Interviewed by Mark Dean (Journalist/Writer/Contributor) Myglobalmind Webzine
I had the opportunity to catch up with singer Erik and Drummer Crash from the Swedish band Heat at Download Festival recently following their set.
Mgm: “How did it go today?”
Erik: “It was good, I mean it was short because we only had 25 minutes. We had fun-its always fun. We just wanted to play longer…”
Mgm: “Yes I expected a longer set myself – you are an established band with several albums under your belt and a good profile in the UK.”
Erik: “Yeah exactly. You want to play something from each album, but yeah… We only had 25 minutes.”
Mgm: “What other bands are you hoping to catch at the festival today?”
Erik: “I want to see “In Flames”, “Lamb of God”…”
Mgm: “That is surprising, given that your bands style of music is considerably different to that played by those artists.”
Erik: “Yeah I know but I think that I am more into metal music like Pantera, In Flames and I like Slayer, and Metallica. I am a Metalhead but I also like the melodic stuff and that is what I like to sing.”
Mgm: “Since you started playing music professionally you have toured with many legendary acts; Alice Cooper, The Scorpions amongst others. Have they passed on any professional advice or guidance that you have used?”
Erik: “Not really, it is just like you get up on stage, do your thing and get the fuck out.”
Mgm: “What prompted the decision to cover: “Shes like the wind” (cheesy 80’s track from the hit movie Dirty Dancing)?”
Erik: “That was just like a studio thing.It was just weird, I mean well it was actually our producer… We had one day off because we had recorded everything and he said “Lets just try to record a cover”. Either do this song or… I don’t remember the other song. We were like “Ok, lets do “Shes like the wind”” and try it because I mean its a good song. It just happened in the studio,its live recorded and the record label wanted to release it so…”
: “The band have had several releases in a short period of time, new album EP etc.. Are the band on a particularly strong creative roll at the present time.Are you constantly writing?”
Erik: “I think so; yeah I guess we get a lot of creativity by playing live. It is like when you are on tour and when you are playing live you wanna be in the studio. You get creative and you want to constantly improve and get better, better and better. Climb the ladder.”
Mgm: “Do you write on the road?”
Erik: “Sometimes but you mostly focus on the live shows on the road.”
Mgm: “Outside music, what do you like to do in your spare time? What Interests and hobbies do you have?”
Erik: “Well I like boxing a lot, and I also have my own beer label in Sweden so its selling in Sweden. So I like beer and I like boxing.”
Mgm: “You will be able to sell the beer as an alternative and different item on your merch stalls when touring then?”
Erik: “Yeah exactly, not in the UK though. I think we sent some samples to Finland but not in the UK, yet. I have got some with me actually….somewhere…”
Mgm: “When playing a festival, and as you said earlier with such a short set. How do you structure what songs to play?”
Erik: “I mean we did the set-list about 20minutes before the show. You basically take the good parts,I mean we thought that the singles, the ones that we have a video to would be good songs to play. We focused on that and just to give a lot of power.”
Mgm: “What would be your favourite festival food and drink? You touched on your interest in beer earlier.”
Erik: “Oh… Yeah I mean beer. I like different IPA’s (India Pale Ales). Favourite food it must be…kebab(laughs)”
Mgm: “What are the particular highs and lows that you have experienced being a professional musician?”
Erik: “Oh… tough one, I guess its just being away a lot from home. I mean it is fun to travel but sometimes you get kind of fed up with it. It is always fun to be on stage that is where you get energy and the feedback and that’s where you want to be.”
Mgm: “What prompted the decision to do the live album in London?”
Erik: “It kind of just happened, we were on tour with the “Tearing down the walls”album and we just thought that maybe we should record a few shows and see how it sounds. Then the record label really liked the London show ”
Mgm: “The band do seem to have a particular affinity with the UK.”
Erik: “Yeah that is why we started to record the shows because we knew that the shows would be good because we do have a good connection with the UK, like you said.Then it was like”we should release this”… OK cool.”
Mgm: “Just a few to finish then. What is next for the band after the festival season ends?”
Erik: “We are going to keep recording new songs. Focus on the songwriting, we are going to take our time and yeah we are not in a hurry to release a new album…”
Mgm: “As I said you have already recently had several releases…”
Erik: “Exactly, if it takes a year or two that doesn’t matter we just want to focus on giving the people good music.”
Mgm: “A final question if you could swap roles with myself and actually be the interviewer, who would you like to interview?”
Erik: “Wow… Bill Gates. I am really interested in business and I would just like to ask him how he built up his business and it would just be interesting to hear his story.”
Mgm: “That is great Erik, cheers and thanks for chatting. Enjoy the rest of the festival today.”
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