Ari Koivunen is a Finnish heavy metal singer who rose to fame as the winner of the Finnish singing competition Idols in 2007. He has since gone on to become one of Finland’s most popular and best-selling recording artists. Koivunen is a member and a vocalist of two Finnish bands: Ari Koivunen (2007-) and at the end of the year 2008 Ari joined the Finnish band AMORAL, who released their fourth album (first one with Ari) “Show Your Colors” in 2009.
Metal Shock Finland‘s Marco Mariani had a chat with Ari asking about his latest news…
Hi Ari, I’m Marco, welcome to Metal Shock Finland! how are you doing today?
A: Hey, I’m good, drinking my tenth cup of coffee and listening to some laid back music 🙂
Your personal experiences on the 2010 tour, what can you tell us about it?
A: Nothing special really, everything was pretty smooth, we had been doing so many gigs at 2009 so it was kinda like doing the thing we do every day. Valtteri was also so nicely in the band after the 2009 European tour that it felt like we’ve been playing with him forever.
From last year, you’re the new lead singer of Amoral. How’d you describe your relation with the fans and the band mates?
A: Well, I have been a fan for a long time and firstly I need to say that I am honored to be a part of this talented group that does everything with at least 100% and puts every bit of emotion also in whatever this band ever does. Hard to say anything about the fans but all the feedback I have heard have been mostly positive and I understand the critique since the chance of music style at first was huge when listening to vocals but that was the direction where the band wanted to sail after Niko left, so I had pretty much nothing to say about it at that point. I knew most of the band members before I joined the band at late 2008 and I also knew Masi before he joined the band, so everything is very nice and we have a lot of fun playing or just hanging around together.
The songs for the new record, still untitled, are almost done: how the things are proceeding?
A: They are actually completely done, just a bit of re-mixing and we are done. Now comes the most painful part of the album making, the waiting! That is just killing me, it would be so nice to see the album at the record stores as soon as possible so we can start putting our mind to the next already. 🙂 You can check out our studioblog for more feelings from the studio: http://amoralinthestudio.blogspot.com/
We know that you have a special project with Luca Gargano, right? Can you tell us about it?
A: Nothing special really, we just like to play together and have fun with it 🙂 We’re actually working on another project with Mauro Gargano as well but more about that later when we know more about it ourself 😀
Amoral will be attening the Battle of the Bands 2011. How has it started? Are you excited about it?
A: Yes, I’m very excited, it would be great to play at the U.S.A. for the first time. I guess it was started by our fans here in Finland and in the US, last time we were at the top 3 if I remember correctly so I have my hopes up this time as well 🙂
You have strong fan bases everywhere and Italy is no exception of course… will you be coming to our country to promote the new record?
A: I really hope so, but we have no plans yet.
Do you have any other relevant news we might know about….? Any secret you can reveal?
A: No big secrets, just the project with Mauro that I mentioned. I like working on a lot of different stuff, not just heavy metal and such…
What are your greetings to out readers?
A: Thank you for your support, the new album will be a killer! I’m super stoked about the songs and hope you will like them too!
Thanks Ari! All the best for your spring! Hope see you soon around!
Interview by Marco “Mastrowolf”Mariani – Photos: Timo Korkalainen
Amoral – Year of the Suckerpunch