Mark: Did he have a magnificent tight curled perm hairstyle back in those days? Did your hair look like Jon Bon Jovi or Joey Tempest in those days?
Mikael: I will see if i can find a nice little picture for you! (laughs) in those days we have names for the bands with hair like that, it’s called Poodle Rock!
Mark: Hence The Poodles who are around now!
Mikael: Yes that name actually refers to that era, but us in Sweden understand that little joke there,
Mark: Yes and if they had been based in LA they would be Steel Panther now!
Mark: As far as the creation of the music is concerned, we have talked about putting the demo's together and sending them around, do you sort of drop box loads to people or email to people, or do you send to other members of the band and they get back to you online or is there a physical meeting before the album takes place?
Mikael: Exactly what you said there, when we start recording for an album, most of the time i do all the bass tracks at my place i also do most of the keyboard tracks, i make almost the full production here at home, then we add on Perra's drums, Martins guitars, and Mikael is doing his vocals most of the time at Martin's place he also has a full size studio at his place so most of the time he is doing the backing vocals at home and we do the lead vocals at martins place, it is a lot of sending files back and forward so it's not really necessary to gather people all at the same time to make something work, and of course we are living in different cities so it makes it much easier to do it this way.
Mark: We all want to know when that live double header of LUC and Coldspell concert are coming to Australia? How can we make it happen?
Mikael: Me and Micke have actually talked about doing some things together because the logistics of sharing the same drummer will be less stuff to carry around everywhere
Micke: And of course we all play melodic rock in both bands but there is a little difference so it would be a good package.
Mikael: We will see what we can come up with because Coldspell have come more further because we have only done one real live gig as yet, so they have 1-2 years before us in their progression, so our next step will probably try to find some kind of booking agency because it’s pretty hard to book gigs when you haven’t got a booking agency behind you and of course our vocalist is also in another band called 'Secret Service' which is more kind of a pop band so they are almost always over in Russia every second week or so.
Micke: So when do we come to Australia?
Mark: Well i will see if i organize that sea container (laughs)
Mark: Just one more question from me and it's the easiest question you will get asked all night, what is the meaning of life?
Micke: 42!
Mark: (laughs) you're the 42nd person who have said that to me, so you gotta come up with something different, we have all seen Hitchhikers (Guide to the Galaxy).
Mikael: The meaning of life, spend as much time as you can without hurting anyone else, take care of each other, life is short and do the best you can because we are living on borrowed time
Micke: The meaning of life for me is to be alive and focus on the positive things in life, like we used to say, we are to old not to have fun and not to enjoy life
Paul: My final question is to you both, if there is one album in history that you could have been a part in the recording and making of, what would that album be?
Micke: Ahhh it's gotta be 'Rainbow Rising!'
Mikael: I think for me it has to be 'Operation Mindcrime!' I think that one is an epic master piece!
Mark: That’s a good one! I was the last person to interview Geoff Tate before he quit/was asked to leave the band. An all-time classic!
Paul: It’s surprising when we ask that question what responses we get, i interviewed one of the ghouls from 'Ghost' i asked him the same question and their album he came back with quite shocked me, it was 'Thriller' by Michael Jackson, i thought, 'wow that was bit of an odd one!'
The Rockpit: Anyway, we would like to thank you both for taking the time to have this chat with us it’s been great and fun! We have been like one big family! (laughs) and we could carry on all night chatting to you guys! It means so much when people go out of their way, like you guys have done tonight and we will make sure we do something special for you!
Micke/Mikael: It’s been a pleasure chatting to you all at the Rockpit! You all enjoy your day and keep in touch!
Mikael and Michael spoke to The Rockpit in November 2014 |