DARK SARAH- Heidi Parviainen

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Dark Sarah- Cinematic Metal Icons DARK SARAH

Interview conducted on July 1, 2020

By Dan Locke

Heidi Parviainen states:
“” All Ears!” is a call to unite all the people who think there is a certain power behind tales, monsters and magic! Join the coven!
The narrative of “All Ears!” follows the storyline of the Grim album. A powerful spell on the citizens of Grim empowers the protagonist Luna to fight against the evil monster Mörk who is terrorizing the city. The listener can also get a first glimpse of our new guest Jasse Jatala as Mörk. The whole Grim story will be released as a book at the same time as our album, so that our fans can get even more immersed in the story.”

Band Members

OFFICIAL LINE UP:
Heidi Parviainen – DARK SARAH – vocals
Sami-Petri Salonen – guitar
Erkka Korhonen- guitar
Rude Rothstén- bass
Thomas Tunkkari- drums

Heidi- You are classically educated singer/songwriter, tell me about your upbringing in music? How did you discover music?

HEIDI: Music has always been a big part of my life from early childhood. I started playing piano at the age of 12 and then later choir and at the age of 14 I started taking classical singing lessons. In high school a bunch of guys asked me to sing on their metal EP. Back then I had no idea how wide a range of music can include a metal genre. Later I learned about Nightwish, Epica and Therion. I played keyboards in Agonia/Iconofear from 1997 to 2006 when I joined Amberian Dawn as their vocalist. I had been studying singing for many years and I felt more like a singer than a keyboardist. In 2012 I left Amberian Dawn and started my own band Dark Sarah. I have also completed my professional classical singing studies at the Conservatory of Helsinki and bachelor of music and education at Metropolia University.

Sami and Erkka- Tell me how you got your first guitar and do you still have it? How did you start to write music?

ERKKA: We bought the first electric guitar together with my older brother. We already had a classical guitar at home which my brother played, and we sold a big bunch of old toys and such to save the money for the electric guitar. It was an Epiphone super Strat-style (a piece of crap) … I was 12 or 13 years old when we got it. Later I tried to modify it by having some better pickups installed but even that didn’t do much. Eventually, my brother pawned the guitar behind my back, he told me that he had borrowed it from a friend… I never saw that guitar again. Maybe it’s better that way!
SAMI: My first guitar was a Squier (by Fender) strat that came with a small Fender amp. We bought it with my dad since I got bored playing Guns n’ Roses with a classical guitar. Pretty soon after struggling with that cheap blockboard guitar – I had to have my first “real” guitar. I found a used Tokai Les Paul replica from a local music store and that guitar is still in my collection and regular use.

Heidi- You started as vocalist for Amberian Dawn and then you started Dark Sarah. How did you create your new band’s sound? How did your band form and where does the name come from?

HEIDI: In 2012 when leaving AD, I decided that I would want to try to continue and build up my own solo career within the metal genre. I contacted Mikko P. Mustonen and asked him to start working with me and my new metal project. Back then I had only written lyrics and didn’t write music at all. I found a perfect small group of people to start the project with. I also started to learn songwriting and on the second album I already wrote songs like “Dance With The Dragon” etc. But it still took a few more years that my songwriting had developed to the level that they didn’t need so much arranging. Mikko has been our producer and has made all the band arrangements from the start and he plays a big part in creating our sound. I could say he feels more like a band member than a producer because of the long history together. We still do a lot of co-writing. Dark Sarah´s albums are conceptual albums and follow a storyline. The first trilogy tells about a young woman called Sarah and her evil alter ego Dark Sarah. That is also where the band name comes from.

What was your first performance like with Dark Sarah?

HEIDI: Our first band performance was at On The Rocks Helsinki and soon after that at Metal Female Voices Fest in Belgium in 2014. Our band was very new back then and everything was really exciting although we all were very experienced musicians. As a bandleader all the things involved in arranging live shows was the most exciting part – doing the management of the band, handling the merch and trying to concentrate on the performance at the same time. You really start appreciating the manager’s work!

What was the title of your first original song with Dark Sarah? Did you record it?

HEIDI: The first song was called “Save Me” it was also the trigger for me to start writing a continuing story about the ´Sarah´ character. The recording and arrangements were made at Pathos Music in Finland and band parts were played by my fellow musicians like Kasperi Heikkinen (Beast in Black) and Jukka Koskinen (Wintersun) whom I had played with in different bands, to name a few. After the first recorded songs, I started to build up the official band line up.

Your album “Grim”, gets released on July 17th. Tell us about the full concept behind the album, and in your words, how is this album different from your first albums?

