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Talkin' Rock with Imminence

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00:00Rock, metal, prog, and everything in between.
00:04If you're into rock, you've come to the right place.
00:07Welcome to this episode of Talkin' Rock with Meltdown.
00:11Don't forget to follow the audio-only Talkin' Rock podcast on all podcast platforms.
00:15And now, it's time for today's conversation.
00:18Here's Meltdown.
00:20Ah, there they are. How you guys doing?
00:23Hi. I'm good. Doing great.
00:24Thank you very much. Thanks for having us.
00:27Sure. Before I start, our hometown Detroit Red Wings are in your country, aren't they?
00:33They are over here right now?
00:35Yeah. Oh, you guys didn't know that? Yeah, they're playing.
00:37Oh, no.
00:38Sorry, sports is not one of our strengths.
00:40Strength's like, sorry about that.
00:42Yeah, disappoint you, maybe.
00:44I mean, I know that we are good in hockey and everything like this, but no.
00:48Yeah, yeah. You guys are great in hockey.
00:49As a matter of fact, Nick Lindstrom is a friend of mine.
00:51I don't know if you guys recognize that name.
00:53Yeah, by name. By name. Yeah.
00:57So, you guys are coming to Detroit, playing St. Andrews Hall on November 29th.
01:02Now, have you guys ever played there before?
01:03Yes, sir.
01:04Oh, okay.
01:04No, this is our first tour we're ever doing in America.
01:09First time we're there, so.
01:11Oh, no kidding.
01:12So, I saw your tour, and it looks like you guys are going to be, like, kind of hitting up no days off, right?
01:18It's just like a really quick in-and-out tour of some big states in America?
01:21Yeah, that's correct.
01:23Yeah, it is.
01:24It is.
01:24I mean, we didn't know what to expect, because we've never been over to the States.
01:28Like, we're a band coming up from Sweden.
01:30We've been touring Europe for, like, some years.
01:33And, like, we never actually, people always told us that, guys, you've got to wait.
01:37Wait for the right opportunity to go over there.
01:39Like, don't just go over there as a headliner.
01:41I just think that, you know, you can't just do that.
01:44And, you know, we never really got to the point where we got that big offer.
01:48So, we thought, like, okay, let's just book a small tour, a short tour over there in North America to see what happens.
01:55And, yeah, so that's why it's not longer.
01:57And, apparently, it worked out really well.
01:59Well, where you guys are playing here in Detroit is where, like, the movie Eminem kind of is based out of.
02:05Are you guys familiar with that?
02:07Yeah.
02:07I actually just watched it the other day.
02:09I mean, I've seen it before, obviously, but I, like, I rewatched it just a few days ago.
02:16Yeah, that's cool.
02:17So, yeah.
02:17And we were actually supposed to play that venue that they were playing in the movie.
02:24Yeah.
02:24The Shelter, right?
02:26Yep.
02:27That was the first venue that we booked for Detroit.
02:30And then we sold out the tour in, like, 48 hours.
02:35So, we upgraded all the venues.
02:37Yeah, I saw that.
02:38That's awesome.
02:39I saw you guys got pushed upstairs, so that's pretty cool.
02:41Well, of course, when you're here, you're going to take a walk downstairs to see where all that Detroit history comes from.
02:46Yeah.
02:47Of course, we have to.
02:49Yeah.
02:49So, that's great.
02:50You guys sold out here in Detroit.
02:51So, tell everybody, like, what your band is about.
02:53Like, I kind of have my own impersonation.
02:56But, Harold, I'll start with you.
02:57Like, tell everybody, what is the band about?
02:59Like, what do you guys, what kind of musical influences shaped the band?
03:04Well, I mean, we are, me and Eddie actually know each other since going to, since we were at school together.
03:12Like, we were in, like, a parallel class to each other, so to say.
03:15So, I mean, we've known each other since we were kids.
03:17And I think we all really share the same musical influences coming up here from Sweden.
03:24Obviously, like, In Flames were, like, huge influences.
03:27For us, it was, like, the biggest band in the world, you know?
03:31It was, like, the biggest thing that ever happened.
03:33We listened to that so much.
03:35I remember, like, Scandinavian death metal, I would say, in general, was definitely something we grew up with.
