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<img src ="/bandpics/beseech_robert.jpg" align=left hspace="2"> For 10 years, Sweden's BESEECH have been weaving melancholy goth/doom textures in the underground Swedish scene, while at the same time never quite getting the lucky break they deserved. Three labels and 2 releases later, they're releasing Souls Highway through Napalm Records, one of the finest albums I've heard this year. I was lucky enough to talk with Robert Spånglund on the phone one rainy Saturday afternoon, and learnt about the ups and downs - and then some! - of BESEECH's hectic career.
Let's start at the beginning. How did BESEECH come about?
BESEECH was formed in 1992, and all the guys in BESEECH were from Borås, near Gothenburg. From the beginning we always played a kind of atmospheric, emotional music... even if the music has changed from more doom-death to more gothic-oriented music, we always had our way, our sound. We recorded 3 demo tapes, from 92 to 95, 'A Lesser Kind Of Evil', 'Last Chapeter' and 'Tears'. And it was on the 'Tears' demo where we were more involved with the underground scene, and the labels and the magazines started to show interest in the band. 'Cos at the time we had a pretty unique kind of music. And that ended up in a record deal with... shit, I forgot it...
Was it Metal Blade?
<img src="/bandpics/beseech_from_a_bleeding_hea.jpg" hspace="5" align="left">No, no it was eh... Corrosion Records, and so we went into the studio to record our first album [...From A Bleeding Heart] in late 95, and it was finished in 96. But they didn't pay the studio bill so we couldn't release the album, so our first album was delayed for almost 2 years. And then we broke the contract with help of our publisher, and searched for other labels, and Metal Blade was the one we chose. They released it [...Bleeding Heart] in 98. So, it was very painful for the band, that it was delayed for such a time. Because the music scene, there are a lot of bands that used the theme of goth and this kind of stuff. And when we started to use it, we were one of the first bands in this kind of music. We released it in 98, and a short while after that our singer [Jörgen Sjöberg] left the band for the first time, and so we didn't know if we were going to continue with the band at all. And of course Metal Blade weren't very happy with that because they'd planned a tour and that kind of stuff, and had to cancel everything, every month of touring. Because of that, and because sales weren't as high as they expected because we couldn't market it, go out and play... So we decided to go seperate ways at that time [with Metal Blade], and we didn't know if we'd continue with the band at all, so it seemed like the right thing to do. But he [Jörgen] came back after long discussions with him, and that was maybe a mistake if you look back from now. We came back and took in new material, and turned up with a demo tape that we sent to Pavement Music, and it was help from a former Metal Blade employee that helped us with Pavement Music. So it was another way for us to go. So we started to record Black Emotions in 2000.
After this we understand it was maybe a mistake to go with Pavement Music, 'cos we didn't feel that we got any support, and maybe didn't arrange interviews, and we noticed it was not released in some countries where it was supposed to be released, and everything was wrong with our communications. There was nothing. It was a tough era for the band, but it ended up in a tour with LACUNA COIL, in the beginning of 2001. Also it was one of the biggest things in BESEECH history I think, the real first tour in almost 10 years.
How did that go down, that first tour?
I think the response was really good, actually, and we noticed also at that time, what bad promotion Pavement had done - [the fans] knew we'd released our first album because Metal Blade did much greater promotional work for us, but they didn't know about our second release. So they didn't know we existed. Many knew that we were BESEECH, but didn't know we still played. It was a very weird situation, and I think it was a good thing for us to do that, to show the people we were still alive and that we were on the road, and playing for audiences for the first time outside Sweden.
And how did your deal with Napalm come about?
