GLOOMY GRIM, SOULGRIND : Interview with Lord Heikkinen

Lord Heikkinen, leader of SOULGRIND and guitarist with GLOOMY GRIM, speaks about his music influence and his gear but as well about the new GLOOMY GRIM EP (Grimoire) and about the future of GLOOMY GRIM and SOULGRIND.

Hi ! How are you and how SOULGRIND and GLOOMY GRIM are doing ?

Hi ya. Doing allright. Waiting for the weekend to go to the pubs with other band members of GLOOMY GRIM and some other good metal heads. We are hitting the clubs to see some southern rock this time.

SOULGRIND is on the break. Has been a couple of years. We are planning to do the tenth album, but I don´t have the inspiration for that at the moment. GLOOMY GRIM is active and we just released an EP. The full length is on the makes.

I also play in a couple of other bands: Disformed ( death metal ) , F.T.W. Boogie Machine ( rock and roll in the way of Motörhead etc. ) and Tuliholvi ( Doom metal )…. so yeah. I am busy.

Let’s speak a little bit about your introduction to music, how did you fall into it ?

I think I heard some rock from the radio? Maybe Eddie Cochran or so…and Johnny Burnette…50´s stuff. Johnny Burnette was “brutal” hahaha….he invented distortion guitar among with Link Wray & Les Paul… the I taped C-tapes from radio. I learned more and more. There came only one hour of rock music from one channel from the radio in late seventies when I was a little boy. I tapaed the all.

What was your musician / band inspiration at this time ? What are your musician / band inspiration now ?

In early 80´s I started listening with psychobilly ( Meteors & Stray Cats mainly ) and soon turned with classic heavy metal like Rainbow, Motörhead and Black Sabbath. What really hit me, was the first album of Slayer ( Show No Mercy ). I had never ever heard such power in music. I wanted more and I am running the same track ever since. The came Death and Black Metal. And Doom. I like them all. On early 90´s I tried to get hold on to every Death / Thrash / Black demo and album I could. I have quite a lot of those still left. I think the main influences were ( and are ) Slayer and Black Sabbath… for ever.

For Black Metal, I like bands like DarkThrone and Impaled Nzarene. There is one Finnish thrash band called Lost Society which is really great live. And of course there bands such Swallow The Sun, Thy Serpent, Ghost….for example.

Now I am discovering return of the Swedish Death Metal. Just listening to the new Bloodbath album. Awesome.

Do you remember the first concert you saw?

When I was a 3 ? or so… Baccara played @ our local market….hah. Well, first real one was Stray Cats….first metal show was @States with Black And Blue…. first thrash Nuclear Assault in London…

And on the other side, do you have some souvenirs about your first gig ? Does everything went all right as excepted?

I got backstage passes for Black And Blue…. felt like a rock star…falled in love with heavy metal instantly.

How did you learn music/guitar– self-taught or lessons?

First I learned by myself at age of 10 – 11. I took some basic theory lessons when I was twelve. That´s about it. Except for classical composing in US High School for a year. I am thinking of taking some classical lead guitar technique lessons, but dunno…. might be too lazy.

What was your first guitar model?

First electrical was a Hagström plastic model…. dunno which. Very weird quitar with a thousands of knobs. The first really good one was a Ibanez Stratocaster. Then I got a real Gibson Les Paul Gold Top from the States. I was a stubid and traded that for a Ibanez Floyd Rose early 90´s. Shit.

What is your live rig / studio gears ?

I have a SansAmp Modeller with Behringer Bass Amp for live. I don´t like using pedals. I have a Boss Noise Buster though.

For Studio I use Engl and Mesaboogie Amps with Marshall heads.

Could you please share some information about your gear (guitar, amp, pedals) for each albums/bands (GLOOMY GRIM and SOULGRIND)?

I have used SansaAmp for the first 5 -6 albums for both of the bands. Then I started to use Engl on the studio. For the last albums I have used MesaBoogie for lead guitars and Engl for rhythm.

I don´t use pedals. Reverbs and delays, which are needed come from the studio

I have Jakson Kelly and Dean Dimebag guitars for both live and studio. I also use Tokai Les Paul and Hagströn Swede for thicker rhythm guitar sound.

