By Yiannis (John) Stefanis
• Hi guys; this the first time that I had to do an interview with four people at the same time so I am slightly overwhelmed here, but it is a pleasure to have you all in front of me as you are all responsible for the creation of “Full Circle” – an album that I have been thoroughly enjoying since I first held it in my hands. This is a fresh and exciting release, the kind of album that we need more bands to be able to come up with every now and then.
Jolle (drums): Thank you.
Christian (guitars): Thank you very much!
• I knew nothing of The Quill prior to agreeing to do this interview, thinking that I was pretty much doing a favour to a good friend more than anything else, and so I had to do some much needed research prior to coming here. Well, in those places that I did look for information about you was pretty positive, but I still feel that the band should be getting more exposure through the music media. Is that perhaps a result or lack of attention from your previous record label? If that is indeed the case then I am truly shocked as the label who released your previous three studio albums is no other than SPV.
Jolle: I don’t know really. I think that it might have been as a result of the cist that the label incurred when we did the Monster Magnet tour back in 2004, as this did cost them a lot of money. I really think that they lost a lot of money on that tour and so they probably decided to not spend so much money on the promotion side. We only actually did one album with them after that (note: “In Triumph” back in 2006), which ended up being the third and last album that we released through them.
Christian: Yeah, and also we quite an inexperienced band a few years ago and we didn’t have a proper management to support us and be getting on the label’s nerves all the time in order to achieve things for us, so you could say that it was many different things responsible for that lack of promotion. Things could have gone much better for the band if we had the right people behind us that were also more involved on the PR and marketing side of things. Anyway, that was then (laughs).
• I am generally wondering whether it also had to do with the fact that you are somewhat difficult to label. Most journalists describe you as a Stoner band, which I personally think is criminal as I feel that, though such elements do exist in your music, you are a far more diverse band. There’s plenty of blues ala early day Whitesnake and classic Rock that I hear in your music – styles that existed and were glorified far before even the notion of Stoner ever existed. Is it possible that, even to this day, people have not quite grasped what you guys are all about?
Robert (bass): Well, it use to bother us a bit when we were called a Stoner band, but as time passed by and as we do have some Stoner elements in our music which can be heard in some of our songs, and bearing in mind that people always want to simplify things and put you under one specific category, put a stamp on you, we have learned to sort of stop getting angry or upset about it. I do think though that you are very right and it is very nice to hear someone to describe our music as you did because it is exactly as we feel about it. We have roots in the Blues and we are influenced by bands like Whitesnake and Deep Purple as much as by Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath but we have made our own thing with that, you know? We have put a modern sound to it and we have written our own songs – songs that we feel very passionate about and love. Now, if someone wants to call us Stoner, it might still sting a bit but not as much as it used to.
• Ok, so if the task of promoting the band was entirely I your hands, how would you go about it? How would you describe The Quill to us? It is difficult, right?
Christian: It is indeed. If you say Classic Rock it does involve a lot of styles but it is not than interesting as a style. If you call as a Stoner band we will inevitably get plenty of interest from the Stoner fans but people who are not into that style of music will not listen to us, so it is very hard. I mean, Classic Rock, Hard Rock…
Robert: Pretty much straight up Rock n’Roll! Our music has pretty much gone towards that direction. We used to jam a lot and write those ten minute songs in the process but now every song is more like a short story. We have gone from writing a novel to do short stories now; it’s straight forward, simple if you prefer Rock n’Roll but it is played with passion and made with the elements that we like to have in our music and the way we want them to sound. Yeah, it’s more straight forward I think – it has become more straight forward music.
• Sweden has always been a very musical nation and I get to see many fellow-countrymen of yours becoming ever so more attracted to the 70s Rock sound – even musicians whose were initially more extreme in their musical orientation, however, one thing I find about you guys is that you don’t sound at all as a Swedish band to me.
Robert: Really?
• Not at all! There are many American sounding elements in your music that are fairly dominant but I would not be able to say that you were an American band either had I not known anything about you. I guess that is another added bonus that you have which you must feel quite proud of.
Jolle: Yeah.
