SPASMODIC (Eng.)
– Hello, lots of thanks for answering our interview. How is everything going into the SPASMODIC’s camp right now?
HI! Everything is great. We just got home from two weeks of touring some countries in Europe as support for the Swedish death metal band Demonical. It was a lot of partying and a lot of crazy shit happening. Total chaos and panic the whole tour but we survived and are safe at home in Ludvika right now.
– First off, as you recently released your debut album; could you please make some history of the band?
Well it was in the melodic metal band Metaphor me, Johan Haglund and Tommy Haglund first meet. We did not really like the music that the band was creating so we left the band. We were more into the death metal and grindcore genre. So we started Spasmodic and began looking for a fast drummer and another technical guitarist that was able to play the music that we wanted. We recorded about 4 demos with a lot of different members coming and going before we nailed the EP Carve Perfection and our album Mondo Illustrated.
– We could say SPASMODIC was born from the ashes of METAPHOR, which split up due to different opinions between the band members but, seeing most of your were also in METAPHOR, why didn’t you decide to just go on as METAPHOR? Did the more brutal sound you wanted to play have something to do with that?
Yes exactly! We wanted to go more brutal, which the other members did not. And it is more easy to quit a band than kick someone of, if you know what I mean. And Metaphor is a really bad name for a band I think.
– You were formed in 2005 (if I’m not wrong), but it was months ago when you released your debut album so, how has SPASMODIC evolved since you were formed?
Yes we started the band in 2005, but at that point we were still kind of young and were not that good at playing our instruments to create the kind of music that we wanted. So all of these years in our rehearsal room have been a long training and a way of developing the sound that we were searching for. And that is the sound you hear today.
– Since then the band has been through several line-up changes. How has this affected SPASMODIC?
Well first of all it takes a lot of time to replace a band member. Especially in our town cuz it is a really small town and not that many people here are interested in that kind of music. And second of all we have learned not to recruit people with drug problems, alcoholics or persons who are mentally unstable.
– As I said, some months ago you released your debut album, entitled «Mondo Illustrated». How did everything work? I mean the feedback, what are now your feelings on the final outcome, etc.
Well we are kind of surprised that we have received that many good opinions that we did, cuz we were expecting that just a small group of people would get what we were all about and what message we wanted to spread. But it seems like the critics and other people really look into the music and take their time to read the lyrics. Many of them get a feeling of nausea and disgust and that is a very good thing and we are very happy about that.
– «Carve Perfection» had one theme going through all the songs. What about the lyrics on «Mondo Illustrated»? What do they deal with?
Well at one point of my life I was almost addicted to watch snuff clips and other stuff about the mondo culture in different forums and sites on the internet. Basically clips and videos containing people dying and other really horrifying stuff happening. That is called Mondo culture and it is really big on the internet. It is a very scary thought, to be murdered on camera and exposed on the internet for millions of people to watch. I am kind of traumatized about the whole movement and wanted to put that on the album. The whole album is all about the mondo culture.
– The whole album is straight-forward and groovy Brutal Death Metal with some Grind nuances. Due to this, what could you say have been the most influential bands for SPASMODIC?
I have no idea actually. That is a very hard question to answer but everybody in the band listen to all kind of death metal, grindcore and punk.
– There’s also an interesting diveristy in structures so, how was the songwriting process for this release?
Well I don’t know if I have a good answer for that but basically we just create riffs that we like and put them together and try to arrange them to keep up a fast and aggressive atmosphere. It is very important not to loose the hate and intensity in the sound.
– DARK FUNERAL’s Emperor Magus Caligula has done guest vocal on a few tracks, but I also read he contributed with some lyrics as well. Could you please elaborate a little bit on what kind of input did he have and what did the contribute with?
Well first of all we were kind of worried that he would have a problem with the distasteful lyrics and think that we where just a bunch of idiots being silly. But he really liked the whole concept and laughed a lot. But he complained about my knowledge in the English language so he kept the theme of the lyrics but rewrote the songs and arranged them so they fitted his way of putting down vocals.
– «Mondo Illustrated» is a really intense effort, both in sound terms, with a really forceful sound, as in speed terms. Is it something easy to maintain throughout 13 songs?
In the studio it is not a problem. But when we perform live it can be a problem. You got to have a good daily fitness to maintain it throughout a show of 16 songs. And it gets even worse when the other guys in the band have forbidden me to talk or rest between the songs, just a short break so I get the time to tell the name of the song, 3-5 seconds maximum. It happens once in a while that I faint for a short moment on stage, due to the lack of oxygen. And once in a while I have vomited on stage cuz of exhaustion. But I try to throw up very discrete, like in a glass or something.
– To that forceful sound contributes a lot the good production you’ve had. Tommy Tägtgren mixed it an Jonas Kjellgren did the master, two seasoned guys. Did they get the sound you were looking for?
Yes very much. We wanted that dirty unruly sound wich gives the album more feeling of chaos and aggression, instead of that clean modern death metal sound most of the bands produce nowadays.
– All this about «Mondo Illustrated» being said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?
Insest, suicide and rock’n’roll.
– And finally, what are your near-future plans?
We are going to start working with our next album as soon as we can and hopefully we will do another support tour in 2014. And of course keep on working with all our other projects. Mikael Hanni is soon releasing an EP with his band Disrupted. Johan Haglund will keep on playing with Demonical and I will keep on touring with October Tide and will soon release an EP, followed by an album with Volturyon. So a lot of stuff are happening right now.
