The modern age metal drummer is a different breed. Good drummers are in high demand, so much so that many balance several projects at one time. One such gifted drummer is Mike Ranne, a seasoned veteran of the death metal and deathcore scene having performed with Through the Eyes of the Dead, My Bitter End, Circuit of Suns, Coma Cluster Void, Proceed on Your Way to Oblivion, and Leylines as well as contributing sessions to many other projects. To aid in keeping up with the recording duties for these projects Mike partnered with Mike Monocker to open Backyard Boogie Recordings a few years ago, which he owns and operates. I sat down with Mike to learn more about his vast projects and his newest one, Leylines. 

GA: From My Bitter End, to Through the Eyes of the Dead, on to Circuits of Sun, Coma Cluster Void, and Proceed on Your Way to Oblivion, and now Leylines you have been a very active drummer in the metal community with many projects. Are there any projects I am leaving out, or that you’d like to touch upon more? 

MR: I recorded an album about a year ago with some of the guys from Aronious, and with Kyle of Aethereus, a lot of bands that start with the letter A. We are calling that band Aeonoesis. There is still some stuff that is left to do on the album, some vocals and stuff. With this album I’m looking forward to getting to officially announce that project soon. I’m not sure what the plan is, I haven’t talked to those guys in a while. I do know the drums I tracked for that album are really cool, so hopefully it will come out soon. There is one song released so far and there is a Facebook page as well.  Its dissonant death metal type stuff which I think you’ll dig. 

GA: You are here tonight performing with Leylines that’s on tour with Born A New and Crystal Lake. How did you get involved with the guys from Leylines? 

MR: A couple years ago I was going to do a project and I had written a few songs myself before anything else. That project didn’t end up materializing into anything and I had these tracks,so I made a post asking if anyone wanted to take a stab at writing guitars for these tracks, to go ahead. Jesse hit me up and I sent him the tracks, thinking he would hit me up in a month or two later. He hit me up like twenty-three hours later with both songs written, and I listened to them and was like ‘God, I guess I have another band.’ The band is only a year and a half old now. We have sixteen songs written. A six song EP that we are going to drop through Silent Pendulum. Then we have a ten-song full length, that has the drums tracked already, but there is still a lot of work left for the guitars and everyone. Jonathan is still working on the writing on his end. The songs are fleshed out,and I think are way cooler than the EP stuff which is what we are playing tonight. 

That’s how the band came to be. Jonathan and I share a hobby of RC cars, building them and stuff. I just asked him if he would ever want to do a music project sometime, and when I sent him the Leylines stuff he was into it. Our bassist is Dan, who plays in Pathogenic, is filling in for us tonight but picked up the material super quick. He has been awesome to play shows and practice with.

GA: Man, drummers these days, if you aren’t in three to four projects you aren’t doing it right, I guess.

MR: I’m at home most of the time, a lot of my projects are studio based. Through the Eyes of the Dead plays sporadically these days, we have been playing four to five shows a year. Last year was the first tour we’ve done in years. We keep going even if it’s not as much. 

GA: After all these years of drumming what keeps you motivated and playing? 

MR: I just like playing. I still love playing drums, and I’m still able physically do it I might as well do it. I still enjoy creating music all the time. 

GA: You built a studio a few years ago, do you still have it and how is the studio doing these days?

MR: I still have it, lately we haven’t recorded anything outside of my own stuff, because I have been busy with session work. We do occasionally get guys to come and use our space. It has been super beneficial for me personally, I used to dump thousands into going to studios which I don’t have to do anymore. Mike Monocker is my partner with the studio, he engineers everything while I’m more of an owner of the place and play the drums. The studio is called Backyard Boogie Recordings out of Phillipsport, Ny. 

GA: What gear are you using for your live rig and what’s your home recording set up like? I am constantly watching your clips from the studio and the drums are always on point. 

MR: It’s the same kit I am using tonight, I also use at home. I have a lot of kits at home, but this black Pearl kit I use for pretty much everything. I’m using it live tonight, and it’s my kit when filming at home and tracking all my sessions. I use a Mapex Sledgehammer for my snare. I have been using it lately and it’s a firecracker, super loud and cuts through in the mix especially for blast beats. I got into Trick Pedals a few years back, and honestly, I won’t use anything else anymore. I also have a couple different types of cymbals I’m using for my live run. 

GA: You mentioned earlier you have a few upcoming albumsyou are a part of, do you have any other soon to be released or recently released music that we should check out that you appear on? 

MR: Right now, just the stuff I mentioned that has yet to come out. I am working on the new Anomalous album, so I am really excited to do that. I’m working on a third song for them right now learning it. I’ve tracked two songs already and both of themare insane. I am also working on an album with this band called Hypaethral from Missouri. Their music is like Spawn of Possession and Gorod, it’s really cool. I think they will be debuting one of the songs I tracked for them either this week or next so that will be something to check out. 

GA: Do you have any more plans to do anymore Proceed on Your Way to Oblivion? 

MR: We’ll see, Shane has been busy with Cognitive. They just released a new album on Metal Blade, so he is going to be busy for a while being on the road. Steve and I have spoken on fleshing out some ideas in the meantime. We do have one new song tracked, but it’s not finished yet. 

GA: What do you have lined up after this? I see you have a few dates with mutual friends of mine From A Second Story Window on the Through the Eyes of the Dead run. 

MR: Yea, a week from today we (TTEOTD) will be at the Kingsland, with them and On Broken Wings, it’s going to be a sick one. Then the next day we will be playing with From A Second Story Window and The Red Chord outside of Boston. My Bitter End used to play with FASSW all the time back in the day. I remember playing in Lancaster with them, Remembering Never and August Burns Red, which led to us going out with August Burns Red on tour. That was the first big US tour we ever did at that time. 

GA: Anything else you would like to add or promote? 

MR: Just want to make a special mention to my wife and my daughter. My wife Neha, and my daughter Flora are my world outside of all of this. They take a huge priority over everything else.

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George Archibald

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