Interview - ANDROMEDA

English text

Martín: Hi there! First of all introduce you and your band ANDROMEDA.

Johan: Buenos dias! My name is Johan Reinholdz, I play guitar. Other members: David Fremberg - vocals, Fabian Gustavsson – bass, Martin Hedin – keyboards and back-up vocals and last but absolutely not least: Thomas Lejon –drums.
Andromeda started out in 1999 in Malmö Sweden, became a full line-up in band 2000. Recorded our debut “Extension of the Wish” the same year – it came out 2001. Other albums:
“II=I”, 2003, “Final extension” (remix, new cover and extra songs-version of “Extension..”) 2004, “Chimera”, 2006, “Playing of the Board” live-DVD, 2007 and finally the new album “The Immunity Zone”, 2008/2009.

M: Why that cosmic name for the band?

J: Sounds good and it fits the music we think. Also, there is another reason which leads me to a funny anecdote about our first recordlabel-boss, Wez at WAR-music. I had a couple of names and he said it would be great if we took Andromeda because then we would be on the first pages of the mailorder-catalogues – you know; since they are in alphabetic order.. Andromeda – A. Pretty lame huh? But true! Haha!

M: Talking about the new album, is there a main concept around “The Immunity Zone”?

J: Not really, there some songs that deals with politics and criticism of the society, like “Slaves of the Plethora Season” where the album title is taken from, but it’s not a concept album.

M: Your style shows a mix between Progressive Rock and Power Metal with mysterious atmospheres. How do you describe your own music?

J: We don´t wanna categorize our music anymore. We´ve done that in many interviews but at least I am very tired of it and I´m not gonna do it anymore. I would describe our music as being heavy, dark, intense, emotional and imaginative.
Power metal?!? I don´t agree. You mean like bands such as Helloween, Hammerfall, Manowar, Blind Guardian? They all suck big fucking time. Or do you mean something else? That is the kind of style I thought the term “power metal “ meant.

M: Where do you find inspiration to create these musical landscapes?

J: Of course we get inspiration from other bands but also from movies and books and life in general. And those are kind of hard to list.. But I can mention some albums that inspired me on “The Immunity Zone”: Sisters of Mercy, ELP, U.K, Megadeth, Pantera, Michael Jackson, video-game music like old Amiga, Sega and Nintendo games, Opeth, Marillion etc..

M: There are lots of new bands taking Progressive influences in their music. What is your opinion about it?

J: I think it’s cool. For a long period of time it wasn´t cool at all to play your instrument well and have guitar solos and so forth. And now bands like Opeth, Mastodon etc are really hip. I like it. But there are very few bands that are progressive in the true meaning of the word which is to be original and daring a bit avant-garde and create new things.



M: One of my favourite songs of the album is “My Star”. What can you say about this song?

J: I agree, it’s one of the best songs on the album, because it’s really different from the rest of our material. We haven’t really done any song before that sounds like it – the vocals, the mood, the main riff and the lyrics. Rather dark and gothic. But of course you can recognize some our trademarks – the solos and the shifting drum-patterns, the heaviness.

The song was originally made as more of a gothic pop/rock song by David. He played the demo of it to us and we liked it. On that first demo there was no middle section or the intense ending section that you can hear now on the album. And the main riff was not played on guitar but on synth – it wasn’t a metal-song at all. Then me and David started working on it. I played David´s original main riff with distortion and we came up with the middle-, solo- and ending sections plus a couple of variations on the main part and voila! – it was suddenly an Andromeda song!
Another interesting thing about the song is the guitar-solo, the first one, which was written, programmed in a sequencer first and then I learned how to play it. That way I found new lines and ideas, because one easily gets trapped in standard patterns on the guitar which come more from the fingers than from the musical imagination.

M: What is your favourite song of the album and the reason why?

J: I can’t just pick one, that’s too hard! Hehe! Well, I have to say; “Recognizing Fate” – because of the heaviness, the vocals and the beautiful ending section. “Ghosts on Retinas” because of the gothic, sombre atmosphere and the chorus. “Censoring Truth” because of the middle section which is truly intriguing and the lyrics. “My Star” – which I have already discussed in detail. Also – “Veil of Illumination” because it’s so epic and full of surprises and intricate crazy stuff.

M: The sound of this album is really good, how were the recording sessions? Are you satisfied?

J: Thank you! I agree – it sounds really thick and heavy. The recordings, the mixing and mastering were pretty scattered over a long period due to the fact that we didn’t really have a deadline plus we recorded it ourselves so we could record whenever we felt like it or had the time. Martin works at the Music academy here in Malmö, so we are able to lend those studio facilities for free almost any time. I recorded my guitars and Fabian ´s bass in my home studio. We recorded everything track by track, so no recordings with the whole band together at once, we are planning to try that out on the next album by the way. To get more of a band-vibe.

M: What can we expect about ANDROMEDA´s live on stage?

J: A passionate, hungry band that gives 100 percent. We don’t just stand with our eyes and feet fixed to the floor, we move about and try to connect with the crowd. That may make us do some mistakes in our playing – but what the hell! The connection with the crowd is so important. We love to play live and we’d like to do it hell of lot more. We’ll see what will happen with this new album tour wise..

M: Your Top Five albums?

J: That’s a excellent but damn difficult question! Let’s see.. The Cure – “Disintegration”, Megadeth – “Rust in peace”, Portishead – “Roseland NYC Live”, Metallica – “Master of Puppets”. Hmmm, there are a LOT more albums.. Opeth – “Still Life”, Morbid Angel – “Altars of Madness”, Marillion – “Fugazi”, Depeche Mode – “Violator, Captain Beyond – “Captain Beyond”, Enya – “Shepherd Moons”…

M: Thank you very much for your time. Here you have space to write what you want as farewell.

J: Thank you for your support! Every one has to check out “The Immunity Zone” – a great album, satisfaction guaranteed!
Hope to see all the fans out there on tour. Take care, adios!

http://www.myspace.com/andromedaonline
http://www.andromedaonline.com