Terrorizer, Issue #60, Interview with Nalle Österman , November 1998

The first release on the Earache sub-label, Wicked World, Finland's GANDALF let loose more than their riffs as drummer/motormouth Nalle got together (surprisingly) in an English watering hole. The beer and the comments were to flow thick and fast. Steve Tipton donned his best combat gear...

Both Nalle and myself are nursing hangovers. Apparently, what he can remember of last night at the Camden Ballroom was a very drunken affair. For me, it was just a pub night, but we both agree the only way to get through it is to jump straight back on the wagon, so the Finn and Tipster indulge in a lunch time pint or four. Full credit to the World's End, the beer there is very fine indeed, and sets the mood. If anything, that, and an introductory conversation about the criminally underrated Dio helps to break the ice. Nalle is decked out in a tattered and torn Ace Frehley shirt, and is keen to point out that Gandalf are here, and they intend to make a helluva lot of noise to prove it.

Following on the back of two 5 star rated demos (96's 'The Cradle' and 97's 'Snakebite'), Gandalf arrived at Wicked World via a rather torrid time at Austrian label Dark Matter. ('It's a long story. (A roll of the eyes)...I'd rather talk about the music'). A few weeks locked up in a studio with more than a couple of alcoholic drinks ('It's the Finnish drinking culture!') led to the thoroughly Metal 'Deadly Fairytales'. It's a roller coaster album, not (despite Nalle's protestations) too dissimilar to fellow countrymen Sentenced and Babylon Whores, full of melodic guitar led passages, dipping into acoustic interludes, before Death Rocking to the end. Tracks like 'The Cradle' will buzz around your head for weeks, with its In Flames-esque soloing, and modern Carcass riffage.

'Yeah', nods the blond Scandinavian, taking a healthy sip of his pint, 'I call it melodic death groove. With music, you need melody and groove. With bands like Korn it's all groove, so it's like, where's the fucking melody? So you have to get a balance.' 'Cos you can have bands like Moonspell, and it's all melody, and you need that groove. I want people to have melodies stuck into their heads, and then you have the groove, where you can bang your head, raise your fist, and whatever.'

Nalle pauses for a breath and drink, before continuing with a pet subject (In Flames bashing): 'I'm so fed up with In Flames comparisons, because it's not it! If you listen to 'Whoracle', then 'Episode 666' is the closest they are to us, and to me, it's the best song on the album. On our album you get ten out of ten!'

Gandalf stand with both size 10 Doc Martens astride the European Metal underground, able to appeal to the fans of Scandinavian Death Metal with songs like 'Dark Memories', or those more into Amorphis with 'Never Again'; songs which Nalle wants to take to the stage as soon as possible. 'The purpose of Gandalf live is that you can drink to it, you can mosh to it, you can stage dive to it, you can fuck to it. Just do whatever you want, man! It's genuinely harder live. I much prefer being on the stage to being in the studio. It can be so fucking boring, you know. We were playing Sega and watching porn movies, but even that gets boring. It was like, okay, so this is it. It's like Venom, I guess, they say they can only be in the studio for ten days before they start breaking things!'

Yet, there is more than alcohol and live songs to this band: 'There's a lot of difference between the songs, and it's completely useless if you have all the riffs sounding the same. I mean, Metallica, they were putting 'Fight Fire With Fire' and 'Fade To Black' on the same side of the tape, and totally got away with it, so I was thinking - this is it. This is how it should be done!'

There are a couple of similarities with Metallica. For one, the Metal-loving, fast-talking drummer (I didn't ask about Diamond Head, just in case...), and the love of live circuit. Nalle is a man for the stage, seeing the studio as a necessary evil, only tolerated so people can get hold of the songs they are going to see live. Nor is he immodest about Gandalf's live talents: 'You have to prove something, you know? That's why I want to go on an In Flames tour - to kick their ass. I'd like to play with The Haunted and kick their ass, too. Man, I listen to them, and I'm so fed up with it - it's like ten songs that are exactly the same. Kicking other bands' asses is what makes it good. We have the songs, and the true Metal vibe. What we want to do is go out and prove to people that one day - we're gonna be on top of you!'

'The 400.000£ Men'- Rumba Rock Magazine, Issue #1, January 1999

After a long wait, the melodic death groovers from Helsinki have finally finished an album's worth of music. Previously known from Rumba, Nalle Österman, shared his toughts, by a whiskey glass, about the band's past, future and the present.

