Tag: mix

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My culinary tour

If you’ve followed me on Facebook before you know that I enjoy cooking (understatement!) and like to post pictures of whatever food I make. In the RV it’s a little bit more challenging to go on any culinary adventures. I try my best but work space is limited as well as cupboard space and having lived in this thing for about two months I’m not quite stocked up on spices and tools either. We’re also on a budget whereas at home we almost never got around to eating those leftovers.

But as someone said – musicians tend to find each other everywhere, so it seems foodies do too. On this tour so far we’ve been invited for some lovely meals, both in people’s homes and to restaurants – something that we starving artists always appreciate. In Tampa we happened to meet the chef/ owners of the hot new restaurant The Refinery which has been written about in fancy publications such as Condé Nast Traveller. They invited us for dinner, the day after my gig at the great beer bar The Independent, and by chance their neighbor had dropped off a couple of pheasants which they prepared for us.

In Birmingham, AL I visited the radio show Oh Brother and the owner of MIX, a very nice bakery/restaurant in downtown wrote on my facebook wall and invited us for lunch. We had some great gumbo but was most impressed by the gorgeous sour dough breads that they had for sale. Good bread is something that’s very hard to find here in the US I think. I might be spoiled though because back in Sweden the bakery of the Swedish champion in bread baking is just next doors to my apartment.

When lunching at MIX the chef and co-owner Phil Dupont came out to say hi and all of a sudden we were invited to his upscale restaurant Cafe Dupont for dinner. We were totally blown away by the beauty and atmosphere at Cafe Dupont but even more so by the food. My favorite was the tuna starter (I’m a sucker for good tuna and Asian flavors) and Jonas favorite was the veal starter. And don’t get me started on the Cosmo!!!

In New Orleans we’ve been taken out to experience the best of the city by our newfound friend photographer Marc Pagani, who not only showed us the Hi Ho Lounge, made us the strongest drink ever but also took us for a culinary tour at La Petite Grocery on Magazine street. Food and ambience was great and I’d go back anytime if I could.

We ended our last night in NOLA with a visit to Lola’s, an unpretentious little Spanish restaurant in Mid-city which was also very enjoyable. We really had our mind set on the authentic kitchen of Liuzza’s by the track but unfortunately they were closed on Sunday’s. Good thing we already had the catfish po-boys and beignets the days before.

But as enjoyable restaurants are the most satisfying is a really good meal you’ve cooked yourself. I never thought I’d do the Swedish cabbage rolls in the RV (the best kind of comfort food) but that’s what I did the other day. And people who think you have to live off microwave meals and eat off paper plates are either too lazy to use their kitchen or just not creative enough. I even made a quick version of beef teriyaki the other day. Or how about some Vietnamese salad wraps?

If I’d just have some more space and would be able to find fresh yeast I’d be baking too. Actually it’s probably just the lack of yeast that stops me 😉

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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
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E – Update #5

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

We’re down to the final week before “E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” is about to released, which means that this is you last chance to pre-order a CD, T-shirt or any of the other items on the pledge site.

All the items are hand made by me and are exclusive to this EP, meaning they will only be available for pre-order and can’t be purchased after the release. All the CDs have hand made covers and are signed as well. The posters are signed and numbered.

You’ve heard some previews of the songs and I hope you like them. Today I’m posting a little video blog from when we’re mixing the song Lower Case Letters. As you know my producers have each chosen one of my previously released songs to make a re-make of and Marcus chose Lower Case  Letters from the album Jonestown.

As usual you’ll get to hear a preview of the finished song at the end of the video.

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Interview with G.A.I.N

'A - Part Two of H.A.T.E'
'A - Part Two of H.A.T.E'
'A - Part Two of H.A.T.E'

I met up with G.A.I.N who have recorded the second part of the H.A.T.E saga, ‘A – Part Two of H.A.T.E’. Here’s their thoughts about the project.

Hi G.A.I.N! You guys are doing “A – part two of H.A.T.E” how is the EP coming along?

