Interview
with My Last Chapter
(2006-01-19)
I was honestly damn surprised when I stumbled
across these guys website, as I never would have
expected such mood filled music to be streaming
from my speakers. An up and coming Swedish act without
a doubt!
It was done by email between the 6th and 15th of
November.
Hey there Jonatan. Everything alright with you?
Let us get started with a small presentation of
the band – not a biography, but just a small notice
of who’ll be answering the questions and what other
members the band has (so the readers will know who
the hell we’re talking about, hehe).
Hey, I'm fine. I have been working/studying my ass
of lately and this has been the first real weekend
for me in what seems to be a sea of time, so I have
of course been enjoying some beer and leasurerness.
About Canopy then, we are a deathmetal five-piece
from different parts of stockholm consisting of:
Fredrik Huldtgren - Vocals, Erik Björkman - Guitars,
Daniel Ahlm - Bass, Peter Lindqvist Drums and me,
Jonatan Hedlin, on Guitars.
You started playing in 2002, but the band was
almost discarded before it really got going. It
was just you and Erik back then, and you couldn’t
find a complete line-up. And you also say you grew
tired of your original inspirational sources for
the band (In Flames and At the Gates). So when the
band actually did get going, what had changed inspirational
wise?
Interesting question. The main bugger back then
was actually finding a complete line-up, we where
only like 16-17 years old and most people we knew
couldn’t even play the kind of music we wanted to
create.
There is actually one sole album I'd like to say
inspired me to try to start up Canopy again, and
that one is called "Crimson" by the band Edge of
Sanity. It contains real deathmetal brutality (
grind/blastbeats, A-tuned guitars, deep growling)
but still a lot of melodies, hooks and clean vocals.
Plus the song is 40-minutes long. It’s still probably
my favourite metalalbum ever. Of course we have
found dozens and dozens of other inspirational sources,
but that was my first real encounter with real death
metal and progressive/melodic work combined (I would
for example consider early In Flames something more
in vein of downtuned heavymetal with growls, and
later In Flames a nu/heavymetal hybrid with shrieks...or
something haha) Oh, and while we are talking inspiration,
I still enjoy ATG, but they have sooo many clones,
so that style is completely destroyed now.
Today I'm influenced by some extreme shit like vital
remains, nile, behemoth, strapping young lad, satyricon,
opeth, immortal, some a old school sthlm-dm like:
Entombed, Edge of Sanity, Unanimated and then some
not so brutal-stuff like Katatonia/Porcupine Tree/Isis/Burst/Neurosis.
The band grew a fuller line-up during the years,
but you didn’t hire a vocalist until 2004. I suppose
that must have had an obstructing effect on the
band, lacking a vocalist. Do you think you would
have been at another place with the band today,
if you had found a vocalist from the very beginning?
It sure affected our first demo, during day one.
It was basically written without vocals in mind,
and some songs kind of lost that punch you might
when you plan the vocalpatterns while writing a
song. But then, while writing the Will & Perception
demo I exactly knew Fredrik’s style, and it was
actually a lot easier writing much more powerful
songs in terms of both catchiness and brutality.
Just compare the two demos and you'll know what
I mean. The song "for the sickened voice to hear"
is good example of a song I wrote with Fredrik’s
vocals constantly in mind, and it appears to be
one of our "hittier" songs.
And you had your first gig back then only two
months after Fredrik joined in, and only a couple
of weeks after getting the lyrics, and such, ready
for all the songs. Were you fully confident when
you got up on the stage, or did the crowd maybe
notice some insecurity in the band? How was the
gig responded to?
I was definitely nervous, and I know that couldn't
have been too hard to notice. But the gig went really
good for being the first, and the response was good,
most people couldn't believe we'd never played before
judging by the performance. It wasn't only my first
canopygig, it was my first real gig with any band.
You also released your first demo, During Day
One, in October of 2004. What was the response from
the critics? Were you satisfied with what you put
together?
