Location: Palasharp / Milan / Italy
Interview date: 25.12.2009
Henrik Klingenberg is the keyboardist of Sonata Arctica. He joined the band in 2003. The guy took 15 minutes out for RockLine to talk about where things stand in Sonata Arctica right now, the new, sixth studio album in a row, “The Days Of Grays” (2009), singer Tony’s health, himself, Finland… Even while we talked, the noise of an impatient crowd was spreading, loudly partying and pushing hard against the doors of the Palasharp hall, where another show was waiting for Sonata Arctica on the European tour promoting the album “The Days Of Grays” (2009).
RockLine: Are you happy with how the tour’s going?
Henrik: Sure, it’s okay. We had some trouble recently because Tony got sick (Tony Kakko, Sonata Arctica vocalist, author’s note). That caused us some headaches, since we had to cancel three shows because of it, but otherwise we’re really happy with how the tour’s going. The gigs have been really successful. Tonight here in Milan we’re expecting a great get-together too, we’ve noticed there are a lot of people waiting for us.
RockLine: How’s Tony’s health?
Henrik: He’s still getting back on his feet, of course, but he’s getting better day by day, on stage too, so we hope he catches up with the rest of the crew as soon as possible.
RockLine: You’ve just confirmed a few extra shows in Japan as well. You’re obviously on fire right now?
Henrik: We’ve played Japan many times, the crowd there really backs us. Basically we’ll be moving on from this tour through Australia to Japan.
RockLine: Your latest studio release, “The Days Of Grays”, came out in the middle of the year. What can you tell us about the new album?
Henrik: For this album we decided to work with Mikko P. Mustonen, who did most of the orchestral arrangements. He’s great at that, so we sent him a few songs and asked what he could add. Once Mikko had the orchestral parts done, the work went along the usual tracks, just like with all the previous albums. But this album is different this time, precisely because it’s the first one with an orchestra on it.
RockLine: How do you put your songs together?
Henrik: Tony writes all the songs. He’s the man in charge there. He brings the demos with him when we get together, and then we work out the arrangements for the songs together. We also come up with several options for a song and then try out what works best.
RockLine: As a keyboardist, what excited you most, and where did you draw most of your inspiration from in developing as a musician?
Henrik: Early on, Jon Lord from Deep Purple had a huge influence on my playing, later Kevin Moore from Dream Theater blew me away. But it all started for me when I came across Jon Lord’s work. He showed that keyboard playing in rock music can be anything but boring, and basically also that keyboards can go toe to toe with the guitar as total equals.
RockLine: The approach on the new record is a bit different from the previous ones. Do you feel your role has grown on the new release, or the opposite?
Henrik: It really depends. On some songs on the new album the keyboards are right up front. And then again not, because this time I maybe didn’t even have that much to do, since most of the parts I’d normally play on keyboards were taken over by the orchestra with its arrangements. The symphonic side left me less room this time. There actually wasn’t much choosing to do. In fact, only two songs had my keyboard arrangements completely. For example, back when “Reckoning Night” was being made, we had 22 songs ready, and my keyboards carried real weight in the arrangements. Back then it was a lot harder to decide which songs would actually make it onto the album.
RockLine: Where do you get the most support, when you look out at the crazy fans from the stage, in different corners of the world?
Henrik: The craziest fans are definitely in Italy, Spain, France,… The loudest crowd for sure comes from South America. But we enjoy the fact that the audience reacts differently in different parts of the world, otherwise our shows could get boring. In 2003, when I played Japan with the band for the first time, I was honestly amazed at how the crowd goes nuts during the songs, and then in the breaks they calm down completely, like nothing happened. They go quiet and wait to see what we’ll do on stage.
RockLine: Are you heading across the pond to the US too?
Henrik: Yes. In April 2010.
RockLine: Who are you taking along as support?
Henrik: Right now I can’t remember off the top of my head who the support bands are.
RockLine: What are the plans for the future?
Henrik: This tour will drag on into 2011.
RockLine: Does that mean album sales are going really well?
