SNAKEGOD are an amazing new Melodic Metal / Hard Rock band from Finland. They released their debut album ‘Invitation’ recently (check the reviews section) and as their style is quite unique, especially nowadays, we couldn’t resist doing this interview. My interview partners were Jani Hölli (keys), Jari Tiura (vocals) and Marko "Make" Ruokonen (guitar).  

First of all: how did you get hooked to Hard Rock and Heavy Metal? Was it a record, a concert, a friend,...? What was your first (HR / HM) album? 
Jani: Well, there were three bands and records which influenced me very much: Whitesnake's "Come an’ get it",  Def Leppard's "Hysteria" and Deep Purple's "Burn". Those records were my first contact with Hard Rock / Heavy. Before I used to listen pop music.
Jari: I heard Dio's "Holy Diver" in school and naturally I bought "Last In Line". That's how it started for me.
Make: My aunt brought two records of the Finnish Hurriganes home. I was maybe ten years old then. The Hurriganes played Rock/Hard-Rock and I really liked it. My first self-bought record was Van Halen 1. My friends also used to listen to Heavy very much, and so I became acquainted at a very early age with those bands.
What made you become musicians? Did you play other instruments before you chose to rock?
Jani: I begun to take classical piano lessons at the age of nine and played for about six years. Then I joined my first band, and changed my style from classical piano to a pop/rock keyboarder.
Make: E-guitar is probably that instrument, every little boy wants to play, so did I. Luckily, my parents agreed to it and so I started to play guitar. I managed to avoid flutes and other horns, as well as any rhythm instruments.
Pete: We all also have played in some other bands before, but this is for all of us our first band with a record contract.
Which bands and artists did and still do inspire you? I think there is a lot of DIO in SNAKEGOD. What are your thoughts about him?
Jari: First of all I think, he deserves all respect we have. Dio is a singer who sung many legendary songs. And he still can perform Heavy without making any compromises, which is quite something. 
Jani: My personal favourites are Whitesnake, Deep Purple, Yngwie J. Malmsteen and Dream Theater. Of course there are lots of influences from Dio and I have listened to Dio, too, not as much as Jari and Pete though.
Make: We honour all the old masters. I try to listen to many different styles, also to new artists. After all, the world is full of good bands. Unfortunately in Finland is no radio station which would only play Hard Rock. But via the internet it is possible to find new stuff and of course also from the record shops.
Tell us about the founding days of SNAKEGOD: when and how did you find everybody, did you know each other from school, for example, etc.? 
Jari: About four years ago, Make and I met with a friend's help, who gave Make a demo of me. Later Pete and Jani joined us and we first played covers before we started to make our own songs.
Make: Yes, I heard a demo of Jari, singing "Tush" of ZZ-Top. Jari seemed to have great lungs and so I got in touch with him. We started to try a few cover songs and it worked great. We also liked the same bands like Dio and Whitesnake and had the same taste in music.
Pete: Like for many other bands, it started as a hobby, because we simply enjoy playing, and since we're all about the same age, we also grew up with the same music and have the same idols. Jani has been a professional musician for already 15 years, and also worked during those years with other bands and artists.
Who came up with the band's name, what's the idea behind it and does anybody of you have a snake at home? 
Jani: I have nothing to do with the name, because I wasn’t in the band yet when it was chosen.
Pete: So you say you're innocent? ;-) 
Make: Well, when we started, we played a lot of Whitesnake covers and so we thought we call ourselves "Snakebite". But then we heard that there already exists an English band with that name and we had to change it. It's really difficult to find a good band name, and once you find one you like, you can be sure that someone else already took it. Then we tried "Snakegarden" for a while but it didn't feel right. So we decided for "Snakegod". We also didn't want a too complicated name or letter mix, and "Snakegod" is easy to remember. And we liked to keep the word "snake" in our name. 
Jari: Much later we found out that in Egyptian mythology is a God called "Snakegod". And no, we don't have any snakes at home (yet)
I heard you recorded a demo before "Invitation" - which songs where on it, any unreleased tracks? If so: will they be on your next release?
