was to create a mixture of prehistoric and archaic elements, shamanism, traditional instrumentation and experimentation.
Have you made any albums? SYVEN: Yes we have. 2 full lengths, a promo, and a compilation appearance so far
If yes what are they? SYVEN: Our debut 'Aikaintaite' came out in 2011 and our second 'Corpus Christi' came out in 2012. In addition to these we had a promo that was released in 2010, and our song 'How Fare The Gods?' was included on the 'Whom the Moon a Nightsong Sings' compilation released by Prophecy Productions.
Do you have any clips on YouTube?
SYVEN: Yes. A friend of ours has put all our songs on Youtube, and with our permission. You can check them out on his channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheWorldOfTwinsen
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLECC02B4BCF841218
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5xu2ES75F2mWxHiDwd47hcoWkLlkt7dm
What songs and what years were they released? SYVEN: All of the ones on the albums. Released in 2011 and 2012.
What is alloy name "Syven" For? SYVEN: It is an archaic, slightly poetic word for "depth". It is not found in the dictionary, but has been used by the old folk through the ages.
What made you to be baptized to just "Syven"? SYVEN: The term captures what we strive to portray in musical form. The depths of nature, the woods, the waters, and also things hidden deep in emotions and the inner workings of the mind.
What started you in music? SYVEN: We've always been interested in music. First as listeners, but once we got proficient with instruments, writing songs, etc. we of course wanted to create music of our own.
What made you form the band? SYVEN: Syven was formed as an evolution of previous musical experiences. It provides an outlet for material that was not possible with our previous bands.
Where are all remembers from? SYVEN: A.T. is from Finland. A.K-S. is originally from England but now lives in Finland.
What places will you be playing in? SYVEN: This remains to be seen. We hope to play in special and varied places, and we'll take great care in selecting places we play in.
Who plays what? SYVEN: A.T. Plays the kantele, lapland drum, synthesizers, etc. A.K-S. does the vocals. We both work on the compositions and arrangements.
How old are you? SYVEN: We're quite old already A.T. is around 35 years, and A.K-S. is somewhat older than that.
How do you get psyched up for a gig? SYVEN: The promise of performing something personal and hopefully unique to an audience that appreciates it gets us fired up for playing.
What was the ambitions of the band when you started? SYVEN: Our ambition was to create a mixture of prehistoric and archaic elements, shamanism, traditional instrumentation and experimentation.
Have you made any albums? SYVEN: Yes we have. 2 full lengths, a promo, and a compilation appearance so far
If yes what are they? SYVEN: Our debut 'Aikaintaite' came out in 2011 and our second 'Corpus Christi' came out in 2012. In addition to these we had a promo that was released in 2010, and our song 'How Fare The Gods?' was included on the 'Whom the Moon a Nightsong Sings' compilation released by Prophecy Productions.
Do you have any clips on YouTube?
SYVEN: Yes. A friend of ours has put all our songs on Youtube, and with our permission. You can check them out on his channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheWorldOfTwinsen
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLECC02B4BCF841218
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5xu2ES75F2mWxHiDwd47hcoWkLlkt7dm
What songs and what years were they released? SYVEN: All of the ones on the albums. Released in 2011 and 2012.
Have you been in any other bands / projects? SYVEN: A.T. has another main project 'Nest', which can be described naturewave - acoustic and ambient kantele based music. He's also involved in Tevana 3 and Armas JaTuli. In addition to these he contributes kantele to friends' bands and has done some game score work. A.K-S. Has been involved with Ereipia, Pantheist, Esoteric, and he sings in a choir.
What do you work with outside of the band and the music? SYVEN: A.T. likes to do visual artwork, spends time trekking in nature, and discovering new and exciting things. A.K-S. Spends his time in idyllic countryside, and sings in a choir.
What would you do if there was no music? SYVEN: The world would be without one of the most wondrous things in existence.
How important are your fans? SYVEN: We appreciate and are honoured by everyone enjoying our music. It amazes us that people like our humble stuff.
What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you? SYVEN: It is highly memorable when fans have gotten tattoos of our artwork, used them on birthday cakes, written their own material - both music and written word - inspired by us. It moves us every time when someone does something inspired by our humble stuff.
How often do you rehearse? SYVEN: When preparing for a gig, we rehearse once every week. When there are no gigs coming up, we don't rehearse at all.
Where do you rehearse? SYVEN: We rehearse at A.K-S.'s farmhouse. Actually, in the same room where we record vocals. It's a small, but good sounding wood panelled room. When there's only two of us, we fit in there nicely.
