Interview: Antti Riikonen from Trail of Life Decayed

Band: Trail of Life Decayed

Genre: Groove/Death/Thrash Metal

Year Formed: 2008

Location: Tampere, Finland

Members: Antti Riikonen - Vocals
Janne Välilä - Guitar
Jussi Viderholm - Guitar
Joonas Vuomajoki - Bass
Anssi Koivulahti - Drums

Myspace

Facebook

Interview Though Email With Antti Riikonen



How did the band come up with the name Trail of Life Decayed?

     "As usual, figuring out a good name for our band was a long process. Several sloppy candidates were circled around, until we somehow came across with Dark Tranquility's first demo. The name of the demo, Trail of Life Decayed, just had a good sound to it, and it kind of stuck. In our opinion, the name depicts well the current state of the humanity and/or the global political situation, which are also discussed in our lyrics. Also, Dark Tranquility is a great band and has affected us in past as musicians."

How did the band do at the first show on November 2009?

     "In our first show in 2009, we had a different drummer than today, Saku, and the band was still kind of finding it's own path. Although it was a first gig for many of us in the modern metal genre, it went pretty well and there were pretty much people in the audience. For a fun fact, Saku actually played the songs from the sheets!"

What was the game plan going to record the band's 4-track EP ”Slave – Inequal – Hostile”?

     "The songs for the new EP "Slave - Inequal - Hostile" had been bounced around for quite a bit already in the first half of 2011, and we decided to create a quick demo of them in the autumn. The demo versions were discussed with our producer / mixer Erno Sallinen, with whom we had already been working with during our first demo "Demo 2010". After some tweaking of the tracks, the drums, the guitars, and the vocals were laid down in our rehearsal room in three weekends during the winter. The lead guitars and the bass were recorded at home in a few days. After a long mixing and mastering period the EP was finished in March 2012."

What should the Lister expect the EP to sound like?

     "The band's music is all about full throttle and brutal fist-in-the-face attitude with groovy flavors, and this is also the case with the new EP. However, we are trying to get across much wider spectrum of the ToLD toolbox, presenting a wider scale of feeling while preserving the undertone of aggressiveness and frustrated anger that ToLD is all about. Also, the sounds on the new EP are fantastic in our opinion!"

When should we expect some new music?

     "We have quite a few new, face smashing tracks that we play around currently in our rehearsal room, and we expect that there will be some new material available during 2013."

Any up coming tour dates?

     "Currently, we have only been performing in Finland, but we would be eager to do some foreign gigs, too! This saturday (25.8.) we will play at Tampere, and there are also some other gigs that we have agreed on, already:

22.9. Tervapääsky, Tervakoski
19.10. Rytmi-Katti, Kouvola
20.10. Back Room, Kotka

Also, plenty of other gig possibilities are being discussed around the country."