Category Interviews

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Jag möter killarna i Brain Police vid backstagebaren under en molning eftermiddag på Stoned From The Underground. Festivalen som erbjuder tysklands stonerfans de hetaste banden just nu inom öken scenen, och knappast finns det ett bättre forum för isländska Brain Police än detta.

Jag sätter mig ner med trummisen Jón och frontmannen Jenny som båda med övertygelse erbjuder mig att dricka deras Isländska olja, Opal – en lakritsmakande svart vodka med brännande isländsk alkohol. Jenny själv är en hängiven Opal drinkare och sveper själv, om än med viss hjälp från diverse fotografer, stagehands och fans i närmsta omgivningen, två flaskor under den korta timmen jag umgås med bandet.

Killarna verkar vara nöjda med giget; även om Opalflaskan och det lilla välkomstpaketet ...

Posted in Interviews

I recently spoke to Eric Peterson, Guitarist with Testament to talk about their new album, and touring.

Festivalphoto: Your new album, Dark roots of earth is due to be released in early August. How would you describe the album?

Eric: Let me turn that around – How would you descibe it?

Festivalphoto: Heavy as hell.

Eric: Alright, first of all it sounds like Testament, and I mean that in a good way. It’s a really good Testament record. It’s a lot more melodic, the songs are a little bit longer, they’re more epic, there’s a lot of solos going on, really shredding stuff.
The cool thing is I’m playing a lot more solos now and that really adds to the colour of things as a guitar team – it doesnt sound like just one style, like Arpeggios and shredding...

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This year at Tuska I got an invitation for an interview with the Finnish melodic hard rock/heavy metal band, who started at the end of the nineties as a technical death metal. This got me pretty curious to learn more about the band, to watch them live at Tuska and, of course, to accept the interview invitation. It turned out that I met a band with a good stage experience from all over the world, interestingly mixed compositions and an awesome promo photo that convinced me they’re a bunch of crazy guys enjoying what they are doing. The result of the interview can be read below, and everything else about the band, plus media streams can be found on their website at http://amoralweb.com/

Me: Who is the band Amoral?
Ben Varon: Amoral was started by me, on guitars and our drummer Juhana Karlss...

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Rest ur askan från sitt forna doom/death metalband Slumber släppte AtomA sin debut Skylight den 30 mars i år. Lovord och positiva recensioner har avlöst varandra och för mig var det här någonting helt nytt. Musiken är en blandning av metal, post-rock och electro förenat med tusen olika känslor på en och samma gång. Bandet består av Ehsan Kalantarpour (sång/synth), Markus Hill (gitarr) och Siavosh Bigonah (bas) från Slumber, samt Oscar Borgenstam (trummor) och Christian Älvestam (kompgitarr/bakgrundssång). Eftersom jag fullkomligt förälskade mig i Skylight så stämde jag träff med Ehsan för att få höra mer om AtomA.

När föddes AtomA?
– Officiellt så började AtomA den 1 januari 2011...

Posted in Interviews

En gång lämnade jag KB strax efter att huvudakten gått på scen. Inte för att det var ett dåligt band men efter supportbandets rasande framfart tedde sig kvällens affischnamn som ett blekt och sömnigt viskollektiv.
Vilket huvudbandet var tänker jag inte tala om men de som stal showen, som spelade skiten ur publiken, som gjorde kvällen extra minnesvärd var ”The Forsaken”.
Nu har de efter åtta års tystnad ruskat liv i sig och idag släpper de come-backplattan ”Beyond Redemption” på Massacre Records.

Under uppehållet har Stefan Holm lämnat och Calle Fäldt tillkommit i sättningen. Han och Patrik Persson sköter tillsammans gitarrlirandet. Det är också han som får föra bandets talan idag och som bjuder på kaffe i hemmet i skånska Staffandstorp...

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I recently spoke with vocalist Joel Ekelof and guitarist Kim Platbarzdis from Soen, shortly before they played their first UK show, supporting Amaranthe at the Garage in London.

Festivalphoto: Soen are a fairly new band, so for the benefit of anyone who hasnt come across Soen yet, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Kim: We’re from Sweden and America. I think the idea, the original seed to it started as Martin’s side project to Opeth. I got involved in 2004, he was looking for a guitarist, I was looking for a drummer for a band, but we did it this way instead...

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I spoke to Joel Fox Apelgren, bass player with Dynazty shotly before they performed on stage supporting Amaranthe at the Garage in London, and asked him about their new album and tour plans. As they were running late, we had to keep things very short.

Festivalphoto: Your new album, Sultans of sin has recently been released. Can you tell us a bit about the album?

Joel: It’s an album really in the same sort of style as we’ve done before but we wanted to give it a really modern edge so we implemented that in our writing, and also chose to work with Peter Tägtgren as a producer because he normally produces much heavier and more modern stuff so we thought that would be a really cool clash, and I think it turned out great.

Festivalphoto: Is the name inspired by Dire straits ?

Joel: Definitely...

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Mixing styles, merging different feelings is quite cool nowadays. The south Swedish Dödaren band even wants to emulate all this trend, with their funky-sleazy postretro-lined metal-mix. The debut album- called Maen came out in the end of April. Surprising success around the world- Jon Solheim drummer answered me.

1. I guess that the first thing what anybody realize is your band name…

Yeah, Dödaren is actually something of a playing with words in Swedish that unfortunately does not translate very well into English. It basically means „the killer” but in Swedish there are different words for this. If you kill someone, you are automatically a murderer, which means you can’t really be a killer...

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Ahead of this years Cambridge Folk festival, Festivalphoto spoke to the festival organiser Eddie Barcan to ask him a few questions about the festival and what people thinking of going can expect:

Festivalphoto: First of all can you introduce yourself to the readers and explain your role in the festival?

Eddie: My name is Eddie Barcan, I programme and manage the Festival.

Festivalphoto: How long has Cambridge been hosting its annual folk festival?

Eddie: 48 years young this year!

Festivalphoto: Can you tell us a little bit about what people can expect when visiting the festival for the first time?

Eddie: That festival’s don’t have to be hard work and some brilliant music. It’s not too big but there’s more than enough to stop you getting bored. Good facilities. Very friendly people...

Posted in Interviews

I recently spoke to Nic Maeder and Marc Lynn from Gotthard to talk to them about their forthcoming album, Firebirth.

Festivalphoto: Your new album, Firebirth will be released on 1st June. First of all, where did the name come from?

Marc: It is a little bit with the story over the last one and a half years, you know since we found Nic after everything. After the accident with Steve of course we were down on the floor and you don’t know what to do, and then you see you want to make music together and you decide to go ahead if you find the right person, and then Nic showed up and you felt, ”wow this is the guy, fits perfectly, not only the voice but also personally”, and then the band caught fire...