Interview with Swedish Groove Metal act Deathember

Indian Music Mug
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  • Deathember1Welcome to IndianMusicMug  guys.
    Thank you!

 

  • Excited to play in India?
    Indeed we are. This is the first time visiting your country for us, we’re really looking forward towards getting to know your metal scene and playing for you guys. This is hopefully not be a one time thing!

 

 

  • “Deathember” ….what does the band name signify?
    The name is two words forged together. “Death” and “ember”. It ties together with the artwork for our new album (a burning symbol). The name doesn’t have any deeper meaning more than that we wanted something a bit different to all the usual “burial of the buried burial” kind of names that modern bands tend to have.

 

  • How did the band come about? What do you guys intend to achieve with your music?Deathember started back in 2008 with me (Elias) founding the band, we’ve had pretty much the same lineup since then except for a couple of singer changes. Deathember started when several local bands split up and the most driven musicians from those bands came together to start something new, different and (hopefully) better.

    With the risk of sounding like a complete cliché we’d have to say that the main goal behind our music and what we do is to create something new and fresh. Something that doesn’t sound like the kind of modern metal that people are used to. We want to make the same kind of innovative music as Meshuggah, but in a different genre (the Swedish Groove Metal). Going Postal was a huge step in the right direction and as for the next release, you’ll see.

 

 

  • Sweden has been a place known for its great metal heritage..How hard is it to come out of there and be different…Stand out so to speak?As you said, Sweden is known for good metal and for having the largest amount of bands in comparison to our small population. Way more than any other country in Europe (and probably the world). This makes it hard to stand out and to gain recognition since there are a million other bands trying to “make it” at the same time you’re doing it.

    We’ve always focused on writing music independent of what the mainstream metal scene is up  to and what other bands are doing. We try to do our own thing, the same goes for our live show. Our biggest influences as a live act is probably The Dillinger Escape Plan. Even though we don’t flip out as much as they do (not even remotely). They have the kind of energy that we want to communicate out to the audience and that’s probably why people that see us live often appreciate our show even if our music isn’t exactly what they usually listen to, our show is something to be entertained by.

 

  • Tell us a bit about your musical upbringing…And about your idols and influences..Deathember3We’ve had the same goal with the music since the early years of Deathember. To create something different and new, but with known “elements” from modern and old school metal. Most imporant of all, we want to bring back the RIFFS in metal. That’s something that we really miss in most modern metal.

Our main influences are more progressive bands like Meshuggah, SikTh, Protest the Hero and Strapping you lad, but also groove metal innovators such as Pantera and Lamb of God. We’re also greatly influenced by more rock’n roll bands like Clutch, that’s where most of the riffing ideas come from.

 

  • How do you best define your sound as? “Genre” …what does the word mean to your music? Is genre specification way to overrated?Groove Metal. Swedish Groove Metal. We think that sorting music within genres can be complicated but it’s also the easiest way to explain what kind of music we play. We play metal with the main focus on groove. Some of the most important elements within our music is the diversity between rock’n roll sound riffs, blast beats, low/high pitched screams and a fair bit of ambience. That’s what (we think) makes us stand out.

 

  • Give us a sneak peak into your studio works.. what is “Going postal” all about?Going Postal is just an angry album, and has no deeper meaning than that actually. Deathember has never been about political messages or “feelings”. The music is just about throwing down and waving your arms in a moshpit. The point of the music is the music itself. To be groovy, to be entertaining and to make you want to fucking moshpit!

 

 

  • How much role does the local music scene play in the evolving of a band? How is the local scene back in Sweden?Crap… haha no but seriously, the local scene here in Sweden is slowly dying and that’s something that we saw coming a couple of years ago. As of the last half of 2013 and this year we’ve started to focus entirely of playing outside of Sweden. If you compare Sweden to the other countries we’ve played in like Germany, Holland, Denmark, Russia and such, there’s no audience here and no way of “making it” by just playing in this country. As you said earlier, we have a great reputation of producing good metal so it’s good to be a band FROM Sweden, but it’s impossible to play shows, sell CDs and tour WITHIN Sweden.

 

  • Do you think the music scene is way too commercialized nowadays compared to yesteryears?Well. There always has been and always will be mainstream music, even within metal.
    We’re not huge fans of the whole metalcore/deathcore stuff which is popular nowadays but there were most certainly a “metalcore/deathcore” scene back in the 1980s as well, but it was just another genre that was popular.

The commercialized and mainstream music is necessary for the industry to survive, and our type of heavier metal without clean singing and such will never be a part of that. So we don’t sell enough CDs, and we don’t get to play for 10 000 people, but we get loyal fans. People just following trends will move on as soon as something new becomes popular. Fans of the more undergorund oriented metal will stay true to the music they love, and that’s the most important thing above all.

 

  • For an independent band to survive and make it up to the top what are the things that a band needs to keep in mind while in progression?We’ve always tried to be realistic and think that yes, we won’t be making money any time soon and we won’t be able to make a living from our music any time soon either. But eventually we will, and we won’t stop for nothing until we do.

    It’s very, very important to be realistic. Don’t think that a record label will sign you just because  you released a “kickass demo”, you’re still a shitty band from Stockholm playing local shows. You have to create your own success, be patient, and make sacrifices.

All of our members work full time jobs and all paid vacation goes to touring, and every penny from your salary that doesn’t go to food, rent and such will go to the band. So don’t expect to be able to take a vacation any time soon! This may sound like we’re whining, but that could not be more wrong. We love this. We wouldn’t do it otherwise!

 

  • Have you guys listened to any Indian bands/artists ? If yes what are your views on the current Indian music scene?To be honest we don’t know that many Indian bands, but our favorite is definatly Inner Sanctrum from Bangalore. We’re on the same European booking agency and those guys really know how to make some kickass metal.

 

 

  • Deathember2A fun quesstion here and it goes out to each one of you…If you are given a chance to share stage space with one of your idols who would you like it to be?

Meshuggah, even though we played a festival with them earlier last year, Gojira, The Dillinger Escape plan and above all, to play with a reunited SikTh.

 

  • What can we expect from you guys in the near future?

We’ll release a new single when we return home from India and later this year a new release (you’ll see what later) will be recorded!

 

  • Speak your heart out….This is your space..

If you’re into some groovy metal, take Going Postal for a spin or two and come to Hyderabad or Silchar and throw down with us!

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