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        N A Z A R E N E   W I T H   A   F A X   M A C H I N E

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           CoC chats with Impaled Nazarene's Mika Luttinen

                          by: Steve Hoeltzel

 

Imagine my surprise when I tried to fax a set of  questions  to  Mika

Luttinen, owner of the deranged throat which fronts this craziest  of

bands - and got his voice coming out of my modem instead,  "Hello?...

Hello?" It's a surprisingly deep  voice,  too,  especially  when  you

consider Mika's throat-ripping high-end performance on  _Latex  Cult_

(reviewed in  CoC  #11),  not  to  mention  the  band's  three  prior

full-length releases. Anyway, we exchanged pleasantries for  a  (very

expensive) minute or two, then fired up the faxes. And now, thanks to

the miracle of modern communications technology, all you  Karmakeddon

Warriors out there can check out  what  transpired  and  read  Mika's

report on current Impaled activities.

 

CoC: What's new with the band? How has the recent touring gone?

 

Mika Luttinen: Not much happening; writing new songs. Touring's  been

               okay. It has been great to play with Cannibal  Corpse,

               Immolation, Angel Corpse, and Gehennah.

 

CoC: What kind of activities have you got planned for 1997?

 

ML: We will tour South America in March. We'll  do  Chile,  Columbia,

    Argentina, and Brazil. After that, no plans, except we'll try  to

    get to Mexico before summer as well. Late 97: studio!

 

CoC: The latest update from Osmose says that one of your concerts  in

     Paris was sabotaged. What is the story there? Do  you  know  who

     committed the sabotage, and why?

 

ML: Believe it or not, until today I thought that  we  had  a  normal

    power break during the gig in Paris, but as  I  just  spoke  with

    Herve of Osmose,  it  indeed  was  caused  by  some  anti-Impaled

    Nazarene people... My guess goes for some black metal nerds.

 

CoC: After _Suomi Finland Perkele_, I was somewhat surprised  to  see

     the band return to the all-out aggression of  earlier  releases.

     What prompted this return? And how do you answer people who  say

     that you were simply "playing it safe" by sounding so extreme on

     _Latex Cult_?

 

ML: The bottom line is that Kimmo [Luttinen - Mika's brother and  the

    band's former drummer] changed our style pretty  much  after  the

    release of _Ugra-Karma_. It was  his  vision  of  how  we  should

    sound, and the rest of us weren't happy at all. It is useless for

    a band like us to try to be a copy of Danzig or fucking  Paradise

    Lost. So, after Kimmo was replaced, it was normal for  us  to  go

    back to what we do best, i.e. play aggressive and fast  metal.  I

    guess you're referring to Metal Maniacs, where they said we  just

    wanted to play it safe. If we wanted to play it safe, we would be

    doing fucking gothic metal or whatever, in the line of "Blood  Is

    Thicker Than Water" from _Suomi Finland Perkele_. It was one  guy

    who wanted to go a different way, and the  rest  did  not  agree.

    Nobody expected such a release as _Latex Cult_ from  us  anymore,

    but we fucking proved that we are still here, doing our thing our

    way. We can get only nastier.

 

CoC: You seem to approach your band's lyrics and image with  a  sense

     of humour. Is that a fair assessment? What is  your  opinion  of

     those who are (or claim to be) one hundred percent serious about

     all this black metal stuff?

 

ML: If somebody is one hundred percent  serious  about  black  metal,

    then so what? It does  not  bother  us.  Certainly  there's  some

    humour on our first three CDs, but on _Latex Cult_ there's  none.

    We were pissed off when we wrote it, and I think it  shows.  Lots

    of shit went down two months before we entered the studio, and it

    fucking shows.

 

CoC: I have read interviews in  which  you  describe  yourself  as  a

     "cynical individualist." For the  benefit  of  readers  who  may

     think of Impaled Nazarene as a bunch  of  devil-worshippers,  or

     whatever, could you please explain  what  you  mean  by  cynical

     individualism?

 

ML: A better term would actually be "fucking asshole", but anyway,  I

    see the whole band as individualists, as we do not belong  to  or

    support any political or religious movement or  organization.  We

    have come this far by being ourselves, and that's what I'm  proud

    of! We never  kissed  ass  or  jumped  the  next  trend  or  sold

    ourselves out. For sure, we would have a way bigger following  if

    we had been into "evil guys and their doings",  but  we  did  not

    fucking care about them.

 

CoC: The year 2000 will soon arrive. How does the future  look,  from

     your own perspective?

 

ML: Things are starting to boil up, I guess.

 

CoC: What would the next hundred years look  like,  if  Sir  Luttinen

     were in charge?

 

ML: Sir Luttinen is actually a name my brother (our ex-drummer) uses.

    [Oops! My mistake. - Steve] If I were in charge, it would be  the

    end of Greenpeace and all things green. Cement or nothing.

 

CoC: If you could be born again during any past  period  of  history,

     what period would you choose, and why?

 

ML: I prefer present over past, so I am just happy here, thank you.

 

CoC: What sort of thing have you been listening to lately?

 

ML: Nothing but my own guitar playing, as the last three weeks I have

    been composing new songs - speaking of which, everybody check out

    the forthcoming _World Domination II_ CD by Osmose, as it  has  a

    brand new Impaled Nazarene track on it.

 

CoC: When all is said and done, how would you like  Impaled  Nazarene

     to be remembered?

 

ML: As a cult band - but I do hope this won't happen for a long, long

    time.