ATAVISTIA – interview with the band

Atavistia is a new Melodic Epic Metal band based out of Vancouver, Canada. Being a Symphonic Metal Junkie myself I easily got attached to Atavistia once I heard his debut album. Yes I did say “His”, Atavistia is a solo project spearheaded by Mattias Sippola who has an everlasting love for Wintersun. Following the musical style similar to Wintersun, I had a quick chat with Mattias Sippola where we discussed a lot of random things including his debut album.

Can you explain about your band name and the musical approach? 

I actually came across the word “atavistic” while reading Nergal’s biography, “confessions of a heretic”

Something clicked in my head that this word would be apart of my music. I had a friend of mine help me scramble a bunch of worded combinations that had “atavistic” in it, but I was looking for more of a one word name. My friend then immediately replaced the C with an A and just like that, Atavistia was born haha.
I get this atavistic feeling whenever I compose music so I think the two fit very well together. My music approach has always been very influenced by melodic metal and classical/film music. Combine the two and something magical happens!

What characteristic defines Atavistia?

The search for knowledge. Not to sound too philosophical hahaha. Portrayed in an atavistic feeling. Hard to explain..

Your debut album dropped early on this month. Would like to run through the entire recording process? And How Hard was it to record everything on your own? 

Oh geez.. ha! Well let’s just say there was a lot of trial and error.. I wrote 4/5 of the songs around 3 years ago but my skills in the studio were minuscule. I then had someone do a mix for me but it didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted it.. but I became more and more interested in the engineering side of music while watching the engineer work the console, DAW, etc. I then made a decision that I would build my own home studio and learn how to properly engineer my music. What a frustrating time that was.. over the course of that 3 years, I slowly built my decent home studio and began learning the basics. For each new thing I learned, there were 10 more that I would have to learn haha. I actually recently graduated from Vancouver Film School in the sound design department. Although this didn’t revolve around music, it did however drastically boost my knowledge of studio work, DAW’s, equipment, etc..

I became very familiar with pro tools and logic X but used logic X for the entire production for One Within The Sun. I actually re recorded the guitars about 3 times.. due to upgrades in amps, guitars, mics, and so on.
I used East West and alchemy(logic) for all of my orchestral/synth sounds which almost destroyed my computer due to CPU usage of my sessions.. so I had to upgrade computers. All the drums are programmed from EZ drummer 2.0 but guitars, bass and vocals were recorded in my studio. Mixing is where the “engineer artist” comes out. There are so many possibilities and ways of mixing, it’s hard to wrap ones head around haha it was the most experimental phase of the album and the most time consuming.
I still have MUCH to learn but I thought this album would also be a good test of my skills in the studio!

It’s obvious that your music is highly inspired by Wintersun. Is the album influenced by Wintersun alone?

 No. It’s no doubt Wintersun is a huge influence of mine but I wouldn’t call them my only influence of the album. Bands like Ensiferum and Equilibrium were also very influential to me during the writing process. It’s hard when influenced by such unique bands because once you compose something similar, one can be subject to ridicule for being a copycat. Most of the feedback so far has been positive so I’m not complaining haha. I have a lot of future material that is very different from the debut… But that will show itself in time.

Is there any underlying theme to your lyrics?

like Atavistia’s characteristic, the lyrical aspect also revolves for this quest for knowledge. Anyone can interpret my lyrics in their own way which is what I hope for.

Does music have to be meaningful to you?

 yes definitely. If it’s not meaningful, what is it? Haha

What do genre distinction mean to you? Do you think Genres should be Subjective? 

 The amount genres and sub-genres now is un comprehensible.. there’s the obvious metal, rock, rap, electronic distinctions and maybe a few within the head genres but I find sub-genres titles for example, “brutal technical black sludge metal” a little ridiculous.. haha.
But genres can be interpreted however by whoever.

Do you see an advantage of being independent rather than being on a big record label?

Well I’m not one to say as I’m relatively new in the neighbourhood haha.

What are your other professions and does that effect your music?

 I have a labourer job in the family business which takes up a lot of time. I also do some film composing/sound design/post production on the side as well. So in other words, my “music window of opportunity” can be a little narrow sometimes.

What’s your take on Online Music Sharing? 

 It’s the new way of music as a whole. Much quicker and more productive than the conventional CD distributing/sharing. Although, obtaining CD’s and records I believe will always be a prized possession.

What do you want to achieve as a band?

well first I have to find other members to technically call Atavistia a band hahaha so that’s a goal. Then start playing live shows/festivals. I just want to experience the opportunities this world has to offer while being able to do what I love, which is music.

Final Question, What will you do if you get a Personal Message from Wintersun appreciating your album and enquiring for a collaboration? 

 There would be a well constructed response from someone who just suffered a heart attack..

Thank You for spending some of your valuable time on giving us an Interview. Cheers!

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a part of it!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VxO8lgFQ38Y

https://atavistia.bandcamp.com/album/one-within-the-sun

https://m.facebook.com/OfficialAtavistia/