Sensory/Candlelight Artist Diablo Swing Orchestra Interview is up
Diablo Swing Orchestra
1. How did this sound of Danzig, Faith No More, Brian Setzer Orchestra, Squirrel Nut Zippers and Third and the Mortal come to be the Mighty Diablo Swing Orchestra?
First and foremost — Those references make us feel just a tad unworthy, even as to blush. I mean, Anything-Mike-Patton feels somewhat untouchable, but I'm glad you sense some of that in our spicy blend. As you probably know, music is a great way to defuse the seriousness of everyday life, and what better way of doing so, than through a blend of styles keeping listeners alert for every upcoming move? Just as for the case of Mr Patton, you never know what to expect next. Beyond the conditioning of our minds, and its assumptions – and furthermore boredom as a consequence – there is a vast, nonjudgemental openness. That's the place where the arts are best experienced, I'd say. Before I lose ya'll into that void, I want to sum it up in short: That openness keeps you attentive and appreciating! Since all members of the orchestra enjoy that space, it was easy for us to translate that attentiveness into finding those being like-minded. We all come from rather different disciplines and we all constitute various musical backgrounds. Something surely happens as a result when you blend all that, indeed. Everything from baritone metal swish-swosh and mariachi hooks, all the way to spaghetti western crescendos, and they all definitely fall into place too.
2. Love the mix of Female and Male vocals as the Horns and guitars and heavy grooving bass lines and latin percussion comes in. Who do you create this in studio do you record the music 1st of is it live with a few overdubs?
These days, as opposed to in the beginning, we've become way better regarding rehearsing our songs before we enter the studio at all. We know the songs by heart now; and there are pre-production material to fall back on, in case of issues presenting themselves while recording. This makes the recording process a much smoother one, which of course also may be heard audio-wise. I mean, that base helps everything from the producer to any possible additional musicians entering our recording sphere.
Personally, I'd also say the drums sound rather live indeed this time around, which basically makes the orchestra in its totality sound more live as well. All instruments are though recorded one at a time, except for the string arrangements and some percussion elements, which were recorded in ensemble sessions. So, the liveliness of the drums made a great foundation for all other instruments and dubs, indeed. And the use of real instruments across the board sure adds another layer on top of that! Just take the song ”Aurora” as an example of that.
3. What is a live show like for Diablo Swing Orchestra?
Mutual sweating, merging loads of energy and shared euphoria aside — An Amen and a few modest Ave Marias to bring it to a halt. All good things must come to an end.
4. Do you find Metal Crowds right off the start love the band or are they startled by the arrangements or do you feel a more prog based crowd your more home with?
Luckily, we've hit a rather wide range of tap dancing folks out there. Even a lot of elders and kids seem to enjoy the constantly surprising moves and the wide mix of elements. I mean, the elders were young when swing was the main game of the contemporary scene way back when. And every kid in town has that all-access energy pouring over, that automatically brings it all to a boil while dancing! Those people aside, a lot of open-minded metal heads seem to fall into our void too. Not to mention the progressive lot of course. Folks listening to everything from classical music, contemporary yet crazed jazz and 1920s swing, to Muse, Primus, Tool, Porcupine Tree & Opeth seem to attend our shows. We do see a lot of familiar t-shirt prints out there. Most true metal folks may be kind of startled and a bit hard to coquette still though...
5. How did you come to work with The Laser's Edge in North America?
Not sure what came first — Glenn Harveston booking us for the 2008 Prog Power US festival, or the deal with The Laser's Edge. However, I'm sure they're connected somehow. Since we weren't able to go there in 2008, we returned stronger in 2009, and by then, the The Laser's Edge release of the ”Sing Along Songs For The Damned & Delirious” were already available on site. Ken Golden at The Laser's Edge/Sensory Records sure has ears pointed in every musical direction, and we we're lucky to have him pick up our frequencies back then, and then again this time around. He was eager indeed to release the ”Pandora's Piñata”, and such passion from labels out there is rare, and much longed for of course. Also, Ken's Digipak release of ”Pandora's Piñata” turned out to constitute sheer print beauty. Get it while it's hot!
6. The Artwork for the album " Pandora's Pinata " is odd to say the least tell us how does it play into the album is there a running them on the album?
Well, the seven deadly sins never sounded this good, right? The lyrical content of the album basically sums of the whole range of our human emotions of wanting and fearing in relation to our past and future projections, as well as the love within, available at all times. It applies to us all; through society as a whole. The worldly sins pulling us from love, can be likened to the contents of a piñata, just awaiting that proper blow to burst. Needless to say, that's the Eden reference of Bergting's lovely illustration, as found on the cover of the US Digipak and the UK Special Edition. For example, the song ”Guerrilla Laments” is based upon all the various letters we've received from listeners regarding their own trials and tribulations of living in this world of ours. That sure is something to broaden ones' horizons too.
The somewhat more graphical 50s/60s manner from the molding of the seven deadly sins, was drawn by me during a period of six month before the album release. It's a somewhat vintage style that suits the way I usually tackle daily illustration work, but I managed bring it to another level for Diablo Swing, and at that find a way of easily adapting that illustrative manner from object to object too. Once I knew what a knife would look like, a pair of dice or a night sky weren't all that hard to draw. That really helped, since there were a lot of objects to be drawn… I really think they turned out well too. Browsing through the deluxe versions of the ”Pandora's Piñata” sure is a designers' treat! Ken's version also has black gutters and is printed on a certain uncoated paper stock. How's that for De-Luxe, huh?
7. Your from Sweden not a place you would expect to hear Latin based Swing music how is the band seen in your home of Sweden?