It’s coming along very well. It’s all done and waiting to be released. Niklas Stålvind of Wolf produced and mixed. Mike Wead of King Diamond and bibelblack mastered. From the final result we can definitely say that it sounds kick-ass! We’re very proud of what we’ve done and we can’t wait until we can share the result with the world!



Great! Can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?

We’re just a couple of metalheads doing what we love. We all come from different places but our love for Metal brought us together. We all live in Stockholm and we like to go out and have a good old dirty time. It happens a little too often but that’s Metal for you!  We live by the motto, Sex, Booze and Tattoos! 



What did you think of the original songs when you first heard them and did you think it was hard to interpret them into your own style or did you get ideas straight away?

When we first heard the songs we wondered what the hell we’d gotten or self’s in to. It was a little hard to “connect” with the songs at first but after a few listening’s they grew on us and now we like them. 
We decided early not to listen to the originals that much too ensure that our versions came more from us, so that they would sound like G.A.I.N. 
Some songs we had ideas for right after the first listen but some came harder. The song that came easiest was probably “King of the Willow Tree” and one that we had to work a bit on was “Glow”.  



Which of the songs are you most pleased with and why?

Our favorites are probably King of the Willow Tree and The War. We really like the raw drive of the riffs in both songs. They are really in our own style and don’t sound like covers at all. Your way of writing really fitted well into our kind of music. They came out just like our own songs.



What’s your favorite gig memory?

Three of us remember on gig in particular. Mr Bandiit was a little too excited and played a bit fast. This resulted in that Gus had to prioritize ether singing or breathing in the last song. He chose to sing… 
He gave his last bit of energy in that song and as a result of that he ended up taking an ambulance ride to the hospital. 



Can you tell us a little bit about the recording sessions and what was most fun with being a part of this project?

We recorded everything in Viper Studios. From this experience we learned that we will never record four songs in two days again. It’s borderline impossible and we don’t recommend it. We finished all the rhythm guitars and the drums in one day and thought we were doing very well. Only lead guitar, bass and vocals left right? The lead guitar and the bass were done at about 8 o’clock the next night. The vocals took another 7-8 hours and would have taken longer if it weren’t for the excellent vocal coaching Niklas Stålvind of Wolf provided. We’re forever grateful for that.
 But on the whole it has been a lot of fun to be part of this project. We’ve learned a lot and would like to thank you for this opurtunity.



What’s next on the agenda for G.A.I.N this fall?

Get out and play. The big damn show! This fall we will focus on getting out and bring our music to the masses. We haven’t played all summer so we’re really excited about getting out there again! We’ll just have to make sure that Gus gets to breath. Do you know where we can get a portable oxygen tank?



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

Listen and pre-order ‘A – Part Two of H.A.T.E’ here!

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On the Road

We’ve been stuck in San Diego for a few days. Not that I’m complaining, we’ve been mostly sitting in the hot tub with a beer, but we’re all longing to do more concerts. We played at Acoustic Music San Diego which kind of left us with mixed feelings as the greeting from the manager there was less than pleasant. But we’re all looking forward to our gigs in Austin. As we’re actually staying for 2 extra days after SXSW is over we were talking about maybe getting us another gig, like a SXSW after party kind of thing. That would be fun!

Tomorrow we’re hitting the road again and to make the days pass and spend less time in the car we’re cutting the trip into a 3 days drive instead of 2 days of loooong hours in the car. We’ve mapped our route on roadsideamerica.com and have a few funny things to see on the way to Austin. I’m looking forward to Shakespear’s Ghost Town, and the guys want to see the Bush Gallery of the Pacific War.

I’m not in Texas yet but I did manage to buy myself a pair of seriously cool cowboy boots today! They’re blue so I’m feeling like sining “blue suede shoes” only I have to change it to “blue suede boots” haha.

For all of you that want some free music as a special treat for SXSW, text SXSW2010 to 41411 (US only).

See you at SXSW!

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