BATTERY DRUMMER INTERVIEW : Jari S. Holopainen / Chronicle

1.What is your name and what band do you play for?

- My name is Jari S. Holopainen, and I play in the Death Metal band Chronicle

2.Who made you want to play drums and why?

- I started taking drums lessons when I was about 8 years old. Back then I was inspired by Lars Ulrich of Metallica and Tré Cool from Green Day. Those two bands where my first exposure to what in my head was "heavy music" back then. I was impressed by the speed and the power, and wanted to be able to play that stuff myself.

3.When did you get your first kit? Tell us about it…

 

- It was of the brand "Dynamic Percussion". It was black, it had three toms, one kick drum, a snare, a hi-hat, and one cymbal. It was a really cheap kit, but it got me started at least.

4.Were your parents supportive of you and your loud / expensive new habit?

- Hell to the fucking yeah they where! They were so awesome about it! Once I finally got them to allow me to buy a drum kit, their attitude was like "now you spent so much money on that, you better get good at it". They were always supportive about letting me play, and they didn't mind the noise even though I was playing in my own room on the first floor of our house in the suburbs. They got even more hyped about the whole thing, when I started playing in bands, and started bringing my bandmates over to the house to practice. I think they thought it was just as awesome as I thought it was.

5.What drum performance on an album is perfection to you?

  

- I like technicality in the drums, but it shouldn't just be blast beats all the way. I like it when the drummers are able to play around with grooves and polyrhythmics in the songwriting.
It's a tossup between two albums for me. First is Janne Jaloma on Bloodshot Dawn's "Demons", and second Mario Duplantier on Gojira's "The Way of All Flesh".
Of course it's not just the drums alone on those albums that make them perfect to me, but also their interplay with the other instruments.

6.Tell us about your current kit and set up in DETAIL.

- It is a Pearl kit. I got four rack toms and two floor toms, from 10"-16". My two kick drums are 22", and my snare drum is 14". I'm currently using the Evans clear drumheads on everything, except for the snare which has a coated head.
I am using 10 cymbals in total. Two hi-hats, two rides, two crashes, two splashes, and two chinas.

Depending on the available live setup, I jump between playing with my two Tama Iron Cobra Powerglide single pedals, or my Pearl P-932 double pedal.

7. If you could have a dream kit tell us about it in DETAIL.

 

- A setup not much unlike the one I have now, just with a rack to mount everything on. Getting rid of all of the excess hardware is the next concern for my gear.

8.Name your top 5 drummers excluding Neil Peart and Mike Portnoy

-In no particular order: Mario Duplantier, Phil Dubois-Coyne, Oli Beaudoin, Alan Cassidy, Stef Broks.

9. Do you prefer Live or Studio?

- It's hard to decide. Each one has their own fear factor, but also brings possibilities with it. The studio gives time to go deep into the details of the compositions, but at the concerts you live in the moment, seized by the adrenaline, only to make noise!

10. Do drummers really get all the chicks and if so how do we convince the guitarist?

  

You wish you did! But you will soon realize that as a drummer, you will be hidden away, behind a drumkit at the back of the stage, every time you play live for the rest of your career. The people will never know what you look like, and you will never make it into any of the live photos either. The life of the drummer is one of anonymity. It's hard to be the backbone of the band, but someone's got to do it. haha. ;P 

 https://www.facebook.com/ChronicleOfficialBand/