Today on Sludgelord it's my great pleasure to be interviewing Swedish Powerhouse Sludge Rockers – Pyramido – who are about to release their excellent 3rd album – SAGA.
An
album I recently described as: “Pyramido throw everything at
you to make sure you’re brilliantly entertained. And they succeed
on every level. Swedish Sludge/Stoner Metal bands are experts at
ending albums on a loud epic finish and Pyramido carry on this great
tradition.
This is one SAGA I never wanted to end. I
wish the guys included one epic final track on the album I was so
much into this album. But other than that – SAGA is a triumph on
every level. I can’t recommend it highly enough”
Aaron
has already interviewed Pyramido last year which I recommend you all
read as Aaron covered a lot of ground with the band then. This time
it is my turn to interview the band.
So
lets get started with Pyramido...
Q1 – Hi guys. Thanks for doing this. How are things with you today.
Dan H: Pretty good thanks. Feeling a bit stressed since the tour starts in a couple of days though.
Dan B: Fine thanx, hope you´re doing fine too. Yepp abit stressed out of tour starting soon and I have to do some work wich I didn´t plan to have. GRRRRRR.
Virre Forre: I'm having a spelndid evening. Just finished an episod of the the magnificant tv-show "My cat from hell" and are now watching some idiots mine for gold under the ice of Bering Sea. Just a regular evening inj the life on an ordinary man.
Q2 – Congrats on your brilliant new album – SAGA. We love it here at Sludgelord. I think it's your best work to date. Thanks for sending me a copy to review.
Dan H: Thanks mand! I also think that.
Dan B: That´s nice words! Thanx. What can I say the Sludgelord got good taste in music.
Virre Forre: Thank you ver much, sir! We love you over there at Sludgelord.
Q3 – Aaron originally interviewed you guys back in 2012. So apart from the new album has anything else changed since then. Or have you been busy recording the new album.
Dan H: No major changes, no. We´ve been really busy fine tuning SAGA. We put a lot of time and effort into writing and rehearsing those songs and so far we´ve only played live one time this year.
Dan B: We´re older and more beautiful, and yepp we put in some serious work in the SAGA tunes. We havn´t put that much effort in our previous material. But it payed of. We´re really happy with the songs and people seems to like the tunes.
Q4 – So, SAGA. Are you happy with the final version that will soon be released. Would you change anything about it.
Dan H: Very happy. Very pleased. There are some minor things I would consider changing, but the again, you will always find those things when you examine yr own music.
Dan B: Agree with Dan H, things can always be better. I would like to tried out some other amps and other pedals and nerdy stuff like that.
Q5 – What were your original aims for the album before writing and recording SAGA. And have they been met.
Dan B: I think that we just wanna do better songs and really use the thing that we got two guitarists wich we didnt really do that much on previous releases. The use of more melodies and harmonies makes the songs more interesting to listen to and more fun to play. So yepp we´re really happy with the album.
Virre Forre: I think we rarely have any goals or are aiming for anything in particular. We just try our best and sometimes it work, sometimes it don't. This time it did!
Wendel: I always want to do an album that I didn't do before! This one I didn't do until now, so it's a success!
Q6 – The album is a lot more psychedelic compared to your other albums and releases. Was that the plan to include different styles to your music.
Dan H: That was no thought out plan, we just "släppte sargen" (let go of rink side) as you would say in swedish. I think we had less restrictions this time and much more of an open mind. And i´ve been writing a lot of the melodies for the songs and maybe that makes it a bit different as well.
Dan B: Yeah, there is more of everything. Cool bass lines, melodies and not your average doom drum patterns. And, we didn´t think that you have to do this sludge or doom song. We just wrote Pyramido songs.
Q7 – Was it an easy or hard album to record for.
Dan H: It was fun and easy. We had some problems with intonation of the guitars, but that got sorted. Played basketball (when not in the actual studio) and stuff, yeah, it was great.
Dan B: We always record with this guy, Mattias Persson, who is like our sixth member. SO lots of laughs and a really relaxed time. So it was kind of easy beside that guitar and bass problem. Really anoying. But everything turned out fine.
Q8 – I love the fact that all the albums song titles are in Swedish. Was there a specific reason for that. Or did you just want to do something different.
Ronnie: We have had one song( I Grevens Tid) with swedish lyrics before this release and since then I have always wanted to do an whole album with swedish lyrics. I wanted to challenge myself cause if it's said that it's easier to write in your native tounge, it's also a whole lot more direct and you cant hide behind fancy english words...
Q9 – SAGA's artwork is brilliant. Can you tell us what the cover means and who came up with the design.
Dan H: It´s Anna Widengård as (almost) always. She´s a genius with brushes, pens and colour. We gave her some vague guidelines like "you know that ABBA-cover that hmm, maybe Tom Arnold did. We want it like that. Like we are animals in a mysterious forest". Asked her to think "fairytales". I think we mentioned the kids show De Fabeltjeskran as well. Directions was kinda vague, but, it turned out brilliant yes. A real trip!
Ronnie: check out her blog and give her jobs! http://annaabaquilone.blogspot.se/
Q10 – I see the album is being released on Vinyl. How did that came about and who is releasing it on vinyl. Can you tell people where you can buy it as I have been asked by a few fans of your band.
