Forever ago I reviewed Griftegård’s Solemn. Sacred. Severe album, and as I did I sent these questions over to them. It took awhile, but Ola and the rest of the band got back to me with the answers. And here they are:
Could you provide a little history lesson on Griftegård for readers that aren’t familiar with your music?
Ola: Me (guitar & lyrics) and my friend Per Broddesson (guitar) formed the band in early 2005 and soon added bass player Dennis Olsson, who had played with us earlier, to the fold. The three of us started trying out drummers, which was challenging – none of the four-five different candidates that came and went (within a period of less than a year) was able to grasp what Doom Metal crave from a drummer – a soulful, powerful, slow yet dynamic beat. They got bored before they got there, or they weren’t able to get there in the first place, and subsequently left. It wasn’t until Jens Gustafsson, whom I knew from his drumming in local punk/garage rockers Rawhypnol’s, came our way that things finally clicked. Jens had the right attitude and he pounded the shit out of the drums, in a dirty and quite unorthodox way, as opposed to the others we had tried out, who were more classic Metal guys and sounded like it as well. Along with him Jens brought his best friend, Thomas Ericksson, whom I also knew briefly as a very talented guitairst and song writer (Bokor, Dear Mutant), however little did we know of his capabilities when it came to vocalize doom. To say me, Per and Dennis were in positive shock after the first rehearsal is putting it mildly. This line-up recorded three songs together, “Pagan Altar Cometh”, “Charles Taze Russel” and “Paul Gustave Doré” before Dennis left the band in the summer of 08 and was replaced by Robert Hylén, who in turn was replaced by Thomas Jansson in connection to the recording of our debut (March ’09). Thus the current line up is: Ola B, Per B, Thomas E, Thomas J and Jens G.
The band has been around for five years now, with very little as far as output goes, but you’ve got what seems to be a slowly but steadily growing fanbase. What do you think the cause of this is, when for the most part in today’s music world if you’re not on the cover of every magazine, no one cares who you are or what your music is about?
Ola: We started out as an underground band, we are an underground band today and I have no illusions of us ever becoming anything else than a concern for an underground audience. The underground is the reason for our success (however relative such a word may seem in this context as we’re not exactly selling shitloads of albums…) in the underground.
How difficult was it to be a slow moving doom band and suddenly having to write and record a fast song for the Knock Em Down to Size compilation?
Ola: Thing is, “Pagan Altar Cometh” was the first song we wrote and recorded together as a band, even though we already had most of “Charles Taze Russel” and “Paul Gustave Doré” finished at the time. The reason why the song had to be relatively fast was that we had a time limit of 2.45 minutes to consider – no contribution to the Knock Em Down to Size 7″ vinyl compilation was allowed to be longer or else the six tracks from the six different bands wouldn’t cram into the very limited format. Also we simply could not come up with anything slow that had enough substance to justify a release. In addition we felt the need for (relative) speed in order to illustrate our lyrics. In the end the track still became too long – 2.51 minutes – despite us pressing our respective pedals to the floor. It was an interesting thing to do, and to be on the same vinyl as all these great bands was an honor, but I don’t think we will do something like this again – upper mid tempo isn’t really where we feel most comfortable.
What kinds of gear do you guys use when you’re playing? Any crazy pedals, or is your setup mostly straight forward? How about for recording, do you play anything different in the studio than what you use for live shows or writing?
Ola: I’m the technical idiot in the band and usually hand over the setting up of gear to the others, both in the studio and in a live setting. As for my gear: I play a 7 string Ibanez RG through a Sunn Model T bass amp with a Sunn B 215 cabinet. To get the right tone from this low frequency monster I use a Lovetone Brown Source pedal. The sound is like a glorious blend of molten lava, tar and pure, smokey single malt whisky – I love it! I didn’t own this rig when we recorded Solemn – Sacred – Severe though, but rest assured it will be used on our next album.