03:42But also metalcore, like, in those days, and where it was maybe the hottest thing, you know, like, August Prince Red and these kind of bands.
03:51And that was, like, really, really big things for us.
03:54But I wouldn't say maybe that this is our only influence, like, coming from that area.
04:01I know that Eddie is, like, really influenced from, like, Linkin Park and stuff like that, right?
04:05Like, originally?
04:05Yeah, like, I also listened a lot to new metal back in high school.
04:11And that was, like, the catalyst, I would say, like, this union of Scandinavian metal and the new metal.
04:20And then we kind of got into, like, the more modern stuff, like metalcore.
04:24You can kind of hear that in our sound as well as the years progressed.
04:29And now I feel like we are finding our way back to our roots, like, influencing our music, still being this modern metalcore, but with more and more elements of, like, where we come from.
04:42Yeah, I definitely hear the metalcore for sure.
04:45That's why I wanted to ask you guys what you thought, because I don't want to, like, put words in your guys' mouth.
04:49But I hear that for sure.
04:50So how important is it for a band from Sweden to come over to America and play?
04:54I mean, for us, I think it's definitely was a really, really big milestone for us to do that, to make the step over and actually being able to do our own headline tour, even though it's a pretty short one.
05:11Because I think that being a European act and being able to tour over here and get your name out there in this territory is one thing, because logistically you can do it, you know.
05:22But for us, maybe for any European band to go over states and find that you really have an audience there, having, like, never set foot there before is really telling you something that you actually have this actually worldwide sort of, or at least, like, international recognition.
05:40So it's really remarkable for us.
05:43It's really huge.
05:44It's really incredible.
05:45I mean, we've been touring now, it's actually nine years since we went on our first European tour.
05:53So we've done a lot of Europe over the years, and we've just been waiting for the opportunity to come to America.
06:00Like Aaron said before, kind of waiting for the right opportunity.
06:04But then we just decided to take the matters into our own hands, and it's worked fantastic.
06:10Yeah, it's funny just thinking about this, because I know that you guys went to school together, and you guys kind of, you know, you guys are the original members of the band.
06:16But it's like when I was your guys' age going to school, when I went to, you know, back in the day, it's like you didn't have the internet and all this stuff to, like, kind of, you know, put your music around the entire planet.
06:25I mean, people would share tapes.
06:27I remember talking to the guys from Seether in South Africa, and they would, you know, they'd get bootleg tapes of Motley Crue when they were kids growing up.
06:34So now I guess the world's become a little bit smaller, hasn't it?
06:38Yeah, for sure.
06:39I think today it's more about, as long as you find your audience, like, you can find your audience, you can do that yourself, sort of.
06:49Like, if you learn how the industry works, and if you learn to, like, play your cards right, you can find your own audience just by your own means.
06:56I mean, you're not limited to only being placed in the right context thanks to, like, a record label or so.
07:04I mean, today it is much easier that you can actually connect directly with your fans wherever they might be.
07:10And that's maybe something we have built up for the years we've been in band.
07:13And, yeah, we've been getting, like, a lot of requests over many years.
07:17People are asking us, like, every day, like, when are you coming to the States?
07:20And, yeah, so finally, yeah, here we are.
07:23Yes, that show's coming up on the 29th.
07:25I may have to take a ride down to St. Andrew.
07:27It's a beautiful place here in Detroit.
07:28They just revamped it a few years back.
07:30You know, not having dug into a lot of your guys' music, but right off the top of my head, like, Bad Omens and I Prevail, they just headlined here in Detroit at Riff Fest.
07:39Do those bands, are those bands in your wheelhouse?
07:43I mean, of course, we're familiar with them in that case.
07:46I mean, there's, like, really hot names in the scene right now, I would say.
07:49Of course, we know them.
07:50We know everything that's going on in the States.
07:52But I would say maybe being up here in Sweden, I guess, maybe we have a different, like, connection because we're not, like, living in everything.
08:02That's, you know, that where all the tours are happening and so we're a bit more isolated up here in the north, maybe.
08:07I don't know.
08:08So I think we're just watching everything from the distance, then just flying in, do our thing, and then we're just going to fly back, come back someday, maybe.