I sit in restaurant Thunder Roadhouse against Nalle, the founder, the drummer and main songwriter of Gandalf. Present is also the band's other guitarist Sami, who doesn't take much part in the conversation because he is concentrating on his job, which is selling beer to the thirsty inhabitants of the place. The present lineup of Gandalf is completed with Jari on vocals, Timo on guitar and Kirka on bass.

Nalle sums up the career of the band very shortly. 'We've been grinding this stuff since 93-94. A couple of demos and some lineup changes and now the debut album, Deadly Fairytales.'

To be more specific, Deadly Fairytales isn't actually your debut. 'Well no. The first record, named Live to Suffer, was made a year ago with producer Hiili. I don't wanna criticize his work in any way but that record didn't simply work. We made a very radical decision not to release and promote the album at all. It didn't represent us as we are. The songs were good, but I think that they didn't get the treatment they deserved. The songs have their own character and they should be treated in relation to that.'

'There's such a big selection of records out there and I know the feeling when you pay full price for a CD and you try to get into it, but it just doesn't convince you. Our first record would have been just like that. We had a contract with the Austrian Dark Matter label and they wanted to release it. We just said harshly that this record isn't good enough and we won't allow it to be released. To us it was a personal matter; we didn't want to release something that sounded like shit, but to them it was just business - they wanted their money back. We sent angry faxes to each other and somehow one of our tapes had ended up at Earache who wanted to sign us.'

At this point Gandalf became aware of their own value. Dark Matter estimated that the band would be worth 400.000£ in future income. Noble as they were they would let Gandalf go for 50.000£. 'That's real irony of life, Nalle laughs. Here you sit in Finland and wonder where you would get together some money to buy some food. So, we let Dark Matter know that if anything else didn't help we would change our name and just play music at our rehearsal room. At the end they settled for 20.000 FIM, which covered their expenses. Earache paid that one and we made a deal.'

The band started to think about a new place to record the album. The excellent Children of Bodom debut spawned the idea to try out the Astia studio in Lappeenranta under the guidance of producer Anssi Kippo. The album was recorded last spring over a period of three weeks, two for recording and one for mixing. 'The experience with Live to Suffer was good in the sense that we learned from our own mistakes. This time we knew what we didn't want. Nothing was left to chance. I know that this record is a hell of a lot better, all in all, than the last one, but you see, I have always trusted the sound of my heart, it has always told me when the songs are as they should be. If there's something I trust, then it's my own song writing.'

'Deadly Fairytales contains a variety of songs. Fast stuff and some slower stuff. Well-defined song structures and riffs, which together make a well-defined package. The running order is thoroughly thought out. In that sense this is a very calculated album. When it comes down to the music, I hate labeling. I would prefer to say that it's just music - well played and produced, which consists of catchy, melodic compositions without forgetting hardness and aggression. If you compare this material to our demos, it has been said, that this album is slower, it lacks that 'rushed' feeling.'

On the other hand, Gandalf's last two demos, The Cradle and Snakebite were praised by a lot of people. 'It was no big surprise for me, Nalle says immediately. Why would I make bad music?'

Deadly Fairytales sure proves that. It must certainly call for patience and 'sisu' to start recording a once already recorded album again. Didn't you ever feel like packing it all in? 'That's been asked before, Nalle wonders - this record was a thing that had to be made. Music has always been a passion for me and packing it all in would be the final blow. You could rather speak of some sort of frustration. You make music from your heart and then you sit and wonder, if it interests anybody at all. But I know, that we have ten really good songs on the album - in our opinion! I know people that have slagged us off, maybe due to my past, and then when you ask them if they have heard our album or anything else, they then usually fall completely silent. However, this music is not made for trend followers, instead it's for people who listen to music without prejudice. Sometimes it springs to mind that, what would the reaction to us be if I didn't have this burden from my past. I know that it's, in some circles, trendy if not even required to shit on us. That's ironic but maybe it says more about the people who dislike us than it does about us.'

Even though Nalle is the main songwriter within the band, Gandalf operates on democratic principles. 'They have their say, they are not some fuckin' puppets. The truth is, there are five of us in this band and that makes up for five different opinions. Our music looks like us, not just me. It just so happens that I have written most of the material and I am also the one who keeps in contact with the record company.', Nalle clarifies. 'There's never too much good music in this world. Those songs are reflections from within my head of the things that defines good music. For sure, I'm proud of my doings, otherwise there would be no point to all this. It's no use to say I'm sorry.'

