Interview With Greybeards
Interview With Greybeards
Hi everyone! Welcome to another (slightly different) EMQs interview with Swedish Alt Rock band, Greybeards. Huge thanks to them for taking part.
Can you tell us a little bit about your musical history?
We are and have always been I (Olle), Niklas, Ingemar and Simon and we’re childhood friends more or less! Me and Simon formed our first band in our early teens and then the universe (or our choice of highschool) got us together as a quartet. The first song we played together was ”Hate To Say I Told You So” by The Hives and then we dug into Foo Fighters. We studied Jazz, but maybe the fact that the 4 of us preferred Rock and Roll got us playing together.
What Country / Region are you from and what is the Rock scene like there?
We hail from Gävle, Sweden! A medium sized coastal city 2 hours from Stockholm. The music scene in Gävle has always been great actually. The area code is ”026”, and 026 is recognised in Sweden as the prime hardcore-scene.
What inspired “Out Of The Red” lyrically?
Well the lyrics stretch from the dark and political to absolute baby-simple love mumbling. So it covers life in general. I take great pride in the lyrics, I think they’re great.
The artwork for the singles and EP is striking. What inspired these pieces?
Nothing in particular really, it’s ‘just’ a piece of art created by my sister Gabriella (@evil_colour) with some prompts from us. But thank you so much, we love them as well!
Are there any albums you looked to that inspired you sonically, in terms of guitar tones or drum sounds on this record?
“Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace” was definitely a foundation for the sound. Going forward from that we just tried to make it sound as huge and professional as possible but recorded it mainly DIY. Massive cred to Henrik who engineered the drum recording and mixed the EP, he’s incredibly talented.
Who have been your greatest influences?
It’s spread wide throughout the band, but Foo Fighters have always been our collective heroes.
What first got you into music?
I saw a commercial for the Iron Maiden best-of album ”Edward the Great” when I was like 6 years old. They played ”Can I Play With Madness” during the commercial and I was hooked immediately. Luckily my dad had ”Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” on CD so we spun it every night for months.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
I think Normandie is one of if not the best Swedish act right now. I’ve been following their singer and producer Philip for a long time and would love to have him mix or produce our next album.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
Rock in Rio! That’s been a dream to me ever since that Iron Maiden DVD from 2001. Hell, maybe sending them an email wouldn’t hurt haha.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Spread the ‘Holy Ghosts’ video! I’m super proud of how that turned out so it deserves millions of views!
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
I think it’s in a pretty healthy place. I feel there’s a positive vibe in the industry. AI is obviously a threat. But hey, the whole concept of a computer creating music for humans is pretty lame anyway. I think humans want music created by humans.
Something else that comes to mind is that I think merch is way too expensive at major concerts. Like €80 for a Metallica t-shirt that’s crazy.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Architects – “All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us”.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CDs or Downloads?
Spotify! But we’re aiming to print a batch of vinyls and you’ll be able to buy them from our web store!
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
Headlining Dingu Mountain Music Festival in China in 2016. We got escorted out by the Police because there were too many people wanting to meet us afterwards.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
Well the most rock and roll thing about myself is that I drive 2500 tonne freight trains for a living. So I’d continue doing that.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
I think The Beatles with George Martin would make a decent company.
What’s next for you?
We’re hosting a release-party on the 8th of March in our hometown, that’s gonna be epic. My sister’s band “Vildvittra” are opening act.
What social media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
https://youtube.com/greybeardsband
https://tiktok.com/@greybeardsband026
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Thank you!
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