Founded in 1977 Finland’s OZ have a place among Europe’s first wave of heavy metal bands. Thanks to outstanding albums such as „Fire In The Brain“ and „III Warning“ the group was never forgotten by their fans even though the outfit took a somewhat longer break from 1991 to 2010. Not too long ago OZ, who relocated to Sweden in the mid-80s, released their new album called „Forced Commandments“, which is why we seized the opportunity and spoke to their sole remaining founding member Mark Ruffneck.
Hi and thanks a lot for taking time for this interview! How are you doing?
You’re welcome. I’m just fine, hope you too.
It has been roughly three years since your last album “Transition State” was released. What have you been up to since?
After releasing the album „Transition State“ we played certain festivals. We planned to play more live shows, but sometimes your plans will not go as you planned. Shortly after the album „Transition State“ was released, both Johnny and Juzzy began writing new material. We went through all the demo songs and decided which of them we would record and have on the next OZ album. Then we started recording and it took a long time this time, because quality before quantity was the key word.
Since 2016 the band’s line-up has remained stable. How’s the chemistry in the band at the moment?
The band’s chemistry is good. We worked with the “Forced Commandments” album for a long time. Quality before quantity was the main idea. When you work with the project that pushes you to your limits and in the end you succeed with a good product, you feel satisfaction and even the group feeling becomes higher. The lightning can hit twice at the same place.
Your new record “Forced Commandments” came out not too long ago. How would you describe the album, maybe with regard to differences – and similarities – to the previous one?
„Forced Commandments“ is the second album with the latest OZ lineup. The first album with that lineup was „Transition State“. „Forced Commandments“ is probably more mature album compared to „Transition State“ album. Quality before quantity was the key word before we started recording. I also talked to Lars Chriss, OZ Sound Wizard and Mike Lind, Mastering Monster, to get information how all the necessary tracks should be recorded. So we did more pre-recording work during this time. I also talked to other members of OZ about how we must work to get the best possible results with this new album. We all in the band agreed, before Johnny and Juzzy started writing new songs for this album, that we should have more „dark style“ for the songs and lyrics and there could also be more songs from „The Other Side“. I think „Forced Commandments“ meets all my expectations of 100% and all other members of the band are really pleased with the result, too.
Are you happy with how “Forced Commandments” has been received by fans and press?
Yes, we are happy with both reviews and also the direct comments from OZ fans.
Tell us a bit about the songwriting process for the new record. How did that go down?
As I said before, Johnny and Juzzy wrote songs and Johnny wrote the lyrics. Johnny and Juzzy did many demo songs and from these demo songs we chose songs to be on the new album. We listened to all the demo songs and sent files between each other and finally songs took the form that they were ready for the studio work. First I recorded my drums and then bass, guitars and more guitars. Then it was time for vocals, background vocals, more guitars, special effects and all the other things needed. During this time in the studio, we also made some changes for songs when needed to get the final shape of the songs. We can say that we also used the studio time to the final producing of some songs. All tracks to Lars and the mixing time, much control and more control. And finally, the album was mastered by Mike Lind and the work was done! I run OZ in a similar way as a scientific research group, everyone has a lot of freedom to do their own part of the work as they please, but we always show respect for each other and the band.
Dee Snider of Twisted Sister once said “Ringo ain’t the Beatles, baby,” commenting on how he thinks it’s strange when the drummer is the only remaining original member of a band. What would you answer him on that?
I was not interested in Dee Snider or his thinking in the 80’s and it is still the same story today. I do not care! OZ is not some kind of Idol contest where the audience chooses who plays in the band. I choose who is in the band and right now I’m really pleased with the latest lineup. I started OZ together with OZ first Bass player Tani, but he died some years ago, so I’m the only founding member alive. OZ was born with me and will die with me! The case closed!
Finland and Sweden have always been important for the global metal scene. Having been part of it for more than 40 years, what’s your take on the contemporary metal scene?
OZ started as a local cover band in Nakkila, Finland. After a few years we started writing our own music, but we did not get a record deal with any Finnish record company. So we were heading east to Stockholm, Sweden and signed a record deal with Tyfon Grammofon AB and released the first OZ album in 1982. We released the second album „Fire in the Brain“ in 1983 and shortly after we moved to Stockholm, and I live still here in Stockholm. So we were originally a Finnish band, but we moved to Stockholm fairly quickly and we did groundbreaking work for Heavy Metal in both Finland and Sweden in the 1980s. And we have retained OZ musical style over the years and we still play fairly traditional heavy metal from the 80’s. And we will continue to do so for as long as I live.
The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting all areas of life but it seems that touring bands and live venues are hit especially hard. How do you feel about the situation?
Yes, COVID 19 hits hard. I think live performances are not possible in 2020. I hope that 2021 is a better year and hopefully COVID 19 will disappear, but I don’t think there is 100% proof of that, so we just have to wait and see. This is a tough reality, and we have to live it up, so we don’t plan any live performances this year and wait until we can start planning the live shows for 2021.
Currently touring seems to be impossible, but do you have tour plans for the coming year? Will we see OZ in Germany?
Yes, we were planning to tour in Europe, including Germany this year after the new album “Forced Commandments” was released, but COVID 19 changed the game. As I said earlier, we are not planning live shows for this year, but immediately when the situation gets better we will hit the road and hopefully we will also visit Germany.
Thank you for the interview! Please let us do a short brainstorming in the end of this interview. What comes in your mind first reading the following terms:
Lockdown: Lights Out
Fire In The Brain: Summerwork 83
Nightwish: Finland and not my music
Sweden Rock: A Great Rock Festival
Music Streaming: The future, whether you like it or not
OZ in 10 years: Retired
Once again thanks for your time. The last words are yours – is there anything left you want to tell our readers?
Rock On and Stay Safe. Check OZ Forced Commandments Album, maybe there can be something You like.
14. September 2020 Thomas Meyns
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