Interview with Teemu Kautinen of Welkins Boreal

November 14, 2020

Interview with Teemu Kautinen of Welkins Boreal

By Mick Michaels

COSMICK VIEW: Hello, Teemu! Welcome to The Cosmick View. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to chat with me, it's greatly appreciated.

Teemu Kautonen: Thanks very much for having me Mick!

CV: Do you feel Heavy Metal music in general is viewed differently by fans in Europe compared to fans elsewhere, especially in America, and if so why?

TK: I wish I knew the answer to this one…I could start selling consultancy services to labels on how to market music differently in Europe and America ;-) Honestly, I really don’t know…especially I don’t know the contemporary American metal scene so well that I could offer anything more than uneducated speculation.

CV: What do you feel makes Heavy Metal music so alluring to the fans? What is it about the music that personally resonates so strongly with you? 

TK: For me it is the power and versatility of metal music. It can be simple and powerful; subtle and intricate; violent and beautiful. It is also a genre that is very open minded…bands integrate many different influences into their music…say, from Arabic folk music in Moonspell to jazz baselines in Death, fans have strong opinions about their favorite bands and albums, yet they are all part of the metal community and hold together. The fan culture is also very appealing to me, next to the music itself.

CV: Has Metal splintered into too many sub-genres in your opinion, thus, making it harder for newer bands to actually classify themselves as one style over another? Is it confusing for fans as well?

TK: It’s a double-edged sword really. Most bands don’t want to be classified into particular sub-genres, as that easily puts a label on them that might be difficult to get rid of, which in turns limits their musical freedom. For us, finding a genre label was very difficult, especially as the new EP “Ashes” contains three very different songs. The label we ended up using, atmospheric Gothic metal, was misleading for some people…they got 80s style metal with Gothic influences when they expected modern Gothic metal with female vocals…to exacerbate just a tiny bit. So labels can be limiting and misleading. Then again, given the sea of thousands of new releases every year that fans have to navigate in, some kind of labeling is a must…how else would you know which of the 58 albums that got released this week would be worth investing your time in? So perhaps the plethora of sub-genres is just a consequence of the large number of bands these days…something that helps fans to find the music they like, and for bands to differentiate themselves from the faceless mass. Back in the 80s there were less bands, especially ones that could make a formal release, so less labels/sub-genres were needed.

CV: How would you describe the current state of the music business considering we are now living in a COVID aware, and maybe even feared world? Have things drastically changed long-term for artists and bands given the recent pandemic? What are your thoughts? 
TK: I think COVID is a major disaster for middle-sized bands. The large ones, such as Iron Maiden, Ghost and Nightwish, have large enough a fan base to survive. They sell such quantities of merchandise by mail that they can keep their heads above the water…or they might be sufficiently wealthy to begin with such that additional income is not needed. It’s their crews that take the worst hit…they get sacked or at least sent on indefinite unpaid leave when touring grinds to a halt. However, those bands can pick up where they left once touring can resume. Small bands such as us don’t count anything on income from music…it’s a hobby that costs money, so we are not really affected by COVID now or in the future.

It’s the middle-sized bands that do music as their full-time job but don’t sell quantities that allow them to buy mansions and Ferraris that are stuffed. They might end up having to look for another job and given how difficult to music business is these days…i.e. the need to do a lot of gigs to make ends meet, they might simply quit the band. There have been such cases already I reckon. In sum, my prediction is that the big bands remain unaffected, while the middle-sized ones quit or join the ranks of small hobby-based bands. Thus, the business or scene will be even more strongly dominated by a small number of big bands, with a minor share of the cake going to a very large number of hobby-based bands. It’s a sad perspective. Where do the next big bands come if not from the current middle-sized ones? If the prospect of becoming a middle-sized band is not attractive, the only new big bands that I see coming are those who can come up with a very attractive theatrical/image package, such as Ghost, that they can leap-frog the middle-sized stage in their band’s development altogether. While I like Ghost, I would not want to see the scene develop into one where such bands dominate.

CV: What do you feel makes your band and its particular approach to songwriting work? What keeps the band together and making music?

