Of Wolf And Bear
What is the common feature of the sociability of a wolf and a polar bear? While Ukri and Jan consider themselves polar bears (preferring solitude or few, very carefully chosen company), Frost and Walt see themselves as wolves. Wolves come in packs or solitary. The respect and need for solitude while still appreciating select company, connects them in their self-reflection on sociability. Interestingly, even after all the years of touring for Jan, it is still a bit of a challenge to get back into home-life mode: Going back to making food for yourself or having no one to tell you what to do, he explains. Walt, who is touring so much with so many bands, shares this challenge. Then Ukri admits that he is travelling so much that he does not really have a home-life mode. Frost has no difficulties in this area, which is surprising as touring is pretty much sharing a cardboard box with far too many people for several weeks, all while having a strict schedule and a director (tour manager) ensuring your compliance. Here, Jan’s prioritizing of social skills over drum skills pays back.
From Gear To Groove
Kits, Kits, Kits
All four drum freaks prefer playing on huge kits – although Jan admits he would not really need it – hiding themselves quite well from the audience. However, Jan points out that contact with and feedback from the audience are crucial to him, an opinion shared by Walt. Ukri and Frost have a more subtle connection with the audience. All their kits are neatly tied to racks which is apparently very necessary with Frost wildly hitting the drums. None of the other three are as explosive.
Setting up the kit for a show is the job of the drum techs and, the degree of precision with which the kit must be arranged can vary. Few drummers are as easy-going as Snoopy when it comes to his set up. He says that on a tour, even from one show to the next, he varies positions of single drums just because he feels like it. Ukri represents the other extreme, spending endless time putting cymbals and toms at the precisely correct height and angle, only to then adjust and readjust the tune of every single drum – given, he has the time!
I just hold the way I hold.” (Jan Rechberger)
Describing the grip to a newbie is not exactly easy, especially if it is not in your mother tongue. “I am somewhere between American and German grip, I would say.” Walt simply gets some sticks to show me. He puts the sticks between thumb and index finger and closes the remaining fingers and palm around it without touching the stick any further. He shows how he can now easily manipulate the sticks with slight movements and make them even vibrate as quickly as a hurricane. The faster or more dynamic, the more he uses the fingers or a combination of fingers and wrists. The heavier parts come from the whole hand and all the way down from the shoulder.
Jan explains that he is hitting the drums as hard as he can to get the best sound. Then again, he discloses, the cymbals need to be hit quite a good deal softer to have them resonate best.
Cymbals may with one hit sound like a loud crash and with another, like a tiny fine bell. It’s important to Jan to have control over this full range of cymbals. Thus, he hits them remarkably softer than his drums, he says. The cymbals themselves come with different characteristics depending on their material, production process and type. Jan prefers them on the thinner side, as most do. Handcrafted cymbals are unique instruments, each of which tip the scale in Urki’s case. No two of them have truly identical sounds and that’s what makes his choice important.
Style & Groove
What makes a good drummer? People are often laughing at Ukri when he fights a corner for his role model in drumming, Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich. Considering the simple fact that this man has made a multi-million-dollar fortune from his music, he must have been doing something right. So even if he might not be considered the most skilful drummer, he still must be a good, if not very good drummer. Being very good is not limited to technical perfection, on this Jan and Ukri agree. Ukri sees technique as a tool, perhaps even a very valuable tool, but no more. A good drummer requires a unique style. Talent for writing and arranging music is surely helpful too, as Ukri explains, referring to Ulrich again. Jan says being a decent and social person ranks higher than skill and technique. In the end, it is more important to get along well with the band than being the best drummer in the world, he says.
Watching each of the four play on stage there is, most of all, an abundance of passion and dedication coming from every cell of their bodies, and they put it into every single beat and kick on their kit. Dedication, Ukri says, is the most valuable feature of a drummer. Dedication shows itself as a massive wall of dark emotions from the void of Frost’s incredible speed, which got him the alias “Battery“. Even in Satyricon’s slower songs, it is his speed creating the heavy hollowness and sinister atmosphere. At first glance you see a paradox: the higher the speed of Frost’s kicks and beats, the more his torso seems motionless. Even his shoulders seem to barely move, as if time stands still for the moment. The vibrating sounds are delivered by those parts of his extremities we would not see, hidden behind his huge kit. His face gives away the tension his body needs to focus and deliver the speed.
Taking a closer look at Ukri, the vibrating sounds from his toms seem to result only from movements of his fingers and wrists. Arms and hands seem to rest. His torso and even his head are in the flow of the rhythm. He mentions that he puts quite an effort into studying the ergonomics of his body, in order to improve the flow of the required movements and minimize his threat of injuries. He highlights that former injuries made him understand the need to improve his ergonomics, and thereby work on his style so that actually he learned from his physical setbacks.
Watching Walt, he seems relaxed. Although his torso naturally is tense, the appearance of his moves is way more relaxed. Standing in for Marko Tarvonen (whom we will also meet in a later set again) with Moonsorrow, he even takes over vocal parts and thereby combines two physically demanding performances. Actually to me singing and playing drums in the same moment cannot work. Still, everything Walt does, shows lightness and appears playful to some degree. Whatever he plays, there seems to be no time and space left for anything else: a glance to the audience, scratching his nose, a smile on something he observes around him, or singing.
Jan has a rather elegant preference. He might use a complicated rhythm (7/8, for example) but makes it sound simple to perfect a song, he explains. While he is happy that the focus in Amorphis’ music is not the speed, Ukri, Walt and Frost seem very speed-driven. They are more modern metal drummers in that regard. Frost’s raw style has become a lot more versatile over the years, just like Jan’s. In his early recordings, we can still hear the primal style typical of old-school Death Metal. Nowadays, he has become quite a progressive drummer, enjoying excursions into other genres.
Their Heart Beats For Drumming
All four of our percussion masters bring a unique flavour to each band they accompany. Drummers truly provide the heartbeat of metal, and as such they also have a great responsibility. They keep the timing of songs and they are the driving force of the music. These have their own style: Jan’s is groovy, Ukri’s is dynamic and flowing, Walt’s is passionate and powerful, and Frost is raw speed and elegance. It was indeed fascinating to explore their stories. And stay tuned for Set No 2: Marginal!
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Check out some drumming videos of our 1994 drummers:
Ukri Suvilehto Drum Channel
Waltteri Väyrynen Drum Channel
Jan Rechberger Drum Cam
Kjetil-Vidar Haraldstad Drum Clinic
Thank you so much!
Per Ole Hagen for your phantastic photos, check out his work here;
Serena Solomon, and
Raisa Krogerus