Dark Ride Brothers – A Finnish pop-rock band takes over the music world by storm

I think you already know the Dark Ride Brothers, a rising pop-rock band from Eastern Finland. The guys have been on concert tour in Germany, Switzerland and Italy in summer 2019. And they have published some really nice road movies episodes about their adventures during the tour on YouTube. In the meantime, the band has also released two new songs: „Caught in your Game“ and „Bite the Silence“. I have talked to the band guitarists Vesa Winberg and Sven Langbein about their „Dark Ride Brothers Reloaded Tour 2019“, new music and how the corona crises has affected their music business.

Navigation

• Interview with Vesa and Sven of the Dark Ride Brothers
• Win a silver edition of the debut album „Join the Ride!“

DARK RIDE BROTHERS RELOADED – Interivew with Vesa and Sven about their past concert tour and new music

Finntastic:
Moikka Vesa and Sven, nice to meet you again. How are you and the guys? I guess, the corona crisis has affected your band’s everyday life, like it affected many other bands and musicians these days, too. Which positive aspects you can generate from this crisis and what’s new in Imatra in general?

Vesa:
Hello there and Thank you for asking! 🙂 Things are different now in many ways. Still we try to keep up with the positive attitude. That’s why we keep making new songs during this lockdown and we also played an online gig for children because our “Dark Ride Kids” event had to be canceled. We have a lot of new stuff coming up and we are excited to have our new bass player Jari with us. He has brought lots of musical flavors and skills to our sound.

Finntastic:
You released your debut album „Join the Ride“ in April 2019 and went on tour with these new songs in Germany, Switzerland and Italy last summer. How was the tour and which of the concerts you will keep in mind?

Vesa:
The tour was an amazing experience in so many ways. Playing back to back gigs made us tighter as a band and it was so cool to meet so many people. We also made a lot of new friends during the tour. It is hard to mention one gig from the tour but the shows in Salzgitter and Hamburg were special in many ways. We have released the best parts of our tour on YouTube. The Road Movie follows the band on our trip and there’s really fun stuff included, so go and check it out!

Finntastic:
During the last tour around Germany, you visited Salzgitter and also Sven’s hometown Uelzen again. How was it for you to be back in town to play at such local wine or city fests?

Vesa:
The gig at the local wine market in Uelzen and also the gig at the Salzgitter Altstadtfest was a very nice experience for us at the end of our tour and it is always nice to visit Uelzen or Salzgitter.

Finntastic:
Sven mentioned, you didn’t have so much time for exploring Germany during the tour in 2017, because you had so many gigs in a row. How about this time? Did you have some days off to see more from Uelzen and Germany?

Vesa:
We really didn’t have days off, but still we had a chance to check out the towns we played at and that’s always nice during the tour.

Finntastic:
In the meantime, you already have been live on air at some Finnish radio stations all over the country. How was it for you to get the chance to be live on air at “Radio Okerwelle” during your Germany tour in 2019?

Sven:
It was an amazing experience to be on a real FM radio that reaches hundreds of thousands of people. I had visited Finnish radio stations before, but it was my first time at a German radio station. Of course, it felt great to see Florian talking about our album and playing songs from it.

(VIDEO: Dark Ride Brothers) The Dark Ride Brothers are performing the song „Swallowed by Clouds“ live at Radio Okerwelle during their „Dark Ride Brothers Reloaded Tour 2019“. 

Finntastic:
One special gig of your Germany tour last year was the gig at the Big Moose Saloon in the Western town Pullman City Harz. I really liked the location and the concert very much. And it was totally nice to meet you there!

I remember and we were able to see in the road movie as well, that you enjoyed your stay in Pullman City very much too! But Sven also mentioned the gig was a bit challenging for the whole band and your sound engineer? Why?

Vesa:
Pullman City Harz was one of the most exciting places we had a chance to visit. The gig was a bit challenging because we had to cut down the sound levels. Luckily, our sound engineer Niko did an excellent job.

(VIDEO: Dark Ride Brothers) Check out Episode 6 of the Dark Ride Brothers road movie and get to know more about the gig at the „Big Moose Saloon“ and see, which adventures the guys experienced at the Western town „Pullman City Harz“.