Per: My setup usually differs a bit between live and studio. For a live situation (and rehearsal) I have two amplifiers, Laney Supergroup 100W head, and a Laney Klipp 100W head, where one is a backup in case the first one blows up, they are both around 40 yrs old so anything might happen! As they are extremely loud to get natural distortion from I use a few pedals with it, mostly MXR overdrive and distortion pedals and some effects when needed such as delay and phaser.
As a speaker cabinet I use whatever the venue provides us with though I prefer a Mesa 4×12 cab or old Laney cab 4×12 – which rarely happens.
Studio wise I tend to use the same but also have an old Mesa Boogie Quad preamp with JJ special tubes along with a modified (bias mod) Mesa 295 poweramp into a Mesa 4×12 and Laney 4×12 as this setup has more punch and cuts through a bit more in recordings. But that stuff weighs a ton to carry around!
For clean parts, and the occasional additional overdub harmony part I also use the Laney’s.
For leads it’s the same setup but every now and then if available I like to use Mesa mk IIc+, or the Triaxis v.1.
I use two six string guitars, a Gibson Les Paul custom (changed the pickups for DiMarzio) and an old Greco Flying V with stock pickups.
Thomas J: Music Man Sabre 1979/80, Customized Fender Jazz Bass, EMG pickups.
Where do you get your inspiration for lyrics? Are they experiences you yourself have felt and seen, or are they stories that you write about people that don’t exist?
Ola: The themes in my lyrics definitely stem from own experience and personal pondering. I keep the texts as close to me as possible as I believe thoroughly in subjectivity – if I wrote fictional lyrics the result would be entertainment only. I have realized that to have deep impact on others, promoting identification with a message in a listener, it is important to try and write it exactly the way you feel – soul to soul and we meet inside (if it is meant to happen).
What is your opinion on the Church? Your lyrics point towards an antichristian sentiment, but at the same time they are just vague enough that perhaps they are the complete opposite.
Ola: My opinion on the Church with capital C depends on whether you aim at any specific Church (Catholic or Protestant, etc.) with your question, or if you mean Christianity as a whole. I take it that you ask for my opinion on the later phenomenon though, and for me to give a straight black or white answer is not possible. On the one hand I recognize the power and beauty of institutionalized religious aesthetics, myths and ceremonies – I admit I gather inspiration from these, which should be obvious by now…On the other hand The Church has adopted/stolen plenty of psychological archetypes and re-designed them to meet its need to lull its subjects into a certain state of receptiveness… Which is an atrocity and a way of intruding on individual freedom on a deep plane (and of course there’s a wealth of other accusations that can be raised against the Church, and many more laurels to grant it as well). One might be tempted to make it easy for oneself though, and to go categorical, stating that people who are dumb enough to be fooled by the Church deserves it…however I can say that personally I am not in a position to point fingers/pass judgment on individuals who need the crutch provided by the Church to make it through this absolute HELL that is reality (I have been what others may call a religious fanatic myself…). However, and needless to say, there’s the political aspect to consider as well: The Church/organized religion is THE way for the elite to keep the masses in check, always have been (always will be), otherwise no Church/religion (of any kind) would ever have been institutionalized in the first place. Back and forth, for and against and on and on and on we go… By now it may come as no surprise to anyone that I hate staleness, or the cementing of sentiments and beliefs as I view it as a huge weakness in the psyche of man.
How long have you been listening to metal, and what made you decide to form a doom band of all genres?
I started listening to Metal actively as a 13 year old via Manowar and Dio and went on to Candlemass and Trouble etc. The reason for the decision to start playing Doom is that it is comes naturally for me. I am a contemplating man and slowness promotes thought.
Per: I got my first LP when I was 4 yrs old – Kiss’ Rock ans Roll Over, so I was raised on all the classics; i.e. Kiss, Priest, Maiden, Saxon, Scorpions and all the usual suspects.
