It's
been 3 years since KOLOSS first appeared on the scene with their
stunning début album – End Of The Chayot. It's brutal style of heavy
Sludge/Post-Metal riffs won then a few fans within the Sludge Metal
scene including myself.
They
were one of the very first bands that I published on the blog back in 2011. Well now Koloss are back bigger, better and angrier than ever with
their brilliant new album – Empower The Monster which I recently
described as:
“Koloss
have delivered a brilliant album to comeback with. It leaves their
début album well and truly in the dust. Everything about it is better.
Production, Song-writing, Vocals and Riffs. You get the idea. Koloss
have delivered one of 2013’s finest Sludge/Post-Metal albums. I am very
excited to see where they go from here as in the next few years as they
have potential to be a very important band within the Sludge/Post-Metal
scene.”
I am happy to say that Koloss have agreed an interview with me. So let's get started with this awesome band.
Q1 – Hi guys, How are things with you today. Thanks for doing this.
We're
good. Sitting in our rehearsal space waiting to try out some new riffs.
Really happy to do this interview. We'll try to answer your questions
as honest as possible. Some tricky ones in here.
Q2 – For people not in the know can you give a brief history on how the band came about.
Well...
Crisoffer and Alex met a long time ago when they were in their early
teens and figured that they liked kind of the same music and they both
played guitar so it kind of just made sense for them to make music
together. In 2007 neither of us had been in a band for a while and Alex
met Oscar through work and he brought Victor (former bass player) in to
the mix. Thats how KOLOSS got started. Victor left the band in 2009 and
Henrik joined at the end of that same year.
Q3 – Where did the name – Koloss – came from and what does it mean..
We'd
been trying on a few different names but nothing really seemed to fit.
Then before the release of "End of the Chayot" we all felt we needed a
name that really described what we where all about. KOLOSS means
something colossal, huge, and it suited us perfectly. Before that the
name of the band was "The Chayot", hence the name of that first release.
Q4
– I first noticed you back in 2011 with your excellent album – End of
the Chayot.. It's been a long time coming waiting for your début album.
But it's finally here. Congrats on the album as it's a brilliant album.
Was it an easy or hard album to record.
Thank
you. We're not really sure wether to call this one our debut or not. In
a sense we feel that End of the Chayot is our debut. But it really
doesn't matter either way.
The
recording process was kind of tough since we did everything ourselves
just as we did with "End of the Chayot". The new record was recorded at
four different locations and there were long gaps between each
instrument being recorded. It kind of had to be done that way since we
all had a lot of other stuff going on in our lives at the same time. But
it's also been a fun experience as well as frustrating at times but
we've learned a lot. And we're really happy with the results.
Q5 – Obviously there is some sort of concept behind the album. Can you explain to our readers what the album is about.
There
are a few concepts going on. The main one being evolution, mainly human
evolution, and personal growth and about facing your demons. It's about
taking a hard look in the mirror and reevaluating your values, who you
are and what you've become, where you come from and where you're
headed. Both as an individual and as a society. We're not really
political in any true sense but critical about what we see happening
around us.
Q6 – Is there anything you want to change about it or is it perfect the way it is.
There
are always things you could do differently but it's also true that you
are your own worst critic. So it's never perfect but what is, really?
We've been working on it over one and a half years so we just needed to
get it done. But maybe we'll have a different approach for the next
album. And hopefully by then we'll be working with a label.
Q7
– How would yourselves describe your sound. As you have lots of great
sounds going on at the same time, Doom, Sludge, Post-Meal and even a bit
of Prog.
It's
hard when you get in to discussing which genres fit our music. We
really don't fit in any of them and it's really not our task to tell
people what we are. When we started playing this music we really had no
idea what doom or sludge or post-metal was. We listened to bands like
Tool, Isis, Neurosis and Cult of Luna and we got a little bit of them
all in our sound.
We do sometimes refer to our sound as Post Apocalyptic Metal, just for the hell of it.
Q8 – Which bands and artists influenced you as musicians.
The
obvious ones are of course Neurosis, ISIS and CoL. Other big influences
are TOOL, Callisto and a band from Sweden called Abandon. When we were
younger we listened to bands like Guns n Roses, Nirvana, Pearl Jam.
Bands like Slipknot, Mudvayne, Messhuggah, Pantera and Sepultura also
had a great influence on some of us before we got into the whole
post-metal thing.
Q9
– What is the local scene like in your home town. Do you get regular
gigs in your home town. Or do you have to travel further afield to
perform regularly.
The
scene around our hometown is mostly old guys playing blues so not much
going on for us here. We really don't play many shows but I guess we'd
have to go to bigger cities like Gothenburg, Stockholm or Malmö. I think
that this kind of music is bigger around Europe then it is in Sweden.