Jani: No, no, all the demo songs are also on the album.
Jari: We made our first demo on our hometown Tampere, and it included "Snakebite", "Behind the storm" and "Defender". The second demo we recorded in Oulu with our label Mastervox, and it included "Lost in time" and "King of the Dream". Sure, we also have old tapes and, who knows,  some day we might use them. 
Make: But those songs didn't make it on "Invitation". Maybe if we work on them a bit more, they will see the daylight.
How did you get in touch with Mastervox Records?
Make: We found Mastervox' website on the internet. They looked like a good label of the scene and so we got in touch with them and sent them our demo. Their boss Kari "Immu" Ilmarinen invited us to Oulu after he had heard the demo, to record a few more. Obviously he liked the results and so he offered us the record contract.
Jari: Mastervox was the first and only place where we sent our demo. 
Who painted your cover? Was it your first choice? I would have expected 'True' Metal behind it rather than your sound. Isn't that a little dangerous? 
Jani: No, fuck (sorry, but we always get blamed for it). That terrible cover wasn’t our fault! It was our record label’s twisted sense of humor.
Jari: I don't know who designed it but MTM chose it for us.
Make: It really gives the wrong idea of our music.
Pete: Actually, we had chosen a complete different cover for the album, together with Mastervox, then the album was licensed to MTM and they decided for this cover. We didn't even see it before the release.
What other bands are with that company, are they (more or less) playing your style as well? What is the Finish Hard Rock / Melodic Metal scene like? Are you friends with many bands? What other bands can you recommend?
Jani: There are nearly a hundred bands on MTM's roster. For example: Jaded Heart, Axe, Joe Lynn Turner, Shylock, Embraze and Snakes in Paradise. Some of them are less heavy than we are and some more. Here in Finland are many good Heavy bands nowadays, like Stratovarius, Nightwish, Children of Bodom, Sonata Arctica and Tarot, which all have succeeded worldwide, sooner or later.
Jari: Yes, the Finnish scene has quite many Metal bands but I think here are not many which play Hard Rock.
Pete: We are in contact with some other bands. Of course you get to know each other after a while.
Make: As for Mastervox, they have also signed for example bands like Embraze, Afterworld, Myon and Bride Adorned. 
I think currently there are many HIM-like bands in Finland, which play more or less Gothic music. And then of course there are Stratovarius-like bands. Those you find really much. But I have to say that the studios here are also real good for this music. It is not easy to record Metal well.
How is the club scene in your hometown? Can you play live in Finland a lot? Are actually people showing up? Sometimes I get the impression that around here people seem to prefer staying at home watching TV instead of checking out new bands. What about Finland?
Pete: Jep, people here also have TVs ;-)
Jari: I don't visit clubs very often but I think there are only a few places here in Tampere where we could play. Also not all clubs here have their own PA.
Make: Although there is quite a lively music scene in our hometown with many smaller live clubs. Foreign bands usually only play in Helsinki because there is more audience.
Jani: In my opinion it really sucks here for new bands. If you are not famous, there is no chance to get gigs, so we have had only a couple of gigs in Finland so far. It seems to be a lot easier to go touring abroad. Our last concert was for example at the Sweden Rock Festival. Pete: One agent told us that even a known Metal band can get maximum only 25 gigs per year in Finland. It is like a circle, if you're not famous you don't get gigs, but how do you get famous without playing?
What are your plans for the near future? Will we see you on tour or will you rather return to the studio as soon as possible? Jani: Well, the first thing we like to do most of course is to play live as much as possible. Then we will finish our second album.
Jari: We hope to go on tour in autumn, and we already started to make new songs for our upcoming album. 
Make: Actually, we compose all the time new material, and same time try to play live. Right now there are different plans to tour together with some other Finnish and German bands. 
Pete: In this business you never really know what comes up the next day. It is so full of surprises. Just when you think now is a quiet phase, something happens. For example we agreed to play at the Heartrock2002 Festival in Lahti on the 21^st July, and now we got the offer to play in Berlin at the Biker Week Festival on the 20^th July. Unfortunately it is logistically impossible to play the evening in Berlin and be the next day at noon for soundcheck in Lahti. 
