Skirmish

Members:

• Jani Niskanen – Vocals
• Mikko Kupiainen – Guitars
• Kalle Raijonkari – Bass

Right now we are working with a session drummer as we have parted ways with the one who played on the album so we’re looking for a full time smasher.

Where in Finland are you from?

We are form Kajaani, a quite small city in northern Finland.

How would you describe your band for those who don’t know you?

Mainly Skirmish is aggressive metal band with influences from every here and there. Someone has called us deathrash or whatever, but we like to call it just metal. Metal Hammer magazine wrote “Skirmish, not wanting to be pigeonholed as, say, death and thrash, simply create great heavy metal.” It is pretty spot-on, in the midst of the fast pace and hard riffs, there is really a heart of heavy metal, with rough edged riffs and hard vocals. But we do remember to take our time to breathe on the album; there are some quite moody pieces on there too.

When did you form as a group?

We started at 2005. After that our line-up has hit some changes, but the basics were done then. Jani (vocals) and Mikko (guitar) are still in from that line-up. The last evolution was when second guitarist Tero left the band in 2010. It influenced on the sound of the whole band, but also gave us more breathing room upon writing the debut album, and actually inspired us a lot for jamming instead of writing every note ready beforehand.

What was the inspiration for your recent album?

As I mentioned, one of those were definitely the laid-back jamming with new line-up, which pushed us forward. We also took some of the old, once rejected songs, re-arranged them again and saw them rocking like a hurricane, which was also very inspirational.

What other releases do you have?

“Through the Abacinated Eyes” is our debut album. Before that we have done bunch of self-financed demo releases.

What is your favorite song on your most recent album?

They all have places, but personally I like “Conquest” as it’s such a powerful and full of energy. Also “The Forlorn Masque” is one of the band’s favorite too.

Do you have any gigs coming up?

If all goes down as planned, yes, even hopefully outside Finland, but we’re right in the middle of bookings. If you’re interested to see us live, the best way to get gig updates is to follow our website, or even better, join our Facebook group where we’ll inform about gigs quite directly.

What’s your favorite type of venue to play?

Small club full of audience or big club full of audience, anything goes Actually, it really doesn’t matter. We like to play in every possible place as long as the band and crowd are in the same level.

In the world of music that tips the scale to the side of HC, you don’t often get to play big stages. We did the opening show for Children Of Bodom, for in our scale a huge audience, and it was absolutely an amazing show to do, but still there’s a feeling that our show works better in a sweaty smoky club with an intense audience. It is a lot more intense experience for us, when we’re within touching distance of the guys and girls banging their heads, drinking their drinks and going fucking crazy over their daily dose of heavy metal.

If you could play anywhere in the world this week, where would it be?

Writing this down on August 11th, I’d say Jalometalli festival in Oulu, Finland. Not far away from home, but it is an intense festival with some names like Sodom and Sepultura this year.

Do you have a Website, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter etc?

• Website
• MySpace
• Facebook

What are your influences as a band?

Musically our influences are metal in almost every possible genre, I guess, but progressive rock, classic rock and stuff like that are there too even it maybe can’t be heard directly. We have grown up with 80′s and 90′s metal, so I guess these are the most important musical influences; even there are lot of modern vibes too.

People who enjoy your music tend to like what other bands?

Our new material has been compared to Asphyx, Hails Of Bullets and even Arch Enemy. Don’t know if these are relevant, but you can start with those.

Are you signed to a label?

We are signed with Violent Journey Records, which is a Finnish independent record company mainly focused in metal music.

Where do you think you’ll be as a band in 5 years?

Dead, Jail or Rock’n'Roll.

Is there anything else people should know about Skirmish?

Other bands have their addicts, but our bass player eats a triangle sandwich before every goddamn rehearsal!

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