Yeah, after the break with Pavement - I don't know if Pavement are bankrupt or something, but I know many bands have left them now - but after that, we started to... well right after the tour, Jörgen quit the band. It was a decision from the band that converted him, cos there were some... When we were on tour we noticed the things you never see before when you're so close with each other, see how they are for real. And it was because of him we had to cancel a show in Stockholm for example, and almost all the gigs in Norway too (but we managed to get him to play there), cos he had some really big personal problems. So we didn't see any future - he was always so unreliable, we couldn't trust him. So we decided to make a restart of the band, and see how the new songs turned out, and if we could find a singer that could suit the new songs of BESEECH. So we started to look, and actually we got the new singer Erik [Molarin] - he played at the same rehearsal place as we rehearse, just the floor above, we heard that he was a good singer. So we asked him if he wanted to play. He liked BESEECH very much, also he really liked to play in the band. I think it turned out to be a good choice for us.
<img src="/bandpics/beseech_black_emotions.jpg" hspace="5" align="right"> On Souls Highway, Lotta [Höglin] and Erik seem to split the vocals down the middle now, whereas on Black Emotions you didn't really hear Lotta that much.
Yeah, we didn't use the female vocals that much on Black Emotions...
Why was that? Why did you decide to do kind of half and half now?
I think the biggest reason was, Lotta wasn't really a member of BESEECH [on Black Emotions], and we didn't know if she wanted to continue to work with us. So when she showed that she really wanted to play in BESEECH, we thought of course she needed a bigger place in the band. So it wasn't a decision that, "we must use half male/half female vocals", it was a natural way because she became a real member of BESEECH.
And how did that effect your songwriting? Did that change how you wrote the songs?
Not really, but now the lyrics also change a lot since Jörgen left the band, because he wrote lyrics, and this was my first chance to write lyrics also. And also the lyrics are much more personal now, so we can have more interesting kinds of writing I think, and music, because now we have one other dimension to add. Because we have two kinds of vocals, now we have more like a dialogue between two persons, and we think it's a pretty interesting thing to work with, and music can be more interesting too.
How would you compare Souls Highway to Black Emotions? It seems like a much more solid album this time around.
Besides the lineup the changes, musically I think we have matured in our songwriting, and as I said before, the lyrics are much more personal, more meaning in the lyrics, and also we are better composers... We know more how we want to sound, because we know more about technical stuff, and more what we want.
Do you think it's closer to how you thought BESEECH should always sound? Or has it always been just each album is how you sound at the time?
I think we changed very much since the first one - I don't know if you've heard the first one?
No, I haven't heard that one.
Ok - we should get you one.
(laughs)
Every album has sounded very different - the next one, we don't know how we're gonna sound, because we write music as we think, at the moment we want to play. It's a combination of me and Klas [Bohlin - guitars], and also Mikael [Back - keyboards], that are most in the process of making the music. And for Souls Highway for example, it was a very critical time for Klas in the band for example, he had a very tough period, where he had a very close friend that died. So its been a rehabiliation for the Souls Highway album, so he could write the music - we could see it in the lyrics, you can see his hard period in the lyrics so next time we might have another touch of sound. I don't really know... I have no idea how it'll sound.
Do you always write, or is it only when you need to do an album?
We compose the music on demand, we write the music when we feel it's the right time for us... so we haven't begun to write the music for the next album yet... I don't think we even have a tune for the next album. Maybe its because of too good weather in Sweden right now (laughs) so we are not in the right mood to write right now.
What's your inspiritation, musically? You sound like a very goth/doomish kind of band. What were you listening to when you were growing up, and which bands inspired the way you write music or your sound?
It's kind of hard to say, because I think it's all things you hear. It's old things, it's new things - I think it all influences the song writing. But we have very different views on which kind of music we listen to. Me, Klas and our drummer Jonas [Strömberg] are very into 60s and 70s kind of music. And the others are into more modern kind of music. So, I like it all from THE BEATLES to THE DOORS, and then to DEPECHE MODE, MADONNA, and everything like this... I think good music is good music, don't have to be a special kind of music.
<img src="/bandpics/beseech_souls_highway.jpg" hspace="5" align="left">And what's with the ABBA song? Who's idea was that?
