ALEX LANDENBURG’s first major step into the spotlight was at age 26 when Jeff Waters asked him to join one of Canada’s most important Metal acts ever – ANNIHILATOR. He toured with Annihilator, supporting the record “Metal” which was recorded by none other than drum legend Mike Mangini. Shortly after Uli Kusch himself asked Alex to replace him in the legendary progressive band MEKONG DELTA. In Alex’s musical carreer we can add also the bands, as 21Octayne, Angels Cry, Axxis, Stratovarius, and Timo Tolkki’s Symfonia… Now, in 2012 Alex is super excited about his newest endeavour – playing with Luca Turilli’s RHAPSODY, which he has joined as their new permanent drummer! Alex states: “What an amazing opportunity to join the band together with new singer Alessandro Conti and to start this new chapter together! I can’t wait to get out on the road and to play the new stuff as well as the Rhapsody classics”!
A week ago I had a pleasure to interview Alex, we were talking about his past, present and future, please join our conversation…
1. Hi Alex, I’m Tarja. Welcome to Metalshock Finland! what were the first tunes you listened to today? after your alarm clock, i mean… lol
Hey Tarja! The first tunes were “Game of Life” and “Reach within” from Circus Maximus’ new record Nine. Continue Reading
Burning Point were formed in Finland in 1999. Their new album ‘The Ignitor‘ is due for release on 19th June. I recently caught up with Pete (vocals and guitar), check out what he had to say below:
To begin with ‘Hi and welcome to Metal Shock Finland, how’s it going?’
— Hello to you too! I’m doing ok, just moved to a new flat, rehearsing with BP etc 🙂
Your new and fifth studio album ‘The Ignitor’ is due for release on 19th June, how do you all feel about the work on the album, and can you tell me about the writing and recording process you went through?
— Well, obviously we’re very excited and proud of what we’ve done! 🙂 I recorded first guitar parts late 2009, but as we didn’t have a deal at the moment, we weren’t that hurry to get things finished. We recorded the 2nd Ghost Machinery and Stargazery’s debut album first or should I say we recorded the BP stuff in between…Basically we were recording 3 albums at the same time 🙂
But all was smooth and we had the songs ready already in 2009, so we just picked which songs to be on the album 🙂
Your songs have a very melodic power metal style with catchy riffs, can you tell me what influences this style? And particularly the lyrical content of the songs on the new album?
— I draw my influences from the 80’s metal & hardrock. Bands like Accept, Judas Priest, Dio, Bon Jovi, Europe, Helloween, Queensryche etc…But i’m a huge music consumer and collector and there are hundreds of bands i love. I try to write from the actual things that has happened to me, my close ones or just something i picked up from the news etc.
The brilliant cover artwork is by Felipe Machado Franco (who has also designed for Iced Earth, Blind Guardian and Rhapsody Of Fire to name a few), what are your reasons behind this choice?
— Felipe did our previous album cover, Empyre, as well as the Stargazery’s debyt, Eye on the sky, and the we just love his works! He is very easy to work with as well as he seem to have somekind of “6th sense” because everytime he has found and captured the very essence of what we were talking about when we discussed about the artwork! Very cool guy and excellent artist!
The band have been together for thirteen years now and there have been a few line-up changes, how have these changes affected the band dynamics?
— Yes, time flies when you’re having fun! 🙂 No question about it and all the credits to our past members, but the band is tighter than ever! And if this is me to decide, this is the final line-up 🙂 And the guys knows that too.
Each member of the band are all involved in other projects aswell as Burning Point, how do you all split your time to work effectively?
— Well yes, we all have other activities, but we’ve manage to do everything so far 🙂 And ALL the music related I and we do is 110%!
You have a couple of festival appearances this summer, are you planning a tour for later in the year?
— Plans, yes, but we just have to wait and see what happens…lots of irons in the fire, but time will tell. We do have a new booking agency here in Finland as well as other stuff in the plans…let’s hope for the best! 🙂
Can you tell the readers what your early musical influences were, that inspired you to go into music as a career?
