RAMMER (CAN)

Hello David, you goddamn Canadian Motherfucker! What's up in Toronto? It looks that the Flyers will kick the Maple Leafs ass major like, ha. Another question: Is Rob Urbinati still alive?

Hails, Marcus, you German sewer thrasher! Toronto is just as shitty as ever... I can't say I care much for hockey, but Rob Urbinati is still alive and well! In fact RAMMER used to share a practice room with Rob and his current band, INTERZONE.

Hey David, tell us a little bit about you and your Band RAMMER! How long do you exist? What for releases did you in the past? And tell us a little bit about the members in RAMMER!

RAMMER is comprised of myself and four other dirtbags.. Joel, Al, Jon and Sean. We formed about 5 years ago out of a common obsession for blistering Metal such as Artillery, Repulsion, Exodus, as well as other hard bands such as Amebix, Discharge, etc... We are 5 like minded assholes and metal die hards that just wanted to make a band that had the spirit and ferocious energy of the 80's masters but at the same time to make Metal that is highly original and unique.
Our past releases include our obscenely limited Krusher demo from 1999. After that we recorded the Incinerator CD (Shifty Records SH011) which was done in 2002. We released a 7" single (Deranged Records, DERANGEDYOUTH43) from that CD last year as well. Our most recent recording is the Suffer 12" (Slasher Records MURDER 001) which has also been pressed onto CD recently.

About Ebay I got a copy from your 2003 Demo CD “Suffer”. It’s a brilliant Thrash Metal piece! “Waste Liar” to me is the best track on the Demo and it kills! It’s the fastest, hahaha. Tell us little bit about Suffer! Where and when did you record it? Are you satisfied with the result?

Thanks a fucking megaton for your kind words, Marcus! That whole release was recorded and mixed in about 20 hours. I agree with you about Waste Lair.. it's my favorite track too, lyrically and musically. Suffer was recorded at a studio here in Toronto in 2003. We were actually a bit unsatisfied with the recording of the record. The engineer and us did not see eye to eye during the recording of Suffer, and against our will, he took on more of a producer role than we wanted. He did not understand the spirit of what we were trying to do. However, despiute all this, the music does speak for itself, and the spirit of fucking pulverizing death thrash fury is still there.

Hey, I`m sitting here, ask stupid questions and listen on and on to WASP's track "Hellion"! What are you hearing at that point of time? Do you know the track Hellion? A classic, isn’t it?

At this point in time I happen to be blasting the new Vomitory record, PRIMAL MASSACRE!!! It's fucking merciless!

On your H-Page stands that you’ve released a DVD! When I will order it, what can I expect from the DVD? Watery pictures? A sound like a wooden coffin or an empty cookie can? Tell us please a little bit about your DVD! I mean, it’s not usual that a demo band has a DVD in their back!

The Live Decimation DVD was recorded and put together by us. It's got two whole live shows as well as a killer gallery of photos from tours and us getting involved in all sorts of Metal carnage.... The sound is actually pretty vicious on them, especially the second show. It's not a cheap little production by any means.

I'm not very familiar with the Metal scene in and around Toronto. Are there other cool and brutal bands that are worth our mention? Tell us a little bit about your (local) scene!

Ahh man!! The real Toronto scene was back during the 80's, my friend.. Sacrifice, Razor, Slaughter... Piledriver!!! Nowadays this city is mostly just a dead fashion show. The attitude in this city is very hip and fashionable. However, there are a few bands from here that still thrash to the old gods. Our touring partners Goat Horn are true Metal motherfuckers... they play killer Venom/ Wasp/ Cathedral type stuff. Demontage are another killer band from here.. slow, droning Hellhammer type stuff. For the most part though, we spit on those who choose to pose here in Toronto...

It seems that you are all very young! How old are you and the rest in Rammer? What are your jobs?

I myself am only 23 years old... the rest of Rammer are a bit older, but we are all in our 20's for the most part. We basically just work sound tech or construction jobs that give us flexible schedules so we can produce as much sickening thrash as possible.

Do you write the lyrics in Rammer? Tell me about the lyrics on “Suffer”. What are they about? Correct question? Hahaha.

