[Archive 2008-06-18] Wikinews interviews Finnish 'Rock 'N' Troll' band Kivimetsän Druidi

Historical archive — originally published 2008-06-18. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

Kivimetsän Druidi‏ is a Finnish female-fronted band formed in 2002 whose music is a fusion of symphonic, fantasy and folk metal, which the band's website dubs 'Rock 'N' Troll'.

Brothers Joni and Antti Koskinen formed the band in Kouvola with Joni playing guitar and growling while Antti played keyboard and sings backing vocals. They joined up with a female lead vocalist, lead and bass guitarists and a drummer. The brothers write the songs between them, with Antti doing the main body and Joni writing the lyrics.

Together the band recorded and released three demos and an EP, all released independently, across 2002-6. Across October and November 2007 they gained international attention by supporting well-known Finnish folk metal band Korpiklaani across a large European tour.

On June 6 this year Kivimetsän Druidi‏ was announced to have been signed to Century Media Records in a global deal. The band have now entered Noice Camp studio in Turku to record their debut, with a planned release date in October. This summer the only performances will be at a handful of festivals while the band works on their new album, but after that is released a major tour will follow to support it. The band say they are "extremely pleased" with the deal.

Wikinews was able to discuss these events and what the future holds for the band with the Koskinen brothers and female vocalist Leeni-Maria Hovila, who also writes the vocal melodies in an exclusive interview, which is published below for the first time.

Joni: We had been playing music something like one year before we came up with the idea to start doing fantasy metal. Moonsorrow’s second album “Voimasta ja Kunniasta” (“Of Strength and Honour”) was the one we were heavily listening that time and we wanted to play something similar to them. At first it was just a two-man-project of ours, but soon we got opportunity to take part in to local band contest and we decided to form a real band.

Antti: We were jamming with my brother Joni in our parents garage and played some folkish stuff after getting inspired on Moonsorrows album “Voimasta ja Kunniasta“. Then we accidentally composed main idea of our first song “Viimeinen Peikkokuningas” (The Last Trollking).

We made more songs and after a few months there came an opportunity take part of local garagebandcontest. We wanted to join in, but didn’t have enough memebers, so we called to some of our friends and that’s when it all started.

Joni: Heh, you could say that it’s quite unusual name for a metal band. Back then when we made our first song and downloaded it to the Finnish mp3-site we needed a name for our project. I was in sort of a hurry and Antti asked me what he should put there. I was writing a fantasy novel at that time and this, even a bit silly name just popped out in my head. We decided to change it afterwards, but... eh... here we are. ☺ In English “Kivimetsän Druidi” would mean “Druid of the Stoneforest.”

Antti: After composing and recording the first song we decided to upload it to mikseri.net (Finnish site where people can upload their own songs) and we, of course, needed name for the project. Joni just shouted “Kivimetsän Druidi” (The Druid of The Stoneforest) as a joke. I laughed and added it. We were supposed to change it later, but here we are.

Source and licence

Text adapted from Wikinews interviews Finnish 'Rock 'N' Troll' band Kivimetsän Druidi by Wikinews contributors under CC BY 2.5. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. Contributor history.