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…AND OCEANS - "…everyone brings their own salt to the soup…"
By Adrian 'The Energizer' Bromley

Finland's …and Oceans are one of the few bands in the music industry right now that I consider to be challenging themselves with their music. The band has changed tremendously from their early avant-garde/black metal days metamorphosing into a collective techno/metal-driven unit.

While there are many out there who are appalled by the band's use of techno beats and rhythms in their music (some labeling it "blasphemy of metal music"), those open-minded enough can sense the excitement in the air as yet another band continues to push the boundaries of heavy/extreme music.
God bless …and Oceans for wanting to explore and try new thing. God knows what would have come of them had they stayed set in their earlier creative ways.

UNRESTRAINED! tracked down singer Kenny to discuss the band's hot new album Cypher and to discuss the continuing evolution of the band.

UNRESTRAINED!: Where do you think …and Oceans has taken their music since A.M.G.O.D? Are you happy with the step taken from that album to Cypher?

Kenny: A lot of things have changed since A.M.G.O.D., but still there are some similarities to the older form and seems like everything has changed and been in motion, but still in a way everything remains the same. Maybe Cypher is more just like the other side of the same coin. And musically the new album is a bit different compared to A.M.G.O.D or any other previous album for that matter, and the reason for this is that we need to be in constant motion and not repeat the same patterns over and over again, at least not too much. We don't want to fall into a "recycle" category and suffer from stagnation like most of the bands seem to do nowadays. We wanted to climb further on the spiral and develop as musicians and I think it's pretty much about the persons behind the band that grow mentally and that way the music rotates into different forms at the same time. I don't think natural development is a vice, more likely a virtue. Also the process of making and constructing the music for Cypher was a bit different compared to the regular ways because we have a new guitarist (Pete) and a new drummer (Sami) and that affected a lot the whole writing procedure. I think the step from A.M.G.O.D. to this new one is just another step further on the ladder and we made pretty much a logical step forward.

U!: You have managed to mesh in a lot more of a techno feel with this record -- something you dabbled with on the last record. Did it just look like the logical thing to do?

K: In a way yes because we try to develop some sounds and patterns all the time, and by getting new software, midi-keys, samplers etc we just had the urge to try out new sounds and mix it all into the music to get a certain wall behind the music. Maybe that's one of the reasons the album turned out a bit more industrial and techno-oriented than previously. This is one of the bad things of being in band that takes new shapes because you really get this obsession of updating your software and hardware constantly, but then again it's not all about getting new machinery and electronic gadgets all the time, it's more about how you use the equipment than just what equipment you have. We just let the creative side pulsate and let the mechanical coldness encircle. The way our music evolves also has a lot to do with the people behind the band. We are six members (the band is rounded out by T. on guitar, Q on bass and Anti on keyboards) in the band and we kind of all listen to different kind of music, and as this is pretty far a democratic band everyone brings their own salt to the soup, and that makes the music a bit divergent from time to time.

U!: A lot of people I know who like the band have always come back to either loving or hating the techno electronic feel to the album. I love it and think it sounds great. Do you care what fans have to say about how the band goes about creating music?

K: It depends a lot on the persons listening to the album. Some people don't like the more techno-oriented tracks, or splatter punk, EBM or whatever you want to call it, but then there are people who like especially the above-mentioned tracks. Most people have been really fond of this new album, but if you are moving like shadows on a dark alley and move on narrow-minded level, this is not your album. The album also needs a be listened to more than just a couple of times because the construction and basics of the music is rather simple and there are a lot of different segments that won't appear right away to the listener. I don't think we will ever be a 'one-way-track'-band that continues making music like a train moving on a railway. We just don't fit into that shape. Most of the bands have their 'thing' and their own race, but that's not the case with us because we have this motion and energy that makes us move like clouds on a clear sky.

U!: Ever thought of putting out a remix record, kind of like what Fear Factory has done, with your songs? I think that would be cool. What do you think?