TK: Songwriting is fun…that’s what keeps us going. We’re currently working on new song material for the second full-length album and for the first time, it’s two of us writing songs and not only me. We have very similar tastes in music so the new material is surprisingly coherent…it sounds like Welkins Boreal without us forcing it in any way, and notwithstanding which one of us came up with the original ideas. Another thing is sense of achievement…getting a song, let alone an album release finished and hearing the fruits of all the hard work in the finished product is gratifying.

CV: On a more global view, how do you see your band’s music and songwriting separating itself from just being another Heavy Metal act?
TK: A very good question that I reckon 99.9% of all bands ask themselves at the latest when they start writing the PR materials for their newest release. It’s perhaps a bit of a cliché but we really don’t care too much about it but just write the music that comes out of our hearts and souls naturally. Then we try to label it the best we can so that the fans interested in it can find it.

Photo by: Mirkka Pihlajamaa

CV: Can an artist truly be unique? Some would argue there is no such thing as being unique; that it’s nothing more than a compounding of influences making an artist who or what they are. Would this then say that artists today are destined to be just copies of those who have already come to pass?
TK: Depends on the definition of unique. In its strictest sense, if unique means no element of the band…in music or image, has existed before, I doubt any band could achieve uniqueness. All bands inevitably carry influences from other bands to their music whether on purpose or unintentionally, consciously or subconsciously. It would be extremely difficult, and contra to the way the human mind works, to completely avoid it. Uniqueness might also be overrated. It is perfectly alright, at least for me, to start another power metal band that sounds like “Keeper of the Seven Keys”. But if you do it, make sure your songwriting is absolutely spot on! You don’t necessarily need to be unique: just do the stuff you do really bloody well. I mean, what’s the point in being uniquely crap…?

CV: Are there life lessons to learn being in a Heavy Metal band that you feel cannot be taught elsewhere? If so, what are they? 

TK: I don’t think there is anything that you couldn’t learn elsewhere but there are certainly many lessons that you can learn by playing in bands: teamwork, managing IP disputes, self-realization by writing your own songs, satisfying need for achievement when getting music released and seeing other people enjoy it, realizing how much self-realization costs and that you never see the money return to your account; and many others I’m sure…these were just the few that came to mind ad hoc.

CV: What do you feel makes someone a “rock star”? Does being a rock star automatically make one iconic or are the two completely different in your opinion?
TK: If you are a man, being a rock star means that whenever you pop out of your house or hotel, you are followed by an army of screaming teenage girls. If you’re a rock star woman, you will find yourself in every teenage boy’s wet dreams. However, you can be iconic without being a rock star. For example, Geoff Tate is an iconic vocalist because his voice is instantly recognizable and he has had a major influence on metal vocals beyond his own band. Yet he plays in small clubs these days and doesn’t really fit to my image of a rock star…when I hear that word, I automatically think of Nikki Sixx.

CV: What's next for you? What can fans expect to see coming as the world looks to surmount a new normal laced with a load of restrictions?
TK: We are working on new songs and in a way, the whole COVID situation speeds up the process, because we spend more time in the home office which lends itself to playing the guitar too…I expect, and pray, our bosses don’t read the Cosmick View. The way it looks right now is that you can expect our second full-length album towards the end of 2021. The musical style is taking shape too…in such a way that the label NWFHM seems more than appropriate to describe the songs!

CV: Thank you again Teemu for spending some time talking and sharing with our readers. It was a pleasure. I wish you all the best and continued success.
TK: Thank you very much Mick…you posed some tough questions! Felt like being back in college writing exam essays! :-D

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My name is Mick Michaels...I'm an artist, music fan, songwriter, producer, show host, dreamer and guitarist for the traditional Heavy Metal band Corners of Sanctuary. Writing has always been a creative outlet for me; what I couldn't say in speech, I was able to do with the written word. Writing has given me a voice and a way for me to create on a multitude of platforms including music and song, articles, independent screenplays, books and now, artist interviews. The Cosmick View is an opportunity to raise the bar and showcase artists in a positive and inspirational light. For me, it's another out-of-this-world adventure.