Air Raid – The Highwire Daze Legacy Interviews

Air Raid – The Highwire Daze Legacy Interviews

Original Post Date: 04/01/15

Editor’s Note:  An interview I did with Robin Utbult of Air Raid in 2015 for their Point Of Impact album on High Roller Records!

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Air Raid, and how long the band has been together.
Hello! I (Robin) play the bass since 2010 in Air Raid.  Andreas and Johan (Guitars) started the band in 2009.

Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like there?
We all live in smaller places outside Gothenburg, except our singer who lives about 1,5 hours away.  The music scene in Gothenburg is of course often rooted in Death Metal (the Gothenburg sound), but there are some bands that play traditional metal and a lot of Hard Rock/Sleaze acts. Overall, we have many talented musicians, which is the case in whole Sweden actually.

How did you wind up signing with High Roller Records?
We felt it was time to take the band to another level and get a wider promotion. We contacted Steffen at High Roller about a possible release, and he got very interested, so we simply inked a deal! We had quite a few other labels that was interested but we felt that High Roller was the right choice. Germans know their metal for sure!

Is there any story or concept behind the CD title Point Of Impact?
Well, the Point Of Impact is where our 10,000 ton logo will strike, which sums up the album in general. We simply want the album to have an impact on the listener. A short, but intense attack of pure metal, no fillers, all killers!

Select two songs from Point Of Impact and what inspired the lyrics?
It’s always hard to choose songs, but I guess I’ll have to go with this:

Victim Of The Night – This song is about being alone and out in the cold, something that most people can relate to, at least one time in their life.

Bound To Destroy – This one is actually the story of our logo charging the earth at high speed, as illustrated on the cover artwork. The lyrics describes how the impact is getting closer, and as we say in the chorus: On the edge of the world, the impact of steel will prevail!

Who did the cover art for Point Of Impact and how much input did you have on it?
Gerald McLaughlin (Agent Steel, Omen etc) did this piece of art. We really wanted that old school look to it, and since Gerald uses the real airbrush technique, we knew that we would get an awesome cover. We came up with the basic concept, and then we developed it further in discussion with Gerald. I think it came out great!

What could one expect from a live Air Raid show?
You can expect a high-energy full-on metal show! Intense shredding and non stop action! We always give 200%.

What was it like playing at the Keep It True Festival and who were some of other bands you were able to hang out with? 
KIT was really great!We loved every second of that weekend! Amazing crowd in a big sport hall. It doesn’t get much better than that. We got the opportunity to share the stage with many great band in 2013, and all of them were very nice and good people to hang out with!

What are you looking forward to the most about the upcoming Rock Hard Festival in Germany?
We can’t wait to play at RHF, I don’t think I can name one thing that I’m looking forward to the most actually. The whole happening with a big outdoor concert in Germany with so many famous bands is just amazing. We are really excited, since it’s our biggest gig ever!

If Air Raid could open up for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
I can’t speak for the rest of the guys, but I would love to tour with the Scorpions, simply because they are my favorite band and I have been following them since I first got into music in general, great band still going strong! But as a band we would surely do great tours/shows with bands like Accept, Vicious Rumors, Riot and so on.

Has Air Raid ever played here in the States area or plan to do so in future days?
No, but we would love to, one of our big-time goals are to come over and play the states. That would be amazing!!!

What’s up next for Air Raid?
We have some really cool gigs coming up this spring and we are looking into the possibilities of doing a proper tour sometime later this year, stay tuned!

Any final words of wisdom?
I would like to thank all of our fellow raiders and supporters out there, worldwide!  You all rule! Cheers!

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions! I hope to see Air Raid in the States someday soon.
Thank you for a nice interview and we really hope to come over to the States soon! Cheers!

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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