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Interview with DEADGLOW
By Rick Tilley
Hi Everyone.
Finnish Progressive Rock/Alternative Metal trio Deadglow are gearing up to release their debut album “Machine Skin” on 29th October. As a precursor to that their first, dual, singles and videos ‘Machine Skin’/’Your Blood (Parts 1-3)’ are about to devour your senses. Their sound encompasses Pink Floyd to Death via Tesseract as well as inspiration from Sci-Fi/Horror movies, books and art.
With this in mind, we thought it would be great to have a chat with them about the band, so my thanks go to vocalist Jukka Ruottinen, guitarist/bassist Simo Lukkari and drummer Juho Mikkonen for their time.
You can find a link to our review of the singles at the end of the interview.
Q: How did Deadglow form?
Simo: I wanted to create music that I am really into, but instead of forming a band, I approached Deadglow from a different angle. I wrote some songs and booked a studio without rehearsing for recording a single. It worked out well, so I decided to continue. I had plans to record material with different musicians, but things worked out so well that I cancelled that. Deadglow is all about sound, echoes and making something that you love and like to listen to. Deadglow is only a year and a half old, but we have already twelve songs recorded and more to come.
Jukka: Simo needed a vehicle to release his music, so he asked me to work with him on some songs. I then joined to add vocals to his new project. After the first recording session, Juho Mikkonen joined as drummer. We have some friends helping us on some tracks, but the three of us is Deadglow for now.
Q: Who are the members of Deadglow and can you tell us a little more about yourselves?
Simo: I have been playing guitar from the age of 14 and I have been writing music for several years now. I played Hair Metal, Glam Rock and Grunge as well as toured for some time in Finland. When I write music, I am usually heavily inspired by something like a movie or a certain atmosphere. It is the best way to get rid of reality.
Jukka: I’ve been singing my whole life and playing guitar from my teens. Mostly my bands played slow acoustic songs, but Grunge and heavier music have always been what I love. The last 5 years I’ve been singing a lot of Rock. The music that Simo creates inspires me to write lyrics, and takes me to places, so it’s great to be part of Deadglow. Simo is one hell of a guitar player and I like Juho’s hard hitting drumming.
Juho: I’ve been playing drums for 21 years with different bands. Styles have varied from Black Metal to Thrash Metal and Rock. Last year Simo sent me a couple of demos and asked me if I was available to play drums. The demos hit me right away and reminded me somehow of the music of my youth that I love. Besides musical talents, Simo and Jukka are also nice guys, so why would I not take the opportunity! I also play in a band called The Groupie High School and have my own firm.
Q: What is the origin of the Deadglow name, and what are your primary influences?
Simo: The inspiration came from the Stephen King novel “IT”. It refers to the glow you can see in the mouth of Pennywise when he prepares to eat. I guess I can say that a lot of the Deadglow inspiration comes from 80s Horror and Sci-Fi books and movies. We all love 80’s music, sounds, echoes, synths, horror movies and art. We are influenced by Stephen King books, John Carpenter movies and H.P Lovecraft.
Q: Is it possible for you to describe the musical genre of Deadglow, and how did you decide on this style?
Simo: I think we don’t have a primary genre, but if I had to pick one, I would say it is Old School Heavy Metal meets Pink Floyd. I have always been a fan of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, but also like a lot of different genres. So, if the mood changes, then the music changes. The main thing in Deadglow is the sound…our song ‘Your Blood’ is the primary Deadglow sound, it means echoes from a different world.
Q: Are you keen to take this album out on the road, for live performances?
Simo: We have some killer tracks and hopefully we can do some shows soon. We also have some demo songs for our second album already. To do a live show with this type of band is a bit harder than with a normal Rock group. For example, in upcoming songs we need to play with two different drum sets, because there is just so much to play. If you want to play that live, basically, you must have two drummers on stage, or you must arrange that somehow. It will be the most ambitious thing any of us has ever done.
Q: When did you decide to go into the studio, and how was the recording experience?
Simo: After we recorded a single, we decided to record the whole album in the same style. No rehearsing, just straight to the studio. We recorded the whole album in four or five days, so it meant that we had to practice a lot on our own. The whole experience was good, and we recorded in a professional high-end studio with high-quality gear. We used only analogue recording and played as much naturally, as we could, to avoid fixing much afterwards.
Q: What is the driving force behind your songwriting?
Jukka: Simo creates the music first, then I try to write lyrics and vocal melodies that suits the music. Some songs sound dark, some lighter, so the lyrics also go through all kinds of emotions. I don’t really like to explain words too much, so I hope they tell something to everyone. I saw the album and single cover before all the lyrics were final, so that kind of also affected my writing. For some reason I was also reading a lot of dystopian books and watching TV series when writing.
Q: What inspire the visual elements of Deadglow?
Jukka: The primary visual inspiration comes from Simo’s love of all kinds of classic Sci-Fi and Horror. It’s all about the state of this world; humans will destroy all nature, and eventually nature will have its revenge…or the machines will get us! The look and the feel are dystopian…the end of everything is sorrowful, but the new beginning will come, and it means also hope!
Q: What does the next 12 months look like for Deadglow?
Simo: a lot of promotion and creating a new, mind-blowing concept album.
THANK YOU
BIO:
Deadglow is a Progressive Rock/Alternative Metal trio from Oulu in Finland consisting of Jukka Ruottinen (Vocals), Juho Mikkonen (Drums) and Simo Lukkari (Guitar & Bass).
The Deadglow sound is progressive and melodic, yet straightforward. You can hear echoes of Death, Judas Priest, Alice In Chains and Pink Floyd, whilst appealing to fans of TesseracT, Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus and Amorphis. The talented trio is inspired by 80’s music, sounds, echoes, synths as well as Sci-fi and Horror movies and art.
Deadglow has been hard at work recording their debut album “MACHINE SKIN” (coming Friday 29th October) in a professional high-end studio in Finland using only high-quality analogue recording gear. They furthermore played as naturally as possible, to avoid fixing much afterwards. On Friday 1st October, the first dual singles and videos from this upcoming album will be unleashed called ‘MACHINE SKIN’/‘YOUR BLOOD (PARTS 1 – 3)’!
DEADGLOW ONLINE:
MEDIA REPRESENTATIVE:
Devographic Music Agency
LINK TO OUR REVIEW OF ‘MACHINE SKIN’/‘YOUR BLOOD (Parts 1-3)’
Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Rick Tilley and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this interview, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
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Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of [user_login] and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
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