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Q: So are you excited about the new album?
A: Yeah!
Q: I noticed it has taken almost three years since the last one. Why the long wait?
A: Uhh.. because we had some changes in the line-up and we also had some small difficulties with rehearsal rooms and stuff like that.
Q: However at some point, were there any pressures amounting during the creative process?
Fred Estby, sans bicycle.
A: No, not much of that actually. It was kind of calm but we had other projects too. All of us were working on other things.
Q: Yeah, I understand that in Sweden there's literally an overabundance of bands and that it also tends to be very a familial type atmosphere, where everyone tends to help
each other out. Thus I take it you've been very busy in the studio as well since I know you also produce as well as play.
A: Yeah, that's true. So I've had a lot of work the last two years doing that.
Q: Now since as always, Nuclear Blast failed to send me a copy of the new album, I figured you could fill me in on a few things regarding Hate Campaign. What were you striving
to achieve with this one or rather what elements were you hoping to further emphasize on as opposed to the last one, Death Metal?
A: Uhh.. hopefully the whole intensity of the album. I mean, we got like 11 songs that go for like 35 minutes and it's quite intense. There's no longer breaks inbetween the songs
so we tried to keep it very short and very intense. So we really hope that people see it as very intense but still a wide spread type of album for this kind of music. We also want to
make it known that the production for this one is the best for us thus far.
Q: So basically what you're saying is that we can expect the same Dismember formula patented as far back as the Like An Everflowing Stream album?
 A: Yeah, something like that. We actually
brought in almost the same equipment, ya know all the amps and everything that we used on the first album.
Q: Right, however it's been quite a few years since that album was released and therefore the band has had to go through some sort of maturity since then. So then how do you look back
upon on that album as it stands today? Were there any mistakes or things you could have improved upon to make it stronger?
A: Yeah, of course.. I mean we really didn't have that much time. We recorded and mixed it within12 days I think so that's not much time for an album these days and also we
recorded in a very, very small studio. We also weren't as skilled musicians back then as we are now. So those mistakes will always haunt you but it's still a good album when you think of how things were back then.
Q: Well, at the time Like an Everflowing Stream Was released, Dismember and Entombed were the only two Death Metal bands that helped put Sweden on the map. In
fact, it was both Dismember and Entombed that helped to create what's now infamously referred to as the “melodic” DM sound which was a far cry from what bands here in the U.S. were doing at the time.
A: Actually both of those bands had American influences mostly so it's kind of weird that we're still trying to put in some of our own influences to kind of mix it all up. I think
that's the kind of thing that made us stand out from the American bands and other European Death Metal bands too. We mixed a lot of old Judas Priest and Iron Maiden stuff in
with Slayer and Autopsy and bands like that.
Q: Yeah, and now the Swedish sound has even expanded itself to the point where it's become questionable whether or not to label it as “Death Metal” in the first place. So does
it kind of frustate you in a way that Dismember is perhaps the only true Swedish DM band in existence thus far?
A: In one way it has because we're one of the only main DM bands left in the Swedish scene. It's kind of hard to do everything by yourself. You don't get much press anymore
or anything but on the other hand we are the only soul DM band actually making some noise around here in Stockholm anyway. So it's been good in that way. We get all the few
attentions we can get and people respect us for just doing our thing through all the years. So that's cool but it has affected us in some ways that the scene has gotten very, very small compared to in ‘91.
Q: From the way I see it, I think what caused the scene to dwindle was the whole trendy aspect of it. Back then it seemed like the thing to do just because again bands like
Dismember, Entombed and even Grave to some extent were doing that. Once that got tiresome, Black Metal was the route to go all of a sudden. However, even that became
tedious very quickly. Now the in thing for Swedish bands to do these days appears to be going in a more artsy, gothed out direction. Now has that ever pressured you to change
things just for the sake of keeping up with the times?
 A: Yeah, yeah.. sort of. I mean, you
always that have pressure when people expect you to like, especially when other bands around you start to go like more Rock and Pop influenced. You get the pressure from your surroundings that
you should go the same way. But that also strengthens you in one way because when you stand alone and finally decide that we're still going to do what we do best and not listen to a lot different
people wanting us to do something different then it makes you even stronger I think. In the long run it's been good for us.
Q: Oh, I would have to agree to an extent. In fact, I think the world needs a Dismember at this point just shake things up so to speak because people need to rediscover the roots
a bit more. I mean, this music was meant to be oppressingly heavy and loud to begin with.
A: Absolutely, I agree totally. I mean, it's sad to see that happen. Look at Entombed for instance. I mean they kept their “balls” for awhile but the last album I think they lost it
completely. It's not a bad album musically but it's not at all anything compared to what they did before. So I mean you can progress but when you're totally on a different planet, I
think you should stop and think about what you are doing.
Q: Right but I understand that even Dismember at one point in its career released an album that wasn't as oppressingly harsh as its predecessors. Of course, I'm referring to Massive Killing Capacity which was more rhythm induced as
opposed to the balls out thrashiness of your previous efforts. What inspired you to go in that direction in the first place or rather who's idea was it to sort of stray away from that path?