What year was the band started? SYVEN: Syven started in 2009 when A.T. came up with songs that were darker and heavier than what he was doing with Nest. Syven was formed to explore such material.
Where have you played from then till now? SYVEN: We've only played live once.
What songs are in your live set's? SYVEN: We played the songs we thought the fans would most likely hear: Syvyys, Jäljet, Corpus Christi (2nd movement), and How Fare The Gods? Our song are so long that we can't play that many in a normal length gig.
Is it always the same set's live? SYVEN: There has only been one gig, so the set has naturally been the same. On possible future gigs we'll alter the set as appropriate.
Where was your first gig? SYVEN: Our first gig was in Romania, in the magnificent Reduta theater.
Where was the latest gig? SYVEN: See the previous answer.
What do you feel is the best liveband you've seen? SYVEN: A.T. has most been moved by the live performances of Skepticism, Bolt Thrower, and Asphyx. He personally likes club gigs more that open air festivals. At clubs one can get closer to the bands, and sometimes the bands play a lot longer too.
How old were you the first time you saw a liveband play? SYVEN: A.T. was probably around 16 years old.
How old were you at your first gig? SYVEN: A.T. was approx. 24 years old at his first gig with Nest.
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? SYVEN: We strive to create interesting music. Something that at least we haven't come across before. Of course, creating something truly unique is nigh impossible, but exploring such is very rewarding.
Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? SYVEN: Make music first and foremost for the love of music.
What has been the best/most promising gig so far? SYVEN: Our only gig in Romania was exceptional, and our future gigs will have their work cut out for them to reach that level.
Have you had any bigger tours from start till now? SYVEN: Not yet. Our band is such, that we might never do tours, especially bigger ones.
How big crowds do you usually play for? SYVEN: The crowd at our first and only gig was quite sizeable. Maybe a couple of hundred people. That was a special gig with other considerable bands, so that must have lured so many people. It was great to see so many.
What are the plans for the rest of the year? SYVEN: We have no precise plans. We continue to create and experiment, and move to recording when we're ready.
What genre do you feel you are? SYVEN: That is quite hard to pin down. We have ambient, dark and heavy elements, and we try to portray themes of nature, prehistory, shamanism, etc. We could probably be labeled dark ambient with traditional and metal elements.
Why did you pick that particular style? SYVEN: We are interested in such themes, and we wanted to make music that reflects them. These also provided us with the most opportunities to experiment, and come up with more uncommon results.
What are your songs about? SYVEN: We make songs about archaic themes, nature and its inhabitants, shamanism and transcendental facets of the psyche. We like to keep the lyrics open to interpretation. This way the listener can form their own views of what they hear and read.
Do you write your own material or mainly covers? SYVEN: We write and release our own material.
Who writes your songs?/ who writes the music who writes lyrics? SYVEN: Both of us write the music and lyrics - the amount of individual involvement in any area depends on the song.
Who has the best since of humor in the band? SYVEN: Now that would be hard to tell. We're both good humoured and jovial people, and we like joking around.
What's good/bad with the band? SYVEN: The good is that Syven provides us with an unconstrained outlet to work on our ideas. The bad is that the ideas tend to translate into songs so complicated under the surface that reproducing them live is very difficult.
Do you have any webpages?
http://www.iki.fi/atolonen/syven
https://www.facebook.com/syvenofficial
http://syven.bandcamp.com/
What are your sources of inspiration? SYVEN: Almost anything inspires us. Even things that don't directly conform to the themes we portray. Just about any piece of music we like can provide a source of inspiration that makes us want to try somthing out in our music. Also, non-musical things, like the wind howling as it passes through the woods, can inspire us to portray it in musical form.
Where do you usually play? SYVEN: We usually plays in the comfort of our homes. Our instruments are such that can be played in the home without bothering neighbours. We don't have a rehearsal room where have to go to play. This frees us up to enjoy and work on music any time we want.
Do you have something to add?SYVEN: Thank you for
What do you work with outside of the band and the music? SYVEN: A.T. likes to do visual artwork, spends time trekking in nature, and discovering new and exciting things. A.K-S. Spends his time in idyllic countryside, and sings in a choir.
What would you do if there was no music? SYVEN: The world would be without one of the most wondrous things in existence.
How important are your fans? SYVEN: We appreciate and are honoured by everyone enjoying our music. It amazes us that people like our humble stuff.