I pretty much followed what was released when thrash and death came along and was blown away when I first heard bands such as Anathema and such around 90-91. Even though I had heard Sabbath before it wasn’t until around that time that I got hooked on it and started going “backwards” in time for all the 70′s bands.
One of my first bands was a progressive metal band, but as time went by I got fed up with people being more interested in what strings I was using, or effects or how many scales I was practicing every day instead of the feel of the song. So when I met Ola we kind of hit it off straight away and he introduced me to a LOT of underground music and a whole new world opened up.
I was by this time completely put off by progpeople (not the music) and was mainly listening to old Pentagram and such and wanted to form a cover band playing that kind of stuff. I asked Ola after awhile if he would be interested and he kindly informed me that he already had a new band called The Doomsday Cult, playing original songs, which I was welcome to join – which I did.
After a short period of time I jumped ship with the prog metal band and concentrated only on The Doomsday Cult.
After a few years TDC was laid to rest but Ola and I started up Griftegård and even though we had the same drummer to begin with Griftegård is NOT a continuation of TDC, although I understand it’s easy to see it as such.
So there was no decision as such to start a doom band, but a genuine desire to play honest music with a deep feel, emotion and meaning.
Thomas: All my life. Black Sabbath was the first band to introduce me to heavy music, I was totally blown away, and still am… the culmination of musical evolution was reached during the 60´s and 70´s in my opinion.
Thomas J: Started listening to Napalm Death and Obituary in 1990 when I got a tape from my brother’s classmate. My first LP was Alice Cooper’s Trash, bought in 1989 when it was released here in Sweden.
What else, other than doom, do you listen to personally? Is there anything in your collections that you think would surprise your fans at all?
Ola: I’ll listen to anything that stir something in me, but this far only throughly melancholic or plain dark music has. I might have things in my collection that could come off as odd to a fan, depending on his/her age and level of musical experience, so it’ll be a yes and no answer here… Favorites range from Cohen to Coven via Candlemass.
Per: As I mentioned before I was raised on the classic metal/rock bands and I’d like to say that my favourite music era would be the ’70s. Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Scorpions etc etc.
Considering this I don’t think anyone would be surprised upon finding out that I also love and listen to Gabriel-era Genesis, Rush, Led Zeppelin and more “underground” stuff such as Jericho, Irish Coffe, Cosmic Dealer etc.
I also have a thing for female fronted ’70s bands, for example early Earth & Fire (not Earth, WIND & Fire that is), Affinity and Curved Air which might raise an eyebrow or two I suppose. Women who knew how to SING, and none of that modern “heavy-music-with-elf-like-women-singing”, which is one of the few genres I can’t stand at all.
Every now and then I’m digesting some punk such as Discharge, Black Flag, first Cro-Mags etc. Angry music.
And for those who do not know the music, or me, I’m sure that they will be surprised to hear that I really like LP’s such as Scott Walker’s first 4 albums, as well as The Handsome Family etc.
Thomas: I listen to any kind of music that’s got spirit in it. A few eaxmples of 60′s/70′s stuff I enjoy is Indian Summer, which is one of the best 70´s albums ever. Irish Coffee is brilliant as well, the vocals in particular are very good, and same goes for DR.Hooker, check out the track “The Bible”! Another gem is Bolder Damn, their album Mourning is a true masterpiece and the track “Dead Meat” is a classic! Other amazing stuff from this golden age is The Music Machine, Open Mind (Magic Potion…), Ultra (killer guitar playing and good songs), Mellow Candle (!!!) and Iron Claw.
Thomas J: I rarely listen to doom – I actually started liking it when I got a copy of Psalmbok from Per. But I didn’t even try to discover any other bands before I started playing bass in Griftegård. I listen to all kinds of stuff, so it’s quite difficult to namedrop. Is Anthony and the Johnsons odd enough?
Is there anything you’d like to add to this at all?
Ola: Thank you for your support. Look out for our split 7″ with Count Raven due out in June/July through Ván (in co op with Nachtgnosis).
