TERRORWHEEL
With TERRORWHEEL I understood
that Finland is not only a country that gives birth to power metal bands
that they don't do anything else than copying STRATOVARIUS (most of them).
TERRORWHEEL play "dirty" heavy metal with rock 'n' roll attitude and are
ready to kick our buts!!! By the way the bassist, Marco, gave me some of
the most clever answers. I think it worths your time to read this interview,,,
1. FIRST OF ALL MAKE A SHORT PRESENTATION
OF THE BAND’S HISTORY AND TELL US HOW YOU MANAGED TO SIGN WITH MASSACRE
RECORDS. PRESENT US THE CURRENT LINE-UP.
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We started out in the late summer of
2000, me (bassist/vocalist Marco The Missile), guitarist Psycho and drummer
DJ Locomotive. After a couple of months (guitarist) Nick Napalm joined.
We participated in a band competition in the spring of 2001 in Turku (Finland)
and finally defeated 150 other bands. By then, Psycho had left the band
because of health problems and had been replaced with an old friend
of mine, Supercherry. But Supercherry had too much to do, since he was
playing with his own band Dead Flowers at the same time, so he left pretty
soon afterwards. We recruited a guitarist named Mela, who played on our
debut EP – which, by the way, was the prize that we got by winning the
competition – but the son of a bitch never attended our rehearsals so we
had to fire him. Then we tried it out with another guy, but he was a family
man and all that shit and we were so fuckin' fed up with second guitarists
slowing things down for us, so finally we decided to go on as a trio. After
all, that was how we'd started out! We sent the EP to different labels
and Massacre liked it. So we signed a deal. And now we're just one big
happy family, me, Nick and DJ.
2. HOW DID YOU CHOOSE THE NAME TERRORWHEEL?
DOES IT HAVE A SPECIAL MEANING TO YOU OR YOU JUST PICKED IT OUT, CAUSE
IT SOUNDS REALLY HEAVY?
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It symbolizes the world. History repeats
itself time after time. The human race is still as barbaric and stupid
as it's always been. We're just wearing different suits nowadays. Hence
the "wheel"-part. And all major historic events involve terror in one way
or another, hence the "Terror"-part. So what do we get? A Terrorwheel!
And we sound like one, too, so I guess it has a bit of a double meaning!
3. YOUR SOUND IS A MIXTURE OF BAY AREA
THRASH WITH MOTORHEAD. DO YOU AGREE? WHICH BANDS AND MUSICIANS HAVE INFLUENCED
YOUR STYLE AND ATTITUDE?
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My point of view towards our own music
is completely subjective, so I don't think it makes any difference at all
if I agree or disagree with you. Our music is a combination of the three
of us, who we are, and our sources of inspiration. I'm personally influenced
by artists such as Thin Lizzy, Mot?rhead, Johnny Cash and Queen. Nick Napalm
listens to a lot of thrash and punk and DJ Locomotive... well, I guess
anything goes, more or less. And that goes for everyone of us, by the way.
We don't go to concerts wearing special styles of clothing, saying: "I'm
an ambient death-metal/grind-core-fan and I specially appreciate the bands
who were active in central LA before 1991!" Man, that sucks. A good song
is always a good song. There's no right or wrong when it comes to good
music. Listen to what the fuck you like. If you like Helmut Lotti, just
listen to Helmut Lotti. And don't be ashamed of it! That doesn't mean that
I listen to Helmut Lotti, of course...
4. YOUR LOGO BROUGHT TO MY MIND METALLICA
AND THE SKULL PAINTED ON THE COVER REMINDED ME OF OVERKILL'S MASCOT. DID
YOU DO IT ON PURPOSE? JUST BECAUSE YOU LIKE THESE BANDS? WHO IS THE PAINTER
THAT DID THE ARTWORK?
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I'm the artist. And I did it only to
piss Metallica and Overkill off. Hah! No man, it's just coincidence. I
drew the logo in about five minutes. And the skull... Well, a skull is
always a skull, you know. I didn't make a copy of Overkill's mascot on
purpose. That would be stupid. But if he reminds you of Overkill's mascot,
let's just say they're brothers, okay? Or cousins...
5. THE OPENING TRACK OF YOUR ALBUM
IS ENTITLED “SAY NO TO RELIGION”. WHY DO YOU BELIEVE WE HAVE TO SAY NO?
WHICH OTHER THEMES DO YOU LIKE TO “HURT” WITH YOUR LYRICS?
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Religion is a poison, an instrument
of torture, which gives the smart ones power and turns the normal stupid
human beings into slaves. Saying no to religion is the only way for people
to truly get a chance to find their own inner free spirit and evolve as
persons. Religion doesn’t give people a chance to think for themselves,
it's "spiritual thinking served a la carte". I'm also not a big fan of
politics. It fucks us up. Really, it does.
6. IF YOU HAD A PROPOSAL TO MAKE A
VIDEO CLIP, WHICH SONG OF YOURS WOULD YOU SELECT AND HOW DO YOU IMAGINE
IT TO BE?
