By the dark hearts of my kind
Kategori: Allmänt
Tja!
The Getaway Rock Festival and the very live premiere of The Unguided on 7/7 was a glorious event indeed! It was utterly grand to share the stage with Roland again for the first time since 2009. It was equally beautiful to once again rock out with my brother and good ol’ John (even if it has only been roughly half a year since our last endeavours together.) I also give a warm heartily welcome to our new friend, Henric Carlsson, on board to the unguided live machinery, who perfectly kept them low frequencies at bay with surgical precision. GOOD JOB TEAM!
The Unguided LIVE machine
The Unguided GRF 7/7 LIVE Setup:
Richard Sjunnesson – Harsh Vocals
Roger Sjunnesson – Guitars
Roland Johansson – Clean Vocals / Guitars
Henric Carlsson – Bass
John Bengtsson – Drums
The Unguided Tour manager <3
The Unguided GRF 7/7 LIVE Set list:
Pathfinder
Phoenix Down (New unreleased song)
Serenade of Guilt (New unreleased song)
Betrayer of the Code
Iceheart Fragment (New unreleased song)
Green Eyed Demon
Inherit the Earth (Fallen Angels revisited unreleased song)
Photo by: Soile Siirtola
On three occasions we found the time to rehearse for the gig. Something that obviously became even more stressful with the recent events and the hysterical writing of three new songs. I won’t lie; the gig was 45 minutes of panic blended with chaos. But we made it through, even if twice as many rehearsals would have been in its place. We, indeed, ran into some errors that will be addressed and eliminated at upcoming gigs, so it was an extremely useful experience. And arrangement-wise from the festival it was flawless! Everything was very pleasant and convenient for the band. I’d like to thank Jonas Kjellgren who did the FOH sound for us, Getaway Rock Festival, and Tomas Jernberg for giving us the slot (Alexi Front for helping us out with that as well!), The 616 army for defending the front row, our live crew, and those who helped us out practically before, during and after the show, 2k2bt for dressing our asses in the latest thing, and of course everyone at the festival that checked the gig out. YOU GUYS ROCK!
Photo by: Soile Siirtola
Photo by: Soile Siirtola
Photo by: Soile Siirtola
Photo by: Soile Siirtola
Photo by: Andreas Carlsson
Photo by: Soile Siirtola
Photo by: Soile Siirtola
Photo by: One of the 616
Photo by: Andreas Carlsson
Let me do a little resume of my festival experience, seeing that it was the first festival in my life I stayed for more than one day to actually experience as a civilian:
Getaway Rock Festival Day I (7/7):
Ella and I got up crazy o’ clock for our trip from Stockholm to Gävle, trying our best to avoid the morning rush hour. Gentlemanly, I made her the designated driver. I was the designated drinker obviously since I had to memorize some lyrics before the gig, and the two hour drive would be a perfect time for this. In Gävle, I was meeting up with our giant friend Magnus who generously had offered us roof over our heads during the entire festival.
Designated driver
The ride there was smooth! I spent more time sleeping than looking at lyrics, however. We met up with the giant and got the key to his apartment. Apparently, he had sorted the master bedroom for us as well, which was blatantly not necessary, but still much appreciated. He drove us to the festival area where we picked up our AAA passes, handed in the merchandise and reported in our arrival to the stage manager.
The Giant 2008
Bandit Rock Stage, about to get destroyed
I was there safe and sound, and in time for once, but my fellow band members were nowhere to be found. They were travelling from Pärbly to Gävle to gather our sound guy, Jonas Kjellgren. This was apparently more of a mission than they had expected. The night before Jonas and the Raubtier guys had done Ludivka and tried to break the world record in White Russian drinking—something they obviously succeeded with. So Jonas refused to leave before 08:00. Load in for us was at 10:00, Showtime at 12:15 and the drive from Pärlby to Gävle was about three hours with a trailer. Something didn’t quite rhyme here!
In a nice manner, I prepared the stage manager for the situation, but systematically left out the part with a drunken sound guy, hehe. It was starting to feel somewhat stressful, but eventually they showed up with band and entourage intact. Jonas (still drunk) began to raise hell immediately in his own effective way—kicking up dust and sorting everything just in time for the show.
The arrival
Loading out
"Helping out"
Kicking up dust
The chauffeur dad and TM Ella
Jonas charging Roland prenocephale style
Stage perspective
Hooking up the bass with the iPhone? Good thinking!
"Nice premiere weather!"
Adjusting monitor sound
The Pick of Destiny
Rogeo opening Pandora's box
"Where does the cooling water go?"
