ÜLTRA RAPTOR

#interview

Ültra Raptör

💿 Hi, it’s a pleasure for us to have on Hardrockheavymetal…ÜLTRA RAPTOR! Welcome!!

Thanks a lot for having us!

💿 Can you introduce us the current line-up of the band?

Phil T. Lung on vocals, Criss Raptor and Nick Rifle on guitars, Dick Van Heuss on bass and Tony Bronco on drums.

We've been that formation for at least two years by now, Tony and Nick being the newest members.

💿 On Nov 9th will be out your debut full-length entitled TYRANTS positive received on our pages.

Can you tell us somethin'about its composition process and style?

Nice to hear! Well, we've been coming up with some riffs and song ideas since the release of the EP basically.

Criss has a good chunk of the riffage and solos, Phil came up with most of the lyrics, but Nick also came up with two songs and some tracks are a collaboration between two or three members... all in all, it's a whole band effort.

💿 In your early times which artists influenced you the most?

It's a mix between NWOBHM, German Heavy and Speed Metal, USPM... Bands like Running Wild, Grave Digger, Savage Grace, Jag Panzer... All of us in the band, Phil and Criss especially, are huge fans of underground (or not) 80's Metal in general.

💿 Where does the band name come from?

Rick Wild, our first drummer, came up with it. During some drunken brainstorming, it went a bit like this: "What if we call ourselves Ultra Raptor and we have a song called Cadillacs & Dinosaurs?" Everyone thought it was as hilarious as it was badass... So we went with it!

💿 TYRANTS will be out on FIGHTER RECORDS. Can you tell us somethin'about relationships with them?

Of all the labels we approached, Fighter Records responded quickly, were very clear in their intentions right from the beginning, and were very down to earth/no bullshit. Dave Rotten from Avulsed/Xtreem Music is a super cool dude and we thank him for giving us this opportunity.

💿 Here at HARDROCKHEAVYMETAL we are strong defender of classic format. Love for vintage or isn't there a future outside digital?

At least four of us in the band have a record collection, we love albums and physical formats, as long as there will be die-hard music fans, some physical format will carry on, but you also can't ignore digital in this day and age.

💿 In absence of live music many bands provided streaming concerts..You agree or disagree? What's your opinion about?

The most positive we can be about it is that it's better than nothing. That being said, a live stream will never replace a real live experience. From a spectator standpoint as much as from a band standpoint, you can't charge the same money for a live stream than for a real live show... There's nothing wrong about it in reality, but it cannot be treated on the same level as a live gig.

💿 We love the cover of TYRANTS..Can you tell us somethin'about?

We worked with the same artist who did the first EP (Marie-Pier Lapointe) because we liked her style. The main theme about it is based around the lyrics from the song "An Offering to the Tyrant", which is about an ancient tribe making a human sacrifice to thier T-Rex god. There are also other elements throughout the painting that will refer to other tracks of the album, like "SpaceFighter" and "Cyborg-Rex". Some elements are reinterpretations taken from the great art of Frank Frazetta.

💿 Can you tell us something about your next projects?

We've been rehearsing our material since a month or two now, we hope to make some gigs in a not too distant future, we'll support the album as much as we can for the next year, all while working on some new material for a next release!..

💿 Thank you so much for your time! See you soon on Hardrockheavymetal!

Fighter Records

Against PR