HEIDI: “Grim” starts a new continuing storyline with a new protagonist called “Luna”. It is a horror fantasy story and tells about the city called Grim and its people who live in fear because of the monster “Mörk” who is terrorizing the city and has stolen the magic forces, orbs. This album is a fresh sounding Dark Sarah album with a bit more modern production, still including some theatrical and symphonic elements but they are showcased in a bit different way compared to the chronicles style. “Grim” is still sounding like Dark Sarah. In my opinion “Grim” is a transitional album both in story and musically – it includes something familiar and something very new.

Why did you choose to include the talents of Jasse Jatala and JP Leppäluoto to the album and how did you get together?

HEIDI: I saw Jasse at The Voice of Finland show on TV in 2019 and because I was already writing the music and story for this album, I instantly thought that he could be the voice I had been looking for “Mörk”. I contacted him and asked if he would be interested in contributing his voice for the part. I asked JP to join our second album “The Puzzle” for the Dragons role. He also joined our band as an official member for the third album because he played a really big part in the ending part of the trilogy. Now we hear him in a ´new´ role of the Wolf called “Garmr”.

Do you think more bands should look at shows like The Voice for new talent to add to their own lineup?

HEIDI: Why not! It is a good audition, showing versatility and talent in a long period of time. Maybe not in most cases for the metal genre, but in Voice of Finland, there have been many metal voices taking part in the competition.
ERKKA: Most definitely. That’s what those singers need. The Voice is supposed to be TV entertainment and nothing else. It’s not about providing anybody with a career or helping anybody to get one. If that happens to somebody on his/her own it’s a definite bonus.

What is your favorite track on the album and why?

HEIDI: “The Chosen One” because of the epicness, new production style, and both poppish and operatic vocals. A really nice combo!
SAMI: “Melancholia” is my favorite because It has so many different moods going on in one song. It has both sadness and power in the same time that gives me shivers every time I listen to it. I also really loved to record guitars on that piece.

What are your feelings about streaming music? Digital vs. vinyl?

HEIDI: Streaming is a modern way of distributing music and also available for everyone if only the musicians would get their share of the income. I still like CDs because it is nice to read the lyrics when listening to music. It doesn’t feel the same when checking the lyrics out from the internet or a pdf booklet. Also, the artwork that is included in the album looks much nicer when seen on a physical CD or a vinyl. But why not both digital and physical copies!

What are your feelings about the social uprising going on in the United States?

HEIDI: It looks really worrying but it is a good thing to stand up for a better and more humane world where we people are seen as one.

What song from the past is in your mind right now? And what is the meaning that song means to you?

HEIDI: “Wish” from our The Golden Moth album because I think it is a beautiful musical theater-like song. I would love to do some musical theater myself in the future and it would be awesome if Dark Sarah´s music would be turned into a musical play!

How do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future? What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?

HEIDI: Hard to tell yet what the long-distance effects might be. But I think the live streams are here to stay and I’m sure they will also help to cover at least some of the financial losses of bands and musicians during this time. I have been practicing social distancing at home, teaching singing online, and doing a lot of gardening. But I miss people, going out and eating out. Even though Finland is almost clear from COVID at the moment, I’m taking it slow to get back to normal routines.

Have you discovered or rediscovered any new hobbies? Heidi- How are your handmade jewelry activities coming along?

HEIDI: I´m continuing my jewelry hobby and studying a lot to get better! At the moment, I´m too busy with Dark Sarah so I don’t have much time for anything else. But once I have a bit sparer time I´m going to focus more on that too. I also love gardening and love planting a lot of flowers in our garden.

Lots of people are doing nightly concerts over either YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Are you planning to do something like that? Do you think it will be possible to make a living doing concerts this way?

HEIDI: Actually YES! Our album release show 7th of August 2020 will be a Livestream show! I’m sure this is great news for our foreign fans who have never seen us live. Good thing that the venues are starting to offer live streams, it helps the venues, bands, and the fans in these times.

First it was an article in the New York Times, then Rolling Stones talked about it and finally Live Nation CEO said that concerts may not start again until fall of 2021. Do you think this could happen?

HEIDI: It could happen if the Covid 19 can’t be stopped soon enough, but I really hope this won’t be the case.

With social distancing becoming the norm, do you feel that it may be the end of music fests for the next couple of years?

HEIDI: Surely, I hope it won’t be. Maybe using face masks becomes mandatory and the audience number might get more limited? At least this way some outdoor events could still take place.

Where do you see Dark Sarah in the next five years?