SOURCE – What should the fans expect of this new album Duende and how would you describe it to the fans that have not listened to it yet?
Fia Kempe (Vocals) | Aksel Holmgren (Drums) – The meaning of the word Duende can be compared with a heightened state of emotion in what you do, making things authentic and meaningful. Duende is what make you get goosebumps when you listen to music and it is one of those words that only exists in one language and describes one specific thing. You can not use it casually, you have to mean it and it has to show in the music. Therefore it was also somewhat scary to name our debut album to Duende, but it was exactly the feeling of Duende we heard ourselves when we wrote and listened back to the music.
The album is our attempt to show our audience a piece of ourselves both musically and visually. The songs and the lyrics are small, somewhat independent stories that tells of different states of mind that all human beings possess, wether it’s sorrow, anger, joy or more unusual states like a flair for cannibalism, or sychopathy. Different states of the human mind takes form in different ways and therefore the songs on Duende differs quite a lot from one another, hence our name, The Great Discord. Our aim is to make our audience feel something when they listen to our music, to make an impression whether it’s good or bad. We wanted to write music that gives us a feeling of Duende and with this album we give our audience a taste of both the hard and the easy emotional states, portrayed through our music.
SOURCE – A lot of people focus on the heaviness of The Great Discord. What’s the most musical aspect of the band in general and specifically on Duende ?
Fia Kempe (Vocals) | Aksel Holmgren (Drums) – It’s funny that you say “heaviness” because we feel that our music isn’t that heavy after all, all things considered But everything is relative in the ear of the listener of course. It has never been our aim to try to make heavy music for the sake of being heavy, it’s more an attempt to capture the idea and the feel of the song. The heaviness of the music can also add to the contrast of Fia’s sometimes softer vocals, making the music itself sound “rougher” than it is. It’s all about context and contrast. Play heavy all the time and the heaviness disappears. Since our main focus for this album has been to write music that we ourselves enjoy and find interesting, and to try to implement human conditions lyric-wise in to the songs, it is in a way impossible to avoid the darker aspect, which oftentimes takes the shape of more traditional heavy compositions. The “heaviness” of The Great Discord lives in the emotive output we are trying to convey trough our music and lyrics.
SOURCE – Fan reaction, as is often the case, seems to have been mixed if the Internet reaction is any indication. Have you gone online much, if at all, to read some of the responses that fans have had to the new album?
Fia Kempe (Vocals) | Aksel Holmgren (Drums) – Indeed there have been many different opinions, which is great! When we released our first teasers people in general seemed to think that we were way to “soft” to be signed to Metal Blade, which is understandable, considering some of their current roster. Some seemed to think that it was plain idiotic, but on the other hand some seemed to like it instantly. We definitely understand that our music not is everybody’s cup of tea, and we also believe that our songs need a listen or two, and attention spans are maybe not at peak levels across the board. We see it at a good thing that people have different opinions and we are grateful for all the strong opinions which incidentally helped us create somewhat of a buzz.
We have also got a lot of wonderful support and beautiful reviews from people who seem to love what we do, and of course that warms our heart more than the negative comments does. But our point is that when you write music that might not be the most common genre, you have to be understanding that not everybody like it. And that is definitely fine with us. We love what we do and we’re gonna continue doing it, simple as that.
SOURCE – What do you see as the main differences between The Great Discord and the mass of Metal/rock bands from Sweden?
Fia Kempe (Vocals) | Aksel Holmgren (Drums) – We’ve never actively compared ourselves to other Swedish bands. However, if we are to analyze ourselves in the context of other Swedish bands the lethora of metal bands that dabble in our kind of music, namely prog-nfused metal, seems to be limited to a few bands over here, at least compared to the states or the UK where they seem to be popping up everywhere. Why that is we have no idea. Although our intention has never been to aim for a specific genre of music, and maybe It is what makes us a little harder for people to label, we like the change things up and keep it interesting. After all, who what’s to eat at McDonalds every day?
SOURCE – You recently shot a video for The Aging Man What was the experience like? What is the concept behind the song and the video?
