"I know my destination, can't break this evil spell, I'm gonna burn forever, burn in hell.."
Last night, we had a pleasure to met and breathed their music in an inusual atmosphere.
For the first time DEAD SOUL played in Italy.
They come from Sweden and these are the words of their singer Anders Landelius.
LFdM: Hi guys, we would like to give you our special "welcome" in Italy, also from this small music place. Your sound is like a nebula formed by a blues' soul, an electronic' body and a dark wave' spirit. How was born this idea?
Anders: Like most good ideas it was a matter of coincidence more than anything else. I met Niels briefly back in 2002 and knew that he was a talented musician but it was in 2006 when I was about to record a new solo album (Slidin’ Slim - One man riot) and wanted to do something different and exciting with the blues that I asked him if he wanted to produce it. We had very little in common music wise with my background in the delta blues and his more electronic and adventurous past.
That was a huge reason why we thought that we could do something interesting together. Not only was the result both fresh and exciting (the album became very successful worldwide) but we also enjoyed working together and became good friends in the process. When we began the work with the follow up to One man riot we found it more interesting to just make the best music we could together without any boundaries at all. I also went through a very dark period in my personal life and felt a strong urge to write about it. After almost 5 years of writing and recording we realized that this was something completely new and it felt natural to give it a new name. Dead Soul was born.
LFdM: I have to admit that everything you say, we can see and hear from the stage. Your songs are a combination of several different kinds of genres. I could dance with Johnny Cash's ghost in “Burn Forever”, while “The Patient” looks perfect as a Rob Zombie’ s movie soundtrack, full of psychedelic and romantic vibes, but these are just my personal opinions. What can you tell me about the recording process ? Did you notice any difference between the way of working and the way of producing ?
The only thing we care about is not to lose the original quality of the song in the search to find the right production for it. It is more a matter of making a good song better. During the work with the album many songs went through a lot of different arrangements and productions until they finally became what they are on the album. After 8 years of working together Niels still amazes me with his skills and it’s not surprising that he is becoming more and more in demand as a producer.
LFdM: Back to blues, rock and electronic sound: what do you like the most of these genres and what are the main influences that helped your music creation?
A: There’s several things that I believe makes us a bit different from other bands. We didn’t form Dead Soul because we had a similar music taste and the same favorite bands like most bands do. Instead we go for certain things that we appreciate in music. A couple of those things are simplicity and honesty but I certainly wouldn’t be the musician I am without delta blues legends like Robert Johnson and Son House and Niels close relationship to Pink Floyd and Radiohead has shaped his way of creating quite a lot. But first and foremost we try to avoid thinking too much about what other people have done before us and just make the kind of music we would like to listen to.
LFdM: I read somewhere that, at the beginning, you wouldn't have wanted to play live. Why? Live performances have always been the best way to get good vibrations from the audience and to receive the immediate feedback, which is way stronger than what it happens with just listening to cds.
A: I totally agree with you, playing live is a wonderful way to get instant reaction from the audience and it’s great to find ways to perform the songs a little bit different from the album. But because of the way we recorded the album without being concerned with being able to recreate the music live we also considered to just be a non-performing band. When Ghost asked us to open for them on a gig just after we got signed back in 2012 we decided to give it a chance and it worked very well. During the two years that has gone since that first gig we’ve developed a very strong live act and we couldn’t imagine not playing live now.
LFdM: Which one between the creative process and the final result has more meaning for you?
A: I would say that it is equally important. We really love the whole process from the first rough idea to recording and producing the song. We both really get a kick out of seeing a song develop BUT it never gets old to listen to the final song after a lot of work.
LFdM: Since your very first releases, you received a great feedback from the press, did you ever expect this to happen?
A: No. We’ve been involved with music for a long time, writing, recording and playing music live and we know how hard it is to get good reviews (or even get reviews at all) so especially the first couple of very good reviews from some major newspapers was really good to read. We knew that we had made a really good album but we had no idea if it would be a kind of music that would be liked by the reviewers. So that’s has been a nice bonus but in the end nothing beats getting a letter from a fan or seeing people sing along during a show. That’s the greatest reward you can get.
LFdM: Thanks a lot to Anders and Niels for the amazing gig... We hope to see you again!
Interview by Michela editing by Margherita
Photo shooting by Michela, Alessia Poldi e Alessia Braione
Photo shooting by Michela, Alessia Poldi e Alessia Braione
Dead Soul:
Niels Nielsen – Guitar
Anders Landelius – Vocals
Dead Soul live:
Niels Nielsen – Guitar
Anders Landelius – Vocals
Henric Bellinger – Bass/Synthesizer
Martin Hjertstedt – Drums
Joakim Ekstrand – Guitar
Anders Ristenstrand – Synthesizer
Ludvig Kennberg – Drums
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento