Frontstage Magazine hatte die unglaubliche Gelegenheit, sich mit Eetu Henrik Iivari von The Holy zu unterhalten und in die kreativen Tiefen ihrer neuesten Single und ihres kommenden Albums einzutauchen. Eetu Henrik Iivari gibt Einblicke in die Themen, Klänge und Einflüsse, die ihre künstlerische Reise formen. Während sie sich auf ihre kommende Tour vorbereiten, teilt Eetu mit, wie die aktuelle Single und das Album ihre Live-Auftritte beeinflussen werden, und verspricht besondere Höhepunkte und Überraschungen für ihre Fans. Machen Sie sich bereit für eine fesselnde Reise in die musikalische Welt von The Holy.
Frontstage Magazine: What inspiring story or emotion is behind your current single, and how does it reflect in the lyrics and music?
Eetu Henrik Iivari: The lyrics of our new single studies the power balance in human relationships. Romantic, friend, family… it doesn’t matter. The closer you get with a person the more you will find push and pull, ups and downs, give and get back and other similar shifts in the field of emotions. The more you learn how to cope with these rocky roads the more you find the relationship to be meaningful and fulfilling. But there is also sadness in it. How long and deep you need to go to find real connection, love, admiration, respect etc.. And could all that effort be one sided without knowing. How do you measure love? How do you measure success in caring?
Frontstage Magazine: Can you provide insight into the creative direction of your upcoming album? Are there specific themes or sounds that listeners can expect?
Eetu Henrik Iivari: I as a songwriter had some really random visions when I started to write this album. I see music mostly as visual pieces and colors and this time I was thinking things like deep blue ocean, concrete bridges, november in Finland, really cold weather, Yrjö Kukkapuro’s ‘90 elementary school chair design, all kind of horses, horse fields and i was constantly measuring and scaling the music while writing that does it fit into this catalog of nonsense or not.. But from the lyrical side I was more inspired by good movies, books and art. You know, like Dylan etc.. In a more simple way I would say there is a lot of noise, natural room ambience, overall rawness, distortion, compression, tension and relief. But also a lot of beauty and hope.
Frontstage Magazine: How did the writing and production process unfold for the current single and the upcoming album? Were there any particular challenges or unexpected creative turns?
Eetu Henrik Iivari: I started writing this single in spring 2020 so it was alone in isolation, like probably many songs released right now… Covid times still affect everything. Drop by drop other songs started to unroll during 2020-22 but it was a really long and exhausting process to make this album. I’m glad the vision was clear enough to bring everything together finally and could not be more proud of the result. The challenge has definitely been this disconnection because of covid but now starting to think we made it. Made it to the other side. Not that all did i mean…
Frontstage Magazine: Are there collaborations with other artists or musicians on the single or the album? If so, how did these collaborations influence the sound and atmosphere of your music.
Eetu Henrik Iivari: We did only one collaboration on this album on the music side and that was with trumpet player Antti Hevosmaa from Virta. He is playing different horns and doing vocal effects. He is an amazing friend and has been playing some live shows as well with us back in 2019. We are actually touring with Virta 2024 and looking forward to those times.
Frontstage Magazine: How will the current single and the upcoming album impact your live performance on tour? Do you have any special highlights or surprises planned for your fans during the concerts?
Eetu Henrik Iivari: Playing live is everything for us and this time we were thinking more in the studio how the songs are presented in live. The whole production process and sound was designed in a way that it convoys when played live. The raw sound and expression is there. We also have more visual narrative in the upcoming tours and more bells and whistles to expand the experience for the audience and for us on the stage. It’s like a whole new world with all these new songs and emotions. Can’t wait to share that space with a real audience.
Fotocredit: Samuli Vienola
