The following is an excerpt from an interview with TURISAS frontman Warlord Nygård, conducted by Komodo Rock:

Komodo Rock: You just came off tour with Iced Earth and Annihilator. How was that?

Warlord Nygård: "It was really good. I mean the bands were really nice and the whole touring party, 3 bands and quite a lot of crew and everybody got on really well. A good family trip in a way! The venues were rather big, it was a nice tour to be on, but we only played a 30 minute set, so it was shortened down, so there was no time for anything extra."

Komodo Rock: You had a new album out in May called The Varangian Way. How's it done for you?

Warlord Nygård: "I think it's moved pretty nicely. Obviously we released our debut album in 2004. When it came out it didn't explode all at once, it took like three years in between to start building up the band. So now it was nice to give out an album and see it in magazines and see it happen right away, rather than three years after release. I think it's done pretty well, and we just released a special edition as a digipak with a DVD which has live footage from Download and a lot of festivals we did this year."

Komodo Rock: you've also done a cover of 'Rasputin'. Where did the idea for that come from?

Warlord Nygård: "It's quite often that I have an idea of doing something, have an idea and save it for later and maybe get back to it at some point. I had just heard a cover band playing ABBA and 70's disco songs, they played 'Rasputin', and that was in 2001 or something. Then it just hit me that this would work really well in a more modern speeded up metal way. But that was kinda it, and it wasn't until a year ago that we started playing it live and shows, and it was a huge favourite. So we were more or less forced to record it when we were doing the album."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Check out Turisas' MySpace page to view their new video for 'Rasputin' and to sample various tracks.

The band's tour scedule is now as follows:

March

1 - Northampton, UK - Soundhaus
2 - Sheffield, UK - Corporation
3 - Aberdeen, UK - Moshulu
4 - Edinburgh, UK - Studio 24
5 - Liverpool, UK - Academy 2
6 - Norwich, UK - Waterfront
7 - Peterborough, UK - Park
8 - Leeds, UK - Cocpit
10 - Exeter, UK - Cavern
11 - Cardiff, UK - Clwb Ifor Bach
12 - Southampton, UK - The Brook
13 - London, UK - Electric Ballroom
14 - Brighton, UK - Concorde 2

April

25 - Toronto, ON - Opera House
26 - Montreal, QC - Medley
27 - Worcester, MA - Palladium
28 - Springfield, VA - Jaxx
29 - Cleveland, OH - Peabody's

May

5 - Seattle, WA - Studio Seven
10 - Orange County, CA - California Metalfest
15 - Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX - Ridglea Theater
16 - San Antonio, TX - The White Rabbit

More dates will be announced soon.