What or who has inspired Gandalf? 'Entombed has been a very important band to me and Nicke Andersson is like a god of drums to me. You see, the purpose of Gandalf is not to be a copy of Entombed. What would be the point of that? I don't know if we would be a better Entombed, but at least we are the best Gandalf.'

'If you ask me, Monster Magnet is the best, says Sami who sweeps by.'
'Maybe we remind you of some band because we have a same sort of vision when it comes to music as they have.', Nalle continues undisturbed. 'We've been compared to In Flames and Sentenced, which I don't understand. I don't like In Flames at all. Sentenced I like, but it's not as if I would wanna copy anybody. But, on the other hand, different influences have to be taken from somewhere and are quite unavoidable.'

'We all listen to different kind of music, so sometimes we are on a collision course. Now and again it feels as it would be easier if all of us would have the same taste. Then again, you could consider the variety to be a richness for us, I don't know. It's a little miracle that we have had the strength to look at each other's faces this long - but then again, all this could fall to pieces tomorrow. Maybe the friction is our building force...'

I ask Nalle about Gandalf's international plans. The band has played shows in Finland with a steady pace, but now, when the band is signed to Earache with wide distribution networks, the doors could open elsewhere also. 'The record is scheduled for a world wide release, but you won't achieve anything without hard work. For example Stratovarius, Impaled Nazarene and Sentenced broke through abroad first and then returned home as winners. Maybe this will happen to us - or then it won't. The comical side to all this is that there are many out there who want to buy our record, but can't get hold of it. In England you do get it - at Virgin Megastore. It would be nice to get it at the band's home market also!' Nalle puts it with an ironic smile on his face.

'There's one more challenge to overcome. There's gotta be challenges. It's challenging to make good music and get people to listen to it. There's also gotta be a goal which to aim for. Maybe Slayer, Gandalf and Metallica playing the same show. You get nothing out of life if there aren't any surprises and ambition. When it comes to this band, it's important for me to cause some reactions - positive or negative, it doesn't matter, as long as there are reactions!'

The Voice Of Gandalf, Interview with Jari Hurskainen, May 2000

Howdy, Jaska. What's up besides this interview?

- The timing is good. Gandalf's recording sessions will start within a couple of days. I'm feeling anxious...

Seems like you have done some excercise. Do you need those muscles for singing?

- Hah! When I digest that question for a second, I think of that it benefits my breathing technique. Both the gym and the singing needs that. In practise, if the gym would help, I most likely would be a pro - yeah!

When you were growing up, what kind of music did you listen to? How did you get to know heavy metal? Was it more traditional kind first, or did you start with good old Death Metal?

- My father introduced me to quite a selection of music and in the end it's only good. 60ies, 70ies and -80ies stuff from John McLaughlin to Deep Purple. Around -83 I turned more to the direction of metal with Iron Maiden in the lead - who else!

Lots of bands have turned to clean vocals. I hear some Duran Duran on the latest Amorphis album. Do you think they are revisiting childhood favourites or is it the dough all these converted bands are after?

- Why not? The Durans had, and have good pieces of music, although personally I don't see anything in common between them and Amorphis. When it comes to singing its their own business. In my books the emphasis is on the expression, for instance Glenn Danzig or Tom Araya. No matter if the vocals are clean or growl the most important thing is the feeling and the expression. It's a fact that there are not that many Dickinsons out there, even if you trained for 15 years. That's it.

Is that why bands tend to switch to cleaner vocals at some point,like such as Sentenced, Paradise Lost and Entombed have done, or they go retro? Looks like it is contagious nowadays. Nothing wrong with it but just asking your thoughts on that.

- Every band has their goals and awareness of their own future - thank God. From the ones you mentioned, the only one who's got lost is Paradise Lost. It's their trap, I really don't have to listen to their latest album.

There's really no bands who have done it the other way, from pop to growl and kick ass.

- What a legendary line, really! I can see it in front of my eyes: R.E.M. snarling 'Everybody Hurts...'

I'm really looking forward to a new album by Gandalf. Some rumours say it'll happen in the near future. Will you keep up with the energetic style also on the new album?

- As I said, we are entering the studio on February 1st 2000 and it's going to be very interesting stuff. The material will be of a broader scale than before, although we won't be compromising the energy of the music (I'll take care of that!).

