By Nicky Baldrian
By
Nicky Baldrian
Seven Wishes
are perhaps one of the "better" and more
"original" sounding melodic rock bands on the Z RECORDS
LABEL. There album is a solid ball of melodic rock class, I think
the difference with Seven Wishes is that they play like their
lives depend on it, the album feels genuine and straight from the
heart which is half the battle,so if you haven't purchased this
shit hot record, then I must urge you to check it out as Seven
Wishes are one of the most happening bands of recent years, the
band are also amazing live,proof of this was in their
electrifying set at this year Z Rock fest. So I caught up with
Tony Westgard (bass/keys) for a brief chat.
Nicky:- Can you tell me your history?
Tony:- Seven Wishes
was a fact early '98 when we found our singer Pelle. Before that,
myself and Anthony were struggling around in different
collaborations, trying to form the ultimate band with right
attitude, looks, etc. It wasn't that easy since
"everyone" during the 90's just wanted to show off and
just wanted to play some kind of "Dream Theaterish"
style. Anthony and I have always been into the melodic metal
style and there have never been any substitutes. I don't think
that it is necessary to tell you that we almost thought it was
some kind of gift from heaven when we stumbled into Pelle one
night at our local pub. Pelle was performing on stage with his
coverband and we felt immediately that we wanted to work with
him. We asked him to an audition and we realized that he was the
missing piece!
Nicky:- What bands inspires you?
Tony:-
SURVIVORS!!!! You know, for example all the LA based bands who
still are in the game, and people who really standing tall doing
their own thing, no matter what's in or out!. All the mails that
we're recieving from all over the world saying that they like our
music gives us a huge injection of strenght to move on forward,
to write more and better material. And not to forget mention,
"faggy" stageclothing.
Nicky:- Tell me
about the songs on Seven Wishes?
We Want It All: This song is basically about never give it up, do
what you want and you'll make it. People have always been telling
us to quit and stop with this childish "hobby". We've
always been living by the motto, persevere and never fear. This
song is the one who gives the best description of us in Seven
Wishes. It's kind of our own anthem. A quite "hard"
track with lots of melodies!
One To Blame: Everyone that have been victims of gossips, rumor
and bad talk behind their back, this song is for you! When are
you able to decide however you can trust someone or not? Can you
be sure that all the people who acclaim that they're your friends
telling the truth? We have been living in a quite small town all
our lives, so we know what we're talking about. How many times
haven't we been suffering in cause of people who's first
scratching your back and then, one minute later verbally stabbing
a knife in your back.
Life Goes On: This song is quite unique because we never
rehearsed it. We just wrote it and completed it in the studio. It
was written and recorded in just a couple of days. The song is
about the possibility to change lifestyle, for example. It's
never too late to become a "better" person if YOU can
understand that It is more than possible to move on forward
without sneaking in the back mirror!
Confirm The Action: Since we're cool and mean rockers, we really
thought that we needed to have a song like this… ;-) No,
seriously, we like this kind of
"doublebassdrumhellraisingmutha- fukking" songs. This
is really the pedal to the metal (If we're allowed to use stupid
clichés…) WE LOVE IT but we think that It is enough with
one song of this kind per album.
Bring Me To Heaven: Well, it's about people who loves eachother
but in the same time can't decide if they really want to make a
future out of it… There is of course a true and sad story
behind this song but we really want the listener to "paint
their own picture" of this story.
Caught By Surprise: This song is about trust again…(Oh, yes.
This subject is important to us) Before you put your trust in
someone, make sure to scratch on the surface and take a look with
clear eyes so the picture of him/her is equal to your first
impression. If you follow this simple rule, you'll never Get
Caught By Surprise… (Shit, that was really cheap… :-)
The Wasted: This song was not supposed to end up on this album in
the first place. But we wanted to give the song a second chance
so we decided re-record it. We improved the verse and the chorus
and suddenly we had a song that we really liked. The guitar
maestro Pontus Norgren (Great King Rat / Talisman) is the one who
plays the SUPERB guitar solo on the song. (Cheers Pontus!!!)
Love Affection: Every album need its own party "raise your
fist in the air" song. This is our contribution! No heavy
thoughts behind this song at all. End of comments.
Set You On Fire:
This one's about someones fantasy playgirl that kind of girl you
might dream about meanwhile you read your adult magazines, if
you're into that… :-) Typical 80's hardrock with no
important message at all.
Some people might think that this kind of lyrics is a waste of
time, and we maybe agree, BUT you have to remember that we're
artists who in the first place looking for joy. We're definitely
not Politicians, even though we sometimes want to put our fingers
on unfair and sad things around us!
Open Your Eyes (Don't Turn Away): It's so easy to take everything
for granted. Meanwhile you're living safely, having good health
and don't have to worry about war and stuff, it's maybe quite
easy to forget other people who's not that fortuned. All we want
to say with this song is: take a good look around you and see if
you can do anything for your fellow-beings. Maybe someone near
you needs your care. Be true to yourself and answer this simple
questions: Did you visit your near and dear during the christmas
holidays? Are you swapping channel on your TV set when you see
anything unpleasant? Have you ever thought about giving money or
your old used clothes to for example caring organizations? When
was the last time you gave your old mother a call? Think about
that for a while…
Nicky:- Does this
record represent what Seven Wishes are all about?
Tony:- Yes and no,
actually. The songs on the album were written during a quite long
period of time. Ofcourse we like the songs on our debut, but I
really think the material on the next one will be even better!
This time we have been writing with a specific goal in mind: the
new album! Many of the songs on the debut were written before we
got signed.
Nicky:- How did you hook up with Z Records?
Tony:-As every
other bands, we've always recorded a lot of demos (there were
times when the only thing we could afford to eat was cheap pasta,
because we used ALL our money on demo recordings...) And as
everybody else, we were herrassing all the record companies by
bombing them with promo stuff. We had known about Z Records for a
long time and we always wanted to get signed by them. Suddenly
one night, Mark gave me a call and said that he wanted to sign
the band! We were contacted by other labels as well, but since Z
was only handling melodic AOR/metal, we felt kinda secure and
decided to go with them.
Nicky:- What are
your memories of the Z Rock show in Wigan?
Tony:- WOW!!! The
atmosphere was fantastic. The arrangements surrounding the
festival was brilliant! Ian, Rich, Mark and everybody else did a
helluva job to make us feel comfortable. And yes, they succeded!
It was also AWESOME to meet all the fans. You know, we actually
met a guy who travelled all the way from Germany just to watch us
play live! Meeting you guys from all the magazines, fanzines and
radio stations and all our labelmates was a blast as well! We
really appreciated to actually see some of the faces behind all
the e-mails and phone calls! And yes, we did noticed some of the
audiences clothing, the ladies were wearing high heels and
plasic/leather outfit and some of the guys were pretty cool too.
It was like turning back the time 15 years or so!!!
We can't wait until Z 2001. If we're not gonna play, I swear that
we will be there in the audience to watch the festival!!!
Nicky:- Tell me about the other gigs you have done? What's next for Seven Wishes?
Tony:- We haven't
done so may gigs with Seven Wishes. The hardrock scene in Sweden
ain't what it used to be, We're doing gigs every now and then. I
think we'll do three or four gigs this summer and in August we'll
ofcourse play Z Rock in Stockholm, Sweden. The reason for us to
not doing more shows right now is because we're right now writing
material for our second album, and that takes a lot of our time
right now. I think the album will be released in Europe during
October - November.
Thank you Nicky