Graveyard – Interview Exclusive

Written by Jim Rowland
Tuesday, 17 May 2011 05:00

Sweden has certainly given us some great rock music over the last decade or so, and over the last six months one band in particular has put the country firmly back on the map here at URHQ.  That band is Gothenburg’s finest seventies groove masters, Graveyard.  Formed back in 2006, the band’s line up consisted at the time of Joakim Nilsson (guitars/vocals), Rikard Edlund (drums), Axel Sjöberg (bass), and Truls Mörck (guitars/vocals).  That line up went on to record and release the band’s ‘Eponymous’ 2007 album worldwide via TeePee Records. Truis left the band soon after the album was recorded and was quickly replaced by Jonatan Ramm giving us the Graveyard line up we know and love today.

In early 2011 promo copies of Graveyard’s second album ‘Hisingen Blues’ started to circulate through the media, and all of a sudden a buzz began to happen quite like no other surrounding a classic rock band.  Nuclear Blast was quick to pick up on this, signing the band to and subsequently releasing the album to worldwide critical acclaim.

Here at URHQ it was Jim Rowland who first put Graveyard on our stereo, so we felt it only right that Jim should be the one to catch up with Joakim, Jonatan, Rickard and Axel for a long overdue chat when the band played their recent Borderline show in London. 

Hey guys thanks for taking the time to chat with Uber Rock lets start with the here and now, you have a new album out – ‘Hisingen Blues’- tell me what that means. Is Hisingen a place?

Joakim: Hisingen is an island, which is a part of Gothenburg. It’s the fourth biggest island in Sweden.

Axel: It’s an integral part of Gothenburg.

So what made you write the song ‘Hisingen Blues’?

Rikard: Well I lived there for a while, and I wrote it while I was living there. I didn’t have the best of periods while I was there so that is what the song is about.

It’s quite a dark song

Rikard: Yes. It was quite a dark period.

Are you pleased with the album?

Jonatan: Yes, otherwise we wouldn’t have released it

How do you think it compares to your previous album, do you think there is a progression there?

Axel: It’s obvious that there is a progression there as we recorded the first album after we had been a band for about three months and this album has been recorded after a lot of touring and getting to know each other more musically, and also we had a better budget. I’m not saying the first album is bad in any way, but hopefully the more you play the better you get and hopefully you can tell that by listening to the album.

Joakim: It’s better to have somebody else say what they think of the album because we don’t think about it too much. We try to write as good a song as we can. That’s the main thing we do.

Axel: One big thing we have on this album is that we have a new guitarist on this one. With a four piece band, if you change one guy it’s going to sound different.

Rikard: Jonatan writes a lot of songs as well and comes up with a lot of riffs so of course that’s one thing that will make this album sound different to the last one.

Axel: When I think of Graveyard, I never think that Jonatan was never a part of this band. The previous guitarist, Truls, obviously recorded the first album and wrote the songs, but he was in the band for such a short while compared to how long Jonatan has been in the band. Obviously it makes a difference in song writing but to me it feels like Jonatan has always been a part of Graveyard.

This album is on Nuclear Blast, who you have signed to. What impact have Nuclear Blast had on you and what have they done for you?

Joakim: They’ve done a really good job promoting this album. It’s gone from no promotion to a lot of promotion so it’s a really big difference.

Axel: The previous Swedish label had limited resources, but Tee Pee did a good job in North America. Nuclear Blast is great, they are very professional and well organised.

Did they just leave you to the music or did they try to mould the music that you played?

Jonatan: No, when we got the deal with Nuclear Blast, the record was already done and on the next album I don’t think they’re going to say what they want to hear or what they want us to do. I think they trust us to do the best we can.

So you recorded the album independently and Nuclear Blast picked up the finished product?

Jonatan: Yes, that’s it

What about the influences of Graveyard? What influences you to sound the way you do?

Axel: Everyday life.

Joakim: A lot of different kinds of music. Everything good in music, from before us right up to the present day. Even though our foundation is mainly in the 70’s and the 60’s, we get a lot of influences from everywhere.

Were there specifically any Swedish bands that you took an influence from?

Rikard: Some old bands – November, Bo Hansson, Jan Johansson.

Axel: He was a Swedish jazz musician, very melancholic piano, folky jazz. He did a lot of stuff but the best albums were jazz in Swedish and jazz in Russian, folky tunes but jazz music. Actually his sons, one of them is playing in Hammerfall and the other one is playing in maybe Lost Horizon or Iced Earth, some power metal band anyway.

How would you describe your music?

Rikard: Classic Rock, Heavy Blues Folk Rock.

Axel: It sounds pretentious, but I would say eclectic. We take influences from a lot of stuff.

Do you have any favourite current bands on the circuit at the moment?

Joakim: Yes, Spindrift from the US is a really good band, I like their music a lot, and they’ve been to Sweden recently. And I really like Black Mountain too, and The Soundtrack Of Our Lives.

Axel: I’d like to push a Swedish band from Gothenburg called Bombus. The singer has screamy vocals, but it’s a mix of Big Business, Motorhead, Black Metal and even some Thin Lizzy. A really good band.

Rikard: There are some other Gothenburg bands – there’s Uran, which is Uranium in English.

Axel: Horisont, who have just signed to Rise Above Records, and also a band called Spiders.

 

So what are you up to next, is this the start of the tour?

 

Joakim: No we’ve nearly finished, we’ve got about a third left.

 

Axel: We’ve been out for about three and a half weeks now.

 

So where have you been?

 

Jonatan: Mostly Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. We’ve got this show in London, two shows in Holland, one in Paris and one more in Cologne, Germany.

 

And are you appearing at any festivals in the summer?

 

Joakim: Mostly Swedish festivals.

 

Rikard: We may have a festival lined up in the UK, but you can’t print it yet as it’s not official.

 

Well thank you guys I hope the rest of the tour goes well for you and that the show tonight is a stormer.

 

All; Thank you

 

If you are intrigued to find out exactly what Graveyard sound like and haven’t discovered the delights of their ‘Hisingen Blues’ album try checking out the band’s Myspace or simply watch the EPK below.  Either way we think you will be blown away by what this great band has to offer.