Finntastic:
You also had time to visit the western town Pullman City Harz. How was it to travel in time? And which special person did you meet for a private music session?

Vesa:
It was great and really fun to check out the city! After the gig we met Native American Wayne Whitewing. We had a wonderful jam session with Wayne. To know more about it, just check out episode 6 of our road movie!

Finntastic:
You played gigs in Italy at Lake Garda and you also gave a private concert in Switzerland, tell us about it. How were the atmosphere and the people?

Sven:
Being booked to foreign countries for the first time is always a huge thing for a band like us. And, given that you often start from scratch in every new country, there is always a little risk associated with concerts abroad. Therefore, it was especially great to see that the people at our shows loved our music and what we’re doing. The atmosphere was fantastic and these concerts definitely weren’t the last ones!

(VIDEO: Dark Ride Brothers) The Dark Ride is one of the groovy songs of the DRB-debut album „Join the Ride“ with which the guys have already been on tour in Germany, Switzerland and Italy in summer 2019. 

Finntastic:
Your latest singles are „Caught In Your Game“ and „Bite The Silence“. What are the songs about? How would you describe the sound?

Vesa:
We are really happy about the new the songs and the way we managed to come up with them. The sound has a bit more edge to them and that is also the way we want to push them in sessions to come.

Finntastic:
What do you think makes a song popular in general these times? What is the secret behind the band’s success and how do you get the ideas for songwriting?

Vesa:
The core of our songs are always the melodies that come first. It is almost impossible to say what makes a song become a hit. It is always the best to trust your instincts and not to calculate too much.

Finntastic:
You have been in the studio with the guys again to record new songs for your next album. Could you already tell us something about it? And do you already know when it will be released?

Vesa:
We don’t really have plans for the next album. We prefer to release our songs one by one and the next one will be published in June. The title of the song is “Days Of Glory” and it really fits into the current situation and gives people strength and positivity.

(VIDEO: Dark Ride Brothers) This is the music video of „Bite the Silcence“, which the guys recorded due to the corona virus crises via online video chat. 

Finntastic:
Do you already have some future plans beside the release of a new album for the time after the corona crises?

Vesa:
Gigs, gigs and even more gigs – hopefully in Germany, too. *smiles“

Finntastic:
Thank you for the inspiring interview. Would be totally nice to see you live on stage again soon! Maybe next time in Finland?

Sven:
Thanks a lot, that we could talk a bit about our last concert tour in summer 2019 and our new songs too! So let us know, if you will be around Imatra some time in the future! Would be nice to show you the city and the surroundings! And of course, we will invite you then to one of our live gigs too! 

About the Dark Ride Brothers

Together with guitarist and Johnny Cash-Fan Sven Langbein from Germany, Finnish metal guitarist Vesa Winberg from Imatra, Eastern Finland, founded in 2014 the pop-rock band Dark Ride Brothers. Other current band members are Niko Kudjoi (lead guitar), Sami Parkkinen (violin), Jari Hulkkonen (bass) and Joni Takalo (drums). First, it was just a musical experiment. The boys thought: Why do not try to combine metal vibes with country elements and see if the music will reach an audience?

This idea finally was a huge success! People loved the music! So the band started touring with their songs in the former line-up, consisting of Sven (guitar, vocals), Vesa (guitar, vocals), Hannu Likku (bass), Risto Hyytiäinen (guitar, background vocals), Juha Oksanen (violin) and Joni Takalo (drums) and played live gigs all around Finland: in small bars, but also at big festivals like the Lappee Fest and at other big Finnish summer festivals.

In the meantime, the line-up has changed a bit but nevertheless, the band is now well-known also beyond the borders of Finland. The guys have already been on tour through Germany two times. And they have also played live gigs in Switzerland and Italy too.

Dark Ride Sound – Pop-Rock music meets Johnny Cash

But what is the secret behind the success of the country-rockers from Eastern Finland? Obviously, it is on the one hand their special „Dark Ride Sound“: A mix of groovy pop-rock music combined with a firework of country elements à la Johnny Cash and melodic violin tunes, which the band started to compose right from the start after the band’s establishment instead of playing cover songs.

