1. First things first thank you for your time. So how has it been in the Ranger camp? I saw you guys were unleashed in Japan. How was that experience?
Miko: Hi! Our summer has started with some festival gigs here in Finland. We played in Tokyo a month ago and it was amazing! The audience was our biggest yet and they were wild. We played only one gig so we had some time to experience Japanese beer, food and record stores. The Japanese concert organizers were really professional and everything went smoothly.
2. So how did you guys form? Who came up with the name?
M: We formed Ranger in 2008 because there weren't really any good metal bands here! We played our first gig as Turbin because we needed name fast. I don't remember who came up with Ranger but we all thought instantly that it would be a great name for us!
3. How do you feel Ranger has grown from the early days to now?
M: There's a big difference between our first demo and the new album but there has never been an intentional change in our sound. The songwriting process and playing gigs feels a lot easier now than in the early days and I think we've developed as musicians too. We've had some problems with guitarists in the past but the current line-up works well!
4. To me you sound like an old school band that could have been signed to noise records back in the day. What inspired you to play this style?
M: For me this is the only way to play metal. We all have listened to real metal since we were kids so that comes naturally i guess!
5. Actually you guys are probably my favorite Finnish band. How is the Finnish metal scene overall?
M: There are quite a few good record stores here in Helsinki so records are easy to find. There are a lot of real metal fans here but there isn't really a big scene because most new bands come from different cities around Finland. Some of my current favorites are Steel Machine, Rapid and Radux.
6. How is the writing process for Ranger? I noticed the guitarist Mikael and you Miko (drummer) write the songs. I was surprised when I saw you wrote and co wrote many of these songs. I think it kicks ass. So Miko how do you write songs?
M: Usually it happens so that i have a riff in my head and i just grab a guitar and the song starts to form.Then i show the riffs to the guys at rehearsals and we play it a couple of times and change something if it doesn't sound right.
7. With the lyrics. I noticed it's going for an 80's horror, post-apocalyptic, sc-fi kinda of things. Which I thinks kick ass. I personally love movies like The Terminator, The day after, evil dead etc. Are you guys influenced by the same things?
M: Yes indeed! Dimi writes our lyrics and he's a horror/sci-fi movie freak. We have actually used the Terminator theme song as an intro.
8. How did you sign with spine farm records?
M: We started getting a lot of offers from different labels(including Spinefarm) in late 2013/early 2014. Spinefarm's office is in Helsinki so we thought that it would make working with them easy. We started negotiating the terms of the deal and we signed the papers in summer 2014.
9. I've seen you guys have been labeled as being thrash, speed, and power metal. What do you guys consider yourself, SKULL SPLITTING METAL?!?
M: We play SKULL SPLITTING METAL! That means metal the way we think it should be played.
10. I noticed you put your albums and EP's out on vinyl. I personally love vinyl myself. Are you guys record collectors as well?
M: Yes! I think vinyl is the best way to listen to music. Whenever we play abroad or in another city we try to visit local record stores and usually we walk out with bags filled with vinyl. We're actually thinking about buying a record flight case for our record finds on the road!
11. Every thing you have done has really good artwork are the visuals very important? Also, who did the artwork for the latest album?
M: If you have a great album you got to have a cool cover too! Samu Salovaara (of Swallowed fame) has painted our artwork since the Combat Metal demo. We're really happy with his work and we will definately work with him in the future.
12. Is there any plans for a European tour this year? I'm in the U.S so It would be awesome to see you guys. Maybe one day you guys can bring the storm of power to our shores?
M: We are planning an European tour but no dates have been set yet. We hope we could come to the US next year to give some SHOCK treatment! Well we have reached the end. Thank you for your time. Any last words or shout outs?
Thanks!
METAL RULES!!!
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