The cello, long a staple of classical music, is not an instrument typically associated with rock ‘n’ roll. Although numerous bands over the years have incorporated its warm, rich timbre in their music—from The Beatles "Eleanor Rigby" and "Strawberry Fields Forever," to Pink Floyd's cello solo on the 1970s epic instrumental Atom Heart Mother, to Nirvana including it on their In Utero album—the cello is rarely part of a rock band's lineup.
A relatively new subgenre of rock music has been emerging slowly over the years, however. Cello rock, as it is known, is a mix of metal with the classical elements of the cello and other bowed string instruments like the violin and viola. Often used in groups of three or more, the cello serves as the primary instrument either with, or in place of, more traditional rock instruments such as the guitar, bass and drums, and is amplified or electronically modified to imitate the sound of electric guitars. While most cello rock bands will feature the instrument on specific songs, few include a cellist, let alone four, as full members of the band.
Leading the pack of these so-called cello rockers is the Finnish band Apocalyptica. Fronted by four classically trained cellists, Apocalyptica came together at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, in 1993, where they played music by everyone from Bach to Hendrix as members of a cello band. Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, Max Lilja, and Antero Manninen, all heavy metal fans, eventually decided to break away and form their own band. Toppinen wrote unique arrangements of Metallica and Slayer songs which the group performed at student balls. Emboldened by a growing following, Apocalyptica decided to try out their material on the real deal—a heavy metal audience.
"We got to play at an after-Christmas party for metalheads at Teatro Heavy Metal Club in Helsinki in 1995," recalls Toppinen. "There were three other bands and every band was doing covers. It was one of the first shows when HIM played. They were covering Type O Negative, we were covering Metallica. It was really scary to go there and play in front of metalheads. We didn't know what was going to happen. We thought they might kill us! But they really freaked out and had a great time."
In the audience that night was a representative of Zen Garden Records who was so impressed by the band that he offered them a recording contract on the spot. Apocalyptica released their debut studio album in 1996. Plays Metallica by Four Cellos featured eight instrumental covers of Metallica songs that were arranged and played on cellos. "For ourselves, we never thought we could make an album out of what we were doing,” says Toppinen. “It was just for fun, some therapy away from practicing all those ****ty scales! So when the first album was released, we didn't expect much. If it had sold 1,000 copies in Finland that would've been great, but it sold over one million copies worldwide!"
Apocalyptica were an overnight success in their native Finland. They created a most unusual alliance between metalheads and classical aficionados, all of whom found something to like in the band's music. "There's a primitivity to be found in both metal and classical music," says Toppinen. "It's more hidden in classical music, but it's very powerful and strong. If you listen to the symphonies of Shostakovich, when he's really going hard it's comparable to Pantera or Sepultura. Also, people in both worlds love good musicians."
The band followed up Plays Metallica in 1998 with the release of their second studio album, Inquisition Symphony. Again, the all instrumental album contained Metallica covers as well as covers of Faith No More, Sepultura, and Pantera, but this time, they threw in three original songs written by Toppinen.
Apocalyptica continued to evolve through each subsequent album. Cult, released in 2000, featured 10 original songs and only 3 covers and marked the introduction of vocals in the band's work as well as a bolder use of distortion effects. By 2003, Apocalyptica were down to three cellos when Max Lilja left the band. They hired on drummer Mikko Sirén and released Reflections, their first album of all original material which featured a more experimental sound as the band moved away from the acoustic arrangements of their previous efforts.
The self-titled Apocalyptica followed in 2005 and featured a number of guest musicians including Ville Valo of HIM and Dave Lombardo of Slayer. Apocalyptica continued their use of guest artists on their 2007 release, Worlds Collide. The album featured Corey Taylor of Slipknot on "I'm Not Jesus" and Three Days Grace frontman Adam Gontier handling vocals on the single "I Don’t Care," which reached #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks and cracked the top 10 of both the Active rock and Alternative rock charts, making them the first Finnish band to top the U.S. charts. Apocalyptica toured Europe in 2007 and followed up with a tour of the States in 2008 in support of Worlds Collide, selling out many of the venues they played.
Apocalyptica have taken the cello out of concert halls and onto strobe-lit concert stages. Their utterly original sound has helped them sell over three million albums to date. The band have just announced a summer debut for their latest metal-inspired record, 7th Symphony. Once again they will be joined by Lombardo along with several other surprise guest musicians. Apocalyptica most recently played the Finnish metal expo Kaapelitehdas in February 2010. The group have a slot on this year’s Rock on the Range extravaganza to be held in Columbus, Ohio, in May. Check out the band’s website at www.apocalyptica.com for further information and additional concert dates.
