[IRRITATE]

1.: Ok,Sami,please introduce yourself and the band to our readers.
-Sure! I Play drums and do vocals in this band Irritate that has been spreading heavy grindcore terror since ´98.

2.: Please tell me something about the IRRITATE-releases.What´s your favorit IRRITATE-record?
-Well we´ve done a big amount of releases, here´s a "selected" discography: Irritate / Hapto split tape ´98 (self released) Irritate / Agathocles / NYAB 3-way CD ´99 (Hostile Regression) Irritate / Existench / Parkinson: "Forgotten Victims" 3-way CD ´99 (Broken Noise) "Shadows of a Decaying Future" 4-way 7" ´00 (Dry Retch) Irritate: Everyday Evil CD ´00 (Hostile Regression) v/a Grind War Finland 4-way CD ´00 (Hostile Regression) Irritate / Godstomper split CD ´01 (Riotous Assembly) Irritate / Fetus Eaters split 7" ´01 (Vulgar / MSSC) + tons of compilation tapes, vinyls and CD´s with more bands... Hmm, I like the full lenght in all it´s rawness a lot and everything that came out after that, the split CD with Godstomper is killer, very good recordings done all alive! All the older releases are very ugly, but I really love our stuff in "Forgotten Victims", even thought it´s among the noisiest releases we´ve done. Irritate stuff in 3-way with Agx and NYAB by the way is fucking disaster, I hate those recordings!!! Also our song in "Shadows..." 7" is a bit warped, but I still kinda like it. I´m most satisfied of the recordings that will come out next, especially split 7" with Deadfood and split CD´s with Utter Bastard and Black Flower are really fucking good, you gotta check ´em out when they´re out!

3.: Your band was founded from the ashes of the the HC/Punk band LOOK AT TOMORROW.Why did you decide to play Grindcore with IRRITATE and what are your musical influences?
-L.A.T. just went in direction that some of us were not into that kinda music at all, so we made a decision to start playing grindcore as it combined the musical influences of the line up much better. Well, in the very beginning of Irritate we just wanted to play heavy old school grindcore like Fear Of God, Agathocles, Fatal Error, (´86-´88) Napalm Death, Terrorizer, Unseen Terror, Repulsion etc., but soon there came more groovy, slow and heavy things too a´la Black Sabbath, Amebix, even fucking 60´s and 70´s rock, more Discharge as well as death metal from Autopsy to Suffocation, fastcore, power violence, sludge, punk rock... We´re not afraid to use anything that kicks ass! It´s a big variation of influences we have in a band now. We still prefer to call it grindcore as the sound and vocals keep it there.

4.: Some words about your lyrics.They seem to be very angry/pissed off and also political.Would you say that IRRITATE is a political band?
-Yes, all our lyrics are very angry, to the point, even violent... and might be scary/offensive for some, but I write them only when I feel extremely pissed off, it´s my way to deal with it. We have political lyrics too, those are mainly to tell people that they should live like they want and fight against the standards society expects them to fill. I´ve done also lyrics about crimes, food industry, even a song about doping in sport, haha! It´s propably 50% of those very pissed off, full of hate lyrics and 50% with some sort of political contest. Anyway, I believe that everyone should find the power in theirselves to fight against conformity and false values - that´s what I think is the most important message in our lyrics: more power to you. Stay pissed!

5.: In the underground Finland is very well known for its old (and legendary!) HC/Punk bands like KAAOS,RATTUS,RIISTETYT,SELFISH, and TERVEET KÄDET.What´s going on in the underground today in Finland?
-It´s not very good now, most bands into hardcore seem to be third rate USHC -copycats and that´s just bullshit in my opinion, with the strong history Finland has in hardcore punk it seems fucked up we only have a couple of good bands now. It´s frustrating to see underground "scene" americanized with the rest of the society. I Must mention that you gotta check out finnish band Kaivosurma, they´re like old Terveet Kädet, with very authentic sound, hysteric vocals and all! One of the best surprises in a long time! In grindcore side things are better than ever thought - I like bands like Cause For Effect, Emulgator, Creamface, Torsofuck, Morbid Savouring etc. a lot, from the metal side I like Wounds, Bloodhammer, Clandestine Blaze and so on... But like I said, in hardcore/punk scene there´s not much good things now.

6.: Did you or the band ever had problems with nazi-scum or other narrow minded shit like that?
-Not really. There´s increasing number of racist crimes in Finland, but it´s very unorganized I think - just violent bursts of anger, not a real political threat. I Know they attack gigs / squats even in Sweden and very often in central europe, but in Finland that´s luckily very rare.

