DEVIL'S ISLAND featuring Ultimatium
Welcome to this weeks edition of Devil's Island! Every week we maroon a band or artist on the island and see what they get up to, how they cope with being all alone on a small island in the middle of the ocean. It's not your average desert island and we'll see just how each person copes with the extreme conditions.
This week when we arrived at Devil's Island we find Matti Pulkkinen of Ultimatium sat on the beach. The island is far from their home, so how did he end up here and how did he cope with life on Devil's Island?
Find out now...
Welcome to The Razors'e Edge and our somewhat lovely, warm desert island. Don't worry about it's name I'm sure it's not as bad as that would suggest.
You're marooned here on this island, but before you ended up shipwrecked you chose one album that you couldn't live without. Which album did you each chose and why?
The day I left, I remember it clearly. The big tech fallout. No more spotify and youtube, just me and the albums I bought before 2020. For my journey, across the seas, they tasked me to bring one album and one album alone. I still can’t understand why. Did they mean cd’s or vinyl? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just take a cd, it won’t be bent on sunlight on the deck of the ship… Hmm, Ok, I’ll grab Ayreon's Flight of the Migrator, that’s a double album, let’s see if they spot my cleverness. They did not say anything about double albums, did they?
Just behind that palm tree is a shack for each of you to stay in, with enough space for you to put up a poster on the wall of one album cover. What album cover do you each chose?
I found these posters on a washed up crate. I guess they gave different tasks to people. So, I brought a cd, and some people brought album posters. That’s some crazy ark. Mostly crap… Hey, what’s that, looks like… Yeah, Rainbow Rising, that goes to my shack for sure...
There's also a bar on this here island. But alas each of you only get to choose one drink for the entirety of your stay. What's your tipple of choice?
A bar, on a desert island, gets weirder every day. And only one drink ticket… Are they waiting for us to ‘battle royale’ each other? Hah, since I’m first, I better just drink my beer quickly and get away. Look, they got Pyyniking Brewing company’s beer, Mosaic, ‘I’ll have one on that please’
Your suitcases were lost when your ship sank, but you each managed to salvage one item of band merch. What’s the merch and for what band?
Too bad I lost my suitcase, my underwear started to smell. And the damn mosquitoes eat my legs. I better switch to Stratovarius’s Visions jogging pants, those help with mosquitoes for sure, but might make the stench worse… Well, who cares, nobody smells like flowers here anymore...
You’re sat on the island thinking “I’m stuck here on this island with my bandmates for eternity”… who would you rather have been shipwrecked with?
I knew going on tour was a bad idea and now, we’re no longer stuck in the ship with these guys, but we’re stuck on a damn island. Their songs start to get boring and I don’t even have a piano. Too bad the cast of Ayreon’s live shows is not here, they could at least give a proper show...
There's a walkman in your pocket, on the tape inside is the recording of the one live show that stands out for you. It could be any show, from any band, anywhere in the world. What show is on that walkman?
Well, things could be worse, at least I can put on the walkman I found on the beach. I think the owner was Norwegian, he had Pagan’s Mind’s Full Circle on tape, that’s keeping me busy for a while.
You're getting desperate, you decide the only course of action is to put a message in a bottle and hope someone finds it. Your message could be to any member of any band, but should be the most suitable for a rescue attempt. Who is it?
‘Dear Arjen Anthony Lucassen,
I wrote to you to congratulate you on your excellent career and all the great songs you have made to enlighten me. This piece of paper is so small, I can’t write everything I want here but I thought you of all people will definitely read the fan mail.
Sincerely Yours,
Matti Pulkkinen, Ultimatium
ps. We’re stuck on an island, coordinates are,
Shit, the pen broke...
You've been stuck here a while and food supplies are running low. There's only one thing for it... which fellow band member gets sacrificed to help the others survive?
There’s been talking about food rations running out, this wretched island is dead dry, just some bugs and stuff to eat… Hmm, Matti Auerkallio looks ripe and muscular…I mustn't… Hey, there’s a box of noodles!!!
Finally, when the ship sank you each managed to save one person from the wreckage. That person is the one musician that has influenced your career the most, shaped your way of thinking and your outlook on life. Who did you save?
I knew I’ll regret this one day, from all the people floating around there, I just had to save Timo Tolkki. We’re all trying to survive here, playing fast solos on a worn up ukulele is not helping. We don’t need our spirits lifted by ‘Hold on to your Dreams’ when we are barely holding on to our last meal that was a bit too stale… That’s it, I’m gonna smash the ukulele and make a trap our of it, strings will do fine in that
