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Blindside
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| Interview with the whole band Date 30th of January 1999 Where: Brainwave Festival in Bodegraven, the Netherlands, in a press room during a pressconference Bandmembers: Christian Lindskog (vocalist), Simon Grenehed (guitar, vocalist, saxophone), Tomas Näslund (bassguitarist), Marcus Dahlstrom (drummer) Band's hometown: Stockholm Discography: Blindside (1997), The Empty Box (1998) Contact Address: They're on Day-Glo and Tooth & Nail. Check out Links section for web-addresses Interview by MPO and three other guys. It was kinda press conference setting where each of us could ask questions. A type of setting I personally don't feel okay with. You don't get a good chance to do your 'thing'.
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| At the annual Brainwave I spoke with the members of the Swedish hardcoreband
Blindside. At that time they were on tour with Eso-Charis through Europe. Here's the
article I wrote on the gathered interview-material. The debut-CD of Blindside was recorded in 1997 and released by the Swedish company Day-Glo Records. Last year the band got signed by Tooth & Nail. For the band this didn't change their attitude towards the music. No, states guitarist Simon, it's been the same all the time. Small steps all the time. We don't have any goals. Record-deals or whatsoever. And we still haven't got any goals. We're just grateful for the things we've achieved, adds Marcus. The goals we had from the beginning we're to have fun. And that's still where it is. Because of their deal with the Nail, Blindside is abled to reach more people than before. This doesn't mean the band is going to change things, musically and lyrically. Simon goes on explaining what the band really want: We want to go into the secular market because we reach more people there. We never had any goals to stay underground. Our only goal is to reach as many people as possible and still be abled to play the music we do. Marcus:And still be honest and stay the way we are in our goals and in our art, in our dreams. At the moment Blindside is working on a new album. According to the band it will be heavier then their debut. Simon: The new songs are faster and more aggressive. We might be more like hardcore sounding. But we still have the signing parts and the grooves. We're gonna start recording next week. It's kinda be interesting. Marcus: We don't know how it's gonna sound like, because we don't know how it's gonna be produced. Simon: It will be harder. The heavier stuff will be heavier. This new album is gonna have a really big budget, compared to the other one. We can't afford to jam in the studio. We started rehearsing in October to get all the songs ready, tells Marcus. So we have done new material since then. I think we have most of the stuff ready now. We'll play some of the new songs tonight and try them out. Do you see touring than as a preparation, before you head into the studio? The guitarist states however: Yeah. We actually didn't want to go up on this tour because it's so close to recording. But we saw it as a good experience to try the new songs and see if they fit. Marcus interjects: And I think they did.Simon: We just have to learn them a little better (big laughter from the band) How do you look back then to touring in the States, last year? The guitarist speaks: That was an awesome experience. And we learned a lot from that and we developed very much as a band and got to see a lot new scene. It was something we wanted to do. It was a lot of fun. And the tour with POD? Actually, we're real excited about it because they're such a good guys, really spirit-filled. And really sincere about preaching the gospel. And we learned a lot spiritually. Marcus: Everybody said good stuff about POD, all the promoters. In their homecountry it's hard to breakthrough. Especially in their hometown, Stockholm, there are many bands so it's difficult to come further. Simon: Yeah, it's difficult. Especially in Stockholm. There is such a big musicscene and there is so many bands to choose between. If they hear you're a Christian band they probably say 'no thanks'. I think we're doing pretty good. We just play and have fun. Marcus: It's hard for every band. It's hard to be band. So, what about the rumors that the band want to immigrate to the States? Simon: We have been talking about it. It would be fun to live in the States for a year and tour. Marcus: But it's not for sure. No plans whatsoever. Simon: It's still very loose but it would be fun to try that for a while. We had a great time over there when we toured. And future touring plans? Simon goes on: We actually, we're going on a tour with POD in May and we stay there until Cornerstone and when we get back we want to tour Europe again. Maybe with another band from Tooth & Nail. But we don't have any dates for sure. If we get Cornerstone, we'll stay until Cornerstone. That's not for sure yet. We didn't get invited yet, so, we'll see.
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