Will you start off by telling a bit about yourself and why you play metal, it would be great to get some info from the whole band?

Juho: I’m a 25-year old mechanic, been playing drums since I was twelve and guitar for a couple of years before that. Once you’ve spent most of your life listening to metal, it’s pretty easy to find yourself playing it.

Juha: I’m 24 and I’ve played bass for a few years now. Not surprisingly I played guitar before I discovered bass. The thing about playing metal, if you start out with it, you’re bound to come back to it no matter what you do or play in between. It feels like coming home in a way.

Amok: 25 and I have been playing the guitar since I was 12 years old. I started singing when I was sixteen. For a long time the only means of directing my inspiration was Mental Voice (which I’m still a part of as a guitarist/singer) Around the time I joined Impish I also joined Joint Depression as a guitarist. Impish opened up a completely new source of inspiration inside me, and this source isn’t going to run out of metal any time soon.

Jyrki: I’m married and have a 10-year old (guitar wizard) son. I’ve played guitar for over 20 years and always loved progressive music. It’s nice to listen to music or play it when it’s slightly challenging. Impish is the best among the bands I’ve played with over the years.

When did Impish start and what do you want to accomplish with the band?

Juho: Some of the songs go as far back as the 90’s, but the final and true form of Impish was completed in 2004.

Juha: Well, the final founding stone was laid on 29. February 2004, when I joined. Impish was already well on it’s way, but it needed a final piece to the puzzle. You can check out a more thorough biography on our website.

You are about ready with your first demo now, how has it been received so far?

Juha: So far people have been really into it. It’s interesting to see how the general opinion developes.

Juho: At first people have been like “What the fuck was that?!” Later they’ve come back and told us how the songs have “opened” after a few times, and then they’re hooked.

What do you think about the demo yourself?

Juho: All in all a pretty successful recording. There are always some minor details you could change, but that’s a never-ending path. Some small changes can be heard live and on the album in the future.

Is the demo made for getting Impish signed or is it strictly created for your own satisfaction?

Juho: Both. We wanted to get those songs on tape and out of the way, so we could get around to writing new songs. We also knew that it would be a waste of great material to leave them unpublished. It was time to give the world a little heads-up anyway.

Who writes the music in the band?

Amok: The riffs usually come from us guitarists and then we process the overall feel, arrangement and rhythmical aspects of the song with the whole band. Due to the long history of this band, old previously unrecorded riffs or songs can be dug from their graves into the light of day once more. The overall moods, melodies and structures can change a lot during the process of writing a song and some parts find their correct alignment only just as they are recorded.

Where is the inspiration found?

Amok: It's just so easy when you have the opportunity to do whatever you want musically, without any boundaries. I have so much to give to this kind of music, this genre being relatively new to me.

What particular events/things can trigger inspiration for a song or a song?

Juho: A lot of things. It can be something in everyday life that pisses you off, global issues, the death of someone close to you or just a good old-fashioned creative hangover.

Can you pull out 5 bands and 5 tracks that have meant a lot to your song writing and playing style?

Juha: I think Cynic, Atheist and Death are some of the bands that have had a major impact on the way we write and play. Of course, we try to incorporate so many different musical elements into our music that it's hard to pinpoint the exact influences that make us what we are. Like me for instance, I don't really listen to metal that much when I'm at home, it's mostly Björk, Tori Amos and other alt-pop female singers. It's the other guys that really bring the metal to this band.

Amok: My guitar basics come from Metallica. That’s the foundation of my playing. I’ve gotten the more technical aspects from listening to bands like Elegy and Dream Theater when I was younger. I’ve never been that much into learning other bands’ songs, but instead I have used the inspiration from their music into writing my own songs.

The biggest influence on my songwriting has probably been Dream Theater. The songs tend to get pretty long and not really suitable for radio. No time wasted on repeating the usual verse-chorus-verse thing. Predictability in our kind of music is boring, in my opinion. That’s why I try to avoid doing the foreseeable, and instead make the listener concetrate on our music and be constantly on his toes.

When I’m writing music for Impish, I try to bring in the same element of madness that Mr. Devin Townsend proclaims with Strapping Young Lad and in his solo work. Devin Townsend writes the best music there is, so his work is very inspiring to me in music as well as in life.

Unlike Juha mentioned before, Cynic, Atheist or Death do not influence the way I write music, because I have never owned albums by any of them. Although I know I probably should…

Your music is a nice progressive display of quite some influences, how does the band work when you make the music and do you all have very different sources of inspiration?

Juha: It's always a collective effort when we write a song. This band is a perfect democracy, which is not always the most efficient way of doing things. Thankfully someone always finds his inner fascist when necessary. I don't know where Amok and Jyrki get their inspiration for making the riffs, but I know that my personal muse making me ravage those strings is found lurking somewhere in their riffs. I try to get a feel for a certain rhythm, and then I just sort of fill in the blanks, you know?

What do you want to bring the world with your music?

Amok: The music of Impish will always be full of surprises. You'll never hear a predictable and straightforward song from us. An open-minded approach towards music and a strong belief in the potential of our riffs open infinite possibilites for making music.

Juha: I really get a lot of energy from the sheer joy of playing with these guys. I hope we can spread some of that energy and joy with our music. Especially when we are playing live, that blissful sensation coupled with a burst of adrenaline is almost tangible.

Does Impish bring anything to the metal scene?

Juho: Hell yes! Although there are familiar influences in our music, it’s still inventive. Our way of making music is so open, there are no strict guidelines or rules to follow. I still haven’t heard a direct comparison between us and another band.

