Suiciderock: First I have to ask how your bandname is pronounced, because we heard so many different ways to say it?
JP: Whatever, it's just perfect they way you pronounced it.

Suiciderock: Charon tells from a Greek Legend about a ferryman who brought dead people across the river of the underworld. Why did you choose this name for the band? Is there a special story behind?
JP: I think Teemu came up with this idea. He was reading Dante, when we were thinking about the bandname. I don't know how it actually came about. Nowadays it's just a dear name for the band. I think it doesn`t mean so much.

Suiciderock: You said that your roots go back to bands like „Paradise Lost" or „Depeche Mode". How far would you say have this bands influenced your own career?
JP: When we recorded our first demo „Pilgrim age" I was listening a lot to Paradise Lost. This bands also Type O`Negative, Cementary, and stuff like that have been very important at this time, but nowadays I try to listen to different kinds of music to find the influences. I try not to listen to careful to other music. I don`t think of how we should sound or we want to sound like.

Your current album „Songs for the sinners" was released this year. Can you tell us something about the recording progress?
JP: Hm. It was actually quite easy. Every song was ready, all the vocals have been ready so we didn`t have to produce it that much. We just played the songs in the studio and the atmosphare was really relaxing all the time. It was nice to work on the album. Absolutely nice.

Suiciderock: You produced with Mikko Karmila. What was it like to work with him?
JP: He didn't have to say that much. He is the kind of a producer, who says it when something is wrong. Maybe he offered help when it came to pronouncation. Of course he gave us also advices how long some certain parts have to be.

Suiciderock: For the song „She hates" Karmila recorded telephone message sounds in the verses. How did this idea came up?
JP (laughs): I don't know. He's got a strange fixation. He had the chance to make it happen and he was always thinking „where can I put it, where can I put it" and than he found some space. I don`t know, he is a strange man.

Suiciderock: You had some guestmusicians in the studio. How did it come that they came to sing or to play on the album?
JP: There are some instruments, which can't be played by ourselves, so we invited the guys from Amorphis kindly and they came to help us. It was easy. We`ve been working with Jani all the time.

Suiciderock: Your songs are mostly about themes, like love, death and most of it all releationships, which found a bitter end. Does this inspiration only come from your own experience or are you also inspired by stories of other people?
JP: I don`t know. It's just the easiest way to write the lyrics. I try not to write about love but it always goes like this.

Suiciderock: So your songwriting helps you to get rid of all the bad stuff? Is it like a therapy for you?
JP: Maybe.

Suiciderock: On your support tour with „Nightwish" in September 2002 you played a extended tour in Germany and you will play in Istanbul. Would you like to do a own headliner tour through Europe?
JP: Yeah why not?
Suiciderock: Any plans right now?
JP: No, we are too small in Germany. But let's see. We did a small tour last autumn two weeks and nine gigs. It was great.

Suiciderock: Where did you shoot the „Colder"- clip and is there a special story behind the clip?
JP (laughs): Do you mean the lyrics?
Suiciderock: No, just about the clip.
JP: O yeah the clip, yeah. It was just the idea of the director. She said we should do that and we said why not. We don`t usually say much when we play, I like it when our band looks much more different.

Suiciderock: How would you describe Charon in short words?
JP: A bunch of monkeys. I know this guys too long.

Suiciderock: What`s your idea of perfect happiness?
JP: Perfect happiness? I really don`t know. If I would know it, I would have done it. I`m seeking it, maybe life is seeking it.
Suiciderock: Maybe that's the sense of life.
JP: Yeah, probably.

Suiciderock: Is there anything in your career that you regret so far?
JP (thinking): No. I've done stupid things, but I can deal with them.

Suiciderock: Is playing live better than sex?
JP: No. Who told you that?
Suiciderock: I was asking somebody and he said yes.
JP (laughs): Maybe our first gig was close to that. It was when we played at Tavastia for the first time when we supported Sentenced. That felt close to it. But than you always want more and more. It can be related to sex, but it doesn`t feel as good as sex.

Suiciderock: Can you still remember yor first musical memory?
JP: Yeah I was singing in our schoolchoire. Maybe it`s that.
Suiciderock: What did you sing, finnish folk songs?
JP: Yes and school songs.
Suiciderock: Can you sing one for us?
JP (laughs): No. I don`t want to.

Suiciderock: What does the future hold for you and your band?
JP: We have to take a little break from touring, because we`ve done about 70 gigs now and feels like that it is too much at the moment. We have to concentrate on other things, so now we take a little time-out to rehearse the new songs. We already have about 10 tracks, so we have to see what comes up. We will do some recordings and maybe we will release something in the beginning of the next year.
 
Suiciderock: Last words for suiciderock.com
JP (laughs): Last words?
Suiciderock: No not your last words. Last words of the interview.
JP: Hopefully we will see you in Central Europe and we hope we have the chance to go on tour with a bigger band, because I don`t wanna go on our own yet. It's also more nice when you are on tour with a bigger band. The audience is always guaranteed. It's the best chance to catch the new ears. Hope to see you soon.