After a decade in the shadows, Finnish alt-rock firestarters Snipe Drive are back with blood under their nails and riffs sharp enough to tear through time. Their new single, “Blood Bag” doesn’t just mark a return, it announces a reckoning. Drawing sonic comparisons to Audioslave and Royal Blood, the track is a gritty, groove-laden beast born from scars, C-sections, and studio solitude. Once hailed in the MySpace era, the band’s road since has been anything but linear: plagued by delays, disillusionment, and a bloated song vault that nearly crushed their momentum. But after years of silence, detours, and defiance, Snipe Drive are ready to unleash the fourth chapter of their story. In this candid conversation, they reflect on a past stitched with missed chances, creative chaos, and, finally, the spark that set it all ablaze again.

The band started even before MySpace was a thing. How do you remember that era? How do you feel the music scene (and the way bands connect with listeners) has changed since then?

Heikki: It was all about making music, practicing and trying to get as many gigs arranged as possible. I think we’ve always been pretty poor at connecting with our listeners. We had an official web page back then and a free guestbook which almost every small band used as a channel to communicate with people. You could somewhat measure the popularity of the band by the amount of messages in the guestbook. The counter stopped at 500 and if a band had 500 messages it was a relatively popular demo band.

During the MySpace period we put “all in” and recorded ‘Caught on tape’ promo EP with producer Jyri Riikonen. The EP gained some buzz among both major and indie labels which we then negotiated with having a record deal.

Many of them praised us for having an impressive amount of plays in Myspace but I wasn’t too sure if it was true or not. These days it’s all about Spotify plays and social media followers. We still suck at both. The best way to measure a band’s popularity is how many people show up to a gig. We haven’t played a live show for too long now and I have no idea if anyone would show up.

According to your Wikipedia page, your fourth album was originally set for release back in 2013. Yet here we are in 2025, eagerly awaiting it. Could you walk us through what happened during those years? What obstacles or detours did you face on that long journey?

Heikki: Actually we recorded our 3rd album in 2013 and released it in 2014 via our own record label Piss Poor Company. I can’t recommend hand on heart releasing your own music for everyone. At least it isn’t for us. You need to conjure the money from somewhere and there is no one giving you deadlines to stay on schedule. We recorded an EP called ‘Buddy’ in 2016 and the plan was to release the fourth album in 2017 including 1-2 songs from the EP. I’m not sure what happened then… Maybe Antti can explain it?

Antti: Breeding and life slowed us down. Also I composed way too many songs at that time. We had like 45-50 songs so my head was exploding ´cause I knew that we had to lose 33-35 songs for the next release. It took quite some time to get to that point. 
I also had way too much anger or/and frustration towards the music industry and I was reluctant to record music. Not because our band didn´t get enough attention but the music industry in general. Glad I got kinda over it!

Heikki: Finally, we had 14 songs ready in 2021 and we tried to find someone to release it. We had noticed that if we release the music ourselves it would be just a curiosity in the overwhelming sea of music in Spotify. We then released a few singles and gained no interest from record companies. In 2023 we got tired of waiting. The mentality was “just fuck it” let’s release the album in two parts and it doesn’t matter if nobody cares. The first part ‘Soaked to the Bone’ was online only two days when I received a call from uprising record label Northern Flame Music’s CEO, Ville Pusa, who told me that he’d been looking for a band like Snipe Drive for the past five years and now he finally found what he was looking for. He was extremely hyped about the songs and the band and wanted to re-release the album as soon as possible. That turned out harder than we thought since you can’t for example “pitch” a song for Spotify if it has already once been on the platform.

What do we learn from all this: Just fuck it.

Your new single, Blood Bag, is a powerhouse. What was the spark behind this song? Was there a particular moment or emotion that gave birth to it?

Antti: I came up with the verse riff and played it quite some time alone in my studio. I soon realised that it has this rootsy groove like Royal Blood has but the singing melody had a Chris Cornell vibe. So after this realization the Audioslave Tom Morelloish chorus riff came to me instantly. 

Heikki: Funny that you refer to writing the song as giving birth to it. The lyrics are actually about giving birth through a C-section which didn’t go as planned – brutal and bloody stuff right there… Luckily everyone involved survived.

After several years away from the spotlight, what lit the fire again? What pulled Snipe Drive back onto the stage and into the studio?

Heikki: We’ve been making music all the time and been just waiting in the shadows. Snipe Drive has already started to resemble a vocation or something. We are still waiting for the right time to get back on stage and that on the other hand will be a vacation.

You mention a “new wave of Finnish rock music” in your press release. That’s a bold and inspiring statement. How do you see Snipe Drive’s role in shaping this new wave? What sets today’s Finnish rock apart from what came before?

Antti: I honestly think that rock music is making a comeback soon so there will be more opportunities for different kinds of bands. Which is a really comforting thought for me. Let’s see if Snipe Drive will be riding the first wave!

Heikki: “New wave of Finnish rock music” really does sound inspiring doesn’t it? We play alternative rock and it really has been an alternative for the past 10 years or so. It’s nice to be underground. I hope we make killer tracks and play killer shows that will inspire people and other rock bands.

Antti: I think Snipe Drive’s biggest strength is that we don’t have genre limitations and we don’t make music too seriously. Almost every song has some funny elements, at least to us. (like Blood bag pre-chorus) It keeps everything interesting for us and hopefully for the listeners.

Looking ahead, how do you envision the future for Snipe Drive? Is it about albums, tours, collaborations, or are you dreaming even bigger?

Antti: Probably just albums and singles. A pessimist should keep his mouth shut.

Heikki: It is definitely going to be albums and EPs, hopefully some tours and we’re not overlooking collaborations either. The world is wide open if the right people hear your music at the right time.

In the early 2000s, Finnish bands were truly breaking borders, success after success internationally, and today, it feels like we’re witnessing a second wave with artists like Käärijä and KAJ grabbing global attention. How do you see this evolution? From your perspective, how has the international music landscape shifted for Finnish musicians? And where do you feel Snipe Drive fits into this new global picture?

Heikki: From my and Antti’s point of view the industry has always been the most repulsive part of music but it is something you have to deal with if you want more people to discover your music. It is always great when the Finns break international barriers! No matter what the genre is. The success of Darude and Bomfunk MS’s was great and inspiring and so was HIM, The Rasmus and Nightwish. I think Snipe Drive will be playing in a smaller playground but you never know since “life has a funny way of helping you out when you think everything’s gone wrong” like Alanis once wrote.