Dan B: La Familia and Farwell records out of Germany is releasing it on vinyl. (We´re actually looking for a U.S label to release it in ...yeah in the U.S). La Familia and Farwell records have manly released hardcore and punk records on vinyl. Since the guys seen us live they wanted to release our new record. So why not? we love vinyl and we are nerdy record collectors we agreed to do it.
There will be a CD version released on Ecocentric and Heart and Crossbone and a very limited cassette version released by Boneyard records. Saga will also be unleashed on all digital platforms there is. Gonna be easy to find Saga in your local distro/record shop. Do you want the vinyl? Go to www.punkdistro.de or buy it from us.
Q11 – You're about to go on tour. Obviously to promote your new album. What can people expect from this tour.
Dan H: As usual, six morons travelling Europe in a cramped van. Haha. And hopefully a tighter and more passionate band on stage than on previous tours.
Virre Forre: Probably five well mannered gentlemen with colour on their clothes and smiles on their faces, not a very common view in our scene. Also a few mental breakdowns when random guitar player notices that the cable from his guitar is placed in the output on the tuning-pedla. An input in the output, as we like to call it.
Q12 – Will Pyramido being doing a more extensive tour in the future. Visiting places you're not visiting on this tour like the UK where I am from. Or is too expensive to do at the moment.
Dan H: We want to, we want to go everywhere. But there´s always the money issue and then there is TIME. We all work and finding the time can sometimes be hard. But be sure, we´re coming yr way again sometime in the future!
If you are a UK-promotor, get in touch and maybe we can sort something out!
Dan B: Yeah, time and budget. If promotors can pay ok we can do some more gigs.
Wendel: We always want to go to the land of wrong-side driving and deep-fried dustballs at gas stations! Give us beer/cider, a floor to sleep on, and money for gas and we're there tomorrow (or next year).
Q13 - 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.
Dan H: Dunno. I don´t think so. We make ends meet with very little money anyways so... I have no experience myself of bands doing that. Seems like a very american thing and I think it feels a bit forced. Somehow it makes me feel as if I don´t "own" my music or time anymore that way, because of the expectations that money creates.I get payed to be at a certain place for (too) much of my time already.
Virre Forre: If we try something like that this band has an open slot for a new drummer. Pay for the recording, make good songs that people wanna hear, print merch, tour and try to breake even.
Wendel: I don't care a lot about it... Personally, I think that if you make an album that is fuckin' awesome, like we just did, people will buy it anyway.
Q14 – How much help have the Stoner/Doom Blogging Community been in getting your music across to the masses.
Dan B: I really don´t know actually. Are we a stoner/doom band? We play a bit slow, but Saga isn´t that slow? When we play gigs we play with all sorts of bands like death metal, grind, hardcore, rock and yeah what ever
Virre Forre: Hard to say. Our previous recordings have been reviewed on alot of blogs and such, and I guess that havn't been a bad thing. On the other hand I have no idea how many that reads blogs, I rarely do, and what difference it makes.
Q15 – In 5 words or less describe the Pyramido live experience.
Dan B: Hypnotic, danceable, bangable, catchy and heavy
Wendel: Two words: Fuckin' awesome!
Virre Forre: A disaster waiting to happen.
Ronnie: A feast for your eyes! And ears!
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.
Dan H: For me the least rewarding aspects is living in a different city than the other guys. It makes it a hell of a lot harder to plan rehersals and the traveling back and forth costs a bit as well. But there´s almost always an upside and that is that we get much work done when we actually get together all of us. I get the most rewarding experiences from getting to hang out with these guys and create music. Getting to travel and see new places!
Dan B: Eating lots of good food and have loads of free pints. You meet of lots of nice people and have to see lots of really nice bands.
Virre Forre: Touring is rewarding, that's what it all about for me. Well, and to spend time with my four favourite idiots of all time! Least rewarding is... Hell, I don't know. It's all good!
Q17 - If you could provide words to wisdom for people wanting to start a band – What would they be.
Dan H: Focus on yr music, focus less on owning the correct orange/matamp/sunn-amp.
Dan B: Don´t forget to have fun.
Virre Forre: 70% music and 70% coffee breaks, that's when magic happens.
Wendel: A band is 5% music and 95% logistics, so do the 95% boring stuff first, and then you can do the 5% of touring later!
Q18 - What pisses you off most in music. Or do you not let the bad things in music stop you from performing and writing songs.
Dan H: Tuning guitars in dropped A. Thank fuck we stopped doing that!
Dan B: Hahaha. yepp, and when you don´t have any good ideas. That sucks. Or when you do a riff at home and you show it to the guys and it sounds like a turd but it sounded great at home.
Virre Forre: When you try to make a song for a long while and it just sound like crap and nothing works. Hate that. But when you hang in there and try again and again and again it usually works out in the end. The writing of SAGA was alot like that.
Q19 - Finally do you have anything to say to your fans.
Dan H: Hello people!
Dan B: Do we have fans? If there is or you wanna become a Pyramido fan. check out or Facebook site or www.pyramido.org for merch, info and other stuff
Virre Forre: We suck, you rule!
Well guys thanks for doing this. Best of luck with your new album and tour. Hope to see you guys live in action one day. All the best.
Dan B: Thank you for your support Sludgelord!
I want to thank Pyramido for doing this great interiew. Best of luck with their forthcoming European Tour. So catch them if you have the chance. As they guys are an incredible band.
Check the band from links below.
Official
