apocryphal voice
Apocryphal Voice A great surprise that comes from Finland, echoes of Ved Buens Ende and Dodheimsgard…
(Interview
made by XEPHRENEL)
This
band was a great surprise, who ever wondered to listen to a project that sounds
like a personal interpretation of Ved Buens Ende mixed to Dodheimsgard ? I found
really interesting interviewing Juhani Jokisalo, the band’s mastermind that
revealed himself a clever and spiritual person…
1)
Apocryphal Voice is a pretty new act so I think that you can begin this
interview by telling us a short story of your band and his members…
I
have been composing metal songs since around 1996, but the first really strong
stuff was created in 1999 when songs like “A Sickening Sight” and “Choose
Your Side” among some others were born. I was at that time the bassist in a
band I had grown very bored to, so I quitted and the old band broke up. The old
band’s drummer, Ville Salonen, was the only person motivated and daring enough
to follow me in my own music. I created a bunch of songs with different styles
within a year, and we chose three songs for a demo, which was recorded in late
2000. After this, things fell into inactive state. It was not until 2002 when
got a signing offer from Rage Of Achilles who first wanted to release our demo
“The Sickening” as MCD. And that’s how you learned about us. Unfortunately,
things are back in inactive state, and we are back to the square one, though new
material has been composed. But we are in no hurry; I would make rather few
perfect albums slowly than numerous mediocre albums frequently.
2)
I’m not able to translate the monicker “Apocryphal Voice”, what is
its meaning ?
Literal
meaning is “secret voice” or “hidden voice”. I like to think it as
“voice of the unknown” or “voice from the Outside”. This Outside meaning
the Multiverse or certain alien worlds within it. Basically the band name tries
to tell that this music is something not from this common 3-dimensional plane of
existence, or at least aims for other exotic dimensions. But, the way I see it,
this point of Apocryphal Voice’s career is just the evolutionary stage one.
There will perhaps be direct connection to the Outside worlds later on, but
first we have to tear down fabrics of reality. This is done by expressing the
utter disgust and angst against this daily common world we live in.
3)
What are the main themes present in your lyrics ? You can explain it one
by one if there’s an argument that you wish to explain more wider…
As
mentioned in the previous answer, the main theme of today has turned out to be
disgust and depression. Also in the lyrics. I do not know how long this will
continue. Hopefully the pain will ease up soon, as it is quite a heavy burden.
Although the fans of depressing and twisted music might naturally celebrate my
state of mind or my personality as it is the very reason for this style. On
other hand, I do write also some lyrics that are stranger and open to different
interpretations. For example, “Choose Your Side” is this kind of text. There
is no strict argument in it. The reader makes their own personally fitting
interpretations from it.
4)
There’s a particular ideology and/or perception of the reality that
surrounds us intended as society that stands behind the band ?
I
do not want categorize myself into any particular ideology, because speaking of
ideologies is speaking in simplifications. By doing that I would have to
restrict myself to categories that other people have created in order to help
organize and simplify their thinking. My thoughts have elements from here and
there. Sometimes a certain aspect of me becomes more in front because of the
mood I have at that point. Of course I could describe myself something like,
“luciferian gnostic”, but then that would require long descriptions of how I
see “Lucifer”, and what branch of gnostisism do I follow. In a nutshell I
would say that my thoughts share a great deal of same ideas than existentialism
(Schopenhauer, for example), and that I see myself as a fairly religious person
in my own way. But I do hate the followers and clergy of the monotheistic
Judaeo-Christian tradition and all other organized so-called religions, as they
only enslave weak minded masses for earthly profit by shouting out strong words
like “God” and “Satan”, and dare to call this scam a religion. True
religion is something beyond human words.
5)
Do you feel to have any particular musical and/or non-musical influences
when you compose your music ?
The
inspiration for music may come from anywhere. There are no restrictions of how
one should compose any type of music. I come up with very different types of
riffs in very different moods, and as a listener I am open to almost any genre
of music if it’s done well and with strong feeling. I have an enormous riff
library of my own musical ideas, of which many are worth developing on. Some
riffs just stand out from rest of the crowd and kind of beg for company of other
similar riffs. Once a couple of strong riffs are joined, the song begins to come
alive, and I put it together with some jointing passages according to what the
songs needs. Blackie Lawless once said in an interview that a song speaks to the
composer, and the composer should listen to what it wants and to obey fulfilling
the wishes of the work of art.
6)
I think that you can consider yourself an experimental act, I read that
you’re forced to play as a duo, why is it so difficult to find people
interested in a such innovative genre in a land that proliferates of extreme
music bands like Scandinavia in general ?
