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INDEX
INTERVIEWS
GUESTBOOK
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SWEDISH DEATH METAL
1. Hello. Can you introduce ENTRAILS and its creator to our readers?
Hello. I’ll
try to do my best to answer your questions. Hehe
Entrails is
a band that I (Jimmy) and a friend started around 90, in a small
village in southern Sweden... We had strong influences of that time’s
death metal bands like Entombed, Dismember, Grave, Morgoth, Cemetary,
and also the cult band Hellhammer etc… and 80's thrash with Slayer,
early Metallica as the leaders.
All those bands were the spine
of our music and we became a death metal band called Entrails. After
being a real band with 4 members we began to rehearse and we did
a bunch of songs… And after a few years, the drummer and bassist
decided to quit, and shortly thereafter the band died.
2. ENTRAILS was formed in 1990, but nothing was recorded... Finally years later you reformed the band, and released a demo entitled "Reborn"! Why was there a so long sleep? Lack of musicians? Vanishing of the scene? What motivated you to come back and reanimate the band?
We did some
studio recordings but the quality was so bad we never released anything…
Those songs we did record at that time were only for our own use,
so to speak.
The reason for this long absence is simply that
after those guys dropped of the band there was no one else around
to join and play with the rest of us. And then my interests for
other activities came stronger and made me quit playing music. It
was a tough decision to take, but at that time I had no option.
My
motivations are nostalgia and a certain anger about death metal
that have started to get out of hand and become worse in my point
of view, my music is an answer to that. That is what has given me
the strength to come back and start where I ended playing, and to
show that brutal and good music still can be made.. Hehe
Today
it’s the technique and shit that dominate in the new death metal
(And other styles), while I prefer simplicity and brutality. I don’t
give a damn how fast and how good the technique of the guitarist
is for example. As long you play heavy and brutal, it’s fine by
me…
3. I read you use some old riffs from the 1990's in your compositions... You exhume a lot of rehearsal tapes and find some good riffs to be reanimated... Are the new songs all made of old riffs, or also newer guitars? How do you compose these songs? How many old ENTRAILS rehearsal tapes do you own, more than 100? Hehe
Hehe... Yes
… There are only old riffs and songs from the past in my project..
I had a lot of time in my younger days to make many riffs and songs
finished, at that time I sat playing guitar and record many things
on an old tape recorder, so I could remember and perhaps use it
in the future. I have now begun to re-scan the tapes to find stuffs
and make cruel songs…The songs that weren’t finished when I began
to record my demo were simply patched with old riffs from those
tapes hehe
I don’t know exactly, but there are probably at least
50 tapes left to check out for more stuffs, so there will probably
be some more songs with old stuff to shake up.. Hehe
4. You don't have a drummer, so you use a drum machine... Did some peoples react negatively? I think it's ok since it's quite well programmed and sounds quite nice (A bit like COMECON's first album maybe). It makes the songs sound more professional since the drums are very neat...
Frankly, I
don’t care at all what others say about having a real drummer or
not. However, I prefer real drummers, but they don’t grow on trees
around here…
For the demo I only owned that drum program for
3 months, so my skills weren’t that good to make it sound human…
When I’ll have the skills to use and program it, the drums will
be much better and those who talked negatively about the drumprog
won’t hear the difference…
5. Your guitar sound is good, it sounds like old Swedish death without problems, with a nice crisp and enough heaviness! (At least, it sounds more Swedish than many bands who try to, in my hears). What kind of pedals and effects do you use to have this cool sound? Where was the demo recorded?
Guitar sound
is the most important thing for Death Metal... (My point of view)
And Entombed, Dismember, etc got the absolutely best guitar sound
ever, there were no questions about it! I will use that sound too!
Sure, there are also other decent sounds, but if you are going to
play Swedish oldschool death it is the sound that reigns if you
ask me.
For pedals and effects, I use a boss Heavy metal (the
Japanese version only. The Taiwan model sounds like shit) and a
Line 6 pod 2.0 on which I directly connect the mixing console (Therefore,
I use no amps), and the reason is my studio is in an apartment where
I recorded and made my demo from start to finish…. It’s very neat
to have an own studio so close, you can work with music whenever
you want. Hehe
6. Since you're older than the average new Swedish old school death musicians, do you feel a part of this fresh and new wave of old school Death, or maybe you feel closer to the older bands who come back after years of inactivity? What do you think is the best "category" for ENTRAILS since you didn't record demos back then?
Difficult question,
well of course I am a little bit older now, unfortunately… I would
like to turn back the clock to my 15 years. Therefore I think I
am a person who keeps and supports the older bands before the new
upcoming ones; As long as they don’t change their style and play
boring stuff, I support them.