Manly brothers
Some final very crucial tweaks
The show went well! Beautiful weather and nice turn out even if we played shamelessly early. Ran into some problems with the wireless systems for Roland and Henric, spiced with a few musical errors from everyone. The last song was a disaster when it came to backtrack alignment but other than that it was a pretty… well? Even terror experience!? Guess you always kind of take that into account when we’re dealing with a premiere. For the second song “Phoenix Down,” we finished the vocals one day before the gig, so that was interesting. It was extremely good to see the entire front row consisted of people in “I’m one of the 616” shirts, beautifully done! (Special thanks to the people that travelled far and even from other countries to attend.) It was like the seven songs we played were almost over before it started, and after the show everything just felt a bit surreal. Have to say; to go on the virgin voyage with The Unguided and actually find our way back in to the port again, after a lot of weeks of stress, some drama and the extremely intense last week, freed us all from a lot of tension when it was finally done. So, after the gig it was time for something we’re really good at; celebrations!
The Unguided Army at the front line
Fluid inspection
Jonas on Fire
Celebrations
Passion...
...resulting in a twin-tattoo and possible lovechild?
We had our dressing room next to the Papa Roach guys, so we traded some supplies between our band riders to get us all set and then we all could just solely attend to our beers and whiskey. I, however, got myself some Evergrey action after our set. Spent most of the time in the VIP bar or in the Monster tent outside the festival with old friends during the day, but also got to see our label colleagues Rocknroll allstars tearing up the Gasklockan stage.
Yankee neighbours
Evergrey
Rocknroll allstars
Swedenmetal interview
Monster business
Ella generously bought us a uniform love gift! More precisely, two “Dark Funeral” necklaces. She noticed I eyed it out the entire day and gave it to me as a surprise, now how sweet isn’t she?
I'm digging the Christian cross & Dark Funeral pentagram combo
Other bands I checked out the first day were good ol’ Blowsight, Turisas, Papa Roach, Bullet for my Valentine, and finally Alice Cooper. Have to admit Alice Cooper kind of blew everything that day out of the water. I mean who can measure oneself against; impalement, decapitation, a 15ft tall monster and ehm.. colourful balloons?
Blowsight
Turisas
Papa Roach
BFMV
Alice Cooper
15ft tall monster
After Cooper, we retired to the giant’s lair to get some well deserved sleep after what seemed to be a never-ending day.
Lucky throw on the way home
Safley and happy back in the giant's mound
Getaway Rock Festival Day II (8/7):
Woke up and tried to shake my headache off. The giant had gone up early to hunt breakfast for us and make coffee (nicest giant ever!) We feasted on the prey and then came to realize we got some heavy rain coming in today. I hate rain. I hate rain so much I once bailed to watch Metallica (for the first time) because of it… But there was NOTHING standing in my way of the giant’s lair and Heaven Shall Burn this wet day. I got myself into a trusty hooded shirt and shielded my face from the moisture before we rushed out in the rain.
Dresscode day II: Unguided
A StarWars character?
When we arrived at the festival area they just began to play “Endzeit,” which is my favourite song from them, and the weather was becoming more stable. The gig was fucking mental!
HSB
Festival area
Before we retired to our home from home (VIP bar) I also caught a song by Sonata Arctica, which were my youth heroes. Felt a bit nostalgic, must been at least a decade since I last saw them. At the VIP bar again we rendezvoused with Andreas Bergh who honoured the festival with his presence, solely to see Danzig, I believe. I spent bigger parts of this day drinking FrEQuency (Anders Friden and David Mortimer-Hawkins new beer series) which was a glorious experience for both body and soul.
Sonata Arctica
Whip!
FrEQuency IPA
Drunk on ale, I got to watch Amorphis, which was something I had really looked forward to. I have not yet laid my hands on the latest album, but “Skyforger” is a masterpiece! Good performance. As far as I recall, no one got injured due to head banging with vicious dreadlocks either, which is fortunate.
Amorphis
Being political
Last band we saw that evening was Danzig. It looked like Glenn recovered well from this. But he could still possibly rank in as the angriest person alive. With his stage entrance, he instantly raged at the monitors, kicking and falcon punching them. Then Glenn swiftly turned to the monitor guy, in all his rage and made various; “I WILL KILL YOU” signs. Very entertaining, I must admit. The stage hands nervously removed the monitors altogether (but spared the monitor guys life, thank god.) and then Glenn was all happy and the show continued. During the song “Mother,” I called my own mom, so she could take part of the concert via my cell phone. She was very confused. “Tell your children not to walk my way.”
Danzig
Straight after the Danzig show there was really nothing I wanted to see that evening (The Darkness.. meh?) except possibly “Pleasure to Kill” with Kreator. So we ventured to the Monster Tent again and stayed their bigger parts of the evening, hanging out with friends and forging future plans. After getting ourselves uniform new glasses, some free burgers and beer, we relocated to the VIP bar, which was our permanent starting position during the weekend. We got ourselves even more FrEQuency (Good job, Anders!) and when we later looked up, we realized our party was the only people left in the area, and the sun was well on its way up. We decided to call it a wrap and take a cab back to the giant’s mound.
