Apocalyptica's Eicca Toppninen on how they helped metal and classical music forever

Since 1993, when the idea of Metallica songs played in an orchestral style had a curious novelty buzz around it, classically trained cellist Eicca Toppinen has guided Apocalyptica to unimagined success over an extraordinary career, releasing nine albums and working with Sabaton, Amon Amarth, Corey Taylor, Ville Valo, Bullet For My Valentine and more.

As the Finns return to the theme of their much-loved 1996 debut, Plays Metallica By Four Cellos , for new album Plays Metallica Vol. 2 , we got Eicca to share some handy tips for living.

KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE

“It’s insane when you put it on paper: the fifth show after our first album release, and we were opening for Metallica! It felt surreal in a way, but I think we always had such a strong belief in our professionalism as cello players. We were already hard-boiled musicians and performers - although in a different, classical context – so we had this kind of grounding where our confidence was relaying. But I don’t remember in much detail how it felt to go onstage, which probably tells you I was pretty nervous!”

COMMIT, OR GET OFF THE HORSE

“I was riding horses when I was 15. I really loved spending time at the stables, I wanted to go to a special school to become a horseriding instructor. Probably that would have taken off for me if music hadn’t. In my 20s when Apocalyptica was getting busier and busier, I got so frustrated that my own development as a horse rider wasn’t going anywhere. I wasn’t riding often enough, I didn’t have the money to maintain it, and it started to lose its spark. I still love horses, but I haven’t been riding for a long, long time.”

ASPIRE TO INSPIRE

“When Metallica did the first S&M in 1999, they flew us to the concert in San Francisco. They really wanted us there, and the reason was that our thing [ Plays Metallica By Four Cellos ] had influenced them to make the decision to do an orchestral thing. If I understood right, Michael Kamen had tried to convince Metallica for quite a time to do that kind of thing, but they were reluctant. Then they heard our cello versions and were like, ‘OK, let’s go for it!’”

BE YOURSELF

“I’ve seen that Apocalyptica’s influence has been pretty huge. A lot of bands started to think, ‘It would be great to have real strings here’, and we did a lot of features – especially in the 90s, but all the time, really - for different bands who wanted to have the Apocalyptica sound. But also, many classical musicians have allowed themselves to play what they want, to become non-traditional musicians away from the classical field, and I think our impact has been even bigger.”

ENCOURAGE OTHERS

“We always need encouragement, especially when we feel we don’t fit in, when we’re not falling into the group or society in some way; I think that works in many areas of life. It might get you depressed, if you feel you’re different and don’t fit anywhere, but if you get the right kind of encouragement and inspiration, then being different turns into your strength. Human beings seem to be like that: we try to take the different ones down.”

BE PROUD TO STAND OUT

“I grew up in a suburb that was considered one of the worst in the country. There’s a lot of social problems, alcoholism, drug abuse, violence, that kind of stuff. So that stuck on me when I went to more classical surroundings. I felt like a rebel there, and I felt happy, like it was part of my identity: ‘You cream-asses, I come from a place where life is real!’ At the horse stables I was the only guy among girls, I didn’t fully fit anywhere, and that’s been part of my identity – being a mixture of the lone wolf and some level of rebel. I always felt I was different, and that somehow was a strength.”

METAL PEOPLE ARE THE BEST

“There were times I wanted to belong in a deeper way – it’s a very natural human instinct, to be accepted and validated. Then we got the first gig with the metal audience, and I started to hang out with metal people, like the guys from HIM , and the acceptance of being different was so big in the metal scene. That’s the thing I love most about the global metal community: it welcomes all outcasts, everybody’s allowed to be themselves. Even four classical cello dudes playing Metallica!”

EMBRACE THE WEIRD

“The first metal audience we played to was 1,100 people – we were part of some sold-out metal event. Before we got onstage, we thought people would probably bottle us off, but people fucking loved it – they went crazy, they were stagediving. It was so cool. You go to any metal festival, people are peaceful, kind, all these beautiful aspects of humanity exist in the metal community. I love it.”

PLANS CHANGE…

“We were at Download when Metallica came out with St. Anger [in 2003]. We were billed to play a one-hour slot in a tent, but the secret plan was that Metallica would actually play a surprise show there, in our slot. The idea was we’d start with Fight Fire With Fire and during the song Metallica would come onstage, we’d play it together, and then we’d fuck off. But then they decided, a day before the show, that as it was the first show with Rob Trujillo, they had to come out strong as a fourman band. Lars felt so sorry that the plan had changed, he got us a slot on the main stage.”

…JUST MAKE SURE YOUR SOUND GUY ISN’T HIGH!

“We didn’t have any technicians with us, zero crew, and the guy who was supposed to help me set up the in-ear monitors, he was so high he couldn’t do shit. I’d never plugged in this gear – I was trying to work out what went where, I had to do the whole thing, in the pressure of being on the main stage. I somehow managed to get some sound out and we ran onstage, but after 10-15 minutes of blasting it out we couldn’t hear shit, we couldn’t understand anything we were doing, just running around headbanging thinking, ‘This is fucking terrible!’ Luckily, besides that, we’ve had some great shows at Donington!”

LEAVE YOUR EGO AT THE DOOR

“Every experience of collaboration is very different, but we’re lucky enough that we’ve only ever worked with great people. That’s my general rule in life: I don’t like to work with assholes. No matter how good they are, I don’t care. Sometimes I take the risk! But musically, the magic of collaboration is that you need to leave your ego outside, otherwise it doesn’t work. Sepultura were super-cool. All of those guys, the top A-class people, the stars, they are usually all super-cool and nice. Then there’s this category of wannabes, they are fairly big but want to be bigger – that’s the category where you can find assholes.”

SOMETIMES IT’S NICE TO NOT BE IN CONTROL

“When I compose soundtracks, I’m just a small part that is trying to serve something bigger. I’m a component. So it’s for the directors and producers and editors to decide what works. With the band, we control the process from the beginning to the result, but with movie scoring you jump into a platform that already exists, you do what you feel is great, but in the end somebody else cuts it off. I really like that in a way, because since I was young, I’ve had responsibility for so much stuff. My nature is to get very much involved, but sometimes I just like to do my part, and that’s enough.”

BEING IN A BAND IS RIDICULOUS

“It’s the most complex relationship that you can have with other people. It’s a brotherhood, but it’s like a marriage without the benefits! You live together, in a bus. You travel with your workers. Then you grow up and lead your own lives. We all have a different pace of developing ourselves, we all change over time, so you have to find new ways of communication, staying respectful and appreciating everybody’s life choices.”

LOVE IS ALL

“There have been many, many hard times in this band. I think the hardest was 2001 on the [third album] Cult tour, when I actually fired myself. I ended up firing another cello player, but we did split up for a moment. Sometimes it’s too much trying to balance work with family and spending 200 days a year on tour. It’s very easy to lose the meaning of it all and ask, ‘Why the fuck am I here?’ There’s been a lot of conflict along the way, as well as great times, but the core thing is that we have so much love towards each other.”

...Plays Metallica Vol. 2 is out now. Apocalyptica's UK tour starts in Manchester on September 29.