The whole concept of not being able to be prophets in one's home country also applies to us. I feel a slight resistance in admitting that we're hardly seen at all here yet. We may have a few die hard listeners out there (read: i.e. Stockholm, Gothenburg, Karlstad), but it's really hard to say whether that would be enough to fill even a small venue. However, we've recently received a few great reviews from local magazines, for example a 9 out of 10 in the latest Sweden Rock Magazine (oh, the pride!), and we're planning a few Sweden shows this upcoming fall. Also, I've noticed that our new album is way more accepted here, than the earlier releases even came close to. This may open a few golden ornamented doors too. So, cross your fingers, if you may dear sirs and madams!
8. If you all could tour with any Band or Artist who would it be and why?
I do believe touring with Muse would be a true adventure. They manage to put such a wide range of styles and impressions into their trio concept, and it would be a pleasure alone to pick their brains on the matter. When it comes to bands that we may identify slightly further with, touring along ”The Stolen Babies” would be a true smash setup. We do seem to be of the same kind, however, different enough to make it interesting. Maybe that could be arranged once we appear in Los Angeles, who knows? Crazier things have happened, right? Aside from those, I'd add Tool and Faith No More to the list. Maynard and Patton must have some fairy dust to share… No, not of the drug kind.
9. With so many member and they seem to rotate is it hard to tour or keep the style or sound of the band together?
This is our third full album release, so we've had some serious practicing in the matter the last nine years, and I'd say that this time we're more of a homogeneous gathering of folks. Both regarding how we sound, as well as how we work as individuals in a group. Judging from how the album turned out, and from the Latin American tour we just finished, I'd say we're a well oiled octagon machine at the moment!
10. You have a video for "Voodoo Mon Amour" How did that come to be?
Well, that isn't really a video per say though. It's more of an animation of the lyrics and the objects from the album design, instead of there just being the album cover, or some boring photos of the band (yawn). The goal was to help keeping people attentive through out the song (not that it seemed to be needed though!), as well as informing viewers of the release date for the album (22nd of May), and I know most of them see it as an official video release, which is kind of fun of course! It was the same thing when we presented the all new album logo. That was misperceived as the official album cover, and so from that we had the idea of making truth by that. Today, the logo placed on black constitutes our standard jewel case edition. Coming back to the video. I had some true magic-wand-type of help with the animation work from my good friend Joakim Löfberg. That guy sure knew how to breath life into those flat graphical objects of mine. That overall solution was a nice way to go in the matter, don't you think?
11. Your Diablo Swing Orchestra's thoughts on the Digital age ( Music, Promotion, Webzines, Podcasts) are these the new underground or do you miss the days of Prints zines and Radio stations?
Ah, the pangs of the digital age of music. Well, the big-business-labels should of course have been more percipient regarding hearing out the people's own demands. But all that yada-yada has already been stated enough times, right? Anyhow. I still know a lot of people that would pay for digital content, had it only been available online though. That sure is an issue still to be resolved business-wise ”out there”. Some on-demand services are getting close, but the piracy ”market” is still a lot better content provider, and so honest businesses suffer by the hands of piracy. Other than that, I must admit the digital age to be guilty of our amazing venture over seas. It all basically started with a passionate soul shaking life into a petition of us coming to Mexico, back in 2009, and Daniel Håkansson of the band really dug into that. People simply amaze me so much sometimes! So. That being said, Facebook and Twitter constitutes such a highly democrative social world in music, they just bring all the subgenres to the surface while at the same making them within reach of any possible interest. That required a much vaster knowledge base way back when, though everything was more of a status thing then because of that. The exclusivity of knowing, and by that the whole concept of having the how, where and what, I mean. That's all merged via meta these days. However, I do love coming across pointy specialty magazines, pin-hole podcasts, edgy playlists and sub genre prints. What still applies from the total analogue era though, is that one thing always leads to another, and with that being said, finding new, interesting bands today, is a luxury for most of us to enjoy.
The other side of it, is of course the whole issue of money. Yes, money… If tiny labels aren't to receive any money for their artists' albums being out there in the digital formats, they may have to shut down, which results in other possible success stories, never seeing the light of day. Sub genre passion and it's clientele, are of course a necessity for any kind of off-the-mainstream kind of growth, so hear hear for them folks out there!
12. What are the members of Diablo Swing Orchestra currently listening too? Always like to hear what bands are listening to?
I know there's a lot of Katzenjammer and vintage style guitar based music going around right now, and most of us do park our cars in the same garage regarding the music we listen to, so to speak, though we all do single ventures from that. You may have gotten a impression on this topic judging from the songs we played after our shows in Latin America, should you have attended? But regarding Katzenjammer — I mean, the use of a huge Balalaika with a smug smiling cat on it. What's not to like? Other than that, I can only answer for myself, and that would be Opeth's latest release ”Heritage”, ”Quantic Presenta Flowering Inferno” with the album ”Death of the Revolution” and this nothing short-of-amazing compilation of Bossa Nova from Soul Jazz Records called ”Bossa Nova And The Rise Of Brazilian Music In The 1960s”. Highly recommended, indeed.
13. Will the band be touring North America in 2012 at all?
Unfortunately not, since we weren't able to fit that into our Latin America schedule this time, and the paper work for playing the US sure is an exercise in itself, so one has to have the inside scoop early on to do all the proper planning for such a tour. However, it looks like we'll be able to visit those much longed for states during 2013. Maybe along with another South America and Mexico visit. Can't state that without smiling really! Pun intented.
14. Thanks for the time any closing thoughts here
Well boys & girls. Stay attentive, be playful, keep curious!
Thank you.
Anders of Diablo Swing
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