With their seventh album, Draconian Darkness, just released on Reigning Phoenix Music and a fall season of touring already underway, Finnish melodic death metal band Wolfheart isn't letting any moss grow under their feet. Guitarist and vocalist Tuomas Saukkonen took a few minutes to talk with Metalhead Money about what it's like touring around the world and making it in the music business in 2024:
You guys are from Finland! In the US, we think that Finland is a utopia with great education, free healthcare, and paid maternity leave where everyone lives a nice life. Is that true??
Well....All things mentioned above are true - but we also have high income taxes, one of the highest VAT in Europe, additional tax on car prices and gasoline prices, so basically the taxes we pay makes all this possible. I am glad that those paid taxes actually come back in those services but there are a lot of challenges ahead in the future to maintain this situation and system - so from my point of view, there is more worry in sight than utopia.
Would you consider Wolfheart your main source of income or do you have jobs that aren't melodic death metal?
At the moment my main job is melodic death metal but that includes my other bands Before The Dawn and Dawn of Solace -- so now it is possible to make a living because all 3 bands are releasing music and both Wolfheart and Before The Dawn are actively touring. Otherwise I would need another job. I used to work as a gardener/landscaper for over 25 years and most of that while being touring and album-releasing musician, but the more tours I started to do for a year the more difficult the schedules became. So now I'm doing this 100% musician thing for a while!
When you are preparing to record a new release, how do you fund it? How much does a label help you (or not help you)?
We are lucky to have solid labels that fund the recording process and music videos. Dawn of Solace is the only one of the 3 bands that does not have a budget from a label, but I have been able to finance the album from royalties so never needed the label to basically loan me my future income to make the albums. With album sales dropping and streaming income being too low to balance that loss of revenue, it does look bleak when it comes to the future of the whole music and metal scene.
How did you come to work with Reigning Phoenix Music?
Our contract with Napalm ended after the previous album and we wanted to check all possible options. Our management knows some of the main RPM people and started the talk about possible co-operation and in the end they had the best offer on the table and were clearly very eager and excited to sign us so we signed the deal with them
Wolfheart has played all over the world. Can you share some tips for budgeting while on tour?
The biggest budgeting and planning happens always before the tour to make sense of all costs and how to scale your production, crew, etc. to make it even possible financially. While you are on the road things go usually very smooth. Europe and Scandinavia are very easy territory for touring because venues provide good quality catering so you get proper breakfast, lunch, and after-show dinner (usually pizza/burgers/etc.), plus backstage has drinks and snacks for the whole day so you don't need to spend basically anything if you packed enough personal stuff with you.
North America has a different catering culture and it is mostly buyouts. In North America, usually we go to Wal Mart once a week and get basic breakfast stuff and snacks to have on the bus. All exotic places like Asia, Dubai, Balkans in East Europe, etc., we have a certain buffer budget because those will end up being usually some level of adventures anyway :). The main thing is prepare well in advance and make sure you are aware all possible costs. Brexit created many financial surprises for bands from Europe going to UK with visas and extra custom paperwork.
What would you say are the best things about the music industry in 2024? And on the flip side, what things make life difficult for artists?
All the tools for making an album, videos, and promo footage are easily available and there is a lot you can just get done on your own, which was not the case in the early 2000s. That also makes it possible that the metal scene is overflown with newcomers at the same time when labels are cutting the budgets and smaller labels are out of business. The pathways to push a band forward are getting fewer each year.
I am also interviewing your labelmates God Dethroned, who got their start in 1990. That's quite some longevity! Do you see Wolfheart being active in another ten or twenty years? Why or why not?
If things stay on the fun side and we fully enjoy on what we still do I see no reason not to continue for ten more years. I don't see myself touring anymore when I am 60 so 10-15 years more would be perfect. :)
Thanks for talking with Metalhead Money, Tuomas! Speaking of touring...
Upcoming Tour Dates (N.B., dates are European-style)
"Draconian Darkness Over Finland 2024"
13.09.2024 FI Tampere - Olympia-kortteli NEW
14.09.2024 FI Turku - Utopia-klubi NEW
20.09.2024 FI Lahti - Finlandia-klubi NEW
21.09.2024 FI Oulu - Kantakrouvi NEW
27.09.2024 FI Helsinki - Korjaamo NEW
28.09.2024 FI Jyväskylä - Lutakko NEW
11.10.2024 FI Vaasa - Kulttuuritalo Fanny NEW
12.10.2024 FI Mikkeli - Kulttuuritalo Tempo NEW
"Endtime Signals" - European Tour 2024
w/ DARK TRANQUILLITY, MOONSPELL, HIRAES
Presented by Metal Hammer, musix, metal.de, powermetal.de, eventim & Decibel Touring
31.10.2024 DE Berlin - Astra
01.11.2024 CZ Prague - MeetFactory
02.11.2024 DE Leipzig - Hellraiser
03.11.2024 DE Cologne - Live Music Hall
05.11.2024 UK London - O2 Academy Islington
06.11.2024 NL Eindhoven - Effenaar
07.11.2024 DE Munich - Backstage
08.11.2024 CH Solothurn - Kulturfabrik Kofmehl
09.11.2024 BE Kortrijk - Hell's Balls Belgium
10.11.2024 FR Paris - La Machine du Moulin Rouge
11.11.2024 FR Toulouse - Le Bikini
13.11.2024 ES Barcelona - Salamandra
14.11.2024 ES Pamplona - Sala Totem
15.11.2024 ES Madrid - Shôko
16.11.2024 ES Santander - Escenario
18.11.2024 FR Villeurbanne - La Rayonne
19.11.2024 DE Lindau - Club Vaudeville
20.11.2024 HU Budapest - Barba Negra
21.11.2024 AT Vienna - Arena
22.11.2024 DE Karlsruhe - Substage
23.11.2024 DE Weissenhäusser Strand/Ostsee - Metal Hammer Paradise
24.11.2024 DK Copenhagen - Pumpehuset
26.11.2024 NO Oslo - Vulkan Arena
28.11.2024 SE Stockholm - Fryshuset Klubben
29.11.2024 SE Örebro - Club 700
30.11.2024 SE Gothenburg - Filmstudion
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