Once again, speaking to Björn from SOILWORK, Bjorn, thanks for taking the time once again to have a chat.
BJÖRN-
Hello sir. Thanks for having me. Good to be back.
MAL-
Welcome back, any time, you know where I am, call me anytime.
BJÖRN-
Thank you.
MAL-
Hey, been a while since ‘Verkligheten’ came out. How did that go for you?
BJÖRN-
Really, really good. I mean, a lot of things happened for us with ‘Verkligheten’ we definitely picked up and with that album and you know, when we released ‘The Ride Majestic’ for example you know it’s like we’re really proud of the album and it feels like a lot of stuff that we released the latest years, have gone a little bit under the radar and then when we released ‘Verkligheten’, It was almost like people came out of the woodwork, friends from back in the day, you know, friends from school days ‘This new Verkligheten and it’s fantastic’. YOu go, ‘What? Do you listen to metal at all?’ You know, it’s like, ‘Yeah I really like that album’. So it’s like it became really popular and did really well, of course because the album’s great. But it’s also sometimes timing. It’s hard to say exactly what it is, but it had the whole package, I guess. And then we did a lot of touring was really successful and you know, man, I’m just really grateful, you know, that we are able to stay relevant in the music scene and and that people are following us. And so it’s picking up a lot, you know, ever since ‘Verkligheten’, and I’m really curious to see what’s going to happen with the new album as well, ‘Övergivenheten’.
MAL-
Did you finish the tour with the previous album, were you cut short at all?
BJÖRN-
No, we were, you know, right when covid hit, we were pretty much done with the touring cycle for ‘Verkligheten’.
MAL-
There’s that word ‘timing’ again.
BJÖRN-
Yeah, timing. Yeah. And I think I needed a little bit of a break after that, you know, we’re supposed to do some touring with NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA as well, but we came one week into our European tour, and then it got cut short. So, so basically we missed nothing with SOILWORK and we missed everything with NIGHT FLIGHT. Regardless, it was good with a break, at least the first year, you know, second year of covid was ‘okay, this is pushing it’, you know. But it was good to get some perspective. You know, it’s the first time in 20 years, I’ve really stopped and sort of realized what it is, we’ve accomplished. So yeah.
MAL-
So you had plenty of time to work on a new album. Tell us how that evolved, what you did differently if anything? I mean you obviously took longer because you had longer.
BJÖRN-
Well I mean like you said we had all the time in the world to create an album and so we decided to spread out the recording sessions, you know, I mean I definitely took my time to start, you know, getting into song writing mode. Again, like I mentioned before I needed a break and but David, he was like in a super creative phase, and I was like, ‘well, you know, go ahead, but I won’t be able to join you yet’. So in the end I almost had to like, because it’s such a different world without touring is like, you know, I had so much time with the family as well and then, you know, sort of catch up a little bit and then sort of had to like force start the engines a little bit when it came to songwriting, you know, and I felt like, wow, what if I lost it? You know, what if, what if I can’t go back being that person again? But then once then I wrote a song, the next one followed and then it’s like a lot of beautiful things happened, you know. And so I found a lot of inspiration but yeah, just having all that time I guess made a little bit of a difference, and the fact that we could spread out the recording sessions a bit and get some perspective and distance to the songs instead of trying to cram everything into to a six-week recording and try to stay focused during that whole time, it’s almost impossible I would say to do that, you know? So this this was really healthy for us, you know? And and so it was a different way of recording an album even though we did little bit like that on for ‘Verkligheten’ as well. But this was even more sort of spread out. So hopefully, we’re gonna be able to do that in the future as well, for the next album because I thought it was good.
MAL-
Did you ever write a song, think, ‘Okay, that’s done’. Go off come back, you know, a couple of months later and go. ‘Whoa! Hang on’ and change things? Did you second-guess yourself?
BJÖRN-
Yeah. That that happened quite a bit I would say and also, I think I kind of did that on purpose, when we had let’s say we had like a long weekend of recording session. And then we may be recorded three songs or something like that and then I decided, okay, I’m just going to go home and I’m going to shut that door. I’m not going to ask for any rough mixes. Nothing, I’m just not going to basically forget about the songs, you know, and then I’ll listen back next time we hit the studio and so that’s what I did and when I when I came back, ‘wow, we actually we recorded this like wow, this is good’. No, but I mean that was that was a great kick. I thought because sometimes, you know, you just live and breathe those songs a little bit too much, you know, that you don’t get, you know, any any distance to them, so you don’t even know if it’s, I mean, you know, that you like it yourself and that’s all that matters in the end, but to get the bigger picture, it’s quite hard. So this was really an interesting experiment, you know, and with some of the tracks, we added stuff or took stuff away. So I think like you mentioned that did happen as well.
MAL-
Well, the end result. (shows album) Killer album, by the way, all killer no filler.
BJÖRN-
Thank you.
MAL-
There’s some pretty diverse stuff on there. Tell us about who we can credit with some of these songs. You mentioned David was in a super creative phase. How much of a gig does he get on this album?
