MM - First off I’d like to say thanks for agreeing to take part in this
interview with us, it really means a lot to us. With the advent of your
third album ‘The Will To Power’ due for release shortly, how is the band
feeling right now? Joacim Carlsson - Hello there, and thanks for having us. Regarding the imminent
record release, we feel really good and can't wait to get our new music
out there. So far the reactions have been nothing but overwhelmingly
positive so we hope that trend will continue. We're geared up and ready to
go! MM - Who made the initial decision to reform the band and why choose to
do it now? Joacim - It was our bass player Joakim who decided one day that he needed
to ask the rest of us if we were interested in doing a new FD album.
Needless to say, we all jumped at the chance.
Personally, I never thought we ever were going to do anything more,
so it was a nice surprise when I got the call. Timing-wise, I guess now is
as good as any time.. and we're not getting any younger, hehe! Also, it
seems that our kind of music is more in tune with the times now than it
was when we put the band to rest in 1999.
MM - Do you feel confident
now that the band lineup is here to stay? Joacim -
Very much so. This is by far our strongest lineup and
everybody is really into what we're doing musically.. we also get along
better now than we ever did before.
MM - I’ve heard a rumour that the band will be performing a special
album release party/gig in London. Can you explain what will be happening
on the night and how your fans can be there? Joacim - The rumour is true! We'll be on stage on UK soil for the first
time since 1998 on Saturday the 5th of November at the Marquee
Club. We'll be sharing the stage with three up-and-coming UK acts; Panic
Cell, Malefice and I-Remain so it's gonna be a good show. We're preparing
a 15 song set which will have us up there for about an hour or so. Both
lots of old classic songs and plenty of new material to introduce
everybody to the T.W.T.P. album. Aside from the gig itself, we'll be doing
a meet-and-greet/signing session after the show, and there will be all
sorts of promo giveaways. In other words, you don't want to miss it!
More info about directions and so on can be found at the Marquee
website: http://home.btconnect.com/PlumPromotions/framesetmq.htm MM - Is there any secret message behind the name of the new album and
what made you decide to choose this over one of the other song titles? Joacim - The title song revolves around serial killers. Originally
it wasn't about any specific one, but along the way it turned out to focus
on a particular guy called Carl Panzram, who might not be the most famous
of them all but surely is one of the worst of all time. He did some really
gruesome stuff back in the early 1900's and we did some research and found
lots of Panzram-quotes we could use. One of them is now in the chorus in
the title track (“I wish you all had one neck, and I had my hands around
it”), and most of the writings you will find in the CD-booklet are also
Panzram-quotes. The idea is all about empowerment, and the lyrics of the
song are written from the killers point of view and how he needs to keep
killing to satisfy his anger against the world and rise above.. i.e. “The
Will To Power”. The title itself is actually a Nietsche theory that seemed
to fit with the lyrics. Anyway, when it came down to doing the album
cover, we figured that the TWPT-theme was the strongest we had so we went
with that and created all the imagery to revolve around that song. It's
not a concept album though.
MM - How would you compare this latest release to your earlier albums, does it
have that classic Face Down sound to it, or have you guys be pushing the
barrier to untested grounds? Joacim - I would say it has the classic FD
signature sound, but updated.
We all have brought five years of experience into creating the new record
and it shows. We're doing some stuff now that we didn't do before.
Overall, I would say we have broadened our sound quite a lot. The fast,
aggressive stuff is harder than ever and on the other end we have really
mellow and slow stuff on the album as well. For me personally, I'm always
trying to push the envelope when I'm writing songs to avoid stagnation. MM - For the songwriting, was
everything written by one person in particular, or did all you guys help
with writing and arranging? Joacim - I write about 90% of the songs,
but all the guys gets to
have a say when we arrange the material. It usually starts off with some
riffs that I record at home on my computer, then I present it to the band
and we work on it during rehearsal to get a basic idea. After that, I
usually work on it at home some more and record a full version of the
song, and then we learn it and alter it again if need be. This time, we
changed stuff up until the last minute and even edited some stuff in the
studio as well in order to make the songs as strong as possible. MM - You worked with Jocke Skog on the new album, what
was he like to work with? Joacim - That guy is super easy to work with.
Always positive, easy-going
and he knows his equipment inside out and he likes to show it off as well.
I particularly enjoyed working with him on the guitar sound, which turned
out to be the best sound I've ever had on an album. He's also very open to
the band's ideas and will try almost anything, which is good for us. We'll
surely work with him again in the future if it's possible. MM - Do you have any plans to tour to support the album and if so
where are you likely to go? Joacim - Due to the family situations in
the band, we won't be able to do
long tours. It's just not in the cards anymore. We'll try to focus on
doing lots of festivals and weekend shows instead of traveling for a month
in a crappy van and play for 10 people on a weekday. This time we're going
for quality gigs rather than quantity. We'll always consider any offer we
get so keep 'em coming!
