- Aug 18, 2002
- 9,421
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[imgleft]http://russell.ultimatemetal.com/Interview/Alestorm.jpg[/imgleft]Alestorm - The Power of Ale
by Ryan Starr
Interviewing Alestorm has been one of the more entertaining interviews I've done. Before the doors even opened they were working hard on their buzz and have a good time. So without further ado, come on the bus with Alestorm. They have cake!
Chris – Keyboards
Dani – Guitar
Gareth - Bass
Obvious questions first, how's the tour going
Chris: Amaaaaaaaazing
Gareth: Awesome
Chris: Totally bodacious and gnarly
Gareth: Dude
Chris: We’ve had like two beers dude; we’re wasted because its spring break
Chris
Any stand out crowds yet?
All: Hollywood
Dani: San Francisco
Chris: Seattle was crackin' as well. But Hollywood was amazing. There was a stage diving bear, where else do you get stage diving bears but Hollywood
Gareth: I can’t believe that’s the only thing we’ve gotten from this tour to kind of be like “how was Hollywood, oh it was great, we had a stage diving bear!” It will follow us to our graves
Speaking of San Francisco, my friend wants to apologize for being all drunk, pinching your cheeks and being like “aw, you’re so adorable”.
Dani: I don’t remember that
Chris: Were they male or female?
She is female
Chris: Then I don’t complain
Gareth: San Francisco… that was the really small place where everyone was jammed in.
Dani: Yeah, where it was really insanely hot
Tours like this have only been coming since Paganfest last year; this is really the second one. Do you think tours like this have been helping the scene?
Chris: Definitely
Dani: A lot of bands are building off these tours and getting a lot of chances to go where they couldn’t go before
Do you think the scene is growing or was it already big?
Gareth: When you’re in America all I hear is people saying “bands like you never play in America”. So basically between this and Paganfest and other things, it’s like the first wave. I think its brilliant for America
Chris: I’d rather be here than fucking Europe
So the pirate thing is kind of new, but also kind of old. Ever thought of doing an all pirate tour with Running Wild?
All: NO!
Gareth: Not a chance
Chris: Not a fucking chance in hell. We’ve had enough bad experiences with fat old German men and their fat old German heavy metal bands. We toured with Grave Digger, they’re fat old German boring men who don’t drink and can’t breathe and have to have oxygen mask, and they have limp handshakes! Yeah, I want to get that all in. They’re all assholes except for Thilo Hermann, he was cool, but they kicked him out
Gareth: He was so cool they kicked him out of Grave Digger. That’s how much dicks they are
Chris: They can’t hold their drink
Captain Morgan’s Revenge came out recently, how’s the reaction been so far?
Chris: You could say it’s good, just a bit
Dani: Ever so slightly. They’ve let us do another album, so I think we’re on our way
What can we expect on the new album?
Dani: More of the same
Chris: But it will sound less cheap, the first time I think it sounds cheap
Dani: We’ve listened to the new album and the old album and the old album sounds… cheap!
Chris: It sounds like keyboards, but there's no keyboards on the new album, it's all orchestras and brass
Oh like the same kind of thing Turisas does
Chris: They use keyboards, they don’t use orchestras
I thought they used a computer program
Chris: Yeah, a computer program, we used a real orchestra, real things
Dani
Do you guys do any research…
Dani: I can cut you right there
Chris: It’s the pirate thing… we don’t give a shit about pirates
Dani: We kind of just, *sing* “lai di dai di dai, pirates, lai di dai di dai” *sing*
Chris: It’s like all the bands that sing about Vikings, they don’t research it. *sing* "Vikings duh duh duh, killing all the Christians!" *sing*. It’s like that but we’re replacing Christians with treasure. It’s all cheesy tweedy fun bullshit
So then you wouldn’t know if Scotland has a history of piracy
Chris: I know captain Kidd came from Scotland, that’s all I know
Any research into wenches and mead? Any of that? More of the mead?
Dani: Not any research needed
Chris: It’s about drinking beer and fucking girls. Alcohol and wee lassies
Dani: That’s Splen
A lot of bands have come through recent from Europe, and they all complain about the lack of good beer. Have you had the same problem?
Chris: In America? Beer’s good!
