DIRTY PASSION
Questions asked by Jon Wilde, added to Rock Realms 15th February 2011.
Dirty Passion is a Swedish, Malmö based rock band formed in 2006. With a new album "Different Tomorrow" out in the last month or two, now seemed like a good time to have a chat with 'em.
Singer Emil Ekbladh answers questions...
Hi Emil, thanks for taking a moment to answer these questions. Hope you are well?
Emil: Hi! Everything's great! Good to be here.
What’s the history behind Dirty Passion? How did the band form, and what’s the background of the various members?
Emil: We met in late 2006 to form a great classic rock band. Markus Winberg (drums), Christopher Olsson (guitar) and Björn Wilander (bass) had played together previously but they never found a suitable singer. I guess they decided to give it one final shot and I came into the picture. Once we played together everything just fell into place - we knew this was it - so I left my old band that was going nowhere.
Who were the early influences? Do you all have similar listening tastes?
Emil: We listen to pretty much the same kind of music but to a lot of different bands. We have a great number of favourite bands in common but we all have our own individual favourites as well. That's cool because we bring a lot of different influences into the band. It would be fair to say that we listen to everything from the earliest rock 'n' roll right on up to some of today's great rock bands. Kiss, Guns 'n' Roses, Europe and Backyard Babies are some of my favourites that I find inspiration from.
Did you know what sort of sound Dirty Passion was destined to have at the start, or has it developed a lot since you began?
Emil: I believe that from the first time we played "Stand Up" (which was the first song we wrote) we knew what our sound would be like. Over the years we've evolved a bit and we try not to limit ourselves too much, but I'd definitely say we've found our sound - we did right away.
How would you describe your sound to somebody who hadn’t heard you before?
Emil: I hear people describe us in so many different ways every day. To me, we're basically classic hard rock. We're melodic and catchy but still raw.
How has your local music scene helped or hindered the band’s development? Are you able to play “local” shows, or have you always had to travel further afield?
Emil: The local music scene here in Malmö is okay. There are a lot of local bands around but I feel we don't have a lot in common with them. Some bands never make it out of their home town but we're more like, every time we get the chance we escape Malmö and travel to places we've never played before. That makes it more interesting; you get to see new places, meet new people and it's probably the best thing you can do to spread the word about the band. Once in a while we get "local" as well and do a gig or two around here.
Tell us about your debut album “Different Tomorrow” ... How long did it take to write and record? Was the process enjoyable, hard work, or a combination thereof? Where did the title come from? Give us details!
Emil: After four years of rockin' and rollin' we realized there was one thing missing; an album. We had done just about everything but putting an album out and people started to ask for it. We booked the recording studio some months ahead and started writing a bunch of new songs. We already had a lot of good song material but we wanted to make an album that was mainly built up on new stuff that had never been recorded before. We finally chose to include seven new songs and to re-record three old demo tracks for the album. I think the last songs we wrote were "1,000,000 Voices" and "Selling Your Soul" and they were finished right before we entered the studio.
In October 2010 we locked ourselves into Berno Studio in Malmö and recorded the album during three weeks. We worked with Berno Paulsson who has recorded more than 400 albums with several great bands and he is kind of old fashioned when it comes to recording. Although everything was digitally recorded with computers, he used a lot of analog equipment from the eighties to process the sound. He has these cool vintage delays and stuff that gives you a kind of unique and warm sound. It fitted our music perfectly!
The title "Different Tomorrow" comes from the song with the same name. We had some different ideas for a name of the album and we were actually gonna go with another one at first... until we realized "Different Tomorrow" was the perfect name. "Different Tomorrow" is our way of looking at the future, believing that you can make a difference. It's your choice if tomorrow's gonna be different or not.
We're really happy with the album and we've gotten a lot of great reviews and features in magazines. We just recorded a promo video for "1,000,000 Voices" which will be out soon and "Different Tomorrow" is right now at #4 on the Swedish hard rock charts. Thank YOU for buying (and not downloading) it!
How do you go about writing your songs? Talk us through the construction of a typical track...
Emil: We usually start out with a good guitar riff. That's where everything begins. Once we have some form of structure we add vocals. We often start with a good melody before coming up with the lyrics, but sometimes it's the other way around. Finally bass and drums are added and all the way through the process the song evolves into something you couldn't have imagined when you started out. Usually for the better, of course. Some days it's impossible to write and other days you find the inspiration and everything just comes to you.
Where do you look for your lyrical and musical writing ideas?
Emil: I find my inspiration in everyday life. I write about feelings and emotions and stuff I go through. I'm not very different from anyone else so I think most people can relate to what I sing about. I go through the same shit as you all do...
