Lava Engine Interview

[MrFlicks]

Lava Engine Interview

Lava Engine are a Jönköping/Göteborg, Jönköpings län (Sweden) based band

The band members include
Christian Karlsson
Drums & Vocals

Magnus Florin
Vocals & Acoustic Guitars

Ronnie Jaldemark
Guitars & Vocals

{ someone else } (Lava Engine are currently seeking a bass player)
Bass & Vocals

The band have a website www.lavaengine.net

Lava Engine on MySpace

Lava Engine were recently joined by a new drummer. The group play a progressive indie rock style of music. I had a listen to the sample tracks available on MySpace and must say of the four tracks available "Heroes" was my favourite.

So my first questions to Lava Engine are - How would you describe your sound and who are your biggest influences?

[LavaEngine]

Well the sound of this band has always been difficult to describe according to ourselves but I guess similarities with bands such as Porcupine Tree, Muse and maybe Pain of Salvation are there. But still, if you ask me, we're not at all like them. As said, quite difficult. Easier to just make a huge list of what our influences musically have been thru the years but a list like that would be long like the road of struggling with music. But mentioning a few would shine a light on Porcupine Tree (of course), Marillion, Yes, Genesis, Muse, King Crimson, Disturbed, Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Mars Volta, Kent, Pain of Salvation, Depeche Mode, Pink Floyd, Rush, Spock's Beard and many many many more, of course.

[MrFlicks]

I can definitely hear the "Yes" influence I have a track or two on the 90125 album I always consider amongst my favourites.

I notice you have an EP available could you tell us some more about this - how many tracks there are and is there a story or theme that is central to them or is each track approached as a completely different piece?

[LavaEngine]

The EP ended up being a four-tracker but there was one more song from the beginning really, but we felt that it didn't end up like we wanted to as well as being a bit too far away from what we want to do musically. So, four tracks but not within a theme or concept or anything. To be honest, at least I am a bit overloaded and tired of all these progressive concept albums and I guess Lava Engine is simply more about putting out good music and try to make the best out of a song. And that's what we love to do, both when it comes to writing as well as arranging together. If one would want to tie these songs together maybe the common thread though would be that it's all about... humans. The content of our songs is often about man, emotion, life and death and all that's in between. So, with these tracks we deal with (in EP order) the creative mind, loneliness, heart pounded by another and the nature of mankind on this planet.

The album is simply produced by ourselves, but mixed and finalized by CJ Grimmark (Narnia, Rob Rock etc). The drums were recorded in a studio (Matchtown Studios, Jönköping - Swe), while the other inputs are all at home.

[MrFlicks]

I will see if I can match each of those explanations to each song (or perhaps others might like to see if they can?)

I notice the band have gone through some changes as Lava Engine have evolved including a switch from a pop style under the name Drillingholes to a more rock oriented electric guitar riff based heavier sound.

What marked those changes?

[LavaEngine]

Quite funny actually. One day our previous drummer Christian expressed his enthusiasm for the band Muse and wanted to play more towards this kind of style of music. I was also into this band of course, so nothing strange about his warm words concerning this raw rock energy that we obviously wanted to try out. I wrote "Sun & Goldfarm" and from that song on onward we were a totally different band. We also included "Time Is Running Out" on our setlist, which I know can be found on YouTube nowadays.

Drillingholes was something that came from our love for The Beatles, Jellyfish, Crowded House and similar pop acts and we actually made a demo and quite a lot of songs. The longing for transformation into a rock band was more of a step back though for us all, since we all come from a rock/hardrock/metal background, so... It felt natural. Drillingholes was more of a long experiment where the softer side of us came shining. I used only acoustic guitars back then, and we had a keyboard player as well so to compare these two eras would be like talking about coffee and fuzzy soda drinks.

[MrFlicks]

So would I be right in detecting the DrillingHoles adventure was an "out of character" jaunt into a more commercial like mainstream genre for the band who all really preferred the Rock and Heavy Rock style side of the music business?

I could be wrong but it sort of sounds like the band experimented in the mainstream but were not as comfortable with that pop style as they are with a more heavier style of sound.

[LavaEngine]

Hmm, I can understand that thought but to me, and Christian who co-formed Drillingholes, we were both very bored and tired of all these rock/metal variations of bands we've been involved with during our teens and early twenties. Drillingholes was therefore the fruit of discussions about a Beatles coverband on an early stage. That thing didn't happen at the time, but instead the pop band was formed. Ironic to form a band because you're tired of being in a band, of course, but this time it was to be different. A different style, no screaming distorted guitars nor solos. Just plain good songs, without the complexity that the progressive rock style had given us both earlier.

So, this period of time was simply a thing we wanted and had to do at the time, but I think we emptied the pot of ideas during that year, writing songs that became good songs. But nothing more. Of course, bands like Jellyfish (who were our biggest inspiration at the time), Rembrandts and similar are all able to lift their songs to a mighty higher level than we did. But in some way, we became bored of ourselves. And I'm saying that without being negative about the whole thing. It's just that... We were done with the genre for now. And then came the transformation, with the little drummerboy saying "ya-da ya-da, muse, ya-da ya-ya!"

[MrFlicks]

I imagine trying to be a Beatles Tribute Act/Cover Band would have been quite a hard thing to pull off well. The Beatles must be the band listed more than any other by modern musicians as one of their influences. Unsurprisingly really as they have one of the most historic levels of musical achievement in the mainstream pop charts.

What bands have Lava Engine played with and are their any Gigs in the pipeline that the band will play?

[LavaEngine]

Yes, Beatles were for sure something extra. Something that we all learn in the aftermath of their reign of course, but it's not an underestimation to call them the basic foundation for progressive rock. Or some kind of progressive pop, in their case then.

When it comes to the live scene, Lava Engine haven't really been out much yet. We've been part focusing a lot on writing and arranging music but have also had a bit of problems with the line-up if you count from the Drillingholes era and up to now. Hard task to play live when often being one man short, but hopefully that is ancient history now as soon as we find our new bassplayer. But we do have some swedish venues planned but not yet confirmed.