LionHeart :: Interviews :: Celesty (September 2003)

Celesty are coming from Finland, the country of lakes. They are continuing the good tradition being remarkable successors of power metal that Stratovarius have set through the years, while they manage to sound personal and highly epic! (Sorry for the extra long delay of this interview... normally I had it ready since February!! However, it's never too late for you to get their debut CD!)

-Briefly present Celesty for the ones who still don't know anything about you.
We started in year 1998 in Seinäjoki, Finland. Our line-up was totally different in those days. Only Ari Katajamäki (bass) and I (Jere Luokkamäki (Drums) are the original members. In year 1999 Tapani Kangas (Guitar) joined our band and we made one demo to our own use only. After that demo, we had to fire few members and find new to replace them.
In year 2000 J-P Alanen (Lead Guitar) and Kimmo Perämäki (Vocals) joined in Celesty and our band started to sound good. In year 2001 we made our first real demo "Warrior od ice" and after the recordings Juha Mäenpää (Keyboards) joined in Celesty. Few labels interested our music too but we wanted to record new demo because we knew that we can do better music than "Warrior of ice" was.
In the spring 2002 we made second demo "Times before the ice" and we all were very satisfied to it. Soon after the demo Arise Records contacted us and offered good deal. We signed with Arise Records and headed to studio in July 2002 to record our first Album "Reign of elements"

-How difficult was it to sign a contract with a label? Were there any other proposals apart from Arise Records? I guess the sold-out demos helped a lot, no?
Arise Records contacted us before we even send them any demos. They had visited on our website and listened our music there. Javi from Arise Records sent E-mail that “You have won the Helloween contest, do you have enough songs to make an album?” We were very excited and of course we started to discuss with them about the contract and they offered good deal so we signed it.
There was also few other label who was interested also to sign us but Arise Records offered the best deal and we had The Chance :-) to play on the Helloween’s Tribute album.

-Where do your influence sources come from?
Every member has own musical influences and you can find them from our website http://www.celesty.net
I think that our music is mix from Rhapsody, Helloween, Stratovarius, Gamma Ray and Manowar. When you listen our album I’m sure that you know what I mean. Of course we keep those influences as influences and we don’t copy anything.

-Tell me about "Reign Of Elements". It's a concept album if I'm not mistaken. Could you please give a short analysis on the lyrics direction and the idea of the concept.

Yes, RoE is a concept album and it tells you about the land called the Cryon. There is four Gods in the Cryon and every God have one Element Power (Ice, Earth, Wind and Fire). With these powers the gods keep the land in order.
Of course there is one man called Delinom who wants the Cryon under his command. Delinom gather an army and attack against God’s... Well this is only beggining of the story so you must read the story to know the rest... There is also much drama in the story and the lyrics isn’t just a warriors and swords words :-)

-If you had to choose just one song to represent yourselves on a radio show, what would it be and why.
Well, it would depend the radio show but I would choose Sword of salvation or The Charge.
I would choose Sword of salvation because it’s a Gamma Ray and Manowar type of song and Kimmo use different kind of voices in that song. Should I say that it is very aggressive song.
The Charge is also aggressive but it also very melodic and fast song. I have allways liked The Charge because there is lots of stuff on that son and still it works good.

-Your music is definitely epic & powerful. Personally I liked the album very much, but some others consider you as a clone band. What do you have to say to them?
Thanks. Them who keep us as a clone band should listen the album more. Many have said that our music is something different than usually in the Powermetal scene and when someone has compared our music to other bands there has allways been many bands not just one. Of course there is people who have listened only one song from our album and say something like “this is just like Stratovarius” but when they listen it more they have noticed that our album doesn’t sound just Stratovarius. For example many Blackmetal/Deathmetal fans doesn’t like Powermetal but they have liked our music when they have listened it more.

-I'm a fan of Scandinavian power metal. I like bands such as Nightwish, Sonata Arctica & Thunderstone. I think your sound have reports from the melodic lines of Nightwish and the vocal lines of Sonata Arctica. Do you like compared to other bands?
I think that we are more Powerful than Sonata Arctica and Nightwish. But I think that it is unavoidable if our music is compared on some other bands. I think that every people compares all kind of music. I think that all the rap bands sounds the same but someone else might think that they all are different... :-)

-What about live gigs? Have you played on stage yet to present the new songs?
We have played four gigs only after our album release but we have played our album songs in gigs before the release. We try to have booking manager at the time so we could do more gigs in Finnland and maybe in abroad also. It would be great to have tour with someone bigger band.

-I saw your website and I can tell is pretty nice. Of how much importance is the interaction coming through it? (I mean the feedback from the fans).
Great if you liked our homepage.
Internet is very important to us. Every day comes many E-mail messages all over the world and people signs to our guestbook also. Allmost all messages are positive, of course there is also these “Go to hell” messages :-) but I think that every band have positive and negative messages. We have taken that kind of happit that we answer all the E-mail messages and we answer also to all guestbook messages.

-Which way do you follow to compose songs? Does it work only when you are into pain situations or you can also be inspired when you are in a happy mood as well?
When I compose a song, it doesn’t matter am I sad, angry or happy of course you can hear it from the song that which mood I have been. I do music lot in the night and the listen it on the morning and if it’s good I continue it on daytime. Allmost all the best songs come at night when it’s quiet and dark.

-What to expect from Celesty in the near and far future? Which are your ambitions?
Well, I hope that we could get much gigs and of course I compose new songs all the time and we start to practise them soon. Next fall we’ll head in the studio and we start to record new album but let’s hope that we could do lots of gigs before the next albums record sessions.

-OK, that's all! Thanks a lot for your time & patience. Best wishes from me and Gate of Lions!
Thanks and I hope that you liked the interview.
To all readers: Listen Celesty’s –Reign of Elements-, RAISE YOUR SWORD UP HIGH AND STAY METAL!!Regards
Jere Luokkamäki