THE SCOURGER – Rage & spice

The Scourger is a young and interesting band from Finland that is full of energy. They got together in the year 2003 to play thrash combined with a lot of hardcore energy, but I better let them introduce themselves: All answers by Jari Hurskainen, lead vocals for The Scourger

 

ET – How do you describe your own music?

JH: It’s modern day thrash, armed with high level rage and spices from the oldschool godz.

 

ET – What is so special with The Scourger that makes you worth checking out instead of all the other new thrash metal bands?

JH: I think that we don’t necessary offer anything that is new, but otherwise I think that we belong nowadays to a strong minority of this kind of stuff, so all diehard fans of thrash, I recommend to check us out!!!

 

ET – There seem to be a strong connection to the disbanded group Gandalf since vocalist Jari Hurskainen, guitarist Timo Nyberg and former guitarist Harri Hytönen hails from that band. Can The Scourger be seen as an extension of Gandalf?

JH: Definitely not! It’s all a pure coincidence that we are in the same band again and I don’t complain, it just makes working much easier. What comes to the musical directions, we live now in totally different worlds…

 

ET – I have been listening to your album for some time now, and the thrash metal is mixed with a lot of bits from the more modern metal, witch makes me guess that songwriter/drummer Tarvainen is very young, no more than 22 years old, is this correct?

JH: Yeah! Seppo is truly an amazing and talented guy. I mean, regardless of his young age, his attitude and understanding towards this kind music is really deep. All his writing feels like he has been around like ten years longer, some just have that kind of “gift”.

 

ET – One thing that bothers me about your debut album Blind Date With Violence is that you decided to add as many as seven bonus-tracks. Why?

JH: It was more of a wish from our label, but also here is the point that we’ve released already one EP and two singles before “Blind Date With Violence”, so we thought that this could be a great opportunity for the fans to hear some of the older stuff also.

 

ET – Who the hell is Mr. Gottberg? I can understand that drummer Tarvainen has made most of the music, but who is this man (?) that has helped vocalist Hurskainen with the lyrics?

JH: Ha-hah, who the hell should he be? Well, look at it this way, I suppose you are familiar with the story of Accept & DEAFFY? There are some similarities in that story to our relationship with Mr Gottberg. He is a great guy to have around when we start working on new songs. Some writers like to dwell all alone in their misery when they pour their heart into the lyrics and bleed on the paper, but I like to work the other way around. I like to bounce ideas back and forth and get some opinions and perspective on things; this is where another writer is good to have around. Just like me, Mr Gottberg has lived through the rise of the NWOBHM bands to world fame, seen the clash of the titans of Bay Area thrash, survived grunge, and is now thrashing along with us!

 

ET – Your two first singles did really well on the Finnish charts. How has the album been received?

JH: The album didn’t enter the charts at all, but maybe next time. A fact is that the single positions are always much more easier to reach, because the singles’ market is so much smaller…

 

ET – Are you satisfied with the backing you have received from Cyclone Empire?

JH: Very much so. I have said this before and I’ll said it again, the single most important thing with Cyclone is that they really are fans of this type of music. It helps when you are working with professionals who know what to do with the band and how to reach the target audience.

 

ET – I took a look at your homepage to see if you would be coming to Norway soon, but you seem to play gigs in Finland only. Will there not be a tour around Europe to support the album?

JH: If you ask me, I would start the touring outside Finalnd immediately, but as you might know the costs are the biggest reason why touring is not just that simple for underground bands. Right now there are a few interesting offers, but nothing is sure so we just have to wait and see…

 

ET – You seen to always include some cover songs on your releases, do you also include them in your live set?

JH: Not really always, but quite often we add something as a surprise in our live set, I can tell you that at the next gig we’re gonna do “Sacrifice” by Motörhead.

 

E-T: What is your best experience as a member of The Scourger?

JH: Maybe the gig at the Tuska metal festival is the best experience so far…

 

ET – …and the worst?

JH: There’s always something that can go wrong, but I think that we have been spared for anything bigger or then it might be that our tolerance has grown so high, haha…

 

ET – What is your goal? What do you hope to achieve with The Scourger?

JH: To make quality albums and to play gigs (as many as possible) and of course hope that our music is still alive after twenty years.

 

ET – Finally I just want to thank you for your time. Do you have any final message?

JH: Be patient, Norway will witness our punishment sooner or later, cheers!!!