Interview: OneFromTheNorth's McKeenan on new song, new sound, foundation, admirations, plans, and more
Hailing from Hämeenlinna, Finland, solo electronic industrial metal artist OneFromTheNorth/OFTN (McKeenan) released new song “Buried Eyes Open” (Listen To Song Here) early November, the first new music since his third album Regime, Salvation & the Pyre, which released in 2023 on Sliptrick Records. OFTN is already gearing up to release another new independent single before Christmas.
In this in-depth interview with OOTB, McKeenan dives deep into the latest single, his sound’s newer direction since forming in 2015, working with different instruments, lyrical content and songwriting, his most admired musicians, when he first became interested in music, dealing with writer’s block, plans for 2025, and more.
With the new single “Buried Eyes Open,” what do you hope listeners take from it, lyrically and sonicly?
The song is introducing a new sound of OneFromTheNorth. It's an updated soundscape with mostly growl vocals and that's how it will be. It's like a cleaned table and next chapter of OneFromTheNorth.
There has been growl vocals also earlier together with clean, but now the song and upcoming songs are mostly with growl vocals. I think it creates needed contrast to combine beautiful melodies and very harsh vocals.
“Buried Eyes Open” is about people blindly following the ideology and not fully aware where it might lead us. If taking a glance to social media or even news nowadays, it's full of battle and people are on one side or another, like following just blindly the ideology, nevermind what is the case.
If the group the one is part of states or driving something, it can be very stupid, but still the one is defending it as they are in a same group. If following just blindly what someone says, without any criticism, it can lead to bad things eventually. And when there are people enough with the same mindset and ideology trying to get power—in a worst case, there will be bloodshed.
So what I'm trying to say is that everyone should think more and have own perspective and thoughts about things. Not just following and agreeing everything what someone says. We can say that this song and many of my songs are like warning signs.
Do you write from personal experiences or from a more general non-specific standpoint, or a mix of both?
I write about some personal matters as well and if not building up lyrics fully around those matters, I try to get those inside different lyrics also. But, I aim to make lyrics in many layers when there can be personal things among other things so listeners can relate or find their own way to hear it. Some lyrics can be interpreted in many ways.
I'm also interested about the history, human behaviour, governments and nations; how they work and ongoing trends, etc. I'm like an observer of this chaos where we are living in.
For instance, it's interesting to read something from the history and mirror that to present time and see that a human has not changed a single bit. Many people are thinking that we have learned from the history and none of those bad things can happen anymore today… but how wrong they are.
What equipment and instruments do you use to compose a song? How has that changed through the years as a musician since establishing in 2015?
Guitar has always been my instrument even though I'd really like to learn to play piano really well; maybe I will someday. But, guitar is the most crucial for me to create melodies and bring in the power.
I also use lots of synths, but not maybe always in a traditional way, but more like painting the picture; that opens up more possibilities where to take the song and what melodies to make. I also focus on drums quite much as it has a huge part in any song.
It has not changed that much through the years. When I started playing as a teenager years ago, of course for me it was like guitar and guitar melodies, but nowadays, also from the begining of OneFromTheNorth, I've tried to focus on the whole picture. So in that sense, it has not changed much since 2015. And this is nice, you learn and discover so many new things this way, so it suits me.
When was the first moment you realized you wanted to pursue music? Was it a song, an album, a concert or just a moment in time?
That was when I was small and listening to these different great bands. And when I started playing guitar and discovered song making and the freedom of making music; I guess it was clear already back then that I will make music till the very end. And so far, so it has been.
No matter what happens in life, there is always my escape [in the] music world where I can put everything. For me it's all about making music.
But I also remember some live shows in the early 2000’s from Marilyn Manson, etc. and especially Rammstein shows when they released the Mutter album, as an example. It was already back then just fantastic and I was like “wow, this is the thing!” And it's funny to think that, yes songs were of course good also, but it was the feeling and the atmosphere they created and they still do.
Back then it was different as there was no YouTube and such platforms in that scale where you can see the shows and take a peek, and it was all just mystical—no one knew what's going to happen. It was just so great. That mystical atmosphere made me want to create music and soundscapes, so I'd say those moments were one thing [when] I realized I wanted to make music.
Being a primarily solo artist under the moniker OneFromTheNorth, who would you like to collaborate with or work with?
From vocal perspective, there are great artists like Maynard from Tool, Jonathan Davis, or strong voices like Till Lindemann, etc. Many great artists.
But from a song making and instrumental perspective, bands like Satyricon or Alcest are great ones who can create absolutely fantastic soundscapes, a few to mention.
But I also need to mention Hania Rani that I've discovered some time ago. She has a nice touch of playing piano and song composing, so it would be very nice to see what there could be; collaboration, sure, but mostly I'd like to learn from them.
When you experience writers block, how do you cope?
When having a total dead end, I just forget the song making for awhile and focus on other things. But as making these alone, I can always focus more on lyrics to the songs I've done already, or mixing or anything besides making songs.
I'm also listening to a lot of music and it comes from there eventually that I want to take my time to make music and create something again. I'm trying not to force anything, it comes when it comes, and it works like this.
As an independent artist there is no need to make anything, but I've done this years and years so new songs and ideas are always coming without a force.
What are your biggest goals for the new year, 2025? Can we expect more singles or an EP or LP as a follow up to last year’s album Regime, Salvation & the Pyre?
My biggest goals are to make more music and publish it. I have many songs nearly ready so there will be more music in 2025, which is great and I'm thrilled about it.
I don't know yet what the format it will be, singles, EP or an album, but there will be more music for sure.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Well, go and enjoy OneFromTheNorth music and follow on social media. As an independent small artist, it's also extremely important if people can share the music with friends and show support on that way as well.
But also, and most importantly, listen to different music and support different bands in general because that keeps the music and your favourite artists alive.
Thank you so much for the interview!
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