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Hey Jakob!
It´s Stefan from the german webzine Rockingboy. I guess you cannot remember me, but we´ve met already in 2007 in Munich for an Interview before the show with KROKUS and HAMMERFALL. It was my first Interview face to face and I was pretty nervous , but it was a pleasure to meet you! I hope it´s all cool in rocking Sweden so far and you are doin fine?! OK, here we go with some more questions today:
Hi Stefan, this is actually Pontus Egberg at the other end. I remember the show with Hammerfall and Krokus in Munich very well, great show! I can’t say that I remember the interview though, maybe that’s ´cause I wasn’t present, I don’t. Anyhow, here we go with the questions.
1.It seems that The POODLES Rock´n Roll Train is rolling as thunderous as never before, as for the new Album as well as for the aspect that THE POODLES becoming more famous each and every day. Have you ever expected at the beginning of the band that this thing will be as successful as it is today?
I think you can never expect something like that to happen but there were always hopes, of course, and I think we all realized from the very beginning that this band had the potential to do great things and we’ve been trying our best and working really hard at it since then.
2.The “new” man (for over one year) on guitars is Henrik Bergqvist. Please tell our readers something about him and the reason why Pontus has left the band.
I think Pontus Norgren wanted to move on and do something else, something different, musically and when he was offered the place as guitar player in Hammerfall he jumped at the opportunity. Their style of music has always been close to his heart.
When we came home from our last tour of Europe in the spring of 2008 Pontus dropped the news and we were stranded without a guitar player. Henrik Berqvist who is an old friend of some of the guys in the band had actually been one of the guitar players considered for the spot in the very beginning. At that time he was busy with other things but now he was available and he was up for the job. He’s been doing a great job and filling the place of guitar player in the band in the most fantastic way, both musically and on a personal level.
3.What was it like when you entered the studio with Henrik?
It was kind of exiting I guess you could say, we didn’t really know what was going to come out. We were all pretty confident though that he was going to do en excellent job since we had been doing numerous live shows with him in the band so he definitely had a good sense of what The Poodles are all about.
4.You have once again 14 Songs on your new album plus Bonus stuff for the final European release. Other bands do the classic 10 track thing. But THE POODLES offer value (AND quality) for money. Can you tell me something about the formation of the new material? Are you still working with co-writers?
Well, we try to get you value for your hard earned money. We have always focused on the quality of the material and that is the main reason to why we are working with co-writers on this album just as we have on our previous two albums. We all write music in the band but we also gladly use the help of outside composers. Then, when we record the songs we all put our own touch and feel to the music, which makes it all blend together nicely and the songs become Poodle-songs.
5.Can you take us through some songs of the new album? Which are your favourites?
There are basically 14 great songs on the album in my mind, it’s hard to pick favourites but OK, I’ll try!
“Too Much Of Everything” – the opening track, a really emotional song somehow. It sort of sums up the whole album, it has it all, the soft first verse with the beautiful piano and strings, the catchy chorus and the blistering guitar solo.
“I Rule The Night” – The perfect Heavy Metal hit song in my mind.
“Give Me A Sign” – Really heavy tune still with a great catchy chorus.
And what else? “Sweet Enemy” is a really great song and I ‘m also very fond of “Dream To Follow”. What can I say, a bunch of great songs I think!
6.Last year you´ve played as supporter for GOTTHARD (in Germany), this year YOU are the headliner with H.E.A.T. (another awesome Swedish band) to support you. How does it feel to have as much time as you want to go crazy on stage?
It feels great, of course! Going crazy on stage is something we really enjoy doing. Seriously though, we’ve had the pleasure of touring with some great bands like Hammerfall, Krokus and Gotthard as support act and that laid the foundation that today allows us to go on our own tour, and we love it! As you may have heard already H.E.A.T. will not come with us on this tour though. They’re a great band so we would really have enjoyed having them along for the ride but it didn’t work out for them this time. At the moment we’re looking for a suitable replacement. Who ever comes along for the ride though, I can promise you that The Poodles are going to kick some serious ass on this tour and really give it all and a bit more. You’re in for a treat!!
