Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Steel Inferno Interview

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

We formed the band back in early 2012. Krzysztof (our drummer) and I have been playing together for many years but around that time we started to look for people to form an old school metal band. We hooked up with our bassist Thierry who was already part of our rehearsal room back then but did not have a band. We then put out an ad and our singer Karen luckily replied. That is when the music started taking form. We tried and tested numerous guitar players before we found Patrick who had been playing with Karen in a hard rock cover band before that. That was around august 2013.

2.In 2014 you had released both a demo and a single, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on both recordings?

We recorded both at our own studio. Our demo was mixed and mastered by a friend of Patrick in Greece and with our single we made the production ourselves with some help from a good friend - who also designed the cover. Sound wise we try to keep it simple and raw. Modern metal has a tendency to get too produced and sound too fat. We like the sound a little gritty. Basically we just mic up a boosted Marshall with an SM57 and record one or two guitar layers in each side. We do not try to sound like anything specifically.

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

We cover a lot of topics. Anti-dogmatism, war, politics, human behaviour, mankind, urban planning and de-industrialisation just to name a few.

We try at one side to be true to a classic metal approach on lyrics and yet try to develop our own approach.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Steel Inferno'?

I came up with the name because it sounded cool and it screamed heavy metal. First it was meant as a name for a side project but then it ended up becoming the one and only band.

5.While the band is based on Denmark some of the other band members come from Greece, France and Poland, do you feel the metal culture in each country is different from each other?

None of the other members are part of the scenes in their old countries any longer. So it would be memories from their youth concerning the present scene. But the short answer would be yes. In Denmark it is not unusual that people with good jobs - with suit and tie - also listens to metal.

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

Our last two shows have been really great. Mainly because we feel much more confident playing live. We have only played around 6-7 shows and only some of of us had experience playing live shows. Krzysztof and I used to play in a band before which played live a lot. Before our first show our bass player Thierry had not played live for 20 years. Karen and Patrick had very little live experience.

We love playing metal so we try to share our enthusiasm with the audience. We look happy on stage. We are not very good at doing choreography but we try as good as we can. We are not a shoegazer band.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

Some of us have steady jobs and families so we cannot take out several weeks for touring. But we are definitely planning to get outside of Denmark. We would really like to play some of the festivals in Europe. And of course we would like to be big in Japan too!

8.According to the metal archives page the band is signed to Wargame Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

It is a small DIY label run by two really nice punks who bought a tape pressing machine for releasing cool underground stuff. When we were about to release our demo tape we got in contact with them because we were looking for a place to do a our debut show. And they offered  to release the tape and we agreed. We never signed anything. We just agreed to press 100 tapes. It helped us getting started. But we do not have a record deal or anything with them. We are still considering all options for our full length.

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

It is been amazing. We have had people contacting us from Chile, Malaysia, France, Greece and all sorts of places. It is fantastic when people you've never been in contact with suddenly discovers your music and starts spreading the word. And before you know it, you are doing your first interview. Which happens to be this one.

10.When can we expect a full length album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

We are currently recording our first album. We do it step by step at our own studio. We will have everything ready before this summer. It should be ready either early or late summer. We have not made all the arrangements concerning post-production yet.

Musically you can expect an album with very diverse songs. We got faster speed metal oriented songs, slower and heavier stuff and also some song which are way more melodic than we have done before.

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?

Personally I grew up with death and thrash metal. But from late 90s and 10 years ahead I mainly listened to hardcore and punk. Krzysztof also has a background in punk. But the last 5-10 years my interest has been classic metal. Both new and old bands. From the old school I would mention Accept, Judas Priest, early Slayer and Metal Church. I really dig the period when heavy metal turned speed metal - before it became thrash. I also got a soft spot for 80s pop music when drunk. But don’t tell.

There are quite a few newer bands playing classic metal. Among my favorites are Skelator, Enforcer and Ranger. Right now I am really looking forward to receiving the new Visigoth. I could go on for a long time about great music.

But there is not one band or style that we try to copy. I just write songs that I like.

Patrick listens to to almost everything except reggae and hip-hop but mostly classic heavy metal. His big loves are Thin Lizzy and (the old) Helloween. Karen has been wanting to sing rock and metal for the last 20 years. One of her inspirations is Skin from Skunk Anansie.But she wanted to sing something less nice.  She has listened to a lot of melodic metal. Some of her metal inspirations are Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford. She listens to newer metal and hard rock like Halestorm, Korn, Avenged Sevenfold and Corroded. She also has a passion for 80s and 90s pop. Thierry really digs all sorts of power metal and progressive metal. Rhapsody, Sabaton, Dream Theater and of course Rush.Krzysztof is into all sorts of music but he really digs old polish punk like Siekera and Post-Regiment.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
I don’t have time for much else than music, work and family. We all enjoy concerts. Karen is into role playing. Krzysztof and Patrick are into fishing. Patrick also plays a lot of video games.

13. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
We really want to thank you for showing an interest in our band. It is all the bloggers and local promoters that is keeping the underground scene alive. It is so easy to put music out on the internet. But without the dedication of the metalheads around the world it would never any airplay.

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