Interview

Jani Liimatainen On Cain's Offering Playing Live: "We Are Very Determined To Make It Happen This Time Around"

Back in 2009, following guitarist/composer Jani Liimatainen’s departure from Sonata Arctica, a “supergroup” consisting of Liimatainen, keyboardist Mikko Harkin (Mehida/ex-Symfonia), vocalist Timo Kotipelto (Stratovarius), Jukka Koskinen (ex-Norther/Wintersun) and drummer Jani Hurula (Silent Voices) was formed as Cain’s Offering.

Liimatainen was the sole writer of the music and lyrics that would appear as on the debut release “Gather the Faithful.” With other commitments coming into play since its release, Liimatainen came out in the summer of 2014 and announced that writing was underway for a sophomore effort, which would be released via Frontiers Records. For fans of the debut, the long wait was over.

“Stormcrow” was issued back in mid-May and Liimatainen took out some time to answer a few questions about how it came to be and whether the band will ever play live.

CROMCarl: Congratulations on “Stormcrow” – it’s quickly rising as one of the best albums released this year. It’s been quite a while since we’ve heard from the band due to other commitments! Is the material on the new release stuff that has been written for some time, or did it all come together recently?

Jani: Thank you, we are quite happy with the album ourselves, and also the reception has been really positive so far. I was asked about doing another Cain’s Offering album already a few years ago, but back then I had so much other stuff on my plate it was just plain impossible to give the next album all the time and concentration that I knew it would requite. So I told the label to contact me again in a year and we’d see where we are at. Then, to my surprise, they actually remembered and did contact me a year later. It felt like the time was right so I set aside around 4-5 months for just the writing process. Of course I had some bits and pieces that I had written over the years that I drew some ideas from, but most of the new material was written during spring-fall of 2014.

CROMCarl: With “Stormcrow” you collaborated a little more on the writing – with more contributions from Timo Kotipelto. How do you feel you have grown as a writer over the years?

Jani: I would definitely like to at least think I have grown as a writer. Since the first Cain’s Offering album I have written quite a lot of material for other artists, and I also went to study songwriting at a music school for a year. On the first CO album, while it had some really great songs and moments, I think that my songwriting was at times a bit all over the place, whereas on “Stormcrow” the writing is much more focused.

I’ve never been opposed to collaborative writing, although I’ve done quite a little of it so far. I think it takes a certain kind of chemistry for it to truly work, and thankfully me and Timo seem to have that chemistry. We collaborated on a few tracks on this new Cain’s Offering album and also wrote a few songs for the previous Stratovarius album “Nemesis”. We have also written some songs and lyrics together for the upcoming Stratovarius album, but it’s still too early to say which one of those will actually make it to the album.

CROMCarl: With both Timo Kotipelto and Jens Johansson appearing on “Stormcrow” and Matias and Mika working the mixing and mastering, is it difficult to separate the sound and style of Cain’s Offering with Stratovarius so they are both distinct enough to be easily identified with the fans?

Jani: I don’t really think so, I think both of the bands have a very distinctive identities, even though we operate somewhat on the same field and use some of the same personnel as well. My writing is very different from for instance from Matias’ writing, who writes most of the Stratovarius material nowadays. Also I think CO relies a bit more heavily on keys and there is quite a lot more of different vocal parts on CO albums, whereas Stratovarius is a bit more guitar orientated.

CROMCarl: I know you contributed some writing and backing vocals on Stratovarius’ “Nemesis” release. Will that collaboration continue on the upcoming new album “Eternal”?

Jani: Yes, it does, as I think I already mentioned before. We wrote a few songs together with Timo, and we also wrote the lyrics for a couple of Matias’ songs. I was also hired to record Timo’s lead vocals as we have been working together so much and I have recorded his vocals already for the “Stormcrow” as well as mine and Timos’ acoustic duo album “Blackoustic”. This arrangement also gave Matias some extra time to concentrate on some other elements of the album as he didn’t have to spend time recording the lead vocals.

CROMCarl: Have you ever been asked to be a permanent part of Stratovarius or would you if the opportunity arises?

Jani: No, I have never been asked, and given the current situation where Timo and Jens also play in Cain’s Offering I think it might be a tad bit awkward. Of course, if Matias (god forbid) for some reason decided to quit and they’d ask me to fill in I would do it, but I really don’t think this is a relevant question, and also just adding another guitar to their lineup would hardly serve any real purpose. I’m more than happy just to help them out every once in a while with some writing, recording or backing vocals.

