„God, thank you for giving us the Finnish metal” – this was our first thought when we heard Oceanhoarse’s debut song (you can find the video below). Of course, we didn’t hesitate a lot and we sent them immediately an interview request – luckily the guys just as cool as their music, so Oceanhoarse’s bassist, Jyri Helko answered our questions, even if they were trite.

„Oceanhoarse is a giant creature which haunts us til the end of time! About the spelling I remember being in San Francisco and buying a Metallica-magazine. I spotted a headline saying ’Four hoarse men’ and I thought ‘OK, that’s a sign’ because we had just talked about the name Oceanhoarse with Ben and Tommy the day before my trip! Also, I think it’s cool to keep the legacy of randomly spelled metal band names alive – remember you’re talking to a huge Megadeth fan right here” – shared Jyri the story behind the band name.

Luckily they didn’t have to wait too long for their first gigs because they were supporting Beast in Black – which has almost the same story like Oceanhoarse (both bands are formed by experienced and well-known musicians). „Obviously experience brings advantages” – stated Jyri. „We’ve done a good bunch of gigs in our previous bands, so knowing the most common mistakes (and how to avoid them!) beforehand is something I’m very grateful for. Experience also makes you more confident when it comes to songwriting and trying out new ideas without your ego getting in the way. For example, every one of us is pretty damn good when it comes to playing their instrument, so if some part of the song doesn’t seem to fit in, we are able to try out different arrangements on the fly pretty easily.”

„Our guitar player Ben and I have known Anton for years, so when we heard that they are doing their first headlining shows in Finland, we immediately asked if there’s a chance to play our first shows with them. Apparently he liked the material and so did the crowd! Regarding the history of our bands I really don’t know if there’s a deeper connection of some sort, but what I know for sure is that both bands have a kickass-lead singer and we both put on one hell of a show when we are on stage! The amount of positive feedback has been mindblowing! I’m really happy to see that the people enjoy our ‘raw power’ approach as much as we do. Thanks!” – smiled Jyri.

However most of the band member – as we wrote before – are proficient musicians, but they decided to give a chance for a young talent behind the drumset, called Oskari Niemi. We were curious about that did he have a possibility being creative and work on the debut material also? „Our goal is to achieve a distinctive band sound, so it’s very important to have everyone playing from their heart. Oskari has brought in some killer signature tom-grooves and a solid vision about how the drums should sound to benefit the band the most. He is very unique drummer, and I love the way he is always thinking about the live situation and the overall sound, because too many drummers just concentrate on themselves and write parts that sound like shit unless massive editing and tweaking is involved.”

And what’s next? „We have been using the tactic of working with only one song at a time, so the approach is very different compared to the process of writing a whole album at once. Personally I find it refreshing, because even though we have plenty of songs ready and recorded, there are also some brand new ones we want to test live before we record them! We’ve got some interesting offers regarding the album release, but I won’t promise anything until the negotiations are done. But in the meantime we’re releasing our next single ’Fading Neons’ on February 22, so stay tuned!”

Don’t forget to follow Oceanhoarse on social media: Facebook and Instagram

Photos by: Uzi Varon & Olli Vartiainen