Oppu Laine of MANNHAI seems to be bored on this june afternoon and replied to my questions within four hours. Being very satisfied with the new MANNHAI-album ”Hellroad Caravan”, he offers some insight on the vocalist change and on his opinion about ”The Exploder”. In the end he even has news about CHAOSBREED... Interview "Hellroad Caravan" is a very cool album that I personally like even
more than it´s predecessor. Are you satisfied with the album?

Yeah, we´re happy with it. Every time there´s something that I would’ve done differently, but
along with "Evil Under The Sun”, "Hellroad Caravan” represents Mannhai the best so
far.

Do you see major differences/changes to "The Exploder"?

With "The Exploder” we wanted to try something different, as we thought that we
had nothing to lose at the point. So we decided to add keyboards, female vocals,
and to try different kind of production. And though we spent a lot of time with
the album, it didn´t end up completely the way we wanted. Anyway, "The Exploder”
is, in the way, more organic and more traditional rock album than any Mannhai
album before. I still like the album very much. With "Hellroad" we wanted to go back to our original sound, and to use the same equipment as we do in the rehearsing place. We also noticed
that we actually had something to lose with the change of direction... Experimenting is always a good thing, but not our cup of tea after all.

Has it been easy for you to write the new songs? When did you start actually songwriting?

Songwriting is usually the easiest part of the process. We already had six
songs arranged when Pasi joined the band. And before the sessions, we composed
nine songs more in only four months or so. We usually write music in our homes,
and then try to arrange the riffs to the complete songs together. Then Pasi
does the lyrics and vocal lines. This time Pasi sat on the studio´s couch and
wrote the lines right before putting them to the tape. So, our style of
composing is quite hectic at the moment!

You again changed the producer, this time Jukka Varmo was responsbile
for the records. Why did you chose him?

We demoed our new songs in Jukka´s studio, and when we mixed it, he suggested
us to make a deal with his label. And ´cause we didn´t have a deal back then,
and Jukka offered us a lots of studio time, we decided to record the album with
him. If we would have been signed to someone else, we probably would have
worked with Jürgen Hendlmeier again, or maybe Christian Silver, who did "Evil
Under The Sun”.

The first single off "Hellroad..." entered your home charts on
position 1. Did you ever expect that? What does it mean to you?

We didn’t actually except anything, but we knew that people would want to hear Pasi’s vocals in Mannhai. This was cheap change to check it out, and people seemed to use it. Of course it’s a good marketing slogan that the single was number one, but generally I’m afraid it won’t mean anything in Finland ‘cause it’s relatively easy to claim to the charts here.

Will you shoot a video to a song? Do you already have ideas how it
will look like? Any chance to see you again like in "Rock To The Top"?

Well, we did shoot a video for "Spaceball”, but I haven’t seen it yet. I hope we can add it to our website as soon as possible. All I can tell is that it’s not even near to "Rock To The Top”, hehheh...

7. you changed the vocalist position: Joanitor left and was replaced by
Pasi - why that?

Joanitor had had lack of motivation for sometime, and we just kind of let him go. He’s so kind that if we would’ve demanded him to stay, he probably would have stayed. But anyway, after we went on tour with another guy called Trond, we were forced to call Pasi to join us, because Trond freaked out in the middle of the tour. Then Pasi wanted to join for good, and we liked the idea!

Did Pasi have a major impact on the Mannhai-sound?

With Pasi we sound much rawer and more punkish. I’ve noticed that I even play differently now that Pasi is in the vocals. But basically we’re the same band still.

And where did your keyboard player go?

Kasper only played in "The Exploder” and at the gigs that followed "The Exploder”. In the new album keyboards are played by Henri from Moonsorrow.

Will you tour germany this year?

There are plans of playing Germany in next October with one Swedish stoner band. I think within one month we will be wiser concernin the tour!

Are there countries where you would like to tour but didn´t have the
possibility so far? What about a tour with reunited Kyuss (if that ever
happens) in the western US states? That would be awesome!

Yes! I’d like to play Japan, Mexico, Australia, U.S., Spain, and basically everywhere where we haven’t been touring yet. And with reunited Kuyss ofcourse!!

What’sup with Chaosbreed? The website seems to be down...

I’m afraid that we’ve splitted up. Main reason for that in short is that we were supposed to do an European tour couple a years ago, and someone of us called it off. After that there were no sense to keep it going, as it would have been on too unstable basis. It’s a kind of shame, as I really enoyed playing that Death Metal crap again!

And some final words?

Thanks to everyone who has bought the album already. Hope to get to Germany on tour soon. This time we will come up with something different. And we’ll kick some serious ass for sure!!!