TAD MOROSE (Eng.)
– First off thank you so much for answering our interview. How is the band currently doing?
A: Oh, thank YOU! Well, we are just fine. Busy with all the things around the release but that´s the way we like it! A lot of interviews, signing stuff for fans, rehearsing for up and coming live shows. First up is our “pre-release party” in Gävle, Sweden on November 16th. Which will be a special night for us celebrating the release of Revenant! So I guess that it will be party of Viking proportions! He he he.
– You are releasing a new album, entitled «Revenant». Tell us a little bit about its recording sessions and if you are satisfied with the final outcome.
A: Well, we have been working for so long with this album but I can say that the actual recording of what would become Revenant started like 2,5 – 3 years ago or so. Then we have been changing parts here and there and so on forever. Ha ha ha. The downside of having your own recording studios! When we started the recording we didn´t have a record deal so we were in no big hurry. But then all of a sudden everything got really speeded up the last 6 months or so. But that was a good thing! Otherwise I guess we would still be in the studio. Ha ha ha. I must say that I am pleased with how the album turned out. Especially since I know what lays beneath everything about this record.
– Listening to the album, besides a powerful and clean production, I find it like an album more oriented toward the most classic sound of the 90’s Heavy or Power Metal, with a lot of epicness. How would you define this record compared to the previous ones?
A: …hmmm, that is a tough one. But I personally think that Revenant is a natural step for us from Modus Vivendi on the same path that took from the Undead album and onwards. I guess we are not a very “modern” band so your description fits very well I think. Nice to hear that you like the production!
– Of course, we can also hear progressive elements, something in your early days had a bigger pressence. Does this just come on a spontaneous way or were you thinking about heading this new opus toward something more classic and epic?
A: I think that has come naturally and gradually to us. We never think about writing in a certain direction or such, we just do it and we stick to whatever feels good there and then. In the early days we kind of thought that it was cool if a song was tricky to play and was very long. But after doing many live shows we seem to go for a bit more straight forward approach perhaps. Since playing live is what makes our engine run, there is no point really to write songs you can´t play live. But again, this has all come naturally. So we didn´t sit down and said: “hey, let´s write songs we can play live!”
– Something else I noticed is the «concept feeling», so to speak, that the songs convey. Does this album have some kind of concept or is it just my perception?
A: There is no particular concept. But for some reason I think many of our albums got that felling in a way. Usually that could be explained with that we write all the songs during a short period of time. But that is not the case with Revenant. Hey, some parts in some songs dates back to like 2005 or so! So I don´t really know. Perhaps it´s just a part of how we sound?
– What does the image on the cover artwork represent? And along the same lines of the previous questions, what do the lyrics of TAD MOROSE deal with on this latest effort? What are the inspirations behind these tunes?
A: The artwork represents me before I decided to shave my head! Ha ha ha. I guess I had that similar “hair style” in the end. No, honestly, it kind of represents the band in a way. Kind of “We´re finally back, more pissed then ever!” We almost drowned in problems over a long period of time, but we fought hard and here we come! Bursting up from the sea of problems. Wow, that was poetic… The lyrics are mostly about life, death and other morbid tales and the healthy thing of questioning things instead of just believing whatever somebody tells you or something that perhaps comes from some specific old books….
– It has taken you 10 years to release a new record. What prompted this hiatus? What have you been up to throughout these years?
A: We have been going through many line-up changes in the band during this time which has set us back many times. For some reason they always seemed to come with a very bad timing as well. Kind of like whenever we started to pick up some pace again somebody decided to leave the band. This has been very frustrating to say the least. But not much to do about really, things changes and we are only human. Perhaps, all this had a meaning too. This album was perhaps not meant to be until now? We have been working on the album, writing songs, playing live more or less all the time during this 10 year period.
– From 2000 to 20003 you released one album per year. Was this the best period for the band? Tell us about those years and how was for the band to have such a huge activity.
A: Yeah, that was good times! We had so much fun. We did many very cool shows, played at huge festivals and so on. But success seems to take its toll too, in various ways on some people. You better have your feet firmly on the ground! When everything kind of runs by itself in a way, it is very easy to be in a band. But when things get tough and things don´t come easy you have to be made of something special to be able to carry on. If you think that being in a band is only good fun and like a walk in the park a sunny afternoon all the time, you shouldn´t really be in a band to begin with if you ask me. But with this line-up it feels like we are more “glued together” then ever so I think we got our best times still to come!
– Anyway, you started back during the mid 90’s. As I have the chance of interviewing you, I would like you to tell us a little bit how was the band borned and how were the first years and the first releases.
A: Well, I had been playing in local bands for quite some time, but nothing happened. So I thought that I should start a new band and really work hard to get somewhere. I knew there was so much more to making a band work then just writing songs, jamming and playing a local show once or twice a year. I thought that was fun too, but I wanted more out of it. I had the picture pretty clear to me how I wanted it. To me, a band is a band! Meaning that you all share everything equally, you all strive in the same direction, and you all put down as much work as you can. Everybody has to speak up if they got something to say and there has to be democracy. This is however much harder in real life then it might seem, however strange it may sound. So I started what would become Tad Morose. We recorded one demo tape and sent it to some record companies and got signed right away. And all of a sudden we had our first album out and it got great reviews. Record of the month in Rock Hard (Germany) and so on, Things “snowballed” from there on for us for a short while. So during this period in time we could “tick many boxes” in our lives. We had a record deal. We had released a couple of albums. We had been on tour and so on. So life was good. But then the going got tougher and, yeah, you know the drill by now, right?
– And coming back to the present days; do you have any projects for the next years? Is there a steady line-up that woul allow you to release albums on a more regular basis?
A: Well, you never know, do you? But I certainly hope, and that is what it feels like too, that this line-up will stick together so that we can get things going on a regular basis again. Perhaps not a new album every year, but every year and a half or so perhaps! Depending on if we think the songs are good enough of course. Some of us had kids and houses and so on, so obviously we can´t spend 24 hours a day with the band like back in the old days. But we are more focused and a lot more experienced nowadays and we know what we want. So that helps us to aim more accurate from the start. Back in the day it was more like “spray and pray” Ha ha ha.
– Have you already thought about releasing a live album? Do you have any touring dates or will you play at any festival next year?
A: No we haven´t. But it would be nice to do a live album, or a live DVD. Who knows, perhaps that will happen soon? We got plenty of video material from all the years so we have have been talking about perhaps making a DVD about the band or something. We got some pro-filmed shows too like the Prog Power Festival, Atlanta, USA from the Modus Vivendi era (I think that was filmed by 6 cameras) that never has been released. There are no tour dates set at the moment. Our 
management is dealing with various booking agencies right now so hopefully things will start to get settled soon. There will of course be shows and festivals during 2014! We just don´t know where and when right now.
– That’s all from our side. Is a pleasure to have you guys back on track. Our best wishes and hope to see you in Spain someday.
A: Well, thank YOU again! We would love to play in Spain. We never done that before! So that would be a first for us! I hope a lot of people will like our new album Revenant in Spain too so that we get might get to play there! And hey! Winter is kicking in up here so pleas hurry up! Ha ha ha.
Take care and stay heavy!
PLAY LOUD!
Cheers!
Krunt / Tad Morose