Robert: It is almost a timeless kind of music, actually a bit more timeless now than it used to be (laughs). It’s also…I don’t know if you can say that it is has also become more honest maybe, but it is certainly more direct and from deep in our hearts, you know? It is not something that we aim for – it just happens this way and it turned out to be really good and we are really happy with it but it’s not like we said “now we are going to do that kind of album” or anything. We sat down and we wrote songs which we then recorded and this is what came out – as simple as that! We did not plan to make a 70s influences album with a sound from the 21st century – it’s just the way it came out.
• Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that this is the first album with this line up, right?
Christian: Yes it is!
• Well, for a band that’s just released its first album under this line up you come across as very tight outfit so congratulations on that front also. How did we end up having these four specific members working together under the moniker The Quill then?
Jolle: Christian and I have known each other, and actually also Robert for almost eight years now but the tricky bit was not for us three to work together as much as to find a perfect singer for the band. Like most people tend to do these days, we used all available social networks and it was Christian that actually found him (note: Magz: vocals) first on MySpace while I was sitting night after night on similar media looking to find our perfect singer. That was how we were first got connected with Magz and we found that he had another band active called Ground Mower. So Christian called me and said “you’ve got to listen to this guy as I think that is just perfect for the band”.
• I personally cannot see how you could have made a better choice!
Jolle: Yeah! It was actually like a dream come true to find that type of singer with such a powerful voice and the thing is that when we went into the studio to record our new songs, we tried to make Magz sing in so many different ways and he did, so it was like being in heaven for us! This album was very, very easy to record because there was much fun and happiness involved – so much energy! We were just laughing all the time! We were sitting in the control room and listening to him making a take and we were smiling all the time thinking “this is amazing”! But that was not what you asked actually (laughs).
• Well, you pretty much answered my question!
Robert: It was a ‘hard fish to catch’ this one (laughs) because when we first contacted Magz he was…well, you better tell the story yourself actually!
Magz: Yeah. I was a member of a band that had just released its first album (note: “War Machine”) in 2008 and so I felt that I could not have two bands running at the same time. These guys lived in the south of Sweden and my band (note: Ground Mower”) lived in Stockholm whereas I lived in the north of the country so I kind of told them ‘thank you but not thank you’ the first time round. Then I believe that it was a year later when Christian called me again, he asked me again and this time I said “yes, we can maybe do a couple of songs – send me a few songs and I will work on them”. When I finally listened to those songs I simply could not resist them – too good to decline!
• Well, there are indeed thirteen beautiful songs in “Full Circle” and I guess that each and every one of you has his personal favourites but I would like us to focus on two which really stand out for me, the first being “River Of A Moonchild”. I absolutely adore this song – I simply cannot stop listening to it and that is mainly Magz due to your low-register, Coverdale-sounding vocals. Tell us a few things about this song if you please!
Jolle: Maybe I can do that as I was the one who wrote the song (laughs). The first idea I had while I was sitting home was to come up with a singer/song-writer type of song, if that makes any sense – something very simple and American sounding. Now, I have always been a big fan of Soundgarden so I had them in my mind all the time and also Badlands – do you remember Badlands?
• Of course - Jake E Lee’s band! (note: former Ozzy Osbourne guitar player and axeman extraordinaire).
Jolle: I always wanted to do a song like that! We never had a song like that in our previous albums and that was actually the last song that we did in the studio I believe before mixing the album! It’s a very simple song. The lyrics are about a guy who is searching for something! Sometimes when facing a big problem, some people feel the need to run or drive for miles to either clear their heads or seek help in either God or whatever, but this guy just meets up with his old grandmother just before she is to pass away. It is based on a dream actually.
• The other song I truly enjoyed was “Black Star”. I loved that oriental theme in its introduction – did you use Sitar?
Jolle: Yes, we did.
• Do you play Sitar then?
Jolle: No, I do not play the Sitar. We used a friend of ours called Conny Bloom for the band Electric Boys – he is the one responsible as he did a guest appearance on that song and he is indeed a great Sitar player. When we first recorded the song we did not include any Sitar in it but when we listened to it afterwards we thought that it would be cool if we had Sitar in it. So we just called Conny and asked him if he wanted to do the intro for us and he said “yes, of course – I will be very happy to become part of this album”.
