Hi Mats!. House of
Shakira has recently released its second album "On the
Verge". Which are the main differenced you find between this
new release and your debut "Lint"?
I think that the main differences between "Lint" and
"on the verge" is that we had about 10 years of time
making the songs for "Lint" and only about 3 months of
song writing before recording "on the verge". At first
we wanted to title the album "panic" because we wrote
all the songs in great panic
As I have written
in my review I can hear you have definetly build you own style.
We must admit this is quite an achievment in these days. Which
are the main features of your House of Shakira sound?
There is no dark secrets about the House Of Shakira sound, we
just write music that we love and would go out and buy ourselves.
We're not trying to sound like someone else, the sound is what
comes out when we play.
| A great amount of the originality comes with
the use of several African sounds. Why did you decided to
take that bold step? Our ex singer, Mikael Eriksson was brought up in a missionary family in Africa, he brought some African songs to our rehearsal studio and we kind of liked them, and started to play some of the songs live. One of the aspects
i really like from the last album is its cover. What do
you think of it? I think it was done by the creator of
the Dare one, is that true? |
|
There is also a
cover of the AOR Gods Journey "Separate Ways". It's
really great. Which more cover covers do you play live?
Part from "Separate Ways" we sometimes play another
Journey cover "Stone In Love". We did a live version of
"Stone In Love" as a bonus track on "Lint"
for Japan. Anders, the guitarist is a great Led Zeppelin fan and
he's created a Led Zeppelin medley that we sometimes play live.
Who are the other
bands that have influenced the band appart from Journey?
We are influenced by bands like: Eagles, Led Zeppelin, Boston,
Dream Theater, Whitesnake, Jellyfish, Van Halen, Kansas, Streets,
Tommy Shaw, Styx, Ozzy, Kiss, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Motley
Crue???, etc etc....
"Lint"
was a critically acclaimed album. Did it sell well? How did you
received this good response...I mean, you were a new act and it
should be really flattering, right?
Well, "Lint" didn't make us millionaires, not yet
anyway. All the good reviews was really flattering and make us
very proud of the album even though the sales wasn't that good.
It's nice to know that people like what they hear when they buy a
H.O.S album.
|
Another point to underline from the new cd
is that almost every tune is co-written by you and Mikael
Eriksson. he is basically the man behind the lyrics of
the band, isn't he? How does this partnership works? Mikael was in the band between 1989 and 1996 so we know each other very well, we know what he needs and he know what we wants. I like the way he writes, he always claims that the poetry is more important than the message, and I think that he is right cos' the vocal is one of the instrument in H.O.S. In the meantime between
"Lint" and "On the Verge", your
singer Andreas Eklund has release and album with
Sabbtail. Will there be any more side projects? Basically
you came to the spotlight since Frontiers (the UK Melodic
Rock magazine, now called The Rock) released some of your
songs on their sampler. What do you remind from those
days when you were still unsigned? One of the
songs a like most from "On the Verge" is
Yesterday's Gone. Why did you recorded in a with a
campfire on the background and all the other elements,
instead of doing a most standard approach? |
To the end the
interview could you tell the fans if we will be able to see House
of Shakira on the road?
I know that blueStone music is working on a H.O.S tour these
days. If we're lucky we will be touring around europe somewhere
in the beginning of 1999. That's all we know for now.
Well, here's the
end of the interview. Thanks a lot Mats for being so kind to
answer to this questions. From AOR LAND we wish you all the luck
with this new record and whatever may come in the future. See ya!
Thank you ! It was my pleasure. Tell me if and when you're
publishing this.
Keep in touch,
Mats.