What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you? SYVEN: It is highly memorable when fans have gotten tattoos of our artwork, used them on birthday cakes, written their own material - both music and written word - inspired by us. It moves us every time when someone does something inspired by our humble stuff.
How often do you rehearse? SYVEN: When preparing for a gig, we rehearse once every week. When there are no gigs coming up, we don't rehearse at all.
Where do you rehearse? SYVEN: We rehearse at A.K-S.'s farmhouse. Actually, in the same room where we record vocals. It's a small, but good sounding wood panelled room. When there's only two of us, we fit in there nicely.
What year was the band started? SYVEN: Syven started in 2009 when A.T. came up with songs that were darker and heavier than what he was doing with Nest. Syven was formed to explore such material.
Where have you played from then till now? SYVEN: We've only played live once.
What songs are in your live set's? SYVEN: We played the songs we thought the fans would most likely hear: Syvyys, Jäljet, Corpus Christi (2nd movement), and How Fare The Gods? Our song are so long that we can't play that many in a normal length gig.
Is it always the same set's live? SYVEN: There has only been one gig, so the set has naturally been the same. On possible future gigs we'll alter the set as appropriate.
Where was your first gig? SYVEN: Our first gig was in Romania, in the magnificent Reduta theater.
Where was the latest gig? SYVEN: See the previous answer.
What do you feel is the best liveband you've seen? SYVEN: A.T. has most been moved by the live performances of Skepticism, Bolt Thrower, and Asphyx. He personally likes club gigs more that open air festivals. At clubs one can get closer to the bands, and sometimes the bands play a lot longer too.
How old were you the first time you saw a liveband play? SYVEN: A.T. was probably around 16 years old.
How old were you at your first gig? SYVEN: A.T. was approx. 24 years old at his first gig with Nest.
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? SYVEN: We strive to create interesting music. Something that at least we haven't come across before. Of course, creating something truly unique is nigh impossible, but exploring such is very rewarding.
Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? SYVEN: Make music first and foremost for the love of music.
What has been the best/most promising gig so far? SYVEN: Our only gig in Romania was exceptional, and our future gigs will have their work cut out for them to reach that level.
Have you had any bigger tours from start till now? SYVEN: Not yet. Our band is such, that we might never do tours, especially bigger ones.
How big crowds do you usually play for? SYVEN: The crowd at our first and only gig was quite sizeable. Maybe a couple of hundred people. That was a special gig with other considerable bands, so that must have lured so many people. It was great to see so many.
What are the plans for the rest of the year? SYVEN: We have no precise plans. We continue to create and experiment, and move to recording when we're ready.
What genre do you feel you are? SYVEN: That is quite hard to pin down. We have ambient, dark and heavy elements, and we try to portray themes of nature, prehistory, shamanism, etc. We could probably be labeled dark ambient with traditional and metal elements.
Why did you pick that particular style? SYVEN: We are interested in such themes, and we wanted to make music that reflects them. These also provided us with the most opportunities to experiment, and come up with more uncommon results.
What are your songs about? SYVEN: We make songs about archaic themes, nature and its inhabitants, shamanism and transcendental facets of the psyche. We like to keep the lyrics open to interpretation. This way the listener can form their own views of what they hear and read.
Do you write your own material or mainly covers? SYVEN: We write and release our own material.
Who writes your songs?/ who writes the music who writes lyrics? SYVEN: Both of us write the music and lyrics - the amount of individual involvement in any area depends on the song.
Who has the best since of humor in the band? SYVEN: Now that would be hard to tell. We're both good humoured and jovial people, and we like joking around.
What's good/bad with the band? SYVEN: The good is that Syven provides us with an unconstrained outlet to work on our ideas. The bad is that the ideas tend to translate into songs so complicated under the surface that reproducing them live is very difficult.
Do you have any webpages?
http://www.iki.fi/atolonen/syven
https://www.facebook.com/syvenofficial
http://syven.bandcamp.com/
What are your sources of inspiration? SYVEN: Almost anything inspires us. Even things that don't directly conform to the themes we portray. Just about any piece of music we like can provide a source of inspiration that makes us want to try somthing out in our music. Also, non-musical things, like the wind howling as it passes through the woods, can inspire us to portray it in musical form.
Where do you usually play? SYVEN: We usually plays in the comfort of our homes. Our instruments are such that can be played in the home without bothering neighbours. We don't have a rehearsal room where have to go to play. This frees us up to enjoy and work on music any time we want.
Do you have something to add?SYVEN: Thank you for