Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Gian Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Lassi: We're a five piece metal band from Äänekoski, Finland making noise since 2005. Musically speaking we lay somewhere between death and thrash metal. Always aggressive, always heavy as fuck.

2.You have your first full length coming out later this month, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the demo's you had released in the past?

Lassi: The music on the album is very fist-in-your-face-and-anus death-thrash with some hints towards hardcore punk. Fast and aggressive with some melodies lurking here and there. The overall sound and songcrafting is much more focused compared to the demos of course.

Konsta: Yeah, and the album is kind of a ”greatest hits” album because it contains new songs and also old songs from the old demos. What I find nice with the album is that the new material blends quite well with the old ones, even when the oldest song the album is actually from 2006.

3.This is your first release in 5 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?
Lassi: The five years between the Capital Punishment demo and All Life Erased were quite slow and sometimes even difficult. We played only a handful of shows during that period because we had to change guitarists for a few times for various reasons. And for the same reason we had to always postpone the plans to record the full length album which would have seen the light of day in 2012 or 2013 without the problems in the line up I think. Fortunately we now have a stable line up and are ready to blast full on.

Konsta: We were also pretty busy with our other projects at that time and I was studying at the other side of Finland for half of that time. In my opinion it was actually a good thing that we didn’t record the album back then when we first started planning it because during that time the new (and the old) songs matured so well and we managed to execute them tightly enough for the album. And now in my opinion the band is tighter than ever and the group is getting along very well.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

Lassi: I don't put too much thought in the lyrics with this band. I mostly just try to write words that sound good and have a good rhythm and punch to them when Jampe screams and growls them out. The topics in the lyrics tend to lean towards the likes of war, horror and self destruction.

Konsta: War, sex and self-destruction!

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Gian'?

Lassi: The name has no meaning in particular. It's just something our original guitarist and founding member Jasu came up with when we we're trying to find the name for the band. It's short and sounds good.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Konsta: I think to me one of the most memorable shows has been probably some of those back in the days when I joined the band. Perhaps some of the gigs at our one only local youth house. Back then the youngsters were much crazier than they are today. In the bars people tend to just stand around, nod their heads occasionally and drink beer. Maybe the best is yet to come? In live situations there’s nothing much special going than five ugly sweaty men banging their heads and putting themselves to their limits, and the songs are much faster, the overall feeling is more relentless and I think our music works better when you experience it live and that’s what we like doing.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

Konsta: Yes we plan to do as much shows in Finland as we can when the album is out. We’ll see what happens, nothing is certain yet. A tour in Europe would be nice at some point but let’s conquer Finland at first.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of extreme metal?

Konsta: We are still quite underground band in the metal scene but the feedback we’ve got so far of our album has been pretty good.

9.Are any of the band members also involved with any other musical projects or bands these days?

Konsta: Yeah we all have our other projects going on. I play in a grind/crust band and then there’s two rock bands, one of them plays more classic style of rock and the other one is some sort of alternative rock. And there’s some other little stuff going on all the time.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Lassi: Hard to tell. At least we won't be wimping out and go emo, that's for sure! We tend to just write songs and then see what we've got and choose the best ones. I guess in the future the aggressive and brutal aspects will be more aggressive and brutal and there will be much meatier hooks in the melodic side.

Konsta: Louder and louder, the goal is to be louder than Manowar one day. I’ve been practicing double bass drums like fuck since the recordings so next album will be full of them. This is a promise right here so I won’t forget to practice even more!

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Lassi: From the top of my head I can think of such influences as Slayer, The Haunted and Shining (the Swedish one) in my songwriting but I'm not sure how much you can hear them in our songs. Iron Maiden is of course a big influence and a source of inspiration. Listening wise I like and listen anything that sounds good to me from grindcore to rap. Right now I'm having my annual black metal phase, on the menu I've had the new albums from Archgoat and Marduk for example. And of course De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas from Mayhem.

Konsta: Metal wise the influences for my drumming come perhaps from Rammstein, System of a Down, Ministry and Slipknot, and grindcore. I like rock, industrial and electronic music, punk, good pop music, etc. I don’t like to have any genre limitations. It’s all music, you know.
12.What are some of your non musical interests?

Lassi: Horror, cats and ice hockey.

Konsta: I actually don’t really do much else than music related stuff. I also keep myself busy with doing sound engineering stuff. I think all that I do has music related to it somehow. At least music saved me from sports. Playing blastbeats and double bass goes for my workouts!

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Konsta: Thanks for this, and for the readers: put ”All Life Erased” spinning and hit your face to the wall. It works! Cheers!

Lassi: Kill yourself or die!

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