eGigs meets Olavi Mikkonen

With 'Twilight Of The Thunder God' proving to be one of 2008's very best metal releases, Amon Amarth are a band who are finally starting to reap the rewards that their 20 year career has fully deserved. With a high-profile London show scheduled for March and another full year of touring in the pipeline, eGigs took the chance to drop guitar-wielding Viking warrior Olavi Mikkonen for a chinwag before he went out on the road once again.

How was 2008 for you?
It was a great year, perhaps the most interesting year for me concerning the band.

First off, we went down to Australia for the very first time and it was the last tour on the 'Oden' cycle. Australia was great and it's always fun to explore countries where you have never been to.

Then we had the whole songwriting progress for the new album, which was amazing. We had lots of great ideas and we knew from the beginning that we would end up with a terrific album.

We didn't really do that many festivals last summer, I guess the highlights were Masters Of Rock in CZ and Download. Masters was incredible since towards the end of our set a huge storm passed by which fit in our set perfectly and the crowd was insane. Download has been one of those "must do" festivals for us, mainly because of the historic location, Monsters Of Rock. In September, when the ['Twilight...'] album was released, it was a great feeling to suck in all the good feedback from fans and media. All the high chart entries, nr 6 in Germany, 11 in Sweden and so on. Just amazing.

The first headline tour for 'Twilight' in the U.S. in October was also really amazing, we had a great package and the tour was more or less sold out. It was a great feeling to finally play the new songs live. Then, the Unholy tour with Slayer, Trivium and Mastodon. A dream come true when we finally got the chance to tour with Slayer. That tour was a total blast.

Last but definitely not least, Bloodshed In Bochum. Four shows were we played our four first albums in four nights, plus a lot of newer songs of course. Those nights were incredible and 2008 was a damned good year!

What would you say was your personal highlight?
My highlight of the year have to be when I was driving home from the studio, Fascination Street, after the recording was done and only the mixing was left to do.

I had such a great feeling in my stomach and I already knew when we wrote the album that it was going to be a great album. But now, when everything was nailed down my previous feelings were confirmed big time. I was just smiling the whole two hour drive home and enjoying the moment.

Do you think that 'Twilight of the Thunder God' helped to further raise your profile in the UK after the success of 'With Oden On Our Side'?
Yes of course, if we had pulled out a lesser album the push and support we have right now in U.K. would also have been less.

What's your favourite song on the album?
I think it depend on which mood I'm in. To me 'Twilight' is a instant classic and 'Guardians' is probably the coolest live song, but to name one favourite is quite difficult. They are all my favourites.

You played a storming set at last year's Download festival that many saw as a highlight of the weekend, what made the band decide to play Bloodstock this year?
We haven't really done that many festivals in U.K. To be precise, we only played Download as the first open air and Bloodstock indoors in 2005. We heard so many great things about Bloodstock and are excited to play there. It doesn't make things worse by the fact that we all love English beer.

Another upcoming UK event is your much-anticipated show at the Forum. Was it always the plan to eventually bring over the full show to these shores?
Yes, the main plan has always been to be able to tour with same production were ever we go. This is the Twilight Of The Thunder God tour and that is what we are going to deliver on 9th of March.

For those that have already seen you a few times live, what can the full Amon Amarth live experience offer that previous shows couldn't?
It's like going to the pub and having only a bag of crisps. Now you get the crisps, pints and a few shots of Jäger.

What other plans do you have for 2009?
We just completed a smaller Spain tour and a few shows in Russia which all were great.

Next we are heading towards Greece for two shows and in March we do the 'Full of Hate Tour', which is the 'Twilight Of The Thunder God' European tour. We also have a video shoot to be done, another U.S. Headline tour and South America during the spring. Summer is filled by a lot of festivals and in spring we have more tour plans. A very busy year with other words.

Any New Year's Resolutions that you've gone and broken already?
Fortunately I don't give any New Year's resolutions, since I know I can't keep them.

Finally, who would win in a beard-off between Johan and Zakk Wylde?
Zack would win this gig.

FUTURE GIGS

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