(laughs) I think we always talked about a cover song, for fun, but we couldn't agree on just one song to play just for fun, but for this it was me who came up with the idea. It was one day when I went through our town here, and I heard it in the background somewhere. And I thought this could be a very cool cover, I could see the melancholy in this kind of song, thought this kind of thing could fit BESEECH very well. And of course they're Swedish, and we're very gratefull of one of the biggest bands, so... and I thought to record it for myself at home, and then I showed the band - and they really liked it too... But there were some in the band who didn't like it (laughs) but now it's finished, I think the band is very satisfied with it. It's always mentioned in interviews and reviews, but from the beginning there wasn't a commercial thought about it, we'd just talked about a cover song for so long.
Have you played it live yet?
No, no we haven't - we should've played it at Eurorock, but it was the only song we didn't have the time to play.
How did Eurorock go down, how did the audience react to you?
We played very early at Eurorock, around 12 o'clock, so we didn't have any really big expectations that there'd be many poeple there, but we went onstage, there were many people there, and there were other bands who played before us, and I think it was much better than we thought... It's really hard to say when you're onstage, cos it's a very big arena so it was hard to picture it. It was much more than I expected.
Was that the first show you did for this album?
Yes... No, actually, we played one here in our town Borås, in club called Kashmir, our club here. It was at the time we released our album here in Europe.
You have some shows lined up in October, haven't you? Around Europe.
Yeah, it's our first tour on this album, and its about 2 and a half weeks we're away, mostly in Germany but also in France, Belgium, Austria, and Hungary.
Souls Highway has been out in Europe for a while now, hasn't it?
Yes, out for a while
And it's out in the US this week?
Yeah, middle of August, next week.
Do you know if they have any plans for you over there? Do you think you'll get over there to play?
All things are depending on the sales in the United States. In our contract we have a deal where if we sell a certain amnount of CDs in the USA, they'll get us there to play.
Right. Have you ever played outside Europe before?
No, no we haven't - so it's a really great thing for us to do. We got a pretty good response from both South America, United States and Canada, and also in Japan, so it would be really good if we could sell the albums so we could play there.
What's the reception like for BESEECH in Sweden? Are you popular in Sweden? As like a 'hometown band'.
It's really hard to answer this question, but I think in the underground music scene we are pretty well known, cos we have played around Sweden a couple of times, and released our demos when we were involved in the underground scene too, so those that are into music, and listen to this kind of music, know we exist at least.
What about the media in Sweden? Magazines and radio...
Our albums have been reviewed in the biggest newspapers, and also played on the national radio stations, so we have had airplay.
Do you think you'll have a chance to cross over to the mainstream audience?
Yeah... I think it's the best album so far to reach a wider audience - it's more commercial, the songs are more easy to take... so I think at least some songs are pretty commercial, and a non-metal guy or girl can listen to.
You're not so metal that people would be put off, but you're heavy enough for metal fans to dig you.
Yeah, I think we have a different sort of songs, so like I said people who're into metal they hear some songs that they can like... but we have pretty soft songs that other people can like... I'm not sure if it's good to have both or not.
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(Laughs) You've had three albums out, and three different labels.
Yeah.
How does Napalm compare to the other labels?
Napalm are the best label we've worked with so far, and so far I think they've done a good job for us. But we also understand they have a pretty tough job, because our previous albums... It's hard for distributors for some places to take us on 'cos they still have the old albums they didn't sell out, so it's been tougher job for them than we thought to get it out, but we hope that they realise the new album is better than the other ones, and that this one could sell.
Do you think you'll be staying with Napalm, or is it too early to say?
In our situation we never can tell (laughs) But it also depends on sales and everything, and all things are about money... so if we sell many albums, of course the label will want to be there, and will treat you well.
Travis Smith did the Souls Highway cover, but you've done the layout on your CD booklets yourself; is that because you like having control, or because you can do it, so you may as well do it?