Is there a story/theme running through the songs, or is it more a collection of standalone moments?
Emil: Both. I would say that all songs do have kind of a specific story but many of them are built up on standalone moments. It actually kind of hard to describe. Sometimes the lyrics mean something particular to me and something totally different to another one. As long as it means something to someone that's alright.
Do you do anything special or unusual in the studio to get your sound?
Emil: As I told you before, we used a lot of vintage equipment when recording the album. Other than that we use our own personal gear to get the sound we want. Christopher plays mainly Gibson Les Paul Customs to get that perfect thick guitar sound. He has a bunch of them and everyone has its unique sound, so he can choose the right guitar for the job on each song. He has some Marshall JCM800 amps that sound great and a modified Marshall MK2 that used to belong to Nicke Borg from Backyard Babies. That amp is amazing! Björn plays a Thunderbird bass through an Ampeg amp, but for the album we found an old vintage tube amp with a really heavy and fuzzy sound. We couldn't resist it... Markus has his old Pearl drum kit and I... I don't even know what microphone was used when recording my vocal. Live, I use Shure Beta 58A's. They have a sharp edgy sound that fits my voice good. There's a lot more than just the instrument you use that will affect the sound when recording and in the end I think we found the right sound for our band in the studio. It's pretty raw and in-your-face - just the way we like it. Not too polished.
What pieces of equipment couldn’t you live without?
Emil: My custom made aluminium microphone stand and of course my wireless Shure mic (but that's pretty obvious).
Are there any particular tracks you rate highly, or is it all brilliant?
Emil: It's all brilliant. I truly believe so. If a song wasn't good enough it sure wouldn't be on the album. We would much rather cut the slack and make an eight track album instead of a ten track if we thought a couple of the songs weren't up to par. I do, however, have my personal favourites and stand-outs. I personally consider "1,000,000 Voices" the best song on the album along with "Selling Your Soul". It's funny, 'cause in all the reviews I read the writers have different opinions on which songs are the best. I think that's a good sign and it makes us confident we chose the right songs for the album. It's supposed to be hard to pick your favourite!
Do you enjoy the whole studio/creative experience, or do you prefer getting up on the live stage?
Emil: I prefer the live environment 'cause everything's a bit more crazy and loose. I love being onstage and communicating with the audience through the words I sing. I love to meet the people who are inspired by us. That's the ultimate compliment. That being said, I still love to go to the studio on a daily basis and work on songs and record with the band. It beats the hell out of any day job you can have.
What is one of your live shows like? What should fans expect from one of your performances?
Emil: That's a question people always ask us. I'd like to say "don't expect too much and don't take it too seriously, it's just rock 'n' roll", but people do have high expectations and we always make sure we live up to them. When we enter the stage it's like we unleash a beast within ourselves that can't be stopped until your eyes are blinded and your ears are bleeding! We have a lot of live experience; we've played well over 100 shows in all of Europe when most bands on our level with one album out still play the local pub.
Talk us through your existing touring plans, and how you plan to promote the LP...
Emil: We're currently negotiating to go on tour with some larger bands but nothing is decided at the moment. We've got a couple of gigs coming up in Sweden and possibly in Norway too. We'll see what happens. As I said before, we've recently shot a promo video for "1,000,000 Voices" which will be out soon. Hopefully that will bring some light on the band. We're also featured in the upcoming issue of Sweden Rock Magazine, the largest rock magazine in Scandinavia. We do our best to get noticed.
What have been the highlights and lowlights of your musical lives so far?
Emil: The release of our debut album is one of the greatest highlights of course, and seeing it climb the charts is really cool. We're on the album sales top ten list in Sweden (category Hard Rock) for the fourth week now. Touring Europe with Faster Pussycat and Enuff Z'Nuff last year was another highlight. That was really wild and crazy!
As for the lowlights I try not to remember those but I'm sure we've experienced some. The music business is so fucked up and there are so many crooks trying to make a fortune on young, desperate and inexperienced bands. I think we've been lucky and sober enough to avoid most of the potential lowlights that many bands have to go through. We've also been through this shit in previous bands so we've learned a lot. It's so easy to get ripped off by industry people if you don't watch your back. We've gone our own way and found ourselves a really good record label. They hardly exist today so as I said; we've been lucky. We've never been desperate and that have helped us a lot.
Thanks for the interview! Visit us on our website http://www.dirtypassion.net/ and check our album Different Tomorrow out - you won't be disappointed!
Thanks again to Emil for his time.
http://www.myspace.com/dirtypassionswe
http://www.facebook.com/pages/DIRTY-PASSION/119133864777030