Strings are really heavy bottom Drop C strings. I think the heaviest is 062. We use C- tune. I use dropped B for Tuliholvi.

What is a standard guitar warm up / training for you ?

A six pack. Not really, I just fool around with chromatic scales and fast picking with right hand. But before the gigs it is the six pack… and fooling around.

Which advices could you provide to a new and advanced player ?

Just do it on your own way. After you have learned some bascic licks and tricks. Create your own style, not just copy others.

On a weekly basis, about how much time do you spend practicing?

Not much anymore… maybe two hours. When I practice, I usually create something. I always record when I fool around. Most of my songs have come up that way.

Metal-Archives showed that you played in various bands in the past, like DOGS and FROM NOISE TO NOISE by example. Did you ever thought, at this time, that you’ll play a later in one of the major “horror metal band” in the 90s ?

No. I got friends with Agathon. And he asked me two guitars for one song in the debut, when he was looking for the second guitarist to play with. Eventually I did good, as I am still in the band after 17 years 🙂

Your first major band seems to be SOULGRIND, as you appear as the only member on the 1^st album, called “La matanza, el himno pagano”. May we know how did you create this band and why ?

It was first with Tenebrae in 1992 or so. I just experienced with drum machines and eight tracker. I was curious what I could do with just an eight track tape recorder. It was really hard, as you could not correct anything after you had done the middle mixes. It is so easy these days, when you can fix anything anytime anywhere.

Later Agathon joined and them you join his band, GLOOMY GRIM. How did you met Agathon and how did you join GLOOMY GRIM for the 1^st album ?

We actually met on a boat trip to Slayer gig to Stockholm and began friends on the boat. We knew eachother before, though as spoken before.

You were, and you still play, in two different bands. May we know how do you compose songs and riffs for SOULGRIND and GLOOMY GRIM ? Does the composition process are totally different ?

For SOULGRIND I and Azhemin do the composing. GLOOMY GRIM is Agathon´s bastard child. I do riffs evvery now and then, but the concept is totally Agathons.

When I compose, I get the idea anywhere. Then I have to rush to record it. Or write the idea down. Immediately, or I forget it. Luckily I have studio equipment on my basement, so I can record quitars at anytime. Night or day. It is very rare, that I have complited a song when sitting donw and thinking about it.

As you created SOULGRIND did you choose the music direction or is a band choice?

I just did what came into my mind. I fooled around with riffs and drum machine. That was for first two albums. With Whitsongs it became a band. All got better, in a way.

Which themes do you want to spread / speak about with SOULGRIND ? Do you write as well the lyrics ?

I do all of the lyrics. Basically those are antireligious poems. I have allways written against organized religions. Man can believe, but when you push it to others, it becomes religion, and mind pollution. I take parts from world ending apocalypses and mix those with old Finnish folkroes and poems… and Milton´s Divine Comedy is a great inspiration for grammary and such.

SOULGRIND works with the french label “Holy Records” until 2007. Do you have some good souvenirs about this time ? May we know why did you leave it ?

Holy Records was (is?) a good label. They kept their word and had a decent studio budget. But as record sales went down everywhere, we were dropped out. The contract just ended. We did Pakana after the contract, though.

If you have one word to speak about all SOULGRIND releases, one by one, which word will you choose?

La Matanza, El Himno Pagano (Full-length, 1993) – Experiment
Santa Sangre (Single, 1993) – First
Black Orchid (EP, 1994) – Sabbath
Ladit A.D. 1999: Bihttpotb (Full-length, 1995) – Doom
Helkavirsiä, Promo 1997 (Demo, 1997) – Beginning
Whitsongs (Full-length, 1997) – Jackpot
Kalma (Full-length, 1999) – Power
Elixir Mystica (Full-length, 2001) – Fun
Into The Dark Vales Of Death (Full-length, 2002) – Pain
The Origins of the Paganblood (Full-length, 2005) – Excitement
Pakana (Full-length, 2007) – Marvellous
The Tuoni Pathway (Full-length, 2010) – Rise

As well, how could you describe SOULGRIND for the one who do not know yet the band ?

