What is the meaning behind the name "Wizzard"? Why did you add another "z" to the name?

Wizzard is simply a band name wíthout any further meaning, except for what the English semantics carry. It's simple, easy to remember and recognise, and sounds a bit oldish in the Metal sense of it. The second "z" was added due to there being a band called Wizard in Germany, which had released two albums too, at the time I discovered their existence. The bands had chosen the names coincidentally without knowing about each other. I thought that another "z" would make it look rawer and distinct us from the German band without violating our past.

Why do you call your music Black Heavy Metal?

Because describes our music splendidly and brings life back to the term "black metal" after it has been raped and killed and raped again by all these bands and people who think that black metal was invented in Norway 10 years ago and it consists of noise core and satanic lyrics. We play black HEAVY metal (the other branch of bm being black death metal, such as Barathrum, Bathory etc.) in the traditional way as it was and is performed by bands such as Mercyful Fate, Iron Maiden, Venom, Demon etc. Of course we are not just copying these old masters, but we also bring other influences and toss them into the cauldron where they're cooked up into what is known as Black Heavy Metal a la Wizzard - faithful to the roots yet innovative and unique.

Is your first and only demo still available, and if it is, how?

The demo itself is sold out long ago, but it is re-released on "The Eerie Sampler" CD (Eerie Productions, Finland). The CD features all Eerie Productions releases + the legendary "Dark Aureoles Gathering" -demo by Darkwoods My Betrothed. Well-equipped underground distros should carry this piece in their stocks.

Why has the line-up changed so often?

The simple reason is that I have moved a lot from city to city and back and forth between Finland and Germany. The previous line-up lasted two years and had to split up, because I decided to leave Finland for personal reasons. None of the ex-members has left the band with hard feelings, for they knew it all the time that I am a very mobile person and that the band moves with me. The present line-up is here to stay, I hope. At least I'm not planning to move anywhere for the next few years and the lads and I have developed such a way of working, which allows a larger geographical distance between us. Even in the case I decided to move back to Finland this line-up could keep on working as it does now.

Could you describe each of the albums briefly?

The self-titled debut is definitely the most primitive and aggressive of our albums. 15 songs recorded in the notorious Studio Perkele with me doing everything else but playing guitar, which was handled by Hellboozer. The sound is pretty good and heavy despite the simple equipment used. The album has almost equal shares of fast speed/death, midpaced heavy metal, and slow ultra heavy/doomy tracks. I myself really like more than half of the material, but admit that some more criticism should have been applied when choosing the songs. There are several tracks that really don't live up to my quality standard anymore. My top-3 songs are: "I Am the King", "Demon's Blood", and "Leather, Booze & Rock'n'Roll".

"Devilmusick" is a much more relaxed and also humorous. Moreover it is perhaps even more esoteric than the debut. Most people can't understand the rock'n'metal attitude and the wicked black humour that has a strong position on the album. The ten songs have a similarish variance as on the debut, yet the midpaced rock'n'roll songs have a larger share here. Also there is this esoteric joke experiment "Satan's Blues" that few people have really understood. This time we had a real session drummer from a popular Finnish rock band, whose name can't be revealed. Also Wilska was introduced to the band as "Torquemada". Some of the songs are real classics in my opinion, but again there are a few that aren't of the best quality. This album is limited to 1000 copies and practically sold out. My top-3 of this album is: "One-Way Ticket to Hell", "(Rock'n'Roll Is) Devil's Music", and "Iron, Steel, Metal".

"Songs of Sin and Decadence" is a huge leap for the band from simplish black'n'roll metal with a wickedly tongue-in-cheek attitude towards a serious heavy metal band. This is the start of a new era for Wizzard. For the first time there's a real line-up in the band and not just some mates of mine cobbled up to help me out - and that can be heard. This time we really put a lot of effort on the arrangements and the sound, which both had failed on the "Devilmusick" sessions. Also this time I applied very strong criticism to both music and lyrics. All in all the album is very serious with only a couple of excerpts of black humour on it (i.e. "Tormentor (Wimp Reaper)"). It's also the heaviest and most melodic of our albums. The old heavy metal influences are stronger than ever and there are almost no resemblances to any speed/death bands anymore. My top-3 tracks are: "Sins of a Past Life", "Temple of Elemental Evil", and "The Fire of Volcanus".

Why did you drop your artist pseudonymns that were used on the first two albums?

I guess they just fit the atmosphere of those albums, but didn't seem to fit the concept on "Songs…" anymore. People also know me as Teemu and not Hexenmeister so what the fuck.

In which other bands you play or have played?

I myself have played in Darkwoods My Betrothed from the beginning until August 1996, in Nattvind(ens Graat) from the very beginning till today, and I play also in the studio project band Furthest Shore together with Nattasett (DMB) and the ex-Wizzard drummer Pasi. The rest of the contemporary line-up have their own speed/death/thrash band called Thargos.

What are the ex-members doing nowadays?

From the previous line-up, Wilska and JeeJee have their own heavy metal band called Sethian. I guess they're still working on the material of their debut album for which they're looking for a deal. Pasi plays in Furthest Shore and some unknown rock and cover bands in his area in central Finland. From the other ex-members, J. Crow still plays in his famous main band, Hellboozer has his own black metal band, about Wellu and Ville I don't know. I haven't seen them or talked with them for ages.

Why have you changed labels so often?

NEP was and is a cool label by its attitude - that's why I signed to them in the first place - but it was due to the unpredictability of their financial situation that I decided to leave them. Spinefarm has a solid financial basis, and the label manager is a good friend, but they didn't put too much effort in promoting us. On the other hand, I have to admit that "Devilmusick" didn't really have any top-seller potential either. So the sales ended up being low and we limited the album to a 1000 copies only. The owner of Spinefarm and we mutually decided to not to continue our collaboration. Finally we decided to sign for 2 albums to the Swedish label Near Dark Productions, because they offered us really fair conditions. We switched to Gutter with NDP's help because Gutter has a much better distribution network and more money for promotion in use, yet still having an underground attitude. We recently signed for 1+2 more albums to Gutter, so we are continuing our cooperation with them.

Have you played live a lot? With which bands?

We have played a total of 20 gigs, of which 17 in Finland and 3 in Germany. More are of course to come... 16 of those gigs (incl. two German gigs) have been played with Barathrum. We have also played with many other bands, among them the legendary Sabbat from Japan, Morningstar, Mayhemic Truth, Babylon Whores, Horna, and others.

How can one book Wizzard for a gig and what is to be expected of your show?

We can be booked by simply writing/mailing directly to us or to our label. For a gig we require basically our expenses back + some food and drinks. These are always negotiated on a case-by-case basis. This goes for gigs abroad, too. Of a Wizzard gig you can expect pure Metal. Nothing more, and absolutely nothing less.

Do you know the German band Wizard?

I found out about the existence of the band in the summer 1997. A bit later I got in touch with Sven (D'Anna, vocals) and traded CD's. He liked our shite and to my big surprise I found out that his band is actually fucking excellent. Ever since we have been mates and we have also met several times. And every time I have met the lads it has ended up in a beer holocaust, ha ha ha ha!. I hope that we will some day have the chance to play a few shows together.