Confess's John Talks the Exit Lighting of His Jail Time

Metal rockers Confess, have taken influences from the 80's to create a style that is explosive and distinctive as possible. Thus, they went on to release their album "Jail" with newer material not that far off, with plans to play shows and tour to follow. Frontman vocalist John Elliot discusses their last release, new works, and plans on playing shows and touring!


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

John: Well, I started the band back in 2008 along with two other dudes. After just a couple of months I kicked out the drummer and Samuel joined the band. Him and I started to write music together right away. After a while we felt that we needed a change up in the band so me and Samuel pretty much let everyone go and brought in a new line-up. Blomman, Denver & Lucky, that line-up was the perfect one.

2. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any bands you could recommend?

John: We’re from Stockholm, Sweden. The music scene here is pretty good, especially in Stockholm there's a lot of bands to check out!

3. Confess is your band's name but what made you want to Confess?

John: What we wanna confess? Well, nothing I guess.

4. How would you describe your style? Which bands influence your music?

John: I know people like to label us as a sleaze band and it’s cool if they want to.  But I always consider us as a hard rock / melodic metal band.

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

John: It's always a different theme. I mean the lyric has to serve the music.

6. Does your vision for coming up with music get affected at all by time?

John: Not really, I mean, all our songs are about real life experiences.

7. You released the song and video for "Scream". Now have your single for the song "Exit Light". Could you explain how these tracks differ, compare, and have evolved from one another?

John: We also released videos for ”Relationshit” & ”Bloodstained Highway”. But ”Exit Light” is a bit darker and heavier track. It still has that in your face attitude as the songs on JAIL have.

8. How would you describe the overall sound of the new album? How does it compare to “The Gin Act”?

John: The overall sound on JAIL I would say is – in your face hard rock with mixed styles. The album has a certain edge to it that seem to attract people.

9. Did you guys take notice of this album being named "Jail" and your band name "Confess" do they have a connection at all?

John: No connection I’m afraid.

10. What kind of "sound", production wise, did you have in the back of your mind, prior to entering the studio?

John: We have a lot of different influences. But when we started to record JAIL we wanted an album that had a little bit of everything we loved. You know, big choruses with some big fucking background vocals on it, hard driving guitar riffs and a huge drum sound. It was quite a challenge to make that fit through two speakers haha.

11. You guys have been hanging out at the Soundfraction Studio for both releases. What makes this studio the "one" for you?

John: We feel like home there. We've been there since the THE GIN ACT. And we’re good friends with John lund ( our producer) that owns the studio.

12. Did Sliptrick Records release your debut album "Jail" as they did "The Gin Act"?

John: No they did not. We released ”JAIL” on a label called SG Records. They are also releasing ”Exit Light”.

13. Did the record company interfere with anything on your "sound" and songs?

John: No they didn't. We signed the deal with them when the album was done.

14. What kind of input did the producer have during the process?

John: We produced the album together with Johan Lund. We had a strong vision of how we wanted the album, but of course he came up with some great ideas as well. It's always good to bring in someone outside the band to have some opinions.

15. Are you pleased with the final outcome? (sound - production wise).

John: Yeah, really pleased.

16. Did the producer use any (weird) experimental miking and/or recording techniques?

John: Yeah, but that's our special little secret.  ;)

17. How did you go on about capturing your "live sound" in the studio, or perhaps you didn't?

John: I would say that we capture that live sound pretty good. Not 100 % but pretty close. I don't know how we did that really. But I know that we approached every song with a lot of energy and attitude. And if we aren't satisfied with the song after a day's work, we came back the day after and re-did it.

18. Are there any "crazy" behind the scenes anecdotes from these sessions that you can share with us?

John: Yeah haha, a lot. We have  some studio diaries up on YouTube. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4KIB_hGWXo).

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

John: As I said before, we had a pretty clear vision when we entered the studio. Of course that vision changes a little bit during the time you are in there. But the final goal was reached.

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

John: Yeah we had a lot of different stuff on JAIL.

21. “The Gin Act” was a success. Did you feel any pressure to follow it up?

John: No not really. We didn't think that much when we did JAIL. We just knew that the songs we're awesome and we knew that the result would be great.

22. How about plans for this year, what are the plans for shows and touring?

John: We're gonna release a new single called "Exit Light" on February 25th. After that we're gonna tour a lot. We're doing shows in Sweden, Germany, England, Scotland, Wales & Italy. After that we're gonna start working on a new album. Hopefully we will enter the studio this year to start the recording.

23. Any final words of wisdom?

John: Thanks to everyone who supported us throughout the years. And keep an eye on our Facebook page for some really exciting news.