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Hi,
first off I just want to congratulate you on your new album. To
new fans could your please fill us in on the history behind it
all?
Chrille -
Thank you! SUPREME
MAJESTY started out in 1999. The founding members were me (Chrille
Andersson), Rille Svensson and Bartek Nalezinski. Bass player
Daniel Andersson was recruited and shortly afterwards vocalist
Rikard Larsson. We released our first songs in 1999, it was only a
MCD (4 tracks including the original version of "Die In A
Dream, which now can be found on "Elements of Creation“ in
a new version). After this release, the band went through a number
of line-up changes. Joakim Olsson (vocals) and Jocke Unger (drums)
were recruited to the band and 2001 we released our first
full-length CD "Tales Of A
Tragic
Kingdom
“ on Massacre Records. It took until summer of 2003 to get into
the studio again to record the tracks for our next album "Danger“.
The album was in the same vein as its predecessor and received
great critics in the media. In late 2003 our current lead guitar
player Tobias Wernersson was recruited to the band. As a
consequence, I took the position of the keyboard player, a
position I had somewhat been doing all along, since I was the one
putting the keyboards on the previous albums. I strongly felt,
that this was the right path for me. During 2004 we worked
intensely with songs for the third strike. In summer Jocke Unger
decided to leave the band and current drummer Johan Rydberg took
his place. The third album "Elements Of Creation“ was
recorded in October-November 2004 and has now been released!
How
has your new album been received by the media?
Chrille
-
Overall
very positive, this feels great! We have received a lot of
important reviews and interviews, that is needed to make the
ground for a “successful” album.
I
know artists are not happy to categorize their music, but how
would you describe your music to an outsider?
Chrille
-
Like
you say, it’s kind of hard to, but perhaps “Scandinavian
Melodic Power/Heavy Metal with plenty of 80’s influences”
could fit our description pretty well.
Where does your inspiration come from, both musically and
lyrically?
Chrille
-
I
guess inspiration can come from all kinds of sources, yourself,
things you see, read, hear or listen to and so on… Most of the
SUPREME MAJESTY lyrics are written by bass player Daniel Andersson
and some by guitarist Tobias Wernersson. The music is for the most
parts contributed by me, Daniel Andersson and Tobias Wernersson.
Some bands that really inspires me are among others
EUROPE
, WHITESNAKE, old BON JOVI, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN but also “new”
acts like SONATA ARCTICA and NIGHTWISH. There’s a lot of great
music out there ...
What
topics do you deal with in your lyrics and why?
Chrille
-
Well,
I’m not the one writing the lyrics, but from what I know the
lyrics are written from either personal experience or as a tale of
some sort.
Who
has produced and mixed the album, and are you pleased with the end
result?
Chrille
-
We
worked a bit different this time compared to the other albums,
both of them were recorded and mixed at Studio Fredman. This time
we entered a studio, close to were we live, called JFK Studio.
After that we waited about one month before we mixed the album in
one week at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg. The album was produced
by us, but Fredrik Nordström (Studio Fredman) made the last
touches on the album. We are very satisfied the production and
it’s possible, that we will work like this again.
Who
has done the artwork? And how important do you feel it is to have
a great cover?
Chrille
-
We
used Niklas Sundin for both the “Tales Of A
Tragic
Kingdom
” and “Danger” artwork and he did an amazing job! But on
this one I felt like, I wanted to do it myself since I had worked
quite a while with this and have made artwork and layouts for
SKYFIRE, AXENSTAR, GHOST MACHINERY, EXCALION, IMPERIAL DOMAIN
among others. I love art - it’s my passion and to be able to
practice it on metal-acts is just awesome! I
think it’s very important to have an artwork, that represents
both the band and the album. This is the first thing, that catches
your eye in the record store before you decide to listen to it ...
Do
you have any touring plans?
Chrille
-
Not
yet but we
will contact some booking agencies now and hopefully get a deal
signed in a couple of months so we can get on some tours. That
would be truly great! Hopefully there will be some festival-gigs
this summer as well.
How
do you feel about the co-operation with your label, and are you
satisfied?
Chrille
-
Yeh,
we are overall satisfied with our label. But some more tour-offers
would be great ...
The
internet is a very important source for many music fans - how do
you use the internet and how important is it for you and other
bands?
Chrille
-
Yeh
it is. We use it as much as possible. For example, when we
recorded “Danger” we put a studio diary on or website. This
way the fans could follow the process of the recording and also
see exclusive photos. We did the same thing with “Elements Of
Creation”, but this time we added some video clips as well. I
think internet is great for these kinds of things. To be able to
reach the fans and offer a bit “more”. We also have all our
lyrics, pictures and so on included on the website.
How
do you see the metal scene at the moment?
Chrille
-
It’s
growing stronger I think. The genre is on its way up again, which
is great!
To
finish things off - could you pls. make a all-time Top 5 or sort
of the 5 most important albums in your opinion?
Chrille
-
These
are awesome albums, released by the best bands ever! Thanks
for the interview!
For
more info about Supreme Majesty, visit www.supreme-majesty.com
ROCK
ON
!
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