Good Things Festival like so many of the large festivals that happen around the globe always have hidden gems in their line up’s. The bands that you may not know. Swedish alternative metalcore outfit, Imminence are one of those bands. They have a unique sound to them. Combining metalcore with classical violins Andrew Slaidins had to know more.
Slaids sat down with Imminence frontman/violinist Eddie Berg to find out more about the band and how their most recent USA tour has taken the bands profile to the next level.
Andrew : Eddie welcome to Australia and welcome to The Rockpit.
Eddie : Thank you.
Andrew : It’s exciting to hear that you guys are finally heading our way for some live shows as a part of the Good Things Festival.
Eddie : Yeah, it’s really exciting and obviously our first time, so it’s definitely an adventure for us.
Andrew : The band formed in 2009 and have five albums under your name. What’s been the biggest change in the band’s evolution?
Eddie : We’ve had quite a few changes over our career as a band. I feel like our sophomore album was definitely a big step. It was a new direction for us and we slowly worked our way back towards our roots with our last album.
Andrew : Absolutely. Being such a diverse front man, being a violinist and a vocalist, what influenced you and what made you realise this is something different that we can offer the world and create something that’s going to take people by surprise.
Eddie : That’s the hard thing because I was never really listening to metal bands with violin. I was brought up with classical music and it was always there as something that I could do.
We had like some string arrangements on our debut album, but I never really felt like it was a lead instrument for me or that I was a capable enough violin player in that sense. Around the time we started writing our third album we had one of the songs that really kicked it off, that song was ‘Infectious’ and it almost was like instinctual with this bridge part of the song. I could just hear a melody that would be really cool to put a violin in as the lead instrument. Everyone loved it, and you know we felt, okay, this is maybe something we can really work with.
Andrew : In what you’ve just said this year’s album “The Black” just seems to have elevated the band to a new level. There’s something that I find really honest in that record. The two albums before almost felt overproduced in some ways. This seems to be more of a coming of age more organic record. Would you agree with that?
Eddie : Yeah. We definitely did evolve as songwriters. I feel like there’s a learning process with each and every record. With “The Black” I felt that we had become confident enough to know when to hit full throttle and when to pull back on the songs.
Andrew : I think the light and shade that you’re able to deliver within a single song is also remarkable.
Late last year things really started to take off for the band. It saw the first tour to the USA and it had an amazing reaction and results in the tour selling out in 48 hours. It seems as though there was just an explosion of the bands profile. Was that something that took you guys by surprise?
Eddie : Yeah, it absolutely was. We’ve been a band for such a long time and we started touring Europe in 2014. We’ve only ever toured in Europe and obviously it was a long-term dream for us to get to different continents and explore the world through the band. I think that touring the USA was that first international goal we had because it felt like the most accessible in that way. No one really believed in us enough to make that happen. We had some offers as an opening band on a five band bill, things like that on small club shows and we just felt that kind of tour didn’t feel right to do. Coming from being a DIY touring band, we told our agent that and asked can we just please book a week of shows. Let’s just book a week of small clubs on the East Coast of America and let’s see what happens. If we go there and we lose some money, then we are willing to take that risk. We want to take that step and see where we are. Obviously, it was such a success in selling out those clubs that we were able to upgrade the venues. Actually, going over there and to do those dates we played the biggest headline shows of our career, so it did really take us by surprise how massive the support for us was over there. It opened up so many new opportunities for us also as a touring band that we can be on the road more because we have more places to play.
Andrew : You mentioned being a DIY band. When you say that, is that something where as a band you’ve gone in and backed yourselves from the beginning? How important was it to find the right people, the right agents to book you, to take these leaps of faith as I could imagine they would have been. It all has to start with having your own visions then finding someone that sees those goals the same way. Is having that kind of control over your own career, something that’s important to you?
Eddie : We started out that way, we booked our own tours, we recorded our own music videos. We did so many things on our own and as the band grew, we found partners and people that we trust, that we chose to hand over some responsibilities to. Because of our background and how we started, we’re still very heavily involved in the whole process and the whole decision making. It’s not completely handing over the reins. It’s more like having the help that we need as a band for where we are at this point in our career.
Andrew : At what stage did Australia become a part of the discussion as the next area to look at tackling
Eddie : You look at certain markets and you talk to your team and you’re like, yeah, it would be great to have this happening here or there. It’s never really a reality until an opportunity comes knocking. We got the offer from Good Things and we thought this is a perfect way to start in Australia. We know when it comes to us, it’s one thing to take that risk, but I would say it would be an even bigger risk to do this on our own. Going to Australia and just doing a couple of headline shows could potentially be a massive financial burden. Doing it alone you wouldn’t have the guarantees it would be one hundred percent self-funded. I feel like this is a very good way for us to test the waters and see what kind of family we have in Australia.
Andrew : On the back of that US tour, did that have an impact on the band and the band’s popularity and awareness back in Europe?
Eddie : I feel like it had a very big impact. We hadn’t been on a headline tour in Europe for almost two and a half years. We knew that a lot of people were waiting for us to come back to Europe. I think that with the USA being the success it was and all of the positive things that come out of those USA shows it made people excited and really excited for this tour we are about to start
Andrew : What’s the biggest show that you guys have done to date?
Eddie : We have done some pretty big festivals, so of course it’s festivals. You play in front of tens of thousands of people. But the biggest headlining show we’ve done to date would be either Worcester or Anaheim in the USA. Coming back to Europe and seeing how the upcoming shows are selling we can already say that we’re going top those ones and it feels amazing. It has to be a good thing.
Andrew : How extensive is the upcoming European tour? Will that take you pretty much up to December where we see you here in Australia?
Eddie : We will be out on tour for a month, through all of October. Then we will be home for about a month before we head out to Australia.
Andrew : For those that haven’t seen you or haven’t experienced Imminence live, how would you best describe an Imminence show?
Eddie : That’s a good question because I’d say I’m on the wrong side to say how it feels to experience an Imminence show. I do feel like we have, we have something special and I have something diverse that we can offer as a band. It’s a little bit hard to say.
Andrew : What do you hope the fans take away from seeing an Imminence show?
Eddie : I hope they will be amazed and feel the passion that we bring on stage. I can say from experience in meeting people that prior to seeing us live maybe weren’t fans but had heard of us. Whether it’s industry people or someone just checking out a live band. When you meet them after the show and they’re completely mind blown, that is a really amazing reaction to receive about show. We do our best to try to deliver that feeling every time.
Andrew : I think as you also know the beauty of playing festivals like Good Things is the exposure you get. The opportunities to chat to media and spread the word. In some ways if hadn’t it have been for this interview, I don’t think I would have dug as deep as I have into the history of the band. I would however have made damn sure that I saw you guys at Good Things. It’s like, right, there’s a band on this bill that I haven’t seen. I need to check them out. You are a hundred percent right in what you said before about festivals, giving you that, that exposure. On my list of bands to checkout at Good Things you guys were one of them. I’ve got to say that I’m really impressed with what I have heard from “The Black” record.
Eddie : I really appreciate hearing that.
Andrew : When the opportunity got presented to interview you guys I was all in, I’m curious to know more. I know your schedule is pretty tight, I really do want to thank you for your time today. I’m looking forward to seeing you guys at the Melbourne Good Things show.
Until then travel safe and have an amazing European tour. We will see you soon in Australia.
Eddie : Thank you, we’re so excited to finally get there. Bye for now.
Massive thanks to Dallas Does PR for the access.