— As I mentioned earlier, my roots are deep in the 80’s metal, hardrock and AOR, but I do love the newer stuff too….At Vance, Nocturnal Rites, Dream Evil..list is endless! And of course my all time favourite, Yngwie Malmsteen!
If you could play on any stage in the world, where would it be and why?
— Hmm, it would be cool to play in all these great festivals like Wacken etc…They are just THE FESTIVALS! 🙂
What do you think are the key factors to the success of the band?
— Of course your songs have to be good! But, also very BIG part is the advertizing in magazines and websites etc…it don’t matter how good your album is if no one knows it even exists!
Could you tell me, as I know your fans would like to know, what are the plans for Burning Point over the next ten years?
— New music, lots of new music! 🙂
Thanks a lot for your time and good luck with the album!
— Thank you Ali for doing this interview and all the best to you too!
Metal Shock Finland’s Mike Paradine has conducted an interview with ATTACKER ‘s original member and drummer Mike Sabatini at Sundance studios in Jersey City, New Jersey on, Tuesday, May 6th which can be heard on the Youtube player below:
ATTACKER is a Classic/True Heavy Metal band formed in 1983 in the lovely state of New Jersey, US of A. Attacker is working on their 5th album.
The name of Nick Simper is a very well known name by all DEEP PURPLE ‘s die-hard fans as he was one of the band ‘s founders in the 1960’s. But DEEP PURPLE is only a small part of his talent which he has demonstrated in so many ways, for example being a part of the band PIRATES or working with Johnny Kidd. I had a chance to have an interview with Nick and I found him a very cool man, down to earth and genius.
Hello Nick, How are you doing today?
Hi dear Mohsen, thanks
You’ve worked with so many musicians throughout your long and varied career, do you have a favourite time? And why was that time special to you?
Working with Johnny Kidd and the Pirates still remains my favourite memory, probably because he had always been my musical idol, and to join one of England most highly rated bands turned a dream into reality!
You played with Screaming Lord Sutch in the early 1970’s, how was that experience for you, as he was such a flamboyant character, do you have any particular memories? How do you feel the music business has changed over the years?
Working with Sutch was also a dream come true, because his band “The Savages” were for years one of the best. It gave me a chance to play with great musicians such as Freddy Fingers Lee and Carlo Little. David Sutch became a great friend who was always fun to work with, which I did at various times right up until his untimely death. My favourite memory is of seeing him perform for the very first time and marvelling at the power of his band, and the amazing showmanship, which drew capacity crowds for many years. I miss him a lot and he deserves his place in rock history as a pioneering legend who inspired dozens of musicians who went on to greater things!
The changes to the music business since those great days are huge! Today there are only a fraction of the amount of venues left, where bands could play and learn their craft. “The road” as we called it has almost disappeared, resulting in bands appearing either in pubs or stadiums, with nothing inbetween. Some aspects have changed for the better with bands keeping bigger percentages of their income than in the sixties, but in England it is difficult to attract audiences without a proven track record. The majority of bands prefer to work abroad, particularly in Europe where audiences are more enthusiastic for live music.
Even thought it was now so long ago, you incorporate Deep Purple tracks in your sets, do the songs hold a special place in your heart?
The main reason for playing the purple tracks was to present these tunes to new audiences. The majority of the MK1 songs had never been played live since 1969, and of course some of them, particularly the ones that I had a hand in composing, were special to me. It is amazing to see the reaction to these tunes by young and old who come to our shows. The fact that the mk1 albums still sell well proves that they have stood the test of time!
As one of Deep Purple’s founders, how do you feel about the fact that there is only one of the original members left in Deep Purple now? And who do you think was/were the most influential musicians in the whole of the Deep Purple History?