I actually was very satisfied with During Day One
at first. But then again, it was our first recording,
and it didn't take long before I noticed a hell
lot of things we could've done better. I spoke of
the vocal arrangements earlier (a huge factor, believe
me) but in addition to that it’s very much about
song structures in general. The riffing and melodies
on DDO are almost as good as our later stuff to
me, but they are presented in a, what to say, non-catchy
way. I don't know if you get me when I use the word
catchy, most people would mean catchy = easy listening,
but I would call many Cryptopsysongs catchy actually,
it's all about good structure, small hooks and details.
The listeners doesn't think about these, but actually
I think these factors are a huge part of whether
the listener is enjoying the music.
Will and Perception, your second demo, was released
only some months afterwards. What changes were made
for that one? Any change of influences, song-structure
etc?
And now what was the response from the critics this
time?
As said in earlier questions, I had vocals in mind
while writing the material, and the song-structures
are way more effective/powerful. This also had a
positive impact on the critical response.
You’ve also been competing in some form of music
contest called Emergenza. I don’t really know what
that’s all about, so if you could fill me in on
it I’d really appreciate it! How did things go?
Actually, Emergenza are clever bastards when it
comes to money. Every band pays 750 SEK (not too
much for a band though, plus you get some free instrument-related
stuff), and in addition to that the bands themselves
have to sell pretty expensive tickets. The contest
is based on the crowd voting, so every band wants
to bring as many friends as possible, thus selling
expensive tickets and bringing Emergenza more money.
We got (barely) enough votes at Alcazar, so we went
ahead and played at klubben. At the klubben-gig
we got surprisingly many votes though, which was
nice, but it wasn’t enough for the finals. All in
all Emergenza was worth it, two really nice gigs
and some extra exposure. But I don't know if we'll
play emergenza again though, kindo tearing selling
those expensive tickets to poor friends!
Have you started working on the material for
your upcoming release? Will it be another demo,
or have you had some offers? It’s a damn shame if
you haven’t had any record deal offers!
We are almost done with eight new songs! It will
be a full-length record, but self-financed. We haven't
had enough luck with the labels yet, and I would
agree it's a damn shame! However, we are not giving
up.
So what can we expect from the upcoming album?
Will we notice any changes, or have you just enhanced
the sound of Canopy?
It will of course be the best one yet. One change
people might notice is that the album is a bit more
extreme at both ends, it contains some real grind/blast
parts and also some really experimental/progressive
parts. However it is all presented in the Canopy
formula, and is a natural step taken from our latest
release.
Know what… Listening to your music I really get
the feeling that it should without a doubt be enjoyed
live. I’m not saying it’s bad on tape, but the music
has that certain crushing and churning to it, to
make it perfect for playing live… Do you agree with
me? Do you maybe even consider yourself to be more
of a live-band than a studio-band…?
I really, really like recording music. To me it's
such a creative process, even though it's boring
sometimes. But, playing live is the thing. It's
like unleashing all the energy you've gathered while
writing/rehearsing/recording those songs, and that's
a fucking blast. There are of course bad nights,
but those real good gigs are the real deal with
being in a band! I can easily find great musicians
for recording studioprojects (and I do) but having
a live-squad like Canopy is like one step further
from that!
You, Jonatan, are also involved with a number
of other bands, three rock bands and Corpulent Moth,
if I’m not mistaken. Any projects I’ve missed?
I actually have gazillions of projects going on
all the time. I try to make all of them different
from each other though, so that I won't have any
doubt in which band will get which song/riff. Corpulent
Moth is the only other metalband I'm in at the moment
though, and our first release "Rusting Crescent
Sun" is available, it started out as a not very
serious recording of me and the drummer jamming
ideas in my homestudio, but we decided to make it
a complete demo. I think it turned out pretty nice.
We will try to make some promotion later on, when
we have a proper webadress and so on. The drummer
currently lives in England, but we'll record another
odd creation in January.