7.: Tell me something about you label HOSTILE REGRESSION RECORDS (how long does it exist?releases?...).
-Actually I ran a label named "Tylyt Levyt" (released 12 vinyls/cd´s under that name) from ´94 to ´98 when I changed the name to Hostile Regression and made it an official label. Hostile Regression releases so far ´98 - ´01: (HORE-01) REGRESSIVE HOSTILITY Compilation CD (Irritate, Nasum, Autoritär, Slight Slappers, Denak, Cardioid) (HORE-02) INCRIMINATED / FULCRUM CREAK -split CD (HORE-03) BLOODHAMMER: ANCIENT KINGS 10"LP (HORE-04) CAN CAN HEADS: HEADCRACKING LIFESTYLE CD (HORE-05) IRRITATE / AGATHOCLES / NEW YORK AGAINST THE BELZEBU 3-way split CD (HORE-06) OUTO MAA hardcoregrindpunk compilation 8"flexi (Irritate, Vicious Wankers, Katastrofialue, Siionin Kevät, Rähäkkä, TVM, Valse Triste) (HORE-07) V/A:GRIND WAR FINLAND 4-way CD (Irritate, Murder Company, Emulgator, Drunk Junkees) (HORE-08) IRRITATE : Everyday Evil CD (HORE-09) SIVIILIMURHA: "TOLKUTON TUHO" 7"EP Releases HORE-04, 07, 08, 09 are still available, so for orders or bulk trades get in touch!

8.: Can you live from the money that you earn with your label or do you have to work elsewhere?
-I Get my living from the label yeah, since I made it official in ´98, it´s a lot of work to keep it going the way it´s possible to live from it, but I can´t think of anything else I´d like to do this much. I Don´t do it FOR profit, it just takes so much time it´s impossible to work in other job, so I gotta take money for living from there as well.

9.: Do you only play in IRRITATE or are you involved in some other bands/sideprojects?
-In fact there is many other bands/projects we are also involved in. All three of us also play in Incriminated, that´s old school death/black/thrash metal a´la Hellhammer / early Celtic Frost (our first release, the split CD with Fulcrum Creak was different thought, more modern death), I play drums in Sicko (death/grind), and couple of us are in Siviilimurha (a´la old finnish Propaganda -era hardcore punk noise thrash like Kuolema, Sekunda, Kansan Uutiset...), Texa plays drums in Bud Junkees (ex- Drunk Junkees, kinda "stoner grind")... Then there has been many other bands/projects that propably are dead and buried... From the mentioned ones, Sicko and BJ are active all the time, Incriminated when we take a break from Irritate for a while and Siviilimurha just records new stuff once a year or so without really rehearsing. So we can make things work even with many bands/projects. We also have our own "NP" studio built in our rehearsing place, so we can record anytime necessary without horrendous costs, now we can do very good sound!

10.: Futureplans with IRRITATE and HOSTILE REGRESSION RECORDS?
-Irritate has tons of releases coming out, split 7" with Deadfood (US) is out next week (mid November) on Vomitcore, it´s fucking awesome with full color covers and all! In December Bucho Discos (Brasil) will release Irritate / Mesrine split 7", will be great. Irritate / Forca Macabra / Life´s A Riot / Häväistys 4-way 7" should be out really soon on Nailhead (FIN), we have a good crusty track there. There will be 12"LP version of the Godstomper split and pro-cassette version of "Everyday Evil". Then there´s couple more split/3-way releases already recorded but will take time from the labels to get them out. We just finished recordings of two full lenght split CD´s (other with Utter Bastard and other with Black Flower (ex-CSSO)...) too, first time we are 100% satisfied with the sound and all, our stuff for Black Flower split is one song that clocks to 18.30, so it´s heavy terror to listen, haha! So, we´re going to take a little break from doing new stuff with Irritate now as we have a ton of releases waiting to come out already. With Hostile Regression, the Siviilimurha 7" just came out a while ago, now in pressing plant is Incriminated / Bloodhammer split CD (CD version of sold out 12"vinyl), that comes out under HRR´s metal division; "Bestial Burst" -label, after that there´ll be Lymphatic Phlegm / Torsofuck / Sicko 3-way CD, that Irritate / Utter Bastard split CD (over 70 minutes of new studio stuff!) as a co-release with Broken Noise + lots of plans after that. To keep yourself informed, drop me an e-mail to join our newslist or check out the web: http://go.to/hrr

11.: Thanx for the interview.I wish you all best for the future!Any last comments/words for our readers?
-Thank you for interview and nice words, it´s always a pleasure to answer these, also thanks to anyone interested enough to read it... A Big hello to everyone we met in our minitour in Germany and Czech last summer (special greetings to Bizarre X -guys and Sille of Vulgar Recs!)! Oh, as you can read, all my bands love to do split releases, so if you have a band or label and like our stuff, don´t hesitate to get in touch! Especially 7" splits rule! Ok, keep grinding brothers and sisters! Irritate / Hostile Regression P.O.Box 37 55801 Imatra Finland audioterror@iobox.fi http://go.to/hrr