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Bakken – Fresh Act September 2013

The Irish Metal scene is quite small and not many bands are known in the rest of the world. But now there is a new group making an attempt to change that: Bakken. Their debut album “Death of a Hero“ contains thrashing Power Metal with good sound and should please friends of melodic and thrashing music. We asked vocalist / guitar player Simon some questions about his band.


Who are you? Please introduce the band members!
Simon: Guitar and vocals
Mark-Anthony: Guitar
Niall McGrotty: Drums and backing vocals
Adrian Stockman: Bass

From where do you know the other band members?
Mark-Anthony and I have been friends since we were kids, we both moved to England when we were younger, then moved back to Ireland recently and sought out Niall “the best drummer in town“. Things progressed really fast and before we knew it, we had recorded an album at a legendary studio in England, a real dream come true for us! We recently recruited Adrian on bass, who was a fan of the band and a brilliant player, so things are looking up now.

When and why did you found the band?
Late 2011. Its was actually born out of boredom, I was ill at the time at it was just a good hobby to keep my mind off things, now its taking over my life!! In a good way 🙂

Master Illusion (EP, 2014)

Please describe your kind of music! What are your roots?
People often compare us to Helloween/Gamma Ray or Metallica/Megadeth, which isn´t too far from the mark; its fair to say that its mostly a fusion of thrash with NWOBHM/power metal influences. It´s always melodic, but very lively too:- lots of double kicks, twin guitar harmonies, time changes and key changes, just like all my favourite bands! 🙂

How do you write your songs? What inspires you in terms of music and lyrics?
I (Simon) sit in a dark room for a very long time… [ha] Often Mark-Anthony or Niall chip in some ideas, some of the best bits on the album were from the other lads. Most of the lyrics are quite political and from a strongly socialist viewpoint.


What is the idea of your band’s name Bakken?
It was kind of born by accident, I think our friend Marius McGinnis can take some credit for it as he originally came up with Bakkus, then we mutated it… We reckon a name that was easy to chant at a concert would be the most important thing. We recently found out that it is also an amusement park in Denmark with a scary clown face man as their logo, doh!

Your recorded your first album sometime ago. Please tell us how you recorded it and how you will distribute it.
We recorded it early 2012 and are distributing it entirely ourselves. We recorded it in the parlour studios in England, great experience!


Please describe your live shows! Why should I visit your concert and not the one of another band?
We give out free sweets 🙂 We put everything into our live shows, for metal its all about the live environment and we practice hard at it.

Is there any band you would like to support on tour?
My personal dream would be Gamma Ray, but I would settle for Metallica [ha]

Please tell us about your plans for the near future!
Gig, gig, gig and gig some more. We hope to get to Mainland Europe very soon, so check our website for details 🙂

Thank you for answering our questions! I wish you much luck for the future. Are there any final words you would like to say to our readers?
Check out our facebook site and website to stay in touch, come say hello 🙂

www.facebook.com/bakkenband
www.bakkenband.com

Timo Pässler

timo@stalker-magazine.rocks - reports, reviews, photos - - - Favorite genres? - - - Power, Speed, Melodic, Symphonic and Thrash Metal, sometimes also Black and Death Metal, when I am in mood for it - - - Favorite bands? - - - Blind Guardian, In Flames, Children of Bodom, Powerwolf, Kreator, Vader, Avantasia, Iced Earth, Amon Amarth and many more! - - - Other interests? - - - Music (listening + playing), sports, acting and scouts