...And the Destiny interview continues....
4. What did you do in the seven years long break ?
- About half a year after the release the moral of the band was quite low and the members of Destiny started to look at other projects to do while we looked for a new label. Peter Lundgren (drums) and Zenny started to play with different cover bands. Gunnar Kindberg (guitar) left the band while me and Knut Hassel (guitar) started to write new songs. We all decided that this time we wouldn't sign with a label that wasn't serious about promoting Destiny.
In 1992 we recruited a new guitarist, Bengt Olsson, who stayed with the band 'till 1994. During these years we did a number of gigs in Sweden and demoed the new songs. When Bengt quit we asked Gunnar if he would like to come back to the band as a live guitarist and he agreed. Anyway, when the demo was done we wanted to get a good producer and I had heard about Jorgen Cremonese. After listening to the demo he agreed to produce the album. By this time Peter Lundgren had also left the band to concentrate on his own project. He was "replaced" by Hakan
Svantesson who also plays on the new album. Hakan was however never really an ordinary member of the band. In the summer of 1995 we started to record the album at StudiOmega. When we were done we were really happy with the end result. Unfortunately the metal scene had changed quite a bit these last couple of years. The only kind of bands that got deals was either death metal or Pantera-style bands. Unfortunately Destiny didn't fit into any of those categories. Sure, there were a couple of labels that were interested but we didn't want to sign with any label just to get the record released. So we decided to wait until we actually got a good enough offer and as we were sure that the metal scene would once again turn around and favor our kind of metal we didn't mind to wait. In 1996 Zenny got an offer to sing on the first Treasure Land album and as Destiny wasn't doing anything at the time he said yes. He didn't leave Destiny as some people think, however. Knut Hassel (guitar) also recorded a non-metal album
with Peter Lundgren at the same time. In 1997 things started to change as bands like HammerFall started to sell albums. Destiny started to get offers from some labels and after long negotiations we decided to go with the new label Gothenburg Noise Works. The people behind GNW are the same people that own Black Sun records who have a very good reputation. They are also stationed in Gothenburg, Sweden, where we live. This way we hope to be able to influence what's happening and to make sure that we don't get cheated on our royalties for the fourth time around.
5. Please give us a full insight to your new album "The Undiscovered Country". The recording, the tracks, the concept, the line up on the album and the art- work.
- We actually recorded the album in just two or three weeks. Before that, however, we had recorded the music twice. First way back in 1993 on a small portable studio just to see if the arrangements worked out the way we wanted. After that recording we changed some things around a bit and wrote some new songs before recording the songs once more in 1994. This time we recorded the music live in StudiOmega over just one day. We then brought the recordings to Zenny and he started to write the lyrics. When he was done he recorded his parts in a couple of days. This was the demo that we brought to Jorgen Cremonese when we asked him produce the album. Most of 1994 and the beginning of 1995 we rehearsed the album before entering StudiOmega for the final time to record the album. This way we didn't need to spend a lot of
time in the studio, as everyone knew exactly what to play. We recorded the drums in two days, the bass in one day and the rhythm guitar in one day. After that we recorded some lead vocals and some guitar solos each day for one and half week before we added the special effects and harmony vocals. This was the part where Jorgen really did most of the production work.
I don't remember how long it took to mix the album. The first song is a about a vampire of a sorts and a girl... I wrote the music at home one day when I was very inspired. I wanted to make a song that was kind of a short soundtrack. That is why there are so many different parts in the later half of the song. I told Zenny that it was going to be called "The Devil in the Dark and he took it from there. Somehow he always manages to write the lyrics in a way that one almost could believe that we put music to his words instead of the other way around. This is my favorite song of the album.
Balance Of Terror is about both the complex relations between people as well as between countries. A kick ass straight forward no nonsense song. Knut wrote the music for that song.
A Taste of Armageddon is about a man that all through his life has lacked empathy for the people that got in his way of power. Suddenly at the end of his life he comes to realize what he has done and how little it was worth, and now he longs for his death but he still doesn't want to die without the forgiveness that no one can give him... This is the heaviest song of the album with lots of different parts. Knut wrote the music.
