celesty antti railio

Interview by: Lynn Wyeth

Date: 14 August 2009

Venue: Bloodstock Open Air, Derby, UK

Photos by: Celesty / Minna Annola / Mary Evans

Welcome to Bloodstock Open Air & the UK! First things first, you don’t have any fisu or lonkero with you do you, as we can’t get it here in the UK.

Really? Why not? I didn’t know that, I thought you could get it everywhere…

No it’s a Scandinavian thing. Our friend makes it, sits there crushing up fishermen friends for hours before adding the vodka. You should export it. There’s money to be made…

Yeah, we should do that! And maybe jallu too!

No there are limits! Ok, this is your first gig outside of Finland in eight years isn’t it?

Technically, yes…

Did you not have passports before now?!

(laughs) Other reasons too. I guess we haven’t had the resources before, our labels maybe didn’t have enough to promote us. Now with Spinefarm we’re going in the right direction.

Yeah we were just going to mention that. Now you’ve got support from the Spinefarm labels in the UK & US any chance you may get to play abroad more?

There are some plans about tours, I can’t say anything certain yet, it depends on things to work. I’m hoping that we have some serious gigging outside Finland soon. Now I’ve been baptised… *makes flying sign*

You’d not flown before??

No! It was the first time I had been in a plane today! I was scared!

Have you spotted anything at a UK rock festival that is very different to Finnish festivals yet?

Well we’ve not been here very long, but the amount of different cultures than maybe at a Finnish festival.

Which other bands are you looking forward to seeing today here at Bloodstock?

Blind Guardian. Cradle of Filth. Maybe Apocalyptica, I’ve never seen them. And some others… er… Is Carcass here?

Yeah…

Ok. I hope to get out, I’m a fan of live music.

Who’s the best band you’ve ever supported in Finland so far?

Best band? That’s difficult… I’m not certain. I guess there would be three. Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica and Nightwish maybe.

And who’s one of the best bands ever to support you?

Ooooh… er…? I just woke up! Er…. Tacere. They’re friends!

The latest album is a bit of a concept album again, based in the land of Cryon. Would we want to live there, what’s it like there?

No, probably not! Because it’s full of war and conflict and I guess the usual feelings of the place are scary and of destroying you. It’s like the middle ages… but without dragons.

No dragons? We like dragons!

Do you? Oh well it has aliens! There are plenty of things in Cryon.

How do you think you manage to convey the vision of Cryon without it sounding like some cheesy concept album which some bands come up with? What makes Celesty manage it so successfully?

In Finland always in any music you do we tend to be too professional. We need to think outside of the box. We need to think of lyrics without the cheesy things. I guess it’s just that we’re crazy people and we like to make up stories. We’re just a small country between Russia and Sweden.

You called the album Vendetta, if you had a personal vendetta against anyone what sort of things would you do to get at them?

(laughs) I’m going to prison after this! What sort of thing would I do? I would make them feel like they make me feel, with a sneaky plan. And then drink coffee and laugh and probably then tear their livers out. And as I’m a big food person I would eat them!

The video you shot for single Fading Away looked bloody cold. Did you try and get closer to the pyros to keep warm?

Actually yes, I had the best place! At first I was afraid… I was petrified! (laughs) The flames came up at the front and side and back, I didn’t know how much space I had around me. It went pretty well. It was for about twelve hours. It was like -25C or more and we just had shirts on. I was freezing my ass off. The Director was saying “Let’s go – heavy metal!”. I had a Shure mic, it was iron, you know, *makes shivering sound* A few times I nearly cried, it hurt my hand! The bass player, he had two or three fingers numb for weeks! The Director’s beard was full of ice and he says “Let’s do it again from the top” but he’s all in clothes! It was so cold the pyros didn’t work. Our seventh member had lots of problems with the pyros. But it was fun!

There’s the Tampere orchestra on the album, and a choir. You sang in Kuorosota (Choir Wars) in Finland this year, was that fun?

It was a blast, the best thing I’ve ever done! I woke up on Saturday morning, got a call. I don’t normally answer my phone as I have a private number. “This is Timo Kotipelto of Stratovarius.” One of my big idols and a Finnish icon! I was “What the f***??! Who’s screwing with me?!” But Klamydia’s singer, a friend of mine from Vaasa where I live, he’d given Timo my number. The programme started on Monday and he needed to find someone fast. “Are you a professional?”, well that depends! Would you be interested? He’s my idol! Of course I’m interested! I get to sing with that guy! He did backing vocals on Vendetta and I did backing vocals for him. It was really fantastic to work with your idols and cool to see how yourself developed. I’m something else than a fat-assed singer!

Didn’t you also sing on Idol?

Oooooh (looks embarrassed), yes, I was. I had a friend, I really enjoyed her voice. It was a waste, she should do something with her voice so we made a bet. If you go, I go! I said I had a record deal and albums out and sang with Celesty but they let me on. I got to the semi-final. My friend got kicked out, I was still stuck there, oh shit! When they voted me out, I was ‘Yeah, finally!’

Was your mum proud?

Of course! She’s very proud. She has MS, and is a really nice person. It’s good to make her proud.

Your keyboard player Juha’s slogan is “It Was Not Me”. What’s the most likely thing for him not to have done?

Anything! He’s not here… he’s got some aches and pains. And is a pussy! It’s a shame; he’s a good part of our live show. It’s really, really fantastic to play to a UK audience and so it is sad he’s not here. We have some of the orchestra on backing tape.

Finally, if you could teach the metalheads at Bloodstock one Finnish phrase today, what would it be?

Kissan pienet pyöreät posket!

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