I write all the lyrics for Rammer.. as well as spew them from my lungs. I write a lot about the worthlessness of mankind and his works... about how innately volatile, cruel and unworthy we are. Most of our lyrics are centred around a negative view of humanity and the horror of the reality of life on Earth. Not to sound like a sombre asshole or anything, hahaha!! Then again, some of our lyrics just focus on the enjoyable things about being alive... thrashing to fuck, drinking, women, leather and hell!!!

It’s not easy do to comparisons for the Rammer sound! I can hear a little bit from, ah, fuck; maybe you should explain your sound and your influences! Maybe a little bit Death, Sadus and your country mates Quo Vadis? All in all it’s fuckin` heavy Thrash Metal, with an old school Swedish sounding Death Metal voice, hahaha.

We get a lot of different comparisons.. as our sound is a bit weird.. lots of different influences. People have compared us to everything from Bathory, Crumbsuckers, Kreator, Death, Grave, Megadeth. We dont really try to have a certain sound. We never want to write the same song twice, you know? Our only goal is to embody and bring forth the sheer terrifying energy of bands like Artillery, Repulsion, Kreator, Diamond Head... the old masters of the 70's and 80's and combine it with really unique songwriting. Of course we keep it all in the frame of fucking crushing death/thrash metal. Look at our Suffer CD for example.. the songs are all very differently written, but they all obviously come from the same band.

You wear a Nihilist shirt on the pics. Are you into old school Swedish Death Metal? What are you’re favourites?

Oh fuck! Now here's a question I can sink my teeth into! Yeah, I'm a huge fan of older Swedish Death Metal.. it just seems that a lot of those older bands.. Entombed, Unleashed, Crematory, Mefisto, Hetsheads, etc. all had a certain dark, feeling to their music that a lot of other bands just lack. It was real Death Metal with feeling, you know? Not sterile sounding like so much of the Metal of today. My personal favorites though... Probably Crematory "Denial" 12".. first two Entombed albums for sure... Unleashed "Where No Life Dwells", Merciless "The Awakening"... "Dark Recollections" too by Carnage is way up there. I know there are many others I could say. I love just as much, but thats all that comes to mind just now.

What do you think about the cult bands from Canada, which ruled the eighties? To name a few:

SACRIFICE, EXCITER, RAZOR and ANVIL!
In Case you couldn't tell we're all big fans of those 80's thrashmasters. Actually, some of them are still kicking around today. I managed to see Razor here a few months ago. They are still ferocious as ever. Anvil still play shows around here as well. There have been rumours forever of a Sacrifice reunion show too... who knows.

What can we expect from rammer in the future? Is a new CD planned? Which stile will you follow in the future? How sounds your new stuff? Fast or slow paced stuff?

First things first, in October we will be arriving in Europe for a month long tour! Approximately 30 shows, including some dates with Morrigan and Abigail and others, it seems. Above all though, we are working like demons writing material for our full length record that we hop eto record soon. It seems our songwriting keeps heading further into more brutal, fast and unrelenting territory. The stuff we have been writing lately is very fast, very crushing, as well as a bit musical.

At least tell us what about your live gigs? How many gigs did you play and with whom? High energy level in the pit when you slay?

We always try to play as hard and with as much intensity when we do a live show... usually we almost drown in sweat and alchohol! I think that for metal bands, the live show is where you really prove yourself. It's easy to make a recording these days and hide behind technology and glossy production, but when you are on the stage there is nowhere to hide, and you either have the ability to thrash hard or you don't. It definately seperates the men from the boys. Over the past four years or so we've done lots of live shows here in Canada and the USA.... probably the biggest honor was playing with Death Angel and Voivod. Rammer is by nature a live band, and we make no compromises when we play live.. we put our fucking souls into it.

Ok, brother from Toronto! I wish you all the best for the future! I hope to hear new material from RAMMER soon? Thanx for answering the question. I hope you had a load of fun with it and it doesn't got boring! All Hail to Canadian Metal!!! PERISH IN FLAMES!!!

Marcus, thanks very fucking much for the interview! Keep on thrashing into the grave, motherfucker. .. and Thanks again! We will definately keep in touch and send you out some new stuff when we record soon. I think we are going to do a 7" next, so you can expect a copy of that when we get it out. Later man!!

RAMMER
47 SPRINGMOUNT AVE.
TORONTO ONTARIO
M6H 2Y5
CANADA
info@rammer.ca
www.rammer.ca

Interview: Marcus