Bloodred Hourglass: “We believe in democracy”
During the break between Pain and The Halo Effect I had the chance to have a smalltalk with guitarist Eero Silvonen and drummer Jarkko Hyvönen who tell us more about the activities in the Bloodred Hourglass camp.
First of all, congratulations on your extremely successful gig today. The tour is going very well for you. Here in Germany you are not as well known as in Finland. Please tell us a bit about Bloodred Hourglass…… *
Jarkko: Originally the band is from Mikkeli. That’s about 250 kilometres from Helsinki. But in the meantime we’ve spread out a bit in Finland and only come together for rehearsals. Bloodred Hourglass has been around for quite a long time – 20 years to be exact. Everything went its normal way until 2018/19 when we got our first international record deal. From then on, things suddenly changed and everything went much faster. That was great for us, of course. But we were already making music together as teenagers. Like many other bands, we’ve had a few line-up changes but there are still 3 people from the original line-up. So far we have released 6 albums and the 7th album will be released soon.
Eero: I am the newest band member and joined Bloodred Hourglass 5 years ago.
Again about your popularity. Many fans haven’t heard of you yet. How many gigs have you played here in Germany in the past?
Jarkko: To be honest, this is our fourth tour. In 2019 we were on tour with Evergrey from Sweden and two years ago with Turmion Kätilöt. Last year we did a short headlining tour and played eight shows. Now we’re here and it’s really nice. So we’re not as new a band as some might think… But I think here in Germany the fans have a lot of different opportunities and there are so many bands on tour here. That might be a reason why we are still relatively unknown here. This is definitely the biggest tour for us so far.
Eero: All the shows we’ve played in Europe so far are starting to pay off in some way. We’re going to see more audiences. Basically, you have to work hard to achieve your goals.
How did it happen that you got the coveted slot as opener for Pain and The Halo Effect?
Jarkko: We work with a very good booking agency and we were suggested for this tour and are very happy that our Swedish “comrades” decided to take us along.
Eero: A very good line-up of bands that are different in terms of musical orientation but somehow close to each other. It just fits!!!
Your next album is coming out soon. Can you perhaps reveal a few secrets to your fans?
Eero: The funny thing is that it’s still a little secret itself 🙂 – but it will be released later this year.
Jarkko: The fans can be curious. Those who know us know that we have always been very keen on never sounding the same and trying out different things, but this time we have perhaps consciously taken a step back and focussed on being much more aggressive in our songs. In the past, we have also worked with foreign producers when recording our albums. For the new album, we made a conscious decision to record, mix and master in Finland and to work with well-known Finnish producers.
Are you a democratic band?
Jarkko: We definitely are. As we said in the beginning, Eero is the newest band member and joined Bloodred Hourglass 5 years ago. Eero has had a big influence on our songwriting from the beginning and has also brought a lot of new ideas to the last two albums.
Eero: We have a common vision and approach to songwriting and that makes it a lot easier.
Jarkko: We firmly believe in democracy
Eero: Sometimes 🙂
Jarkko: Of course there are moments when someone has to take a leading role to make a decision, but that happens automatically and without any problems.
Eero: It’s very important that we always respect the songwriter’s idea and then see how and whether it can be realised. We are four songwriters and we have a clear idea of what we can and can’t use. As a result, we have material that we ultimately can’t use.
There would be an opportunity for a B-side compilation….. 🙂
Eero: Yes, maybe. We have a few songs left over that might become really interesting in the future.
What are your plans for this year, as far as your stage presence is concerned?
Jarkko: This summer we won’t play that many shows because we have some work to do before the release of our new album. Two years ago we played at Helsinki Metal Fest and Tuska Festival and last year also at Tuska. I want to say that we are already eager to play live. In autumn we have a lot of shows in Finland and we will also be on the road in Europe again. We can already reveal that and there will be more news from us soon. 🙂 We’re halfway through this tour now and there are 13 more shows to come. Thank you for the interview and we look forward to seeing our fans at the next shows!!!
A big thank you to Jarkko and Eero from Bloodred Hourglass for the very informative small talk here in Frankfurt at the Batschkapp and good luck in the future with Bloodred Hourglass.
Text & Fotos: Hanzi Herrmann
* The legendary first interview with the band 2012, back then published on the old Stalker website, now HERE in our archive