Fia Kempe (Vocals) | Aksel Holmgren (Drums) – It was a great experience and we had so much fun doing it. Though we were under a strict deadline, we only had one day to shoot, it so we rounded up about 4:30 in the morning. We worked with the talented guy’s of Pellen Productions and the collaboration could not have been smother. The concept of The Aging Man is roughly a story of an man who’s life is about to end. He faces his mortality with a great deal of regret and anxiety. Fia is supposed to encompass all the struggles the man has while facing his mortality. The game of chess is a symbol for the last part that the man plays with death before finally accepting his fate. Yes, we like the Seventh Seal, hehe. The whole video came out great and we are really happy with the result. It is also an attempt to show our audience what we look like in live situations!
SOURCE – What are your thoughts about Spotify and the whole fact that you can stream? Now everybody is putting their record out there a week before streaming it online on like iTunes.
Fia Kempe (Vocals) | Aksel Holmgren (Drums) – The fact that people get to listen to the album beforehand on Spotify or other streaming services is just a marketing tactic to try to push for more people to buy the actual record during the all important first week of sales, after which the business gauges your worth on the market. It makes sense for many bands to do this.
Of course, every band would prefer that people buy their album physically, as it still vastly outweighs the streaming services in terms of income. It also becomes a beautiful receipt for something you have been working hard on as a musician.
But streaming is no matter how you twist and turn it the way of the future, and a great tool to get your music out there to a wider audience, and still get a little bit of money for it. Spotify and other streaming sites has made it easier for bands to have their music accessible these days, and even though the return might not be optimal yet, it’s on it’s way. Piracy equals zero income so compared to that we’re all for streaming.
Here in Sweden Spotify has basically wiped out musical piracy, because it’s become way easier to just have an account there. We also believe that if some people like a band when they hear it on streaming services a few brave souls will actually buy the physical record. Thankfully metal is still a strong physical market compared to many other genres, which is great.
SOURCE – You come from Linköping – Sweden, does all of the members live there? If a metal fan comes to visit Linköping, what would they see and do?
Fia Kempe (Vocals) | Aksel Holmgren (Drums) – Fia, Aksel and André are born and raised in Linköping. Gustav and Rasmus is from our neighbouring town of Norrköping. And to be honest with you we do not have that much to show our beloved fans. We have a nice old town and a huge church, and that’s about it. Norrköping is actually more beautiful in terms of architecture, and has a richer ndustrial history. Both cities however are relatively small and does not offer that much when it comes to cool attractions. What we definitely would suggest though, is a visit to the cozy and only metal club we have called DOOM / The Crypt. They have regular shows with bands from all across the musical spectrum on an almost daily basis.
SOURCE – A lot of bands are more respected in other countries than their homeland. How is The Great Discord received in Sweden?
Fia Kempe (Vocals) | Aksel Holmgren (Drums) – We can definitely recognize ourselves in that description. Not that we are hated here in any way, but Sweden has a funny thing of being somewhat of a slow starter. By that we mean that it sometimes feels like they await the rest of the worlds reaction to something before they can make up their own minds. So far It seems like we are received a little bit better abroad, at least for the time being.
SOURCE – Do you have a day job, or are you able to make a living playing music? Do you momentarily make enough money to live from being a musician?
Fia Kempe (Vocals) | Aksel Holmgren (Drums) – We all have other commitments at the moment, our aim is to try to make this our full pursuit, as any serious and dreamy musician would tell you of course. We also believe that it is a good thing to have other commitments as well apart from the music, but it’s always difficult to balance life no matter how you divide you time.
SOURCE – Thanks for taking out the time to speak with me, do you have anything else you’d like to say to the fans?
Fia Kempe (Vocals) | Aksel Holmgren (Drums) – It was our leasure! And thank you for reaching out to us with these awesome questions. We would want the opportunity to thank everyone of our fans for the amazing support we get from you each day! And stay vigilant for upcoming shows, we can’t wait to perform for you.
Video: