Finnish post-punk quartet Beastmilk have quickly made a name for themselves since 2010. Their new single “Love in a Cold World” was picked up by Pitchfork and their first full-length, Climax, is out next month.
Check out our Q&A with guitarist Goatspeed below.
You started the band in 2010, but already have serious recognition outside of Finland. How did it all come together?
Well, we didn’t really do much about it. We recorded the two songs for the tape demo, sent a tape to Svart Records. They were the only label we sent it to. We didn’t hear from them at first so we thought they weren’t interested. I’m not sure if we ever actually sent a copy of the tape to Fenriz, maybe Kvohst (singer) did, I’m not sure. Fenriz, however, really liked the tape and it seems it took off from there by itself.
Your singer has a background in metal, you’re signed to Svart Records, and you recorded in the US with Kurt Ballou of hardcore legends Converge. How has this inspired your sound?
Svart isn’t exclusively a metal label, even though I guess they are mostly known for that stuff. But they’ve released stuff like Paavoharju and Sähkö-Isku too, and of course re-released a lot of Finnish punk classics. I listened to a lot of black metal in my teens so inevitably it has had an influence, but I feel that it’s rubbed off in a positive way, blended with all other music we’ve heard through the years. Kurt influenced the sound in the way that he helped us get where we wanted to go, sound and performance-wise. We aren’t technical guys really and he helped us find the right amps and gear to get what we were after. He also forced me to tune my guitar, which I hadn’t really done on the previous recordings.
I think everything inspires us. I feel that the concept of Beastmilk is very broad so it can encompass everything from small daily things to more exclusive revelations.
You’ve described your music as “apocalyptic post-punk”. How has your sound evolved since your previous 7-inches, Use Your Deluge and White Stains? What can we expect from your upcoming debut full-length, Climax?
I don’t know about descriptions, it’s semantics on an irritating level. It’s always one dimensional and always subjective. I guess that description, and descriptions in general, can be seen as a door mat, but not the whole tour. If you get what i mean…
I feel that the sound has evolved on each record in nice steps. The first demo was recorded at our rehearsal place with just a couple of mics in one day. Use Your Deluge EP was recorded in a primitive studio in two days, and now we had a couple of weeks’ time to do the album.
I don’t know what you can expect from the album. Don’t expect anything? Just listen to it and be happy. I think it’s a fantastic album and it is best suited to be listened to loud.
Where and when can we experience the songs live in the coming months?
In the coming months we’ll play London’s Live Evil festival 19 October. Then we’ll play four shows in Finland with Solstafir, 23 to 26 October in Helsinki, Turku, Tampere, and Joensuu. Then we have our release party in Helsinki 5 December. There are many plans for shows abroad in the making but those will be in the beginning of 2014 and they’ll be announced when they are confirmed.
Beastmilk is Goatspeed (guitars), Kvohst (vocals), Paile (drums), and Arino (bass).
Climax is out on 29 November through Svart Records. You can follow Beastmilk on Facebook or Twitter.