Henrik: That too. No doubt. But in this case that’s not even as important as the fact that people love coming to our shows and that we get really good turnouts. Same goes for official merch sales. Touring is where we make the most money.
RockLine: Is a rest next, after the tour?
Henrik: Yes. After Australia and Asia we’re heading back to Europe for the three shows we had to cancel because of Tony’s illness, then there’s a tour of Russia and Scandinavia, where we finally play at home in Finland too. And then, at last, a month of rest. And then summer festivals again. During that time Tony is already working on new demos. And after the break, let’s say it’s a month or two, Tony puts his demos together to the point where we can meet up in the studio and start working on a new album. Looks like a never-ending loop.
RockLine: Tell me what the audition was like when they took you into Sonata Arctica. Was it tough for you?
Henrik: When I walked into the studio, a mountain of demo recordings was waiting for me that I had to practice. Then they got in touch with just me and one other guy out of all the candidates. The first week I jammed with the band, the next week he did. After the last day of the audition we got properly hammered together, and in the morning I woke up with a monster hangover. That afternoon they called me and said I was in the band. All I did was show up as the musician I am. No holding back, no kowtowing. It’s really important that you fit into the band. It doesn’t even matter how good you are technically, what counts is how you click with the rest of the lineup.
RockLine: Which Sonata Arctica songs did they test you with?
Henrik: Basically I learned the album “Silence” before the audition. I also looked into the set lists Sonata Arctica were playing live back then. We played Black Sheep, End Of This Chapter, 8th Commandment…
RockLine: Is your set list on this tour fixed, or does it change a bit?
Henrik: In principle we rarely change the set list. Very little. Most of the time we put together a balanced set list that covers all the periods of the band’s career, and we try to get the best out of the pool of songs that work best on stage. That gives us a kind of guarantee, so we can relax and go all out every night. Given that this tour will probably run two years, we’ll definitely change the set list, at least to some extent.
RockLine: Over in Finland, really young listeners already go to metal shows and listen to loads of that kind of music. The whole thing seems like an important part of the Finnish nation. How do you see it?
Henrik: That’s true. Lots of really young people go to shows and soon start getting into heavy metal. Take my daughter, who’s just over a year old now: when I put on some pop music and then something like Nightwish, she reacts totally differently. She obviously shows way more affinity for Nightwish. Clearly it’s in us, you bring it into the world with you when you’re born. It’s funny. Actually really interesting how a little kid is into pretty much all music.
RockLine: So the fear that good metal will die out is unfounded.
Henrik: Exactly. The whole Finnish nation carries this leaning toward metal inside. Might sound weird, I can’t even explain why. Maybe it’s because it’s dark here for most of the year and the nights are long. Everybody asks us about that. But I can’t really explain it properly to anyone.
RockLine: Does the band still have any contact with former guitarist Jani Limatainen?
Henrik: Very little. After we decided to fire him from the band, I ran into him exactly once, in some bar.
RockLine: What was the main reason he got kicked out?
Henrik: The main reason was that he actually didn’t want to play in the band anymore, but he never knew how, or never dared, to explain it and say it straight. Then he dragged us into an awkward situation. As you may know, military service is mandatory in Finland. All of us had done our duty. He hadn’t. He hid that from us for a really long time. It was obvious that being in Sonata Arctica gave him some kind of shelter from his obligations. So the authorities threw him in jail for a month. And right at the time when we were supposed to be going on tour. When he came back from jail, we gave him one more chance: three months to sort out everything in his private life so that Sonata Arctica could function normally. Since he didn’t do that within that time, it was obvious he didn’t want to play in the band anymore.
RockLine: How happy are you with the support bands Delain and Winterborn?
Henrik: Everything’s good. Delain? Oh, great girl, pretty girl, ha, ha, ha… With Winterborn, all the guys come from the town I used to live in and they’re really good friends of mine, so I really wanted us to take them on tour. We grew up together and hadn’t seen each other for a long time. It’s really nice that this tour has brought us back together in a way.
photos: Robi Lipej
*You can read about how the Sonata Arctica gig went on 25.11.2009 at the Palasharp hall in Milan (Italy) HERE.
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