CROMCarl: “Stormcrow” – the song has a dark overtone with the lyrics. Tell me a bit about what the song means and why you chose it as the album’s title?

Jani: I was actually sitting in a train, listening to the demo of a song that eventually became “Stormcrow”. I was just trying to come up with some lyric lines for the chorus, and I don’t know where this “Stormcrow” idea came, but I immediately knew that it should also be the title of the album, as it was simple and had a really cool, kinda ominous tone to it. I’m not really a big fan of explaining my lyrics, as I think it can be a very subjective experience to people and their interpretation while different from mine can be totally valid and I don’t want to ruin it. “Stormcrow” can be seen as being about something (in this case the narrator, as it is in first person) being a bad influence or an ill omen that always resurfaces, even if it never leads to anything good.

CROMCarl: Another favorite track of mine is “Antemortem” – which has a style not too far removed from that of Nightwish with its big orchestrations and an ultra-catchy chorus. Tell me a bit about how that song came about.

Jani: “Antemortem” is actually one of those ideas that I’ve had around already for years. When we decided to do another Cain’s Offering album that one was the first one of the older demos that I dug out, as I always felt that there was something to it. Of course this demo was only about one and a half minutes long, but I reworked it and finished the writing. It was also the first song I sent to our drummer Hurtsi when I had it finished. His reaction was “This is really cool, it sounds fresh but still at the same time it really sounds like Cain’s Offering”. Lyrics wise it’s about how all our choices, the pain and the heartache that may come from them, still essentially lead us to where we belong and we shouldn’t get hung up on them too much since it was necessarily to make those mistakes, and it’s all in the past already.

CROMCarl: One of the things I appreciate the most about your writing style is the basis squarely on melody. Do you feel that a song is not really a song unless it starts with a hook or melody?

Jani: Thank you, I take that as a compliment, as that is precisely what I try to do in my writing. For me the melody is always the king. Of course there are different types of music where the main emphasis can be on something else than the melody, but for me it always comes down to the melody. It’s what makes the song. Without a melody there isn’t really a song either, at least when it comes down to our kind of music.

CROMCarl: Was Mikko Harkin originally part of the plan for “Stormcrow”?

Jani: No, not really. I knew that I had to get someone else, and I was actually having some issues coming up with a replacement for him since he is such a phenomenal player. In the end the solution was very simple of course, but at first I couldn’t see that it should naturally be Jens.

CROMCarl: I know you have been asked this question a million times, but will there ever be a chance that Cain’s Offering will play live?

Jani: Yeah, this has come up quite a many times, and it has been a difficult question. Now there is an answer though: It’s very likely. We now have a booking agency and are actually in the process of working out some dates. Of course it is pretty tricky given that all the guys are pretty busy and have some other commitments as well, but we are very determined to make it happen this time around.

CROMCarl: So what is next for Cain’s Offering? I know it’s really early and too soon to ask, but do you think there is a third album that might surface someday?

Jani: Well, I’m of course still quite busy with the promotion for “Stormcrow”, so it’s kinda early to think about it. As I mentioned we are now really trying to get our asses on the road as well. It probably won’t be any too extensive tours given the scheduling problems, but we already have some offers and are planning to do at least some shows during 2016 when Stratovarius has a break from their “Eternal” tour. At the moment I also feel pretty confident about there being still a 3rd Cain’s Offering album someday, and I have a feeling that this time it doesn’t take 6 years to get it done.

CROMCarl: Are there any plans for a follow up to the “Blackoustic” album with Timo?

Jani: We’ve talked about it, but at the moment there is no time, and also we don’t really have a clear idea where we should take it from here if we decide to make another album. The first one was a pretty good representation of our live arrangements, but of course the energy is totally different live when the audience is there. I’d say at the moment our options would be to record a live album to capture the actual magic that happens in the live shows, or then take a totally different route and maybe record an albums worth of new, original songs. But this is in no way a current thing to think about, as the Cain’s Offering album just came out and the new Stratovarius album is coming out later this year as well. We will definitely keep on playing our duo shows whenever we find the time, as they are a total blast to do, but as for a new album, only time will tell.

CROMCarl: Thanks for your time! Best of luck with the album!

Jani: No problem, Thank you for your interest!