Interview with STRIKER

by Vpower

The Band: Striker

Country: Canada

Answers by:  Timothy Brown (guitars)

https://www.facebook.com/strikermetal

This is not the first time we talk to Canadian STRIKER. And it’s normal because they never stop working and releasing new material. In 2016 they released their album “Stand in the Fire” and this year they are a back with a fantastic new album, “Striker”. We got this fast interview with Tim, we thanks him for the extra effort when touring.

Hello Tim and congratulations for a new album, “Striker”, the fifth in your career

Thanks!

With the release of “Striker” I think we can say that you guys are the dream of every metalhead, you work so hard and always deliver the goods

Ha Ha thanks again! Well it's a lot of hard work, so it's not quite as dreamy as it may look... But we are doing some really cool things and getting lots of great opportunities!

We were greatly surprised by the release of “Striker” only one year after the release of your previous album “Stand in the Fire”. Did you had the songs half composed a year ago or they are brand new?

They are all mostly brand new! We all enjoy writing music so it's something we are always interested in

Nowadays the usual process is album-tour ever 2 or 3 years, with “Striker” you are “breaking the law” hahaha as the Metal God would say, how? Why?

Well we are on our own label now, we can do whatever we want! We have no label telling us what to do or how to do it. Labels these days are stuck in the past and we are just doing what the fans are responding to.

But it’s not only the quantity, it’s also the quality. Because “Striker” is in my opinion your best effort to date, pure heavy metal, full of energy, clean and direct as a thunder

Thanks! It's also my favourite Striker album to date as well. I think we just wanted to focus on making good music, and we really wanted to cut out all the extra bullshit that might be in an album.

You have chosen “Striker” as the name for the album. It is kind of a definition, like if you were saying “ey guys this is our purest sound”

Yea you nailed it! We thought this album was a good summary of our sound. If someone has never heard Striker before, this is the place to start!

The covert artwork also goes in that direction, simple but striking hahaha

Yes exactly! We wanted something different, but also stripped down yet elegant.

You have released it through Record Breaking Records, how was it and how do you feel with the result?

So far so good! Record Breaking Records is our own label, and we have had great response from fans and the industry. I think going independent is the only way to go if you want to make it in the music industry these days, traditional labels are a thing of the past.

Cool. I would like to remark the work on riffs and solos by you, Tim, you are so  inspired

Ha ha thanks! I just try to shred as hard as possible!

In my opinion the solos have a natural taste that remind me of the Randy Rhoad’s legendary style

I try really hard to make sure the solos are very melodic, and that the solos are a song in and of themselves. I think Randy did that a lot, where each of his solos were their own song so to speak.

You have included an Ozzy’s cover, any particular reason for it?

It sounded good! We wanted to do an Ozzy cover and we liked Desire a lot.

I think you are at the highest moment of your career in terms of composition, at a level that allow us to say that Striker is nowadays one of the most inspired heavy metal bands

We just try to write good music! We are always learning and we like to try and find as much inspiration as possible from lots of different genres of music.

As we commented in our review, there are not weak points in your new album, so it would be hard to select a few songs for the gigs. Have you made your choice already?

That was definitely a hard choice! We ended up choosing songs that were closer to the other bands we have been touring with for now.

Because I suppose you will go out to present your brand new album, as you did with “Stand in the Fire”, right?

Yes! Right now we are on tour in Europe with Sonata Arctica. The tour is 7 weeks long and has been packed every night! We hope to have some more news to announce soon!

You have made several covers from big bands along the years. But I think you are on the way to get covered by others in the future, to be a reference in a word

That would be cool! We've seen the occasional guitar solo cover on facebook and instagram!

Are you releasing any video or whatever to promote “Striker”?

We released a video for "Born to Lose", and we hope to have some new music videos out after we get home from the European tour

Thank you Tim, we hope to see you around Spain soon and enjoy with your live music

Thanks for the kind words! And thanks to all the fans, without you we couldn't survive!

Cheers

Tim