Hopefully we'll get to go on a small European tour or something next
year.
We're
currently looking into these things since we feel that we really need
to be doing more shows. So any bookers who might be interested are more
than welcome to get in touch with us.
Q10 - What are your favourite bands you are currently listening to. Any bands that myself or our readers should check out.
If
you haven't heard Callisto (Turku, Finland) or Abandon (Gothenburg,
Sweden) you should really check them out. Abandon is not active anymore
since their singer died back in 2009 but if you get a hold of there
music you should definitely check them out. Other bands we're
listening to nowadays are Omega Massif, Dark Buddah Rising, Totalt Jävla
Mörker, Sannhet, Windhand, Pallbearer, Baroness, Red Fang and a lot of
other great bands. We listen to a lot of other kinds of music as too,
its not all heavy and dark.
Q11 - Do you all have regular jobs or is being a musician your main job.
Alexander
and Oscar work as electricians at a factory outside of town and Henrik
works at another factory in Vetlanda. I (Cristoffer) just got laid off a
couple of months ago. We really don't make any money being in this
band. But hopefully we'll make enough to keep it going. We all pay for
our own equipment and the money we make will be spent on making records
and merch before anything else.
Q12
- What are your views of bands using websites like Kickstarter and
Indiegogo to fund their new album releases. Some people and bands are
for it. Some are not. Would you consider doing some thing like that
yourselves.
We
think it's a great way for bands to get started. Maybe someday we'll do
something similar. We're kind of doing the same thing. except that we
already have a final product. The money we make from the digital version
of "Empower the Monster" will be used to make a vinyl version and
anyone who paid a little bit extra for the digital release will get the
vinyl version at no extra cost. I hope people think that's fair.
Q13 – In 5 words or less describe the KOLOSS live experience.
Intense and emotionally intimate.
Q14 – What is the songwriting process in the band? Is it a group collective or is just down to one individual?
Usually
it's one guy with an idea or a riff or an idea for a riff. Then we try
and put the pieces together as a collective. The mood and feel of what
happens when we do it together is the most important. If it doesn't feel
right then it's not right and you move on to something else.
Arrangements is almost always done at rehearsal. Cristoffer writes all
the lyrics.
Q15 - Has BandCamp been a big help in getting your music across.? As that's how I first discovered you guys back in 2011.
Yes,
of course. I think that bandcamp opened a lot of doors for us. As we
haven't been doing a lot of live shows, almost all of the recognition
we've got has been through bandcamp. I think that they're really great
for smaller bands and artist like ourselves.
Q16
- What are the most and least rewarding aspects of participating with
the band? Obviously, the reality of how expensive it is being in a band
could be considered as a negative aspect
The
most rewarding thing is the feeling you get when the music you're
creating just fits and you all just feel it becoming its own thing.
Another great thing is all the great people and musicians and bands that
you get to meet when you're out doing shows or that you meet through in
reactions on the internet. Negative aspects might be that you, if you
have a family with kids, like Alex do, sometimes have to choose between
the two.
Q17 - If you could provide words to wisdom for people wanting to start a band – What would they be.
DONT DO IT!!! Just kidding...
You
should just get together and play. Don't over-think it, just do it.
Make sure you get paid what you've agreed on when you're out doing
shows. Don't be naive in those cases because some people will take
advantage of that. And also, being in a band is not always easy but
don't give up too fast and don't make it all about you. Every person in
your band should feel good about being in it. But you do have to put in
some effort to make it work. And remember, it's about the music. If it's
not then you're doing it for the wrong reasons and you might as well do
something else.
Q18
– You told me that you hope to have Empower The Monster released on
vinyl soon. Have you had any labels contacted you to release it on vinyl
as it's the perfect format for the album.
Unfortunately
no. But we've contacted 30-40 labels and we've received a few really
good responses but all the roosters seems to be full until 2015. So if
there are any labels out there who's interested in releasing our stuff,
don't hesitate to contact us.
Q19 - What pisses you off most in music. Or do you not let the bad things in music stop you from performing and writing songs.
Talent shows
like American Idol is really irritating. People judging some poor
teenager who thinks that this is the way you become an artist. It's just
sad and stupid. And I would say that things like these phenomenons
inspire us to keep writing songs.
Q20 - Finally do you have anything to say to your fans.
Thank
you for supporting what we do. It really makes all the difference. I
know that most bands say this but it's really true. If you only knew how
rewarding it is to have people wanting to take part in something you've
created. It's just awesome. Thank you so much. And thank you Steve for
wanting to do this interview, we had a fun time doing it.
Well guys thanks for doing this. Been great talking to you. I wish you every success with your new album - Empower The Monster - as it's fucking superb. Any record labels out there looking for a great album to put on Vinyl. Then this is the band and album for you.
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