The Unguided Monster
Babsan
A happy giant with his tiny, tiny beer
Uniform glasses
Mushas Metal Ted
Last men standing in the VIP Bar
The Kings of Metal, coming to town
Getaway Rock Festival Day III (8/7):
I started the day shaking off yet another hangover. There was nothing on the festival I was really itching to see until 16:45, when Scar Symmetry was to destroy the Gasklockan stage. We decided to chill in the giant’s mound a while before that, tearing some carefully selected music for the neighbours instead. Only big achievement I did before popping the first beer was to collect The Unguided merchandise from the festival, with my car whilst it was still legal to drive. I came across The Poodles briefly crossing the festival area. That was a horrid experience indeed, but I’ll survive.
Before Scar Symmetry, we warmed up in the sun with beer in the good company of Andreas, his girlfriend, Per & Buffalo from Raubtier, Soile and Takashi (who had travelled all the way from Hiroshima to be on the festival!!! And I thought the west coast of Sweden was far away from Gävle hehe). Good times!
Good times, with equally good people
Buffalo and Elin
Hulkoff where in a good mood ;)
Soile was there taking care of hear advanced weaponary
If I had this tattoo dad, would you be proud of me? WOULD YOU!?
Spreadin love
Scar Symmetry was awesome! A bit misplaced, in my opinion, seeing that Gasklockan stage was so stuffed with people they had to close the doors and there was a huge line waiting outside. I’d say they could have swapped with Adept on the Bandit stage, who went on stage at the same time. Then again, that’s a band I’ve never really been bothered with, so maybe I’m not neutral.
Scar Symmetry
We got your covered here by the FOH Jonas!
Takashi headbanged to much on the gig...
Devil horns and... the gun?
After Scar Symmetry it was time for another highlight. And probably what I’ve been looking forward to most on the festival; Dia Psalma! This band is where my eternal childhood legends began, and this was the first time I came across them live. It was magical! A friggin hit parade from “Gryningstid”, just like I so much had hoped for. It was like I was thinking for myself what song would have been awesome to hear and, BAAAAAAM, it was what they played next basically. Best gig ever, my head was overloaded with nostalgia!
Dia Psalma
Dia Psalma
The giant flexing his Sonic tattoo
Leonardo and April O'Neil on location
Late the second day it was announced that next year’s headliners on Getaway would be Manowar. That means you’ll see my ass there next year as well. To represent Ella and I bought Manowar merchandise for the last festival day. Hail & Kill!!!
"Grinding their bones into the dust of the past"
Hail & Kill
"Their blood is our seal"
Hanging out with the general
Hadouken!
Crystalball
We kind of took an early night the last day since we were driving home early the day after. But I got a glimpse of Accept and Entombed as well before we retired, which was all cool. All together, it was an awesome festival and I’ll definitely be back next year.
See you next year. For the Black wind, Fire and Steel!!!
Entombed
Drove by Takashi's house on the way home
Here’s the new stuff I obtained at the festival:
1. Necklace: Dark Funeral Pentagram
2. Glasses: Very fashionable
3. T-shirt: Manowar shirt
4: Music: Pain - You Only Live Twice and Arch Enemy - Khaos Legions
5: Action figure: Didn't by it on the festival, but still... NEW!
There have been a lot of questions about “Betrayer of the Code,” since the single release, and I’ll address some of them here, and others in the Q&A section. BOTC is indeed a revisited Fallen Angels song, which was originally written back in 2002. It has been rewritten and heavily refined. The lyrics back then were written after the movie “Queen of the Damned.” However, for the new version I kind of rewrote all the lyrics and based them after the book (with the same name) by Anne Rice. The artwork for the single was made by the Spanish artist, J.A.Aranguren, who has made a comeback just recently, after a few years away from art. He’s the same artist that did the illustrations for Sonic Syndicate’s “Eden Fire” and Fallen Angels demo “Extinction”, he also did the layout design of the jewel case version of “Nightmareland”.
Signing posters for the Betrayer Package
I’d like to thank everyone that did an excellent job with this single release! The first couple of days the single bombed in on iTunes – Sweden at position: 8. Breathing Veronica Maggio heavily in the neck! And it hit position: 1 on the ROCK chart, which is amazing. The Betrayer package (New shirt, signed posted + MP3) did really well and is now sold out, and you should have received them as I write this or in the coming days. Thank you so much for the support! It’s starting to look really good for the album recording.
Excellent job everyone!
The Betrayer Package SOLD OUT!!!