Dani: We’ve had a lot of local breweries
Chris: Even like the reasonably big things like Yuengling and Shiner, it’s just fantastic
Dani: We’ve had some shit beers, but on the whole it’s been pretty good
Gareth: I thought by now, half way through the tour, we’d be bored of Bud Light, Coors, and Miller, but I don’t actually think we’ve drank that much of any of it
Dani: We drank Miller in Orlando
Chris: One night we had Miller, every other night we’ve had something local
Gareth: Good decent sensible beer, which we’ve actually enjoyed
Chris: So everything everyone says about America is a big fucking lie. It’s all said by people who have never been there in their life and they’re stupid retards
Gareth: Yup, America’s awesome
Dani: And that’s not fuckin’ 2 percent shite either
Ian (drums)
Obviously today is St. Patrick’s Day. Here in America it’s just a reason to get drunk, what do you do in Scotland?
Dani: Drunk!
Chris: It’s not that big a thing in Scotland
Dani: When we’re back its like “oh it’s a saint’s day, yeah ok”
Chris: Occasionally in university towns they have stuff
Gareth: It’s an excuse to get drunk
Chris: Yeah, but it’s not to the same extent as it is here
Gareth: And where I’m from it’s an excuse to exploit tourists for money. Its St. Patrick’s Day, would you like to buy a leprechaun? This is my first time in America on St. Patrick’s Day and it’s awesome
Dani: He woke up and went straight on to drinking
Gareth: Yup, I just thought I’m going to a national stereotype today. I’m going to walk around and drink alcohol and I haven’t had a soft drink since I woke up
I would advertise it you want more beer, people will buy you drinks
Gareth: We’ve plenty back stage; they even bought us Guinness which was really nice
What do you think about this whole popular trend with pirates, the Disney movies… do you think it’s cheesy?
Chris: Yeah, I think it’s cheesy but we don’t give a shit
Dani: As I said, there’s nothing we take ourselves seriously for. People come to us and ask if we research, and no. we just drink a lot and occasionally turn up for shows
That’s all I had, any last words? Anything we should look forward to during the show? New songs?
Dani: There’s a new song, yeah
Gareth: I say you should look forward to Tyr’s show tonight, I heard there was going to be some drunken naked people on stage. Just a rumor I managed to get. And because it’s St. Patrick’s Day there might be some drunken Irish guy on stage naked
Good to know
Gareth: Watch our show too
Thanks!
New Alestorm album, due for release in May
Official Alestorm Website
Official Alestorm Myspace
Official Napalm Records Website
by Ryan Starr
Interviewing Alestorm has been one of the more entertaining interviews I've done. Before the doors even opened they were working hard on their buzz and have a good time. So without further ado, come on the bus with Alestorm. They have cake!
Chris – Keyboards
Dani – Guitar
Gareth - Bass
Obvious questions first, how's the tour going
Chris: Amaaaaaaaazing
Gareth: Awesome
Chris: Totally bodacious and gnarly
Gareth: Dude
Chris: We’ve had like two beers dude; we’re wasted because its spring break
Chris
Any stand out crowds yet?
All: Hollywood
Dani: San Francisco
Chris: Seattle was crackin' as well. But Hollywood was amazing. There was a stage diving bear, where else do you get stage diving bears but Hollywood
Gareth: I can’t believe that’s the only thing we’ve gotten from this tour to kind of be like “how was Hollywood, oh it was great, we had a stage diving bear!” It will follow us to our graves
Speaking of San Francisco, my friend wants to apologize for being all drunk, pinching your cheeks and being like “aw, you’re so adorable”.
Dani: I don’t remember that
Chris: Were they male or female?
She is female
Chris: Then I don’t complain
Gareth: San Francisco… that was the really small place where everyone was jammed in.
Dani: Yeah, where it was really insanely hot
Tours like this have only been coming since Paganfest last year; this is really the second one. Do you think tours like this have been helping the scene?
Chris: Definitely
Dani: A lot of bands are building off these tours and getting a lot of chances to go where they couldn’t go before
Do you think the scene is growing or was it already big?
Gareth: When you’re in America all I hear is people saying “bands like you never play in America”. So basically between this and Paganfest and other things, it’s like the first wave. I think its brilliant for America
Chris: I’d rather be here than fucking Europe
So the pirate thing is kind of new, but also kind of old. Ever thought of doing an all pirate tour with Running Wild?
All: NO!
