Infected Brain

Present yourself to the readers

I am Teemu the songwriter, singer, guitarist, bassist and everything else behind the band Welkins Boreal. Although I have been away from the music scene for many years before starting Welkins Boreal in late 2018, I was very active in the mid to late 1990s in several bands including Darkwoods My Betrothed, Nattvindens Gråt, Wizzard and Furthest Shore.

What’s the story behind PHANTOMS OF YESTERYEAR ?

The album contains 9 songs that were originally written for and recorded in 1996 and 2000 by Nattvindens Gråt for the albums ‘Chaos Without Theory’ and ‘Subuniverses’. So why the need to remake the songs? Especially ‘Chaos Without Theory’ had bugged me for many years. I know it had a bunch of song ideas that were great, but do to my own immaturity, the constant rush in terms of getting things organized and financed on a shoestring budget, the original recordings suffer from poor arrangements, out of tune vocals, and juvenile lyrics. I had long thought that some of those songs would deserve to be recorded in properly arranged and executed versions. So last December I started experimenting with some ideas and ended up doing a whole album. Everyone I’ve played the album to agrees that the new versions is vastly superior to the old ones, so I am happy to have those great ideas from my late teenage years online as proper versions of record. Also, the old albums haven’t been available for at least 15 years now with the labels back in the day having gone out of business ages ago. So now the best Nattvindens Gråt song ideas are available again, and now I am at peace with my past J

Why the name WELKINS BOREAL ?

Boringly, there is no major story behind it. It’s just a nice sounding name. I did not want to continue as Nattvindens Gråt, as the original joke of having a Swedish band name when you come from Eastern Finland (where there are zero Swedish speakers, unlike on our West Coast) had long gone stale. Finding a band name that someone else has not already come up with is incredibly difficult these days with thousands of bands out and about. Welkins Boreal caught my eye in some of the lyrics I had written for the Wizzard album ‘Songs of Sin and Decadence’. I am quite happy with it. Even if ‘Northern Skies’ isn’t the most original of meanings, I like the sound of Welkins Boreal.

What are your personal musical tastes and your influences ?

Classic heavy metal is probably the main style of music I listen to. Queensryche, King Diamond/Mercyful Fate, Iron Maiden, Sacred Steel. But my all time favourite bands are without a doubt Bathory and Candlemass. I know none of these bands sounds like Welkins Boreal but that’s I guess where all the other music I listen to comes into play. From Katatonia to U2 and Oasis to Paradise Lost and Nick Cave, to name a few. So I suppose the music of Welkins Boreal comes from an amalgamation of classic metal and pop/rock. Even though the music gets compared to Sentenced, To/Die/For and Charon, none of these bands is a direct influence. I actually started to listen to them when my friends who helped me find comparison bands for the album brought these names up!

In studio, what was the atmosphere for your album ?...etc.…

I guess I should come up with a story about inspiration being drawn from regular consumption of virgin blood in the studio… But I’ll just stick to the boring truth instead. I have a pretty well equipped studio at home that gives a good sound quality with the opportunity to spend as much time on the songs as I like – a luxury we did not have back in the 1990s. On this album, I have spent more time working on a single song than we did on the whole ‘Chaos Without Theory’ recording session in 1996. You can hear the difference. So the atmosphere was, boringly enough, most reminiscent of a day in the office where you work on song arrangements, mixes and masterings on the computer.

How does it work for the design of the CD ? and why this title ?

The design was done by the fantastic guys from All4Band – highly recommended ! Despite the naturalist/romantic band name, I wanted something modern for the cover, as I think I had seen enough nature/medieval/whatnot album covers already in the 1990s. I also picked the general colour palette and the guys at All4Band and I chose the burning angel motif from the song ‘I Approach the End’ as the centre piece. The title of the album is a direct reference to its roots in the past : the phantoms of the past (poorly executed recordings of the songs in the 1990s) had haunted me for years, as I explained in detail above.

How was the shooting of the clip APPARITION ? and why this choice ?

The clip was made based on the basic graphical work the guys at All4Band did for the album cover. I chose the song, with the help of some friends who gave feedback on the songs I had ready at the time, because it is a concise and catchy tune with lyrics that work well with the modern graphical theme. I originally wanted to make a video of ‘Sethian Seal’ but the theme of tomb raiders in late 19th century Egypt did not fit at all with the great graphical material we had at our hands.

Did you find a label ? If yes, how do you made the research ?

I did go through some label websites based on Google searches and my (now dated) knowledge of the scene from the 1990s. I also sent demos to a bunch of labels but did not get any responses. Having studied the revolution of the music business in the last 15 years or so a bit more now, I can very well understand why. Labels must get dozens of submissions every week (some perhaps even every day) and they have no chance of listening to all of them. So I guess most labels wait for bands to make a name for themselves first, and then sign ones that have a proven recipe for success. I only tried bigger labels as I had already figured out that smaller labels don’t have much of a role anymore. Hence, I decided that I rather keep the reins in my own hands and self-release the album. That way I can make the full WAV version available as a free download on the band website (https://www.welkinsboreal.com/music)

With Management and booking, how do you work ? And with whom ?

It’s pretty much the trio of me, myself and I… At the moment I do not aspire to do live shows, but if great opportunities present themselves in the future, I can pretty easily put together a line-up for live gigs. For now, I choose not to do that. I have a busy work and family life and thus limited time for music. I opt to use this time on writing and recording new songs, rather than organising and running to rehearsals.

What are your projects ?

Unlike in the 1990s, when I was involved in up to three bands at a time, I am firmly committed to sticking to Welkins Boreal for the foreseeable future. Being in control of the whole project allows me full degrees of freedom with the band, so no need for any side projects.

What do you expect from the future ?

More music! I have already finished one brand new song that is not a remake of an old one and I am very happy with it. The style is very similar to ‘Phantoms of Yesteryear’. I guess it’s the music that comes out naturally from me. I am planning a couple of more songs that I will release as an EP in early 2020.

Website to remember

For further information about the band and a free full download of the album:
https://www.welkinsboreal.com
Sign up for the mailing list on the website for access to new songs ahead of official release. Don’t worry about spam: I am super careful about using mailing lists very sparingly.

What would you like to say to the readers ?

I know there are a zillion bands out there and it is very difficult to choose which ones to give a go. But if gothic metal with some classic metal and pop/rock influences sounds like your cup of tea, give Welkins Boreal a try. The album is available on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer etc as well as free to download on our website and on Bandcamp.