interview with Shrapnel Storm
Tell us a brief introduction of who you are? Hello! We’re Shrapnel Storm, a death metal band from Finland.
How would you describe your sound in one sentence? We play midtempo “old school death metal” basing on groove, brutality and respect for 90’s Florida death metal traditions.
What is your name?/Who plays what?
Our lineup is:
Ykä – lead vox
Aki – gtr & backing vox
Tri Mäkitalo – gtr
Pete – bass
Kurre – drums
Who started the band? There is two founding members of Shrapnel Storm: our drummer Kurre and former guitarist Matti (parted ways w/SS in 2011). They met in university and needed to create something which, in the beginning, distantly reminded metal music. During years, the group started to grow and SS had a full lineup in 2007.
How old were you when you started playing music? Our age is averaging a bit over 30 years now, so we’re not so youngsters anymore. Almost all of us had some bands before Shrapnel Storm, and actually our lead vocalist Ykä growls currently also in another band called “Kruor”. Depending on the guy, between 15 and 25 years is the correct answer.
What are your two big favorite songs you done? One is definitely called “Detracked”, from which we also made a video. The video has been also noted in several key metal medias including Blabbermouth, Terrorizer etc. The other favorite is currently unnamed, a real killer one (!), and it wil be released in our forthcoming debut
album.
Have you done any music videos? As stated above, ‘Detracked’ was made in January 2014. We made it by
ourselves by shooting our playing in an old industrial hall in Nokia, Finland. We didn’t have a proper monitoring system to do it, so the making process was a bit difficult, because we couldn’t hear what each one of us was playing! The result was good though, and we had a blast making of it! The video can be found online here: http://youtu.be/KsUV-GzBBJQ
How has your music evolved since you began playing music together? It’s been evolved a lot. In the beginning our music was quite experimental but right now the songs are catchier and more reasonably structured. Our sound has been improved a lot too. The difference is huge if you compare our first demo called “Battlefield” (2007) and our current release “We come in peace…” (2013). The latter can be found online in several places, including our facebook page www.facebook.com/shrapnelstormband.
Describe your show, visual and musically
We always do our best on stage and have loads of fun. On stage, we bang
our heads and play it loud and proud. We just try to enjoy ourselves and
encourage our audience to do likewise! Typically in our set, there is
8…9 songs, including one well known cover. Lately we’ve been playing
Sepultura, Entombed, Bolt Thrower and so on, as a cover.
Where have you played from 2013 to 2014? During the past winter and spring season we’ve had about 15 gigs, and all of those were performed in clubs. We’ve been playing in most of the biggest cities in Finland including Helsinki, Oulu, Tampere, Lahti etc. Our touring record outside Finland is still unopened, but we wish we’ll change this after our debut album releasing.
Do you always the same songs live or vary it? Typically we try to choose our best songs in to the set, and the setlist varies a bit depending on time and where we play. If we have two gigs at the same town in short period, we always try to change the setlist somehow. Right now our setlist would consist a lot of new material; we’ve been quite active to compose new killer stuff lately!
Best/worst performed gig? Let’s choose the worst first: it was our very first gig in a small summer festival in Finland. It ended pretty much in catastrophe when the organizer didn't seem to know which band should be on stage. Basically we had a chance to play two songs and when starting the third, the organizer pulled the electricity off. So currently we don’t have a pressure to perform, because nothing can go worse than that, haha! After all, our band was in good shape but the festival crew made it a catastrophe. One of the best was with Japanese heavy metallers Metalucifer in Tampere. The year was propably 2010. Our gig was perfect, and the headliners destroyed the place totally! And it’s always nice to play when the venue is packed with people!
How would you describe your sound in one sentence? We play midtempo “old school death metal” basing on groove, brutality and respect for 90’s Florida death metal traditions.
What is your name?/Who plays what?
Our lineup is:
Ykä – lead vox
Aki – gtr & backing vox
Tri Mäkitalo – gtr
Pete – bass
Kurre – drums
Who started the band? There is two founding members of Shrapnel Storm: our drummer Kurre and former guitarist Matti (parted ways w/SS in 2011). They met in university and needed to create something which, in the beginning, distantly reminded metal music. During years, the group started to grow and SS had a full lineup in 2007.