The main reason is we always want to have control of everything, and maybe that's a problem for labels too, but layout we thought we'd do for ourselves, because then we know how it'll turn out to be... But I don't know if the label really trusted that we could make it, but we said we're responsible for how it turns out, and I think we're satisfied with how it looks. And we wanted something clean, and pretty simple. And I think Travis Smith also did a good job. We gave him some material to work with and we direct how we wanted it to be.
You used him for Black Emotions cover as well...
Yeah.
Do you like working with him?
Yeah, I think he's a really great guy, and does really great covers. And you can really trust that if he will do something you like, 'cos if you don't like it you can always say you don't, then he'll do something else. And he always tells you before he does anything and we know that he's a very serious artist also, and will understand what we want. So there's never been any problems with him - one of few people in this music business we don't have any problems with.
(Laughs) You've got a side project with Erik... MISSION DIVINE?
Yeah.
Tell me some thing about that.
Yeah. I started a project about one or two years ago, and recorded a demo with about 4 or 5 songs on, I'm not sure. And then after all this work with BESEECH I put it on ice, and now when I heard it again after a long time I really thought they were really good songs, real potential. So a year ago when he [Erik] heard the songs, he really wanted to join it - we have the same views on like the same artists who write books, this kind of futuristic sort, and had the same ideas. So it was a natural choice that he go in with the MISSION DIVINE project. So now we're going to record a song and I'm also going to pollish the songs a bit more.
How do they compare to what you've been doing with BESEECH?
Umm, this music has a completely different theme, and is not so much about our feelings, not the same emotions and atmosphere, it's more of a futuristic theme, the future that we believe in and also a celebration for the book writers that write really great futuristic books. More experimental, more electoronic, and more... harder.
More industrial sounding, maybe?
Yeah yeah, it's more industrial.
When do you think we'll be able to hear some of that?
It all depends on how it goes with BESEECH, and our time. It's definitely a side project that has to come second, and in a couple of months we'll try to send it out to people we know, and to labels of course, to see if it's interesting.
You're very active on the internet: how do you feel about music on the internet, MP3s - sharing of them and all that?
Internet is a very very good communication tool, but it's also has good and bad sides I think. But for a pretty uknown band it's a good media to reach out with your music, and to get in contact with the important people. But I can understand the bigger bands that have problems with it too. Because of all this copying with the music... but it's really hard to say if I like it or not, because I know we reach a lot of new people through the internet, but it's hard to say if they wouldn't have known of BESEECH if we didn't have the internet. But for our band, a pretty small band, it's good to reach out to people.
That was going to be my next question, how the internet has worked for BESEECH itself. Do you think you've gained some more fans?
Yeah, and you hear more from fans, 'cos it's easier to send an email. So for us I think it's very good. There are three of us who work with the internet daily, so for us I think it's good.
I was looking on your fanclub website, and there was something called the BESEECH drink...
(laughs) That's the club I was talking about before, the Kashmir, they have a special BESEECH drink on one of the floors, I don't know if you know the ingredients?
Vodka...
Yeah its like a screwdriver... but with another click or something.
What's coming up for BESEECH in the near future?
The biggest thing is the tour this autumn, then we're also going to record a video for 'Between The lines'... we start that tomorrow, to discuss it, and next week we are beginning to make a story board and make it with our producer.
Are you going to have some control over how the video's going to turn out as well?
We always have some control in what we do (laughs). So we'll be there and decide if we like it or not. So it'll probably be finished in a month or so... we'll see how it turns out. And of course it's depending on the quality, if we like it... it's a high risk project for the producer so we'll see how it turns out. And we hope it gets some airplay.
Do you have any final words for Ultimate Metal readers?
They should check out Souls Highway, if they want something in the gothic vein of music.
Ok, thanks a lot!
Great, thanks Mark!
Check out BESEECH @ www.beseech.net
Hear them @ www.mp3.com/beseech
Souls Highway is out on Napalm Records now!
