HENRIK PALM (EN)
-Hello, thank you so much for answering to
our interview. How’s everything going? What’s keeping you busy?
All good here. Pandemic sucks but I just stay busy with my dayjob and listening
to records and/or watching movies. The usual routines basically.
I have a few musical projects in the works
however:
SPHYNXS: Metal Urbain meets Chrome meets Hellhammer. Drum machine-driven and
fuzzy as fuck. A cassette is coming ASAP. Mega stoked for this one.
A.I.D.S: Project with members from Wolfbrigade, Kite and Anti Cimex. Like
Discharge but with some industrial and heavy synth-sounds. A 12” is coming in
the spring on the mighty La Vida es un Mus-label.
Other than that I’m touring with my friend Mattias Alkberg during the fall here in Sweden. It’s gonna be great fun.
I have some songs written for HP3 but that can take a while before that becomes a record. No stress here!
-How, when and why did you decide to go solo?
To be honest I don’t know if I have decided yet if this is the way to go or not hahah. But it feels great anyhow. I guess it was an experiment to test some ideas I had left from both Pig Eyes and In Solitude. Tor Sjöden (Viagra Boys, drummer and co-producer on “Many Days”) pushed to do it with my own name instead of a silly pseudonym and that was basically it. His and other friends’ encouragement was the push I needed, really.
-You’ve previously been involved in
several other bands, from SONIC RITUAL to IN SOLITUDE among others. After
having played music with different individuals and in different music styles,
what does your solo project provide you on a more personal level?
Musically
I don’t have to compromise with anything really. That’s a strength I have
picked up through this. Nothing is set in stone and that’s what I like about
it. My goal is to use this as a vessel to fulfill any musical idea or need I
have. I guess that’s the point of going solo anyway. It’s not like I’m gonna
start to sing in French or start messing with drum & bass. But I can and I
will do whatever I want no matter what and I don’t give a fuck what people
think of it. I can also just pull the plug whenever I feel I wanna do something
else. Total freedom.
– Does having your own project provide you
some kind of self-confidence? Or do problems/challenges also make you grow with
a stronger determination?
Yeah
sure it does. Yet I don’t try to be too self aware ‘cos that can really fuck up
the creativity. Being “alone” (which I’m really not, I have some lovely friends
and people helping me out all the time) is of course challenging but you just
have to trust your instincts. If you are unsure of something just go with it
and see what happens.
-Last year you released your second album,
“Poverty Metal”. I read while on “Many Days” some of the songs were written at
first as tunes for PIG EYES, this time all the songs were written specifically
for this album. What effect would you say this had on the final outcome?
More
cohesive I guess. I felt more free and open and happy in general which spurred
it all in the right direction. To me personally Poverty Metal is a happy
record. Believe it or not.
– “Poverty Metal” sounds a bit like a pun,
or a satire. It even has that gothic typography a lot of bands have used. Could
you shed some light on the meaning behind the title and on how you came up with
it?
My
friend Henry of Impure/Electric Assault Records-fame enlightened me with this
term when I visited him in New York City a few years ago. He told me the
members of the Canadian band Cauldron used it as a term for old bargain bin heavy
metal from the 80’s. The records hardly anyone cares about. I just thought it
was a perfect title. It opens up your imagination. To me the title also could
mean like “You do as good as you can” or something in that sense. Any heavy
metal band in those bargain bin piles of records probably thought that the
music they did was just as good as Judas Priest. And it didn’t go all the way
most of the time but that’s how it is and that attitude should be cherished
more sometimes. That’s my pretty confused answer on the title haha.
The whole gothic imagery fitted well with the title since Venom’s “Black
metal”-cover has the same font and style in a way. A little bit of good ole’
nerdy references here and there all over the record and that flirt is just one
of them.
–This time there are a few guitar solos
here and there, a lot of fuzz too. And weirdness. Did you have a clear vision
in your mind about how the album should feel/sound like or has it developed
itself in a more spontaneous way? From the writing to the recording or even the
mix, do the songs get new life?
Yeah it was all in my head from the start. Initially I wanted it to be more
grim, rowdy and psychedelic. I had bands like Flipper, Blue Cheer, The Stooges,
Hellhammer and other noisy assholes in mind. But I came to realize that I’m too
much of an emotional wimp to go all the way with that kind of balls to the
walls-racket so it all changed when me and Simon (Söderberg, producer) started
the pre-production. That’s when the sound and the overall vibe of the album
started taking form. I wanted a bit more loose sound, more fuzz and guitar
solos ‘cos I missed that a bit on the first one. And I think the playing of
drummer Daniel Moilanen (Katatonia, Runemagick) really shaped the sound even
more in the right direction. That’s when I got that gut feeling that I lived on
for the rest of the recording. I think we achieved all the goals I had in mind
and all the others’ lovely contributions really took it up a notch.
-The album is as ugly as it is beautiful
yet always dark and heavy. This builds some sort of imagery. A sonic/mental
landscape. What inspires this “imagery”? A mix of inside and outside influences
maybe? I think I sense some sort of a horror vibe?
It’s
all gut feeling really. I don’t try to analyze everything so much. I just want
the song to flow and hit you like a knife in the stomach.
-Speaking of horror; any favourite movies
or books?
Uh! The list is endless. But here are some –
more or less – hidden gems:
The Resurrected (1991) – for the seriousness
Besökarna (1988) – the only really good Swedish horror movie
Chopping Mall (1986) – for the lovely silliness.
When it comes to books I read a lot of biographies about music and cinema.
Hardly any fiction. Maybe someday. But a book I’ve been heavily into recently
is Stephen Thrower’s amazing “Beyond terror”, which covers the entire career
and life of Lucio Fulci. Every movie gets a very detailed run through and every
page is a feast for the mind. Highly recommend it. It weighs a ton and looks
amazing on the shelf, which doesn’t hurt either.