In which category entrails
should be, I can not tell, but to belong to the elderly bands would
be more fun Hehe
7. You don't
have a drummer, the vocals are done by a friend of yours, so it
seems the band is your solo project. Do you think it's good to control
everything and make music exactly the way you want? Would you like
to cooperate with other musicians?
Do you think some ENTRAILS
gigs would be possible in the future?
Initially (90-94)
we were a complete band and there were no thoughts about having
a solo project, but as the time and things evolved it has now became
a solo project... Though, I have the professional help of vocalist
Jocke who really has the deep voice I want, and have other willing
souls to help if necessary.
There are different sides of having
a band and not having one... I have tried both hehe. Now when I’m
alone I can do everything my way, and get some help from friends
if necessary… If it was a complete band, there would be many souls
to satisfy, and so my songs could sound different, which may be
negative or positive... I prefer to have peoples contribute to the
band as long as they share the same goals then I do.
I want
to make a gig somewhere, in the near future…
8. Who drawn your logo? It reminds me of something... ;-)
It was the drummer from the old days who drawn the logo... I don’t think it was meant to look that way from the beginning… But the lack of artistic skills may have been the reason for it was influenced by something that already was nice. Hehe
9. On a listener's point of view, do you prefer to listen to the old bands or do you also try to get all the new demos of the newer bands? It seems there are often new morbid Swedish bands recording demos, are you involved into this, or do you prefer to order the new albums of your old favourite bands such as ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER, GRAVE etc...
I probably belong to the majority of peoples who would rather listen to the older influences and old bands than chasing new ones to listen to… But I would surely check a band out if a friend told me to listen to them. For sure I support a new band if they play real cool music in my ears..
10. It seems
many of these younger bands were strongly influenced by REPUGNANT,
apparently their quite few years of existence were important to
relaunch the life of putrid Death metal in Sweden... Some bands
such as KAAMOS, DELVE/ VERMINOUS and few others might also have
helped... Do you think REPUGNANT were really so important, of they
were only one the morbid factors that helped, and maybe things could
have happened without them?
Well, I'm not sure if you're the
best person to answer since their influence can't particularly be
felt in your music (It sounds totally 90's) but it might be worthy
to try and shake the cadaver ;-)
No, I don’t think I am the man for this question… Next please
11. In the 90's, did you use to write for paper zines? Or maybe you did something else? Do you keep like precious blood all the great fanzines you got in the 90's, or you're not too much of a collector? (It's not always easy to keep everything in a room ahah)
No, I only
played my music until the day I sold everything and went for my
second career as a rally driver…. It’s a very different hobby than
to play death metal.. hehe… But when it became too expensive to
race, and nostalgia and craving for the music was too tough, I went
back to my roots.
For this question, if I am a collector, I’d
say I did collect stuffs like my old cassettes and goblets from
my rally career... Hehe
12. Do you also play in other projects? Do you make something else on an artistic point of view? (Drawing, painting, making movies, writing etc...)
No, I am only
involved with this project called Entrails, but it would be fun
to play with others if something turns up.
Much depends on what
price you're willing to take, and if you do something serious with
this other project… But no, I prefer to make my music, that is what
I can do best I think. Hehe
13. I read your demo was limited to 100 copies only... It's quite limited in fact... Was it a conscious choice, to keep it quite cult and occult, or you have money problems? Did the demo sell well, and do you think you could have sold this amount without myspace?
I think you
read it wrong because I only made 50 copies.. Hehe
Yeah, that
was the thing I had on mind, to own an entrails demo would be cult
in a few years! Something that has became expensive and hard to
get in a few years hehe.
The Demo has sold well I think, above
my expectations, and I got very good and positive feedbacks from
zines in their reviews… And everyone told me they wanted to hear
more of Entrails.
Since the demo is self-produced, self-published
and paid by myself, there is obviously a limit due to the price
of things… So I begin at a low level.
I wanted to know how things
went on by selling the demo, before taking the step up the stairs…
Myspace is obviously a great advertising pillar for bands, and it
has also helped me and my music..
14. What are the next plans for ENTRAILS? You have something to sell right now? This last question is yours, feel free to conclude and add whatever needed.
Yeah, I still
got my demo “Reborn” to sell as a cd-r (Very few left).
For the
moment I am working on a new demo, hopefully it will be ready before
December (Perfect Christmas present Hehe). This one will contain
a horror-intro signed Entrails, 5 original songs and a cover of
Dismember.
I will also check out the possibilities to sell Entrails
t-shirts, because a lot of requests have been made by fans.
My
plans for next year are to make a real pro album with a real drummer,
etc (If I can get someone to pay for it hehe) and of course to use
the best songs from the 2 demos for that…
Web page: http://www.myspace.com/entrailsreborn
