*When did you really get involved into music in general and into metal specific? Who was responsible for your interest in (metal) music?

I started to listen to heavy metal at age of 10 or something. That was in the beginning of 80’s. My first bands were probably Dio and KISS. My best friends also liked these bands and they introduced me into this kind of music. Before that my life was more or less filled by just classical music. I started to play classical piano at age of 4.

*Which artists or bands did influence you the most?

At the first it was DIO since it was the first band I really started to listen to. Later there were bands like Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force, Helloween, Iron Maiden to name a few. When I was about 14 years old I started to play electric guitar too and then I also started to listen to guitar instrumental music and players like Joe Satriani, Vinnie Moore and Tony MacAlpine.

*Which instrument do you play and how and when did you learn to play? Did you had lessons in school or private lessons? If so, was that because your parents expected that from you? Or did you learn to play the instruments by yourself? Do you still follow some lessons?

With keyboards I started at age of 4 at music school and stopped studying at age of 16. At this point I needed to decide whether I would like to become a professional piano player or not. I decided to not be and basically stopped playing piano. At this point I was really playing a lot of guitar, I took some guitar lessons too, maybe just five lessons or something. Otherwise I’m a self-educated guitar player. It was easier for me to study with my own since I was studied classical piano for so long time. I’m also a self-educated drummer. I used to play drums after school with my friends when I was about 10-16 years old…And I have also played base for a couple of AD songs too…For “Re-evolution” album, because at some point we didn’t have a base player and I needed to play some base parts too to get the album ready. All guitarist can somehow play base too, but not so well usually 😀

*Do you follow other or are you interested in other styles of music beside metal? If so, what is the kind of music you prefer to listen to?

Nowadays I don’t listen to modern bands so much, maybe some Rammstein, Ghost and Stratovarius. I general, I like older music, music from many genres…that includes metal, rock, classical, 80’s pop and everything possible really…

*Is music a full time job for you now or do you have a job beside music? If so, what kind of job are you doing? If you would be really succesful with music, would you quit your other job?

I also work a little, I work for Housing Fund of Finland as senior advisor. The job is very flexible, so I usually have enough time for music and for touring too. Would be nice to be able to concentrate just on music of course. Seems like a distant dream at the moment, unfortunately.

*If you could start a complete new band with other musicians on other instruments, which artist would you pick for wich instrument and why? Would you still go for a (neoclassical) power metal band?

If I would start a new band with power metal, I would ask Fabio Lione as vocalist. He did tremendous work as guesting singer on our new album. He’s one of the best male singers around. Otherwise, If I really would like to start a new band (a wonderful idea btw.) I think I would start looking for all the good singers out there and try to find a voice, which touches my heart. After that I might get some ideas about the music with him/her. I don’t have any particular musicians on my mind right now..I guess it would depend of style of music with this new singer.

*If you had been banned to an uninhabited island and you may pick 5 albums to listen to, which albums would you choose and why?

Chess musical by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. It’s a great musical and album which I found quite lately, about 5 years ago. It’s full of interesting details and have great sound & tone. Beside that, maybe one album by Joe Satriani, ABBA, King Diamond and Black Sabbath.

*Every new album of a band or an artist is the best one. So here is a chance to promote your album. Why should a music lover buy your album? What are the standout tracks for you on this new album and why?

Our new album is sounding different than any other metal band out there. We have this fresh keyboard-driven and vocal-heavy sound. Keyboard sounds are mostly based on old synthesizers and that gives a nice vintage touch to our sound. You cannot achieve that with just modern keyboards.

– New album, ‘Looking For You’, out on Napalm Records. –

*The sound on the new album is more pop influenced than before. Is this what we can expect in the future from AMBERIAN DAWN? Or what can we expect in the future of AMBERIAN DAWN?

I don’t know about our future in any way and also not in musical way. It’s possible that I will stick in this so called Abba-metal or pop-metal or then I will go back to symphonic metal. It’s all about that what feels natural and good for me.

*Is there a chance that you will promote these songs through live concerts? If so, would you prefer small clubs or big festivals? And is there a chance we can see AMBERIAN DAWN in Belgium?

We’re planning to tour later in 2020, maybe in fall. Besides that would be great to be on some good festivals. I like both festivals and clubs, they are different kinds of situations of course and there’s different kinds of good things and bad things on those. Club shows are usually on tours and that’s why you have for example a big crew to assist you, a Nightliner on which to live & travel…Festival show is usually just one show and you need to travel there for only this one show. It’s totally different and logistically more challenging.