Exclusive Interview: ENSIFERUM bassist Sami Hinkka brings folk metal and fun to Western shores

November 7, 1:36 AMHeavy Metal ExaminerMark Morton

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One of the longest running bands in the folk metal circuit, Finland’s Ensiferum [which translates to “sword bearing”] shows no sign of age. From its humble origins in 1995 to now, the band is not only a vibrant source of energetic heavy metal, but Ensiferum is a wonder to behold in the live setting.

As the band kicks off its fifth invasion of North America (with such diverse acts as Hypocrisy, Ex Deo, Blackguard, Swashbuckle, and Lazarus A.D. in tow) to support the new album From Afar, bassist Sami Hinkka took some time to speak with Examiner and discuss what it is that makes Ensiferum such a fascinating yet resolute metal band. [Note: at press time, Hypocrisy and Ex Deo have postponed/delayed their participation in the tour due to immigration issues.]

Does it surprise you how well and how quickly America latched onto the pagan metal movement once you guys started touring over here?

Kinda. At the end of 2007, before we started doing complete tours in North America and before any of our albums were released there, we did six shows in Eastern Canada. Most of them sold out, so there were definitely omens in the air. It’s nice that people really dig that stuff.

I don’t know if it’s just luck, but we seem to have very good audiences wherever we go. Like during Paganfest, we did a show that was about 200 meters from the Mexican border. There were only like 50 people there, but it was definitely one of the best gigs I ever played. They were so into the music. It’s very nice touring in America!

How was your stint on the Summer Slaughter tour? That seemed like an odd pairing, putting Ensiferum on the same stage with ultra-brutal death metal and death-core bands.

Yeah, we were definitely the “white sheep” there. But it was cool; every night we got new fans. We would constantly have people coming up to us saying, “Wow, I’ve never heard of you guys before,” “You guys completely rock!” I think it was the first night of the tour, and we went on stage with our kilts and topless, with beer bellies, and no tattoos. Every death metal band seems to have guys with really big muscles and tattoos, but then we get up there with kilts and beer bellies, playing this over-melodic music. I heard people saying “What the f*** is this?” But we got a very good response.

I personally would prefer that kind of tour where there are different kinds of metal bands. It might get boring having to watch ten death metal / death-core bands in a row. I think you have a better chance of growing your audience if there was more of a mixture of styles. Like our upcoming North American tour with Hypocrisy – they’re VERY different from us.

Do you realize that Ensiferum is essentially the flagbearer for the folk metal touring scene in America? I don’t think any other band has come close to the number of tours you guys have here.

Yeah, I think we’ve done four tours in North America so far. We’re very privileged to have had these great opportunities, and I hope we can do more. We were actually joking the other day that we have played more shows in New York and Montreal than we have in many cities in Finland! It’s pretty funny!

With the prevalence of pagan, folk-inspired metal on a constant rise, with bands cropping up everywhere, do you find it at all difficult to maintain your identity in a scene that is beginning to flood?

No, we don’t worry about that stuff. Our goal is to just be honest and passionate about everything we do. On From Afar, there are two songs over 10-minutes, which is commercial suicide. What we do is try to find that 15-16 year old guy inside each of us, who just started his first band, and try to write with that hunger and passion every time we compose a new album. We set the music “business” side aside and just focus on our music.

How did you come to be in Ensiferum anyway? I felt the album you did while you were in Rapture [Silent Stage] was fantastic.

This is pretty funny. I’ve done a lot of interviews recently, and it seems that the journalists in North America are more familiar with Rapture than they are in Europe. But I really loved Rapture; their first album, Futile, is still one of my favorites.

Rapture is still somewhat of an active band. I heard they played a few shows some time ago. But the problem is, each member is involved with millions of projects – the drummer is in Finntroll, etc. But I didn’t quit Rapture right away when I joined Ensiferum. Rapture played like two or three gigs a year, and eventually, they came to me and said, “Hey, we’ve got a few gigs coming up.” I checked my schedule and saw that there was a complete tour booked with Ensiferum, so I said, “Guys, it’s probably better for you to get a new bass player.”

