Interview с Falconer : DARKSIDE.ru

How are the things going in the Falconer camp nowadays? When can we expect a new album from the band?

At the moment we’re rehearsing new material. I’d guess the new album will be out sometime next fall. Also we have just brought back Mathias as vocalist. We realised that he was the right guy for Falconer, the new material was also the style that he fit.

Your latest release is the “Rock’n’Roll Devil” split-single with Nocturnal Rites. Whose idea was it to release it? What songs does it contain? And who releases it? As far as I understand, Falconer and Nocturnal Rites are on different labels…

Yes that’s right. It was a netshop’s idea. They first booked a gig with us and then they wanted to release a vinyl 7” in maybe 1,000 copies just to bring customers to their shop. After a while they also got Nocturnal Rites. Both our songs are Japanese bonustracks. Our song is from the newest album.

The single has a very intriguing cover – two crossed guitars and a syringe. What does it mean?

Well, first of all I must say that it is one of the ugliest covers I’ve seen. The title is referring to drugs being the rock ‘n’ roll devil.

Speaking about cover artworks, you have been working with Jan Meininghaus on every Falconer CD. What attracts you in his works so much?

Yes we have and we will continue that way also. I like his style and that he gets my ideas for the cover so easily. He’s very easy to work with.

Another person who is always working with the band is Andy LaRocque, whom you once called “the sixth member of Falconer.” What kind of contribution does he have to your music? Have you ever considered recording in a different studio with a different engineer/producer?

There have been thoughts about that but all things speak in his benefit. He understands our music and knows what can fit or not fit it. I love the studio and since we’ve been there so many times now we’re starting to learn more about it so we now actually can do some of the engineering ourselves.

Your bio says that Mathias left the band in 2002, because his theatre commitments made touring impossible for him. You later got a different singer, Kristoffer Gobel, but still you only did seven shows this year. What prevents you from doing more tours?

This

is one of the reasons for the new line-up change again. We didn’t get tours (well, we did a two-week tour two years ago, but that’s it) anyway so why not stick to the original voice?

As far as we understand, you are not fully satisfied with your latest album “Grime vs. Grandeur” (2005). What made you go in a more straightforward metal direction for this release? And why do you think “it wasn’t the right sound for Falconer”? Was there any negative feedback from the fans? And in general, how did the album do sales-wise as compared to your previous CDs?

Huh? I love most things on it, I would have loved it even more if there would have been more folk music in it. We have realised that we do the folk stuff better and it fits us better and fits the fans better too. Different but great. The album I don’t care that much about is “Sceptre Of Deception” (2003), although the music is what is expected by people, but it’s not as high quality as it could have been.

You have said that the next CD will have at least one song in the Swedish language. Will that be your own song or a cover version of a traditional theme?

There will be a bonus CD on the next album as a first edition, there you’ll find both ours and traditional folk songs.

How did you choose the traditional songs for the first two records? What criteria did you apply to decide which song will work for Falconer, and which would not? And why did you stop recording traditional songs after “Chapters From A Vale Forlorn”?

The songs should be good and not have too goofy lyrics, that’s about it. The third album was a concept album so it didn’t fit with a traditional song there.

The last one was just too different, it didn’t contain the amount of folk music that would have made a traditional song fit in.

Have you ever considered re-recording any songs from the back catalogue of your previous band Mithotyn with Falconer? It could be very interesting to hear something like “In The Clash Of Arms” with present-day Falconer sound and clean vocals…

We have thought about it. We even made some recording to try it out but it didn’t sound as good as we thought so we didn’t complete it, at that time it was just half recorded. On the next album you might get to hear one of the softer things from Mithotyn, but still it’s to

o early to promise.

A lot of your lyrics deal with the past and medieval times. Where does your interest in the history of your country come from? And would you like to live in the times when, for instance, the story of “Sceptre Of Deception” takes place?

Hmmmm, no not really because it was really hard to live at that time with all the diseases and poverty. I would love to visit that era though. I’ve always been interested in history, may it be Native Americans, the Romans or the Medieval times. I don’t know where I got it from.

In the credits for “Grime vs. Grandeur” you thank mankind “for all inspiration from our stupidity”. Do you consider yourself a misanthrope? Do you think the mankind is doomed and we will never learn from our mistakes?

Have we learned anything really? The short-term gains always put the consequences in the shadow. As long as we can gain on it we don’t care if we suffer for it later on. Maybe a bit cynical.

In the FAQ section of your website you say that former Falconer bassist Peder Johansson left civilization and moved to the woods. Why did he do it? And what is he busy with in the woods?

Ha ha nothing. It’s just that at the time he left the band he was rebuilding his summerhouse in the woods. But it sounded better this way.

There were rumors that musical disagreements in Falconer before the departure of Peder and guitarist Anders Johansson in 2004 were so strong that you got into a fistfight with them. Is that indeed the case?

No, we parted as good friends. All of us wanted this to happen so there were no problems at all.

Who is Fisherman Pete who makes a “special guest appearance” on “Grime vs. Grandeur”?

A quite strange old man who joined us on backing vocals one day as we had met him and just for fun used his odd voice.

This spring you shot a video clip, but there’s still very little information on it. What song did you turn into the video? And why do you say the video “is nothing to brag about”?

It’s very low-budget. We’re planning on having it up on the home page as soon as the guy who will transform it into an mpeg succeeds. To start with, we didn’t receive the video until September and now there are some problems in decrypting it.

It is known that you once worked as a butcher. What kind of dayjob do you have now? And is it possible for a band like Falconer to one day become a full-time occupation for its members?

I doubt that will happen. There is some good bonus money dropping in sometimes but way too little to live from it. Nowadays I have a job at a cemetery seven months a year, then during the winter I’m home doing music. Perfect for me, I think.

You have said that you never learned to play other people’s songs. How did you learn to play guitar then? Did you have a teacher or go to a music school, or are you self-taught?

I just tried myself. Of course I learned some other’s riffs and so on, but mostly I’ve just done it my way and playing my things.

Mithotyn had at least three demos, and Falconer had one. Is there any chance that this material will one day see the light of day officially?

Mithotyn did four demos actually. Some of the material could be found on the digipack version of our second album (“King Of The Distant Forest”, 1998). The demo Falconer did will never be official though.

We have also heard of your involvement in the bands Disruption and Cerebus back in the early 1990s. Can you tell us more about these bands? What kind of music were you playing back then, and what do you nowadays think of it?

Cerberus was in fact the name of Mithotyn during the first year, the difference was that the lyrics were more satanic in a childish way. It was also just a duo at that time just as Mithotyn was during the first demo. Disruption, I would say, was my first band which also included Rickard from Mithotyn. That was back in 1989-1991 or something. Really bad in all levels but it was fun. It’s never great in the beginning.

You have said that nowadays you don’t listen to death and black metal anymore. What music is interesting for you now? And apart from music, where do you get the inspiration for songwriting from?

I can’t say where the inspiration comes from, just my own head, I would say. I listen mostly to melodic stuff, mainly from the 1970s and 1980s. Metal, rock, prog or pop. The only death metal I still listen to is Bolt Thrower and Death.

To round up this interview, please say a few words to your Russian fans. What is needed to bring over Falcone

r to Russia for a couple of shows?

We would love to come to Russia some day, hopefully some organiser will offer us plane tickets, then we’ll come. I’d love to see Moscow for example. Maybe it’s not that interesting for you but I think I have another view on things being from a different country.

Roman Patrashov, Natalie Khorina
November 24, 2005
1 дек 2005 the End

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