Interview with Edge of Haze @ Tuska 2022

I had only one interview on Day 3 of Tuska, and of course it was with a Finnish band. Edge of Haze, who performed at the KVLT stage, were ready to chat with me about music, future projects and ninjas.

Hello Markus and Janne, how are you doing these days?

Super good. I mean, it’s super nice to have the summer season here with all the gigs finally, after two years of pretty much nothing. Even the weather is really fitting for it. So pretty excited.

Yeah, absolutely. It was amazing to play Tuska. It’s like a dream come true. We’ve been here so many years as visitors, so it’s always been a goal to make it one day to the stage.

That’s really, really cool. You have some singles already released, and I was wondering what the future holds for Edge of Haze.

We are making a record at the moment, so finishing it up. I don’t know the release date yet, but we’ll see.

Yeah, lots of things. Just still arrange with publishing and such, but still. The same walls are already done from that record, pretty much.

Yay, I cannot wait. Can you share with us how is your creative process?

Markus: Yeah. That’s actually a really fun part because you could definitely say that we’re a modern band in that regard. There’s a lot of technicality to it. And speaking on my behalf, I think that’s one of the things that has allowed us to be creative in our own way. Because pretty much each of us records at home, does the demos and well, these days, you have Dropbox and file sharing is super easy. You don’t have to send anything by post. Usually, that starts when somebody has a cool idea, and they record it down. Sometimes it’s piano and vocal demo, sometimes it’s the full band already done, and then we might take it to our training house and…

…just arrange it together.

And usually with albums, at some point, we’re feeling like we’re getting closer, and we want to release something bigger. Then we will look at the demos as a whole and select the best of them or like the most fitting.

We listen to them together and select the songs. So it’s super fun. Somehow, the ideas come when you’re travelling. Yeah, it’s weird. But like many times, you’re just travelling somewhere, and some melody comes up, and you start writing.

Even having a recorder in your pocket at all times that’s a huge part. I remember coming up with the most important ideas while travelling from one place to another, on a bike or something. And then you can barely hear my pathetic singing from the wind, but that’s the idea.

Somehow, the ideas come when you’re travelling. Yeah, it’s weird. But like many times, you’re just travelling somewhere, and some melody comes up, and you start writing.

What has been the best feedback or response that someone from the audience has told you about your live shows?

Actually, just today, someone said that in a few years, we will play on the main stage. So I was like, wow, I’m looking forward to that if it happens.

Well, we had this one interview, and the interviewer said we were the first show that made her scream and headbang. So that was really amazing to hear for me as well. [It was me! ed]

Let’s say that after this interview, someone comes to you and asks you for advice on making a career in music. How would you reply to that question?

You have to commit to it a lot, like a lot of time and energy, and go full-on ahead with it. Because if you start to doubt yourself and ponder giving up, it’s not for you. You have to grind it. You have to think about it like, “Yeah, this is what I want to do, and this is my life”. It’s the whole thing.

I really like that response. I agree wholeheartedly. That’s maybe the biggest thing because there are so many talented people these days, and everybody can create cool ideas, but to break through all the noise to have those finished products and then share them, you need to fully commit and work for it. So maybe 5% of the work is coming up with cool songs; the rest is what you do with them and how you get them out.

Do you have any rituals before going on stage?

Yeah, we usually shout together some word. Like we come up with a random word and shout it before.

Something that describes the current moment. We had technical difficulties where the audience could hear our metronome track a few minutes before the gig. And that was our theme word that day. So we got together and shouted “Metronome”. But other than that, I think everybody is just trying to focus in a sense, but not too focused, just trying to keep the atmosphere kind of light and remember to have fun, not be too deeply in it. And I think that ritual sometimes helps, but not having it can be too distracting also helps.

Do you think it’s harder for women to be recognized as artists or musicians in the rock and metal world?

It could be, yes, because, in a way, you have to have the group together. You have to find the people to work with. And it can be difficult because we met in high school and played together a lot. So you have to get the right people. And I don’t know; it could be more difficult for women.

Yeah. I hope it sounds hopeful, and it seems that everybody’s more accepting and more open to new kind of ideas. I think traditionally, metal has been really dark and masculine and everything like that. But we have seen really cool acts, completely break that apart and just having those kind of examples lead the way to broadening metal as a whole, which is a cool phenomenon. Because then again, that goes beyond sex as well. It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman or anything else, and then it broadens even further from there.

Look at bands like Jinjer; I mean, women can do it as well. The prejudice definitely exists, but I think it has changed a lot in many countries in the last few years.

So yeah, even though it’s not fully levelled out yet, it seems that there’s some light ahead in that sense.

I wanted to play a little game with you, if that’s all right. Who would win a battle between a ninja and a pirate?

It depends. Does the pirate have the ship as well?

Well, yeah, I’m assuming they’re battling on the ship.

I think ninja wins just because of the stealth. The ninja can get anywhere. But the pirate is like, well, he doesn’t have enough stealth.

That’s what I was thinking at first. Like the ninja you can see him, but if the pirate’s like fully locked up in his ship, just waiting to shoot… Does the ninja know how to swim? That’s an important question.

Yeah, I am still figuring out who can win. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview! Would you like to add anything to the readers?

We are hoping that you stay tuned for our next album, and we’ll see you at the shows.

A big hat to Tuska for bringing these amazing artists here as well to be discovered.