Dark Buddha Rising Interview
Described by it´s label as a rare and extraordinary black diamond, the Finnish void gazers in Dark Buddha Rising has been refining their abyssic voice for quite some time now. With a new full-length album in the pipeline, Hinsides Magazine thought it was a good idea to meet up with Vesa Ajomo, guitarist and creative commander in this beast of a band, to talk about the new songs and what life in Tampere is like.
Photos by Maija Ajomo
…
It´s a typical rainy day in the end of October when Vesa shows up on the screen in the headquarters of Hinsides. We´ve decided to do the interview face to face via Skype, and the first thing to sort out when we finally are able to see each other is how the time-zones differs between us. The precarious reason to this being that I somehow had managed to overlook the fact that Finland is one hour before us here in Sweden, and hence failed completely to make the planned synchronized dive into the question sheet. Right before show-time I realized my mistake though, and one mail and a few angst ridden minutes later Mr Vesa responded that my blunder was not to worry about;
- I had to cook some food so it´s actually better this way, he writes back.
So it´s the concept of time that becomes the proverbial ”ice-breaker” when we finally has gotten ourselves and the required technology to function properly. The thoughtful man on the other side of the signal tells me that the Finns also did change over to ”winter-time” last weekend, and that this questionable move makes it darken even earlier than it would have otherwise. A truth as clear as the fading daylight outside, and when we´re through with the courtesy phrases I ask Vesa about where he´s at and what the views around his location looks like?
- I´m at home here in Tampere, he responds. A city that´s been my home for the last twenty years. I moved here in the year of 2000, and recently we relocated from the center to a new place which is closer to the surroundings. Tampere lies in between two lakes and now we´re closer to one of those which is great. We´re closer to nature, it´s not that expensive as in the city, and there is nice wooden floors in the new flat so there´s really nothing to complain about.
Tampere seems to inherit quite a vivid musical habitat with a lot of active bands?
- Yes… I´m thinking of how many bands we got here with a record deal and there are quite a few…
But Dark Buddha Rising is not founded in Tampere, right? I read something about a different place that were said to be your original home?
- No, that´s a misconception actually. It´s our former main vocalist who lived in Laitila, but we don´t mind about this confusion. If someone believes that this would be the place of our origin it´s just fun, really.
So how come there are as many different interesting musical project hailing from Tampere?
- Hmm, It´s a bit difficult to pinpoint any obvious factor other than that kindred spirits tend to gravitate towards one another. We share our rehearsal place with Oranssi Pazuzu and so, yeah… that´s just one example.
Ok, but where does your sound come from then? It seems as if Dark Buddha Rising are one of the first Scandinavian acts to plav this kind of slow, heavy and meditative music? Do you agree, and is it possible to look upon your band as pioneers when it comes to this kind of expression?
- I´m not sure if we were first or if one could call us pioneers really, but the question of where our sound comes from is a lot easier to answer as DBR in many ways has evolved from what we did in our earlier band Galactika. In this constellation we developed a taste for playing repetitive and rhythmic. I´ve never been a technically advanced guitarist in terms on notes per minute, and in Galactika I found out what my main assets are as an instrumentalist and composer. Eventually things got a lot darker and heavier along the way…
And how about your initial inspiration? Are there any specific influence worth mentioning to what became Dark Buddha Rising?
- Well I would say that the lunatics in the Finnish band Circle definitely were an inspiring force in the beginning. Especially when we still were taking our first steps with our former band. They were quite active back then, and their blend of all kinds of different styles inspired us to become openminded about what you can do with music.
You mentioned your rehearsal place earlier and something that I´m curious about is how you would describe the experience of rehearsing your material? Considering the stretched periods of time that your songs occupy, it must be challenging to maintain focused and to keep track on where to get out of the loops?
- I actually think that there is a lot going on in our songs. And I do not find it boring or a hassle of some kind to rehearse. It´s always a good experience in my book. There is nothing sad or negative in our songs, despite what some may think. It´s just sheer power and relief from distractions. The patterns that we play are built around geometrical shapes that connects to the lyrical themes and the best way to know when a transition is about to happen is if the drummer is announcing it with some kind of audible signal. The worst method would be to count I guess, and ultimately you just know from your backbone what to do and when while playing.
