Interview with Akribi

Akribi photo by Alexa Andersson
Akribi photo by Alexa Andersson
Akribi photo by Alexa Andersson

Soon the last part of H.A.T.E will be released by Swedish metal band Akribi. We managed to keep them still for a few minutes to ask them some questions about the meaning of life and metal…

Hi Akribi! You guys are doing “E – Part Four of H.A.T.E”. How has the experience been so far?
Definitely different. We’re not at all used to interpreting other musician’s materials, nor working with such tight deadlines, but it’s been a very fun and rewarding experience so far.

Great! Can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?
We’re a female-fronted progressive metal band based in Gothenburg, Sweden. The band started out back in 2003, based on the idea of playing ambitious metal with strong songwriting. It’s an ideal that has remained intact through countless lineup changes over the years. As a consequence of this, we like to work with a slightly expanded palette of scales, chords and time signatures in our music. Oh, and let’s just get one very common misconception out of the way… “female-fronted” in this case does not mean “gothic” or “operatic”.

Just like Badmouth you’re releasing this EP only a few months after your
album release. Are you always this productive?
Given the right circumstances, sure. As hinted above, the band has had a bit of a rough history with lineup changes and whatnot. We have begun writing the next album and it’s going surprisingly fast so maybe we’ve learnt a thing or two about efficiency.

Did you think it was hard to interpret Sofia’s songs into your own style or did you get ideas straight away?
We decided to transcribe the chords and scales that Sofia used. After we had done that we stopped listening to Sofia’s versions and began working. We sent note sheets with ideas to each other; “Could this be something?”, “Would this passage sound better if we changed scales to Lydian?”, “What happens if we add this chord there?” and so on and then we tried playing the ideas. We changed a lot, added riffs and details to make it more Akribi. It took us about a month and then we recorded it, sent it to our mixing guys in Brazil and voilà.

Which of the songs are you most pleased with and why?
It’s difficult to pick a song. It sounds weird but when you live with a song in the intense way that’s required for writing and recording it it sort of becomes your baby. The song we play the most often nowadays is The Garden. The guitar solos are great and Alexander gets to play his Chapman Stick and that always makes him happy. Our songs are usually pretty long and that makes set lists tricky to do so it’s good to have a shorter-than-four-minutes-song up our sleeve.

What’s your favorite gig memory?
That must be the first time we were on stage and the audience sang along with our song Carry the Rain. It’s an incredible feeling. But if you’re looking for an awkward anecdote it must be when the guards didn’t let our drummer back into the building after a sound check. He tried to convince them that he was in the band but the guards told him “yeah right, that’s what everybody says”. The rest of us were backstage ready to go on stage not knowing where he was.

Can you tell us a little bit about the recording sessions and what was most fun with being a part of this project?
Well, the recording workflow was the same that we always follow. When we’ve written the chord progressions, melodies and overall structure of a song, we record (or in this particular case, program) a drum track and have everyone record their parts individually to that. All recordings are then assembled in a sequencer and a rough pre-mix is done. Feedback is sent out, obscene words are exchanged, and adjustments are made. When everyone is sufficiently satisfied, the tracks are sent away for mixing. The most interesting and fun part of this project was that is was far out of the realm of what we usually do. Apart from on a few auditions, we don’t play or record external material. Oh, and we finally got to put a growling part in a song, courtesy of Rafael Basso of “Unlit Face”.

What’s next on the agenda for Akribi this winter?
In October we got a new drummer and we’re in the process of getting to know each other musically and he’s learning all our songs. Parallel to this we’re in contact with booking agents and promoters around Europe. Music is always better live and life on stage is great so we’ll play live as much as possible.

If you would record a Christmas metal album, which three songs would be on your list?
Hey, we’re a metal band! We don’t do Christian things 😉

Thanks for hanging out! We look forward to hearing the songs 🙂

Listen and pre order E – Part Four of H.A.T.E by Akribi here! You’ll get an instant download of one of the songs! The EP will be released December 1st.

Listen to all the EPs of the L.O.V.E vs H.A.T.E saga here:

L.O.V.E VS H.A.T.E
L.O.V.E VS H.A.T.E

“E” is here today!

E - Part Four of L.O.V.E
E - Part Four of L.O.V.E
E - Part Four of L.O.V.E

Wooohooo!

Happy November 1st everyone! Today is the day when the L.O.V.E saga has become complete! “E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” is now available on iTunes, Amazon and all the other places where you like to buy good music!