08:14So, Eddie, you mentioned Linkin Park.
08:17How much has Chester Bennington influenced you over your life?
08:21I mean, it was an incredible inspiration for me.
08:25Like, Chester Bennington and Anders Frieden from In Flames were, like, the two, two, like, vocalists that really inspired me to start, like, singing for myself.
08:37So Linkin Park had a really huge influence on me.
08:41Yeah.
08:41For sure.
08:42It's funny you guys mentioned In Flames because I've seen In Flames a couple times.
08:45I think they toured with Hell Yeah one time here.
08:47And they actually did an acoustic thing for us for, like, some radio station winners.
08:51And I took my son and stuff.
08:52But we were in a room smaller than this.
08:55And you guys were bringing up In Flames.
08:56And I got to see them do this, like, you know, this unplugged acoustic thing right in front of me.
09:01So that was pretty cool.
09:02That's incredible.
09:04I wonder which song did they do.
09:05Do you remember which song did they do before?
09:07This is, like, this is going back, like, it's got to be eight or ten years ago.
09:10It was a long time ago.
09:11But I just remember.
09:12I think it could be, like, Alias or something like that.
09:15Because I remember they did, like, a TV show here in Sweden as well where they did some acoustic versions of some songs from A Sense of Purpose.
09:25Yeah.
09:26Yeah, you guys keep bringing up that band.
09:27And so that must obviously play a huge influence.
09:30So growing up in Sweden, you were just talking about it, Harold.
09:33It's, like, it's, like, not a lot.
09:34Do a lot of tours come through?
09:36I don't even know how that works.
09:37No.
09:38Oh.
09:39No.
09:40It used to be different.
09:41Like, when we were kids, it was actually, you know, we could actually go see bands playing club shows over here.
09:48But at the same, you know, it was always way, way smaller.
09:53Like, let's say, I don't know, it was around, like, maybe 2008 or 2009 or something, where you could go to, like, see club shows with, like, Lamb of God and Jopper Cowboy to wear any packages.
10:05Or, like, yeah, or, like, yeah, or, like, yeah, architects bring me the horizon.
10:12Like, yeah, for sure.
10:14Yeah, but these things, yeah, no, not really, not at all, actually.
10:18Yeah, do you guys have to travel to go see, like, big festivals and stuff?
10:21Is that how it works?
10:22We had one great festival.
10:26We had really one that, unfortunately, is not around anymore, called Metal Town in Gothenburg that we went to, you know, when we were 16 years old.
10:35And so, like, that was, like, enormous for us.
10:37There's one big festival over here called Sweden Rock, but it's really, like, more classic rock stuff, you know, when it comes to metal.
10:44And so, it's really not that thing.
10:46And so, yeah, I mean, I guess that's, you know, we're such a small population on a big land surface, so I think that's why bands up here are just going abroad to tour.
11:00And so, because you can't just make a domestic career in that way, like, you really need to go somewhere else.
11:06Yeah, I saw a meme the other day on the internet, and it was, like, you know, Swedish death metal guys and where they live.
11:13And it's, like, this beautiful house and this scenic landscape and stuff.
11:17It was kind of funny.
11:18So, Eddie, why is there so much heavy music that comes out of your part of the world?
11:25I don't know.
11:26But you know what you're saying.
11:27Yeah.
11:28There's always that question, you know, like, why are there so many great Swedish songwriters or, yeah, many, like, great metal bands coming out of Sweden?
11:39And I guess it's something here in the air, you know, or maybe the limited amount of sunlight.
11:47Yeah.
11:48It's crazy.
11:49But I don't know why it is like that.
11:51I just think that since, let's say, like, I don't know, 50 years back, you know, when ABBA just made it so big because they were really, really huge.
11:59And that was pretty much the only international act that we had at the time.
12:03There was nothing else before that, really.
12:05And I think that that just, you know, paved the way for a whole new generation of, like, I don't know, musicians and songwriters and creative folks that were just looking up to that and be like, wow, you know, we could do that, too.
12:17You know, it's not impossible.
12:18And I believe they just started, like, an enormous industry.
12:21And then, obviously, later on in the 90s, we had, like, the Chayron Studios were all, like, the pop songs, the Brickman Spirits and Braxy Boys and everything.