• It was when I listened to this intro, and knowing of the band’s decision never to include any Hammond or keyboards in your music early in your career, that I felt that this was an unusual decision to make. I understand a need to sound more of a Rock and heavy but having now chosen to use the Sitar, why not also use a Hammond – an instrument that will add even more atmosphere in your music? If anything it would help make you even more diverse!
Christian: Well, we had a keyboard player in the band in the very beginning, when our first album came out, playing the Hammond organ, but he decided to leave the band and as we were living in a very small town at the time, there was no one around who could play the instrument good enough (laughs). At that time we had not the willingness to look all over Sweden for a new keyboard player and as there was no one in our home town and the surrounding areas we decided to continue without any keyboards.
Jolle: At that time as well, we were kind of sick and tired of the keyboard sound! We wanted to do a heavier album like those made by the classic Led Zeppelin line up.
Christian: Yeah!
Jolle: We were like “no more keyboards”! Of course, it is great to be able to have keyboard themes but Christian has a whole bunch of guitar pedals and effects that we can use in order to ‘spice things up’ a little bit.
• Again, both I and everyone seem to believe that things are indeed quite spiced up in The Quill camp. Some people refer to you as a band with obvious Van Halen Sammy Hag while others mention bands like Soundgarden – something that makes sense after what you Jolle have told me a few minutes ago. Some, myself included, see in songs like “No Easy Way Out” sounds like the kind of stuff that Ozzy Osbourne did during the Zakk Wylde era.
Jolle: I have heard some people mentioning Sammy Hagar but from the Montrose era and so I actually sat down and listened to that album after I was told that and I can hear similarities, but I could not have even imagined it to be the case. I somehow cannot think of Sammy Hagar when I think of Magz Arnar!
• (Note: To Magz) I believe that you are supposed to take this as a compliment (I laugh).
Magz: (laughs) Yeah.
Christian: When people listen to an album, everyone has their own preferences, especial as this is a pretty diverse piece of work. If you are very much into Stoner Rock it is these influence that you will hear first and foremost – influences from Kyuss and Fu Manchu. If you are into AOR you may hear influences from that style of music as well. You might also hear influences from the Foo Fighters if you listen very closely.
• The vast majority of the reviews that I read had one thing in common; every reviewer mentioned one son as not fitting the album but the funny thing is that the song in question was different in each individual case! That is a clear indication of how varied “Full Circle” really is and so I assume that the reactions that you will get from press and fans all over the world will undoubtedly be different.
Jolle: It was very hard…I mean, we recorded thirteen songs and we found it very hard to choose to remove any given two songs from the album in order to make it the grooviest or heaviest Rock album that it could possibly be and so we all decided that we should keep all thirteen songs after all.
Robert: That is because every song has…has a lot of our soul put in it and, you know, it is really hard to remove any and so I still not regret us having kept all thirteen songs on the album. That being said, it is a very hard thing to choose not to put on songs that you have work hard and that you feel so strong for in an album. Maybe that is our weakness, but we kept them all – all thirteen songs!
• The label that you are now signed or is called Metalville and it is one that I have never heard of before, so I so not know what kind of strength they have as a label, what their distribution power is.
Jolle: This is a German label.
• So what made you choose to work with them? I am sure that an album as impressive as “Full Circle” could have easily been released by a bigger label. Is it that these guys managed to give you all the needed assurances that they will take care of you as a band?
Jolle: Yeah, that’s what it was actually.
Robert: You see, we were used to being on a big label before and, even though I do not want to say any bad things for SPV, when you work for a big label you are just a small fish in a big pond and that means that it’s really hard to get in touch with the right people and to get the right amount of attention. This time we wanted to do things the other way round; we wanted us to be one of the main bands in this fine little company which showed much interest in publishing our record. What we did was that we recorded three songs as a demo and then we sent this demo to all kinds of different labels to see what the interest would be like. Now, we did get quite a few offers but this was the one that we opted for because we had a good feeling for this company. Obviously it is a small one with not too many resources but they do give us the attention that we want and they do what they can to promote the album. Nowadays we have a very good distribution and a very good promotion – one that we never had in the past for any of our albums, including those released by SPV. We are really happy with Metalville!
• Ever since I got my hands on a copy of “Full Circle”, I decided to start looking for your previous releases but tracking them down hasn’t always been very easy. Do you have any plans in the near future, providing that “Full Circle” does well and all, to re-release any of these albums?
Christian: This is something that we have already talked about but there are issues with ownership of the songs.
Robert: Yes, there are rights issues and so we are working on signing a publishing deal as we speak. If you do get the right publishing deal and the people we are working with are interested in reissuing these albums then sure we will – why not? I mean, it is really good quality music that I believe that a lot of people should listen to. We are always hard at recording good music. If we had the right circumstances and the right people working for us then we would be selling out arenas simply because the music is so good and we know that! Our music is really good and we want to have as many people as people listening to it so we would like to reissue all four albums if that is possible.
• In a year like 2011 it is all about how one promotes oneself really, something really difficult and tricky as there are so many bands out there – especially in comparison with twenty years ago when the market was smaller! Having said that, a band nowadays has the benefit of social networking sites, perfect example being the way you discovered Magz. Do you believe that the Internet is the main weapon in the band’s arsenal at the moment? Will you be using it in order to sell your music directly to your fans in the future?
Christian: We have a lot of thoughts and ideas with regards how to use the Internet but we will see what we will eventually do as we have not yet decided on it. There are, however, some ideas that have been flying around so we will see what happens.
• All this point in time, the music industry is ‘heavily bleeding’ as a result of all this illegal downloading business. Now if you are a well-established act, the blow that you will feel might be a small one but for a band in your level, do you believe that the problems incurred are such that can potentially harm you or are you part of a specialist scene that will survive regardless?
Robert: The band has been around since the early 90s and we have, as a result, faced plenty of difficulties already, struggling all the time, so nothing has come really easy for us. Now, as long as we feel happiness with what we do and we still feel proud that we are together as a band then that is all that matters. Then, of course, we want as many people as possible to listen to our music but it always begins in the rehearsal studio – the place where we all sit down and write our songs together. This feels pretty much like nursing a baby and it is something that you simply cannot say no to – you’ve got to do it and whatever difficulties come in our way we simply deal with them.
• On a more positive note; tomorrow you will be playing a show in the UK after seven years if I am not mistaken. I am sure you must be really looking forward to it, especially in knowledge that the scene which journalists love to incorporate you in has been steadily flourishing since you last performed here. After this show and the remaining tour is over what are your subsequent plans? How are you guys going to keep the name of the band under the spotlight so to say?
Jolle: The most important thing is to begin expanding into different territories!
• Now that is scary, especially as it is coming from the mouth of a person that’s responsible for an album like “Full Circle”!
Jolle: (laughs) The thing is, we have always toured in Europe and obviously in Scandinavia and so now we are working on getting over to the States and see what’s going to happen with the band over there. Hopefully by giving it a try we will be able to find a market for the band there.
Christian: We kind of need to re-establish the band; we have been away for a while and now we are back with a new singer and a new album. This is the first show in the UK that we will do after seven years and we will also be visiting Holland and Germany again after the New Year and also play our first shows after seven years for these people. We just need to go to all those places that we have been before and visit even more new ones like the US. When the next album comes out, we will do the exact same thing all over again!
• Something tells me that conquering America sort to speak will be the most exciting project for you guys as there are so many of their ‘native’ elements in your music. Actually, I would be very curious to see if the ‘indigenous’ population is going to welcome the fact that you have such elements in your music or treat you with suspicion. If you guys manage to crack the States wide open, if you manage to infiltrate that market then you will be OK.
Robert: America is a huge country and that is what makes it a difficult task but we are simply going to go there and have a go at it and see how it works out. We are going to work really hard there but we are also going to work hard getting back in the UK because there are plans on doing another show here. It has not been nailed down yet but we hope to be back here round spring time. What we do with this band is the best thing for us and so we will continue doing it for as much as we can.
• Gentlemen, it seems like you are a band with a plan. All is will hope is that things will work out the way you want them to and also that a certain amount of luck, which is always needed with everything, will be provided to you. Thank to for this lovely chat and I hope you will enjoy tomorrow’s show.
Robert: Thank you.
Christian/Jolle/Magz: Thanks.