Interview with Kristian Toivainen, Rotten Sound

- Hello, Kristian! You just released your new album, "Abuse to Suffer". First of all, my congratulations! How do you feel about it?
- Thanks! Like always it has felt like a long wait to get the album released, since the album was finalized some time ago. Excited to hear what people think about it! Personally I’m really satisfied of the album.     
- Tell us a bit about the new record. How could you describe the new material? What are the main differences from your previous works? Do you already have any favorite tracks?
- It still sounds like Rotten Sound but with some new twists. Compared to “Cursed” I think “Abuse to Suffer” is more focused, violent and angrier. I’m also happy with the production. At the moment my favorites are probably “Fear of Shadows”, “Trashmonger” and “Cannon Fodder”, but favorites have the tendency to change along the time.
 
- Where did you record it? How did the recording sessions go? In total, how much time did you spend on this album, from the beginning till the final mix? What was the original understanding of how the new material should sound like?
- Drums, guitar and bass were recorded at Sound Supreme studio in Hämeenlinna, Finland. We started by recording drums in January 2015 and guitars were recorded few months later. Keijo did his vocals at his rehearsal place after the guitars were recorded and Sami (drummer) mixed and mastered the whole thing. We wanted to take it easy and slow without too much stress this time, so it took some time to get everything done. This time we had pretty good understanding how album should sound like and didn’t have any communication problems, because our drummer was the one to do the job. Of course it was a lot of work for Sami, but for us others everything went smooth, haha.

- Last album had a great line-up of guests, including L-G Petrov, Jason Netherton and even Saku Hakuli. Did you invite anyone this time? What is usually your choice based on? Did you have anyone who eventually couldn't perform on the CD?
- We were discussing about some quest vocals, but it never happened. We just kind of forgot. I guess the guests before have been friends who were available. And of course L-G is a huge hero for us!  
 
- The new cover looks really great, who is the artist? Does the whole concept belong to you or was it truly artist's vision of this album? And you personally, do you prefer to guide the process or to let the artist his freedom? 
- The artist is Thomas Boutet, alias Mush, who works for Hellfest. Album cover was one thing we had a little bit of rush, but he has done a quite a few designs for us so we trusted that we’re going to get something awesome. The album cover concept is his idea, he gave us few ideas and we choose this one.  
 
- This full-length is your second release with Season of Mist. Why did you decide to move from Relapse? What are your expectations from the French label? 
- Actually our last ep “Species at War” was released by Relapse in US and Season of Mist in Europe. Our contract with Relapse ended and we discussed about different options and decided to release the next album with Season of Mist worldwide. Nothing wrong with Relapse though, great label with a lot of great bands.  

- In support of "Abuse to Suffer", you are going into European Tour. Are you ready? How do you usually prepare yourself for long rides and every night gigs? Is it exhausting for you? 
- It was 2013 when we last did longer tours, so it’s quite exciting. I don’t really do any preparing, just everyday life and job before hitting the road. First we have show’s in Finland (and one in Stockholm) every weekend and I think that is really exhausting, because going to work too. When touring, after maybe 3-3 days, you get the flow going and everything gets pretty simple. Really tired when you get back home though, haha.
 
- All your songs are pretty short, being about 2 minutes maximum. So how do you work on your set-list? And how many songs do you usually play per show? 
- We usually put two or three songs together, otherwise we would have too much pauses and that doesn’t sound tight. Usually we have something like 20 to 25 songs in our set-list, depends on the show.

- Now, on your Facebook page, you announced that you are looking for local bands to join you on stage during this tour. Tell us a bit about the whole idea. What kind of bands are you looking for? And what they have to do to get your attention?
- We have always liked the idea of having a local band on the bill, but it’s impossible for us to find bands for all the shows. This seemed like a good idea and never thought we could get so many responses. Lot of great bands too, seems like underground is alive and well! We are looking for interesting new bands with music that works for us and suits for the line-up. They don’t have to do anything special to get our attention, good music, enthusiasm and right attitude are enough.
 
- And the last question. You joined the band in 2010. So how did it happen? Did you have any audition? How challenging was it to learn the old band's material?   
- No audition, haha. Last bass player Toni decided to leave, so after a while Mika asked me if I wanted to try to play bass for Rotten Sound. What made it a little bit easier was that I had already played few rehearsals with RS in guitar around 2008. At that point they made the decision not to take another guitarist for the band. The most challenging part was that I had not really played bass before and first it felt really hard. I practiced a lot and guess I did ok, hah.     
 
- Alright, thank you for this interview, Kristian. Would you like to add anything in the end? 
- Thank you! Hope to see you at the shows!