HAIL!I'm Riku Salminen,guitarist for the band SOLITAIRE and we come from Finland!
*Who's idea to start up a Metal band and when did it all starded?
Originally it was my idea!I teamed up with Mikko,our bass player back in 1995 and we started developing this idea of a real hard hittin' Heavy Metal band with alot of speed/thrash influences.
We had a slow start,we were on square one for the first couple of years with musicians coming and going out of the band all the time,but we got all the pieces in the right places little by little.Mika(vocals)joined in 1996,Waaqqu(guitar)came along in '97 and our last line-up change was around Christmas'98,when we got Kalu behind the drums.
*Can you give a discribtion of the music style you play?
Yeah sure,like a told you it's kind of heavy metal with a strong speed and thrash flavour.I would say our music is a mixture of traditional British metal and 80's Speed','Thrash,we have traditional metal riffs and arrangements,but with much more tempo and aggression.
*Is eighties Metal important in SOLITAIRE's music and what are your 80's faves?
Definitely it is,basically the eighties styled Heavy metal is all that matters to this band.
We couldn't care less for all the 90's grunge,hip hop and nu-metal crap.We all grew up in the eighties and we still live in the eighties so far...hehe!About our favorit bands,i's say Iron Maiden,Judas Priest,Slayer ,Exciter and Kreator are the main influences.I also like Saxon,Motorhead and all other good old NWOBHM stuff.They're not only my 80's faves but my all time favorites and i still like'em anyway.
*Is this your first band or did you play in some other metal bands before?
No,it's not the first one.I'm 26 years old nowand i started playing when i was 15.The other guys are between 25 and 32 years,so we've been around the block more than once.We've had some other bands before Solitaire,not exactly real Metal bands,but Hard Rock,more melodic stuff.
I wasn't happy in my first band,it was too weak and poppy for me,so i quit and started developing heaviër and more aggressive ideas that eventually became SOLITAIRE!
*Tell me about your first record deal,how did you get involved with Iron Glory Records?
Back in summer 2001 we were propoting our demo at the time,sending promo stuff to record companies, medias,etc...and we got cantact from Iron Glory and they wanted to sign the band.
We discussed it and finally made the contarct.Right after that we started the pre-production for our RISING TO THE CHALLENGE debut album and we spent the late 2001 and early 2002 in the studio.
*Solitaire did a lot of gigs i suppose in the past,what's the biggest event so far and where was it?
We've had hardly any big events,they've usually been small clubs or youth houses or Metal happenings,things like that.So far,i would say the biggest event has been the HAMMERHEAD FEST in Lahti,Finland!It was an underground metal festival,an indoor gig where we played in 2001.But talking about big events,we have one coming up on the 19th july 2003 at KEEP IT TRUE FESTIVAL in germany.It's gonna be the biggest gig we've ever played so far.
*How did the crowd react?
yeah,we had very good receptions in Lahti back then,the crowd shouting along and chanted the Speed Metal-Speed Metal phrase in the end.We've heard the smae chanting on a couple of more of our gigs,so i guess it's becoming a sort of a trademark for our audience.
*Is Finland a country where True Metal lives?
Although we have some great friends and fans here in Finland.I still would say no.It depends on how do you specify True Metal,but i don't consider this melodic power metal scene,which is realy big here,as True Metal.
For me it's too melodic and gone way too far from the original Heavy Metal roots.With SOLITAIRE, we're going back to basics,back to that original feeling and aggression and hopefully,we'll come up with something new.But so far,unfortunately,bands like us are an endangered species in Finland.
*Do you guys live only for Metal or are there some other important things in your lifes?
I live for Metal and i die for Metal!!Sure,there are some other things,ordinaty every day life,but metal is the most important one.Some of us have dayjobs,some of us are stydying and i am the full time dreamer and Heavy Metal Maniac!It's my way of life and i don't know any other way to live it.Sure,i like to watch films,sports,play some foorball and i do stuff with computer and so on,but Heavy Metal is the number one.All other things in my lige go under the terms of this precise music......
SHOUTING LOUD AND BEING PROUD!!
*Plans for a next recording so far?
Well,not realy plans yet,we need to talk to the record company,but yeah,we've been working on some new songs lately and we have more hard boiling HM stuff and ideas coming up as well.So hopefully we'll get to the studio near the end of this year and then we'll see what happens.We have a music video for the song'Rising To The Challenge' coming out very soon,also something worth waiting and of course,we'll try to get as many gigs as we can.Hopefully we can come to play in Belgium one day,so you could come around and check the band yourself..we'll see.
Any final comments to all the Metal To Infinity readers?
All the best for all of you from all of us in the SOLITAIRE camp!
Stay hard and wet,boys and girls...there's still a lot of exciting Heavy Metal around worth checking out....like Solitaire.