Dragonland // Interview with Olof Mörck
Interview by: Mary Evans via email (January 2006)
First of all I'd like to thank you for taking the time to do this interview for us. I know you are busy writing and recording the follow up to 2004's Starfall at the moment. How is this going? Has a release date been scheduled as yet?
No definitive date as of yet. Were aiming for the new album to be released somewhere around October 2006.
I'm pretty sure there will be some form of tour to support the album, in what countries and when exactly is hard to say at this point though.
You've previously spoken about the next album having more of a ‘film score' feel to it… is this something you'd like to pursue further and perhaps write a film score in the future?
Yes, film score music is a huge inspiration for us, and I think it will be even more evident on the next album. We're not only into the film score that is typically used for metal purposes, but also action style themes used for car chases for example, secret agent-moods, everything from the Braveheart / Lord of the Rings type to The Bourne Identity I guess. To be able to work on a real film score is of course a dream, and while it's not very likely that I or we has a band get to do it, you never know.
I am personally a huge fan of Yngwie, I think he is a very underrated musician, most people seem to think that his sole abilities lie in playing fast. Anyway, doing the shows with Yngwie was truly astounding, not only because of supporting an idol, but also for the huge crowds and all the cool people we got to meet. And of course, speaking with Yngwie and getting some very cool opinions from him about our show totally blew my mind.
We have been really lucky with our gigs in the UK so far, since the smallest crowd we have played for there was 2000+, due to the bands we have been playing with mainly. The reception from the British Yngwie-fans was very good considering most heard us for the first time, and playing the Thirteenth Day festival was really cool, we couldn't possibly have hoped for a better response from the more than 3000 metal fans who showed up.
At one stage Jonas took on the role of drummer alongside his vocal duties and this meant you were unable to tour properly for some time… Now that Jesse has joined the band you are able to tour… as a band which do you prefer - writing and recording or touring?
I think we, as most bands, feel most about playing our music on stage, with the whole giving and taking process that goes on between the band and the crowd, it's one of the greatest feelings in the world. You always get to meet tons of crazy people when touring too, and I never think I have had one boring day on tour ever. Though, artistically, working with music in solitude or with a couple of band members, to attain that certain goal, or vision you have for a song or segment of music is very satisfying in its own right. For me, personally, I could never do one without the other, they totally go hand in hand.
In 2004 you signed to Century Media and subsequently released Starfall. How did this change things for you? Presumably the band was given more promotion etc?
Signing with Century Media was certainly a step further into the limelight, and they did an excellent job promoting the album in all areas where it was released. The biggest difference between Century Media and other labels I have had experience with is the ease of communication, they are very easy to work with, and great people in general. Recently the distribution has been moved to EMI worldwide, so we're very excited to have a major label making sure Dragonland albums will be available everywhere.
Talking more about the songwriting for a moment, obviously if you wrote all of your lyrics in Swedish you would have a more limited audience. Do you write in English or do you translate your work once it's written?
Personally, I think English is a much more suited language for poetry and lyrics, it has got a richer vocabulary and a more dramatic quality to it. I have never really written anything lyric-wise in Swedish, and the process of writing always starts and ends in English.
Can you describe the songwriting process?
Most of the time it's me and Elias working at his place with his home studio to realise some basic idea either of us has solitarily come up with, while consuming beer, snacks and other unhealthy things, all in the name of art :) From that basic idea, the songs tend to evolve naturally while working on them. Most of the time, the music starts with a riff or a chord progression we like, but for most choruses, we begin with a vocal melody, to really get that sing-along feeling.
Who are the main writers for the band?
It differs at bit from album to album, but for the Starfall album and the coming one it's mainly me and Elias with input from Nicklas musically, and Jonas for vocal lines.
Yes and no, everyone in the band can't always be present while working on the music, but everyone has definitely his right to change or alter the music or come up with new ideas, just as long as it's ok for everyone.
By your own admission your previous work has been very ‘fantasy' orientated. Is this still a main feature in your writing and what can we expect from the new album?
Well, that is something we left behind us after the Holy War album, and Starfall contains no fantasy styled themes. I don't know if we have left it forever, or if some elements are going to reappear in the future, we like to always keep the future open. However for Starfall and the next CD, we felt the fantasy concept a bit too limiting with the music we were/are aiming to do.
Who are your main influences, both personally and as a band?
When we started out we were obviously influenced by other fantasy power metal bands, like Rhapsody, Avantasia, Edguy, Helloween and so on, but even at the time of writing the first album we had a ton of different influences, since none of us came from a power metal background. Even back then the film score music influences were pretty evident, but also some touches of death metal in the riffing and other stuff was present too. Nowadays, it's really an extremely wide array of influences that affects our music, everything we hear influences us in some way. It can be any style of metal, film score music, Spanish guitar music, Arabian dances, romantic period classical music, the list goes forever on. Personally, I draw a lot of inspiration from classical music, but not so much the baroque stuff that is standard for today's metal, but more recent stuff such as Bruckner, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Orff, Holst etc. For my guitar playing, the giants like Yngwie, Vai, Satriani, Gilbert etc has influenced me a lot, but I think Vivaldi's violin solos has influenced my soloing the most.
Can you briefly describe Dragonland's sound for someone who has never heard your albums?
Think European power metal with a good dose of originality to it. Add film score elements, classical segments, crunchy riffs, over the top solos, but most of all the always present element of surprise!
And which album would you suggest they listened to first and why?
Definitely the Starfall album, because it very much represents the point when we truly found our unique sound. It's impossible to mistake the songs of that album for any other band. It has the most well composed songs and the catchiest choruses, but if you're more into raw speed and fantasy, you might be better of checking out the two first albums.
Along the same sort of lines, which is your favourite Dragonland album and why?
The new album is yet untitled and months away from being finished, but I still have to say I like the new album best, because it's just superior in every way to what we have done before. Everyone in the band has grown a lot as composers since the four years ago we started writing the Starfall album.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
There are so very many highlights, but of course, a few stick out. I think the two main highlights has been being in Japan for the first time and supporting Yngwie Malmsteen in the UK. Being in Japan is always an experience for every band that gets to come there, and we were certainly no exception. It was a rollercoaster from day one, and my jaw was dropped too many times to even mention. Meeting and playing with Yngwie was a big personal highlight for me, since I have always been a huge Yngwie Malmsteen fan. It was nice to see that he was a hundred times friendlier than how he has been described.
Amongst others you've collaborated with Tom and Henrik from Evergrey… how did you find this?
They were really great people to work with, I really respect those guys as musicians and producers. Of course, it wasn't always easy since Evergrey were away a few times playing shows supporting their Inner Circle album during the studio time, but it worked out fine in the end, since most of the actual producing was carried out by ourselves, with our producers working mainly as technicians.
If you could collaborate with anyone else who would you choose?
There a lot of musicians and producers who I respect and would enjoy working with. Having Yngwie Malmsteen and Itzhak Perlman (violinist) guesting on the album would be mindblowing, and if we could choose any producer in the world, the answer would be very simple. Hans Zimmer.
Is there anything you'd like to be asked at an interview that you haven't been asked so far? If so, what is it? And what would your answer be?
No one asks me about my hidden talents, like balancing guitars on one finger and typing the alphabet in 1.9 seconds. So now you now. Haha.
UK metal heads, you rock! Being down in the UK twice just during the summer of 2005 was a blast and a privilege! See you all soon!
Thank you once again and all the best with the release of the new album. We look forward to seeing Dragonland in the UK again soon!
And thank you for the support and a great interview! |
