Interview

GRAVEYARD

Mercredi 7 août 2013

How are you ?

Axel Sjöberg : I'm just fine, all right. The show went well, the sound was good on stage so I'm pleased.

How was the gig for you today ?

A.S. : It was really good, yeah. It was a nice crowd, we had a good sound and I like the fact that we had a long time to prepare, it always makes things better.

Have you been to this festival before ?

A.S. : No, I heard a lot about it but I've never been here.

How do you enjoy it so far ?

A.S. : Oh, I haven't seen so much. We arrived last night, we were here for one hour or something and then we went to the hotel. And today we basically, arrived, set up and played. And we're actually leaving pretty soon too to catch a flight so I won't be able to see too much of it.
But it was nice, I met some friends from other bands that I hadn't seen in a long time.

© ChamO

You released your third album a few months ago. How were the reactions ?

A.S. : Pretty good I think. I have nothing to complain about. Our tour has been going well too, we're getting good reactions from the crowd.

What are the future plans for the band ?

A.S. : Festivals throughout the summer and then in September, we're gonna support Soundgarden

Soundgarden

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during their European tour. But I don't think we're coming to Belgium or France. We'll be playing in Amsterdam, that's the closest.
And then we're gonna have some time off, some Scandinavian dates and then we'll see. Next year, we'll maybe start writing a new album. We haven't really decided yet.

You signed on Nuclear Blast for the last albums which is a much bigger label than where you were signed before, Tee Pee Records.

A.S. : Yeah, in North America and then we had a small Swedish independent label in Europe but it was before our second album. I don't know... We toured a lot and I think it was though our manager who was in touch with them. At first we were really surprised as well, we thought it was a label for extreme metal, but we have nothing to complain about. Nuclear Blast are very good, they're a great label to be on. It seems like since they signed us, they signed a lot more regular rock bands.

Are they the reason why you play at so many metal festivals ?

A.S. : I don't know, maybe that has something to do with it, but I think also, even if we stand out in a festival like this because we're not so extreme, all the bands who play here have some common roots, heavy rock like Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath

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and so on. They are the roots of heavy music.

© ChamO

I was reading the programme of the festival earlier, there was a short description of every band, and for three bands in a row including Graveyard, it was saying "influenced by Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath

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".

A.S. : I guess, it's more like what band isn't influenced by Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath

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? Even though they play blast beats, extreme metal...

In the description of Graveyard, it was written that you started the band with the aim of playing as many gigs as possible and bring your music everywhere. What do you think about it ?

A.S. : Yeah well, we'd been playing for a long time with other bands. When we started Graveyard, we were quite disciplined and ambitious, I'm not sure it's the right word, but we had really decided to take this somewhere.

So that's what you wanted to do, play a lot live ?

A.S. : Yeah, it's always nice to go around the world and meet people who appreciate your music. Of course I want to record good albums too. I like the fact that I can make a living on playing music.

So you manage to make a living of it ?

A.S. : Yeah, since we released Hisingen Blues. We're weren't living a high life, it's still not so now, but it's better now anyway.

© ChamO

You toured a lot. What are your favourites places to play ?

A.S. : I don't know... I do have some favourite venues, but not countries.
There's a venue in Vienna, in Austria, called the Arena, which is a great venue to play. They have an old industry complex with a big chimney in the middle of the yard. There are three venues in one and it's run by people for other people, it's not a company that owns this place. It's a really nice venue.
It's so hard to just pick one. I like a lot of places for different reasons.

What about festivals like this one ? I guess it's more stressful and you get less time on stage.

A.S. : Yes, but it was all right today though. I like Hellfest but I prefer festivals with a lot of different styles of music, where you can see like a folk singer, and then an extreme band, then some other kind of music. To me, going to a festival like this one, it's like eating birthday cake for a whole week, you know what I mean ? Even though I like birthday cake, I don't want to eat it every day for a week.

What other kinds of music do you like ?

A.S. : Loads of different stuff. Early blues, jazz, psychedelic rock, extreme metal too, death metal, doom... Black Breath

Black Breath

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, I think they played here, they're an excellent band.
We have a very wide taste of music within our band.

Do you have anything last to say ?

A.S. : Oh I don't know...
Thank you for taking the time to do an interview with us and see you next time in Belgium !