Wink Of An Eye is about a man that can't stop being unfaithful! No matter what he does he loses. He can't stay and he can't stay away. He is miserable in his hunt for love and it only gets worse. This probably is the most progressive song on the album. It features time changes, heavy riffs, melodic refrains and a furious solo. I wrote the music for this song.
Dagger Of The Mind is about a nightmare that won't go away. This is almost a commercial song with an Ozzy-like riff. Once again lots of different parts and styles. Bengt Olsson wrote half of the music for this song. He got stuck after a while so Knut and me wrote the other half as well as the arrangements. It's one of my favorite songs of the album.
By Any Other Way is once again about a man that had an affair. Only this guy regrets it... too bad it's too late... as his woman has already found out about it. He wants to start over but it seems to be too late... This song starts out with two heavy seventies kind of riffs and then changes into a weird part with some crazy bridges before going back to the heavy riffs once again. The song ends with beautiful vocals and harmony guitars. I wrote the music for this song in just one day. Today I really don't understand where I got all those ideas. Some of them I'm very proud of while others seem kind of weird now... oh, well... I still like the song !
Tomorrow's Yesterday is a song about learning from the past. That we must not forget what Hitler, Stalin and other dictators did to innocent people. Somehow it seems like a lot of people no longer understand what happened in those days and that it can easily happen again as we have seen in the Balkan war as well as in other places. The song is a straightforward riff happy song with some catchy hooks and great solos as well as some harmony vocals. The music for
this song came really easy. One day when I was driving down to the rehearsal room I thought of this riff. When I got there I asked Bengt and Hakan to play along with me and after just a couple of minutes I came up with the second riff just as Knut came in. He asked us if it was a new song and said that he had a riff that would fit and after that we just created the solo part and the song was finished in less than fifteen minutes.
The Undiscovered Country is about the negative consequences of using drugs. It has nothing to do with the album title. This is also a very heavy song with lots of different parts, dark voices and time changes. This is the Magnum Opus of the album and Zenny does his best singing ever. Knut wrote most of the music for this one even though I contributed a bit as well. This is also my favorite song of the album.
When we compose we always start with the music and then I listen to the finished result and try to come up with a title that suits the mood of the song before we hand it over to Zenny so that he can write the lyrics. If you read the lyrics and look at the cover you will find quite a few connections. Inside the cover there is a little illustration with different symbols to each song. All the symbols are connected to the songs in some way. Those illustrations are all drawn by Caroline Kratschke, as well as the F.O.S. character behind the CD. Some time in the not too distant future we will explain both the lyric illustrations and the cover on the official Destiny home page. Until then you will have to figure it out for yourself. Destiny are actually four members these days as Gunnar Kindberg just a couple of months ago agreed to become a permanent member of Destiny. This means that Destiny once again will be a twin lead guitar band. Gunnar has actually been a member of Destiny twice before. First time he joined was in 1985 when our original guitarist left. He didn't stay on very long as he got an offer from bassist Magnus Rosén's (now in HammerFall) band at the time, Von Rosen, who where supposed to be going places. That never happened though. He then rejoined Destiny in 1988 when we just had recorded Atomic Winter. Gunnar was the sole guitarist until we started recording Nothing Left To Fear in 1989/1990. During the recording of that album Knut Hassel also joined Destiny but unfortunately he's not playing on the album. After the release of "NLTF" Gunnar decided to quit to concentrate on his family and work. Knut was then the sole guitarist until today. When we played live we either used Bengt Olsson or on some occasions Gunnar, who couldn't quite stay away from the stage all he time. Gunnar and Knut are both very good guitarists and they are equally easy to work and write music with. They have very different styles as you can hear on the two latest Destiny albums. It's going to be very interesting to record an album which features both of them. I'm sure that will bring a full new dimension to the music of Destiny. Another good thing about them is that they are very straightforward people that can take a good argument without being pissed of, as am I. This also means that we are very good friends outside of the band. They don't have very big egos, which also means that they think about the songs before their own pride. All in all they are great people with a lot of talent.