How can we imagine a SNAKEGOD live show? Do you rather focus on the music or are there any gimmicks beyond light and sound? 
Make: To our music fit of course visual effects very well.
Pete: Right now we use a special composed intro music, lights and smoke, and also try to adapt our outfit to our musical style.
Jani: I think our concerts are a good mixture of everything, but the music will always come first.
Jari: The show effects will also surely get more with the time (and money).
What's the SNAKEGOD song writing process like? 
Jani: Usually Make brings some riffs and ideas, and then we all start to process those parts together.
Jari: Sometimes we start with the refrain and after that we do rest of the song. Sometimes there is just a riff and we develop it to the end. Make: Yes, I usually try to offer some riffs and the basic frame of a song, from which we then develop the composition. But all of us include their own influences and ideas as well.
What inspires the lyrics for SNAKEGOD? Are there any songs linked in one way or another? I'm thinking of 'Divine High Priestess', 'Snakebite' and 'Snakegod'. Can you comment on the lyrics a little? And finally: how important are they for SNAKEGOD? 
Jari: Of course lyrics are very important, and our lyrics usually have two meanings. 
Pete: We think that lyrics should also leave some space for the imagination of the listener and not be too ready. Many of our songs are about love, good and bad and the eternal fight between them. 
Jari: As we all know, real life is more exiting than just fantasy, if you really look at it. Still, good stories even without a meaning to someone's life can cause great feelings as well. We somehow wanted to put all traumas, if I can say so, into "Invitation", just to refresh our minds. Everything we felt then is in it. So now we can move on and find other stories to sing about.
The three central aspects in the life of a musician: what are your thoughts and feelings about writing songs, recording them and playing live? And what do you like best (why?)? 
Jani: For me the best thing is playing live and then comes studio work. The worst for me is song writing, because it is the hardest part of the whole process.
Jari: I like it very much when we make a new song. Because we always know there is a right mood for every song and when it comes we recognise it immediately. Recording is nice too because in the studio we can hear the final soul of the song. And on stage we can see how it works live, and have fun.
Make: I also enjoy the writing process very much. It is exciting and freeing to compose new ideas. To play own material live is great as well because then we get the real contact with our audience and fans and see how they react on it.
Did you already write new songs? Are they in the same vein as in 'Invitation' or? 
Jari: Jep, we will write the new album ready this summer. It has the same blood but I think it will turn out more effective and much more melodic.
Jani: I think that the songs changed a little bit, the new material is not "so metal" anymore. It is perhaps more melodic Hard Rock than Metal.
Make: We make all the time new songs and try to develop our song writing and skills. But the new album is definitely going to be a real great Snakegod album! 
I was offered in doing this interview in German - I have the feeling that the German language is taught in Finland a lot. Something that completely surprises me. What were the reasons for you to learn German?
Jani: When I was in school,  I was told that the most important languages in the World are English, German and French.
Jari: In Finland people like very much to study languages, to work abroad, and Germany is a big country with many chances. 
Make: I think German is after Swedish and English the most studied language here in Finland.
Pete: There also live many Germans in Finland.
What's the Finish word for 'Prost' again? I was told once but I forgot... perkele! 
Jari: Perchules! I dont know.
A voice from the background: It still is kippis. 
Do you have an interesting or funny story for our readers? 
Jari: Well, actually we just plan to put some stories on our website, like for example a tour diary. There we will tell what happened on tour etc. Not all of course ;)
Any last words? Something I forgot to ask, etc.? 
Jani: All our fans, please visit our website www.snakegod.com  It gets updated immediately when something new comes up. 
Jari: Well, and of course thank you very much for this interview. 
Pete: We hope to see you soon in Germany!

Ramon Claassen

Snakegod are:
Jari Tiura - vocals
Petri "Pete" Repo - bass, backing vocals
Jani Hölli - keys
Marko "Make" Ruokonen - guitar
Mikael Hakamies – drums