I
think if we were a Norwegian band for example, this problem would not exist,
because that country’s scene is a network where everyone is linked to everyone
and anyone can easily play in any band. But in Finland there is no this kind of
network. There is no connection between metal scene and other genres, so it is
difficult for Apocryphal Voice which musically escapes all bigger genres, as
there is no real experimental interest within Finnish metal. There might be
experimental interest within other scenes like jazz and classical, but due to
the fragmentation and isolation of the musical map these possible innovators are
beyond our reach. One big problem is the distances. There is not much
communication between cities, so every city has its own micro-scene. I live in a
small town where the scene is practically a couple of bands, and the idea of
moving to bigger city like Helsinki and breaking my way into Helsinki-scene and
eventually finding mentally fitting extra members seems far too much work and
uncertain too. And one important obstacle is the non-social personalities of
Ville and mine. I just don’t care that much what other people do.
7)
What are the future plans for Apocryphal Voice ? Are you going to release
a full-length, and if yes what musical path it will follow ?
The
music for a full-length has been composed but it is yet to be recorded. We
probably scrape some money together and try to make a self-financed album with
as little expenses as possible. Then it could be licensed to any label
interested in it. The style is now more minimalistic, slower, calm in a lurking
and repressed way, less riffs per song, sometimes more accessible, sometimes
very avant-garde, but all in all very emotional. Heavy in melancholy. Some parts
can even be considered as depressive doom.
8)
I found quite interesting the philosophical article, (where I found some
ancient Greece ‘s philosophy elements among other recent ones), that you wrote
and uploaded on your site, is it also a part of Apocryphal Voice’s concept ?
Even
though this article is very speculative in places, it describes in detail the
meaning of art, shamanism, and religion, (which I consider as the one and the
same) for me. It also reveals why I call this band Apocryphal Voice (see
question/answer 2), so yes it can be seen as integral part of, if not the whole
band, but at least the person who composes its music and writes its lyrics.
9)
A huge experimental band like Dodheimsgard has his musical roots in black
metal, Is it the same for you ? Do you think that is because of that one of the
virtues of black metal is to be a “faceless” genre open to many influences
with no pre-ordinated borders ?
Many
reviewers as well as you have made the correct guess; I do have very important
and still active roots in black metal. There is in my opinion a strong Emperor
influence in the compositions of “The Sickening”. Most people have missed
this as they focus on how music is performed rather than what kind of music (lines,
chords, chord patterns, themes etc.) is being performed. You mentioned black
metal being “faceless” of “flexible”? I do not think it is any more or
any less open to influences than any other style of music. You can freely add
any influences to any style as long as you don’t compromise the spirit.
Actually, if you mention the word “black metal” to an average joe, he will
right away think about some very specific type of black metal, whether it be a
certain sound, image, an era, or lyrics. That seems quite confined with
pre-ordinated borders to me. Perhaps these experimental acts only rebelled
against these outside-given stigmatas and borders of “true black” and showed
that if you change the sound you can still maintain the darkness. I remember
Dodheimsgard once said they get bored easily, that’s why they make these style
changes. I think I have a similar mentality with my own music. Anything is
possible with Apocryphal Voice.
10)
Usually a branch of black metal bands and extreme experimental acts that
comes from that “black metal” ambient have a nihilistic way to perceive
reality, what do you think about that nihilism ruler of nowadays’ society
intended as a fall of all moral and spiritual values ?
I personally do not perceive reality in a nihistic way. I am in fact very passionate about this; I hate reality fanatically! And I love the Outsider entities who lurk in fabrics of the Multiverse with equal passion. Human body is weak, frail and demanding. The only real pleasure for me is of spiritual kind. Everything that is below that, is merely bodily functions, only reminding of the captivity inside this filthy mortal coil. A good example of this is sexuality; sex without emotion leaves a feeling of emptiness and unworthiness afterwards, where as sex with emotion works as a stepping stone to higher states of consciousness. Most people are very able to enjoy these low bodily functions and do not seek or find anything higher. It seems to be the way this damn society functions: live, work, consume, die. The gift of sight is an outright burden down here on modern earth. I have no respect for people who have nihilistic minds. And here we are again trying to determine the concept of “true black”, but for me personally the basic meaning of black metal is far from nihilism, it is drawing energies from unknown planes of existence. “The Sickening” might sound very cold and void of hope, but it is merely an expression of hate and angst. I am hoping to reach more spiritual stage with Apocryphal Voice eventually, but the time is not ripe just quite yet…