What do you think are 3 strongest things about Impish and what are the 3 weakest spots?

Amok: We are all strong individual personalities with personal playing styles. This results in versatile and multifaceted songs. Even though we are all different personalities and have different backgrounds in music, we all have a common goal musically. Nothing is forbidden, we’ll at least try out any new idea. The guys in Impish are also very strong technically. If we should ever come across any boundaries, they won’t be there because of our technical ability.

As for the weaknesses: Being a quartet, voting is not always effective, as mentioned before. Also our unique approach to music makes it difficult to land gigs in a city this size.

Will you go through your demo and tell a bit about the music and lyrics on each track?

Amok: The demo contains two older songs (‘Spiritual Erection’ & ‘Die With Me’) they were pretty much ready when I joined and the rest are new.

‘The Call’: You will be hearing a lot more of this kind of stuff from Impish. The new songs we have done after the recording have a lot of common with this one, fast and aggressive. We wanted to combine different moods and vocal styles, and as the first track on the demo, this is a great introduction into the music of Impish.

‘Spiritual Erection’ : Head banging material. This song remained pretty much the same through the arranging process. One of the first songs that introduced clean vocals and melodies in major. These elements felt so right that they became a significant part of Impish songwriting. When I joined the band, they gave me this song and told me to study it. And a great guitar lesson it turned out to be! The lyrics and the overall feel of the song both have a certain sadness which makes them a great match.

‘Die With Me’: A medium-tempo rock tune by Impish standards. For some reason this has become a favorite for a lot of our friends. The first song I learned to play and to test if my style of playing would go together with Jyrki’s style and Impish. The result was everything it was supposed to be and because Jyrki had the rhythm down so well I just had to do something similar to him, only higher. It all worked out great and the rest is history.

‘Murder Divine’: The mellower side of Impish. A fun song to play and of good length for an instrumental. The riffs work well together. A successful instrumental.

‘Violent God’: This song shows how to kick ass in major, and this wonderful thing has become one of the more prominent elements in our music. In Violent God there is a lot of different stuff that make up the Impish sound; Techical playing, a great groove and beautiful vocal melodies. One of my favorite songs and for some reason playing this live, causes some confusion in the front row of the audience.

What can you tell us about your lyrics, what are the common lyrical themes etc…?

Amok: My favorite theme is love. Unlike in my other band Mental Voice, it doesn’t always feel natural to sing about it in Impish. Although it’s a nice contrast to sing about pretty things over powerful riffs. Other songs not on the demo are about different stuff, like the injustice in the world, war, dialogues between the body and the mind and such. For some reason they often take place only in the mind of the narrator.

How important are the lyrics compared to the music?

Amok: The lyrics usually come last and the final adjustment is often done during recording. Often during the rehearsal stage I just improvise the lyrics and arrange the hyphenation according to the melodies. Often certain things from my improvisational lyrics end up being the building blocks from which the rest of the lyrics is composed.

I try to fit the lyrics to suit the general feel of a track, or sometimes the complete opposite. Whatever the case, my lyrics do not contain “the meaning of life” in them. It’s just important for the music, melody and lyrics to intertwine into a fine piece of music.

Juha: For me, the lyrics of a song are just as important as the melody and chord structure. I mean you can save a totally crappy song with brilliant lyrics, or you can ruin a good one with some boring collection of old clichés.

Who writes the lyrics and where is the inspiration found?

Amok: I write most of the lyrics. It’s easier for the singer to come up with lyrics for the intended arrangements and hyphenations. Juha also has some very Impish-like lyrics to offer. For instance the lyrics on The Call are mostly written by Juha.

Juha: I’m not fully aware of the way Amok writes his lyrics, but inspiration-wise, I think it’s important to keep an eye out for anything unusual, and especially the usual in life. Sometimes you can really get a huge kick out of something completely uninspiring like sitting in a car watching a row of pines passing you by.

How is it to experience a live show with Impish?

Amok: We try to breathe the same air into our shows as we do into making our songs. It’s ass kicking time! So far we’ve only done one gig supporting Kalmah. Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean that Impish is inexperienced when it comes to live shows. Everyone in the band has had tons of live experience with other bands, current or already forgotten.

We are a great live act because of the virtuoso-like musicianship and singing. You can check out our live performance on our website.

When will we see you on a Scandinavian tour?

Juho: As soon as possible, if something decent comes up. It would probably be a good idea to do a full album before a bigger tour.

How is it going with the song writing of new tracks?

Amok: We have 14 songs ready at the moment, and after recording the demo we have done two new songs which are almost complete. We are constantly writing new material and the gist of the songs is very Impish.

Do you have any idea of when we’ll see and hear more Impish material?

Pretty soon we’ll have more songs out in the open on our website, and when we finish our previously mentioned songs we’ll go into the studio to record them.

Why did you choose to call the band Impish, what are your thoughts behind the name?

Amok: When we were looking for a name, we wanted something that would describe the music. Out of nowhere came Impish, and we realized that nothing could convey our musical mischief better than Impish.

Will you share your 3 all time favourite albums with the Scandinavian metal heads?

Juho:
Cynic - Focus
A.R.K - Burn The Sun
Death - Symbolic

Amok:
Devin Townsend - Terria
Muse - Origin Of Symmetry
Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory

Thanks a lot for answering my questions, if you have anything to add, please feel free to say it now!

Juho: Check out the website, we’re constantly adding new stuff. And remember to spread the Impish word!

[This interview was first published on the now defunct scandinavianmetal.info webzine]