We're glad to talk with the members of Scars of Solitude. How's your live life going?
Tuomo: Thanks for having us. We really appreciate it! This spring we'll play a few shows in Finland. We started the year by playing our biggest show so far as support for Leverage at the legendary Tanssisali Lutakko in Jyväskylä. It's definitely a show we'll remember for the rest of our lives, especially me — after that, I got a nice little scar above my left eyebrow from a bass headstock hit by Lassi during our set. Despite that, the show was definitely the best we've ever played! We're taking part in the Tuska-Torstai band competition. The winner gets a chance to play at Tuska Open Air this summer! There are 32 bands left in the competition, and our first performance will take place at Hevimesta in Oulu on February 28. We'll have to see how far we can get after that. We're hoping for the best! We also have a couple of "regular" shows booked for the start of the year. We'll be playing in Kuopio and Jyväskylä in March. In May, we have a special 5-year anniversary show in our hometown of Enekoski, but I can't reveal more about that yet! There might be more dates added, but those are all the shows we've booked so far.

You recently released your new atmospheric single "Drown". What can you tell us about it? How was the melody created? What was the main theme behind the song?
Lassi: Of course, I'd like to say that the song was given to me during a secret ritual in search of interstellar inspiration, but no. It was probably on a Tuesday evening five years ago, and I was at home playing acoustic guitar when the melody and chords materialized from somewhere. That's how the main idea came about, and as a band we refined it into the sound it has now. The lyrical side of the song is about losing all hope, but having a loved one by your side who will follow you hand in hand until death. I don't have clear memories of where that idea came from.

Tell us about your plans for the future. How is your work progressing? How much material has already been recorded? When will the new album be released?
Tuomo: Well, we'll be playing shows this spring, and we have studio time booked. We're not planning to release an album anytime soon. At the moment, we don't have enough resources to record the material the way we envision it. Maybe once we get a label deal, we'll think about it again. But until then, we're focused on smaller projects, live shows, and of course, working on new music.

Are you planning to release a new single or video in the near future?
Lassi: We might publish something "new" even before this interview comes out! We'll release a new version of Live to Regret digitally on February 26. Maybe we'll also present something else soon later this year!

You have a very interesting dark and melancholic sound. Why did you choose this style?
Lassi: It's the northern melancholy that comes naturally to us. Of course, it also has to do with our musical influences, but Scandinavian bands tend to be like that. There's something in this corner of the world that you can hear in the music that comes from it. And at least in Finland, with this kind of weather, it's simply impossible to be happy for more than six weeks a year. That's a fact.

Are you planning to release a video for "Our Bloom"? If so, what do you envision for it?
We would like to shoot a music video for "Our Bloom". We see this song as very cinematic, so it's more than possible that we'll release a couple of nice visual pieces in the future.

Tell us about the band. How did the band form and how did you all meet each other? Why did you choose the name Enter Rana and what does it mean?
Young Teemu H., Teemu L., and Roope met each other when they lived in a small but idyllic town called Savonlinna. They discovered that their tastes in music and dreams matched, so they decided to find out what they could do with that. Ossi and Lauri, the last missing pieces of the collective, were found in Joensuu, where Teemu H. and Teemu L. were studying at the time. The band's name was stolen from an imaginary childhood friend.

What inspired you to get into music? Were there any events that led you to that decision?
Tuomo: I was very interested in music from a young age, and I have no idea where it all started. There was always some spark inside me that eventually made me write music, and I still feel that writing music is a really good way to express myself. There's nothing better than creating something from scratch and releasing it into the world, whether people enjoy it or not. It makes me so happy that people spend their time listening to my work and maybe even take something away from it. I don't know if there's anything better than that… except for cat cuddles! :D

Do you need outside support when creating music?
Tuomo: So far, we haven't turned to third parties when writing music. It can be really inspiring to write music together with someone outside the band who inspires us. So maybe that will happen in the future! Recording and releasing music, however, is a completely different matter. We trust Damn Sound Studios when it comes to recording our drums. Konsta Verkkala is just great when it comes to mixing. We've also worked with several mastering engineers along the way. So there are things we really do depend on others for. Lately, we've been releasing our music ourselves, and for the aforementioned "Drown" release, we actually recorded everything ourselves except for the drums, which was really inspiring!

Why did you choose English as your language? Do you think that lyrics in English can bring a band greater popularity?
Tuomo: For some reason, I've never felt comfortable writing lyrics in Finnish. I'm not ruling out the possibility of writing a song for Scars of Solitude in Finnish, but it would have to come naturally. Maybe the fact that most of the music I listen to is in English also has something to do with me writing lyrics in English. I think that on our domestic music market, Finnish would be an even better choice in terms of popularity, and it could even set a band apart from the mass of artists singing in English in a broader perspective.