I do feel that the constant changes in the band have diluted not only the music, but the whole ethos of a band that held such promise, but all the musicians are good and still draw the crowds, which is what counts. I am sure that most Deep Purple members have inspired others, but Blackmore will always stand out as a unique talent who pushed guitar playing to greater heights.
Nick Simper, DEEP PURPLE, Santa Monica Beach, November ’68 (photo by Don Lewis Photography)
It is now a long time since the day that you formed Deep Purple, perhaps there are a lot of young rockers who don’t know about the Deep Purple beginning-era. What kind of feed back do you get from them after your shows?
It is very humbling to see so many young rock fans at our shows who probably do not know too much about my history, but seem to identify with the Nasty Habits who are much younger than I am. These fans have great enthusiasm for heavy rock music and show a lot of interest in its roots.
May 17th is Ronnie James Dio’s anniversary, have you met him? And I’d like to know your opinion about him.
I never met Dio, but he certainly was one of the best voices in rock. He had a reputation as a very genuine person who always had time for his fans, so I am sure that I would have liked him.
Let’s talk about the “Live at Szene, VIENNA” album which was released on April 14th, how is it going so far?
The reaction to our DVD has been very positive so far, and I am hoping that it will spread the reputation of Nasty Habits outside Austria into wider territories. Of course these are early days, but we have had some favourable reviews to date.
Nick Simper with Nasty Habits St. Veit, Austria, September 10th 2011
How do you choose the songs, especially Deep Purple MK1 songs?
I initially picked the songs from the first three albums and included the single release Emmaretta. One or two songs which did not work so well have been rejected. We added “Roadhouse Blues” because I have always wanted to play it, and it has proved to be a real favourite with audiences everywhere.
How was the experience working with NASTY HABITS?
Working with Nasty Habits has been an absolute joy!! They supported my band “The good old boys” several times and we were all very impressed with them. it was drummer Peter Brkusic who first had the idea to put on a show with me, featuring some of my Deep Purple back catalogue. Singer Christian Schmid is also their bassist, so no-one was made redundant to make way for me. They are all extremely good musicians who interpret the songs in their own way, but play in a style which keeps the Purple fans happy. We have had a lot of fun over the last couple of years, they are great people and I am very proud to work with them!
I personally and our audience would like to know what are your next plans?
We will continue to do more gigs, hopefully breaking into new territories. We have slowly begun to introduce our own songs into the show using material already written. We are about to start recording the next album which will be all new songs.
As your final word please feel free to send a message to your fans and our audience.
I would like to send greetings to all the rock fans in Finland and beyond and say Thank you to all the Purple fans who have supported Nasty Habits and myself. The continued interest in MK1 music after so many years is very humbling!
On a very hot Saturday 26th May 2012 at the Intake Club, Mansfield, England, the stage was set for a very metal all day festival. It was the second year of the festival organised by Mick ‘The Beard’ Staley of Metal Gods TV and partner of Metal Shock Finland.
The bands appearing were a great mix of all metal styles, two of them making very special trips just to play at the festival – Bulletsize from Sweden and Arctic Flame from the USA.
The bands who played are listed below, along with their show times:
Stage 1
Mirror Black 3 – 3.30
15 Times Dead 3.50 – 4.20
Black Acid Souls 4.40 – 5.10
Revolter 5.30 – 6
A Thousand Enemies 6.30 – 7
Def Con One 7.20 – 7.50
G.O.A 8.10 – 8.50
Stuka Squadron 9.10 – 9.50
Arctic Flame 10.10 – 11
Evil Scarecrow 11 – 12.20
Lockin 12.40 – 1 20
Despite the extreme heat and the bands busy either preparing for their sets or playing, I managed to conduct several interviews, the first being with Swedish thrash band, Bulletsize:
I also had a chat with Bane Holland from UK melodic rock/metal band A Thousand Enemies and found a much quieter and cooler spot in the car park, which was very welcome! Unfortunately the band only managed to play several songs of their set when it was cut short due to a member of the crowd collapsing and an ambulance having to be called. The man was ok luckily and you will hear Bane’s opinions on this and much more during the following interview!
