THIS OR THE APOCALYPSE (Eng.)
– Hello, thanks for answering to our questions. How is everything doing right now with THIS OR THE APOCALYPSE?
It’s doing good. We’ve all had a couple months to get our lives in order before we start touring the world again.
– First off, could you please make some history of the band?
We started playing together in college for fun. Next thing we know, we’re a real band. We’ve always been a very tight knit group of friends so it made sense to just stay a band for years.
– And how did you come up with the band’s name?
Was far better than any of the other band names we had come up with. Apparently «Some Fucking Lions» was only a good idea to me.
– Your new album, “Dead Years”, will come out next September. What are your expectations with it?
I think I’m going to be back on the road for a while.
– This opus combines catchiness with a great technicality. Nowadays bands showing a good technical ability seem to forget about having also a certain straight-forward approach and catchy melodies on their music so, is this balance of both things something important for THIS OR THE APOCALYPSE?
It’s tough because you really can’t just throw things in there. A good sounding album requires certain mixing and certain sounds to make it work. Hence, when you just try to plop something in, it might sound incredible if you tend to that one part… but then the rest of the song sounds lackluster. You have to find creative ways to blend ideas and surprise listeners. Personally, I think that the majority of the emotion/melody comes from the guitar work on this album. The vocals are predominantly aggressive.
– On this effort I also noticed certain Rock doses, providing a strong groove to your tunes so, could you say you are still shaping your very own sound?
I hope we are, I can’t really say if we are. Every time I listen to our stuff I can point out 40 bands that I ripped off from one second to the next. Maybe we finally ripped off enough of them that we’re doing something new. I mean, we’re playing in a band with two guitarists playing heavily distorted chuggy metal, a drummer with a double kick set up, and screaming vocals. We’re already in an archetype. I think you need to be able to be ok with the fact that you’re going down treaded roads if you’re going to try to do something great. Otherwise you’re just going to try to make sounds that you think haven’t been done before. The worst art is made when you just want to do something different rather than doing something good.
– This being said on your music you combine Hardcore, differents Metal styles as Metalcore and Rock but, what have been the most influential bands for the band?
We all have our influences individually. Artists like Meshuggah, Defeater, Shai Hulud, Darkest Hour, M83, At the Drive-in, Beastie Boys, El-P, Hopesfall, all come to mind.
– Anyway, what could you say differences your new record to your previous releases?
It’s a very different record. It’s structured differently, mixed differently, written differently, performed differently.
– How has the songwriting for this new “Dead Years” like?
No idea was left off the table. We simply made whatever we felt like making from day to day.
– This time around production sounds just great, in fact seasoned Andreas Magnusson took such duties. Are you satisfied with the work done by him?
Yeah. Andreas is awesome. He’s just a great guy. Kevin did a great job, too. We had a cool team.
– The cover artwork also caught my attention; it has a certain vibe to old comics. What did you want to express with it?
We wanted to express complete disarray and panic. The illustrations have that kind of «old sci-fi horror movie poster» feel to them with a new twist. My best friend Sol did the artwork. He’s my favorite.
– All this being said; how could you describe “Dead Years” in just 3 words?
Pissed, melodic, smart.
– One of the most important news lately into the Metal scene has been the unfortunately accident Randy Blithe was involved with. What are your feelings on Randy and the fact of some people within the crowd getting on stage?
This one is difficult. I think that Randy’s innocent, personally. And I think that metal/hardcore concerts are kind of a different world where injuries can just sort of happen. It’s hard to point the blame at anyone and when the law steps in and wants a clear depiction of what happened it’s nearly impossible. The kid got on stage and screwed up his jump. His family is mourning his loss. Videos show Randy touching the kid at the same time as security but that’s about it. I really don’t think there are any answers anyone is going to get out of it.
– And finally, what are your near-future plans?
I’m going to make some mushroom ravioli’s.
– That has been everything from my side, thanks once more for your time. If you now want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
Thank you very much for the interview. Please take care.
