I am proud to be interviewing the guys from Illfigure!
This Swedish band has a great sound and vibe about them...
Q. So Illfigure was formed in 2004 and has gone through a lot of changes, how did these changes benefit the band?
A: Well, every change that has been made in the line-up over the years has brought illfigure closer to what it always was supposed to be and is today. Now we are a tight-knit unit of brothers that all strive towards the same goal; world domination.
Q. You guys have a very unique sound, what would be your top three influences and how do you describe your sound?
A: We all listen to a great variety of bands and pick ideas and influences from all of them, but if I have to pick three bands that are common denominators for all of us in the band, and therefore color our music the most, I would have to say Pantera, Slipknot and In Flames. I also can't forget to mention old school Metalica. They fucking kicked ass!
Q. The mini-album, Chaos Tranquility is your very first album released, where can people listen to the album and buy it?
A: They can buy it at www.cdbaby.com (the album or mp3:s). We are also on iTunes and www.spotify.com
Q. Being a band from Sweden, how would you describe the Metal Scene there?
A: I would say it's fucking awesome if we're talking about how many great Metal Bands we have here. We also have two great Metal Festivals in Metaltown and Sweden Rock Festival. Metaltown usually have more of the heavier acts and Sweden Rock Festival have more of the old school bands. When it comes to venues for smaller bands to play, it could be better. It's mostly an underground movement where bands themselves or associations of metal fans arrange gigs at different clubs. When it comes to Metal Radio Stations Sweden really sucks. We only have like one station that plays a little metal and it's usually the same songs that get played over and over again.
Q. I love your video "Just want to know"... who did you work with on the video and what was the inspiration for the song?
A: It was directed and filmed by Adam Tillberg at Angelworks who is a friend of mine and an up and comming young director. I wrote the lyrics after I had broken up with my girlfriend at the time. I really don't like to explain or talk about my lyrics, so I'm afraid that's all you're getting. I know what my lyrics mean to me, but I want everybody who listens to them to make their own interpretation and thereby making the song their own.
Q. You guys seem like a bunch of fun Metal dudes as we all saw in your videos, how would you describe a day hanging out with all the boys?
A: Never a dull moment! We exorcise our demons in our music so when we hang out we like to fuck around, drink beer and have a good time.
Q. If you could tour with 1 band, who would that be and why?
A: I would say Slipknot, and I'm pretty sure the rest of the band would agree. They have a really fucking great live show and they seem to be a bunch of crazy, insane and disfunctional guys. Just our kind of people. It was really a dark and sad day when we heard that Paul Gray had died. I really hope that Slipknot will find a way to continue even though he's gone. Our thoughts go out to Paul's family and friends.
Q. So what can we expect of you Illfigure in the near future? tour? album? burning my house down? lol
A: We have focused on writing new songs in 2010 and will enter the studio at the end of February. We will once again work with Magnus Devo Andersson (Marduk) in his studio Endarker Studio here in Norrköping, Sweden. It will be a full length album with twelve songs and, if everything goes the way we've planned, three bonus tracks. The songs and sound will be a lot more aggressive than on Chaos Tranquility. For those who want a little taste of it we have the songs "My Own Hate" and "Antisocial" from our pre-production up on our MySpace. Then the idea is to sell it on licence to a record label. Considering the strong material we have now I can't see any Metal Label in their right mind turning it down.
We hope to be out doing as many gigs as possible in 2011, preferably as support for some great headliner. We would never burn down your house, Sanaz. Unless you gave us a reason to.
Q. Overall, how do you feel about the band accomplishments till today and what do you have in store for your fans in the future?
A: Considering we had our first live gig in August of 2008 I think we have accomplished a hell of a lot in a very short time. In October of 2008 we recorded Chaos Tranquility, released it in January or February of 2009. Got a great review of it in Close-Up Magazine. Got to play at Metaltown, Gothenburg, Sweden, in June of 2009, which also received a great review in Close-Up Magazine. Then we unfortunately hit a roadblock with the management we signed with, which meant that we lost a lot of momentum and hardly did any gigs during 2010. The ones we did we got ourselves. Now we are released from the contract and in control again. We have managed to get a pretty sound foundation of fans here in our home town of Norrköping, Sweden. Now it's time for the rest of the world to be infected by the disease that is illfigure.
Thank you guys for your time
Looking forward to meeting you and hanging out!
Metal Sanaz
http://www.myspace.com/illfigure1
http://www.illfigure.se/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=104857785367
Max Malmgren
