EMQ’s With Ultimatium
EMQ’s With Ultimatium
Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with Finnish Melodic Progressive Power Metal band, Ultimatum. Huge thanks to Matti Pulkkinen, their Keyboard player, Composer, and founder member, for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
I’m Matti Pulkkinen, I play keyboards / compose / lyrics etc. and manage this band. I started Ultimatim back in 2001, first as solo project to showcase myself as keyboardist, but on the third demo, Harri Niskanen joined the band as guitarist, and we recorded our breakthrough-demo with JT Partanen in vocals. First to album, New Dawn & Hwainoo were recorded for Mastervox Studios. On Vis Vires Infinitus (2015) we went DIY completely and licensed the album to Underground Symphony. Our latest album, Virtuality, was licensed for Rockshot Records.
How did you come up with your band name?
Origin is from my name, back in the days in Suomussalmi, Finland, there used to be saying “Ulti-Matti and his magical toyota”. Toyota was a small, light blue hatchback and we used to cruise around the Suomussalmi with it and have fun.
What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?
We’re originally from Suomussalmi, Finland. After early years our location has varied a bit. Half of our career, we were based in Oulu, but nowadays we’re mostly in region of Tampere.
What is your latest release?
Epic Prog Power Metal Opera, Virtuality, featuring five lead vocalists in a theme about near future virtual world gaming.
Who have been your greatest influences?
Early days it was mostly Stratovarius and other Power Metal bands, but lately we’re more influenced by Prog Metal bands, like Dream Theater, Ayreon, Pagan’s Mind, etc. We also have a lot of influence from Rainbox (Dio-era).
What first got you into music?
Stratovarius, plain and simple. The “Visions” album hit me so hard I bought the sheet music book and started playing keyboards and learning the notation from that book and later, composing.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
Nils K Rue would be very nice to get featuring on any song.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
We’re not doing live shows anymore, but I guess if Wacken calls us, we may have to reconsider that decision. Or Tuska perhaps.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
I don’t think we ever got any gifts from fans. Best gift anyone could give us, is buying our album, anyways. 🙂
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Please be patient and don’t forget about us between the albums 😀
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Ronnie James Dio, no question about it. Although he had a very long career, I felt like it should have ended differently than it did. Last time I see him was in Qstock Oulu, with Heaven and Hell and he was on fire, sounded really great. Sad that it did not took long after the show, for the bad news to arrive…
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
Writing songs and then recording / producing them to final formation. Photoshoots, definitely… It takes a hundreds of photos of me to get one decent and especially in group photos, I’m usually the one who spoils it. Camera really hates me…
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Distribution of wealth, from big tech corpos towards independent artists.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Dream Theater “Images And Words”.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?
Vinyl. It’s the whole process to put the album spinning etc, it kind of feels like this way the music is supposed to be listened.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
I think our first gig in Hevimesta, Oulu, was our best. We were young and full of power and speed.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8d0HZdcpME).
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
I’m software developer during daytime. So, during day I make code, evenings I make notes 😀
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Geddy Lee, Arjen Anthony Lucassen, Simone Simmons, Devin Townsend and Anneke van Giersbergen.
What’s next for the band?
We’re recording a new album, which we will reveal later this spring. We’ve also made new video from Virtuality, Hall of Heroes and next one goes out mid-February.
What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
https://www.ulti.fi
https://www.youtube.com/UltimatiumMetal
http://facebook.com/UltimatiumMetal
Time for a very British question now. As an alternative to the humble sandwich, is the correct name for a round piece of bread common in the UK either a Bap, a Barm (or Barm Cake), a Batch, a Bun, a Cob, a Muffin, a Roll or a Tea Cake?
Depends where you live…
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Thank you for interviewing us, thank you for whomever you are reading this and prog on!
Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