A: Umm.. Im' not really sure who's idea it was. I think one of the persons to pay for that was Tomas Skogsberg who was our producer for Dismember at the time and myself in a
way because I had just started to work for him in the studio and we were listening to a lot of these Rock n' Roll bands like Trouble and everything. So I think we put too much of
those influences into Dismember productionwise and also a lot of riffs and arrangements for that album came out sounding too rocky for the band actually. However, it was
good in a way because that was the turning point for us to give us like a wake up call, “Hello where are you going? You're not good at this. This is not what you're supposed to
do.” We had a couple of good songs from that album but the rest was kind of doubtful actually.
Q: Yeah, sadly I'd have to agree with you because that album didn't do too good in the states at all to begin. However, it seemed like that was the sort of thing that
inspired you to come back and write another album simply entitled Death Metal which was by far your heaviest work yet. Now how will Hate Campaign top or even differ from that?
Dismember's '98 tour of the Czech Republic was almost cancelled due to vocalist Matti Karki's sudden affliction with gigantism.
A: It differs in a way that the songs are a little bit shorter, they're a little bit faster and also more intense. On Death Metal we had some really intense stuff too but for this
album we had some heavier songs that we had to cut out from the picture this time around. So we have like one heavy song and the rest is all fast tracks. We just wanted to do our kind of Reign in Blood, ya know.
Q: Interesting. Speaking of Reign in Blood, I think Slayer is definitely an appropriate referrence point for this conversation because they totally epitomized the 80's Metal
sound. Sadly, not too many bands seem to be doing that anymore. As a matter of fact, I can't think of any band today that can even hold a candle to the likes of Slayer which is kind of sad.
A: True, true. That's exactly our feeling too. It's like sometimes you realize that you're listening to music that's so very old just because there aren't bands like that
anymore. So instead of like trying to put on a new album that might seem to sound like that, you go back in time and listen to “Scream Bloody Gore” or “Darkness Descends”
just to get a kick out of it because it seems as if not too many bands these days are trying to achieve the same kind of feeling in their music as those bands did back then.
Q: Yeah, that's true.. but getting back to the new album, you mentioned that there were quite a number of songs that were cut out totally which must mean that you guys
had more than enough time on your hands to write and record this album. So I take it that it was a lot easier for you to reach your goals this time around, correct?
A: Yeah, but we did it quite fast this time actually. We didn't spend too much time writing the songs. It didn't take like half a year or something. It took a couple of months but we
didn't rehearse too much either but when we did it was really intense. We actually spent most of the time recording the album, mixing the album, and arranging the songs
because that was kind of important this time around. Then we just tried to cut out some of the waste like all the riffing type stuff to make it more intense and happening all the
time. And also I'm really glad this time that I had a new studio to work in with great stuff. You know, I could rent in whatever I wanted for this album like amps, microphones,
or whatever. We recorded the drums in a larger studio here in Stockholm with a good friend of mine. It's one of Stockholm's biggest studios and it was done in just three
days but that was enough. We had real good equipment and I had all the time in my life to just lean back and really listen to everything. There were no other bands in the studio, just
us. So that was really nice actually.
Q: Well I'd imagine that being a musician at the same time also helps in giving you the ears you need to produce as well. What was it like trying to balance both responsibilities
and were there any pressures you faced along the way?
A: Mmm.. It's not a problem at all. I've been working with these guys for so many years now so everybody knows when to get the fuck out of the studio. Yet the only thing is
that I'm not able to tell myself how to play the drums in kind of a way I'd do with another drummer. It's hard for me to say to myself, “Hey you lazy fucking idiot. You better go in
and do that take one more time.” So it was good that the guitarists recorded their tracks with me because they'd tell me, “No, that's not good enough.” Then I'd get really pissed
off because I wanted to make it my call when I'm happy with a drum take or not since I'm so used to that situation. You know it's kind of a strange moment when I feel satisfied
about the take but then I realize it afterwards it's true that you have to do it one more time.
 Q: I understand but I'd imagine it still
gets frustrating for you because here you have four other members each telling you how it should sound one way while you're telling yourself another. Thus I'd imagine that after while it would
all tend to pile up on you so to speak.
A: Yeah, that's true but those arguments don't happen often when you're working with other bands because they respect you in another way as a producer. In this
way it is true that it's harder for the members around me to see me as the producer when I'm a producer and not just a member of the band. So yeah, it is kind of hard.
Q: Well, what inspired you to become a producer in the first place? Also what bands could you see yourself working with in the future?
A: Of course, there are many bands I would love to work with but I don't really know. When we started to record our stuff I was interested in how it would sound and I realized
when we did our first demos that it's kind of hard to let somebody else just do the things for you when you never get satisfied. In the early days we were never satisfied with
an album. The first album I ever was satisfied with recording was Like an Everflowing Stream and then I was really involved in it. I was so concerned about it. So I realized I
had to get on top of this and try to do this for myself and then I realized it would be fun to do it for other bands too because I have a very strong sense of how I want things
when I hear music. Also guys like Rick Rubin have inspired me a lot because he's a very, very good producer.
