Frost Giant recently released their new full length album The Harlot Star on Transcending Records.
For those unfamiliar with your band, please give a brief one liner about your sound and a quick FFO.
If Frost Giant were a fast food item. We would definitely be the grande meal from Taco Bell. You get a lot for the money and you leave fast because you’re about to shit yourself. For fans of: Ensiferum, Korpiklaani, Wintersun, Sonata Arctica,Strung Out, NOFX, Lifetime, Agalloch, Devin Townsend Project.
What was the writing process like for your album?
The Harlot Star was written sporadically over a seven-year period between band and other life obligations. Matti Frost wrote most of the music and and lyrics and did the arranging, Scott helped with solos and leads, Jonathan Smith and Ty Asoudegan also contributed lead and acoustic guitar work.
What do you think sets your band apart from the rest? What does Frost Giant bring to the table that no one else does?
Nobody sounds like us, and yet our music is incredibly accessible to pretty much anyone. Some of the best feedback we have gotten has been from music listeners that don’t typically listen to metal and when they do, they don’t usually listen to metal with blast beats, shredding guitars, and screamed/growled vocals. It’s insanely catchy, emotionally compelling, vulnerable, and most of all, fun to listen to.
What sort of things inspire you to create music?
Besides the music we are all inspired by, things like movies, philosophical concepts, world history, fantasy and science fiction novels, as well as personal feelings and experiences. That and a desire to put into sound what is difficult to put into words.
How do you feel about the current state of the music industry, in particular streaming services, “illegal” downloads and such?
Matti- When music stopped being mainly something you held in your own two hands, the value of it plummeted. Legal or illegal downloads or streams, doesn’t matter. It’s the fact that music is just there at the touch of a smartphone and a monthly subscription fee. That has now caused a massive shrinking of the industry. Independent labels and artists had it rough before Napster changed things, but- while it’s also worse in some ways, it’s better in others. The only gatekeeper to a band putting out music these days is the bands themselves. Bandcamp and digital distributors can grant you access to a worldwide audience at the same touch of a smartphone. While it is much harder to make money from physical media, it’s not impossible with sustained effort and making yourselves heard through playing live. It’s just a different industry today than it was when I started, and we have to adapt if we are going to thrive.
If you could share the stage with any other musician (dead or alive), who would it be?
We have been lucky to play with many of the bands we are also fans of. So, bands we haven’t played with that we would like to, probably Wintersun, Devin Townsend in some form, or a really big band like Testament or something. We would also love to tour Europe, play Wacken or many of the big fests across the continent.
Which albums are in your top 10 right now?
Matti… I’ve been listening to a lot of OLD stuff from by CD collection. I dug a few CD books out the other day so here is what I am jamming out to:
Lifetime- Hello Bastards
Undying-This Day All Gods Die
Dead Blue Sky- Symptpoms of an Unwanted Emotion
Wintersun- The Forest Seasons
Heretoir- The Circle
Devin Townsend Band- Accelerated Evolution
Xanthochroid- Of Erthe & Axen pts. 1 and 2
Jawbreaker- Etc.
Lagwagon- Double Plaidinum.
Fast forward 5 years from now, what’s Frost Giant doing?
Eyes on the prey, always. We will be old (except Brook, he’s young enough to be Matti’s son) but as long as we are able, we will keep writing, recording, releasing, and performing music.
Craziest thing you’ve ever done together with the band?
Probably playing with Bane and Ignite at First Unitarian in Philadelphia, PA. That show was nutty. Hopefully there will be many more crazy times ahead!