Interview with SONIC RIOT
!!!AUSTRIAN HEAVY METAL!!!
We had a conversation with SONIC RIOT.Enjoy!
Welcome to the FILTHY DOGS OF METAL Webzine.
1. Tell us a few things about SONIC RIOT (Members, Starting Year etc).
It all started back in 2015 when Paul called Raphael because he needed a singer for a new project. We had an initial lineup that consisted of Raphi (vocs), Paul (git), Illy (git), Many (bass) and Loris on drums.Markus replaced Illy on guitar in the late 2015 and Andrej joined the band on bass guitar just a few weeks before our first show in Germany back in 2016.We are still friends with those guys and visit us on eachs concerts. During all this we tried to create a somehow "unique" style for our band, which wasn't easy at first.After some time we realized that we come up with the best songs when we all are actually walking together.So there is no "mastermind" in our band when it comes to songwriting. Someone comes in with a riff or song parts and we work on that together.We live in a very happy democracy in the band.
2. In 2019 you released your album ''Sonic Riot''. What was the feedback from your audience as well as from the press?
As far as we know it is pretty well received and we get positive feed back all the time. Its really a great feeling when you get messages from else where and you read how your music touches and moves people.For now we get requests to ship the album to new fans all over the world on a regular basis or being asked to be featured on fanzines, webzines, reviews etc. and the Internet helps here a lot.Of course it was our first album and comes with all the little "errors" that you make when you acutally create something for the very first time.We are all veterans when it comes to playing live, but no one of us has actually recorded a whole 10-track album before.Overall we are satisfied with the outcome, although our goal for the next one is to be as near to perfection as possible.
3. Label or DIY and why?
For now it is DIY for very different reasons. For example- there are no labels that would contract a band that is unknown and has no album under its belt. Hey Napalm Records, here we are - we have a couple of songs we really like, how about a cooperation? - wouldnt have worked ^^.So we tried our best on our own and asked a lot of questions to our friends how shit is working and recorded the entire album on three "10 year old PCs and Laptops" with cheap second hand recording equipment. Friedrich Habeteler, a friend of the band an youtuber ( he is famous for his Dragon Ball Z Epic Rock Covers all over the world with more than 160 million views) helped us with the mixing of our baby. Another reason is, that we have listened to a lot of albums of bands that had professional help in studios recording their music and we said - we have not enough money to get nearly as close to that what we want. Actually through Illy, our ex guitar player, we got the idea to record everything on our own, cause he showed us some stuff he did and that actually you can get a good sound by doing everything on your own.
So we tried and worked hard and learned a lot to get in that direction where we want to be in the future. That was far from easy. We have still a big focus on improving our skills and made big steps forward since the last recording session of Sonic Riot. We are pretty confident that you will hear that on the following releases. But we said, should a label be interested in our work however, we can of course talk about business.
4. Do you prefer Vinyl, Tape, CD or Digital Format and why is that?
The digital media is THE media right now and makes it pretty easy to reach out to new people and to promote your stuff. So its is actually also a question how you want to reach your possible audience. We also like physical copies and for now we just produce CDs for economic reasons and because almost everyone can play a CD.We sell them on our gigs but also ship them if requested. Should the future bring other requests we are for sure happy to ban our music on vinyl.
5. Your music style is Heavy Metal. Which are your main influences (Favourite Artists / Bands etc.)
The interesting thing about us is, that we share some common influences like Skid Row, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and such, but we also have some very distinct tastes.So our personal influences vary from some pretty hard death or black metal stuff to beautiful power metal and even include synth-pop or electro.We try to be open about music and tend to define music as "good" or "bad" not from a genre point of view but mainly when it comes to the craftsmanship.
6. Which things, do you think, a Band should sacrifice in order to succeed? Have you ever sacrificed anything in your life for a better future of your Band?
Well, we all sacrificed time with our families and friends, hours of sleep and free weekends for sure. When it comes to being successful with a band we strongly believe that it is more about hard work, the right people and a certain amount of luck. So you are actually not "sacrificing" anything, just getting your ass up and do what's necessary.
7. Describe your ideal live show as a performance Band. Have you already experienced that?
We have experienced a lot of great shows so far. Probably our idea isn't far from what every band wants: a huge, loud and motivated crowd singing our songs and tearing down the venue. For us it is generally always about the people and the energy. If they feel good and the energy is flowing, we feel good and pump each other.