Fredrik is also involved with Facing Death. I
don’t know how serious you are about your other
bands, but I suppose it must take some time away
from Canopy. Is Canopy your main band, and whatever
time you have left goes to the rest, or how do you
solve the time issue?
As said before, the other bands are almost always
projects only. Both Facing Death and Corpulent Moths
are recording projects, partly for fun and partly
for expressing some stuff not meant for Canopy (In
CM we base almost every single riff around jamming/beats
by the drummer which is very un-canopyish and Facing
Death is more or less Olas (Subcyde) Deathmetal
ideas with Fredrik helping out on vox). I'd say
the 70s hardrock band I'm in called "John Loathe"
should be considered a band rather than a project
though, but that band has a leader, and it's not
me, thereby it won't take too much time from canopy.
Well, except from the upcoming album, what can
we expect from Canopy in the future? Do you think
you’ll get some label’s attention with the next
release? Maybe we can even expect some touring,
I don’t know… What are your hopes and wishes, and
what do you realistically think? Hehe…
We always hope to get some label's attention, still
even with "W&P". I guess we just have to keep trying.
Touring would be amazing, like all other bands we
want to do, for instance, japan. I also would love
playing in Canada. Realistically I think you'll
be able to see Canopy in some other swedish cities
than Stockholm (we've already played gothenburg)
I’m not really sure I have any serious questions
left now… So it’s time for the not-so-serious questions
I love asking, hehe.
Latest record you bought?
I got three EPs from a Relapse mailorder recently:
Dillinger Escape Plan - Irony is a dead scene
Suffocation - Despise the sun
& Bloodbath - Breeding Death
Right before that I bought the latest CDs from Nile,
Arcturus and Primordial. I buy lots of cds :)
Latest record you listened to?
"Tonights Decision" by Katatonia.
Latest book you read?
I've been studying "the history of thought" on Stockholm
university for a while, so I havent read much fiction
lately, its been stuff like "Filosofins historia"
("The history of philosophy") and "Från platon till
kriget mot terrorismen" (From Platon to the war
on terrorism). I recently also read a book on the
discussion of the male gender in general, from a
critical point of view called "Med uppenbar känsla
för stil" (roughly "With an obvious sence of class/style/elegance").
I also read this helluva funny book called "Brev
till samhället" (letters to the society) where some
guy presents rather strange letters he's send to
different companies/governmental organs in sweden
+ the answers, very funny. The latest all-fiction
book must've been "the diceman" or something, and
its a bloody fantastic book.
Latest show you went to?
"Arcturus" in Västerås. Not too long before that
I also saw Nevermore and Nile in Stockholm (two
different shows)
Crappiest record you’ve bought?
Crappiest I bought? Hmm, I've been disappointed
a couple of times to the degree of listening to
the CD only once. But it would feel unfair naming
them as the "crappiest" after such short time given
to them.
If you ever committed suicide, how’d you go about
it?
I'm not very suicidal at all. But sometimes I discussed
the topic, and I thought, why not make it a big
fucking scene, like, throw yourself from the NK
building in central stockholm and make a huge splash
on one of the most crowded streets of the town.
That'd at least be noticed. But then again, I know
little about suicide!
Hmm… Nope, I was right, I have no more serious
questions… I think I’ve asked you’ve settled my
curiosity – anything I should’ve asked that I’ve
missed? If not, I wish you all the best with Canopy
and your other bands in the future. And thanks a
lot for taking your time! Up to you to end this
now, thanks and take care.
I'm pretty much happy with these questions asked,
I got the chance to babble around quite a lot. Finally,
as usual, I'd like to point out that all our songs,
plus a music-video, plus an old live-cover-vid are
downloadable @ our website, www.entercanopy.com
So, just take care until next time, and be ready
for our full length release sometimes during late
winter / early spring next year.
Cheers!
Related links:
Facing
Death
Corpulent
Moth
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