Stay tuned for part two coming soon! For more information about Metal Gods TV, check them out here: www.metalgodstv.com
NERVECELL is one of the most successful metal bands from the Middle East where rock and metal music are illegal in some of the countries. I had a chance to have an interview with the bands’ guitarist, Rami H. Mustafa and asked him some questions that you may like to know about the band and metal music in the Middle East.
To begin with, tell us about the Metal scene in the Middle East, especially about your country, what’s the situation for Metalheads there?
Some countries have pretty good scenes with many metal fans and others are totally the opposite. It really depends. Overall, most countries in the Middle East have die-hard metal fans regardless of how big or small their scenes are which is phenomenal in my opinion. Most metal scenes in this part of the world are still underground and less mainstream for reasons that are related to the rules of that specific country. Regardless this doesn’t stop the fans from listening to metal really!
Dubai is a touristic and commercial city that supports all forms of arts, music, and entertainment for years, therefore the metal scene is good compared to other places. Dubai creates a good environment for bands to play gigs freely regardless of genre. Most of the bands in Dubai are foreigners living in the city either studying or working. Bands fluctuate every year as not so many bands stay active for long periods of time. That’s due to the fact that some of the member(s) return to their home countries once they’re done studying or working. Another aspect that helped the scene grow bigger in the past few years is the Dubai Desert Rock Festival which started in 2004. This festival played a huge role in popularizing metal in Dubai and the Middle East as a whole, bringing international bands for the first time in the region such as Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Sepultura, Machine Head and many more. For the past 3 years, smaller promoters are holding metal events at bars and clubs around Dubai giving the chance for bands to perform easily and more often which definitely helps sustain the scene along with the active bands of course. Nervecell is one of the few metal bands, if not the only metal band that is still active for the past 12 years.
How do you see the future of Metal music in the Middle East and your country?
In the Middle East it’s definitely growing and it’s very positive. More and more people are listening to metal, newer bands are forming – some who are really good and very active as well. In Dubai, it’s been good lately but I feel there’s a lack of metal bands in general. The metal scene in specific is not as big as it used to be 4-5 years ago. Overall it’s stable and I hope it grows back to how it used to be before.
NERVECELL Opening for METALLICA at Yas Arena, Abu Dhabi – United Arab Emirates
Would you tell us more about Nervecell, what is the story of forming the band?
The band started in Dubai in early 2000. James and I met Barney in 2001 at the university where James and I studied. We became really good friends, sharing the same musical interests and influences. We started writing original material and recorded our first demo in 2003 entitled “Vastlands Of Abomination”. Throughout the years we became very active in the local music scene playing underground gigs at universities, colleges and other places around Dubai and the capital Abu Dhabi – at that time we couldn’t perform at clubs because we were young haha! We had a pretty good fanbase at that time with high demand to release more music we decided to record a 5-track EP in 2004 entitled “Human Chaos” which caught alot of attention from the international metal scene. The last 3-4 years we fully focused on touring, later on we got signed with Lifeforce & Spellbind Records releasing 2 albums – “Preaching Venom” in 2009 and “Psychogenocide” in 2011. We’ve been touring none stop ever since in Europe, India, Far East Asia with 4 European tours supporting Suffocation, Deicide, Morbid Angel as well 2 full festival tours appearing at major European festivals as Wacken Open Air, With Full Force, Rock im Park/ Rock am Ring, Summer Breeze, Brutal Assault and more! We got the chance to open for Metallica in the UAE last year as well!
Can you tell our audience about your influences and what genre of Metal you like to play more? Are there any Middle Eastern bands or musicians that impressed you?