MM - What has been the fans reaction to the announcement of the
reformation of the band? Joacim- Nothing but positive so far. Many
people seem to wonder why Marco
is suddenly doing music again, but the answer to that is that this band is
located where he lives, and we don't rehearse or play shows that often so
everybody can fit it into their schedules. MM - Would you like to tell us a little bit about each of the songs
on the new album, perhaps the a story behind them, or how they evolved? Joacim - Ouch! Well, I don't know much about the lyrics since I didn't
help out writing them aside from a few lines here and there. A quick
rundown on the songs from a musical POW:
“Drained” - the intro and verse was originally written for my other
band General Surgery but was never used, so I played it to the guys and
they thought we should use it right away.. simply because it sounds quite
Slayer-ish. I wrote the rest during spring and it was put together rather
quickly. One of my personal faves.
“Blood Tiles” - and old song from around 1998 which was recorded
for our final demo under a different title. We changed the verse and
arrangement, Marco wrote new lyrics and we had a killer song.
“Heroin” - Our drummer and I wrote that one, it's one of the more
modern sounding songs on the album, I guess. I'm using a baritone guitar
on this song to add a bit of extra heaviness. I think we all have this one
as a favorite.
“Insanity” - We needed one more fast song and I stepped up and
wrote this one pretty quickly from some riffs I had recorded on my
computer. Features one of the best mosh parts on the album in the middle
section.
“Will To Power” - this is one of the “big songs”, I guess, since it
has a a lot of stuff going on. I actually wrote this one while we were
recording the drums and rhythm guitar tracks. We took the weekend off and
I felt really inspired to come up with yet one more track, so I worked on
it for a whole day at home and came up with the basic outline of the song.
Erik then came in to record the drum parts, and then I figured out the
last riffs I needed in the studio when we recorded the guitar parts. Later
on we added the piano part that bridges the song with “Grey”, and that was
played by Jocke Skog. As soon as we had decided on the serial killer theme
for the lyrics, I wanted some spoken parts on the song to make it more
disturbing and spooky. The first spoken part about how serial killers work
is read by an Australian friend of mine (who is actually a forensic
psychologist) who was visiting me at the time so that was a lucky
co-incidence to get him on the track. The rest of the spoken parts are
read by other English speaking friends of the band.
“Grey” - also one of the bigger songs on the album as it was almost
completely written and arranged in the studio by our bassist with help
from mr. Skog. Features a guest appearance from our first drummer Richard
Bång. The piano intro is awesome.
“Heretic” - we wanted to put one of the demo tracks on the album
and we felt this one was the strongest. This is also an old track from
around 1998 that got some new riffs and a new arrangement and vocal lines
and turned out awesome.
“The Delusion” - was written just before we entered the studio from
ideas our bassist had laying around for a while. Originally it featured a
different intro that we decided to edit out since it didn't serve the
song. Once again the spoken stuff were done by a friend of ours. A really
heavy track that carries the old FD sound into the 2000's.
“War Hog” - another song from the 1998 period that got a re-make. I
was really not sure about this song when we had recorded it, but once
Marco came in with a new set of lyrics and yelled his ass off it turned
out really great. This will be in our live set for sure.
“The Unsung” - I wrote this one back in 1999 and we played it a few
times but in a different version. I decided to re-write it and try it out
in the studio, and it's one of my personal faves since it's really doomy
and sludgy. It differs a lot from what we normally do and I really like
that variation. The baritone guitar is in full effect on this song as
well. Features a couple of guest players as well: Max Thornell from Hearse
on drums and Mikael Van Tuominen from Fingerspitzengefühl on bass.
Ends the album on a somber note, just as we used to do on our old
albums. MM - Do you have a favourite track off the new album? If so what is
it about this particular track that makes it stand out for you personally? Joacim - My faves are the title track since we actually pulled it off, it
was a lot of hard work getting that one together. Other faves are The
Unsung because I like to play really slow stuff, Heroin because it's
something I wouldn't normally write and Drained because it's really
intense and a great opener. MM - What was it like playing Sweden Rocks this year, and how did
that come about? Joacim - The SRF crew invited us for some reason that
escapes me, but of
course it was flattering to get invited since we didn't even have a new
album out at the time. I think it was one of the best shows we've played
so far. Great crowd! Three songs from this gig will be on the DVD that's
in the limited edition of the album. MM - Is there anything the band has done in the past that you wished
you had done differently? Joacim - We made a quite a few wrong business
decisions that ultimately
killed the band. Not really anything I wish to dwell on though. This time
the keyword is “fun” and we're gonna keep it that way. MM - The band was quoted to saying that you wanted to put Stockholm
back on the metal map, why is this important to you? Joacim - Enough already of
all this melodic Gothenburg stuff!, hahaha! I
guess we just want to show that Stockholm is still around and something
you can count on to deliver heavy bands that will blow your ears off..
just as it was in the early '90s. MM - Finally, is there a message you would like to send out to all
your fans to close out this interview? Joacim
- Thanks to everybody who still remembers us, you people rule. Hope
we can pick up a lot of new fans along the way as well. Get the new album,
we're really proud of it and we can't wait to hear what you think of it.
See ya all in the pit! *Thanks Joacim and best of luck with the
new album!
