Galvanizer interview

GALVANIZER interview

Well, it’s good to find new band, which sounds so fuckin nice! I have to say I was surprised that Galvanizer members are all so young, as it’s not something common to see youngsters not just interested in more underground, filthy and obscure music, but also able to perform it so impressively. I guess most of them would prefer to do commercial stuff, which would give them a deal with Nuclear Blast haha! So, tell me how old are you all and what makes you play this stuff? How did you end up forming Galvanizer?

Hails! I am Aleksi and recently I turned to 18 years, Vili is 19 yers old and Nico is the oldest and he's 21 years old. The thing behind this band is the passion for playing and performing!

Old school death metal is the music closest to my heart (and guts) and it's something so energetic to be on the stage and just tear peoples ears apart! Death metal scene over the world is rising again and older bands are re-uniting one by one. We just had a vision to be a part of this whole thing such as tapetrading. Galvanizer is formed by Vili back in 2013 and I joined in autumn 2014. At that time we were two piece band but gladly Nico joined in 2015 to play drums! I gotta say that this kind of popularity what we have couldn't be possible without all you guys supporting analog old school death metal! A special thanx to everybody!

I introduced your band to some friendly maniacs and they were all impressed, saying that your music may sound archaic and “Horrid Tales of Death...” EP sounds like an old 90’s demo tape, but

there’s feeling and kind of enthusiasm and passion that makes it more exceptional than many other old school death metal bands. How do you feel about such compliments?

I am really happy for that kind of words ofcourse! It's really satisfying when you hear from people that they really like our music and I have to say that I haven't heard much of negative comments. Good way to keep haha. I still respect those who don't like it and there are some things that I personally would change if I could go back in time. Quite often the band itself is the one always whining about their music haha. That's life... And about that "going back in time", one guy here in Finland said: "These young men will take you back in time faster than DeLorean"! Fucking love that line haha. That is something I've wanted to achieve for some years! We try to look old school and try to sound old school. It draws people's attention and I'm simply an old school worshipper (Only analog is real enough!).

Tell me something about the demo “Ground Above”, which you did prior the EP. I never heard it, I guess it wasn’t widely spread, so what is it like? How was the recording of both demo and EP like, since I guess you’re not experienced in studio sessions and stuff like that.

Well ,”Ground Above” was recorded in the end of 2014 and we actually spread it much more widely than we thought we could. Something like 160 copies were traded / sold and given away from us. Quite good amount could I say! It was really a DIY tape and we dubbed all of them on old tapes by ourselves. The recording of that shitty demo was simple... ONE FUCKING MICROPHONE AND A REHEARSAL ROOM! Haha! We composed those songs in our second rehearsal and I had some lyrics ready for few songs, so It took something like two fucking days and we got a demo ready! Not joking. We were super fast at that point but I wasn't so fast behind the drumkit haha. First of all we recorded guitar and drums simultaneously with that one microphone. Then it was time for bass and after that the vocals. All happened In our rehearsal room. ”Horrid Tales of Death...” EP recordings were quite different from the demo recordings: all the instruments were recorded separately, like it's normally done. This type of recording was new thing for me but luckily Vili had already much of experience on recording in a studio!

You recorded the demo as two piece band and now have Nico on drums as third member, so it’s classic three piece! I saw that you come from small towns, probably somewhere near the end of the world (haha!!), so I guess you should be happy to have been able to have complete line up? What did the addition of Nico to the line up change in Galvanizer? 

Yes. Nico joined Galvanizer like two months before recording of our EP. First off we thought that Nico could be the guitarist but I really weren't happy about my skills on drums so Nico joined to play drums and I grabbed my Jackson from the corner of my room and it went good like that. Without Nico on drums, Galvanizer would not be Galvanizer. We are faster now than in the beginning! I'm really satisfied with our line up!  I think that trio-bands look good on the stage and there's much more room to go crazy on the stage haha! And about our small towns... nothing to say about them... hahaha. Just wilderness, bears and quiet but dark woods. So something normal if we think about Finland.

So, “Horrid Tales of Death...” was putted out by Equinox Discos. How did you end up on Eduardo’s label? Did you record these four new songs with aim to get them on vinyl or first it was supposed to be just another demo?

It was something like the beginning of 2015. Eduardo sent us an email and he said that he's interested in Galvanizer and he could release our music on tape, CD or vinyl. Well, that email got us really interested and in the same time we started to compose those four songs that ended up on our EP which Edu released! We will work with Equinox Discos on the coming releases too as long as Eduardo wants that! We have been happy about Equinox Discos and Edu is the man who works hard for the bands! Nothing bad to say.

How do you feel about the music of Galvanizer? I mean, does it take a lot of effort from you to come up with this sort of riffs and atmosphere? Or the whole composing process is pretty smooth?

Pretty smooth I guess. We have pretty big distance to each other, so that slows things a bit but we're fine with that. Making new songs comes really naturally and it re

ally is fun too. Lyrics are the bigger problem haha. I have made almost every lyrics and I simply just try to make something utterly horrifying. I have to say (and many of you maybe have heard it with your own ears) that we like to make different kinds of songs and the style sometimes goes from pure GrindGORE to Dismember kind of melodic death metal.