I grew up listening to thrash metal, death metal and progressive metal. Mostly late 80’s early 90’s bands. All of us in Nervecell have the same “favorite bands” more or less sharing the same influences. To name some of our main influential bands; Slayer, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Morbid Angel, Pantera, Sepultura, Testament, Machine Head and many others. Nervecell’s sound is a mix of old school death metal and modern thrash metal. We have a Middle-Eastern touch in our music which is pretty natural really since we are Middle Easterners and it’s “in the blood” haha! In the past years some really good bands formed in different countries like Egypt, UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia not necessarily signed to labels but some of them are making good music and working hard which is great.
Let’s talk about your newest album, “PSYCHOGENOCIDE”, what reaction did you get from so far from critics and your fans?
The fans loved it! As we always interact with our fans, we’ve been hearing nothing but great feedback! The media and press have been giving us positive reviews ever since the release and the album got picked up as “Death metal album of the year” in a bunch of publications which is awesome! It’s really good to know the fans and press ranked “Psychogenocide” along other great death metal bands’ records for 2011…that was astonishing!
Can you tell us more about this album such as what you wanted to say in this album and about the recording process?
The concept of the album comes from the ideology behind “mind control” and “propaganda” towards that the human race, which everyone has been living through for centuries. In our modern day lives we know that lots of the control comes from the media, mediums and other surroundings that are unfortunately leading to human enslavement from those who are more powerful and in control. “Psychogenocide” is formulated from the words “Psycho” and “Genocide” which technically means “the total destruction of the human mind” explaining all the mind control methods that have been used against humanity…the weapons of psychological warfare that we see every day and the fact that there is no way out from it really other than opening our minds onto what really goes on in the world and knowing the truth rather than following what has been fed to us. The recording process has been really smooth. We started tracking the drums which was done in Australia by David Haley (Psycroptic). We tracked the guitars, bass, vocals and everything else in Dubai and Qatar. I handled the engineering/recording process which was somehow a big responsibility yet a lot of fun! It wasn’t really my first time as I’ve co-produced our previous releases along other engineers. There was some pressure as you can image the writing process, recording and everything in between was basically less sleep for me haha! It was really an awesome experience nevertheless as I have learnt a lot in the process. Barney and I worked really hard on the writing process and arranged everything in a mannered schedule in order to move fast with the tracking and it really went well. Hertz Studios in Poland mixed and mastered the album. We worked together on our last album “Preaching Venom” and they did a great job.
Nervecell was awarded the “All Time Best Selling Metal Band” and “Top 3 Best Selling UAE Artist”awards, how do you feel about this?
It’s really great! Especially in the Middle East, playing metal and receiving such an acknowledgment is amazing. It’s very astonishing to be the most selling band in metal out of the international metal bands sold in the UAE, and this is shows the massive support we got from our fans. This proves that metal music is well and alive here in the Middle East!
What’s Nervecell’s plans for the near future, especially about this summer and how do you see your band in the next 10 years?
This summer we’re touring the Middle East. The tour is entitled “Psychogenocide Middle East Tour 2012”. We decided we wanna give our fans in our region a special treat putting a special tour together for them. Many fans don’t get the chance to see us live elsewhere so it’s time to come back to countries we’ve not played in a while and some new ones too! Can’t name any dates yet as we’re soon to confirm the full tour and we’ll have an official announcement. So no European festivals for us this summer and we’re spending it in the hot summer of the Middle East totally gonna be worth it haha!
In 10 years our goal is to continue putting out new music, new albums, tour countries and regions we’ve never been to yet. We’re very fortunate that we have travelled and toured Europe, Australia, Turkey, Middle East India, Sri Lanka, Philippines and many others, but we really want to tour North America, South America, Far East Asia, Japan and many other countries, hopefully in the next years to come.
You toured the UK and Europe with Morbid Angel, how was that experience and if you want to come back again to Europe for playing your gigs, which countries would you like to visit first?
