There are some grammatical errors and silly expressions here and there (due to a busy mind and other distracting things around me at the moment), but it gives you the context anyway!
@ Stefan: Hope I haven't altered the truth too much.
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Artist/Band: Falconer (Stefan & Jimmy)
Band Info: The band was formed in Mjölby in 1999. 3 (of us) lives there. Jimmy lives in Värnamo and Mathias in Stockholm. We are not able to rehearse twice a week, so we send (sound)files to each other.
Discography:FALCONER-2001
CHAPTERS FROM A VALE FORLORN-2002
SCEPTRE OF DECEPTION-2003
GRIME VS. GRANDEUR-2005
NORTHWIND-2006
Style: Folk/power/Heavy Metal!
Influences: 80’s heavy metal…Iron maiden, Queen and Jethtro Tull etc.
Album Info:Album title: Among beggars and thieves
Songs recorded: 13(Songs) On the album: 11 + 2 bonus tracks on the limited edition which will also contain the (Carnival of disgust) video.
One of the bonus songs is a song we made in English a couple of years ago. This time it’s in Swedish in a more orchestral version.
Song writer:Mostly Stefan but also Jimmy and one song (lyrics) on the album is written by Mathias.
Studio time:Recording: Dec 07-Jan 08
Mixing: v. 21-22 2008 in Sonic Train Studios
Produced by: Andy La Rocque
Mixed by: Andy La Rocque
Mastering by: Andy La Rocque
Record company: Metal Blade. They seem to believe in us and in the album.
Album artwork: The same guy as before – Jan Meininghaus. We saw it for the first time last week. A bit different than before but it looks damn good.
Release date: End of August 2008
Single: Not what we’ve heard of yet.
Video: Carnival Of Disgust. The band part was shot in a “film” studio and the story part is shot at the Vadstena castle. The song is about medieval execution(s) and a executioner’s dread for doing his job. A bit different angle. He feels bad about doing what he does.
Q&A:Q: What is the upcoming album’s (ABAT) theme/plot?
A: It’s not a theme album really, but it’s bound to a certain time in history. Swedish middle age 1000-1600. The whole album is about medieval misery, where everything is going straight to hell. People dies and ships are sinking. Pestilence and poverty. A lot of annoying Danes. (Poke @ jakob_hasse)
Q: There has been mostly festival gigs the last years. Will that be the case with the ABAT tour as well?
A: Probably. We had a small two weeks tour in 2004, and if you are a pretty small band the travelling conditions are pretty lousy. So we think that festivals pays out more. You reach more people on Wacken than you do on an self-arranged two week tour. It pays back more and it’s more fun. It costs less for the record company. But a real tour would be fun, headlining Edguy or something like that. But that’s hard, because our singer is quite booked with musicals and stuff like that. He can’t take time off like a welder (very common job in Sweden, apparently). We are hoping for Sweden Rock Festival and Wacken gigs etc next year.
Q: Which one of the new songs do you look most forward to perform live?
A: I know at least 3 that will be favourites among the Germans - the fast songs. The fans will get to vote songs for the setlist for the next tour on our site. But you know early on which songs they are going to like, and that’s the fast ones. You just look at the BPM(s) and choose!
Q: Any plans on releasing a dvd?
A: A lot of fans has been asking about this. But as usual it’s a money matter – it’s up to the record company to decide if it’s worth it or not. But we are open for it. We’ll just have to keep pointing this out to the record company. A live album may be appropriate. We have released 6 albums so there’s a lot to choose from there.
Q: Are there any plans on making a whole album in Swedish?
A: Oh yes, there will probably be one sometime. In that case the half of the material will be traditional (songs) and will revolve around the 19th century.
Q: Do you (Falconer) want to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest?
A: Well, that’s a possibility. Can’t get worse than 18’th place.
Q: How come you’ve recorded all your albums at Andy’s (studio)? (The other albums are recorded in Los Angered Studios that turned into Sonic Train Studios after the moving to Varberg)
A: Everything began when my (Stefan’s) old band Mithotyn recorded an album in Los Angered. And we thought it was a really flexible and sounded good. And when we started Falconer we made the first album there because we had only positive vibes there. Andy has a very cool and flexible producing manner. And by now he knows us very well. A lot of guys/bands feels that when everything is going too smooth they change studio because they want a new challenge. But we don’t feel that way. He (Andy) is like a sixth family member. (+ something I could not interprete at the moment)
Q: The best Falconer moment so far?
A: That must be Wacken 2007. You get to go abroad to a office party for metal people. What a response (by the crowd). We seldom do gigs so you become kind of a newbie every time. And to get on stage in front of such a crowd, well that makes you go from a garage band to rock stars in a couple of seconds. It was hard to come home on the Monday (afterwards) when going to work 07:00 in the morning. You got back to reality quite fast…
Sonic Train Studios:A big improvement from Los Angered and a great lodging solution in the same premises. And there is a small studio where you can work at the same time with the guys in the bigger studio.
Andy La Rocque:A “Studio-Hitler”, who is always negative and who wants to eat ice cream all the time. Nah, as I said earlier – he is like a sixth member.
Varberg:Varberg is way better than Angered, that’s for sure. A beautiful town. We stayed at “Fästningen” (old fort in Varberg) when we were here in December. We’ve been sightseeing, eating ice cream… (in other words: they've been hanging out downtown)