On the other hand, it’s the feeling, the band creates with their music. The band members see each other not only as good friends, but also as brothers in a musically sense. And they consider their fanbase, which is growing every day, as a big „Dark Ride Family”. More and more people come to their live concerts and join the „Dark Ride Family“-fan-community.

Many fans regularly visit the band’s website for news and follow the band also quite regularly online through all the social media channels. The band has now more than 6.700 Facebook subscribers and around 11.000 followers on Instagram, who love to join the band on their „Dark Ride” through the Finnish prairie. 

A DRB road movie and two new groovy songs from Finland

(VIDEO: Dark Ride Brothers) The Dark Ride Brothers road movie gives a nice overview of the adventures the guys experienced during their „Dark Ride Brothers Reloaded Tour 2019“. 

Not only their debut singles „One more time“ (2016) and their second single „Jetplane“ (2016), but also their third single „Falling in Love“, which was published in January 2017, became really soon popular on several streaming platforms on the internet. For example, only a few days after the release of Falling in Love, the single has been clicked on Spotify more than 4.000 times and more than 6.000 people have already watched until then the music video of the song on YouTube!

More inspiring songs followed: The Dark Ride, Wasted Sundays, Our Song, You look so fine, Swallowed by Clouds, Thank you for Asking, Safe and Sound, Supernatural and Burden. Most of the songs can be rediscovered on the Dark Ride Brothers debut album „Join the Ride“, which was published in 2019 and with which the band has been on tour through Germany, Switzerland and Italy in summer 2019.

And also the success on the streaming platforms of the new songs remained. For all, who like to know more about the past tour in 2019: There exists a funny road movie serial about the „Dark Ride Brothers Reloaded Tour 2019“ on YouTube!

New DRB album will see the light of the day soon

Finally, the band was creativ eafter returning home from the tour in summer 2019. Two new singles, called „Caught in your Game“ and „Bite the Silence“, has recently been published in 2020. A new album is in progress! For more information about the cowboys from Eastern Finland, check out the Dark Ride Brothers band website or the social media channels on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube! Or visit their music profile on Spotify!

Dark Ride Brothers Silver Edition „Join the Ride“ prize draw

Would you like to win such a great exclusive „Silver Edition“ of the Dark Ride Brothers debut album „Join the Ride“? Then take part at the prize draw: answer the following questions, post your answer in a comment under this blog post and you will automatically enter the competition!

Questions:

1. What have been the highlights for the guys on their Dark Ride Brothers Reloaded Tour 2019?
2. Which song of the debut album „Join the Ride“ do you like the most? 
3. Which of the two new songs do you like more: Caught in your Game or Bite the Silence?

We wish you good luck!

Inken, the crazy elks and the Dark Ride Brothers from Finland!

*This blog post is a cooperation with the pop-rock band Dark Ride Brothers, who provided one „Silver Editon“ of their debut album „Join the Ride“ for this prize competition.

Terms of participation, competition guidelines and data protection and privacy policy

By participating at this prize competition, the participants accept the following terms of participation, competition guidelines and privacy policy.

Applicable Law for this prize competition is the law of the Federal Republic of Germany. If individual conditions of participation and/or competition guidelines be or will have become invalid, the validity of the remaining guidelines will remain unaffected.

Terms of participation

The competition is open to any person aged 18 years or older, who is primarily resident of the Federal Republic of Germany, another country of the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Great Britain, North America, Canada and Australia. The  participation in the competition is only possible online via this blog post at https://finntastic.de. The participation is free of charge. The participants will not incur any expenses (not either for packaging and postage)! All lottery prizes due to the fact that they are not high-priced, will be send in general uninsured.

Each person may only enter the competition once. Multiple participations e.g. with different name profiles or e-mail addresses are not permitted and will automatically lead to an exclusion from the competition, in case it becomes obvious.