Do you think musical education is important?
Tuomo: Not for me. I know very little about theory, and my playing technique is lousy. I just go with what sounds and feels good. I think that's the right approach when it comes to music. But I don't think knowing music theory or having good technique is a bad thing either.
Lassi: Musical education can be a huge advantage, but having passion and musical instinct is much more important. Of course, passion often leads to trying to get an education, but it's absolutely not necessary. You can have a new Volvo that's quiet and technically polished by leading engineers, but boring to drive. Or you can have an old Mercedes that's missing parts, makes terrible noise, and smells like gasoline, but has character. But if you combine passion and education well, it can be a very successful formula.

What themes are fundamental to you? Is death and hopelessness your main inspiration?
Tuomo: Death hasn't been a fundamental theme for me for a long time. On the other hand, hopelessness... I usually draw inspiration from personal life or from the people and topics that surround me at the moment. Lately, work-related themes have also been very inspiring to me. In some of our unreleased material, I also touch on themes related to childhood and the dynamics of social relationships. I usually convey in my lyrics what I've felt, seen, or somehow read about. But I don't want to burden people too much with my personal life, so I try to write something universal, so that I'm not the only one who takes something away from the lyrics. And yes, some of our songs have been laced with tons of black humor!

Do you feel personal growth compared to the beginning of your musical career? What has changed since the first release?
Tuomo: I definitely feel a lot of personal growth as a songwriter, even during the five years we've been making music with Scars of Solitude. The most important thing should be that I now feel much more connected to my own material. What used to be a bunch of riffs with lyrics written on top of them now feels more like art and has some personal connection, depth, and meaning. The last five years have also taught me a lot about working in a band. We've never had such a great atmosphere in the band as we've had in recent months! It seems that all the bridge-burning has paid off in the end…

Is it difficult to find your place on the music scene in Finland? What does a musician's success depend on?
Tuomo: A musician's success definitely depends mostly on their personality. Not being a jerk is a big factor. After that comes anything else. The scene in Finland isn't that big. You form bands with your friends and make new friends along the way. Then new friends ask you to join their band, and we're back to square one. I personally have met many of my idols along the way and have even had the chance to share the stage with some of them, even especially well-known ones here on the Finnish music scene. And honestly, I'm not a great guitarist or musician overall. Maybe it all comes down to not being a complete jerk and having enough courage? Maybe it depends on passion and a little bit of luck.

What do you think could make a listener lose respect for a musician?
Tuomo: Selling out. You have to be true to yourself and your listeners. You should only release music that you can be proud of. I think that, at least in metal music, most listeners tend to know whether a piece of music was performed sincerely or not. And the listeners deserve to hear the best result.
As for singles and albums, do you think the music industry could evolve to the point where albums cease to exist? Do you think it could happen that bands will just release a song or two every month or two as soon as they're recorded? Or do you think albums still have a right to exist?
Tuomo: I love albums, but I think the format has lost a lot of value due to streaming services. I believe albums will never disappear completely, but will become more and more rare. I think the music industry will move towards only the most significant bands releasing albums, while less popular bands will release music more independently. I think there's no point in releasing an album if you release most of it before the actual album comes out. I really think it's a pretty funny joke when you release an album and only a couple of songs are what hasn't been released yet. But I fully understand why bands have to do it now. These days, lesser-known artists have to keep up a steady release pace, or they won't matter. And labels are willing to invest less and less, and it's the less famous bands that suffer the most from this. But on the other hand, I really appreciate quality over quantity. A song is a work of art. In a way, you can feel relieved that a song doesn't have to fit into some overall concept, and you can experiment with it a bit more.

What are your plans for the future? Will you be playing at summer festivals or working on new material? What's the next big goal you guys want to achieve?
Tuomo: The first half of the year is basically booked with shows, and we also have some studio time reserved for April. You'll hear some "new" material sooner than you might think. Possibly even before this interview comes out! But yeah, our plans for the near future include a lot of rehearsals and preparing new material. We don't have any festival shows booked yet. I think our next goal is to play at some Finnish metal festivals like Tuska, Nummirock, or John Smith Rock Festival. I personally dream that we could also record and promote a new Scars of Solitude record with the support of a decent label and budget. It would be great not to have to make any compromises when it comes to releasing our music, but since we have very limited resources, we have to make quantitative and/or qualitative concessions.

Do you ever plan to come to Russia? We have a grateful audience and we're waiting for you!
Tuomo: Tours in Russia are something to aim for! If we ever do it, we hope we'll be accompanied by our countrymen from KYPCK.

February 23, 2020