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Souldivider
(Picture taken from Souldivider official webpage)
The Goblin hooked up with Souldivider singer Jonas Gustafson to get some wisdom.
1.Can you give us the Souldivider history in brief, where
are you from and who you are and so on.
"- We’re 5 guys from Karlstad/ Sweden who got together in -99
to form a band that would play some sort of heavy rock music, not really sure
in what direction or form it would take. We all had different backgrounds,
(for example, I played drums in a Death-Metal band called Infernal Gates before
I started singing) but I think, what brought us together was the same love
for Heavy Metal played in the 70’s and 80’s.
Since we all had so many different ideas and influences it took us about two
years to combine those and create ”our own style”. That’s not
to say that we’re done evolving. I think we’ll always change and
try new ideas, but at least now we have a solid ground to fall back on."
2. How would you describe your sound to people that for some reason haven’t
heard Souldividier.
"- Well, that’s not easy, but we’ve been described as ”a
mix between Hellacopters, Thin Lizzy, Alice In Chains and Kyuss”. I think
that’s a fair description, put those bands together and your pretty close
to the way we sound".
3. When you write your songs, is the whole band involved in the process
or is there one person that comes up with all ideas, or is it maybe different
from song to song?
"- Mostly we base the songs on ideas that our guitarists Andreas and
Martin comes up with and from that point the whole band is involved in putting
it together to a complete song. Finally I put lyrics and vocal melodies to
it."
4. What’s your main influences. Does the whole band share the same
taste of music?
"- I think, at some point, I’m influenced by everything I hear.
Then of course I have my favorite bands, but I see them more as an inspiration
to my writing than as an actual influence on what we create. Personally I’m
a huge Blind Melon fan and everyone who hasn’t heard this awesome band
should check ‘em out. (I wish I could write lyrics the way their singer
Shannon Hoon did). But as I said before, we all have different influences
and that’s what makes it interesting for us to create songs and for others
to listen to them. For example, if we all would have Blind Melon as favorite
band I’m pretty sure that we would end up sounding like them."
5. What do you think of the term "stonerrock", do you count yourselves
as a stonerband? Do you think the term is overused?
"- We have been labeled as a stonerband but I don’t really care
what they call us as long as they think it’s good.
If it’s overused or not? I think people probably use it too much. The
point of labeling music is so people can understand each other and describe
what they like. But, as I see it, the stonerrock genre has grown extremely
fast these last few years so it’s becoming more and more difficult to
know exactly what a person means when he/she says ”I like stonerrock”."
6. What has the reactions been to your latest release, any cool write-ups?
"- There’s been lots of great reactions and reviews. Just to
mention a few... Scott Myers from Custom Heavy wrote: ”If it was 1976
Sweden’s Souldivider would be selling out arenas worldwide”... Anthony
Moore from Metal Shop (under the gun) wrote: ”this release is more powerful
than a locomotive!” and Daredevil Magazine wrote: ”5 songs, 5 hits!!!”
I could go on..."
7. What’s the story about you getting signed to 12th planet, I guess
there were more labels that were "out to get you"?
"- There were a few that were interested, but when we got in touch
with 12th Planet we immediately felt that they were right for us. Simply because
it was a fair deal for both parts. We didn’t feel that they were only
looking for a way to make money. They believe in us and they want us to get
a chance to reach more people with our music.
Then of course if we make it they’ll also surely benefit from that."
8. Is it hard to have your label´s headoffice on the other side of
the Atlantic ocean.
"- It’s not hard at all, we haven’t had any problems so
far. We simply make all arrangements over the phone or by e-mail."
9. What’s the biggest difference between having a recorddeal and not
have one. Have you notice any difference yet?
"- The biggest difference right now is probably that we don’t
have to spend so much time distributing our recordings (or maybe I should
say; Mattias don’t have to spend so much time doing that! He did a hell
of good job before 12th Planet took over).
Another positive side is the fact that we don’t have to save any money
to afford the next recording."
10. When can we expect the next souldivider release, it´s gonna be
a full length, right?
"- Next recording is scheduled to be released in late spring 2002
and yes it’s a full length."
11. If you have written any new songs for the next album, can you describe
what they are going to sound like?
"- We have written a few songs but I’m not sure if all of them
are going to be on the album. We’ve said that we’ll make that decision
in December or January depending on the material we have at that point. But
things are looking good... and the ones who liked our last recording won’t
be disappointed (I hope)."
12. Are there any upcoming live events.
"- Right now we’re trying to set up a tour (or at least a mini-tour)
to take us abroad. We’ve been in contact with people in Germany and Finland
so far but nothing is set".
13. And finally what’s the story behind your band name, what does
it actually mean?
"- Well, the situation was this; it was one week before our first
gig and we had to come up with a name to put on the flyers. So we simply just
decided to take the name of one of our songs at that time. When I wrote the
lyrics it had some strange deep meaning to it but that’s not why we chose
the name. At that time we just thought it sounded good."
......and the Goblin of course says thank you and wishes Jonas and Souldivider the best of luck in the future.
For more information visit the Souldivider website