Browsing: Interview

I found their music only recently, now I´m wondering how it is possible that I didn´t hear about them earlier- Russian band Above the Stars. Hello from Obscuro! ABOVE THE STARS was formed in 2018. Who were the founding members and what inspired you to start your own band? Viper: Greetings from Moscow and Happy New Year to you and all the Obscuro readers. Actually the founding member and the only one person left from the original line up is me. And ATS is not the first band neither for me nor for the other guys. To make a long…

Pokračujeme v představování poměrně netradičních metalových zemí. Po Alžírsku z minulého dílu se nyní posouváme zpátky do Evropy. Konkrétně na západ. Říkáš si, že západní Evropa je přeci metalem vyhlášená, ne? Jistě. Ale ne tolik malé velkovévodství mezi Francií, Německem a Belgií: Lucembursko. Tento malý stát je historicky významným i z hlediska českých zemí. Jeho historie je spjata se známým rodem Lucemburků. Z nich pocházel například Karel IV., do dnešního dne braný jako největší a nejvýznamnější vladař v českých dějinách. V dnešní době je Lucembursko bohatou zemí těžící zejména z bankovního sektoru a slévárenského průmyslu. A kovy pořádně taví i…

Všichni moc dobře známe tradiční metalové destinace, jako je Německo, Švédsko nebo USA. A z těchto zemí pochází také většina komerčně nejúspěšnějších kapel, jejichž jména zná snad každý fanoušek žánru. Ale všichni dobře víme, že metal nemá hranice, a tak jsem se rozhodl připravit seriál o… řekněme ne tolik tradičních metalových zemích napříč celým světem a zajímavých kapelách z těchto lokalit. A začínáme Alžírskem! „A“ je sice prvním písmenem abecedy, ale s volbou tohoto státu pro první díl to nesouvisí. Alžírsko je totiž největším státem Afriky, kontinentu, který není metalem příliš proslulý. Ruku na srdce – znáš snad nějakou kapelu…

The world is on hold it seems. Life has slowed down profoundly. Shows are cancelled. Complete tours cancelled or postponed and there is an undeniably big question mark on our festival season if only as no one can say how long the current measures need to be active. And then we move our eye towards the Grand Old Lady Britannia and see Asterix and his crew still shredding the stages there. What? Ah? No. Not Asterix. Not even Gaulish or French. But Canadian: Anvil! Yes, Anvil. Utmost resiliently these foundations of Thrash Metal keep on touring – at least for…

COLD NIGHT FOR ALLIGATORS is a Prog Metal Band from Denmark. I met them at Euroblast Prog Metal Festival in Cologne some months back, only a few hours before they shreddred the stage down in the basement of the venue. Johan, their vocalist and Nik, their drummer, took moment off (from preparing for their show) to speak with me about their recent album ‘Course of Events’, festival atmosphere and to give some deeper insights into their band dynamics. The Bogren Experience „Your recent album „Course of Events’ was produced in cooperation with Jens Bogren. How did you like working with…

The Dark River Festival is a perfect setting for accidental interviews. The relaxed atmosphere invites to forget about schedules and duties in a conversation that simply happens as a mutually interesting topic meets an occasion. This pretty much explains how I met Tuomo Latvala, drummer of Omnium Gatherum and why it took him several attempts to pack his gear. Omnium Gatherum just ended their gig when, I come backstage and take a break of my own watching them packing their gear. One after another, the musicians take a moment of rest and a drink themselves, chat and then resolve packing.…

Squealer is a band founded long ago – all the way in to the heart of the kooky 1980s. Probably you have never heard of them before, probably you have and thought they’ve split ages ago or maybe you’ve seen them rocking the Caribbean cruise never knowing the long miles they’ve come. We, Raisa and Katja, met Lars for an interview and whole the band backstage on their anniversary gig – for which they invited the bands the local colleagues TonTourismus and the Czech friends Sebastien to share stage with them. Squealer – 35 years of metal “Lars, 35 years…

During Nummirock 2017, VORNA invited me to meet them in their camp for a long and intensive interview (>>link). We spoke of their band dynamics, personalities that make the band; how they come up with new music; the role of their ‘seventh band member’ (actually their manager) and many things more. Recently we spoke again – little before their Metal Crane Festival show in the legendary Nosturi and met in a cozy venue office, the musicians snugly lying on comfy couches in an easy-going mood … VORNA only lately finished their work on album No 3 the release date of…

Metallijate (Ville Mussallo, Mikko Heikkilä and Antti Rantavuo) means metallic garbage. T(h)rash metal? Anyway you will meet the word written on containers wherever you go in Finland. Downtown. In a suburbian living area. In a park. On the beach. On a parking lot along the road. Even on a trail in the middle of nowhere in the loneliness of Lapland. The newly established band has not made it this far yet. Meeting Ville and Mikko in a gloomy bar below the famous Nosturi concert venue in Helsinki, Mikko tells me how it all began: With a photo of exactly such…

Obscuro: Congratulations on the positive reception of the new album and on the coming European tour with Omnium Gatherum and Wolfheart. You guys deserve the success. First let me ask: how does a Nothgard song get made? Is there a main songwriter in the band? Dom: Basically I come up with all new material. So I start to write a song on the guitar, set up a basic drumtrack & add keyboards/orchestrations. At this point the lyrical theme is already in my mind. Afterwards the band gets the songs, add their ideas and Felix Indra (Drums) composes the real drums.…

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