Zenny Gram, who used to be Zenny Hansson before he got married, joined Destiny in 1986. He is the most important person for the sound of Destiny. Before he was in the band we recorded one album, Beyond All Sense, with another singer that didn't sing very well. When Zenny came aboard everything sounded so much more professional. Zenny is a very talented musician who plays most instruments as well as writing excellent lyrics and vocal melodies. I think that he is one of the greatest metal singers in the world. There was a time in 1994 when Zenny left the band that we tried some other singers. One of them was really good and he could sing the old Destiny songs just as wellas Zenny but when it came to the point when he was going to sing the new songs it just didn't sound right. We then played the new songs for Zenny and as he really liked them he agreed to come back. When he had written his parts the songs improved 100 %. Zenny is also a very funny person that always has a good anecdote to tell. He has a very good stage personality, especially when we have a good crowd. I believe that he feeds on the response from the crowd. If we get a good feedback he goes crazy. Even though he is a bit more emotional than the rest of us, he is definitely one of the most pleasant persons to be around. He is also one of my best friends and as I said earlier, one of the most important parts of the Destiny machinery. Without him I don't think that Destiny could continue. It's not easy to talk about myself... I formed Destiny way back in 1982 as I left the Swedish army. It took some years to find the right members but I have always had a clear vision about what Destiny should be about. Destiny was one of the first Metal bands from Sweden to record an album, but that was something that never surprised me. I always knew that we were going to make albums. I was always more surprised when things didn't work out the way I had hoped. Anyway, I guess that I'm pretty stubborn as a person. I never give up when I have set my mind on something and that is probably why Destiny have lasted for such a long time while the members that have left the band to peruse other musical projects never got anywhere. I love to play live and to write new songs and I will probably do this forever or as long as someone will play with me. We also have a new drummer, Bjorn Ohrfeldt. He is not a permanent member of the band as he is still playing with his own band, Pagan. He will play with us live, however, and he will most probably play the drums on the next Destiny album as well. He is the kind of drummer that Destiny always wanted although we didn't realize this until we started to rehearse with him. He has certainly given the songs a new dimension and he is welcome to
join Destiny if he ever changes his mind. As a person he is very funny but he also has a temper that kind of matches mine. That's no problem, though, as we have known each other for more than fifteen years. He actually tried out for us in 1983 but decided to pass at the time...
I have had the idea for this cover since the recording of Nothing Left To Fear. The idea was to have the character from Atomic Winter (who is supposed to be fate or destiny personified) playing chess with "The Executioner" from Nothing Left To Fear. It's almost like a scene from an old Ingmar Bergman movie where a knight plays chess with The Reaper about his life, only this time it's the destiny of mankind playing chess with an Executioner about the fate of our future. The original idea was to have a hovering triangle spreading daylight over the players heads like a spotlight. Inside the light the castle was supposed to be in perfect condition but outside it was supposed to be a ruin in the night. Of course things always change
a bit when the artist is done but we are still very pleased with the outcome. The painting is by Johan Holm who also painted Heavy Loads covers in the early eighties. He has come a long way since then...
6. How would you compare your new album to your earlier releases ?
- I feel that the playing is much better and that also goes for the production. This time we didn't produce the album all by ourselves as we brought in Jorgen Cremonese of Whipped Cream fame to co-produce. He was the perfect choice and for the first time in the history of Destiny there wasn't a full war in the studio while recording. Jorgen really understood exactly what we wanted; we didn't have to argue about anything. The album was recorded in StudiOmega in Bollebygd, Sweden, four miles east of Gothenburg. That way we didn't get a lot of people running in and out of the studio, which also helped. I must also mention our technician, Christian Silver, who also was a big part of the success. He is a drummer and has played with a lot of bands like Cemetery and Sundown. These days he is a producer himself and we may very well use him for the next Destiny album. Another big difference is the drums. This was the first time that we didn't use our original drummer on an album. Instead we used Hakan Svantesson who
was a much tighter drummer than Peter Lundgren ever was. Unfortunately he still wasn't the kind of drummer that Destiny needs so we are still looking for a real good drummer, like Bjorn Ohrfeldt of Pagan. All these things plus the fact that we all have developed as musicians, songwriters and people is what makes The Undiscovered Country our best album so far. That has of course been the case after each new release and I'm sure that some people still might have an older album as their favorite. Personally I like the songs on Nothing Left To Fear just as much as the new songs, but as I said, the production and playing is superior this time. Knut, Zenny and me really jelled and I do believe that together with Gunnar Kindberg and Bjorn Ohrfeldt this is by far the strongest Destiny line up ever.
