Originally posted by erichazann
Any chance of someone posting a transcript? (in English)
Pretty please.
I am just too nice (nice big karma bonus
). Here is the transcript! I skipped the very end where Josefina briefly interviews two girls in the queue outside the venue.
2006-03-03
Swedish radio interview by Josefina Jansson, SR P3.
[Ritual noise clip]
Josefina: You've just released a new album now, named "Skyshaper" and it was released on Wednesday, March 1st. When I met you about two years ago I asked about this album, and at that time you said you were going to make the ultimate EBM album - did that happen?
Joakim: No, absolutely not. Well, I've been forced to eat those words pretty extensively *short laugh*. The reason to why I said that was that I to some extent thought "Northern light" was a bit lame. Not lame really... but a bit too tame. I sort of felt it was time to go back to a more raw sound, and I guess there are some traces of that on "Skyshaper" too. But after all, we are making pop music - we like melodies and we enjoy creating moods and such. So to make really hard EBM on a whole album actually felt damned boring after a while. Eskil and I had quite a bit of quarrels over this in the beginning, but eventually I gave in and I'm totally sure it was a good decision.
[Spindrift clip]
Josefina: "Sweet and salty" is one of the tracks on the album, and in my mind maybe the most industrial song. It differs a bit from the other, how come you thought of making it to that extent experimental?
Joakim: It was actually an experiment *short laugh* in itself from the beginning.
Claes: Exactly. In some ways I've been the one that has been most opposed to making the ultimate EBM album. But I liked this song because I found it hard and consequent in a more modern way. It didn't sound like some old Nitzer Ebb thing from -94, it rather has some kind of special groove. It was many in our so called "production ring", managers etc, that thought we shouldn't release it. But I know at least I was a very strong advocate and if I hadn't been pushing so hard I really doubt you two [Mattias note: Claes obviously speaking to Joakim and Eskil] wouldn't give in to all the pressure from outside. I really thought it fit the overall sound and that it adds a harder facet too. Since we now have been walking around saying we were going make the utimate EBM album, we damned better put something hard on the album.
Joakim: *laughing* if nothing else it's the worlds greatest bass drum, easily the worlds greatest bass drum. I want a Nobel prize for it!
[Sweet and salty clip]
Josefina: Are you proud of the album, is this the best Covenant album so far?
Claes: I don't think so. But I believe Eskil and Jocke, who have been working the most with the music, feel a bit more like that. And I guess that's what happens when you work very tightly with it, you always feel you do your best. I personally believe that if you look at it in retrospect, in a few years, I don't think we will announce this to be our best album. I think this album has too much of a tendency to approach average. I don't feel there are any extremely strong songs, although not any extremely weak either. In my view it becomes a bit grey, I absolutely don't think it's bad in any way though - that's not what I'm saying. It's just that I don't believe in ten years from now this will be the album that I think is the best we've ever done.
Joakim: Each album is made at the peak of our abilities, as good as we can - we always do our best, that is really important to us. But now we've worked with this album for more than a year and of course other things happen in our heads meanwhile. We are sort of already working on our next album. But I'm satisfied, I think we've made a decent album. It didn't turn out at all like I thought it would. Then it never does... *background laughter* no, I think it's a silly good album really. I think so and I can't really see how it could have turned out differently either. But it was a horrible struggle to do it, really, we had so much differences, long discussions and sour faces. So, from that point of view it is the most emotional album we've done. Which I think is cool. There even was a time when we thought of not releasing an album at all and rather just skip the project. But after a while it does boil up within you and you feel the need to get stuff out of your head, and for us the best way of doing that is to make music.
[Ritual noise clip]
Josefina: Which singles will you be releasing now then, apart from "Ritual noise"?
Claes: It's going to be "Brave new world". It will be recorded with an external producer next week, and the external producers... now I've forgotten his name... what was it - Roland?
Joakim: Roland Stenberger.
Claes: That's right. He's been working with A-ha. on an album they released about three years ago. We met him in Germany just before we went home. He seems to be a really nice guy and I'm sure it will turn our well. But it's going to be more towards the radio audience.
Josefina: Speaking of tours, you do have a release party tonight in Helsingborg, and then you'll do a couple of gigs in Sweden and then more in Europe.
Claes: We always tour Europe and USA, usually USA is about half a year later. I guess we could have done like so many other bands, and do it all in one sequence, but we are after all getting older and think it's hard being on the road for two months straight. So this time we've even divided Europe in two runs, we've done central Europe. And then we're going to do France, Spain, England and maybe some country in eastern Europe; in a later turn around Easter or in the beginning of May. And then it's time for USA, probably in September.
[Brave new worl clip]