To participate in this raffle, the participants must answer the two following questions and have to post their answer in a comment  under the blogpost:

Questions:

1. What have been the highlights for the guys on their Dark Ride Brothers Reloaded Tour 2019?
2. Which song of the debut album do you like the most?
3. Which of the two new songs do you like more: Caught in your Game or Bite the Silence?

Prize/profit

Among all participants of the competiton we will raffle 1 x 1 Silver Edition of the Dark Ride Brothers debut album „Join the Ride“, containing the album „Join the Ride“ and a Silver edition certificate, signed by the band members. Material prizes are not paid out in cash and are excluded from exchange. Winnings cannot be transferred to third parties. There is no warranty or guarantee claim on the prize. Legal recourse is excluded.  

Competition procedure

The competition runs from May 8th, 2020 until July 24th, 2020 exclusively on https://finntastic.de. The closing date for a participation is July 24th, 2020 at 11:59 p.m..Subsequent solutions and comments, which will be send after this date, cannot be considered for this prize competition.

The determining of the eligibility of the participation as well as the prize draw will take place on July 26th, 2020. The prices (see section: prize/profit), provided by the pop-rock band Dark Ride Brothers will be raffled among all participants, who fulfill the terms of participation. The winner will be selected at random. The winner will be notified by email.

In case of winning, Finntastic needs the correct first and last name as well as the postal address of the winner. These informations will only be passed on to the pop-rock band Dark Ride Brothers, who will be shipping the prize later on. If the winner does not reply within seven days after being notified by e-mail, the claim to the prize will lapse and a new winner will be selected. 

Exclusion of participants

Finntastic reserves the right to exclude or delete participants from the participation, if they fail to complete the task or violate the conditions of participation or the competition guidelines. Participants, who manipulate the raffle (e.g. by entering several e-mail addresses or name profiles) can be excluded from the prize draw, when noticed. If a manipulation is figured out later, prizes can even be subsequently withdrawn and prizes already delivered can be reclaimed. Moreover, the misuse of somebody else’s name will also lead to an exclusion from the raffle!

Cancellation/ Suspension of the competition

Finntastic reserves the right to cancel or interrupt the competition if she becomes aware of any manipulations or if it is no longer certain that the competition will be carried out properly. This applies for instance in case of hardware or software failures, program errors or unauthorized intervention by third parties (e.g. computer viruses, cyber-attacks) or if there will exist legal problems.

Data protection and privacy policy

As far as personal data of participants are collected for the prize competition (e.g. first name, surname or nickname, postal adress, e-mail address), these personal data will only be collected, processed and used by Finntastic for carrying out the prize competition. No data will be passed on to third parties, with the exception of the pop-rock band Dark Ride Brothers, who need this data for shipping the prize to the winner later on.

The winner agrees that in case of a win his/her first and last name or nickname will be published permanently on https://finntastic.de as well as on the social media channels of Finnastic (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). If the winner disagree with that, he/she have to announce it to Finntastic after getting the price notification!

A participation in the competition does not lead to a subscription of the “Finntastic Newsletter”! Those who wish to subscribe to the newsletter have to do that by using the newsletter form on https://finntastic.de.

Person in charge of the prize competition

This is a private prize competition, organized by Inken Paletta, Josef-Brix-Straße 42, 65187 Wiesbaden, Germany, the site operator of https://finntastic.de (For more information: see imprint). The prizes (see also section prize/profit) was provided to the site operator by the pop-rock band Dark Ride Brothers. The raffle is not connected to any other companies or persons and even not to social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

The recipient of the personal data and information provided by the participants, thus the contact person and person responsible for this prize draw, is only the website operator of https://finntastic.de. All questions, comments and complaints concerning this competition should therefore be directed to info@finntastic.de.

Disclaimer/Exclusion of liability

The organizer (which means the website operator of https://finntastic.de) as well as the band Dark Ride Brothers are not liable for the shipping risk. Moreover, the organizer of this prize competition (which means the website operator of https://finntastic.de) is not liable for direct or indirect damages resulting from the participation or the inaccessibility of the internet server. Unless they are due to gross negligence or wilful misconduct, for which the organizer is responsible. Legal recourse therefore is excluded.