Concrete Swine takes things as they are

interview concrete swine

Finland’s Concrete Swine has only recently begun their journey, but already started to develop quite a following. Taking a rather unique approach to Metal by fusing Rock and Blues together, one won’t find them comparable to Melodic Death Metal brethren like Children Of Bodom, but slowly growing into a league of their own. Things will come and go, and- as drummer Jukka Penttinen puts it- “the bluesy metal sound chose (them)…”

Hello from BRUTALISM and congrats on your EP. I take it the fans are receiving it well?
Hi!  Heh, we are kind of just building a following but the people who have heard it seem to like it. This is our first release and we hope to have 4 fans on the next release instead of 2.


What led up to the events that birthed the idea of ‘Concrete Swine’ and why did you choose the ‘bluesy metal sound’ compared to other choices?
We started jamming in late 2010 and those jams started to form into songs. That’s it in a nutshell. We didn’t choose a “bluesy metal sound;” it chose us. It came naturally. We like classic rock stuff, blues and metal but there was no serious brainstorming about the music style.


Any particular influences you’d like to share? There’s definitely some doom in there like from a group such as Black Sabbath but then there’s a lot of southern elements too that make the music special, like from Down or even some bits of  slower Pantera…
Our main influences come from 70`s and 80`s rock and metal. Sabbath, Skynyrd, AC/DD and stuff like that. I guess it is a combination of them. We have been compared to Down several times and that’s cool. They’re a great band and it´s way better to be compared to Down than to Nightwish or Linkin Park or some shit like that.


‘Ural…’ is your first EP and only release so far. Did you have any demos beforehand that are unreleased or did you just crank this out and feel it was appropriate to spread it to the masses via the Internet without much trouble or second thoughts?
We had some shitty sounding rehearsal recordings but we didn’t want to release them. We went to a decent studio to record a better sounding official release. We just went to the studio and recorded the songs in a couple of days with energy and a live feel. It was a very easy and relaxed process. The  Internet is of course an easy way to get your music head. The EP is also available as a CD because we also wanted it to be released in a physical format.


Where do you guys get your inspiration for the lyrics?
They are mostly about everyday life. Nothing too serious ‘cause we don’t want to preach about anything. We leave the lyrics about global warming and self-hatred to others. Nobody like`s whiners. Fake artistic lyrics that nobody understands are also not our style.


When listening to the EP, it is like wading through the ocean on a warm summer day with an even amount of waves that will rough one up but not floor them so they feel like drowning is imminent. There’s enough in the album to keep listeners hooked with the groove but it is also very lulling at times and something one could relax to just as much as they could go headbang to if they desired- it’s a very two pronged approach. Is this the sort of atmosphere you were hoping for originally?
Wow! That is a cool definition of the EP, thanks. We didn’t plan the atmosphere that much. Just booked the studio and it was like rock out with your cock out.


So now that the EP is out, what’s next on the list? More EPs? A full length in process?
We have bunch of songs ready and jamming on new one`s as we speak. Don’t know if it´s gonna be a full length or EP but were going to hit studio this fall/winter. Let`s see what happens.


Will there be any upcoming tours to get your faces out there on the road and be known more visually? Have you done much touring before, either in other bands or just hometown shows here and there?
I`m quite sure that there will be touring for us at some point when the time is right. We have done gigs and toured in various bands and projects for a long time. And we definitely want to tour with Concrete Swine also.


Do you think you’ll ever do an international tour with the right time and money? The entire groove rock/ metal approach- especially regarding the Down influence heard- might earn the attention of a lot of U.S. fans and I’m sure they’d love to hear your sound live…
Ha, hopefully we will do international touring and we have been talking with some old contacts in the U.S. for possible shows in the States but that is in very early stages. But hopefully someday we will.


Again, I want to say thanks for taking the time to answer the questions and we look forward to hearing more music from you guys in the near future! Concrete Swine is always welcome to the BRUTALISM horde ears!
Thank you very much for the interview and your support! Check out the Ural Express EP here


Interviewer: devilmetal747
Aug 11, 2012

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