So rehearsing is not that different from playing in front of an audience?
- It´s not the same, of course…but I do not usually seek contact with the audience except through the music as I need to be in the right place inside myself in order to make the concert count.
Ok, but even so; do you have any memories from performing live that you cherish a bit extra?
- There is a festival in Finland that is called Sideways Festival that I enjoyed a lot, and of course the gig we did with Waste of Space Orhestra at Roadburn has to be mentioned as well. The latter much because of the circumstances with all of us involved being forced to rehears a lot just because of this one single occasion. The triumphant relief after that performance when everything had gone well and as planned was something extra for sure.
Speaking of the infamous and overall respected Roadburn festival in Tiburg, Vesa tells further that there were a tape released from when DBR played there as well. It´s called ”Live at Roadburn 2012” and were released by Future Lunch back in 2014.
Yes, but now we´re already here in 2020 and you are about to release your seventh album with Dark Buddha Rising. What is it usually with a new release that excites you the most?
- I guess I´ll have to say that holding the physical manifestation of all the different efforts in my hands for the first time, and to see how it turned out is the most exciting part to me. When the album finally is released you´ve already heard it a thousand times so to see how the artwork plays along with the music and your initial ideas is something that I enjoy a lot. I take a lot of responsibility for the lyrical and visual thematics so it´s really a special moment to see how all the pieces came together in the end. J-P Koivisto helps us to manifest my visions of the visual concepts and we´ve worked together for some time now. He´s a great designer and knows how to achieve very specific colors in the printing process and so forth.
The new album Mathreyata consists of five new meditations whose fundaments were recorded in Space Junk Studio by Kimmo Nyyssönen even before the work with the Waste of Space album had begun. It´s described as the natural sequel to the acclaimed previous effort Inversum (Neurot records 2015) and shows yet again what a focused band it is that we´re dealing with here.
So what can you tell us about the new album? Are there any specific concept behind it that you want to share with the world?
- Well, in terms of concept…you know; every album with Dark Buddha Rising has kind of the same concept. Which is tthe rise of the Dark Buddha. What causes this to happen might differ from time to time though.
So what was the reason to why the Buddha had to emerge this time then?
- It´s hard to explain, and perhaps not meant to speak out about. I think you´ll find the answers in the music and the lyrics.
Ok, but how did the new songs come together? It feels as if the music itself is a result of a mutual effort?
- It´s true that we create the songs from jamming riffs together in the rehearsal place. When we hit a sweet spot we usually record it to not be forgotten. The music usually comes together from riffs but sometimes a lyrical idea can affect the music as well. Some riffs on the new album is as old as several years now and the album is a bit delayed due to our involvement in other, previously mentioned, projects as well.
Do you think that your work with Waste of Space Orchestra has had, or will have some affect on DBR?
- Not so much on this record that it might have on the next one. But yeah, it might definitely be so that our experiences with Waste of Space will affect the new material that we are about to start working on now. That´s not impossible.
So you are already working on some new stuff?
- Yeah, as I said earlier; Mathreyata were written and recorded some time ago and now when everything is cancelled due to the plague there is finally some time left to start a new circle. I´m actually not that worried about things getting postponed as I´m more eager to create again than to do anything else to tell you the truth.
After this honest statement of how Mr Vesa feels about the current Covid-19 situation, it looks as if the future for the Dark Buddha is not that dark after all and that there still is time left to be inspired and to create between the two lakes around Tampere. Before we round things off I´m curious if he ever has consider or aimed at being a full time musician. A question to which he responds that being away from home as much as it would take has never appealed to him to any greater extent.
Hearing his young daughter demand her rights in the background makes a lot of sense to this statement and after the usual exchange of polite ending phrases it´s time to call it a day.
Mathreyata is set to be released on Friday the 13th of November 2020 via Svart Records.
You´ve just read an excerpt from an interview that will be printed on paper in the next issue of Hinsides Magazine. The first issue can be ordered here: