Interviews

Interviews: Blindside

Smother: After several years involved in the independent hardcore scene, it looks as if Blindside may be the next big thing in hard rock. What are your feelings towards being on a major label now, and the possibility of having tremendous success?

Simon: You know it is rewarding really. We've been doing this for eight years and have been working really hard, having dayjobs and taking every vacation we ever had to come over to the states touring, so the fact of us doing this for a living is truly a blessing. At the moment we're just happy to be where we are, we'll see where this will take us. The cool thing is that we've always been following our hearts with the music and lyrics without compromising and that's what we'll keep on doing.

Smother: It is well known you and P.O.D. are good friends, but were you surprised when they designated Blindside as the first band signed to their imprint label?

Simon: Well actually they had been mentioning this to us a long time ago. The cool thing with P.O.D. and their management is that they have never promised us something without it happening, ever, which is of course very rare in this industry. They said they'd take us on tour and they have. They said they'd bring us over to record a demo while doing the Satellite album and they did that so when the imprint became a reality I can't say that we were overly surprised, but we we're of course incredibly grateful. They've been amazing to us.

Smother: Silence seems to venture back in the direction of the self-titled album, with a melodic yet edgy hard rock vibe. Were you not comfortable with the more intense hardcore elements detailed on A Thought Crushed My Mind?

Simon: Yes, we're really proud of ATCMM. It was something that was in our hearts at this time. A lot of people thought we'd be following the new metal thing that's been going on strong but we were heading in a totally different direction. The reason was that we'd been touring underground in the states and ended up playing with tons of hardcore bands and got really inspired by the whole concept of the music, the incredibly intense liveshows and spiritually. The only problem we had on that recording was that we didn't really have the time we needed to complete it. We wanted to put more melodies on that record but simply had to cut it short unfortunately.

Smother: One major element that stands out throughout Silence is the devotion to noticeable hooks. When you began working on new material, was this your intention...to make solid radio-friendly songs that cause a reaction? Do you feel you lacked these hooks in past albums?

Simon: We don't really know what radio friendly songs mean because there aren't really any rock stations in Sweden so we don't have the same traditions. However we wanted to make a good record with solid rock songs you know. We try not to think to much when we write songs, it's more about capturing what's in your heart at the moment. This time we did use more melodies though and tried to make things simple yet creative cause that's probably the hardest thing to acomplish when it comes to songwriting.

Smother: As of late, there has been an upswing in recognizing the Swedish music scene, from the retro-punk rock sound to the classic metal approach. In this situation, Blindside appear to be the odd man out. Have you meshed well with other Swedish bands you have grown up with, or have you always fit in more with the underground U.S. scene?

Simon: For some reason our first record appealed more to an American crowd, all our friends in Sweden thought we sounded American but it's not something we've done on purpose. But since we had better luck in the states we've had a different background than all the other bands that comes out of Sweden, we actually built our fanbase here rather than getting big in our home country first. It's great to see this Swedish wave happening though cause The Hives are truly amazing and Sweden has always had a great metal scene with bands like Meshuggah, Entombed and tons of death metal bands.

Smother: What would be your favorite tracks off the new album?

Simon: That changes a lot from day to day and a lot of it has to do with what feels good to play live. Sleepwalking is a song that represents our sound really well cause it has the heavy screaming parts as well as a really melodic and emotional chorus, that's one of our favourites of the album.

Smother: Was it different entering the studio this time around, having a larger budget to work with then with previous offerings?

Simon: For sure. You know it's always great to be able to have time to really work the songs in preproduction and focus 100% on the music for a longer amount of time. We were prepared and knew how we wanted to do the record before we entered the studio so it was a big difference compared to always being in a hurry.

Smother: How was working with Howard Benson on the album, what did he bring in to help the band?

Simon: Howard is a great guy and we have a lot of respect for him. He's been in the business for a long time and brought in a whole lot of knowledge in the recording process as well as being more of a coach in preproduction. We knew him on a personal level before we went in there and that made things easier. One of the greater things also that made things smooth was that we'd discuss everything in Swedish within the band and then approach him as a unit instead of everyone always pushing their own will all the time.

Smother: You took on P.O.D. in a vicious table tennis game for the video of "Boom". In a real-life battle of the paddles, which team would prevail as winners? If you had your choice of sports, which sport do you think Blindside could take P.O.D. in?

Simon: Well, we're the better table tennis players, that's for sure. It's actually a quite big sport in Sweden, we played it in highschool a little bit so we know what it is about. We've played basketball with P.O.D. before but I think our main game would be football, not the American way though.

Smother: With touring imminent, what would be some tours you'd personally love to be involved with, and why? Is it a given that you'll head on the road with P.O.D. by year's end?

Simon: Yes, we are indeed going on tour with P.O.D. in November and before that we head out with Project 86 in August. Dream tours... I don't know, Metallica or Foo Fighters would be amazing.

Smother: You have had the oppurtunity to tour on both sides of the Atlantic over your lengthy career. Where have you had the most enjoyable time performing, and how would you compare American fans and audiences to those in Europe?

Simon: We've actually mostly toured the states but our runs in Europe has been different cause we never really had any distribution over there. Our connection with the U.S. audience has always been great. One key I think is that everyone knows english and tend to dig into the lyrics which makes things so much more powerful, you sing the songs together you know. I think in general that the main different on people in the crowds over here is doing the moshpit and that hasn't really spread to Europe other than in the hardcore scene.

Smother: Any final thoughts, comments before we wrap this up?

Simon: Well, check out our album Silence that comes out August 20th and please come out and check us out live. If you want to know what we're up to just check our homepage at: http://www.blindside-silence.com

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