Interview Ola Lindgren Grave

Band Members: Ola Lindgren - Vocals, Guitars Jonas Torndal - Guitars Fredrik Isaksson - Bass Pelle Ekegren - Drums

7/26/06 Interviewer: Josh Thorne

"We decided we wanted a very simple, very aggressive album both production-wise and song-wise."

Death Metal, as you've all come to know, is something I deeply love. Several eons ago, in the land of Sweden, a handful of bands changed the way people viewed death metal. One of those bands was the almighty Grave. After the release of their debut album, Into The Grave, Grave became as highly regarded as their peers in Unleashed, Entombed, Dismember, etc. and with the release of their classic Soulless album, Grave solidified their place in the death metal elite.

It's been twelve years since the release of Soulless and since then, Grave has continued to record quality albums in the name of death and with their latest release, As Rapture Comes, Grave has recorded what has officially become my death metal album of the year pick for 2006. I was given the opportunity to speak with Grave founder and current vocalist/guitarist, Ola Lindgren about the band's upcoming North American tour, the new album, and much, much more. Enjoy, my dear death metal friends!

Josh:  When was the last time you were in North America?

Ola: We toured over there in 2003, so it's been quite a while.  We'd had a few offers since then, but they never really materialized.  We've been looking forward to this since it was announced, so it's definitely going to be a lot of fun.  There's also probably going to be a second leg of the tour that will hit the West Coast in December, but for this one it's mainly going to be East Coast dates.

Josh: Any idea who you'll be touring with for the second leg?

Ola: It will be Dismember and us, once again.  There will be some other bands as well, but I'm not exactly sure on that just yet.  But yeah, us and Dismember will be back for sure.

Josh: For Death Metal fans, this is a very sick tour.

Ola: Yeah man, absolutely.

Josh: I mean, it's Grave, Dismember, Vital Remains, Demiricous and Withered so it's definitely a continuously brutal bill.

Ola: I actually haven't heard Demiricous or Withered, but I'm all about Vital Remains!  Dismember are very good friends of ours.  It's always a lot of fun to be on the road with those guys, and we're really looking forward getting out there and playing with them again.

Josh: Now, on the subject of Dismember, you've also got a very huge European tour coming up with Dismember, Unleashed, and Entombed.  For the fans of the Swedish death metal scene, this is basically the tour to end all tours!  How did this come about?

Ola: It is pretty crazy, especially with people saying things like "It's the Godfathers of Swedish death metal going on the road together."  It's something we'd all been talking about for many years.  Any time we saw each other, we always talked about how great it would be to do something together and finally, Fred from Dismember got everyone together for a meeting to discuss what kind of conditions we wanted to do it under.  Everyone was happy with the conditions and it's basically going to be a group of friends going out for a couple of weeks to have some fun.  There's going to be rotating headliners, and a different band will be doing it each night so it's just going to be a lot of fun to do.

Josh: That's got to be very surreal for you, especially as you mentioned earlier, being one of the original bands of the classic Swedish death metal scene.  What's it like for you now, looking back on the early days and looking at the recognition bands like Grave and Dismember are receiving in the present day?

Ola: It still feels strange to talk to fans and bands that tell you how much they've been influenced by your music.  It's just very strange for us to hear, because we don't think of ourselves in that way.  Every now and then, when we hear that we've helped to change people's lives as far as the music they listen to, it's still pretty flattering to us.

Josh: Now, you just released "As Rapture Comes" and I've got to tell you, this is probably the best death metal album I've heard all year.

Ola: Really?

Josh: No question about it.

Ola: Thanks, man!

Josh: You guys recorded this yourselves at Studio Soulless, and Peter Tägtgren mixed it, correct?

Ola: Yeah, that's right.

Josh: The reason I ask is because this is the most classic Grave-sounding record you've done in a while.

Ola: Oh, absolutely!

Josh: By that I mean, the vintage Sunlight sound is there but it's also got a bit of a modern bite to it.

Ola: I totally agree!  When we went to record the album, we decided we wanted a very simple, very aggressive album both production-wise and song-wise.  We did it ourselves, and had a lot more time on our hands to try different things out and get everything to sound the way we wanted it to sound.  I totally love the production and the great thing as well is that you can easily translate the songs into a live setting.  I did the vocal parts at Peter's studio and we mixed it in about four days.  I'm very satisfied with it.

