Artist: Letters From The Colony
Herkunft: Borlänge, Schweden
Genre: Progressive Death Metal
Label: Nuclear Blast
Link: https://www.facebook.com/lettersfromthecolony
Bandmitglieder:
Gesang – Alexander Backlund
Gitarre – Tterrab Dys
Gitarre – Johan Jönsegård
Bassgitarre – Emil Österberg
Schlagzeug – Jonas Sköld
Time For Metal / Julian:
Vignette is your first album as a band, but surely not your first experience as musicians. Where did you collect your experiences and how did the band come together?
Letters From The Colony / Johan Jönsegård:
Letters From The Colony started off with a bunch of friends that had a huge passion for music and big dreams about being someone in the music scene. After a while the music got more and more complicated which ended up with a lot of line up changes. It was hard to find people that was able to play the stuff that we wrote so that definitely delayed the album with years. Our experience comes from many hours of practicing and not giving up. Today almost every member plays in other already established bands like In Mourning, October Tide and Thenighttimeproject which also gives us input on how to run things.
Time For Metal / Julian:
Vignette became a very technical album, but if you listened to it a few times it becomes more and more accessible. How would you describe the sound of the album?
Letters From The Colony / Johan Jönsegård:
The album has a little bit of everything. We really love thinking outside the box and get new crazy ideas but we always have in mind that the music has to make some kind of sense so it doesn’t become just random riffs. Since we have recorded everything ourselves in our studio/rehearsal we didn’t have to rush anything because we had unlimited amount of time to record the album. It really helped us to create our own sound.
Time For Metal / Julian:
Without a doubt there are a lot of influences of Meshuggah and Gojira in your sound, but you also bring your very own, unique note to it. Which bands influenced you the most and why did you decide to make this genre of music?
Letters From The Colony / Johan Jönsegård:
We listen to so many bands in different genres so it’s hard to say what inspired us the most but Meshuggah and Gojira definitely has a big impact on us with their odd time signatures and low tuning.
Time For Metal / Julian:
Do you have a personal favorite song on Vignette and why?
Letters From The Colony / Johan Jönsegård:
I think Galax is one of the strongest songs on the album because it’s so dynamic and has all the elements that defines Letters From The Colony for me but at the moment The Final Warning is my favorite. I guess it’s because that song is the most fun to play live. The amount energy you get from that song when on stage is just ridiculous.
Time For Metal / Julian:
What is the biggest liberty for a band to have their own studio and how did this influence your working process for the new album?
Letters From The Colony / Johan Jönsegård:
You have the freedom to do whatever you want and test new ideas because you have unlimited amount of time. The downside of it is that you never know when you are done and satisfied. You will find little things everywhere that you want to change and days quickly turns into months. It took us a long time to record this album but I’m glad that we put so much effort into it because it turned out really good.
Time For Metal / Julian:
Have you been always together in the studio as a whole band or how did you record every single part/instrument of the album?
Letters From The Colony / Johan Jönsegård:
We were rarely there all together during the recording process. Just the ones that was necessary to record each instrument.
Time For Metal / Julian:
How is it for you to be part of the big Nuclear Blast family, a label that is very supportive to new bands?
Letters From The Colony / Johan Jönsegård:
It feels amazing. We have all dreamt about being signed by Nuclear Blast since we were kids and to be among all these great metal bands. I’ve heard so many stories about bands that been put in the background just because they are newcomers but I have to say that’s not the case here. They have been absolutely fantastic to work with and very supportive.
Time For Metal / Julian:
So what can we expect from Letters From The Colony in 2018? Maybe a Headliner Tour through Europe?
Letters From The Colony / Johan Jönsegård:
We have some festival shows coming up this summer around Europe. No official tour yet but we are working on it and hopefully something comes up this fall. Other than that we try to use our time off the best way we can and the first tunes for next album has already been written.
Time For Metal / Julian:
Is there any band you dream of to tour with?
Letters From The Colony / Johan Jönsegård:
For me personally it would be Children of Bodom. Not because I listen to them that often these days but I was so into them when I was a kid and they actually convinced me to start playing the guitar. So that is just a childhood dream for me to fulfill.
Time For Metal / Julian:
So let’s come to the more personal side of questions – What do the band members do in their leisure time? Do you have any other hobbies apart from the music?
Letters From The Colony / Johan Jönsegård:
We all have a huge passion for video games and beer but the music takes up most of our time really. Playing in multiple bands and full time jobs makes it hard to find time to something else.
Time For Metal / Julian:
What were the last two records every band member bought on his own? Thank you very much for your time and I hope to see you on the road any time soon.
Letters From The Colony:
Johan Jönsegård: Phil Collins – Face Value, Iron Maiden – Killers.
Emil Östberg: Opeth – Sorceress, Antarktis – Ildlaante.
Sebastian Svalland: Behemoth – Satanist, Opeth – Sorceress.
Jonas Sköld: Meinl and Sabian Cymbals.
Alexander Backlund: Markoolio – Tjock och Lycklig, Lionel Richie – Can’t Slow Down.