I’d like to thank everyone who has helped me fund this EP and all the other EPs in the L.O.V.E saga. It’s been a great experience and I could never have guessed that I had fans like you!

This week will be filled with making T-shirts, Posters, CDs and stuff for all you guys. I hope to get all the things sent out by the end of the week. Again – thank you so much for being a part of this journey!

E – Update #2

Notes for "If I had a man" by Sofia Talvik
Marcus playing the guitar on "E - Part Four of L.O.V.E"
Marcus playing the guitar on "E - Part Four of L.O.V.E"

“E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” is coming along nicely! Here’s some pics and videos from our first recording session. Marcus was a bit annoyed with me for making him have wine before recording but we had a good time and as you can hear it sounds great too 🙂

Notes for "If I had a man" by Sofia Talvik
Notes for "If I had a man" by Sofia Talvik

Please help ups make this EP by pledging here!

Here’s how it works:

The EP “E – Part Four Of L.O.V.E” is the last part of a four piece saga called “L.O.V.E” – Help me fund them today!
http://www.sofiatalvik.com/v-part-four-of-l-o-v-e/

“L.O.V.E” consists of four separate EP’s with four tracks each, that will be released every 3 months during 2011.

I had a great response raising the money to release the first 3 EPs, not only were the fans influencing and enabling the releases, they also got access to the making through exclusive videos, demo releases, blogs and my musical journey.

This is how you can be a part of this:

1. Make A Pledge
Invest in an exclusive package from the list on http://www.sofiatalvik.com/v-part-four-of-l-o-v-e/. The packages includes signed memorabilia and other personalized treats.

2. Enjoy Updates
I’ll be posting exclusive videos, mp3’s, photos, and blogs throughout our journey. You’ll be able to comment, so if you have any interesting ideas, let me know.

3. Receive the download first
Once completed, you’ll be the very first to receive the download of the album. I’ll then be making all of your items, and the Pledge project will then come to a close.

I run my own label, produce everything by myself and I’m very hands on with the music and everything around it. All the bundles are endorsed and personally produced. They represent a personal part of me and I want to share that with you.

Please do keep checking back for updates and you can always hang out with me on http://www.facebook.com/sofiatalvikmusic and I look forward to our journey together.

xoxo
Sofia Talvik

New pledge for “E”

E - Part Four of L.O.V.E
E - Part Four of L.O.V.E
E - Part Four of L.O.V.E

I can’t believe we’re down to the last EP in the L.O.V.E saga. In just over a month “E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” will be released and today we’re starting up the pledge for the final EP. Last but not least my guitarist Marcus Högquist is making his debut as a producer. Marcus has played in my band since 2004 and know all there is to know about my music. He’s the most talented guitarist I ever met and I’m sure he’ll be just as talented when it comes to producing.

Another great piece of news is that I have written a duet for the EP. It’s called 7 miles wide and Swedish artist Pontus Borg will be singing the song with me on the EP. You might have heard Pontus sing in the Langely commercial which is running on Swedish TV right now. You can have a listen to his awesome song “Free” here!

And if that wasn’t enough you’ll get my demo version of the song for free when you pledge.

We have some great stuff to choose from this time.

  • Hand crafted CDs
  • T-Shirts
  • Posters
  • Signed Lyric Sheets

And if you missed out on any of the previous EPs you can also get a full download of all the previous EP’s in the L.O.V.E saga.

E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” is released November 1st!
Pre-order it here!

Thanks so much for helping me out with this project. I couldn’t have done it without you.

 

 

Great review of ‘O’

O - part two of L.O.V.E
O - part two of L.O.V.E
O - part two of L.O.V.E
'A - Part Two of H.A.T.E'
‘A – Part Two of H.A.T.E’

On Thursday we’re releasing not one but two EPs! ‘V – Part Three of L.O.V.E’ is the most electronica I’ve ever been thanks to producer Janne Manninen, and ‘A – Part Two of L.O.V.E’ is the most hard rock my songs have ever been thanks to Swedish metal band G.A.I.N. (you can buy them both here! )

Speaking of EPs I just got a nice review from Swedish rock music site Hallowed on my second EP ‘O’. Daniel Källman who wrote it seems to be into singer/songwriters so I hope he won’t get a total chock when he hears ‘V’ 🙂 Here’s what he thought about ‘O’

“This EP is just absolutely fantastic in its best moments. Sure if you are a narrow minded typical metalhead you will probably not like this album but then again you will probably have stopped reading after singer-songwriter anyway. For all of us who like music however, this EP is a real treat.”

Read more in Swedish HERE!

Read more in English HERE!