It would have been much better for them to go on with a new guy, since they only play a few shows a year, than to have to cancel them because of me. But we’re still good friends. But like I said, that’s the problem when you have a band with members in different projects. Eventually you are going to get into a situation where you have to compromise.

Ensiferum was previously known for including one cover song by a relatively well-known metal band on each album. This time around, you covered a pop song [“Vandraren”] from a Swedish band I’ve never heard of [Nordman]…

[Laughs] yeah, that’s true! That song was a big hit in the mid 1990s in Scandinavia. I don’t know. It all came about when we were touring with Amon Amarth. We were listening to Markus’ [Tiovonen - guitar] iPod, and suddenly the original version of the song started playing, and we all looked at him and said, “what the f*** do you have this on your iPod for???” Because none of us had heard that song in like a decade. But as we were listening to it, we thought that it had a pretty good melody. But the lyrics were just so absurd, we thought it would be a fun idea to do a cover of it. We like to do funny covers. And that’s something else that reminds me of my youth, because when you’re just starting out in a band, of course you’re going to play covers. It helps keep the twinkle in our eyes.

Yeah, From Afar does have a bit of a relaxed feeling to it, like you guys had a really good time putting it together.

Well, lyrically I think it is our gloomiest album, but yes, we did have a really good time recording it. We did it at this studio out in the middle of nowhere. It was literally a farm. You wake up in the morning, open the window and see horses running around, cats and chickens running about. You go get your cup of coffee, and right next door is the studio. But it really is one of the best studios in Finland. It was really laid back, and we weren’t limited to any time schedules.

So tell me about “Stone Cold Metal.” Right in the middle of the song is a Spaghetti-Western-style break with a banjo solo right in the middle of the song. Where did that idea spawn?

[Laughs] Oh yeah, well, Markus and I are big fans of those Spaghetti Westerns, and of course, we love Ennio Morricone’s music, and there has been some Western elements in previous albums. “Iron” and “Wanderer” both had some Western themes in them. I remember when we were writing “Stone Cold Metal,” and I had never had so much fun in my life.

We were laughing the whole time, and the more we wrote, the more crazy ideas began to surface, like the saloon piano thing, the whistle, and banjo solo – it just kept growing and growing. So we said, “Okay, let’s go completely over-the-top and do this properly!” But it made the album so big; I don’t know how we will top it on the next one. Maybe we will go backwards a little and do some thrash. I don’t know. We’ll see.

Catch Ensiferum on the road now with Hypocrisy, Ex Deo, Blackguard, Swashbuckle, and Lazarus A.D. on the following dates:

Nov 6 at Jaxx in Springfield, VA
Nov 7 at Crocodile Rock in Allentown, PA
Nov 8 at Volume 11 in Raleigh, NC
Nov 9 at The Masquerade in Atlanta, GA
Nov 10 at Culture Room in Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Nov 11 at AKA Lounge in Orlando, FL
Nov 13 at Meridian in Houston, TX
Nov 14 at Emo’s in Austin, TX
Nov 15 at Ridglea Theatre in Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX
Nov 17 at Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana, CA
Nov 18 at Key Club in Los Angeles, CA
Nov 19 at DNA Lounge in San Francisco, CA
Nov 20 at Hawthorne Theatre in Portland, OR
Nov 21 at Studio Seven in Seattle, WA
Nov 22 at Rickshaw in Vancouver, BC, Can.
Nov 23 at Warehouse in Calgary, AB, Can.
Nov 24 at Starlite in Edmonton, AB, Can.
Nov 25 at The Exchange in Regina, SK, Can.
Nov 27 at The Zoo in Winnipeg, MB, Can.
Nov 28 at Station 4 in St. Paul, MN
Nov 29 at House of Blues in Chicago, IL
Nov 30 at Peabody’s in Cleveland, OH
Dec 1 at Opera House in Toronto, ON, Can.
Dec 2 at Imperial in Quebec City, QC, Can.
Dec 3 at Medley in Montreal, QC, Can.
Dec 4 at The Palladium in Worcester, MA
Dec 5 at Irving Plaza in New York, NY