Q: Was there anything you wanted to do differently for this album productionwise that would perhaps make it stand out this time around? Anything you might have wanted to improve upon?
A: Yeah, at first the lead guitarist because now we have two very skillful lead guitarists so this time around we were able to do some more like small lead guitarist battles in each
song. So if you listen to the album you'll realize that in almost every song there are two leads, one from each guitarist and I wanted to bring them forth a lot and also the
Bass guitar; I wanted to make sure it sounded right this time because on the last albums we did we never really could put the Bass guitar out in front that much since it
wasn't that well played. This time when we had Sharlee (of Mercyful Fate and Witchery) who recorded the bass, it just sounded so good so I just had to take it even higher in the mix.
Q: I was just going to mention Sharlee as a matter of fact since I happen to find it interesting that you managed to get him to record with you guys. Let me say this, Sharlee is an
awesome bass player and after seeing him perform live many times I can understand why he's sought after for so many other projects. So what was it like working with him up close?
 A: It was great working with him. I mean, we didn't even have time to
rehearse with him since he tours so much. He just came to the studio to record the songs. He didn't even participate in any rehearsals or anything before recording the album. He just
showed up when it was time to record the bass and lay it down. So that was really good and he's also very nice. He's such a gentle person and he has full respect for me as a producer and as a
band member so there were no questions about it. Of course he has opinions about things and that's always good but he didn't have one lousy opinion so that was really cool
too. He was on the right path all the time I think. As for his sound, it was like he put the bass sound down that I would have tried to force probably one day with some other
bassist to find. When he just hooked his stuff up into the bass amp in the studio, the sound was there already so I didn't have to do much. It was just like, “Yeah this is it! This
is what I wanted.” So there was nothing more to do with it other than just record.
Q: Well what happened with your original bassist Richard. I mean, I understand that he originally left to join Satyricon in Norway but what prompted him to leave?
A: I don't know really. It's like when you talk to him today about it, he's just like, “I don't wanna talk about it,” but the thing was we thought he left the band because he was like
kind of doing tours that didn't really cut out that well and doing tours instead of working at home and everything. Then when he left to join Satyricon because we did a gig like
a couple of months before and they actually asked him after the gig we did and he just laughed about it. But then we realized he was going to do that so then we felt like if he
was going to do that instead of just telling us straight out then it's his problem, but the thing was it never worked out because he moved there but going to Norway from
Sweden, it's like you have to have a job to get an apartment. If you don't have an apartment there you cannot get a job. So he was caught up in that kind of
situation so he actually couldn't stay there. That's what hurt him anyway so he moved back to Stockholm.
Q: Well in that case, how do you manage to maintain your morale even through all the frustrating line up changes and barely successful tours? What keeps you to continue on?
 A: Because we still listen to this kind of
music that we're playing. We don't only listen to that kind of music but mostly we listen to that kind of music when we get together anyway and we have exactly the same opinion about how Death Metal
should be played and everybody in the band agrees that it is fun to do it. So it's the pure joy of it and also that we feel we can still do an album that sounds better than the last one and that nobody
else could top it. That's basically our fueling for it.
Q: Is touring still a big adventure to you or has it become nothing more than just a job to you after all these years?
A: It's always a big adventure to go traveling. I've been traveling with a lot of other bands working for them like the Hellacopters and bands like that. So it's very different and
also you have to take breaks from doing it to do different things I think so as not to get fed up or bored of it because if you tour like like 300 days a year for 4 years in a row,
you're going to kill somebody sooner or later. So you have to think about it before you just go ahead doing things that you don't really realize how it's going to affect you. I mean,
we've done a lot of really huge tours that were so long and real straining so we learn from those mistakes and try to cut down on touring, not doing like 10 or 12 weeks in a
row. We've cut down to doing like 4 weeks in a row and then coming home for awhile to go do a tour again. So we've realized quite early how to deal with those problems.
Q: Again, I agree because naturally touring takes a lot of stamina which kind of leads me to my next question. Now I understand that through all the years of touring, at some
points you were fortunate to make it here to the States and play for American audiences back in like ‘93. So I was wondering, what was your biggest impression of the U.S.
and do you look forward at all to coming back and playing for us again?
“I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen.”
A: Absolutely, it was great actually. The only problem was that the tour was very long that we did in ‘93. So we had some problems with some shows that we wanted to cut
out and since we didn't gain that much money from that tour we fell into a deeper hole even more. When we were stranded in San Francisco for like 4 days without a gig it was
kind of hard trying to survive those four days and some of the gigs we did like in Kansas we had like only 10 people showing up or something and then you felt really depressed
about it. On the other hand we played in cities where we had crowds of around a thousand people and that really made everything worthwhile. We had a great time and it
was so cool to meet everybody in the States. We met a lot of old pen pals and cool people and everything. So it was really a good experience doing that tour and we'd love to go back again as soon as possible.
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