RAM - HARRY GRANROTH
- giovanni soldi
- 2 nov 2017
- Tempo di lettura: 4 min
Nothing to say..RAM is one of the best bands in contemporary Traditional Heavy Metal scene and we're honored to chatting with guitarist HARRY GRANROTH about new album "ROD", out from tomorrow via METAL BLADE.
💿 Hi, it’s a pleasure for us to have on Hardrockheavymetal HARRY GRANROTH of RAM , one of the smartest HEAVY METAL band of the current scene!
Thank you for having us.
💿 Let’s start talking about the early days of the band, almost 20 years ago. When is this all begun? Which bands have influenced you and how much is different your style from the beginning?
The embryo of this band came about in 1999-2000 after searching for members for a heavy metal project during the 90s. I had been trying to form a band for years but everybody seemed to be into grunge/alternative. If people were interested in any form of metal that was either black /death metal or some “aggressive crossover” in the vein of Pantera or similar. I wasn’t interested in any of this at all. After finding Daniel Johansson (guitar) we were able to finish song ideas that I had and continue to work on new material together that would end up on our first EP (Sudden impact). One night in 2001 I met Oscar Carlquist on a bus after a night out in the city and we started to talk. I didn’t know him but I knew he was a singer and on his leather jacket was this painted Judas Priest logo that made me feel a little bit hopeful. We met up some days later so he could listen to some demo songs that Daniel and I had been working on.. He heard the song later to be known as “Infuriator” and he was hooked. Now a trio, we could add lyrics and vocals to the existing songs. Later Morgan Pettersson (drums) and Leif Larsson (bass) were recruited as rhythm section. A strong influence on our sound are british bands such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden but also bands like (old) Scorpions, Accept, Dio, Mercyful Fate/King Diamond. Our individual taste range from black/death, speed, thrash to melodic metal but it is quite obvious that the common ground is and always will be Heavy Metal. 💿 On November 3rd will be out your new platter called ROD! Can you tell us somethin’about this album and its composition process? Next days will be on line our review..we are excited and we have big expectations about it after a real masterpiece as SVBVERVSM! This album was written quite fast and was the first time we actually didn’t have any ready songs in storage. Nowadays we meet at our rehearsing room/studio for song writing sessions unlike the early days when we used to sit at my place to write songs.
This album is the first RAM album to feature a concept story consisting of 6 songs of a total of 10 tracks. 💿 Another album with METAL BLADE. Can you tell us somethin’about the relationships with this label? This is our third album on this label and we have had a good relationship with them. There is a misunderstanding that we change label with every release but that’s not true. We’ve only changed label once, from our previous label to current Metal Blade. I don’t count “Black Path Metal Recordings”, our own label that we used for our first two releases as an unsigned act.
💿 The real “news” in music industry is the return of vinyl; What’s your feeling about this classic format and the current music business? What’s your opinion about the renewed interest for Traditional Heavy Metal?
It’s great that vinyl is coming back as we love this format. There’s just something special with it, the larger format with artwork and innersleeve and it sounds great. I’m not sure if this will save the music business but it is certainly an income source for the labels which means the bands will get at least something compared to online music streaming. Heavy Metal is back again, which is of course feels great as this puts us in a pretty good position having existed for nearly 20 years. I hope the scene stays strong as everybody benefits from opportunities to play live.
💿 You’re ready for the next gigs in November..How much it matters to you playin’live?
Playing live is something we really enjoy so this is very important for us. At the moment we’re waiting for the release date to arrive and we’ll perform in Hamburg on the day of the release. Then we’ll play a festival in Barcelona, Spain, followed by a few dates in Sweden and close the year with a gig in Germany in December. For 2018 we’ll return to Spain in January and a longer (European) tour in February is in the works. Hopefully we’ll land a few festival gigs in the summer as well. Heavy Metal Tyranny to the world!
💿 Thanks for your time..see you soon on Hardrockheavymetal! Cheers, see you on the road.
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