Mayhem Music Network Interviews The Soul Exchange!!
Photo Credit to Kamil Janowski (Kjanowski Photography): http://www.kjanowski.com/
Happy Summer Mayhem! Let’s start out the summer with an interview with one wicked awesome band! For those not familiar with them, this will be a great introduction to them. They released their debut album “Bloodbound” in 2016/2017. After the success of that album, they began work on an amazing EP released on December 8, 2017, “The Vow of Seth.” They followed that up with their new full length album, “Edge of Sanity,” released June 15, 2018. It is a blend of 80’s rock and contemporary metal. If you haven’t check out their work, you’re missing out on something truly special! So I suggest you do! In the meantime, here’s an interview between myself and guitarist Hans von Bell and vocalist Daniel John. Enjoy!
Edge of Sanity was released on June 15, 2018. Congratulations guys it’s an amazing album! Can you tell us about how this album came together for you? Did you have a specific theme, or inspiration that drove the formation of these songs?
Hans: “Thank you very much, much appreciated!We started pre-production and wrote all the songs for the album during Sept-Oct last year, and we commenced recording around Christmas time through to March this year, as our record label wanted to have a follow up to our debut album, “Bloodbound” before the summer. We had already agreed we wanted to make our hardest and darkest record to date, having this in mind when we wrote the music and lyrics. Daniel came up with the theme around insanity and evil in various forms, although it is not a concept album per say but still, all the tracks have a common theme around those subjects.”
2. According to the Pride & Joy website https://www.prideandjoy.de/, The Soul Exchange’s debut album was written primarily by Hans von Bell, Thomas, von Bell and lyricist Jens Joel Evaldsson, the new album, Edge of Sanity, put Daniel John in the driver’s seat as the sole lyricist. Why was the switch made? Did you, as band members, hear a difference in the new album versus its predecessor with Daniel as the lyricist?
Hans:“When we recorded the predecessor “Bloodbound” I and Thomas had written all the songs on the album before the band was even formed. I began collaborating with Jens Joel Evaldsson already in 2013 when writing tracks for what eventually became my solo album. When writing “Bloodbound,” we just continued this collaboration as our joint efforts had been very fruitful writing the solo album. However, when we commenced recording the EP “Vow Of Seth” in 2017, Daniel felt that he could express himself as a vocalist and identify with the lyrics better if he wrote it himself, and I was all for this as well. Yes, there is definitely a difference between Jens’ and Daniels’ lyrics. While Jens takes his inspiration from the vast forest and mountainous area in northern Sweden, his lyrics are more like a novel, dark and sometimes violent. Whereas Daniel is very interested in the human psyche as well as historical events (Ancient Egypt in particular), and thus more metaphorical in comparison.”
Daniel: “For me, to be able to convey the abstract imagery to the listener, I have to know and be sure of what’s really happening in the song, what the premises are and what the narrating character feels or are going through as the lyrics are presented. If it comes from me, I know all the exact details from the start.”
3. Daniel and Hans, was there a specific song or songs that you found to be favorites on the new album? Any song in particular more of a challenge?
Hans: “Well, difficult question, as I have a relation to every song that I took part in writing in one way or the other. It also depends on what kind of mood you’re in, and thus favorites may vary from time to time. In my opinion there are no fillers on the album, each track contributing to the entirety,but I like “Stealing My Mind”, “Master”, “Right Here” and “End Of The Road” very much. “My Reflection” and “Mountain” are very good too, lyrically in particular. I don’t have the same emotional relation to e.g. “Quest For Life” and “The Passing” as I wasn’t part of writing those songs, but they are still good and have earned their place on the album. If you ask Thomas, he would probably have those two songs as favorites! (laugh) The album needed a real up tempo rocker such as “Quest For Life” as most songs are slow or mid-tempo tracks, and it works really well in a live situation too.”
4. Because the band tends to lean toward 70’s and 80’s guitar driven rock, your music is appealing to those that grew up in those decades. How did you made this album more appealing to younger generations?
Hans: “Even though we have taken inspiration from the music of the 70’s and the 80’s, we have equally been inspired by a lot of contemporary artists. If you listen to e.g. the drum sound, it doesn’t sound anything like the 80’s but very much 2018. What refers to the 80’s is the grand choruses with a lot of vocal harmonies, not many contemporary metal bands use this to any extent these days. Thus, we hope that this will set us apart from most other bands of today, but still appeal to a younger audience as we have a contemporary metal sound with some 80’s references.”
5. Daniel, it is mentioned on the band’s website in your biography section, that you are “autodidact,” or “self-taught” with regard to music. I am always interested when I hear an artist say this, and it always leads to me to asking for elaboration or clarification. Did you play instruments and sing “by ear?” Did you rely on books to help you read music? Your singing style involves a lot of melismas. It’s very beautiful! Is it a style that you were just drawn to?
Daniel: “Well, it all started in school for me. At first everyone was required to play the recorder, so of course that was my first instrument. Then I went on to play the trumpet for 8 years, I think, but then I got braces so no more mouthpiece instruments for me.”
“Then after quitting school, I began as a backup singer in a band and around that time I also picked up the acoustic guitar. It became obvious to me that I could harmonize naturally.I didn’t have to think about what melody to use to reach a certain harmony, or set a certain mood in a song.”
“Almost the same thing happened when I started to learn the guitar. I borrowed an instrument from my best friend and basically just sat in my living room, picking note by note on each string ‘til I got it to sound as I wanted it to. After that my interest as to why chords sound like they do, why they seem to lead the ear in a certain direction and how the melodies of a song can change the perception of a chord or vice versa, started to arise.I borrowed some books (Yes this was long before the internet,)and just read, studied and tried to learn some of the musical terms since I understood there was an universal language between musicians. And in order to participate, I had to learn that language.”
