1. Greetings to you, Antti! I assume this is your first interview for czech media, is that right?

That is correct, I’m very happy to share my thoughts with you, and hopefully one day I’ll visit the country - as a performing musician or just as a tourist.

2. First I'd like to ask you how you doing and what's new – have you been working on a music lately, or are you on tour with the band?

I've been busy with the release of The Last Season and trying to incorporate the new songs into a live setup. There are some gigs coming up but not worth calling it a tour. I'm also planning the next CRP release in my mind, but not really working on it yet.

I am not going to act like I am omniscient so let me make a straight confession. I got to your music just thanks to the new album "The Last Season". I'd like to ask you if you could (for me as well) reveal some of the main points of CONSCIOUSNESS REMOVAL PROJECT's history and also some interesting things.

Consciousness Removal Project was born in 2004. I had just moved out onto my own to study in the university of Tampere. My apartment at the time didn't have an internet connection and my friends lived in other parts of the city. I had a lot of time on my hands in the evenings, so I played a lot of guitar.

I also had a new guitar effect unit on my hands that kind of inspired these atmospheric guitar patterns. Those led into songs, which I then posted online, like I did with more traditional rock type of songs that I was demoing. But these atmospheric songs got the best reception, so I decided to pay more attention to them, and to separate them from my other songs. That's where the name Consciousness Removal Project dates from.

I had songs worth an album in 2005, and a second album in 2007, but I'm not very proud of that material anymore. However, two of my former bandmates from a metalcore band Blood On Our Hands, Artturi and Ville had heard these songs and suggested that we should go jamming on them some day. That's what we did, but at the same time I became inspired to write material that would suit better a band environment. That's where the vocal stuff and the metal riffs came in.

3. It got me very interested that you provide your music free to download. What was the reason for this generous decision?

Like explained above, the whole basis of CRP was to be an outlet for my musical ideas that I would then post online. My principle is to let people hear the music, not to make money with it. Recording the songs at home doesn't cost me anything, so it's not financially a problem to post the songs online. However, people demanded for options to have physical copies and/or to donate, so I made it possible with the new album.

4. CONSCIOUSNESS REMOVAL PROJECT is your project, which you run by yourself. I assume then that you are the only one who work on all of the compositions, make tracks from the right beginning to the very end, and so on, is that right? Is it difficult for an artist like you? Have you ever thought about sharing your work with other musician that play live with you?

In 2007 when the Live Collective first got together we became a 'band' for a while – we put up a website, took promo pictures, reheased together and did gigs – but in the end I wanted to keep making the music on my own. In fact, if CRP had become a democratic band, I would have soon had to put up a new solo project to relax musically! And that's still the point of CRP to me, to be an outlet for my visions, not to be a musical group with a certain musical style. The next album can always be something different.

I'm pretty positive that making long songs like this as a solo artist is a lot easier than as a band. With the aid of computer technology, I can basically jam against my own riffs and create full band arrangements at home. It also means that I can work on a song whenever I have a little bit of time and inspiration, whereas getting a five-piece band together into a rehearsal pad in the right mood for working out songs isn't easy.

Also, there's no egos. If a certain instrument part doesn't fit a song, or if a song doesn't fit an album, they can be erased and replaced, with no drama involved. I'd like to see anyone do that in a traditional democratic band.


5. During composing do you ever consult your music with anyone else, or do you consider yourself being the best critic at all?

Yeh, The Live Collective guys and some few trusty friends are the only ones who get to hear CRP songs during the making. Sometimes I do get feedback, but I think I'm pretty bad at receiving concretive critisism, heh heh. Actually the only chance that comes to my mind is that someone says 'I really do like this' at hearing a demo, and that encourages me to work on that even harder.

6. Music of CONSCIOUSNESS REMOVAL PROJECT is definied as post-metal. However, while listening "The Last Season" I don't think that's quite right. I see hard-metal influence, but also slow rather doom moments as so as the rock ones. How to understand it? Do you put everything that you like as a listener to CONSCIOUSNESS REMOVAL PROJECT? Where are your limits what to add and what don't?