12:29All those songs were built in Stockholm, you know.
12:31And I think that is just, you know, everything just opened up from there.
12:35Harold, what kind of guitar players influenced you growing up?
12:39Growing up?
12:41I mean, you had to pick up a guitar at one point.
12:44Something had to...
12:45Yeah, I mean, of course.
12:47Of course, like, when you start off, you just want to play whatever one, like, everything that you hear.
12:52You want to look up to your guitar gods, like, you know, Angus from Easy Deasy.
12:55And then you want to sound like Kurt from Metallica or something like that.
12:59But I think maybe today you can see traces from, of course, In Flames and stuff like that.
13:04But then later on, I got into other influences.
13:07Maybe you can't hear it, but maybe the approach to the instrument maybe, like, you know, was very important for me for guitarists like John Mayer, for example.
13:17That really, really gave me a...
13:19Yeah, it was a big inspiration, for sure.
13:22Yeah, by the way, I don't want to make you guys jealous, but I just spent two nights watching Metallica, you know, over the weekend here.
13:28And, yeah, I'm pretty fried, I have to admit.
13:30It was a long weekend here in Detroit with Pantera and Five Finger and Ice Nine Kills and Wolfgang Van Halen.
13:37But, yeah, I don't want to make you guys jealous because you said none of those big tours come over there.
13:44That's true.
13:45So, Eddie, what do you guys got coming up in 2024?
13:482024?
13:502024?
13:53Yeah, I don't think it's going to be a secret for much longer.
13:57But, yeah, we are planning to release our new album.
14:02We've just been releasing singles this year.
14:05And we have some more stuff coming out.
14:07And then, of course, completing with the album.
14:09And, yeah, it's also not a secret.
14:13Like, we announced a festival in the U.S.
14:16And so, yeah, we're definitely going to come back in the spring.
14:20You guys are playing one of the Danny Wimmer festivals?
14:23The what?
14:24Sorry?
14:25The Danny Wimmer festivals.
14:27He does all those big festivals across America.
14:29We announced that we're doing Welcome to Rockville.
14:33So, it's time to do it.
14:35Yeah, yeah, yeah.
14:36Oh, dude.
14:37That's awesome.
14:38I'm so happy for you guys.
14:39That's going to be an amazing experience.
14:41Yeah.
14:42Yeah, yeah.
14:43That's incredible, really.
14:45I mean, one year ago, we were just thinking, like, man, are we ever going to go over to the States?
14:49And then, here we are.
14:51It's like, okay, we're going to do Rockville.
14:53It's going to be great.
14:55Yeah, that's amazing.
14:56They just announced that lineup.
14:58Which day are you guys playing on?
14:59Ooh, I can try to check here.
15:02Oh, that's all right.
15:03Yeah, don't worry.
15:04That's no big deal.
15:04But, yeah, it's like they kind of try to keep the bands kind of similar throughout.
15:08They might have more of like a classic metal day and stuff like that.
15:12So, yeah, you guys will probably be playing with a lot of bands kind of of your same ilk, so to speak.
15:17But those are big festivals.
15:19And I've never been to Welcome to Rockville, but I've been to some of the other ones.
15:22And they are a massive, really good time.
15:27Cool.
15:28Looking forward to it.
15:29A lot.
15:30So, tell me more about the new album.
15:31When can we expect that to drop?
15:36Okay.
15:36Yeah.
15:37Okay.
15:38Well, I don't want to eat a lot of them.
15:40So, let's say it like this.
15:42I mean, the album is being mixed right now.
15:45So, and then we will have to see, you know, what production time is taking into consideration for the vinyls and everything.
15:52But can definitely count on next year for sure.
15:56Now, if I'm not mistaken, did you guys drop a record right during or at the beginning of the pandemic?
16:02Yeah, I mean, I did love it.
16:06Yeah.
16:06I would say in the middle of it was like late 2021.
16:10So, almost two years ago.
16:11Okay.
16:12So, what was it like dropping a record at that point?
16:16It's weird.
16:19I mean, I couldn't really follow up and say, here's the album tour.
16:23Yeah.
16:24Yeah.