Another book I’m deep into now is the Video Forex-collection which collects all
of the issues that came out 1997-2004 in a robust hardback book. Video Ferox
was a Swedish movie fanzine which mostly covered horror, sleaze and other weird
stuff. Very funny and informative, yet it’s only available in Swedish.
And last but not least I have to mention the new biography by Steve Sylvester
of the mighty Death SS. What a fucking band and what an insane story. I
instantly wanted to transform myself into a horror obsessed, Satan worshipping
glam rocker after reading it. Get it NOW.
-In fact I feel like this record works a
little bit like a movie in the sense that it has a beginning and an end. Why
this formula? What stories are you telling here? What do they deal with?
Yeah
I like albums with a clear beginning and an end. Like it’s a whole piece and
not “just” pieces put together. But that varies too. I like both Devil Doll and
Dead Moon so what do I know? But I guess you can compare it to a movie.
Dramaturgy is important and both my records have a certain degree of “acts”
which the track orders are built around.(I can also fill in here that I studied
cinema history at the university here in Stockholm for a year and it really
made its mark on me).
I like to construct it that way because I wanna give the listener a chance to
come into my world for a moment and stay there till the end, if they want. It’s
made to listen right through and I wanna make the journey as
pleasant/unpleasant as possible. So I put a lot of effort into that. In fact
the order of the songs was set even before I recorded the album. So I had a
clear idea of what I wanted it to feel like, the ebb and the flow and all that
crap. There is really no proper storyline – the album is not lyrically thematic
in any way – but I hope people’s imagination takes them wherever they are
comfortable.
–Sound-wise it mixes Rock n’ Roll with the energy and aggressiveness/attitude of Punk and a bit of Post Punk’s dark atmosphere, elements à la VOIVOD and many other different nuances. It feels like a free expression of darkness and deterioration somehow. What does, not the music, but the ethos/spirit of different music styles bring or influence what you are doing?
I just write my little songs and this is
how it turns out. I don’t have a formula or a checklist of influences or things
I wanna include just because it is supposed to fit a certain style or
narrative. I experiment a lot with the odd guitar tuning here and there, maybe
try some new sounds etc but the songs are the main focus. I’m a music
lover/nerd so I listen to music 24/7 so it’s really hard to pin down any
certain influences or style. I guess some influences are obvious but usually
it’s because some stuff is so integrated in my DNA rather than being a
conscious direction. So it comes from everything really. Be it Cirith Ungol,
Billy Childish or Flying Saucer Attack. Or a Sergio Martino-movie. Or a bad day
at work, a nice day at the beach or a bike ride in the rain around Stockholm.
Inspiration and influences are everywhere.
But I certainly have a sweet spot for the weird and the avantgarde and if I can
I want to push that element even further. So that could be more of a conscious
thing in the songwriting process. I mean I worship people like The Residents,
Chrome, This Heat, Univers Zero, Captain Beefheart and Throbbing Gristle and
that experimental approach. So yes, I’m a pretentious asshole that rather not
take the easy way out all the time. So hopefully more uneasy listening-music in
the future.
-The cover artwork made me instantly think
of RUDIMENTARY PENI. It’s very raw and Punk-looking (just like the cover of
your debut) and with a lot of elements. How and who did work on it? What is it
a representation of?
Yeah
Rudimentary Peni is a huge inspiration for the cover art and the music as well.
TOTAL genius. Sebastian Murphy (also in Viagra Boys) who did the cover knew
exactly what I wanted and he improved my very vague ideas in spades. I just
wanted something extreme and scary to clad the whole thing in. Contrasts,
madness etc. I think the covers tie in really well what I want to explore and
express with the music.
-“Poverty Metal” was crafted and released
during a pandemic. Has this record become some sort of haven for you? A form of
escapism?
No
it became more of a waiting game rather than escapism paradise. The album was
recorded right before the pandemic hit big time so after that I just had to
figure out a way to kill time. So it’s mostly been a harsh reality during the
last year and a half. Mostly working my ass off at my dayjob. I work with
people with special needs and I really like that. But everything has
been alright considering none in my family, close friends etc have been
severely sick so I can’t really complain. A strange year nonetheless.
But the whole two weeks recording of
Poverty Metal were pure joy and escapism to some degree. Everybody was at the
top of their game and it was a 100% pleasant experience. I got reminded why I
do this and that is because it’s FUN. That’s what it’s all about for me
right now.
-All this about “Poverty Metal” being
said; how would you describe it in just 3 words?
Better
next time. Trust me! Go!
– I believe this project feels very DIY. And more like a way of working or having control over a creative process, I also feel the term “DIY” relates more to an aesthetic, to an ethos. It’s something that somehow makes certain releases feel more passionate and real, even rawer. Was to really make it feel like a DIY thing something you were consciously looking for? Or is a matter of freedom?
Hmmm… Well I guess it’s a bit DIY by default. I’m very aware that I’m not gonna sell a hundred thousand records anyway so DIY is the most realistic way to go for me with this “project”. And that feels just absolutely amazing to be in this position where I can try out things without anyone interfering or trying to force me to be commercial, whatever that is in this day and age. And I wasn’t really looking for anything consciously then to make the best album that I possibly could at this time.
-And finally what’s next for you?
Doing some Scandinavian gigs during the fall. Hopefully a lot more during 2022.
We’ll see. But first I need a some fucking time off from my job. “Give me paid
vacation or give me death” like Diamanda Galas (almost) said.
– That’s all from our side, thanks again for your time. If you’d like to add some final words, feel free to do it.
FUCK FASCISM. FUCK NAZIS. Stay healthy, stay clean and have fun.