K: We were thinking about that for a couple of years ago, and we actually made some remixes of some tracks. Some of the remixes still sounds great, but we haven't released them, and probably never will. Once we made a pretty different version of the track "Tears Have No Name" and it turned out as a club disco version. It was pretty funny. But I don't think we will ever -- okay, never say never -- release those so-called extra tracks and if we do I think we would re-create them again. Instead of making a remix album I think we would go for an album with remixes done by other artists instead of making the remix versions ourselves. We have been doing different collaborations with other artists all the time and that is something we will probably continue doing.

U!: The new material is quite different from the early days of the band. Do you ever look back and wonder how you got to where you are musically with the band or can you see the evolution of the band clearly?

K: I was actually listening to the first demos the other day and I was pretty much wondering the same way as Steve Wonder probably wondered in his early days if he is black or white. I'm not too fond of the early material, but nowadays I kind of look at each album as a certain moment in time, just another page of the same boring book. The three first albums were more like a form of the old …and Oceans, and A.M.G.O.D. and Cypher represent the same band but in an updated form, even if from a different perspective.

U!: As the years have gone on, has it become easier or more difficult to assemble and create the band's music? If it has been difficult, how do you get past problems/obstacles?

K: We haven't actually had any severe obstacles within the band when it comes to chemistry between members or in the process of creating music, but of course some tiny hectic moments are always present. Especially when things aren't turning out the way you have imagined it to be and things like time schedules, rehearsal places and some small things like that, but it always turns out well. Of course it's a bit more difficult to create material nowadays compared to the early days, because one is more censorious, but then again nowadays you have more insight in constructions and the use of instruments themselves.

U!: Is the metal music scene boring to you?

K: I don't think boring is the right term, but it surely suffers from stagnation but that's pretty much the same with all scenes, not only metal. I kind of got an overdose of metal music years ago, but that doesn't mean I don't listen to metal music at all. I do once in a while, even if it isn't that often. But sometimes, especially summer time, when you get drunk it's cool to listen to some metal albums and let some steam out of the speakers. Yesterday I was actually listening to the new Meshuggah and Dillinger Escape Plan and it was excellent stuff. But what comes to the metal scene is one tiny obstacle for my mind to comprehend and that is the narrow-minded approach on things. Nothing wrong about being sceptical, probably we all are in a way, but there are a lot of things and issues that I don't find appealing at all. But it's like with everything in general: the idiots are all over the place.

U!: What other kinds of ideas would you like to explore with the band in upcoming releases? Are there certain ideas you wouldn't try?

K: We don't specifically have any restrictions when it comes to creating sounds, textual forms etc. We are open to new ideas, but we don't plan anything too much because you can get struck and the plans collapse, so we kind of take it one day at the time and see what the mind brings in. We are creating a soundtrack for a book I am writing with a friend of mine, but when it will be released is uncertain yet. There will be some collaboration with other artists for that soundtrack and the book itself is more of a photo book of the momentary grey life we are floating in. There will of course be some poetry, maxims, aphorisms included in the book as well as epitaphs and other views on life. What we wouldn't try is almost impossible to say because it depends on the idea itself, time schedule and so on, but we are very open-minded when it comes to ideas, so…

U!: What do you get out of the music you create? What emotions come to surface when you hear your music back or create it in the studio?

K: The music we make is a channel through which we can let our energy and emotions float out. I don't listen to our material after the album has been released, but when creating the music and in the studio the emotions fluctuate and sometimes you even might like it yourself! But I was in a disco last year when A.M.G.O.D. was released and it was pretty funny to hear your own track being played by a DJ. And I must say the track "New Model World" sounded pretty strong on the dance floor, so that was cool. But of course if you hear your own old material being played somewhere you just try to get the Hell out of there as soon as possible. Ha!

U!: Plans for 2002? Will the band ever make it to North America to tour?

K: We were supposed to shoot three videos for Cypher, but one of the videos went down the drain because the 'director' for one of the videos had to move to London and the video will probably never be finished. Hopefully we will manage to do the other two videos this year. Also a double vinyl version of Cypher will soon be released as a limited version with the first 50 copies all packed in 50 different hand made artwork. Also the construction of the website takes its form and http://on.to/andOceans will soon be finished. A tour is also under discussion, but I really don't know if we manage to drag our arses to North America, even if that would be really great because I've always liked North America.