CORAXO NTERVIEW

1. Please tell us about the about the band and its members.

Lineup:
Tomi Toivonen (vocals, guitar, keyboards)
Markus Sirén (bass)
Ville Vistbacka (drums)
Me (Tomi) and Ville have been playing together since around 2008. Since our old band broke
up, we decided to record one EP of industrial style melodic death metal for fun. The end result
worked well enough for us to consider forming an actual band for the style we came up with.
Eventually we started to move away from the industrial/electro style, towards a more avant-
garde approach of using all kinds of instruments and music styles, like saxophone, played by
Ilkka Ferm who does session work on the albums.
Were going as a trio for now since we feel thats the optimal size for a band, even if the songs
would sometimes call for a second guitar player and a keyboard player live. We make the songs
a bit more stripped down and raw.

2. Who does the majority of the writing? Is it a group thing or does someone handle the writing
duties?

Id guess its me (Tomi) for now, I usually come up with a rough idea for the song and let the
guys write their own parts. Songs usually start with some kind of an idea of the style I'd like it be,
and naturally starts to grow from there. Usually the end result is something entirely different than
what I originally went for!

3. Where is the band based out of ? Where did you want to the band to end up? What was the
dream city to have as your home base once you got out of your scene?
Were based in Tampere Finland. Its Finlands second largest municipality after the capital area,
situated between two large lake regions. It has a very lively rock and metal scene with hundreds
of bands and good medium level and underground venues.

4. What is your genre? What bands do you use to explain to people what you sound like?


We like to call it avant-garde metal. We use all kinds of influences, Im a big fan of genre- defying
bands like Arcturus, Kvelertak, Anathema and so on. All of our albums are and will be made
according to a theme, we started with Neptune which was chaotic and dissonant. Sol was made
purposely very easy and melodic listening. Luna will be much more somber and sinister
sounding, switching style from the melodic death of Sol towards black metal.

5. Can we buy anything from you Cds shirts etc and where can we buy them?

Amazon is always a good place to start. Albums and shirts are also available direct from the
label store and Bandcamp.

6. Do you have studio time lined up anything new coming soon?

Always! Were currently writing and recording new material for Luna which will be released
hopefully next year through our label Snow Wave Records. It will follow in our
planetary theme musically, blending dissonant black metal and post metal.

7. Have you ever been on tour? If so where and with who?

Weve done a couple small tours in Europe with other small european bands. This year we do
a couple shows with Draugnim, a melodic black metal band from Finland. In September well be
playing in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and in France in November.

8. What is your favorite band? Who are the bands who influenced you?

My (Tomi) all time favorite album is “Crimson” by Edge of Sanity. I guess its the biggest
influence on my song writing. It was released in 1996 and still I havent found anything close to it
in terms of progressive death metal.
I (Ville) have couple of great albums to put in that blew my mind when I heard them first time.
“Divine Intervention” by Slayer, which I like very much for Paul Bostaph’s drum work and for the
position he came after Dave Lombardo left the band. Great work on that album and he totally
nailed it.
Another great album is “In Defiance of Existence” by Old Man’s Child. In my opinion the best
Old Man’s Child album. Nick Barker on drums. And many of The Haunted albums, I just love
their style.

9. Do you have a website? And do I have to verify that I am 18 to enter it?

Yup, www.coraxo-official.com . Dont worry, its completely safe for work!
10. What about your music do you want people to remember? What is the quality you want to hit
people when they hit play?

Id say I want people to go “well, this is different”. Not entirely sure if in a positive or negative
way!
11. Tell nerds like me tell us about your live rig and equipment.

Tomi: Recently for guitar I went to a full digital rig, the Kemper Profiling Amplifier. I've been
using it in the studio since 2012, but now I decided to just finally get rid of all my tube amps,
they were just gathering dust after all. The Kemper is a perfect solution for me for fly-in gigs
since its small and light and most of all sounds exactly the same as my old Mesa Dual Rectifier.
Guitars are ESP Horizons with EMG#39s.
Ville: My drums are Gretsch Catalina Birch 22” double set, 10”, 12”, 16” toms with Evans heads.
I like the sound of them. Abroad I usually do not drag the set with me. My cymbals are mainly
Paiste, but not exclusively. I also have some Stagg chinas and splashes. On bass drums I use
Pearl Demon Drive pedals, direct drive version.

13.What is your musical guilty pleasure that you are ashamed of?

Tomi: I dont know if its guilty, but I really enjoy CHVRCHES! (Laughs). Not very street cred
death metal of me.
Ville: I have to say it’s some selected work of Christina Aguilera. Her voice is astonishing.

14.If you could custom build a band who would be the members?
Coraxo, but with Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman on keyboards and Devin Townsend on
vocals and lead guitar.

15.Message to the fans? What is it?
Come see us live!