Interview by Mark Lacey
Formed in 2019, Prehistoric Animals have already released four albums, and are building a formidable reputation for their own brand of modern progressive rock. Their latest recording is another thought-provoking concept album, bringing together a series of twisted characters who find love in strange places. Conceptually you’ll unlikely find yourself in these situations, other than in your wildest dreams.
‘It’s obscure. It’s love stories, but in the context of a dystopian sci-fi world where there’s evil lurking behind. I think you can find love everywhere. Even in dark times, there is love, and that love also is a very strong power’.
MGM: How would you describe Prehistoric Animals’ sound to someone coming to it for the first time?
Daniel: It’s always very hard to describe your own sound, but I would say it’s very melodic with progressive elements. We have a lot of influences like early Rush, Yes, and Genesis, and even Black Sabbath and Kiss. But we try to have a modern sound, and we always care about the melodies. We don’t try to complicate things more than we need to. It’s always about the song.
MGM: You and your bandmates are spread across Sweden. What’s the music scene like in your country right now?
Daniel: There are a lot of great musicians here. Sweden has a lot of great bands, like Pain of Salvation, Opeth, Flower Kings, and of course, we’ve had ABBA and Europe. Whilst here are lots of great bands and musicians, the live scene is not that good. It’s hard to get the audiences to pay to see bands. You have a great scene for bigger bands, but for niche music, like progressive rock, the opportunities are not as good.
MGM: Your own background began with Pain of Salvation, but how did you come to join Prehistoric Animals? Samuel Granath and Stefan Altzar had already been playing together for some time before you joined.
Daniel: Samuel and Stefan were the founding members. They have known each other for a long time and played together for a long time. In the beginning Samuel sent Stefan some songs and asked him to record some guitars and vocals. They had no plan, other than just to make music. They had enough songs for an album, but they didn’t have a band. I first met Stefan when I was playing with a local band in someone’s garden, and he was there, too. At the soundcheck, I played the riff to ‘It’s Love’ by Kings X, and afterwards, Stefan came and said, it’s not often you hear Kings X in these places. That was our connection, so when they were about to start the band, he called me and asked if I would join.
MGM: What was the vision for the band in those early stages? Was it just about Stefan and Samuel realising their music on a live stage, or did it become something different after you joined?
Daniel: I don’t think there really was a vision for how Prehistoric Animals was supposed to sound. It all started with them just making music; they didn’t have any plans for it. But that’s how we make music. We don’t have really a plan of how it’s supposed to sound. When we’re writing, we send files back and forth to each other, and the sound develops as we are making the songs. In a way, the sound changed when I joined because I brought my influences into the band. But I always think the foundation of the band is like a red thread through the music. You can recognise Prehistoric Animals.
MGM: For a band that have been together just a few years, you’ve already recorded four albums. Every one feels like a different musical journey. How do you think the sound has changed since your debut in 2019?
Daniel: The new album ‘Finding love in strange places’ has a raw sound; maybe a bit heavier in parts. We also tried to stretch some things, for example, the first song has quite an ambient feel with a lot of sounds. We tried not to be afraid to stretch the time. You don’t have to keep it just four beats, and then go to next part. We can let it be a bit longer.
MGM: Your second album, ‘Magical Mystery Machine part one’ really captured people’s attention. The first song ‘Floodgate’ is complex, and multi layered, with great texture, amplified by a polyrhythmic feel. It’s quite unworldly. That album was the first of two albums that followed the fate of two characters; Cora and Jarrett. Was it always designed to be a two-part story?
Daniel: Yes, I think so. As part one developed, we felt that we wanted to do a follow-up because we liked the story and the characters, and we wanted them to live a bit longer. It’s a sci-fi story where these two characters are supposed to save the world by gathering the different pieces of humanity. The story across both albums is not linear. It’s not from A to B. It’s fragments of the story. In chapter 2, you get in the middle where they get into trouble in their relationship, and they start having doubts about what they are doing. It’s basically a sci-fi story, but also a criticism of society and how society works. We tried to have a feminist approach with a strong female character. That’s also a criticism of society. The new album is also a sci-fi story. That could also be one of the basics of Prehistoric Animals.
MGM: You and the band are Swedish, but your music is written in English. Does that come naturally to you?
Daniel: I grew up just listening to bands singing in English. My first heroes were Kiss. I had two big brothers, and as soon as I saw the Kiss albums, I was hooked. From an early age, I just listened to Kiss. In a way, we are so used to hearing music in English, so it feels natural. I would probably find it more difficult to write a song in Swedish.
MGM: The new album follows another very obscure concept; finding love in strange places. This is far from a series of fluffy love stories though, and it’s quite dark in places. One song features a story about a country girl meeting a cyber soldier. Another song is about an employee who’s about to shoot everybody in their workplace, but finds love and changes his mind. Unusual and curious topics. How did you come up with the concept for this album?
Daniel: When Stefan turned 50, I bought him a book called ‘New Romancer’ by William Gibson. Both of us like Sci-Fi, and that’s a book I wanted to read, so I bought it for him. I know some inspiration for the album comes from that book. When Stefan starts writing, he doesn’t really have a plan for what the story will be like. He starts to sing, and through that the story develops. But, it’s obscure. It’s love stories, but in the context of a dystopian sci-fi world where there’s evil lurking behind. In ‘Magical mystery machine’, there were heroes, whereas in ‘Number 4’ the character just wants to blow everything up. I think you can find love everywhere. Even in dark times, there is love, and that love also is a very strong power. That’s one of the underlying messages.
MGM: There’s not much record of Prehistoric Animals performing live. There were some shows in 2019. Obviously, everything closed during COVID, 2020-21. But you’ve only played a few shows since then, including the Prog Dreams event in the Netherlands. Is this a band able to be a live entity, or is it more of a studio project?
Daniel: Well, we would love to play live a lot more. COVID really messed things up because we had released the first album, and then we released ‘Magical Mystery Machine Chapter One’, and we thought, now we’re going out. And then the pandemic came and shut everything down. Things are not back to normal yet, and a lot of venues are afraid of booking. It’s been really tough. We hope that we can get out a lot more because I think we are a really good live band, and it’s really fun to play live and meet the audience.
MGM: What’s next on the horizon for Prehistoric Animals?
Daniel: Our current album came out on 16th of May. The plan is hopefully to be able to come out and play some of the songs live. After that the plan is to release another album quite soon, because we already have half the next album more or less done. We were initially thinking about releasing a double album, but that can be quite expensive, so we realised that it’s probably better to release two albums. That’s the plan right now.
The new album ‘Finding Love in Strange Places’ is out now.
For more information:
https://prehistoricanimalsmusic.com/
https://prehistoricanimals.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/PrehistoricAnimalsMusic/
About Author
