After releasing debut EP Demoni I was pretty worn out from all the work done for recording, art work, releasing, marketing, working on press releases etc. I took a few months’ rest from playing and working on Kalmo. During autumn 2019 I worked on few new songs and recorded demo versions of those. Early December I released the Khreestmas song and music video. The song is a traditional Khreestmas carol that I dragged through the dark dungeons of hell and mutated it in the darkness into a Kalmo version. That was a tasty small musical and video production snack before diving into working new material. Here is the link to the music video: https://youtu.be/p8EM1XT2ufI
2.In 2019 you had released an ep, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style you went for on the recording?
The Demoni is a sinful absolution for Kalmo’s early history. It summarizes and concludes an episode in Kalmo’s story. Some of the EP’s songs are from very early years and some have been written within the past two years. I felt internal pressure to get some of the songs recorded and published as a release in order to be able to move forward to something new. And that new material I am working on at the moment.
3.Some of your lyrics touch on Satanism and Occultism, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in those topics?
Darkness is more attractive than light. It is mystical, unpredictable and unexplained. People tend to fear it. Where there is fear there is also an element of temptation into that. That two-folded mix of feelings draws the human mind towards darker topics and stories. I do not consider myself satanist as such. I am more of an atheist who is very much interested in the darker forms and stories.
4.What are some of the other lyrical topics and subjects you have explored so far with your music?
The hollowness and the two co-existing sides of human nature are an excellent source for lyrics. It is difficult to say exactly where the ideas come from. It may sometimes even be a nice akward word that triggers the idea for the lyrics. Back to the human mind. Even if someone claims to be pure good, there is darkness somewhere inside. For some people it is in deeper than others, but everyone has that dark corner in the soul. The end and the void after the ultimate end, the creeping feeling of despair carving you inside when you realise that there is nothing after this is something I am exploring and learning to capsulate into the lyrics.
5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Kalmo'?
Kalmo a relatively new word in Finnish derived from the old word kalma meaning death. Kalmo means cadaver in English. When thinking of a proper name, instead of a work-in-process intermediate names, for the project I wanted it to be short, simple and brutal. A pile of flesh and bones with no life in it is brutal enough, isn’t it. It encapsulates also human’s fear of death. Once selfhood has ended, there is only cold body. That is all that is left, until it turns to dust and all you were a moment ago is gone and soon forgotten.
6.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the ep cover?
I consider cover art to be animportant part of music releases. Unfortunately, during the digital age cover art is not that important anymore. However, the rise of interest in vinyl brings this important aspect back. For the cover of Demoni EP I wanted to have a demonic character to match to the EP’s name. Demoni means Demon in English. The other thing I wanted was for the style to be more of an old school kind of art style. What colors better match this purpose than red and black and a small dose of white as highlight color? For the CD version of Demoni, which is 4 panel digipack including a booklet, there is also inside cover art.
Already at this point of time, I have a draft idea for the next release’s cover image. And there is a cunning plan to introduce the idea of that cover art as part of something else before releasing the record itself. Watch out you metalheads out there! \m/
7.With this musical project you record everything by yourself, are you open to working with other musicians or do you prefer to work solo?
I have worked with other people on other music related projects. I did play bass in a blues band for 17 years. We had the same group through that 17 years. Then I was a board member of a local blues association for about 5 years. After that when thinking about where to direct my musical energy, I was thinking, what about taking the doom metal project out from the drawer. I thought that I would keep this all mine and only mine. At this moment Kalmo is my kingdom. Perhaps in the very distant future there might be a slight possibility to have other musicians working with me. Of course, there are other people involved already now as I cannot do all and everything on my own and I also need teaching in music to be able to develop further. Mari, my loved one, she helps me with press releases, checks interview texts, and has done masking and taken all promo pictures so far. Then Kalmo’s trusted and well-praised master behind mixing and mastering: Runar Magnussen. He has realized the vision of the sound for Kalmo extremely well. I am very happy to work with him. Then, my guitar teacher and singing teacher both are excellent mentors guiding me on my way learning music and how to express myself and Kalmo’s musical vision.
8.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
That can be considered at some point in the future. It would be very nice to get signed to a label. However, I think Kalmo needs to mature bit more before it is ready for signing for a label. Anyway, Kalmo is open for ideas and proposals.
9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of doom metal?
The reactions have been two-fold. Some people and reviewers have received it well and have given quite good reviews. On the flip side, there have been people who have not liked the style or the songs. And that all is fine. Kalmo pushes towards the end of this all with the chosen path of doom. Distils dark hymns from the darkness and vomits them to releases from time to time, no matter how people take them.
I am very humbled, happy and grateful for the support Kalmo and its music has received from the metal community, reviewers, bloggers and heavy metal publications. Kalmo raises a skull to you all! \m/
10.When can we expect a full length and also where do you see yourself heading into as a musician during the future?
The next release is in the works. The goal is to release a 5 or 6 tracks EP during 2020. With all the daily work and other duties it will most likely be late 2020. Hopefully the creative process will be fed with dismal visions and murky tunes!
The intention is to work on more releases as Kalmo goes on and evolves. The desire is to develop even more dark and brutal sound, lyrics and music over time. If everything goes well and humanity keeps going towards its doom, perhaps then the 3rd release will be full length. In addition, I have a vision to produce a vinyl release. Perhaps, that may be the 3rd one. We will see what will happen.
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
I love to listen the old school bands and bring that sound and style to Kalmo’s music. Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, and Triptykon are on the top of my list. In addition to that, to mention a few, Black Sabbath, Candlemass, Slayer, King Diamond are very important bands for me. Then Vorum, Galvanizer, Death Breath, Master, Immortal the list could go on and on. The latest additions to my list of bands in rotation are Cianide, Ossuarium, Putrid Offal and Depravity.
In addition to different genres of metal I love to listen to blues, old school rock’n’roll, psychobilly and some classical music. The Cramps is a band that was able to express so much with so little. The way the Cramps arranged their music pleases my ear. I want to harvest some inspiration to Kalmo’s musical style from that.
12.What are some of your non musical interests?
I love to do things by hand. Classic American cars have been a part of my life for quite a long time. At the moment I have 1958 Buick Century. Unfortunately, I haven’t had that much time to work on it and it has been sitting in the garage for about 3 years now. We’ll see when the V8 roars again. 3D graphics and animation is something I am obsessed now. I see it as an excellent capability to be utilized for Kalmo’s music video production. Some of the results of this can be found from music videos Mustaa and the Hell Awaits Ye Rotten Servants. And also the quick and dirty Demon quality, Low fidelity version of Show Me Your Face music video. Continuing with doing by hand: currently I am renovating my 3rd oldish house. That takes a lot of time and burns nerves from both ends :-D
13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
I do not want to sound like I’m an on a soapbox when saying this, but I consider this to be an important message.
Just would like to urge you all to support your local bands. Go listen to their live gigs and buy their records. That 10 bucks they ask for a ticket or a record is not much, but it means a lot a local act. Like and share their social media feed, that is free support you all can give.
Thank you all who have supported Kalmo on its journey so far!
And, yes….. Stay doomed! \m/
https://doom.kalmo.fi/
https://kalmo.fi/
https://www.facebook.com/kalmodoom/
https://twitter.com/KalmoDoom
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmHZ-ik8iwJwMVzs_ml8sgA
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