1. Hello to Finland, thank you so much for interview. TAATSI nor your names are not exactly known to our readers, could you please introduce yourselves, tell us when the band formed?

Hello, and thank you for this interview! This is A (vocals, guitars, programming, lyrics) answering. We are two old friends, we met as teenagers in the mid-nineties, via some mutual friends in the local BM-scene. We formed the band TAATSI in late 2013, so this is a new project, although we have been doing similar stuff for a long time now.

2. According to the names of your tracks, you are most inspired by Finnish nature itself. This is hinted by your tumblr page, where you have a lot of nice and interesting pictures/photos of countryside. Who takes these photos and what does all this mean to you?

We are greatly inspired by the nature of these northern parts, and although we live in urban areas, we travel in the woods as much as possible. During these travels, we take pictures, and some of them end up on our Tumblr-page.

3. What inspires you most, besides the nature?

Personally, in this case, I am inspired by the relationships of man and nature, northern European folklore and fairytales, psychology, spiritual development, as well as general psychedelia.

4. In what way are the duties (writing lyrics and composing music) divided? Is there one person who makes everything or are the duties divided equally? Do you compose together or does everyone compose alone and they you gather to connect individual ideas?

We compose on our own, M using guitars and myself using mainly keyboards, and then we combine our ideas into songs. We both record our own riffs. I am also responsible for the general soundscapes, programming of the drums and synths, as well as vocals (and these days lyrics as well it seems). I guess this is the way we will continue to work in the future, trying to keep the composition-part as much 50/50 as possible.

5. Finland is known for its wide music (metal) scene. What do you think of Finnish metal bands? Do you have favourites ones or friends from other bands? Are you interested in current black metal scene worldwide? Which bands got your attention recently?

Finland has a good history of Black and Death Metal, in the BM case with bands such as Beherit, Impaled Nazarene, Black Crucifixion and Archgoat, and later with a lot of bands who have gotten much support in the global underground and so on, but I must say I am personally not that interested in the Finnish scene. Bands that have gotten my attention the most in recent 10 or so years are bands like Teitanblood, Antaeus, Wrathprayer, which are very different from the style of TAATSI, but our music comes from the more “nature mystical” Scandinavian mid-nineties feelings. We do have a lot of friends in older and newer local bands. A lot of the people who were around in the mid-nineties are still around.

6. Do you prefer CD or LPs that have just made come-back? Do you buy records of your favourite bands? And do you support local bands?

I used to by a lot of CD’s and Vinyl, but have pretty much stopped buying new music lately. I only try to buy the very best stuff, not to collect albums or whatever. I check the new albums of the bands I’ve listened for a very long time, and if they are good I’ll buy them. Of course sometimes a new band comes to my attention that is worth buying, but this is quite rare these days.

7. According to my sources, you are two-member band. Do you consider accepting someone else to the band, especially for the live concerts? Or is this subject taboo for you?

We have thought about this, but the future will show if there will be a for example real drummer in TAATSI. At this point playing live does not interest us, although there has been outside interest in us playing live.

8. I am really interested in the name of one tracks „Funeral March of Hintriikki Peltoniemi“. Who is it? The only thing I could find was that it is some old folk song. Is there a connection?

This is an old folk/traditional melody, about a spelman (a kind of a troubadour) who has died. I have loved this melody since I heard it as a child, as has the other member M, so it was very natural for us to do a “cover song” of this traditional piece. There will be similar “covers” in the future as well.

9. The sound of records reminds me albums of nineties. Do you like that era?

Yes, this is exactly the point of TAATSI, to make the same kind of BM we loved and made in the mid-nineties. We, the members of the band, did have a similar kind of project together in ’97-’98, which never really grew into anything bigger, so this time around we are definitely in a better position to spread the nature mystical atmospheres of the culture we loved and still love.

10. Where was the album recorded? I would guess home environment.

Yes, we work on my personal computer, which is an iMac with Logic Pro, if somebody is interested in technical info. Everything is programmed except for the guitars and vocals, but we shall see how this will be in the future.

11. How is it, that you have become interested in music and its extreme fields? Which band are your biggest influence and idols?

Well, since I was a kid, like 5-6 years old, I’ve loved bands like KISS and Iron Maiden, so it was natural this taste developed into liking of Thrash Metal, Death Metal, and Black Metal, although I have listened to a lot of different musical styles in the same time all along. I listen to anything that has feeling, I have no restrictions, so this has made me a bit different from the average extreme metal guy I guess?

I also love the extreme styles of Punk and Electronic music, and so much more..

12. Do you have plans for the future or you just wait for something to happen along the way?

At this point, in late August of 2014, we have over ten new songs ready and recorded, but we have no plans to release a second full-length yet, since our first album just came out, but it seems our inspirations to create this kind of music do not run out any time soon..

13. I think this is enough from me. Last words are yours.

Thank you very much for this interview and support! Check out our music, embrace the nature mystical feelings of our atmospheric Black Metal!