Josh: As far vocals go, you definitely sound more confident on this album than I've ever heard you sound as a vocalist.  The vocals on the last few records were still great, but it definitely seems as though you've really come into your own on this album.

Ola: Well, a lot of that had to do with doing them at Abyss Studios.  I mean, the studio is out in the middle of nowhere and really, the only things you can do are drink beer and play music.  It's a very relaxing environment, especially working with Peter.  He's a great producer and musician and besides that, I've known him as a friend for close to fifteen years.  I brought a few crates of beer and wrote six out of the eight original tracks on the album.  Peter's also gives me a lot of good pointers on phrasing and stuff like that.  It feels a lot easier for me to sing now and you know, it never felt strange, but it's just more natural now.

Josh: Lyrically, Grave has always been very anti-organized religion but on "As Rapture Comes" it seems like it's come full force on this record.  As far as religion in Sweden, how does it compare to what it is here in America?

Ola: It's pretty much the same.  Sweden is a traditional Christian country and over the last fifty years, it's been getting better because young people aren't really interested in it anymore.  I mean, we've got censorship because of it on some things over here, but not nearly as bad as it is for you over there.  Those themes in our music have always been there from the beginning, along with the typical death metal stories about blood and gore.  We've never been Satanic though, only very critical of religion in general.

Josh: Tell me a little about the decision to cover Alice In Chains' "Them Bones".

Ola: It's a song I've had in mind for many years, really.  It's a pretty simple, three-part song that keeps rotating.  We fooled around with it during the recording, changed the drum patterns and decided that we were going to use it before we put the vocals down.  I think it turned out pretty cool though.

Josh: Whenever I first heard about that, I laughed a little because when I was first getting into Grave, a friend of mine recommended "Soulless" to me with the description that it was like Alice In Chains with growling.

Ola: (Laughing)

Josh: I always found that a bit strange, but I guess it made sense to him!

Ola: I actually find that very flattering.  I was always a fan of them, and the thing is, I didn't like grunge at all.  I never really considered them to be a grunge band though.

Josh: Neither did I.

Ola: They were around in that time period, but they had their own sound going on.  I always admired them for that.

Josh: You guys will also be filming a DVD next month, right?

Ola: Yeah!

Josh: Where is this taking place?

Ola: It's going to happen in Poland.  We're going to fly down for a few days and we'll be playing with Obituary and Sinister.  I'm not sure if they're going to be recording or not, but it's going to be a lot of fun.  They're hitting me every day with questions about the cover art and title, you know, things like that.  We're going to play the longest set we've ever played.  We're going to play for 75 minutes to make sure we've got enough material to use.  We'll also be putting some bonus features on there, with stuff from the early days of the band and a few drunken moments on the road as well.

Josh: What kind of set list have you got planned for the show?

Ola: It's going to be a mixture of everything, really.  I'd say the first three albums will cover most of the set and the rest will be songs from the other albums, plus two songs from the new one.  So, it's really going to cover everything we've done.

Josh: As far as promotion goes, how has Century Media been doing with the new album?

Ola: It's been very very good, actually.  I've done more interviews for this album than any album we've ever done, and they're pushing me to do interviews for it all the time.  It's also the first time our album's coming out in Europe and The States at the same time, which is pretty cool as well.  And since I basically do everything myself when this kind of work is concerned, it can be quite hectic but it's for the good of the band, so I don't mind at all.

Josh: Is Grave on the level now where you guys are able to do this full-time?

Ola: Well, most of the members excluding me, have children and it complicates having music as a job.  I wouldn't mind doing this full time, if the rest of the band were into it but we still have day jobs to get by, when we're not touring.

Josh: As we discussed earlier, you've been making this music for over fifteen years.  What kind of hopes do you have for the future of this band?

Ola: In the past couple of years, there's been a real upswing of death metal in general.  As long as we continue getting recognition and interest from the labels, fans, and press, we'll keep going.  I'm thirty-five and I've got no problem with continuing to do this.  I'll do it as long as I can, man.

Josh: Any last words for our readers, Ola?

Ola: Just a big thanks to all the fans for keeping the band alive and showing interest throughout the years.  Check out the new album, and I promise you won't be disappointed.  See you all on tour!

Josh: Ola, thank you very much for the interview, man.

Ola: No problem, thank you.

I'd like to thank Ola Lindgren for the amazing interview and thank Grave for always staying true to death metal throughout the years. Go get yourselves a copy of the new album as soon as possible. Until then, visit them on the web: www.grave.se. Tack!