Jari from Wintersun on growing up in Finland and discovering heavy metal

Features
By ( Metal Hammer ) published

Talking to Wintersun frontman Jari Mäenpää about his childhood and first forays into metal

Jari Mäenpää from Wintersun

Wintersun will be releasing their long-awaited third album The Forest Seasons on July 21 through Nuclear Blast – an exploratory journey through each of the four seasons through the minds four musicians from the frozen north.

In the below video, mainman Jari Mäenpää discusses what it was like growing in Finland and how he discovered music. Starting with his parents’ love of Elvis Presley, Jari soon moved on to heavier realms after seeing his friend play Metallica riffs that he thought sounded “fucking amazing.” Soon Jari started playing guitar himself, listening to Metallica and Megadeth before moving on to more black metal like Dissection and Emperor.

He goes on to discuss his first gigs, from seeing David Hasselhoff as a small child to the “amazing experience” of seeing Amorphis as a teenager.

Wintersun’s new album The Forest Seasons is out July 21 via Nuclear Blast, and is available to pre-order now.

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