The Band: Grand Delusion
Country: Sweden
The Man: Mikael Olsson – bass, keyboards and backing vocals
Interview by Vpower
Hello friends, today
I have the pleasure to talk to a high class band, Grand Delusion (GD), that has
released their debut album, a complete work full of great guitars, a
astonishing voice and classic rythms, but let’s talk about it with the band
itself.
Hello Mike, first of
all, tell us a little about the origin of the band
Drummer Magnus and Nils, who play some guitars on the album,
had a hard rock/punk band called By Proxy a couple of years before GD begun. I
played bass in the stoner rock band Bozeman's Simplex for 10 years until the
band disintegrated. Joakim was vocalist in a metal cover band and Per had no
previous experience of playing with a band but has studied classical guitar.
Björn joined the band last September when Nils quit.
Magnus put up an ad that he was looking for other musicians
to play 70s inspired hard rock. I hadn't played regularly with a band since
2003, so I hooked up with Magnus and 2 guitarists which weren't in the band for
so long. The rest of the members joined later.
Well, you made a good
puzzle, as anyone can check out listening to your debut album. You have been
active as band since 2011, but it is now when you release your debut album. How
do you feel about it?
Feels great! We've started recording the album in late 2012
and have taken our time to finish it off. Almost all of the album was recorded
at Magnus homestudio. Due to work and family commitments there has only been a
couple of hours available each week. That's why it took over two years to
record and mix the album.
Yes, more than two
years working on it, such a big effort, but such a big result too. The first
time I saw the cover art I thought: “These guys have to sound very classic”,
and it’s also a very underground kind of cover. How did you get it? It was
before or after the composition of the songs?
We asked painter Sandra Truedson to make the band-logo. As
it became great we asked if she could do the album cover as well. We had a
vision based on the album concept story and inspired by Sleep's Dopesmoker
cover and she painted a fantastic album cover for us.
Sandra has made a
great work, indeed. Your sound is a mix of several styles, how would you define
yourselves?
It's always difficult to define our style. We get
inspiration from such a wide range of music. I guess stoner metal is where
we're at, but spiced with doom metal, nwobhm and progressive rock.
Joakim Gustafsson has
a good flow of a voice, I think he even has a hard rock edge and it enriches
the band’s music
Yes, I agree. He has a very wide vocal range and huge lungs.
:) His voice brings a lot to our sound. Unfortunately Joakim will move to
Milano this autumn to live with his Italian girlfriend. Our new guitarist Björn
will take over the lead vocal duties and take Grand Delusion into a new
dimension. Björn's voice can be heard on the verses of Awakening of a Different
Planet.
Oh, I will pay more
attention to that song’s verses, as the future vocalist is showing there, it
will be a change, no doubt. What bands have influenced your sound?
There are too many, but Black Sabbath, The Sword, Bigelf,
Horisont, Pink Floyd ...are some of the most influential.
Sometimes you sound
even epic, like the riffs in the song Awakening of a different planet, where
you are really briliant. Your guitar work is awesome.
Thank you! We worked on Awakening for a long time before it
got its final shape. Per plays a great solo on the midsection.
Are you planning to
tour around? Will we have the chance to see you in Spain?
As a small unknown rockband, it's hard to get gigs in
Sweden. Hopefully this will change with the album out. We're not youngsters
anymore, but we would love to do a small tour. We were offered to do a tour in
the Balkans in November, but it was too expensive without any backing. If
someone made us a good offer, we could certainly make a couple of gigs in
Spain.
It would be great,
put your manager to work... In your country you have the Sweden Rock Festival.
What do you think of such big events as Wacken, Sweden Rock, etc? You prefer
that format or some smaller venue for a live show?
Personally I prefer clubs. I think our music is more suited
to smaller venues. However if we were offered a gig at Sweden Rock or Wacken,
we wouldn't say no. :)
How can the fan get
your cd?
The cd will be available later this summer. It can be
obtained from our bandcamp merch page and at our gigs.
Sweden is a country
where the Metal, in almost all its different styles, is boiling. Is this good
for a new band in order to reach the audience and get success or the
competitiveness is too strong?
The competitiveness is very strong within so many metal
genres in Sweden but it’s also inspiring with lots of really great bands.
What is your long term
vision of Metal and your role in it?
Metal have turned mainstream nowadays but genres will mix
and new ones will pop up, we however have no intention to revolutionize
anything within the scene right now, just create our own music in the styles we
like.
And you are doing a
very exciting music, for sure. Thank you very much, if you wish to add
something…
We are currently working with material to the next album
which may be ready next summer. In the meantime there will probably be one or
two singles released in anticipation of the next album. Teasers of new songs
will surely be posted now and then on our Facebook page.
Great! More wood into
the boiler! Thank you, Mike, and best luck with your project!
very good interview and a band with very great songs.
ResponderEliminarAnd a promising future ahead
ResponderEliminar