“Regarding my melismatic singing, it just comes with the expression of this type of music.When I was doing singer/songwriter stuff, I didn’t sound like this at all. Of course, I didn’t use any guttural compression techniques and voice distortion as I do now, which also was something I’ve done by trial and error. But coming from that kind of singing provided me with a good foundation to stand on during my vocal development.”
6. Hans, I hear a very solid 80’s sound to this album, the guitar riffs, the production, the harmonies in the chorus’ and verses. I hear the influence of Metallica (“Quest for Life,”) Behemoth, Anthrax, and perhaps Def Leppard, etc. Was that the intention when writing music for the instruments, was to give it more of an 80’s sound?
Hans: “As I mentioned earlier, I am inspired by a lot of artists from the 70’s and also the 80’s, and these influences will of course shine through in the music that I write. We are two guitarists in the band with quite different playing styles and guitar sound, I am more of an old school guitarist, whereas Thomas use a down tuned 7-string guitar a lot and brings a contemporary sound to the mix. I think the combination of the two of us works well, that gives the band a certain sound that combines both worlds.”
Album Artwork Credit to Eric Philippe
7. The imagery for the band is very interesting. I especially like the symbolism in the artwork for The Edge of Sanity album. The birdcage represents a form of imprisonment. The eye, “window to the soul”; the twin snakes ready to swallow the eye…the snakes in general represent ancient wisdom, life and change. The lyrics and music are dark. By the snakes swallowing the eye, it would represent the soul no longer being visible. Perhaps the soul plunging into darkness. What is the meaning behind this artwork for the band?
Hans: “Yes, you are right there’s a lot of symbolism in the cover artwork and there are many ways to interpret what the eye, snakes etc., represent. Your analysis gives an interesting angle to the symbolism.I think the artist Eric Philippe is quite successful in capturing the essence of the lyrical content of the album in his artwork, with the deep blue color and the black hole in the background reflecting the darkness of the music. My interpretation would be that the pendant inside the cage is symbolizing a trapped soul, with the venom from the snakes poisoning it.But it is really up to your own imagination how you would interpret the artwork, yours is as good as mine.That’s what makes it interesting, to leave a little mystery and not be too obvious.”
Daniel: “I think Eric Philippe captured the feeling of being trapped in darkness in a very good way. And that is also a good way to describe some types of mental illness.”
8. The last song on the album is a cover of Pink’s “Try.” Does thing song perhaps leave the door open for another chapter that may be more like approaching the light at the end of the tunnel? Perhaps leaving the darkness behind?
Hans: “The Pink cover was actually recorded during the recording sessions for the “Vow Of Seth” EP, back in the summer of 2017, just for fun.We wanted to see what we could make of a song like this, that is far from our genre of music. At first,we didn’t really know what to do with the finished song? One idea was to release it as a stand alone single, but then our record label wanted it on the album.I think it is kind of a nice touch to end the album with something lighter than all the heavy and dark tunes that otherwise fills the 52 minutes playing time. I think on the next album we will be adding some lighter/happier tunes as well, for the sake of diversity. With “Edge Of Sanity” we wanted to make a really heavy and dark album, next time it will be something different, without losing the Soul Exchange sound.”
Daniel: “This song was also an excellent opportunity for me to experiment with the mix of two different singing styles.”
9. There was a lyric video for “Right Here,” release recently. I have to admit I was a bit confused by it. Can you explain the concept of that video?
Hans: “Well, you should not over analyze it. Our record label wanted a video that could go with the release of the track as a single prior to the album release,and as we didn’t have the time to shoot a proper music video, we opted for a lyric video instead. As the song doesn’t have a story per say but is rather looking at the state of mankind today, the idea was to have this astronaut taking you for a ride looking down at Earth and mankind from above. That is all there is to it really. We will release a proper music video to the track “Stealing My Mind” shortly, using footage from our recent headline show in Stockholm that was filmed professionally.We haven’t done a live video before but shot the band scenes to the other videos in a studio (and a castle “Vow Of Seth”) with actors and stuff.Thus, we thought using live footage this time would be cool for a change, showing the band in a real live situation and not to repeat ourselves.”
10. What are the touring plans for the group for the remainder of 2018?
Hans: “We did a major headline gig in Stockholm about a week ago. Unfortunately, we had to turn down an offer to do a ten date tour of Europe as a support act this summer, due to other commitments at the same time. We certainly hope this won’t be the only offer of this kind we’ll get, though. We are currently discussing some live dates with promoters in Scotland and France in September/October, as well as we hope to play a few festivals in the fall. I am hopeful a tour as support act will come to fruition in the near future, but nothing put on paper as of yet. We’d love to come to the U.S. to play, and it looks it may happen in 2019, but requires a lot of planning, work visas, etc, etc.”
Thank you guys for the interview! And for the readers, I hope you enjoyed the interview. Please give their music a listen. It truly is incredible. See their links below and have a great summer everyone!
The Soul Exchange Links:
Website: - http://www.soulexchangeofficial.com/
Label - https://www.prideandjoy.de/index.php/artists/11-artists/176-the-soul-exchange
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/soulexchangeofficial/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/soulexchange1
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thesoulexchangeofficial/
Spotify - spotify:artist:3cY2uy5XtEeomZ5DZYOhmc
iTunes - The Soul Exchange
Mayhem’s Links
Website - http://mmnrockandmetal.wixsite.com/mayhemofficial
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/MayhemMusicNetwork/
Twitter- https://twitter.com/mmnrockandmetal
tumblr- http://mayhemmusicnetwork.tumblr.com/