| Joyzine Interview 2009 | |
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Johan Olsson & Jimmie Strimell |
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Joyzine |
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2009, April 09 |
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Dead by April was interviewed by Joyzine on April 09, 2009. The article was published on April 22, 2009 and featured interviews with Jimmie Strimell and Johan Olsson. During the same day Dead by April performed at Rockweekend, Linköping.
Topics discussed in the interview was among others prejudices, Eurovision Song Contest and Dead by April's image. The interview was done by Mikael Mjörnberg.
Script[]
- The interview was done in Swedish and is therefore translated into English.
- With a solid mix of pop and metal they have created a real hype. They are signed to a large record company and have gotten success through the Robinson trailer. But it is not easy to be liked by everyone. Joyzine met two parts of Dead By April in Linköping to talk about calming down and narrowed fifteen year olds online.
Johan Olsson: If you ever get to see Dead By April in the Eurovision Song Contest, you have my permission to shoot me.
- I am convinced that he means what he says.The reason the topic is even discussed is that Dead By April this night will play at the roving mini-festival Rockweekend on Tour where also Eurovision Song Contest-current Heat are included. The idea that readily Dead By April somehow could infiltrate into the contest does not feel unlikely, but the band members writes it off.
Jimmie Strimell: I think it has gone way out of hand. Eurovision Song Contest for me is about the pop songs. Well, I guess it's cool and Heat are great, but it does not feel like pop. When Lordi comes in and plays hard rock, it is not Eurovision Song Contest for me but the way it was when I was young.
- Why even discuss the Eurovision Song Contest with a metal band? It sounds completely imbecillt. But Dead By April is not like any other band, but a collection of brave young men who defied many of the prevailing conventions and composes music that really is as much rooted in pop music as in any metal scene.
- We sit in the foyer of the Concert Hall in Linköping and it feels a bit like the calm before the storm. There are soundchecks in the auditorium, band members and a few curious people are watching it. The calm and the storm are metaphors that also works very well to describe Johan Olsson and Jimmie Strimell. The guitarist is forward, his mouth goes into one and he can obviously tell you about the music and the band indefinitely without stops. The singer is the contrary; very quiet and contemplation, but sits all the time with an intelligent little smile that reveals that he thinks more than he says.
- They just told me that they have the musical freedom to take their music in just any direction they want without feeling restricted by any style or musical categorization, hence my question about the Eurovision Song Contest.
Johan Olsson: There's a huge difference in what you can do and what you want to do. I might have change my mind in five years, and you may shoot me, it remains to be seen.
Johan Olsson: What is so fucking cool about us is that we have both. You get the whole color spectrum. It's not just two-stroke flogging and evil, but it is big and warm and deep feelings mixed with aggression. We usually joke and say that you can put in a Dead By April-disc and then you're satisfied, you don't need to listen to any other record.
- The analysis of their music seems just as accurate as it is simple. For the majority of the compositions we have Michael Jackson lover, guitarist Pontus Hjelm - besides him and already mentioned the band also included bassist Marcus Wesslén and drummer Alex Svenningson.
Johan Olsson: He listens to a lot of pop and mainstream music.
Jimmie Strimell: He has most certainly written fifteen new songs but got bored in half and tossed them and started over again. He's an ideas man.
- No matter where the music comes from it created quite an instant buzz around the band when they appeared a few years ago. The debut album was not released until May of this year, but already last year the group played at the historic Hultsfredsfestivalen and played with Dark Tranquillity and Engel on tour through Sweden. The emergence of a lasting hype is surrounding the group, there is no doubt, and on two separate occasions during our conversation venture timid fans walks up to the guys to ask for autographs.
Johan Olsson: I think it's because we play such an extreme mix of pop and metal, it's something new. We dared to break standards, both with the music and look and try to deliver a package that appeals to people.
- The thing with the well-styled look can be difficult to accept for some of the potential listening crowd.
Johan Olsson: You have heard metal dudes picking on us, but hello, you guys have the same haircut and the same jeans and the same damn boots on all of you metal fans, so do not tell me that look doesn't matter. Even these bands that say they are so anti-image has an image. An anti-image is also an image. Death metal is an image because you look a certain way to appeal to other people. If you go to a death metal concert where everyone has long hair, a bit fat and have like a Obituary-t-shirt, and there comes in a guy in tight Cheap Monday pants and oblique fringe, then that guy would have been put in place. Then it's an image otherwise it would not have mattered. We look like this.
- Is it so that you encounter more resistance because of your image than for your music?
Johan Olsson: Partially, but it's mostly these blabbermouth-dudes, fifteen year old guys with pimples sitting at home in the basement and jerking off to internet porn. What to say, too bad you do not like how we look, I've also been there and it will pass.
- The desired sound and style also requires a large extent properly focus and seriousness. After scratching down an autograph with my lent pen Jimmie takes the task to explain why.
Jimmie Strimell: It's about to cope with tomorrow as well. The voice requires a lot of rest. It is not just to scream anymore as I did before, then it was a little easier. Now you should be able to have the balance to cope with both clean vocals and screaming vocals. You have to think more now than you did back when it was just being crazy and screaming. Water and coffee is the deal, and I try to talk as little as possible, talk low and don't run around and talk with everyone.
Johan Olsson: There is more focus on the music and less focus on everything else nowadays. I don't need to think so much about taking it easy for the same reason as Jimmie, but when the kids that earn their 700 bucks a month pay 200 bucks to go and check us out, I can not stand there piss drunk and playing the wrong song. They've paid to go and see us and we will do the best we can. If we are not good enough there is not so much one can do, but if it is because we have been stupid or drunk too much, then there are no excuses.
- Are there too much love regarding partying on tour?
Johan Olsson: Absolutely. Then it's too fucking much bullshit too. Many of the bands that say they partying so damn hard are just like everyone else. Nothing against it, we all like to party and drink beer, but when you sit during an whole interview and just tell complete stories about partying it feels as if the music might not be where it should be.
- The mixture and wide color spectrum is shown again in Dead by Aprils tour schedule. The newcomers is opening act for Mustach ("an awesome live band") and Dia Psalma ("when they play the songs from ' Dawn of Tme' you do get a little shivers down your back"). The width that is produced in the tour package, especially in Dead By April's own music should be able to appeal to a very wide range of people, which brings us to question what the orchestra really targets.
Johan Olsson: The principle from the outset has been to get heavy music into the parlor. It's probably mostly about personal preference and if you have an open mind or not. If you listen to the same CDs as I did when I was a teenager maybe you're not a fan of us, but for something to evolve you have to break some rules, otherwise you'll get nowhere."