A few questions - interview with death metal band from Finland - NERVE SAW.
(all answers by Markus Makkonen, bass vocals)
Ave, can you introduce your band to our readers? – When was it founded and what style of music do you play , etc.?
"Hi Jakub, Nerve Saw was formed in 2010 by me. It was originally a way to express my love towards my early influences in death metal, like Obituary, Master and Six Feet Under. Did record an EP in 2011, all by myself, but it was buried in the vaults of a record label that is better left not mentioned here. They were not too active, you know. Hahah! Old Skull Productions finally dug the EP up and released it a couple of years ago. Since then, the band has grown to be a full three-piece, when Heikki Matero joined to play guitar and Michael Dorrian started to play drums for us. Musically, we've also added a bit more "crossover" feel to it, with adding punk and hardcore to typical death metal thing."
Where and under what conditions were you recording the new album? Who was in charge of sound, production and mastering?
"Our debut album Peril was recorded in Barcelona, Spain. In Moontower Studios run by Javier Felez of Graveyard and Teitanblood. He did a great job and he did really understand the approach we were looking for. Working with Javi was real smooth and I'm really looking forward to record with him in the future again. Hopefully for a new Nerve Saw album."
How many copies were released and which medium was used for this new edition (CD, digital, vinyl, cassette)?
"Peril comes out via Testimony Records. They have done a great job with promotion and packaging. The CD edition of the album is 400, i think and there are three different versions of the vinyl, all 100 a piece."
Who is the author of the lyrics and how were they created and about what do the lyrics deal
with?
"I wrote all the lyrics for the album. Personally, I really find it boring of singing about ghouls and goblins (it's like singing about Santa Claus), so everything is quite "real" with Nerve Saw. "A Fool" is about people who follow the pack wherever and dont think with their own brains, Ghosts in Dialogue is about people who rant on bygone ideas of somebody else, thinking someone else's thoughts are theirs, even it really cannot be like that. Then there's anti-religious lyrics like "Nails" and some thoughts in "Wolves of the 80s" reflecting on my childhood in Cold War era Finland, and how some of the modern day aspects seem to be a lot alike. All in all, i guess it is criticism over human stoopidity and herd mentality of the social media era world we live in today."
Who created the logo of the band, and who took care of the graphics and the website? What about you and social networks? Do you consider these things important?
"Graphics are of course important, as they portrait an image for the music itself. Back in the day, before internet, album covers were maybe even more important, as you would often buy albums that had the most "promising" covers in them. Artwork for Peril was done by Raul "Mortuus" Fuentes, who is a fantastic artist working with ink and pens. He did this gnarly art for the album, that really reflects the music and the lyrics too, as there are some references towards the "witch-hunts" of modern day social media there."
"Nerve Saw logo was done by Toni Hietomaa, a Finnish
artist who has worked with Funebre, Convulse, Impetigo, Vulcano etc. Real old
school dude and a great guy. A die-hard metal fan. Raul Fuentes did the album
cover and Turkka Rantanen, who did all the early 1990's Finnish death metal
stuff did the EP artwork, back in 2011. "
Which label did you choose for releasing your album and why this label? Are you satisfied by how your label represents you and takés care about you?
"Testimony Records were one of the very first we contacted for this album. They have done a real good job with the bands they have and have good promotion and distribution. These were the main reasons and at least so far, everything has been working out real well with them. Even in these difficult times we are facing now."
Which bands do you idolise and where do you get your inspiration?
"As a band, it is important to let everybody's personal input be audible in the music. Mike is a fan of early 1990's death metal, but also crossover stuff like Suicidal Tendencies. Heikki is fan of hardcore stuff like Raised Fist, but he also likes bands like Helltrain, Kreator and Duskfall. While I was writing my parts for the album, I tried to find inspiration in bands that have a strong "momentum" and "drive". The unstoppable thing in their music. Early Sepultura, Carnivore, Motörhead and Celtic Frost all being definitely like this. Also, Disfear was important."
Did you send your record to some Labels - which are the labels? How was the response?
"The label hunt for this particular album was rather short.. haha! Testimony was the second label we contacted and they replied pretty fast that they were interested. There was no need to go hunting any further and it was great, as it usually is not this easy."
How many gigs have you played? Which type of gigs do you prefer, whether (clubs or festivals) and which of your performances would you consider as the best?
"Nerve Saw as a band has not played any shows so far. In the beginning it was just me in the band anyways, but now as we are a full band, we could actually play shows if somebody asks us to. The thing is, that everybody in the band has been playing metal since the mid-90's and we have all played a lot of shows already, so we are not in a hurry in that department. And currently, you cannot even go anywhere because of the virus! Hahah! We use the downtime to write an album #2 instead. As far as the gigs go, my favourites are the small, sweaty and packed clubs where things really get intense."
What about your plans for the future? What do you want to achieve with the band?
"We are currently working on what will be our second album, all of us separately in our homes. Our plan is to get together with guitarist Heikki after the Corona-thing bypasses and gather up the riffs we have already. Then make some rough demos for Mike and send them over, so he can start working for the drums on them. At the moment it seems the album #2 will be a lot like Peril, with maybe a bit of Carcass thrown in to keep things interesting."
How and where can your fans contact you? Can you provide some contact information?
"I would say our facebook account is the fastest route as I run that personally. Will reply to everything people write in there, and as soon as I can. The feedback from the people listening to our music is really important. As a musician, you are often "too close" to your own work and cannot be fully objective with it. When people tell us what they really like in our music, it is a big help when writing the future stuff. So please, take a listen to our new album out and drop a line if you feel like it! It's all very much appreciated. Cheers!"
Thanx for the interview.
Thanks to you Jakub! And once again, really sorry for the delayed answers.
You must think I'm some lazy arse-hole now.
Will have to remember to check this email address more often.
With regards
- Markus / Nerve Saw
https://www.facebook.com/Nerve-Saw-101834354696011
https://testimonyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/nerve-saw-peril
https://www.facebook.com/testimonyrecords
https://testimonyrecords.bigcartel.com/products