Powerful Pagan Metal with a difference. Good female vocals, great hooks and melodies. Unique approach. Great music!

What was the biggest success / sales for SOULGRIND ?

Probably Kalma. And Whitsongs in South America.

The latest SOULGRIND album has been release on 2010. Do you plan to release a new album on 2015 ?

Maybe 2016. That might be the last, who knows. I want to have an album number 10 out. But if it feels good, I will do more. At the moment I don´t have ambitions to do music under name Soulgrind. I do music every day, though.

On the other side you are active with GLOOMY GRIM over 16 years. May we have as well a word about each album created by GLOOMY GRIM ?

Fuck the World, Kill the Jehova! – Demo1996 – Fresh

Friendship Is Friendship, War Is War! – Demo1997 – Anger

Blood, Monsters, Darkness – Full-length1998 – Horror

Reborn Through Hate – Boxed set1998 – Nice

Born in Fire – Video2000 – Scary

Life?Full-length- 2002 – Ultimate

Written in Blood – Full-length2001 – Chainsaw

The Grand Hammering – Full-length2004 – Lucifer

Tapetum Lucidum – EP2007 – Mörskä

Under the Spell of the Unlight – Full-length2008 – Darkness

Grim Fate – Single2011 – Blood

Grimoire – Demo2014 – Beginning

What was the biggest success / sales for GLOOMY GRIM ?

I don´t know. But it might be Life?

Agathon released few month ago the demo “Grimoire” for GLOOMY GRIM. May we know why does this name has been chosen ?

I don´t know.

What was your implication into this demo ?

I helped on production and did bass parts. At the beginning we thought that we would redo all guitars and drums for this, but it sounded great as it is, so we left it. On the forthcoming album, those songs shall be redone. So this is a collectors item, for 200 copies only pressed

May we know what may we expected for the next GLOOMY GRIM release?

Darkness and Horror for sure.

Is there some “release date” already schedule for a full length album ?

There has been talk about late 2015, but the date is not written in blood yet.

As far as I know, both, SOULGRIND and GLOOMY GRIM, were/ still are independent, meaning they do not have any label yet. Is it a choice or is difficult to find a decent label now ?

It is a choice, at least for Soulgrind. When I have found the inspiration I know there are some interested parties. I think it is the same for Gloomy Grim

Beside your activities as guitarist it seem that you play bass as well, like in FIERCE and FLESHRED. Do this two bands are still active? Do you plan to release some albums later ?

Those bands are not active anymore. Fierce might do something in future, Fleshred is dead. But from the ruins of Fleshred a band called Disformed has been born. Old scool Swedish Death Metal style suff. I also play in F.T.W. Boogie Machine ( with Agathon and Tormentor ) which play kind psycho rock. Like Motörhead,…very heavy rock. And I have this doom project called Tuliholvi. It has released one EP under name Halladrol. So I am busy…hah.

Does a tour in Europe in plan for GLOOMY GRIM or SOULDGRIND in 2015 ? It seem that you give, with Agathon, some gigs into some bars in Finland.

There has been some talk about GLOOMY GRIM playing in France…hope it happens. About, tour. No. But we will, if someone asks and organizes a decent one. We hit the bars every now and then

What do you think about the metal scene of these days ?

I love metal for ever. But I miss the old times. With tapetrading, zines and everything concrete. Everything was not so easy to get. You waited for the tape to come to your posto office for weeks. And when it came, it blew up your brains. Same with albums. These days everything is there with one click.

These days there are good and bad things. Underground bands are better…as always. I have started to hate all the tricker based computer metal. I look into more strange and harsh music and sound. At the moment I am fascinated with metal bands flirting with psychobilly and country music. Weird black metal rock…. different kind of music. But I always return to my Black Sabbath, Slayer and Motörhead when having a drink. Latest discover was The Sword… fucking awesome. And I like doom metal…and Venom.

But I in times good bands appear, of course. I give my ears open.

Do you have a last word for the french reader ?

It would be extremely cool to come back to France after all of these years. So, book us there. And meanwhile check out the new demo….