Faschistische Provokationen im Metal

[padrak]

Statement von Amorphis zum Gastauftritt von Pasi:

First. We truly apologize what he did on that show.
Amorphis has always been and still strongly is against every fascist movement there is. We don't represent or support any political or religious view. The fact what Pasi wore on that particulary Amorphis show as our guest is unacceptable and extremely stupid. It only shows his stupidity and immaturity. We would have never ever allowed this to happen if we would have known beforehand what he is going to wear on stage. We (the band) were on stage when guests started to appear. All this came as an unfortunate surprise for us. Unfortunately we saw what was on his shirt too late, after the show. Seeing his performance from the web was disgusting. So why we continued playing show? None of us from the band didn't realize the episode until it was too late. When you are on stage you always rely on your bandmates so much that you would never expect something this stupid to happen. The stage is the place where we try to give everything to the audience. Our tool is our music and no man`s random political view can destroy it.

Even more provoking is that Pasi seems to send messages through his Facebook site. From there you know what's going on. He is speaking from his point of view and represents totally his own state of mind. Pasi is not a singer of Amorphis and hasn't been for almost eight years. His political or whatever views do not represent anything what we do.

Regarding Rock Hard festival Amorphis is going to perform as current line-up. Pasi Koskinen is never again going to appear at any Amorphis show. He blew it... again. Beside that Kim Rantala, Olli-Pekka Laine, Pekka Kasari, Kasper MÃ¥rtenson and Ville Tuomi are more than welcome to appear if we decide to do more Magic and Mayhem shows. We have huge respect for these guys for their strong support and great music for Amorphis. We are extremely sorry about this and sad because of the Magic and Mayhem "retro" shows were great and it was so good to meet old band members which we haven't met for years. We respect our fans a lot and whatever decision they want to do with Pasi singing-albums is understandable. Burn them if you like.

We believe that as long as you have musically something to give you don't have to provocate the audience. If anyone has doubts considering what we think about nazism, check out the My Kantele EP`s back cover with printed anti-nazi sign - released back in 1995. We truly apologize that we let Pasi share the stage with us with that ridiculous shirt, that's all we can say. You won`t see that ever again on any Amorphis show, that's for sure. Now let's focus on more positive things!

At Helsinki 31.1.2011
Tomi Joutsen, Esa Holopainen, Santeri Kallio, Tomi Koivusaari, Jan Rechberger and Niclas Etelävuori

Vielen Dank an Andi (www.musikreviews.de) für das Interview und ebenfalls Glückwunsch an Amorphis für diese eindeutige Stellungnahme.