16:25I think that was the strangest part of it.
16:27But I did feel like people were really thankful for music by that point, you know.
16:34And because they couldn't go outside.
16:37And so, people were so excited about new releases being put out.
16:41And I didn't feel like it affected us like negatively.
16:46I think it was even better for us than we expected.
16:50But, yeah, it was a bit strange to not go on a tour.
16:55We had to postpone it a few times.
16:58Like, we never put it on sale.
17:00But, you know, we made the arrangements to announce the tour.
17:04And then we kind of had to push it again.
17:07But, yeah, we were lucky enough to tour it like six months after the album was dropped.
17:14Something like that.
17:16And now, we were also lucky.
17:18Like, me and Eddie being able to actually meet up.
17:20And use a lot of the time where we would have been on the road and we're home instead.
17:24You know, obviously, no tours were possible.
17:27Because we didn't have any lockdowns over here.
17:29There were no lockdowns to meet.
17:30And we could still meet up.
17:31And we did a lot of writing during that time.
17:33So, yeah.
17:35That's right.
17:35I totally forgot about that.
17:37Yeah.
17:37You guys just lived your lives.
17:41More or less.
17:42Yeah.
17:43Pretty much.
17:45That's right.
17:45I forgot all about that.
17:47So, when you guys said you toured after that, was that just primarily, like, over in Europe?
17:53Yeah.
17:53We did the album tour for Heaven and Hiding in Europe.
17:57Yeah.
17:58And that's pretty much where you've only toured up until now.
18:02Dude, I mean, European territory.
18:03Like, that's just in general.
18:05But, yeah.
18:06Of course.
18:06The European territory.
18:08Like, of course, Europe, UK, Scandinavia.
18:12We were once over to Russia.
18:15Like, before everything.
18:16Yeah.
18:17Took another turn of development there.
18:20So, some Eastern countries as well.
18:23But, yeah.
18:24Yeah.
18:25All right.
18:26So, final thing here for you guys.
18:27Eddie, I'll start with you.
18:28What's the thing you're most looking forward to seeing here in America or doing?
18:35The thing that excites me the most is, to be honest, the shows.
18:40Because we've waited for this for such a long time.
18:43I know that the fans coming out to the shows have been waiting sometimes for many years.
18:47Followed us from the start.
18:49And I think that's going to be an incredible experience for both of us.
18:54And it just kind of waits.
18:57And what about you, Harold?
18:59Oh, that's a really good question.
19:01That's a really good question.
19:02I don't know what to expect, really.
19:05You know.
19:07I want to see.
19:09Like, I'm really looking forward to seeing New York City.
19:11Like, really.
19:12I mean, sorry.
19:13Like, I don't want to be in Detroit.
19:15I want to see that, too.
19:17But it's just one of those things that, like, damn, we're going to be in Times Square.
19:20You know.
19:21It's a bit unrealistic.
19:22Of course.
19:23Yeah.
19:23Of course.
19:24It's some consider it the center of the world.
19:27Yeah.
19:28Yeah.
19:29I've only spent 24 hours there.
19:31So I'm no expert on Times Square or New York City at all.
19:35But, yeah.
19:36I'm excited for you guys to come over here and get a chance to check it out.
19:39And then, of course, come back.
19:40So if you're coming back here next year for that one-off festival, are you guys going to be touring?
19:44Are you guys going to be having other dates here next summer as well?
19:47It's very possible.
19:54All right.
19:54We'll just leave it at that.
19:55Okay.
19:56Keep your eyes open.
19:57Yeah.
19:57You have a record coming out next year.
19:59We're not sure when or what it's about.
20:00And you might be playing dates over here.
20:02So that's all we can do.
20:03So, well, listen, guys, thank you so much for your time.
20:06Good luck.
20:07I'm really super fired up.
20:09I might have to try to come down and check you guys out in person at St. Andrew's Hall coming up on November 29th.
20:13Yeah, please do.
20:14Please do.
20:15Stay travels and say it with me.
20:17Go Wings!
20:18Because they're playing again this year.
20:19Go Wings!
20:20Cheers, man.
20:24It's been a pleasure.
20:25Thank you for having us here.
20:26All right.
20:27Thank you guys so much.