Gareth: Not a chance
Chris: Not a fucking chance in hell. We’ve had enough bad experiences with fat old German men and their fat old German heavy metal bands. We toured with Grave Digger, they’re fat old German boring men who don’t drink and can’t breathe and have to have oxygen mask, and they have limp handshakes! Yeah, I want to get that all in. They’re all assholes except for Thilo Hermann, he was cool, but they kicked him out
Gareth: He was so cool they kicked him out of Grave Digger. That’s how much dicks they are
Chris: They can’t hold their drink
Captain Morgan’s Revenge came out recently, how’s the reaction been so far?
Chris: You could say it’s good, just a bit
Dani: Ever so slightly. They’ve let us do another album, so I think we’re on our way
What can we expect on the new album?
Dani: More of the same
Chris: But it will sound less cheap, the first time I think it sounds cheap
Dani: We’ve listened to the new album and the old album and the old album sounds… cheap!
Chris: It sounds like keyboards, but there's no keyboards on the new album, it's all orchestras and brass
Oh like the same kind of thing Turisas does
Chris: They use keyboards, they don’t use orchestras
I thought they used a computer program
Chris: Yeah, a computer program, we used a real orchestra, real things
Dani
Do you guys do any research…
Dani: I can cut you right there
Chris: It’s the pirate thing… we don’t give a shit about pirates
Dani: We kind of just, *sing* “lai di dai di dai, pirates, lai di dai di dai” *sing*
Chris: It’s like all the bands that sing about Vikings, they don’t research it. *sing* "Vikings duh duh duh, killing all the Christians!" *sing*. It’s like that but we’re replacing Christians with treasure. It’s all cheesy tweedy fun bullshit
So then you wouldn’t know if Scotland has a history of piracy
Chris: I know captain Kidd came from Scotland, that’s all I know
Any research into wenches and mead? Any of that? More of the mead?
Dani: Not any research needed
Chris: It’s about drinking beer and fucking girls. Alcohol and wee lassies
Dani: That’s Splen
A lot of bands have come through recent from Europe, and they all complain about the lack of good beer. Have you had the same problem?
Chris: In America? Beer’s good!
Dani: We’ve had a lot of local breweries
Chris: Even like the reasonably big things like Yuengling and Shiner, it’s just fantastic
Dani: We’ve had some shit beers, but on the whole it’s been pretty good
Gareth: I thought by now, half way through the tour, we’d be bored of Bud Light, Coors, and Miller, but I don’t actually think we’ve drank that much of any of it
Dani: We drank Miller in Orlando
Chris: One night we had Miller, every other night we’ve had something local
Gareth: Good decent sensible beer, which we’ve actually enjoyed
Chris: So everything everyone says about America is a big fucking lie. It’s all said by people who have never been there in their life and they’re stupid retards
Gareth: Yup, America’s awesome
Dani: And that’s not fuckin’ 2 percent shite either
Ian (drums)
Obviously today is St. Patrick’s Day. Here in America it’s just a reason to get drunk, what do you do in Scotland?
Dani: Drunk!
Chris: It’s not that big a thing in Scotland
Dani: When we’re back its like “oh it’s a saint’s day, yeah ok”
Chris: Occasionally in university towns they have stuff
Gareth: It’s an excuse to get drunk
Chris: Yeah, but it’s not to the same extent as it is here
Gareth: And where I’m from it’s an excuse to exploit tourists for money. Its St. Patrick’s Day, would you like to buy a leprechaun? This is my first time in America on St. Patrick’s Day and it’s awesome
Dani: He woke up and went straight on to drinking
Gareth: Yup, I just thought I’m going to a national stereotype today. I’m going to walk around and drink alcohol and I haven’t had a soft drink since I woke up
I would advertise it you want more beer, people will buy you drinks
Gareth: We’ve plenty back stage; they even bought us Guinness which was really nice
What do you think about this whole popular trend with pirates, the Disney movies… do you think it’s cheesy?
Chris: Yeah, I think it’s cheesy but we don’t give a shit
Dani: As I said, there’s nothing we take ourselves seriously for. People come to us and ask if we research, and no. we just drink a lot and occasionally turn up for shows
That’s all I had, any last words? Anything we should look forward to during the show? New songs?
Dani: There’s a new song, yeah
Gareth: I say you should look forward to Tyr’s show tonight, I heard there was going to be some drunken naked people on stage. Just a rumor I managed to get. And because it’s St. Patrick’s Day there might be some drunken Irish guy on stage naked
Good to know
Gareth: Watch our show too
Thanks!
New Alestorm album, due for release in May
Official Alestorm Website
Official Alestorm Myspace
Official Napalm Records Website