Post-metal is the term that applies most closely to the present material. All the post-genres are difficult because they're defined so vaguely. Some elitists probably hate CRP because it doesn't sound enough like Neurosis for being called post-metal, and some people probably are scared of the metal parts when they see it described as post-rock.

For me, there are no limits, except that I can promise that CRP will always be atmospheric music. At this point I feel that the current path has come to an end and the next release will be something different. At the moment I feel like doing less of the metal and more of the post. But it's not just two-dimensional like that, there are probably other paths to step onto. Time will tell.

7. There are several guests on your "The Last Season" who excellently enrich those tracks. Could you tell me a bit more about them and this decision to invite them?

There are instruments that I don't know how to play myself, so I had to get some help, even though I arranged and demoed with the computer all the parts.

The biggest contributor of course is the drummer, Artturi from the Live Collective, who is a good friend as well, someone I can always trust on. He has played on the recordings since 2007, following demos that I make on the computer.

Other than that, some guest musicians were also friends of mine that I just asked to perform something that I needed and they came over and did their thing at my home studio. The theremin and fretless bass players I found through internet message boards. They recorded their parts at their places so I have never even met them.

Vocal-wise, I wasn't feeling confident about my clean vocal skills, but the song The Last Season seemed to need a long clean vocal part. Luckily I knew the best guy for that job, and it was Jaakko from an acoustic punk band called Jaakko&Jay.;

And I just love having female vocals on CRP songs, but this time it was used over a loud part instead of a quiet passage. Minna from the band On Volcano did a great job on them.

8. What was the most important thing during composing "The Last Season"? All of the tracks are very long and that's always hard when the musician wants to hold someone's interest for the whole time. Do you heed on the atmosphere and the variance of the tracks? How was it with "The Last Season"? Did you try to musicalize any story on this long and beautiful album?

I can't pinpoint a single thought or thing about making the album, but I can just tell that the songs were crafted mostly during the year 2009, before the previous album was even recorded. I develope the songs as an album as soon as possible, so it becomes a good album and not just a collection of good songs. The lyrics and vocal arrangements are always the last thing to get finished.

9. When talking about the story and things like that, what topics did you focus most on during writing "The Last Season"?

The theme for the album is the environment and how we as humans treat it. This planet gave us life for free, and some people don't seem to be thankful the tiniest bit. There's just so much selfishness, ignorance and pure hate against green thinking, that it makes me sick at times.


10. Is there any single thought that goes along with CONSCIOUSNESS REMOVAL PROJECT from the very beginning?

As far as song titles and lyrical themes go, death has been a popular one...but I've written about both fictional and real-life events, and also about both personal and global issues, so I don't think there's a single theme that would run through the discography.

11. Does the musical enthusiasm come from your passion for music or did you study it?

I took piano lessons when I was young, but ever since I picked up the guitar at the age of 11, I've learned everything on my own.

12. Or do you even make living by music?

I don't think there are many people who make their living out of music without any compromises. I wouldn't want to earn my living playing in a top 20 cover band or something, because I probably wouldn't have enough enthusiasm to work on my own music after a day of hard work on music.

Instead, I've chosen to pursue a profession from a completely different field, and keep music as a hobby, where it balances the daytime job routines perfectly. Sometimes music brings a little money in, but I'm sure I spend more on instruments and other music devices!

13. Is CONSCIOUSNESS REMOVAL PROJECT your only project?

I'm the other half of an internet-collaborative alternative metal project called The Lost Broadcast, and I also play now and then keyboards in The Fërtility Cült, which is a proge/psychedelic/stoner band consisting of people who have played on CRP's albums or in the Live Collective. And just to confuse you all, I also play bass and keyboards in an R.E.M. Tribute band!

14. Well that's it from me. I've tried to focus mostly on things about the band without any other unnecessary questions. I hope you haven't got bored and thanks for your time and amazing album!

Thanks for the interview!