SOURCE – Firstly, congratulations on A Million Volt Scream, it’s and incredible album! Tell us a little bit about the album and how the production and recording went for this?
Dennis Österdal (Bass) – Thank you, I guess that we with this album pushed ourselves a little bit further both when it comes to the songwriting and the shorter timeschedule we decided to have from beginning to finished recording. We think that this album still sounds a lot classic TL but with some different twists, i.e. “Dawn of Lucifer” – a slow tune with a groovy riff and a mighty chorus, and “Vanished Empire” – a stompy tune with a kind of Primus-esque mainriff.
The album was once again recorded and mixed by Roberto Laghi (In Flames, Mustasch, Hardcore Superstar), this time at three different locations, which was a challenge for us: the drums at Top Floor studio in Gothenburg, most of the guitars, bass and vocals at our studio with Oral Majority Mobile equipment and finally additional stuff and final mix at Robertos Oral Majority studio.
SOURCE – What can you share about the recently released video for Monster Human?
Dennis Österdal (Bass) – We wanted to do something different this time, not the typical metalvideo with us performing and the typical hardrock-attributes. So, we rented the Historical Museum of Nature in Gothenburg for one day, dressed ourselves in animal costumes and went in and cleaned the place! Lots of fun making it, and Joel at Maluha media is excellent when it comes to pick up and understand our ideas, he has made four of our musicvideos so far.
SOURCE – Do you see the video medium being as important in the social media age as it was for those 80’s and 90’s years when Headbangers Ball was a staple on MTV?
Dennis Österdal (Bass) – Back in the days having your video played in Headbangers Ball was the big thing. Unfortunately it was really hard to get in there, but if you managed to be chosen it was awesome of course. Today it is definitely different playground, but we think that a descent musicvideo is still a good thing to aim for since the Internet/Youtube is flooded with low quality mobilephone-clips wich doesn´t do the bands any good. The Webb is the best way to promote yourself today anyhow…
SOURCE – What are your thoughts on the evolution of social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Bandcamp, etc.? Do you believe it puts a band like yourselves at an advantage in terms of developing an international following with the connection/interactive mediums at play – to stand toe to toe with signed artists?
Dennis Österdal (Bass) – The whole world is developing, and so are the platforms for bands playing music and either you like it or not you still have to accept that this is the way it works in 2019. Even if we in the band comes from decades when music was appreciated in a physical phormat (Vinyl, cassettes and CDs), we must look at the advantages of the internet evolution. Any band can have a homepage, their music on Spotify etc. and clips on Youtube that will reach the whole planet. BUT it IS still as hard as before to reach out to the audience since the internet is so big, and nowadays there are millions of bands to compete with. And, unfortunately, money STILL talks!
SOURCE – Have you experienced any differences in how the foreign press treats you and the band compared to how native press and media treats and writes about you?
Dennis Österdal (Bass) – We have always been treated good by the foreign press while we feel that the native press sometimes have ignored us, but with this album maybe it has taken a turn since we this time are having both articles and top reviews in the two biggest magazines in Sweden, “Sweden Rock Magazine” and “Close-Up Magazine”, and also a big feature in Metalized Magazine in Denmark.
SOURCE – What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned when it comes to band chemistry and friendships – and how do you handle conflicts that may come up either in the studio or while on the road?
Dennis Österdal (Bass) – We have been around for a while, and when you are in group of people for a long time the most important thing is the respect for every single persons personality and integrity. Since we have known each other for so long (…and we still like each other!) there are hardly ever any conflicts, but if there are we handle the discussions directly in a mature way….
SOURCE – Now that you are in your 50’s, how do you look back upon your twenties in terms of your life? Are there any specific areas that you feel you have improved upon due to experience and maturity?
Dennis Österdal (Bass) – The music-business is really tough, and when you are in the twenties you think that you easily will conquer the world. Now when you are in the fifties, and you have kids and families, you know that it is not that easy to do that! But with maturity comes realism even if you never loose your dreams of making it big, but why should you!?
SOURCE – Thanks so much for talking with me. Anything else you wanna say?
Dennis Österdal (Bass) – We really hope that we one day can come to the home of Sepultura and Brazilian metal to play our “Boogie from Hell” for the fantastic Brazilian audience, Cheers and Love from Transport League!
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