8. Which attributes, do you think, that a new Heavy Metal Band should have in order to gain identity and be unique?
Being unique is a very hard task for a band nowadays. There are so many musicians around and everybody can listen to them online and all the time.There is of course the chance of being unique because of the band members. Things you do on stage, the way you interact with the crowd, things like that.Probably also how the people present themselves on social media. And you need a certain concept. Otherwise you are just "another one of those bands".
9. Do you believe that Bandcamp and other Digital Platforms help the new Heavy Metal Bands? Which, do you think, is the ideal way for a Band to promote its work?
We promote our band mainly on Facebook, which offers some tools if you pay, but you can also do some research on your own an try to gain some audience by posting your video in a specific group.Those things are a blessing and a curse at the same time. On one hand you can have a world wide fan base in the early stages, on the other hand people seem to be fed up with all the bands. There is so much music offered that it is hard to stick out of that big number for those that are hungry for new stuff. To find an "ideal" way of promotion is practically impossible, but if you dont do it, you wont get heard.
10. Tell us a few things about the New Underground Metal Scene in Austria (Bands, Fanzines, Webzines, Metal Clubs etc.)
For Graz, our hometown in Styria ( district of Austria), people in the scene are working close together and are pulling into the same direction of the rope.For example Volk Metal Jacket, a concert organisation founded in Graz by metalheads for metalheads and close partner of Sonic Riot offers online promotion, personal at a live show and equipment at a local concerthall called Explosiv - for free. The crew of the Explosive is another good example for how the people bleed for the scene to offer the possibilities for bands to perform live under very good conditions. The exact same goes for the crew a the Club Wakuum (Concerts under the name of "When in Sodom"), the Club Q and the KuKe in Gleisdorf.Since a couple of years the guys from the "Band-Meets-Band" crew work their asses of to get the scene in Leoben next to Graz going.There are also a number of festivals with big names on the bill that offer local and interantional bands slots like the Kaltenbach Open Air, Deep Forest Metal Meeting, Area 53 etc just to name a few.For all the bands out there, that plan to visit Graz or Styria on their tour, remember those names :). With the other bands around its the same, you help each other out with promotion, buying their merch or just by showing up at their gigs. In hardly any case I see shows of bands that have coliding dates, which is really awesome for a scene. In general it is a really healthy environment with awesome venues, rehearsal rooms, great people and some very talented musicians.Vienna underground is also super active with concerts but its a different environment and a little different compared to the spirit of the Styrian scene.In general you can say for the Austrian underground scene that, there are numerous great bands of various genres, webzines and clubs in every bigger city. The scene is very much alive.
11. Do you know anything about the Hellenic Metal Scene?
The Hellenic Metal scene has to offer some great names. Rotting Christ should have played at Graz on 1st of may but due to the pandemia the concert was postponed. The name Gus G. is also a well known for his band Firewind and his cooperation with Ozzy Osboune \m/. Septicflesh with the Austrian Kerim „Krimh“ Lechner or Suicidal Angels are also big names in Austria. For the underground we have listened to Serpent Lord (Twords the Damned) a lot on NWOTHM channel on Youtube.What is also great that your scene has Astarte, the all female black metal band, over which we stumbled a few months ago.
12. What are your future plans?
There are no concerts unfortunately because of the covid-19-crisis so we are working on new material. We are also thinking of recording an EP and another album soon.We want to top the first album of course and try our very best for new material, which is already growing and some ideas have already been demo-ed. Maybe there will be another video for the first album too.With the new material we also wanna grow with our outfits, stage prescence, shows and overall set up. We are planning to post more on our social accounts so the people have a chance to see and feel how we work.Hopefully we are able to play live again soon, some shows are still booked but might get cancelled some other shows have allready been postponed for 2021. The summer would bear some shows on smaller festivals and biker meetings, so we hope the covid-19 situation will be handled proper so we can return to the stage as soon as possible. SO STAY THE FUCK AT HOME ^^
13. Thank you very much for your time & Keep up the good work! The closure is yours.
Thank you very much for this interview! Thank you for the great work you do. Greetings to all the fans and fans-to-be out there in the world!If you are interested, check out our social media and make sure to listen to our album which is on Youtube in full length, leave there a comment and share it if you like it. See you front of stage - You all rock!
By Steve the Filthy Dog.
SONIC RIOT CONTACT: