Doomed Confessionary: Mikael, Gabriel & Peter (Vaara)
Vaara is a sludge/post-meta trio from Kiruna, Sweden. Formed in 2023 by Peter Jakobsson (guitar, vocals), Mikael Salmi-Siikavuopio (bass, backing vocals) and Gabriel Mattila (drums, vocals).
From the northern part of the polar circle in a town between the two mountain mines in the country of Sweden comes Vaara.
The landscape is barren cold, open, rough and rugged, it will question your will to survive and if that’s not enough you can work deep inside the mines where you won’t see the light of day for most of the year.
Their self-titled debut album, released in June 2024, is based on the frustrations, anger, fear and despair of the people revolting against fair conditions and pay in the great miners strike in 1969. How little the human body was worth when profit was on the agenda.
Musically it is very varied going from soft slow chord structures to full on doomy sludge, while stepping on everything from progressive to punk in between, still keeping a dynamic and rythmic pulse going.
Can you say a few words about your band?
In the cold end of 2022 the idea of playing some heavy and yet dynamic jams began. A few lineup changes happend in the first months until we finally settled on a trio. We choose the name VAARA because the whole town up here in the artic is centered around the mining industry and the mountains around the town.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
The distance between here and the rest of the land makes it harder to play gigs and make everything work. Also, there’s no real scene up here anymore so we have to make it south to be able to perform wich can sometimes take a whole day just to get to a venue.
What can you be most proud of so far?
Writing and recording the first album, doing everything ourselves except for the mix and master. Big learning process as well but ever so rewarding. Finding our own sound is also something we can be proud of since we all have quite different preferences in music. This, we think, gives us a wider spectrum to work with.
What was your biggest regret?
No particular regrets at the moment.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Kirunafestival 2024 as it was our only one so far, but we are in talks of having some gigs in the winter. 🙂
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Tool playing in Sweden, our bassist was lucky enough to catch tickets and enjoy this spectacle.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
There has been some amazing records released this year, but I think the best so far is Golden Core’s »Kosmos Brenner«, Guiltless »Thorns«, Horndal »Head Hammer Man«, Skraeckoadlan »Vermillion Sky«, Abrovinch’s self-titled, Grin’s »Hush«, Nails »Every Bridge Burning«, SIBIIR »Undergand«, Generation Of Vipers »Guilt Shrine« and Ufomammut’s »Hidden« are the ones that gets the most spins currently.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Don’t know if I’ve gotten the advice really but the thing I’ve learned through the year is to let go of what I would call “ego-playing”. Just because you can play fast and tricky parts doesn’t mean it’s the best for the song, leave space for the rest of the band, play together and not ontop of one another. It’s all in the best interest of the song, not to massage your ego. A coherent song where every musician serve the song rather than themself, is ten times more pleasurable to listen to than 3 people trying to show their chops.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Well we have different vices, indie movies, finish mustard, cars, vinyl records and whatnot, but as a group we have a tendency to consume a few beverages and take a sauna when we are supposed to be playing.
Can you say something more about the music scene in Kiruna?
Since we live in this remote mining town above the polar cirlce we rarely get artists and bands up here. When we were young there was a local house where you could get free rehearsal spaces. That led to a lot of bands and we organized a lot concerts ourselves. Nowadays the scene is not as big as in the end of the 90’s and beginning of 2000’s, but there is still bands. Now since the town is located so near the mine the whole town is collapsing, which leads to the whole town being physically moved, they are building new houses and tearing down the old ones, some are moved with trucks. The municipality has gotten money from the mining company to move the rehearshal house but have somehow lost it, or spent it on something else. This means the future of the music scene here is rather uncertain, we don’t really know what is going to happen, and it doesn’t look good right now.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
We have nothing scheduled yet but our intention is to do gigs in the fall/winter. The venues are yet to be unveiled.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
We don’t plan too much actually, but doing gigs around Sweden is the plan for us right now. We are constantly working on new material as well so a new release should be sighted somewhere in the future.
How can people best support your band?
Book us for gigs! Our first album will be launched on vinyl soon so buy that! 🙂 Feedback is very welcome as well.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Thank you for your support and all the kind words! Stay tuned for more Vaara!
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well