PW: I do love your biography claiming that you are formed after descendants signed a pact 500 years ago when their devilish musical orchestra was persecuted and ultimately executed for spreading hedonism by the church. Tell us a bit more about this and what sort of style and events do you imagine your ancestors played in the 16th Century. I’m guessing lutes, pipes and the hurdy-gurdy were all the rage back then?

PM: Ha, no they didn’t actually do any recordings in those days [like duh] but my guess is they might have written something down but we haven’t found it yet.

PW: You met up in 2003, how did you all find each other and did you all come from different musical backgrounds?

PM: Yeah we definitely came from different backgrounds, we pretty much started when Daniel and me found each other at the same university. Then the rest of the band were friends of ours from older days, when we were younger. Annlouice [Loegdlund – vocals] was the only person we didn’t really know from beforehand.

I was wondering how you arrived at the style we hear in your music today. I have not heard the debut EP ‘Borderline Hymns’ was that in line with what we have come to know on the group’s two albums?

DH: Yes some of the songs from the EP were originally on the ‘Butchers Ballroom.’ The whole opera thing started out with my mother being an opera singer. None of us were aware of the actual genre already existing with the female soprano vocals and the metal and we thought it was interesting and actually original. All of the members actually contributed to the styles and the way of playing from what they listened to and we found lots of things along the way. My mother was in a choir for her whole life so I listened to a lot of that and opera as a child. Nowadays I don’t so much but I have that kind of background.

AJ: With my background from playing the ‘punk’ bass and I was interested in that a lot when I was younger but couldn’t really find any band members for that style. So when I joined up with the band I was able to do my things with them and I think everyone does that.

DH: In that way it has become very democratic as everybody is allowed in every way possible to bring in their own style and what they really feel is their kind of music.

PM: If it works it works, if it doesn’t we will find different ways around it.

PW: Swing music only really touches on what you play stylistically although it is very noticeable. It’s a form of music that derives back to the big bands led by the likes of Benny Goodman and I guess with the decedent dances one would think of Glenn Miller as a famous example. Are you big fans of this style and was it always your intention to incorporate the sound into metal music?

PM: I have played in big band swing in the past.

AJ: I wouldn’t say that was the specific intention but it’s a style of music I think that has a really nice groove to it and it makes your head shake haha.

PM: Maybe it’s because it is more danceable perhaps, the swing makes you move and it makes you dance or something like that.

DH: It’s kind of like an evolution from ‘The Butchers Ballroom’ it started off with ‘Balrog Boogie’ song and really took off.

PW: Swing music is something I would associate as a carefree escape from a world of depression and recession, if that’s the case it’s pretty much the perfect time to resurrect it, would you agree?

PM: Definitely yes. One of the first gigs we played which put a really big mark on me was one where we had 50 people dancing to what we played and it made such an impact to me that from that point on I always wanted to do something that would make people dance. That’s how I got into psy-trance and stuff like that for a couple of years. It inspires me when people like the music so much they just want to dance to it and forget pretty much what they have and their circumstances in life.

AJ: There was a depression when it was around in the 30s and it’s happening again.

PW: Sticking with swing, it is probably very true that you have turned a few people into metal onto the style do you think there are swing aficionados out there who have heard you and got interested in metal?

DH: When we went to Atlanta a couple of weeks ago we had a couple of fans coming up to us, one guy and his wife probably in their 40s and he told me about his mother who was pretty much around in the 30s’ and 40s’ and she grew up with that kind of music and she has actually heard us and really enjoyed it She was probably in her 80s.

PM: We have had a lot of responses like that actually people saying their grandparents have listened to us as well. Perhaps it is because it is not violent music, it can be aggressive in some parts but not so it distracts from listening to melodies. It is accessible. It might be weird on paper but when you listen to it, it is accessible and its music you can dance to.

PW: ‘The Butchers Ballroom’ was many peoples first exposure to your music back in 2005, it got you a lot of recognition. I was wondering about the intriguing album title though?

DH: The idea was formed at the studio where we recorded as it was in an area of butchers. There was a giant meat grinder that woke us up the first couple of nights we stayed there. That was one part of the idea and then ballroom because of ballroom music.

PM: A friend Stefan back home in Karlstad came up with it. I just described the environment over there with the studio and the whole thing we were doing with the music and he summed it up with ‘this is the butcher’s ballroom!’

PW: That explains it, I had images of a mad butcher hacking things up all day and going out in the evening and having a dance.

All: hahaha that also works!

PM We really thought of it as a good title as it brings in two different parts, there are the parts in our music that are metal and hard rock and there are parts that are very far away from that; jazz, classical music and swing and ballroom music.

PW: Annlouice sings in a very operatic style bringing other flavours to your music, in fact you like it being described as ‘riot opera’ I wondered if she had any formal training and indeed if she or any others in the band were involved in any more classical orchestras.

DH: Annlouice and Johannes [Bergion – cello] are both classically trained for many years, I think she has studied opera for most of her life. She has worked for quite a while in an opera house in Karlstad so she is a fully fledged opera soprano. Johannes has played cello since I can remember, I have known him since I was about sixteen and he was thirteen, so he has played for quite some time as well.

PW: Of course it’s not all about swing, I hear the samba, the foxtrot, the waltz and perhaps even the Charleston about your music at times. I guess these are all things that influenced. Have you ever had any nasty injuries by people confused at how to dance at your shows? I am guessing a bit of a training session at the start would really help if you had the time.

PM: Actually Daniel had an injury once on stage when he hit himself in the head with his guitar but the audience no.

PW: I guess you don’t exactly get mosh pits in the audience.

DH: We actually have a mosh pit on stage it is better.

PM: I run into Daniel on stage in Atlanta and that really hurt.

AJ: There are more injuries on stage than in the audience yes.

DH: If we have a very narrow stage then it’s a bad thing.

PW: Well you are in for fun tonight!

PW: There is it has to be said a moral to the tragic story of asking stupid questions like this as the only injury that I am aware of on the night was to myself as an audience member head banging caught my camera whilst taking a photo and cut my head open. Luckily the camera survived.

PW: Moving onto the new album I have to say it has one of the most eye catching covers I have seen in a while I love the artwork, who did it and did you have a clear idea of what you were looking for or was it the artists interpretation on hearing the music?

AJ: My friend Peter Bergting from Stockholm was a photoshop teacher of mine ten years back at University. He has done a lot of graphic novels in Sweden and a lot of comic books as well, he did the ‘Butchers Ballroom’ illustration as well which was like a natural thing; we just bonded with him for our illustrations. So he did the illustration and I did the artwork graphics.

PW: Did he hear the music first or did you have a rough idea of what you wanted?

AJ: I wrote down a creative brief and sent him 200 images representing the orchestra and he knows us from the other album obviously.

DH: We had a discussion of what sort of things we would want in the artwork and the amusement park came up pretty early. We knew kind of what we wanted.

PW: If I had money burning a hole in my pocket and saw 100 album covers it’s this one that would jump out at me. There is a lot of curiosity about it too.

AJ: Yes we wanted to keep the back side darker and very grey and Pontus had the idea of having a little bit of grass on the front moving towards the back, so you keep it like that you don’t know what is going on behind but you know something is. You can also see that from their faces and their weird smiles as well.

PW: There is no escaping the trappings of modern culture and there were a couple of things I heard that were perhaps incidental or perhaps done on purpose? For instance the drum- roll on ‘A Tapdancer’s Dilemma reminded of a certain advert with horses and a famous stout

DH: Guinness? I am going to have to write that one down and look into it actually.

PW: and the bass lines on ‘Ricerca Dell Anima’ the theme tune of a well known caped crusader.

All: Crack up.

AJ: Well observed sir, that’s an interesting observation.

PW: There is also a carnivalesque feel to it the male backing vocals on Tapdancer again sound like an old 1920’s sideshow barker, take it that was the intention there?

DH: Something between that and a Southern US priest, preaching to the masses. A doomsday prophet.

PW: ‘A Rancid Romance’ with the horns and sultry air, could we perhaps be in more flamenco territory here?

DH: Flamenco, tango, well done. That song is actually a classical piece Johannes wrote.

PW: I was just going to say I thought I heard a bit of Dvorak there at the end too.

DH: Very nice observation, you have done your homework. It’s actually a classical piece he wrote when he was 18, so about seven years ago for an orchestra. It’s actually recorded too.

AJ: Basically we added a tango to it and the vocals.

DH: And brought our sound into it.

PW: ‘Bedlam Sticks’ that’s a favourite and it immediately reminded of classic Napoleon XIV song, ‘They’re Coming To Take Me Away’ an the unhinged likes of Bonzo Dog Doodah Band, could the likes of these be an influence and perhaps explain some of your lunacy?

DH: I wrote the main guitar parts with no real inspiration from that but after the song was finished I can definitely see some similarities.

PM: That song was actually an inspiration for the lyrics and the feel to it all.

PW: ‘Siberian Love Affairs’ is another song with distinct personalities and has me asking the question will you play weddings, wakes and bar mitzvahs?

PM: Yes it would suit, it the way it keeps going faster and faster and faster. That’s actually our day job.

PW: Basically it’s like you are gathering ideas from all over the place and putting them in a big melting pot.

DH: It’s based on the melody of ‘Rock Inferno’ from the chorus and we thought it would be a good intro to the music. That’s what we are all about. We try to make it coherent to all different parts of the world.

PM: Usually the songs when they start off are not intentionally turned into a tango or a different style, usually they are nowhere near that but somewhere along the way they change shape.

PW: Looking forward to the show tonight and congratulations on it selling out. How extensively have you toured, what have been the best shows and where would you really like to play that you haven’t yet?

DH: Well normally it’s not so much touring as over a weekend playing here and there. We have to mention the shows we did in the US and Mexico and there have been some festival gigs in Germany like Summer Breeze which was definitely a high point.

PM: For every gig we do it seems there are more and more people catching on, you can see it grow.

AJ: And people singing along to the songs.

So there you have it and singing along is something you are totally encouraged to do but only if you are damned and delirious. Check the band out and be ready to swing into action.

For more on the band check out http://www.myspace.com/diabloswingorchestra
http://www.ascendancerecords.com

Interviewed by Pete Woods

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