BLOODSTOCK INTERVIEW: Ramage Inc.
Before their set on the Hobgoblin New Blood Stage, we got the chance to sit down with the Scottish prog metal band RAMAGE INC to chat about all things Bloodstock related….
How do you explain the RAMAGE INC sound?
Heff: Prog metal but with an ambient and melodic tinge…
Marcin: Very epic sounding
How does it feel to be playing Bloodstock?
Heff: Well it’s our first time here and first time playing and we’re well excited.
Marcin: We went through Metal 2 The Masses; we got invited to play in the finals when they were in Glasgow, which was awfully nice.
Heff: Second time round though funnily enough. Basically you get given a whole bunch of gigs with your pals and its great.
Were you up against any of your friends in the competition?
Marcin: Up against is not a good description, because it’s not really a competition
Heff: We did see it as a chance just to play a bunch of gigs. It was good fun hanging out and playing with our friends.
Is this a momentous occasion for the band?
Heff: Oh absolutely. It’s our shot at the big time hopefully.
Marcin: We’ve worked hard for it and I guess we’ll see [when we play].
Hammy: Well as it turns out it’s the first time sleeping in a tent for Marcin since 1995 so it’s worth it for that alone.
Other than the word epic, what can people expect from your live show?
Marcin: Well it will be epic…
Heff: Big riffs, lots of melodies, lots of harmonies
Hammy: And a nice bit of rock and roll in there too, you gotta have that
Heff: Hammy always brings the rock and roll!
How was Earthshaker received when it dropped this time last year?
Marcin: It went well it got some good reviews and we played some really good shows off the back of it all over Europe actually. We got just back from Poland actually playing a festival
Heff: We were second to headline before KAT, I don’t know if you’d have heard of them but they’re a very prominent polish metal band
Hammy: It was pretty cool because Marcin is from Poland and KAT are the godfathers of polish metal, so when the front man of KAT gives Marcin a compliment about the band he was like a little kid again
So would you call KAT a key influence for your band?
Marcin: I wouldn’t call them an influence no, it’s just that every kid growing up in my country has heard of KAT, there’s no other way. They inspired me to pick up the guitar and play music maybe.
What were the key inspirations going into Earthshaker then?
Heff: Definitely a lot of DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT, they’re a big influence on the band.
Hammy: To be honest though we had the album before that and you actually take influence from the material you’ve written before.
Heff: Yeah, looking at what we can improve on, what we can do better…
Hammy: If you take the album as a whole and the tour we did with it, we could look at what songs translate live really well and how that can be used in new songs. So we had to resist the temptation to go overboard and it’s a heavier album [Earthshaker] than the one before it.
Marcin: [Earthshaker] Is much more interesting in a way because there are far more unique elements of metal involved. We have everything from beautiful female vocals to Mongolian throat singing so it’s quite valid and you should totally go listen to it!
Is the live show a big influence in the music?
Heff: Yes absolutely, the live show is a massive part of what we do and lot of it is written with the intent to play it live.
Hammy: Very few of our music is composed purely as a studio piece, we actually make a point of jamming every song on the album. Obviously there will be ones that you don’t think are right for the set, but we always start with the idea that we’re gonna play all the songs live.
Heff: The problem we have is being a prog metal band we tend to write long songs, so when we play a show and only have half an hour we’re only gonna be playing three songs.
There feels to be a real family atmosphere backstage between the bands, is this the case?
Heff: That was the thing with Metal 2 The Masses, it’s kinda of a ‘battle of the bands’ but we’re all friends.
Marcin: We were getting messages just last night from bands who played against in Metal To The Masses wishing us luck! Bands that didn’t go that far still glad that we’re flying the flag high
Hammy: We’ve bumped into a group of friends who won Metal 2 The Masses about two years ago and they’re here as fans and supporting everyone.
What can we expect from RAMAGE INC In the future then?
Marcin: The music flows all the time, we’re writing the new album currently. Our vocalist who unfortunately isn’t here today is always writing music. There is a constant flow of new music and I think we will have the new album out by next year.
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