When will it be out? Any surprises on it?

- The release won't be in our hands. Of course we wish that it will be out in May. It's up to Earache. What comes to surprises, our producer Leiden 'The Studio Wizard' will surely be adding several magical touches to our material. More about it later.

There were some really clean female backing vocals on Deadly Fairytales, but just a little. Is that a hint that we'll hear you doing the same - clean vocals?

Let's see what we'll figure out in the studio. Of course there are lots of things that we'll be able to test only during recording. We have to keep a little tension and suprises on the go. This time the singing will be significantly more manly than before. I won't tell you more than that.

Has growling ever given you a sore throat? Is it amplified with some special effects?

- The engine of a car becomes shitty if you don't push the pedal to the metal once in a while. The same goes with this growling. If I have a months break in snarling, it's sure that I'll have a somewhat irritated throat when I start singing again. Periodical training keeps me on the track. My voice is quite clean, a little distortion plus a tiny echo and that's it. I still emphasize the feeling.

Any medicine needed after one hour of growling on stage?

- On stage I can flush my throat with 2-3 litres of water, maybe one beer. Most important is that I have as neutral liquid as possible. Naturally, everybody has their own tricks.

Your favourite singer? L. G. Petrov?

I hope it would be simple to choose just one name. Well, the particular favourite of mine is still Mr. Dickinson - at the age of 43. He's still kicking ass, no symptoms of fading away - I have to admire him. All the glory to Lars Göran, but in my category he's no ace. What I'm trying to tell you, is that, my idols and my own style does not necessarily have nothing to do with each other.

Do you make or do suggestions about new pieces of music that Gandalf is making?

- Our band is democratic, so that everybody can sign what the result is. Nalle and Timo are the main wizards but everybody are expressing themselves. I dunno what the future brings...

What is your favourite track to growl on stage from Deadly Fairytales?

- It depends on how I feel. Sometimes 'End of Time', 'Fade Away' or 'Eternal Fire' and so on... I think it's good that the song changes. It might be quite dull if there was just a single piece that would work for me.

The gig by Gandalf you'll never forget?

- What the hell, again I have to place one above the rest! I can't say... in six years we have had both good and bad gigs. The ones in 'Nummirock'-festival I remember well. The target group was right on, the crowd was drunk as skunks and the atmosphere great. A real hell hole. Right on!

How does it feel to be in front of a crowd - doing the gig?

- That's the icing on the cake. Feel the adrenalin in your veins, provoke, turn the whole place upside down, make the people listen to you!

Do you ever get stage fever?

- Could you call it excitement - maybe, hard to say!

How do you relax after a gig?

- The debriefing of the gig within the band, couple of ciders etc... (only heaven knows!)

Do people give you feedback and do you read magazines reporting deeds by Gandalf?

- At this point in my career the feedback has been quite minimal, but let's see what'll happen with the new album. There must be both positive and negative criticism - that's a good reward for this job! Therein might be some good things, considering the future...

The best gig where you have been in the audience?

- I've gone to see gigs for 15 years, hard to say what's the best. The last Iron Maiden gig was fantastic, for it was not made in the 'take the money and run' style, but a true Heavy Metal show. Sincerely appreciated, I'm waiting for the new album from them.

Are you looking forward to touring? Any plans about it?

- We have been planning that a hundred times, and for some strange reason that never worked out. But if we are given a good framework, we'll do it for sure. We have plans to do it this spring, but there's no reason to talk about it yet. Let's wait and see.

What's the thing that you remember best when Gandalf has gone to play somewhere?

A couple of years ago, when we played the Kauhajoki Casino. Our pro driver Speedy-Saarinen forgot to fill the tank, and on the way back we ran out of gas, and were stuck in the middle of nowhere for at least five hours. It's a rock'n roll cliche...you get what you order, hell no!

Lepakko is closing down, and the corporate world is taking over. Money rules and some good stuff turns to dung. Will you be missing Lepakko?

- Lepakko left me with fond memories of gigs, but you can't help it. It's so that everything has its time and place.

If Gandalf was a pet, what would it be?

- It would be an American pitbull terrier...Grrr!

Thank you for the interview. Say the last word, please.

- If you wait for something good, you can never wait for it too long. Hold your hammer high!!!

Metal-Rules Interview with Nalle Österman, October 23, 1999