Let's take a look back at the history of the band: ¿Were you in other bands before forming Graveyard?

Yes. Joakim and Rikard was once upon a time in the band Norrsken together with Magnus Pelander from Witchcraft and Kristoffer Sjödahl from Dead Man (who has a new album coming out in april). Joakim, Rikard and me (Axel) was also in the band Albatros for a few years before Graveyard was formed. Svala was in a band called Solarius (you can find them on myspace).

We've heard you recorded a demo before the official album, is it true?

Yes it is true. The songs were Evil Ways and Blue is the colour of my soul. We recorded both songs again for the album and changed the title to Blue Soul. The songs were two of the first three songs we recorded and we recorded them about 1½ month after we started rehearsing.

Is it true that you only played three live shows before getting signed with Tee Pee?

This is also true. But no one at teepee saw any show, they only heard it on myspace. What you can say is that ever since we formed things has been going really fast. Now, just a little more than a year since we started we’re getting ready to go to the states and play and are doing interviews with a lot of the big rock magazines...

But that has changed! your tour schedule is really busy now!!

Indeed. And we are very satisfied with that. In march we’re as I said above going to USA to play at SXSW and then three shows on the east coast together with Witch. Then go home for one and a half week and then it’s off again through europe together with Witch also. Something we’re really looking forward too! We will also play at the Roadburn festival during the european tour, something which we also are really happy about! Playing live is what we like most, I know it’s been said before but the kick is just amazing when you tear it loose and you can see that the crowd is diggin it!

Where did you recorded the album? who was the producer, etc.?

We recorded in Gothenburg (Gotemburgo, Göteborg) where we live. The studio is owned by our producer Don Ahlsterberg. It’s a 100% analog studio. Actually the vinyl release from teepee will be 100% analog too, straight from the tape-reels to the vinylpressing.

Are you satisfied with the results?  

We are very satisfied, especially with Don’s work. Maybe we were a bit stressed, but overall we’re very satisfied.

How about the people's reaction? and the reviews?

Over all the reviews has been excellent! Which we are really happy about. There’s been one or two bad reviews but everyone can’t like what you do...

What are the differences between the Tee Pee release and the Transubtans Records one?

Well, teepee has a much bigger organisation so they’re able to draw a lot more attention to the album and so on. But both labels are run by people who really like music and are interested in what they release. And both labels are run by people who are very nice people!

Swedish rock is producing really good bands (at underground level, though), what do you think it's the reason for that?

Well, that’s quite hard to answer. Sweden has had a very vivid music scene regardless of genre ever since the fifties. There’s also structures in society which gives people the chance to concetrate on creating, for example you can get indirect funds from the state to help pay for your rehearsal room. Then there are also spirals – good things bring out new good things. If transfer this argument to peoples wellbeing you could say that when your depressed, you drink, when you drink you get more depressed, then you drink more and so on... Spirals can work in both ways I believe.

You usually get compared to Witchcraft, but in my opinion there are clear differences between both... what relation do you have now with Magnus Pelander's band?

We are very good friends with Witchcraft and we agree with you about the clear differences. Both bands are mainly inspired by music from the years 68-72 more or less. But that doesn’t mean we sound the same. Take for instance Jimi hendrix and Black Sabbath, they were active the same years more or less but they don’t sound like eachother because of that. Although you can here that their music was recorded in the same time period with more or less the same equipment. And as I said we are very good friends with them, a couple of weeks ago when we played in Örebro where most of us come from we had a blast together and drank the night away.

Any other good bands from your country?

Indeed! As I mentioned before you should really check out Dead Man. From Gothenburg where we live there’s a bunch of bands. Horisont – they’ve got a bit of November vibe going on without ever sounding as copies. I wouldn’t be too surprised if they will release an album on Transubstans this year. (myspace.com/horisont) Also from Gothenburg we have URAN – cold space punk (myspace.com/urangbg), we’ve got the Movements who we share rehearsal room with, they play somekind of spaceinfluenced hard garagerock (myspace.com/movementsthe). Also from gotheburg there’s Den Stora Vilan – westcoast gubbrock.

Now that you are on Tee Pee's roster and in the eye of the hurricane of such an exciting scene with bands like Witch, Earthless, Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound and others, (besides bands from other labels of course) How are you living that?

I don’t know yet. Everything has happened so fast. And we haven’t been to the states yet, but we’re really looking forward to that and to meet and listen to all the other teepee bands play live.

Internet is changing the relations between bands, listeners and independent media, how do you feel about it?

Everything that makes things easier for people to discover new music and connect with eachother is very positive I believe. Although it would be nice if people both downloaded for free AND bought a lot of vinyl. We as a band should be grateful to the possibilities that the internet gives you since it is how we made the first contact with both our labels.

Do you know anything about the spanish scene?

Not much about the current scene... I’ve heard of a recordlabel call small stone I think... A bit more of the old scene. Last week I was in madrid and there I picked up a copy of Tapimans album. My friend has also played me Pan y Regaliz a few times. But that’s about as much I know about old spanish rock. We all dig Pappo’s Blues very much, I know it’s argentinian but at least the lyrics are spanish. The guy in Melocoton records played me anew spanish band, can’t remember the name though...

Soon you'll be playing at Roadburn which is for many people the best festival on earth...

Again, really looking forward to it! We actually got that gig during the european tour we did last november. We got a gig in Tilburg so we told Walter to come and see us. It turned out so that he was the DJ for the night. Anyway, he was impressed with our liveshow and offered us a spot a few days later. And now there’s like four teepee bands or something playing at Roadburn.

Talk us about the album. Clearly you have a strong influence of 60's and 70's rock, something we really love!!

Yes. But we also listen to a lot of other music. Like jazz, swedish folk music, old blues and other things. José Gonzalez from Gothenburg (acoustic guitar and vocals) is great! Also a bit of desert blues from west africa. The album has nine songs and they are the first nine songs we wrote. It was recorded in april and may in Gothenburg with Don as I said above. We want to give a lot of credit to Don for how the album turned out. He brings good ideas to the songs and he is an excellent engineer.

Is there any unreleased material from the album sessions?

No. Nothing at all. But we will soon record some new material. When we get back from the states, don’t know yet in what way they will be released.

How much is left to improvisation when you record?

Not too much, we parts in some songs that are a bit improvised. But we don’t want to drag it out too long on record. But when we play live some songs are a lot longer because we improvise and stretch out some parts that better for jamming.

How important are the lyrics?

They are improtant, but also personal. It wouldn’t do the music justice if you had bullshit lyrics. We try to use lyrics that has the same feel as the song. All of us write them.

Have you ever thought of singing in your own language?

Not really. We discussed it but it feels right to sing in english. It’s a bit of a rock language. Even though we like November and Pappos and so on. It’s up to every artist and I think the most important thing is that singer feels comfortable with the langauge he or she is singing in. If you’re not that uncomfortableness will come out in the music too.

Are you preparing new material for a second album?

We are preparing new material as I said above, but we don’t know if it’s for a new album, a split ep, a single or something. We’re constantly writing new material...

Well, that's it. Thank you very much for your attention... anything you wish to add?

Muchas gracias y vaya con dios hombres!! Si claro, pero es una bouteilla de vino tinto.

Published 28 / 2 / 2008

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