Suiciderock
2011
"I rather record music than watch a DVD"
Suiciderock: You just finished your tour which lead you through the entire US including some gigs in Canada. How was that?
Linde: It was a long and also a quite exhausting tour but it was absolutely great and worth it to play this gigs. It was a very interesting bill, as all the bands who played with us are pretty different. We`ve played with Turisas and Cradle of Filth and the audience seemed to appreciate all of us, so it was a great experience.
Suiciderock: On that tour you were playing as support act for Cradle of Filth. Was it a big difference for you to be the support and not the main act?
Linde: We were changing the slot with Turisas every night. Some evenings they were playing first and the other one we played before them. Of course, it is different to be the support act when you go out for a tour. It starts when it comes to the backstage facilities. Naturally the main act has a much better backstage than the support act. They get two soundchecks which we didn`t. We had the chance to do our soundcheck every now and than but it was quite extreme. Luckily the band is so good that we don`t necessarily need that so urgently. It gives the whole thing that punk rock touch. You know? *smiles*
Suiciderock: Why did you go straight on a tour through the US and not through Europe first?
Linde: It`s always a problem when it comes to schedules. HIM was on a break at that time and I heard about the option to go on that tour with Cradle and of course, I couldn`t refuse to take that offer. The actual plan was to play some Daniel Lioneye gigs in Europe as well but now the break is over with HIM and we have to concentrate on new stuff.
Suiciderock: The line-up changed a bit since you performed the first time with DLE. How did the line-up come together, I mean it is quite clear how you found the bass player and the keyboarder but the rest?
Linde: Well, Seppo our drummer has another band that practices at the neighbour room of our rehearsal place. We`ve heard him playing for about one year and than I finally got the courage to go and ask him if he is willing and able to join us for the Daniel Lioneye project and luckily he was into that. Our singer, Manu comes from Birmingham, he is my fianc?es friends boyfriend. He has a band himself and I have seen them live maybe about three times and I was very impressed of his singing abilities and that I could never do it as well as he does so I ask him if he would as well like to work with us and he was very happy to do so.
Suiciderock: So, Daniel Lioneye has been kind of a side project for everybody?
Linde: Yes, that`s correct. I mean of course Daniel Lioneye will always be a part of my life. We just have to work with the different schedules and than it will work out somehow. So we are still here and existing as this band we just have to find the time for it.
Suiciderock: Your first record named “The King of Rock`n Roll” was released back up 2001. “King of RnR” was an stoner rock album whilest your second record, simply called “ Vol. II” went a totally different direction. Why did you decide to make the second record so much different comparing to your first one?
Linde: Well, you have to consider that there are 10 years between our first album and the second one. A lot of things happened in that time. I have always been into heavy music and very extreme bands. It has always been a dream for me to make a really heavy album. You know we had another break with HIM after we`ve released the “Venus Doom” album and it just felt like this is my moment to work on new stuff for Daniel Lioneye.
Suiciderock: I read that you wrote some of the songs when you were 13 years old already and some were written quite recently. How do the lyrics of a 13 year old match to the situation he is having nowadays?
Linde: Well, the songs I`ve wrote when I was about 13 years old were quite different and of course it took a lot of arranging to make them fit for the record. “Volume II” has a quite heavy sound so they definitely had to be adjusted.
Suiciderock: What made you come up with all the lyrics?
Linde: There was a lot of stuff that inspired me to write the album. I`ve been through a lot in my personal life. I don`t want to go that much into detail regarding this but you know everybody has to go through all different kinds of trouble in their lives. Doing this record was a healthy way for me to let go of this problems and to deal with this stuff.
Suiciderock: “Volume II” was released trough The End Records, which puts you under the same label as Ulver. What made you decide that label?
Linde: It was a big hazzle to convince Warner Music that I can do the album anyway. It was a huge battle we had to fight. Andreas Katsambas from The End Records got the album from somewhere into his hands, he loved it. That`s how we ended up at The End Records.
Suiciderock: Do you think it was easier for you to get a record deal as you were already playing in a well-established and well-known band?
Linde: Not really. Of course, I had some backing with my HIM career, however Daniel Lioneye is a sideproject, it still is a different band and it was not that easy to get a record deal.
Suiciderock: You can compare very well, is it better to get signed by and independent label or is the mayor lable the one who makes your dreams cometrue?
Linde: That`s hard to say, both of them have their sites. The mayor label has more money to promote your band. If they are willing to work for you, they are able to do wonders. The indie label doesn`t have that much money but on the other hand you are free to do whatever you want when it comes to the artistic side, there is no pressure, so both have their good and bad sites if you see it from that aspect.
Suiciderock: You didn`t really record the album in the “normal way”. It wasn`t like that that the band was at the studio together, you recorded at the studio, than the stuff was more or less sent around and all bandmates added their ideas before it got back to your producer Hiili who mixed it up than. Why didn`t you do it the old fashioned way and go to the studio together?
Linde: *smiles* I don`t know. Ok it was like this: I went to the studio with the drummer first. We recorded the basics there for about five days, some of the bass parts and vocals have been recorded at my “home studio” when I figured out that I could need a keyboard player as well, that`s when I asked Burton. I know it sounds a little bit weird but when you have a side project the label doesn`t book you a studio where you can go to for one month or even longer to record your songs. There are lots of different ways to make music and it worked out pretty well for this album so let see what we do for the next one.
Suiciderock: That sounds like you have already a plan for a next record?
Linde: At some point yes. I`m always working on new ideas. I just got my home studio working where I can record new stuff. Of course, HIM is priority now but there is still some free time that I can use to work on things like that. I rather record music than watch a dvd.
Suiciderock: That gives hope that we don`t have to wait another ten years for the next Daniel Lioneye record?
Linde: No, no definitely not that long.
Suiciderock: You took part in the “Who Cares “ Project, helping to build up a school in Armenia. There will be a single release for the song “ Out of my mind”. What can you tell us about the project and the song itself?
Linde: The whole thing is a very good cause. Of course I don`t have anything against charity work. I like to help people and I love to do anything that helps anybody in any way. Sadly I haven`t made it to Armenia myself but Toni Iommi asked me if I would like to participate on that track and I was in from the start. I was just a bit confused that he asked me and kept questioning him if he really wanted me to take part in that line-up. It was a very nice and easy going project. I recorded my parts in Tonis studio. He left me there with his engineer. He went to some shopping or whatever, anyway he was not there when I recorded. He came back after two hours and all he said was “Yeah, we`re done”. That was kind of funny.
Suiciderock: What about the project itself, how does it work? What is happening in Armenia with that money you collect?
Linde: The money is used to re-built the music school in Armenia. I suppose they did that kind of charity thing over ten years ago already regarding the same school. They have visited it again and it turned out that there are still lots of things needed and therefore you need a lot of money. That`s why they wanted to do this again.
Suiciderock: You play with some quite big names, what was it like to work with that rock legends?
Linde: Of course it was a big honour for me to do that, it was like a dream come true and simply felt great but as I said I didn`t actually record together with them.
Suiciderock: So there is no chance to see you perform the song life together?
Linde: Well, It`s been talked about that but at the moment it is not possible and this is also not my decision. Everybody is busy with his own bands at the moment.
What will we see or hear in the future from Daniel Lioneye?
Linde: Well, just keep going. I mean I found a great line-up and I really wanna keep going with this. But obviously Daniel Lioneye is a side project and HIM was and is my priority and we hopefully come up with some new stuff in the future, HIM really comes first but as I said I want to keep Daniel Lioneye going as as side-project as it is a really important thing to me.