Schweres Metall / Germany 7/2002
1. First of all I want to tell ya that "Invitation" impressed me very much because of the power, great melodies, the songwriting-talent and traditional style of your band. At this moment, the CD is permanently running in my player! Please tell our readers how it all began with SNAKEGOD.
Jari: Thank you. Well, the Big Bang happened when Make, our guitar player, and I met almost by accident. Make heard my singing on a demo on which his brother Rami played drums. Rami was also Snakegod's very first drummer. Then Make got in touch with me and asked if I like to join them.
Pete: I joined the band shortly after that, so I am almost an original member, too. Like many other bands we just played for fun in the beginning. First only covers (mostly Whitesnake) and then we made more and more our own songs. Then we decided to record a demo, which we did, and we sent it to Mastervox Records and they offered us the record contract right away.
Jani: I came to the band later, during the recording. They had first a different keyboard player.
2. Are you really satisfied with the songs, sound and production of the CD?
Jari: I am. I think the songs are good and there is some kind of own atmosphere on the "Invitation" album. Of course, after the recording we noticed some things which we could have done differently. But I think generally it is great.
Jani: In my opinion, "Invitation" is a good combination of all those points you mentioned to be a good debut album. But of course there are many things which could be better, especially sound and production. Like Jari and Pete said, all bands will find something afterwards that should have been done differently. But still, I think considering that this is our debut, it turned out very very good.
3. In the Band-Info I read that the album was mixed by TT Oksala, the H.I.M-Producer, how did you get in contact with him and was this cooperation a big experience for you?
Jari: Not really, because unfortunately we never got to meet Mr.Oksala. We just heard the mixed and mastered album when it was ready.
Pete: It was Mastervox' idea to work with T.T.Oksala. But he definitely did a great job with the album and we hope to get him also for our next one.
4. "Divine High Priestess" is an absolute highlight on the album. Do you plan to release singles in the future, or did you do that in Finland with any songs from "Invitation" in the past?
Jari: Of course we'd like to release one or two songs also of the new album as singles. I think the new material is so strong that almost every song would be suitable for that.
Jani: But Mastervox and MTM didn't want to release any singles, they said nobody buys singles anymore so singles are a waste of money. Thatswhy there is no single of "Invitation".
5.I think the "Invitation" cover is really bad & childish, but Yvonne from your management told me that´s the fault of the label MTM, but this can be an important selling point. For this kind of music you practise, there would be a Fantasy-Cover like the old RAINBOW covers perfect! What do you think about this?
Pete: The cover sucks!!!
Jani: Yes, the cover is awful! Any other cover would have been better :=) But unfortunately we didn't have any influence on it. Actually we had chosen a different one but the label thought it was too expensive.
6. How does it look for ya guys about gigs in Germany or Europe? With such a Great CD in the baggage, you must play in our country, too!
Jari: Thanks. Sure we want to! We also had already some festival offers from Germany for this summer but unfortunately the dates didn't work because we had already other contracts. But we hope to do those festivals next summer, and different tour plans are already on the table as well, also together with some other bands.
Jani: Actually, after Finland, most of our website visitors are from Germany! We also got lots of positive feedback, specially from Germany, like from you for example. Some German agencies have also shown interest already.
7. Are there any plans to get into the Melodic Metal-Castle Japan? Bands with that Music-Style like SNAKEGOD can get very popular and succesful there.
Jari: Honestly I don't know what happens there, we wonder ourselves. I know we have distribution in Japan but I think the promotion is very small there.
Jani: But our manager is working on it like crazy. She also just got in touch with a big promotion company which also has a partner in Japan, so hopefully things change soon. Not only for Japan but also regarding proper promotion in other countries.
8. Please tell us something about the Metal-Scene in Finland, are there many clubs where you can play your incredible music?
Jari: We have only a few suitable clubs. And we have to race with bands like Nightwish, Sonata Arctica and others to get audience to the gigs. Still it seems our music is like cross-over. People of all ages listen to it.
Jani: You must imagine that Finland has the same size like Germany but has only the population of 5Mio, which is the same like Berlin+surrounding, the rest of Germany would be empty. That means, less clubs, less audience but many many Finnish bands on the other hand.
9. At which date we can hope to hear the second CD from SNAKEGOD? Are there any songs written for the upcoming album?
Jani: We write all the time new songs.
Pete: There is enough material for the new album and we are going to the studio in September.
Jari: We also just made a demo of four songs and I can't wait myself to record it! The releasing date depends on many things but hopefully next winter!
10.Now a question to your vocalist Jari Tiura. I‘m very impressed by your voice - I think you sound like a great mixture of Ronnie James Dio and Michael Sadler from SAGA. Did you ever have any singing-lessons, and who´s your favourite vocalist in the Hard´n Heavy Scene?
Jari: Thank you very much!! I have to confess, I never had any singing teachers or lessons in my life. Although, I remember, I took one lesson from a popular Finnish female singer. The place where she tought me was a Karaoke bar. It was closed but they opened it before the lesson was over, and when I sung our songs the owner of the place came and wanted to record my singing and add it to their jukebox! J So for me the biggest influence on my singing was when I found the right gene from my mothermilk, I suppose J But my way to practise my voice was trying to sing like Dio, Coverdale and Soto. I turned the buttons to eleven and rocked with it! Nowadays I don't spend so much time on practising, but I sing every day a few songs alone.
11. By which bands or musicians are you other guys influenced?
Pete: I got influenced by bass players like Steve Harris of course, Geddy Lee, Geezer Butler and Billy Sheehan. Bands that I like are: Judas Priest, Rainbow, Queensryche, Manowar and Dream Theatre, and these are only a few of my favorites.
Jani: My favourites are Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Toto, Yngwie Malmsteen and also many others.
12. What do you think about the position of the Melodic Metal-Scene here in Europe at this moment? Do you think it can follow a revival of that style in the near future?
Jari: Yes, I think so. Simply because people like to listen to music which has sense, you know. I don't mean that other styles have none, but in my opinion in the 80`s and 70`s they made so wonderful music with lots of innovation! We still enjoy to play it and in our own style, and try to give the best to our listeners.
Pete: I think there are many people which like to listen to good old fashioned hard/heavyrock with some new elements in it.
Jani: I heard that there is an 80s revival now in Germany, so I guess we are in the trend with this style.
13. Does any band-member know Germany, or what have you heard about our country and Metal-Scene?
Jani: Well, most of us have visited Germany already, but I personally don’t know your metal-scene so well. The most famous German here is probably Michael Schumacher. And I also think Schumi is the best, not Räikkönen. I even have Schumi’s autograph card on my wall!
Jari: Hmmm! Häkkinen - Schumacher!! A wonderful couple of action! I hope they meet in a race again! And of course bands like Rammstein, Accept, Scorpions etc are known here as well.
14. I thank you very much for this Online-Interview and the time you‘ve spend. Last words from SNAKEGOD to our readers or rather the German Metal-Fans?
Jari: "Come through the night, I'll show you the light of pleasure!" Heh! And also visit our website www.snakegod.com , it gets updated immediately when there are any news, so keep watching it!
Jani: I hope that the German Metal-Fans will come to see our gigs when we play in Germany.
Pete: Jep, hope to see you soon!