Touring with Morbid Angel was a great honor. All of us in Nervecell are huge Morbid fans and they are one of our main influences musically. It was a real fun tour overall. We’ve toured Europe several times before and this is definitely a very special tour for us. All the shows have been really good. The fans were super supportive and it’s awesome to see our fans and friends coming back to the shows hang out, party and have a good time. Our friends from Benighted were on the same lineup. Kevin, their drummer was sessioning for us on this tour so he played for 2 bands everynight –BRUTAL! Haha! We shared the same tour bus with those dudes and it was endless fun! We’ve played some new cities which was cool! Playing Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland has been always a great time for Nervecell!
Playing as the opening act for Metallica, touring the UK and Europe with MORBID ANGEL and working with Karl Sanders from Nile on your newest video – all these mean that Nervecell is a successful band, so what do you feel is the main factor of your success as a Middle Eastern Metal band?
When we started we had a vision for what we wanted to do, but we had no expectations of how big it will all become. Since day one we simply wanted to write music, perform live and have a good time. Till this day we still have the same drive and dedication to our vision. Metal music needs passion and dedication to the music itself and with hard work combined things do start to grow gradually. It took us a good decade releasing EP’s, albums, touring and supporting ourselves with all DIY until we got signed, managed and with people coming in helping us with our business we still think the same way, because at the end of the day we want to enjoy what we do. So far getting the chance to tour many countries with our favorite bands as Morbid Angel, and previously with bands such as Suffocation, Deicide and work with Karl Sanders featuring him as a guest vocalist in our last album have been great! With our recent opening for Metallica – is as cliché as it may sound a dream come true! I think our experiences can only make us learn more and keep us building and shaping up our career.
How were those experiences, playing as the opening act for METALLICA in Dubai and working with Karl Sanders in your newest video?
I actually bought a ticket for the Metallica concert myself in order to go watch them in Abu Dhabi (capital of UAE) the same day they announced the concert. I had no idea or expected that we will be asked to open for Metallica. A few days later we got contacted by the concert organizers asking us to open! To get the opportunity to see Metallica live for the first time and open for them is just crazy! We played probably to the biggest crowd at that show for around 30,000 people. I gotta admit I was nervous minutes before we started when I sneaked out and saw the crowd! Our intro track kicked in and everybody went insane! I was blown away to see our home crowd having a great time. The show went perfect. We had a small chat with Metallica minutes before they went on stage as well which was cool. Really cool guys!
We’re all big fans of Nile in the band so we approached Karl Sanders to feature him in the song “Shunq” adding his vocals. The song has majority of its lyrics written in Arabic which James does and the English parts by Karl. Karl’s style and voice fits the song perfectly and it turned out brutal as hell! He tracked his vocals in the US and sent it to us. He came down for our album launch in Dubai, and we filmed the video for the same song with him, which was in the desert of a city called Al-Ain. Karl is such an awesome musician and a great guy to work with.
Apart from music, what do you do in your normal life?
We are all fully dedicated to the band. Therefore it’s our first priority and full time job. We also do some work on the side whenever we are off the road. I run a business (Shredder’s Planet Musical Instruments), Barney works in a record label and James does freelance jobs. We are all university graduates as well.
As your final words, feel free to send a message to your fans here on Metal Shock Finland.
Thank you very much for having me and for your great support Mohsen and Metal Shock Finland team! Thanks to all the readers who (hopefully) enjoyed this interview! Nervecell have not been to Finland yet, but we heard a lot of great things about your country and we will definitely come there for a show hopefully in the near future!
Keep it metal! Thanks for your support!
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s ASA unveil the long-overdue release of "Collective Failure" + first music video for title-track! Check it out and stay tuned for more news! Click image to watch the video
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
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Visionary artist KIMMO KUUSNIEMI's ANCIENT STREAMING ASSEMBLY (ASA) have released “Aurora Nuclearis”, a powerful 12-minute audiovisual experience, dedicated to the Late Keyboardist Esa Kotilainen. - Click image to watch the video
Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 