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I'd like to do one for "Say No To Religion".
A pretty plain video showing us playing, some priests hanging from the
ceiling, maybe some desecrated cheerleaders in the back or something.
You know, a nice promotional tape, which could also work as an educational
video for psychopathic killers.
7. YOU HAVE MANAGED TO CREATE A VERY
“DIRTY” SOUND THAT FITS TO YOUR MUSIC. DON’T YOU THINK THAT THE MODERN
“CLEAN” PRODUCTIONS IN METAL MAKES THEM LOSE A BIT OF THEIR HEAVINESS AND
BRUTALITY?
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I don't actually give a shit about
other band's sounds. The drum sounds on Metallica's new album, for instance,
everybody's pulling jokes about them. But I think it's pretty interesting
that they suddenly dare to try out completely different sounds. We haven't
created our dirty sound, we just sound like that. If we suddenly have a
much cleaner sound on another album, I don't think that that would a catastrophy.
Bands evolve, that's what makes them interesting.
8. ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE PROMOTION
THAT MASSACRE DOES FOR YOU? ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FEEDBACK YOU GET FROM
THE FANS AND PRESS? DO YOU REMEMBER WHICH WAS THE BEST AND WHICH THE WORST
REVIEW YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS FAR?
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I'm very satisfied with everything,
except it's been a bit hard to find Rhythm'n'Murder in Finnish record stores.
It's a bit funny you know, people come up to me and say: "Hey man,
I just bought your album the other day!" and I go: "Okay, thanks! What
does the booklet look like?" I don't have a copy of our album yet! Haha!
I just own the promo version! I've read a lot of reviews, some bad, but
most of them good, and I'm happy as long as people have strong opinions
about the album. I hate to receive 5/10 and shit like that. The ones that
give us 1- or 10, those are the fun ones to read!
9. DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN ANY BIG FESTIVALS
THIS SUMMER? DO YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS ON TOURING EUROPE? IS THERE A CHANCE
TO COME BY GREECE?
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We played some gigs in Finland, but
now I can't say anything for sure concerning the future. I hope we can
come to Greece soon, I'd love to tour in mid- and southern Europe. My dad's
from Italy so I've been there quite a bit, and I must say I'm more of a
southern Europe-kind of guy than a normal Finn.
10. IN WHICH MOVIE SOUNDTRACK YOU’D
LIKE TO HAVE TAKEN PART OR HAVE COMPOSED?
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We just talked about it the other day
and we all agreed that it'd be great to do some porno movie-soundtrack
music. Apart from that, I like horror, so I'd love to do a horror soundtrack.
"Evil Dead" would've been great... Or "Halloween".
11. IF WE ARE ALL JUST A WORD IN THE
GREAT BOOK OF CREATION, CAN YOU SAY WHICH WORD COULD DESCRIBE YOU BETTER?
CAN YOU ALSO IMAGINE WHAT KIND OF AUTHOR WOULD BE THE CREATOR OF THIS BOOK
AND WHY?
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If I'd write a book like that, I would
never come up with anything as stupid as human beings. I don't know who
the author is, but he has a lot of sarcastic humour, that's for sure. I
can't come up with a suitable word for Terrorwheel, but we'd probably be
the thiefs who dress up as angels and plant our seed in virgin Mary in
the middle of the night. Just to fuck up that poor stupid Joseph's mind
a bit!
12. DO YOU THINK THAT PERHAPS GOD GOT
SO FRIGHTNED FROM WHAT HE CREATED THAT HE MOVED TO HEAVEN IN ORDER TO KEEP
DISTANCE FROM HIS CREATIONS? :))
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Yeah, but he just couldn't escape all
that gas - farts move upwards, right? So I bet it smells pretty bad in
heaven, all those old farts flying around the place, disturbing the angels.
In that way Satan's a bit smarter. He moved downstairs, so he wouldn't
have to feel the smell!
13. LET'S SUPPOSE THAT WE LIVE IN A
WORLD WITHOUT MUSIC. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN SUCH A CASE?
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I would look for four English dudes
with ugly haircuts, give them drums and guitars and name them the Beatles.
Then I would have them sign some papers and eventually I would become a
millionaire. "The man who invented music!"
14. IF YOU WERE A FLY, WHERE WOULD
YOU LIKE TO BE AND WHY?
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Under the skirt of a fresh teenage
schoolgirl, naturally. But then again, if she would have flies in her pussy
she wouldn't be very fresh, would she? I'd probably
end up in the moustache of some perverted sunday school teacher, anyway...
gettit?
15. IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION,
WHAT WOULD IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
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The emotion would be anguish/brutal
hangover. A painting... hmm.. Probably a badly drawn skull with knives
and blood around it, on the wall of some dirty toilet in a sleazy gay bar
somewhere.
16. THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO
ASK YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?
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Thank you very much. No, you didn't
forget anything, you asked me exactly the questions that I knew the answers
to! Great questions, by the way! Greetings to all our fans everywhere!
Nick "William_Kidd" Parastatidis
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