BJÖRN-
Yeah, I mean we’re basically me and David has written most of the stuff. Sven has also contributed with one song on the album. But David, he wrote a lot of songs, like I mentioned he was in this creative phase, like a never-ending creative phase, and never stopping, still hasn’t stopped. So it just keeps on going. So he came up with a lot of things and a lot of great songs and his songs were very different from each other. And, you know, and I think the album is very, very diverse. I would say, but it’s I think in a good way, it’s a lot of dynamics, you know, and I think it’s fun to sort of have like a playful approach to when you record an album and even though you’re in the Metal scene you know, you can still be very diverse and I think that’s been very important for us. Of course, you can have the same like different music style when in the same album, you know, back like back in the 70s and 80s, you know, that’s what people did, and I would say, even within the metal genres, I think that’s has inspired us as well to not having to stay within this frame, you know, all the time. So I think that inspired us and I mean, when I wrote my songs I feel like I’ve really been able to express my emotions, especially through the melodies on the songs that I’ve written, you know, and also through David’s songs. After all. It’s like, it doesn’t matter who wrote the songs in the end. It’s SOILWORK, and it needs to make sense. I think we really manage to tie everything up in the end, you know, and create like a unit even though it’s quite diverse. But I think there’s probably some of our most epic melodies to date, I would say, you know, really timeless stuff, I would say.
MAL-
I agree.
BJÖRN-
Thank you.
MAL-
We’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel. We’re seeing gigs, we’re seeing festivals. We’re back, baby. Tell us what you guys have been doing.
BJÖRN-
Well, we started doing some festivals this spring, you know, and it was great. It was a great return for sure. At first, you know, when we went on stage ‘What is this? Who am I, you know?
MAL-
‘Who are these people?’
BJÖRN-
Yeah exactly. But after a couple of songs.. But it felt quite natural after a while and now it just feels like the covid years never happened, you know, and so let’s just hope things stay this way and that we don’t have to… I mean in Sweden we never really had a lockdown, so it didn’t affect us that much, you know, some other countries had it really bad, you know? And so let’s just hope things are going to stay this way and that we’re going to be able to come Down Under as well. It’s, you know, everything is confirmed. So let’s hope. Knock knock.
MAL-
Yeah, we’re ready baby. Yeah. (Mal has a brain fade and questions release date)
BJÖRN-
August 19th. I think that’s a worldwide release date.
MAL-
Can you expand any more on those festivals? There were some where you mentioned off air. You mentioned the one in Finland.
BJÖRN-
Yeah, we just came back from Finland this week and we did both NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA and SOILWORK. Not the same day though, but the same Festival, Tuska Festival in Finland. Really really good times. Watched MERCYFUL FATE as well. That was awesome. And so, we’ve been doing festivals just about every week and we’ve been to to Germany. We’ve been actually twice to Finland and we’ve been to Norway and we got Sweden coming up in two weeks, having a little bit of a break now, but it’s been really, really good.
MAL-
You been playing any gigs, non-Festival? Like your own headlining gigs anywhere?
BJÖRN-
No, no not yet.
MAL-
You saving that for when the album comes out?
BJÖRN-
Yeah, exactly. I mean, sometimes we during the summer we usually do just Festivals. Sometimes, we tie together the weekends and do some club shows in between, but it’s normally pretty hard to book stuff in the summer in Europe. Because there’s so many festivals and people can’t really afford to go and see like regular shows in between, so I guess it’s making sense.
MAL-
Yeah, there’s less than 20 bands playing, I won’t bother going. We see these festival lineups, you know, you see them on Facebook and we’re over here on the other side of the world and we just like, ‘Fuck off’.
BJÖRN-
That’s gonna be frustrating. I understand.
MAL-
Yeah. And I was talking to you a few months ago now to Joakim from Sabaton, and he said, ‘Oh, check out the lineup for Hellfest, man, it’s bullshit’.
BJÖRN-
Yeah. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen in my life. Ten days, you know? That’s insane.
MAL-
And here we are.
BJÖRN-
You know what? We didn’t play there. We didn’t play there. We’re one of the few that didn’t play Hellfest this year. Well, like I mentioned before, let’s hope the tour is going to happen. Looking good. You know. Everything is confirmed and I just can’t wait. I think it’s going to to be our ninth tour down under. That’s a lot, ou know. We’re definitely blessed. You know, that’s really cool and I love touring Down Under.
MAL-
You’re welcome down here anytime? If you want to stay longer, and do more shows that’s fine as well.
BJÖRN-
I know. Yeah, well, I wouldn’t mind, it’s usually very intense. Like, it’s very, like, five days in a row and you wonder what happens ago and ‘now we’re going home, we go, I want to stay’.
