Start A Fire's Christian and Alex Discuss New Album and Upcoming Plans!

 

Swedish metal band formed in Gothenburg in 2009, Start A Fire is currently hard at work writing and recording for their next full-length album and band mates, Christian j Karlsson (C) vocalists and guitars and Alex Holmstedt (AL) on vocals discussed these matters and more!


1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.

AL: Start A Fire was formed in 2009, by myself and Amandus Carlenfors (drums) we had a diffrent setup for 2 years until christian replaced kim söderström on  vocals and rythm guitars. We're all childhood friends from different parts of  Gothenburg and we belive that it can be heard in our music and songwriting.

C: I played with Amandus in a rockband a few years before I joined up with SAF. I finally feel I've found the music I want to play and be a part in writing. A fun fact is that I was just a stand in for 1 show when kim couldn't make it. Guess I made some kind of impression.

2. How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?

C: I guess we all have different kind of styles that have influenced our way to play which makes the music sound interesting.

AL:Life is my biggest influence!

C: Say what now?

AL:I listen to alot of metalcore and screamo-bands and since I write about 90% of all our music
I suppose you can hear that in our music. Some bands I listen to are: The Ghost Inside, Soilwork,
As I lay Dying, Periphery, Funeral for a Friend and Haste the Day.

C: When it comes to bands I would say Killswitch Engage and an Austrian band called The Sorrow
is a big influence for me, but then again I absorb most of what I listen to into music I write.

3. What lyrical theme do you guys use in your music? What message do you want to send?

AL: Our lyrics comes from real life experiences. It's up to the listener to interpret what the lyrics mean to them. Even within the band the songs have different meanings to it's members.

C: I want to feel and believe what I sing about and I want the listener to experience what I feel when I sing the lyrics.

4. Tell me why did you pick "Start A Fire - There's no Plan B" as your first single off your new album and can you tell me about the song?

AL: For starters it's a great tune, in my opinion. It came naturaly for us to record this song as a teaser for our full-length album. Every song on our upcoming album differs alot from eachother and "There's no Plan B" sets the bar.

C:"There's no Plan B" really is a great song that makes you feel that you want to hear more!

AL: The lyrics are about never giving up no matter what. We've had some setbacks within the band on some occasions but we've never had any doubt about our common goal to reach to out as many listeners as possible.

5. Where are you in the recording process of the new album?

C: We're entering the studio next week on the 29th of April to record the drums and bass, during which alex and I will work on the final touches with the lyrics. We'll hopefully have everything recorded before the end of may. The release will be announced sometime this summer.

6. What title did you deicde to go with it and is there a meaning behind it?

AL: To be announced.

7. Is this album going to be a concept release?

AL: Both yes and no. All of our songs are connected in a way, but there's no "red thread" as you can see in other concept albums.

8. Who is producing the album? How has the producer aided the recording process?

AL: Start A Fire are the main producers of the album.

C: Christian Svedin that owns Studio Haga (guess that answeres question 9 as well) helps out in the process during the recording. He've had some really good inputs on our past recordings.

9. Where are you recording the album?

AL: Studio Haga! Kinna! Sweden!

C: Same studio as the "Live to Burn" - EP and "There's No Plan B" - single

10. Are you using any new instrumentation you've never used in the recording process before?

AL: We don't want to reveal to much at this point!

11. Did the band have any definitive goals they were shooting for before the recording process began for this album?

AL:We wanted to release an album with only new songs that people never heard before.

C: On our past recording some of the song have been played in diffrent variations on live shows before they were actually recorded. This time people have been waiting for us to release something new and we'll give them what they want.

12. When did you start writing for this album? How was the songwriting process different/similar to previous Start A Fire releases?

AL: Some of the songs are old projects that have been enhanched to the better. One of the songs was actually written back in 2010. What's different from the previous Start A Fire releases is that this time I've brought already completed song to the rehearsal studio.

C: From my point of view I feel that the work process has been easier atleast for myself since we all contribute with our diffrent interpretations on how to play a certain riff. Kudos to alex for all the work and hours he've put in the making of this album and the songs.

13. How is the vibe in the studio?

AL:We are all excited.

C: This time there's not that kind of stress that we had experienced on our previous recording-sessions.

14. When can we expect the new album to be released?

C: I think we've somewhat already answered this on a previous question, but just to clarify, we'll have and offical announcement about the release sometime during this summer 2013.

AL: There are to many details surrounding a full-length release to announce when, but our ambition is to have it out there during this summer.

15. What can the fans expect to see from you in the future?

AL: Alot more. We're dying to play live again.

C: Hopefully more live shows, we've really put the lid on to make the upcoming album the masterpiece we want it to be.