I was impressed with the opening / closing themes for your EP, as they show you have gift not just for creepy, morbid death metal, but also for melodic stuff. The ending part of “Cadaveric Lust” sound just stunning. I wonder if you have in plans more such ideas for harmonic riffs, which would bring maybe some Swedish death metal influences, but which would surely make the music more varied and interesting?

Those themes were quite a success, at least the outro on ”Cadaveric Lust”. It turned out to be pretty awesome and atmospheric. Somekind of a wedding tune for alive human and decomposed corpse. Of course we have space for something similar! We are strongly influenced by the Swedish scene too and the melodic stuff gives on us that versatile sound. It is our way to make different kind of songs so the listener can always stay more interested and doesn't know what's coming next. So not only fast blast beats and repetitive riffs on and on... And I have to say that I use the classic Swedish HM-2 sound so that's the one way of the Swedish influence haha. On the records the sound is more raw though but at our shows it sounds way more heavier! Maybe in the next release you can hear it better...

Ha, I was surprised to see that the artwork for “Horrid Tales of Death...” was made by the dude, who in the past did artwork for all classic Finnish bands like Abhorrence, Convulse, Demilich, Purtenance. Damn, it makes a nice connection of Galvanizer with the old Finnish cults, especially as style wise it seems like you’re very much inspired by your old scene, right? I mean, if “Horrid Tales of Death...” was released in 1991, then it would be cherished as much as “Crown Waits the Immortal” for example.

Yeah, I totally dropped my jaw when Luxi's answer was "Yes!" for drawing a cover art to us. But what can surprise you is that he actually drew it in the golden year of 1991! So it isn't a new drawing by him and he said for me that he haven't drew anything like that for 20 years and then he found that sketch. It was originally supposed to be a T-shirt design for some legendary 90's band but somehow they ever didn't use it... This kind of stuff makes for us even bigger connection to the old school scene. Maybe we could be a legendary and classic band from the 90's if we would be over 40 years old guys now.

So, tell me about your general impression on the old Finnish death metal scene. Which are your personal favourite demos, Eps, albums, etc? I always loved Finnish bands, but hated to see many of them changing their style after the first album haha. It sucked big balls, in my opinion. Just see what happened to Disgrace. Another bunch of great bands like Demilich or Funebre split up just after one album and that’s another sad fact.

Can't say any personal favorites! Too many super good records. But ofcourse I can say few of them: Demigod – ”Slumber of Sullen Eyes”, Xysma – ”Swarming of the Maggots”, Necrobiosis (all releases), Funebre – ”Children of the Scorn”, Abhorrence – ”Vulgar Necrolatry”, Lubricant – ”Swallow the Symmetric Swab”, Demilich – ”Nespithe”, Mortal Agony – ”The Cradle” and many many others. But there's some of my favorites and of course I forgot many of those when I try to put them here... I don't actually mind about those changes in those bands. I like all the Xysma material for example and I can say that some bands changed their style pretty good. But of course that is only my opinion haha. I understand your view on it too. It's kinda sad that many great DM bands split up or changed their style radically. I think it happened more with the bands here in Finland than with the bands in Sweden. But one sure thing is that Finnish and Swedish death metal is a big part of our music!

You played some gigs with Lubricant lately. How were they like? What

’s your impression on this band and their rather weird take on death metal? What do they sound like so many years after? And what was people’s feedback to Galvanizer performances like?

Great times, great times! That weekend was sick and so was I in somepoint haha. Too much alcohol... Lubricant is a special type of band! They have really unique sound, kinda grinding rock n roll. They're good friends of mine and I hope they feel the same way, haha! What surprised me after their comeback is that they sound exactly the same after all these fucking years! It is just amazing to witness that! Feedback has always been really positive on our gigs and these two shows didn't make an exception. We will demolish all the living matter  to the grave on our gigs and people seem to like that, haha!

So, “Horrid Tales of Death...” is out, some gigs are played… and what’s next in plans? I’m hoping to hear more such killer music, so tell me what you aim to do with Galvanizer!!! And tell me also, is it true what people say about the Finns drinking so much fuckin alcohol, vodka especially haha?

Well, there actually are some recording plans but at this point I can't reveal anything specific, sorry! But I sure can guarantee that some new sickness is coming to beat the shit out of your ears... We are also planning a Germany / Denmark tour for the summer! And the drinking thing, well, the stereotype isn't there without some truth behind it, you know. But even though we're quite heavy drinkers, there is still no competition when it comes to Russians: even a Finn thinks that's something unbelievable. 

Thanx for making this interview possible! Thank you for all you guys for reading this! We will be back soon with new material! Before that we will play gigs with some flaming passion! Here's some links considering Galvanizer: www.facebook.com/GalvanizerBand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOwB6isIrMY Email: galvanizerband@gmail.com 

KEEP IT OLD SCHOOL!!!