7. You choose to release your new album on the brand new Gothenburg Noiseworks. This is a division of the brilliant Black Sun Records label, but it is still a new label.... Why did you choose this record label ?
- I have known Rolf Norling, one of the owners, for over twenty years. That was way before he started a label. I know that he is an honest person that never cheats his bands and that he only signs what he likes. When he expressed interest in Destiny I knew the interest was genuine. I also know that they listen to their bands, which means that we get a lot of say in the matters of promotion and so on. GNW had also started collaboration with FOCUSION Promotion & Marketing, that seems to be a very good company. As we got all of our "demands" in the contract and as it's inspiring to be part of a new and coming label it seemed as the right thing for Destiny to sign with GNW. Of course, you never know what the future might have in store for us.
So far we are very pleased with GNW but it seems that the distribution isn't working 100% yet. I guess that is something that can happen when you start a new label. I only hope that it will set itself right real soon. Another thing that they must do is to get Destiny on tour. I believe that's very important in order to sell Metal plus the fact that we are all very eager to finally tour Europe, well the entire world actually.
8. Which bands or piece of art/literature has inspired your new album and Destiny most ?
- I don't think you can say that anything in particular inspired us but I do like all styles of music as long as it moves me. If we are talking about heavy rock then some of my favorite bands are: Black Sabbath, Budgie, Savatage, Megadeth, Metal Church and Rush. As far as songwriting goes I'm very impressed by Jon Oliva, Tony Iommi and of course Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson but any band that puts out a good song can and probably will influence me.
As far as bass playing is concerned I love Geddy Lee, Geezer Butler, Chris Squier of Yes and a Swedish musician, Ez Gomér, from band called Jet Circus. They have one album out on Epic records called Step On It and they have also recorded a new album, which is waiting to be released. He is an amazing bass player and a good friend of mine. I don't listen that much to new bands. It's not that I'm not interested but I hardly ever get the opportunity to do it. One band that I'm extremely impressed with is In Flames. I think that Whoracle is the best album of 1987! I
also like the first Treasure Land album, Questions and Evergrey's The Dark Discovery !
9. What are your political, religious and philosophical views ?
- My political views are my own.
Personally, I'm an atheist. Of course, this doesn't mean that I condemn anybody for being religious. I only condemn people that use religion, any religion, in a fundamentalistic way to gain power over ordinary people like you and me. This is something that we covered in the song Religion from Atomic Winter.
About my philosophical views... I really don't know... Be honest and seize the day, I guess...
10. What are the positive and the negative sides with running a band fromSweden ?
- In the eighties there where tons of bad sides. The Swedish media didn't take any metal bands seriously. The audience only liked foreign bands. There were no places to play. We were not part of the EU so it was a big hassle to play in Europe and so on... Today Swedish music has a very good reputation all over the world and the audience here likes Swedish bands now as well as international bands. The media still doesn't care for metal though. I guess that the best thing today would be that Swedish metal bands are well received in most places of the world.
11. What are your plans for the coming months and year ? Any tour plans ?
- We will start to record the next album in the beginning of 1999 if everything goes as planned, aiming for a September release. I'm actually working on the new songs at this very moment. I guess that as we have just added Gunnar to the line up we will get some harmony guitars on the next album. Destiny actually started out as a twin lead guitar band but we never used the harmony as much as we originally planned. We also hope that we will be able to release the three first albums again. It will be either re-mastered versions or perhaps we will rerecord the albums altogether... you will have to wait and see... I believe that a heavy grove will be more important on our coming releases, but without sacrificing the Destiny style and sound. Of course we always plan to change a bit with each album so that we won't repeat ourselves, there will have to be progress to assure motivation to continue as a band. No tours are planned yet but I know that GNW is working on it. Hopefully we will be able to tour a lot more
in the future.
12. Do you have a merchandise list ? From what address can the band be contacted ?
Stefan: At the moment we only have a few T-shirts from Nothing Left To Fear but I know that there will be long sleeve T-shirts from The Undiscovered Country for sale pretty soon. Probably posters as well. When they will be available you will find all information about it on
The Official Destiny Internet Home Page
We wish Destiny good luck in the coming months and years. Their brilliant CD can be ordered directly from a good mail-order distributor or directly from Black Sun Records.