7.Do you prefer festivals or “normal” gigs which are more personal?
It’s really hard to say actually, both are great in their own way. At a festival you usually have the chance to reach more people than at a regular show, which is great but on the other hand, as you say, the regular show is often more intimate or personal. The feeling of standing on the stage at a festival in front of a really huge crowd is hard to beat but it’s hard to get the same kind of communication with the audience that you can get at a smaller venue.
8.This time you’ve worked with Andy Fraser who is a living legend. Can you tell me something about this collaboration? You had also another producer for the new album, right?
The producer of the album is Mats Valentin, a great guy, an old friend and a super producer. We worked with him on the two tracks we recorded after the “Sweet Trade” album, “Line Of Fire” and “Raise The Banner”, the official Swedish Olympic Theme Song for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. We got in contact with Mike Fraser a little bit by chance you might say and in the end he helped us out and mixed a few songs on the album. It was really awesome to have such a legendary guy come in and put his magic touch on the album. The result is just super! The remaining songs on the album are mixed by Robert Wellerfors, not as well known as Mike Fraser but I must say he did a great job as well. On the whole, these three guys did a fantastic job and have a big part in the album being as great as it is.
9.You are writing very much songs for one album. You´ve told me about 25 Songs alone for “Sweet Trade” and I´ve read about 35 songs for “Clash Of The Elements”. Which are your plans with the songs left?
Yes, we’re a creative bunch of guys! We did have something like 35 songs to choose from when we sat down and tried to decide which songs to record for “Clash Of The Elements”. In the end we decided on 14 tracks that we recorded. The songs that haven’t been used will most probably be considered when we start making plans for the next album. They’re all good songs so a few of them might end up there.
10.In our interview about two years ago we talked about a DVD, but it never saw the light of day. What happened?
It’s actually coming in to light right now. This summer we had a film crew with us in Sweden, following us around for about two weeks, filming a total of six shows I think and right now they are editing and doing their magic on the material. We hope to have it ready before the end of this year. The perfect Christmas gift for the entire family!!
11.You’ve also established your own label Rosehip Alley Records and you’re releasing “Clash Of The Elements” through a new Records Company (Blistering Records). Can you tell me something about that?
In September of 2008 when we sat down and started planning for the new album together with our old record label, Lionheart International, it became clear quite quickly that we did not want the same things or have the same visions for this new album. We couldn’t agree on how to do it, when to do it or anything. After a while it became clear to both them and us that it wasn’t such a good idea for us to work together anymore and we basically decided to go our separate ways. After that we decided to go ahead and do it ourselves instead of trying to get a regular record deal so we contacted the producer we wanted to work with and booked the studio. When the recordings started coming to an end we had to find a way to get the album out in to the stores and we were looking for a partner that wouldn’t come in and completely try to take over the show, we still wanted to have the same control that we had during the recording process. After a while we found Blistering and started talking to them. We talked back and forth for a while and then we came to an agreement that was really good for both parties. So, here we are and pretty soon the album is out for all to hear and we’re hoping the result in the end will be good. We really love the album and think it’s the best album by The Poodles so far so we have high hopes for “Clash Of The Elements”.
12.What are your plans for the future? I’ve heard that you want to conquer the USA as well?
We want to conquer the whole world basically but the States is probably the next logical step. We are currently looking into different options over there and hope to get something together soon.
13.OK, Jakob, thank you so much for taking some time to answer my questions. Do you have any last words for the fans?
It was great talking to you, I hope you can make something out of the answers and to everyone out there: check out our new album “Clash Of The Elements” and as we’re really looking forward to the upcoming tour I hope to see all of you there!!
Rock on!!
I wish THE POODLES all the best for the future to come, take care! Hope to see you in Munich with H.E.A.T. on 31st of October!
Stefan
www.rockingboy.de
WE ROCK HARDER
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