TEURAS INTERVIEW!

WELCOME TEURAS, thanks so much for taking the time to chat today! Teuras has been carving out its own path in the Finnish black metal scene for some time now. And today we'll dive into some occultism, black metal scene and so forth. Now, for those who might not be fully familiar with your music yet, could you share a bit about the journey that led to the formation of the band and feel free to introduce yourself and the others!

Hello. I’m Tauti, the drummer for Teuras. Other members are our guitarist/vocalist Suu and our bassist Sorkka. The band was formed in the summer of 2013, when I was relieved of my duties in another band and wanted to start creating heavier and darker music again. I contacted Suu and we started brewing our own artistic concoction of dark variety. Since we needed a bass player, we contacted Sorkka, whom I knew from other associations and invited him to join, thus Teuras was born. 

So as mentioned, you have been in the scene for a while now. If i'm correct Teuras was formed in 2013 in Lappeenranta, Finland. Which is actually a very important place for the Finnish bm scene. If you look back now, at the Teuras discography, how have you evolved during this time? For fans first time getting into Teuras, where they should start in your opinion.

T: Looking back at our discography I think that we have honed our musical vision bit by bit. Our earlier creations were harsher and less polished, and we have evolved naturally from there. If a new listener wants to get into our music, I’d recommend going through our catalogue in chronological order. Then the listener can get the picture of our journey.

Well now that I mentioned Lappeenranta, what are your main musical influences? Do they come specifically from black metal too, or somewhere else. I'm guessing most of the influence comes from inside of course but are there any outside influences, for example other Bm music, other genres or something totally different.

T: Of course we have some influences also in black metal, but I’d say that most of our influences musically come elsewhere. Suu is our main composer, and he brings most of the “skeletons” for songs upon which we then start to add substance. We usually give every member creative freedom regarding their own parts and arrange the songs in collaboration. Especially in earlier days, when we had more free time on our hands, we did lot of jamming in rehearsals. We keep our minds open and don’t shy away for any inspiration whether it comes from metal, rock, classical, folk, tango or wherever.  

 To dive more deeply to themes and lyrics. Feel free to answer from your personal perspective, or from bands perspective, or why not both. When I look at your discography, I see, in its own way, different topics in the albums.  Are Teuras albums built around a theme or topic. Or does Teuras have one message you want to share that is linked throughout the albums? Or both?

T:  We don’t usually have overarching themes or concepts in our albums. However our third album holds Corpus Hermeticum loosely as an inspiration.

As per our working philosophy Suu makes most of the lyrics, since he’ll be the one singing them. I have also made some of our texts and we have collaborated on few. We don’t have a “message” per se either. In most of the cases both Suu and I reflect our personal philosophical and spiritual ponderings in the lyrics even if the lyrics themselves can seem quite straightforward at times. We don’t usually discuss these deeper meanings behind the lyrics and don’t see the need to open them to the audience either. 

Looking at the albums, I see some nature, I see some satanic stuff and some occult stuff too. To break down each theme a little bit, I'll start with nature. Albums like “Winterreich” where the Finnish cold nature is somewhat present. What role does nature play in your creative process? Do you see the natural world as a direct influence or more of an abstract inspiration?

T: Little bit of both but leaning more on the abstract side. One thing about nature is that it is its own force and it is not manmade. 

To dive a little bit more to the mysteries of nature and forest. What do you think about the idea that humans are a part of nature, rather than separate from it? Do you believe that music, as an art form, has the power to connect humans back to nature, especially in a world that’s rapidly urbanizing and becoming more digitized?

T: Although mankind tries to separate itself from nature, everything is connected, nonetheless. Both music and nature hove mystical elements. If nature is an inspiration to music – and even if it’s not – listener can find the connection and that can give the feedback back to nature.   

Well well well… our favorite dude… satan. In some traditions, Satan is portrayed as a tempter or deceiver, whereas in others, he represents a force that challenges authority and exposes hypocrisy. What does Satan mean to you, which portrayal of Satan resonates most with you, and why? 

T: Since our lyrics are more internal contemplation, we don’t have direct political or even religious references. To me and in our music satan is figurative phenomenon that represents the opposer, free will and antithesis.

What caught my eye in the newest “III” album was the song “The Occult Enlightenment”. Can you break down the message in the song? Is the song about personal experiences. What does Occult Enlightenment mean to you, what does it look like etc.?

T: Like said “III” is loosely based on Corpus Hermeticum and all the lyrics on the album are written by Suu. I discussed this with him, and he opened the thoughts behind the text as follows: “The Occult Enlightenment continues the album’s drawing of inspiration from hermetic tradition, perhaps a little more pronounced with transcendental elements. The verses contemplate some kind of competition of body and thought, and, of course, in the appropriate context of cold and dark”

Occultism also sometimes explores the dualities of light and dark, good and evil. How do you think these opposing forces manifest in your music, and do you see the occult as a way of balancing these forces within oneself?

T: Like I’ve already touched upon, we don’t limit the inspirations in our creative process and that opens the music naturally to dualities in a sense. Occult in our music gives a certain context of expressions that we use to convey our thoughts as well as – for example – science or folklore does.  

Thank you already for answering these, i think we can start to move to more easier questions haha! Music often serves as a form of self-expression, but can it also be a way of communicating with others on a deeper, spiritual level? How do you think music connects people beyond words? 

T: Music to us is very much about self-expression. Teuras is first and foremost an outlet for ourselves, that we don’t want to open too much. In my and, dare I say, our collective opinion music and art in general loses its fundamental purpose if it’s too spelled out and “pre-chewed.” It is a gross underestimation of the audience if the artist doesn’t let them think for themselves. The important part is that the listener gets A meaning out of the art and that it evokes something. Whether it’s something the artist had in mind when creating the piece is, to me, irrelevant.

I have heard some musicians talk about "the flow"—a state of mind where creativity seems effortless. And I have experienced that myself too. Have you ever experienced this in your work, and how long usually making a song or an album takes?

T: The time consumed in the creation process varies drastically and isn’t constant even within a song. For sure we have experienced flow, at least from time to time, but creation takes the time it takes. Nowadays the making of an album takes us longer in general. There simply isn’t time and possibilities to allocate for the band and rehearsals like there used to be in the early days of the band, where we were all still students and lived closer to each other.

The Finnish black metal scene has produced some highly influential bands over the years. Especially from Lappeenranta. And Finland definitely has its own unique place in the BM world. What do you think sets Finnish black metal apart from other scenes?

T: I don’t have an answer for this. We have always worked – at least in the context of Teuras – for ourselves, by ourselves and we have never been part of any scene. One reason for this is that our “once in an Olympiad” frequency for playing live has kept us from making “natural” connections to other bands.   

To start to wrap this thing up a little bit. Looking back at your career. If you had to sum up the message or essence of your latest album (or music), what would it be? Or For someone listening to Teuras, what is the one thing you would hope they take away from your music?

T: The essence of our latest album is the condensate of our thoughts and creative drive that it is. Once again, we don’t want to feed the audience with prefabricated package, but to give them the responsibility to find the thing to take away.  

Well, looking ahead, are there any upcoming projects, collaborations, or ideas you’re particularly excited about that you can share with your fans? Where can new fans find your stuff?

T: Other than the long awaited great new merchandise, that we’re finally releasing via your fine service, we are in the process of recording our fourth album. The new album will continue the evolution of our music and is going to be most balanced that we have made. We are also trying to structure our operations in more sensible way to fit our current situation. One goal is to activate more in the live front and we’re looking for options/opportunities there.

At the moment we can be reached via facebook, our music can be found from Levykauppa Äx and all major streaming services and our brand new merchandise can of course be found at Mindisca’s webshop.

Well this has been amazing thank you for taking the time to answer these silly questions! We appreciate this a lot, if you have any last words, shout outs, feel free to pour them here

T: Thank you! Stay tuned for upcoming news!