MAL-
You’re doing five nights in a row. Perth, Adelaide, Sydney Melbourne Brisbane. Wow. That’s got to take it out of you, man. How do you go living out of a suitcase? When I went to the US a few years ago with my wife and we went on holiday. We only went to five different cities in four weeks and I said to her a number of times, ‘How do these bands do it? In and out of a suitcase or living out of a suitcase, city, city, city, different city different country, whatever? How do you go?
BJÖRN-
Yeah, good question. I mean I think we wouldn’t do that any other place than in Australia, doing five days in a row, flying shows that is, you know when we do tour bus, you know, you do pretty much 30 days straight always good but in Australia everything is so much smoother when he fly, you know, the group check in this and that it’s quite it’s like riding a bus in Australia compared to everywhere else. So that would be the only place where we do that. But still, I mean of course it’s hard. You know, it’s, you’re not getting that much sleep, you know, so that’s tough, especially with age too. When you were 25, you know, it’s fine. You can sleep like two hours a night, still be fine, but going to be 44 in September, so it’s getting a little bit harder, you know. So, but you know, we do it all for Australia, you know, it usually works out so.
MAL-
One thing I get everyone to do, if you wouldn’t mind, give us the horns, right up in the camera, because it’s important to be Heavy Metal about it.
BJÖRN-
Exactly. Absolutely, 100%.
MAL-
Hey Björn. Thanks so much for having a chat with me. Best of luck with the new album which is out august 19. You’re here towards the end of the year, in the first week of November, playing all around the country, coming to Adelaide. Looking forward to it. Thanks for chatting to me, best of luck. And we’ll see you at the end of the year.
BJÖRN-
Absolutely. Thank you so much, take care. See you soon.
SOILWORK is back with their twelfth studio album, which represents the band in their growth and their current phase of life, which is marked by a time period that probably no one on this planet will forget so quickly.
Unlike the albums before, the creation process of Övergivenheten was very lengthy and a representation of the emotional state of the guys from SOILWORK. Recorded at Nordic Sound Lab in Skara, Sweden again with producer Thomas “Plec” Johansson, who also produced the last two projects, the album was written and recorded over three sessions between January and December 2021. There was no hurry to finish the album, which meant on the other side that the band was able to reflect on their music and savor the process of creating the album.
Musically, Övergivenheten is the continuation of the SOILWORK legacy of the last years. The approach is to make the album sound as organic as possible. Therefore, among other things, acoustic elements have been incorporated into the songs, which help to make the sound experience as close and genuine as possible. The album is intended to give the feeling of being in the middle of creating the energy and feeling the atmosphere. To build this experience and, above all, to give the listener the feeling of being right in the center of the band’s creative environment, balance was needed, something that the external circumstances made difficult, especially due to the current situation in the world.
Not being able to do what every band loves to do, playing live for their fans, and being trapped in an inner circle, has turned out to be more difficult than expected. The pandemic influenced the band in more than one way. However, concerning the album it has also been an inspiration. Each band member perceived the last two years differently in terms of boundaries and personal development. All the surroundings, which appeared, influenced the creation of the album.
This taken inspiration of each band member can be heard clearly on the new songs. Singer Björn “Speed” Strid has developed lyrically and speaks not only about his personal perception and about experience, but on Övergivenheten, he refers much more to his environment by reflecting the outside including external impressions.
Övergivenheten can be translated to The Abandonment, which describes the overall album theme. To be surrounded by the thought of being abandoned or even abandoning others. The album deals with darker thoughts that have shaped the band itself and affected the development process of the album. The personal struggles align with social difficulties outside of the band.
Due to the pandemic, everyone has had their tail cut off, and a lot of negative energy in the immediate environment makes it difficult to block this out and create new music around cheerful themes. Guitarist David Andersson’s songwriting has been largely influenced by dark thoughts used as an escape to deal with difficulties that are directly related to midway anxiety, which also resonates with the lyrics he wrote. In terms of balancing the darkness of David’s lyrics out, Björn takes own inspiration with his point of view. Since both connect an intense relationship which lasts multiple years, music is the common language that brings both of them on the same level despite their different stages of life. This can be recognized on Övergivenheten.
SOILWORK are looking forward to the best post pandemic possible. It is planned to play several festivals and additional tour dates to support the album. Since it is finally possible to return on the streets, the excitement is already there. Drummer Bastian Thusgaard comments on going back on the road: “We don’t know what to expect when getting back out there. It is kind of abstract to return to touring lifestyle due to the long break and uncertainty, but we are looking forward to the return.” Also looking forward to the tour is freshly announced fulltime bassist Rasmus Ehrnborn who records with the band already since the EP “AWOTA”. His fresh blood adds a new dimension to the band whose line-up is completed by long-time keyboardist Sven Karlsson and guitarist Sylvain Coudret besides of David, Björn and Bastian.
Anyway, SOILWORK will not flinch, continuing to give free rein to their creativity. On the one hand to share and process their personal experiences and on the other hand to serve their fans. Everyone needs creativity and art in life, and no matter what happens SOILWORK will not stand still but give their fans what they want: honest music by trying to create a snapshot in time!