How old were you when you started playing music? Our age is averaging a bit over 30 years now, so we’re not so youngsters anymore. Almost all of us had some bands before Shrapnel Storm, and actually our lead vocalist Ykä growls currently also in another band called “Kruor”. Depending on the guy, between 15 and 25 years is the correct answer.
What are your two big favorite songs you done? One is definitely called “Detracked”, from which we also made a video. The video has been also noted in several key metal medias including Blabbermouth, Terrorizer etc. The other favorite is currently unnamed, a real killer one (!), and it wil be released in our forthcoming debut
album.
Have you done any music videos? As stated above, ‘Detracked’ was made in January 2014. We made it by
ourselves by shooting our playing in an old industrial hall in Nokia, Finland. We didn’t have a proper monitoring system to do it, so the making process was a bit difficult, because we couldn’t hear what each one of us was playing! The result was good though, and we had a blast making of it! The video can be found online here: http://youtu.be/KsUV-GzBBJQ
How has your music evolved since you began playing music together? It’s been evolved a lot. In the beginning our music was quite experimental but right now the songs are catchier and more reasonably structured. Our sound has been improved a lot too. The difference is huge if you compare our first demo called “Battlefield” (2007) and our current release “We come in peace…” (2013). The latter can be found online in several places, including our facebook page www.facebook.com/shrapnelstormband.
Describe your show, visual and musically
We always do our best on stage and have loads of fun. On stage, we bang
our heads and play it loud and proud. We just try to enjoy ourselves and
encourage our audience to do likewise! Typically in our set, there is
8…9 songs, including one well known cover. Lately we’ve been playing
Sepultura, Entombed, Bolt Thrower and so on, as a cover.
Where have you played from 2013 to 2014? During the past winter and spring season we’ve had about 15 gigs, and all of those were performed in clubs. We’ve been playing in most of the biggest cities in Finland including Helsinki, Oulu, Tampere, Lahti etc. Our touring record outside Finland is still unopened, but we wish we’ll change this after our debut album releasing.
Do you always the same songs live or vary it? Typically we try to choose our best songs in to the set, and the setlist varies a bit depending on time and where we play. If we have two gigs at the same town in short period, we always try to change the setlist somehow. Right now our setlist would consist a lot of new material; we’ve been quite active to compose new killer stuff lately!
Best/worst performed gig? Let’s choose the worst first: it was our very first gig in a small summer festival in Finland. It ended pretty much in catastrophe when the organizer didn't seem to know which band should be on stage. Basically we had a chance to play two songs and when starting the third, the organizer pulled the electricity off. So currently we don’t have a pressure to perform, because nothing can go worse than that, haha! After all, our band was in good shape but the festival crew made it a catastrophe. One of the best was with Japanese heavy metallers Metalucifer in Tampere. The year was propably 2010. Our gig was perfect, and the headliners destroyed the place totally! And it’s always nice to play when the venue is packed with people!
What do you think of that they go to download music from the internet instead of buying records? There is always two sides in things. Interned has changed the music business totally, and the record selling amounts have diminished remarkably due illegal downloading. That is a fact and we consider that as the worst outcome from internet. We have not suffered it yet, but after our debut releasing we think this is somehow affecting on us too. The good side is that it is easier to explore new bands, and we think it as an opportunity to spread our word.
What are your plans for the future? Right now we’re writing new material to our debut album and we’re hoping to release it early 2015. After the release we hit the road and tour as much as possible. You have been warned!
Do you have anything to add? We'd like to thank you for this interview and we wish you all the best!
For people who have never heard of us, to find out more we suggest to
navigate into http://www.shrapnel-storm.com or
www.facebook.com/shrapnelstormband. See you on the frontlines!
What are your plans for the future? Right now we’re writing new material to our debut album and we’re hoping to release it early 2015. After the release we hit the road and tour as much as possible. You have been warned!
Do you have anything to add? We'd like to thank you for this interview and we wish you all the best!
For people who have never heard of us, to find out more we suggest to
navigate into http://www.shrapnel-storm.com or
www.facebook.com/shrapnelstormband. See you on the frontlines!