BURNING POINT
"...otherwise the music business as we know it is going to die!"
(Interview mit Pete, Mai 2009)
Hi
Pete, Congratulation to your new CD. First of all, please tell us a little bit
about the Band-Members.
Hello
to you too and thanks for the nice comment : ) Jussi Ontero (drums) is a amazing
multitalented musician and also my fellow member in Ghost Machinery, Jukka
Jokikokko is great bass player in the studio as well as a great stage performer
and also a fellow member in Stargazery. Jussi & Jukka are also both well
experienced studio workers. Pekka Kolivuori is a solid rhythm guitarist which
I’ve forced in to playing solos hah hah because he’s also a good solo
guitarist : =)
Pasi Hiltula (keyboards) is also a hugely talented player; he should definitively be up there with Jens Johansson, Richard Andersson etc. He formerly played with Kalmah and Eternal Tears of Sorrow….and finally there is me, surrounded with these great players :=)
When
and where was the band found?
We
were working at the same place with our former guitarist and he asked me to join
his project as a singer and that was in 97-98. After that demo we decided to try
different style of metal and started the BP in the fall ´’99 and our
basically first and only demo cd was
finished in March ’00.
Is
Burning Point your first Band?
Not
the first band no but first that made “official” records.
Do
you have any favourite bands? And do you´ve a favourite Vocalist?
Oh
man, I have so many favourites…Of course the 80’s “giants like Accept,
Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Queensryche, Dio, Yngwie Malmsteen etc. But I’m a
huge “cd junkie” and I listen a lot of new bands as well, Nocturnal Rites,
Dream Evil, At Vance, Firewind etc. Also I like so many different singers too,
RJD, Tony Martin, Udo, Geoff Tate, Kai Hansen, Oliver Hartmann ( ex-At vance), Jonny
Lindqvist ( Nocturnal rites), Rob Halford…These lists are endless hah hah
What
was the first and latest CD you have bought?
I can’t recall the first, it might’ve been U.D.O.’s Animal House…Latest was a 2 old Y&T albums Black Tiger & Mean Streak. Latest dvd’s was U.D.O and Firewind :)
How
long does it take to realize the new CD and where did you record it?
This was a quite long process because we had some line-up changes and few gigs in between. Also few other delays that we couldn’t do anything but just wait :=) We recorded the album in HelGate Studios here in Oulu.
Any
favourite track on the album and why?
I
must say that I love them all !
What’s
the meaning behind the album title „Empyre“?
Well
, we wanted to continue the “fire theme” and that’s why it is spelled with
Y instead of I. And also we have
all the new elements like line-up, 4 composers in the band etc.we kind of build
a new Empire or Empyre :=)
Where
do you get your influences/inspiration from?
Lyric wise I get them from the everyday life. Music comes just when I’m jamming with my guitar or drive a car or whatever, songs just pop in to my head hah hah
Please
tell us about the cover artwork…Who made it and and what would you say with it?
It
was made by Felipe Franco who has done covers to Axel Rudi Pell, Iced Earth,
Blaze Bayley etc. It was a collaboration between him and us and it is
definitively the best cover in Burning Point’s history!
Can
you spend a living from your music?
Unfortunately
no…yet : )
Is
there any chance to see you guys in over here in Switzerland sometime?
This whole touring thing depends very much on album sales, if you guys want us to play there…buy the album and harass your local club owner hah hah Seriously, we definitively would love to play there but as I said, album sales must be good first…There is no “shortcut” to that.
Tell
us any highlights or painful stories from your Tour/shows?
Of course few highlights have been Sweden Rock, Tuska Festival gigs and also this tour we did in March with Cryonic Temple & Tragedian. But to be honest, to me it has been a highlight from the first demo! Nothing a really bad story comes to mind now…
If
anything would be possible. Tell us for which band you would love to do the
opening act?
To me its all the same, I’m ready to play with all of them! ;=)
Do
you´ve any songs ready for an new release?
Yes, we have basically 9 new BP songs already…
Let’s
talk a bit about the music biz… What do you think personally about the whole
download-thing?
If it is legal, great! …But if illegal, it is very very sad thing : ( Those who do that doesn’t realize now that sooner or later there’s only few bands left and labels that release the cd’s…I just hope that someone will invent some “code” or something that prevents the whole illegal downloading, otherwise the music business as we know it is going to die!
How
important is myspace for a musician really…. Your opinion?
It
has become a very important and easy channel to the bands and musicians to
present their music etc. to the public. I personally support it.
When
you aren´t playing music what do you do in your spare time?
Just basic stuff, watching movies, hanging with our dogs, listening music etc.
What
do you expect from the bands future?
I
try not to “expect” anything, instead I hope that we will increase the album
sales and would be able the tour more extensively!
At
the end of our interview we sometimes have some kind of a game. I´ll give you
some words and you tell us what comes to your mind…
Switzerland
Alps
& Cuckoo Clock : )
Finland
Home
Casting
Shows
I
love it!
Eurovision
Song Contest
Hard
Rock Hallelujah
Barack
Obama
Welcome
Change
Family
Important
Money
Wish
I had more .=)
Holiday
Wish
I had more :=)
Well
that´s it... Any final words to our readers?
Thanks
a lot for all the new & old fans for the support and thanks for buying the
Empyre album! We hope you’ll love it as much as we do :=) Keep checking the
news from our websites !
Thanks
for the Interview.
Pete
Ahonen
Burning Point
(Interview by Patrick)