Swedish metallers Fifty Grand Suicide have taken control of ex Soilwork guitarist Ola Frenning making him one of them. With that these guys have gone on to write and record "Dead Soul Vacant" and have got a whole lot more in-store. Band mates Henke Blomqvist guitars and vocalist Alf Wemmenlind discuss.
H = Henke Blomqvist
A = Alf Wemmenlind
1. Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Fifty Grand Suicide, and how long the band has been together.
A: Alf Wemmenlnd, vocals.
H: Henke Blomqvist, guitars.
2. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
A: We´re from Sweden. Based in the cities Helsingborg and Malmö. In and around these cities there´s a pretty vibrant music scene. You can see live music every night and there are many small clubs that create gigs for bands of all kinds. Darkane, Chine and Imminence are some of the great bands that come to mind that are from the area.
H: And Soilwork is off course originally based here.
3. What lyrical theme do you guys use in your music? What message do you want to send?
A: I don´t think we want to send out a special message to anyone. We do not write tales, stories or political statements as the lyrics often come from everyday life. Touching subjects such as the eternal quest for the better self and the internal conflicts that looks into the rights and wrongs in search of the answer. But of course! We also write about the days we´re up to our neck in bullshit and wrong decisions. The days we want to scream at the whole world. The common factor is that everything is emotionally associated.
4. What bands have influenced your band and its sound?
A: We´re a band of six people with diverse experiences and musical references which are mixed in one big melting pot. This obviously affects the final result that becomes Fifty Grand Suicide. To name a couple off bands or artists would be misleading.
5. How did you guys come up with your band name?
A: It was actually taken from a novel which appeared in a collection of short stories called “Thrilling Detective” released sometime in the 50's. Thank God for Google.
6. So you guys released a single and video for the song "Dead Soul Vacant" can you tell me about the song and video's concept?
A: The song is based around the theme of self-discovery. When you see yourself from the outside and see a stranger. Where do you want to be?, where do you find the answers? And do you really want to go
there?
H: The concept of the video was “what can we do on this budget?” and to be honest, performance videos are cheap. We’d love to do a video with a narrative story for Dead Soul Vacant, but a performance video was what we were able to pull off that time around. But it’s a pretty good performance video.
7. Is there any story or concept behind the Dead Soul Vacant title?
A: I can´t recall any special occasion when the feeling for the song arose but as I said before, It´s taken from everyday life. These questions turn up all the time. They may emerge in different shapes and places but they are always present.
8. Who produced Dead Soul Vacant and what was it like working with them?
H: We produced it ourselves actually. It was mastered by David Castillo at Ghost Ward who’s worked with Katatonia and Opeth to name a few.
9. Who did the cover art for Dead Soul Vacant and how much input did you have on it?
H: I did the cover art for DSV. I work as a graphics designer and enjoy doing stuff like this. Our logo - which is supposed to be a lunar eclipse - was made by a friend of ours, Jacob Pedersen. He’s a tattoo artist at the Crooked Moon studio in Helsingborg and has recently won the swedish “Ink Master” title.
10. Select two songs from Dead Soul Vacant and what inspired the lyrics.
A: The Core and No Star Is Lost are both related. They reflect the feeling of being helpless and blindly looking for the way to a solid and serene state.
11. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
H: You can buy our stream our songs on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and tons of other services including Rdio, Deezer and Wimp.
for the first time?
A: I would like people to recognize the sound but still get the feeling that it is something completely new in that we are six very different individuals who brought our ideas to the table.
13. What can the fans expect to see from you in the future?
A: We are constantly evolving and are still building our foundation. Next release will define our sound further.
H: Yep.
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