The song also made its way to Spotify. If anyone missed out on it still, you can find it here. Roger and I did an interview at Wake-up here in Falkenberg, which is tied to the single release. Roger also did a Crank It Up blog (In Swedish) regarding the single, Getaway gig, and his recent Egypt trip (Coincidence that we released a song with lyrical origins in ancient Egypt and Roger spends his vacation there? Of course not!) Check it out here.
Roger getting himself some durka-durka action in Egypt
Radio Wake-up interview
In between two beers, Roger and I also did a interview with Swedenmetal.se at Getaway Rock festival. Check it out here (Swedish).
Question?
The insanely skilled WOW player Adouken (Warlock) released his new video Adouken 3 including “Pathfinder” in it. I got almost 200k views as we speak, check his mad ass out here. After watching the initial rogue gangbang, I have to admit I’m ashamed of playing the same class… Thanks for the promotion, Adouken!
R.I.P Rogues :,(
There has been a new tattoo champion again in Cameron Marshall, who tattooed the three solar symbols from “Eden Fire”, and “Nightmareland”. Looks very sweet! This is the very first of this particular tattoo I have seen. How does it feel to be a pioneer? He got rewarded with a rank on the forum and his very own @the-unguided.com mail, congratulations!
Cameron, Champhion of the Unguided Army
There’s also a crazy fan from the other side of the pond that crafted his very own The Unguided belt buckle! So on King Leonidas profession question Max Hacker from Canada can confidently answer; I’m a blacksmith! Good work, I’ll try not to blame Canada anymore.
Skillfully done
In camp Faithful Darkness there has been stuff going on as well in the progress towards “Black Mirror’s Reflection.” In our recent drum recording session in The Abyss with Jonas Kjellgren, the mentally handicapped drummer, Jocke, nailed 12 melodic death metal songs in 4(!!!) hours. Everyone was utterly amazed and we came to the conclusion it must be his hereditary retardation that made it even physically possible. Nevertheless, very impressive! I was suppose to scream in the vocals for the album after the Getaway weekend in The Abyss but Jonas was busy with his country side project “Bourbon Boys,” which he has started together with the Raubtier dudes. Sounds very promising! We’ll reschedule the vocal recording to later in time. If you want to view the upcoming artwork for “Black Mirrors reflection” you can check it out at www.faithfuldarkness.com. Also, be sure to not miss the upcoming gig at Helsingborgsfestivalen (29/7). Check the event out here for further information.
Touched down in our home from home Pärlby once again
Setting up drums
Always present in Pärlby
"Helping out"
Done!
Pregnant with Ella's face
Mice that shit up
Recording supervisor
Killing spree
Done for the day, Good job Jocke!
I’d also like to take the opportunity to thank 2k2bt clothing for dressing us up at the Getaway gig. Before the clothes arrived, we were basically naked! Now we can walk the streets of Falkenberg again without being charged for disorderly conduct. Thank you very much 2k2bt! Still here? Go in and like their Facebook page!
"This is 2k2bt!!!"
I got to watch the new Transformers movie the other day. I was well impressed! Dark of the Moon crushed Revenge of the Fallen without doubt. Didn’t miss Megan Fox what so ever, even though Rosie’s character was awfully uninteresting. But then again that’s easy for me to say when my own girlfriend is hotter than both. What I did miss however was the absence of Dinobots!? Why couldn’t they realize what’s best for them and just introduce them already? Sorry for the ending spoiler on Facebook, I was just impulsive, hehe.
I want to see Ella in Transformers 4 and Dinobots, make it happen!
Other than this we’re just having “Imaginations through the Looking Glass” DVD running in the background at home everyday to get in the right state of mind for Tuska Open Air and Blind Guardian. We’ve also worked our way through all the Alien movies, Predator 1&2, both AVP and Predators to warm-up for next years most anticipated movie Prometheus (prequel to the original Alien from 1979) and also to give my love some necessary sci-fi education. We’ll move on to StarWars next, I’m the best boyfriend ever.
AvP
Q&A XX:
Send your questions to: [email protected]
Q: What has happened at UnguidedTV? Latest new video are 3 months behind and I want to see what kind of stuff you have done throughout the spring :P. The main issue is when we can se a new unguided videos? Hopefully you understand my question and we (I) see new video tomorrow :P.
A: Good question! What happened to it? Well Robin happened... Since his little power play, I’ve not been able to focus on anything else than writing, pre-prod and rehearsing new songs. I’ll revisit the idea after the Getaway gig.
Q: Will you release any new The Unguided songs on Getaway?
A: We will play new songs, yes. However, we won’t officially release any new material. That is, if you don’t count amateur video footage of live songs as some kind of release. They can be watched at YouTube. I believe a lot will change on the songs before the final production, however.
Q: Do you enjoy the euphoria of waking up one day and thinking about all the support of your fans?
A: When I’ll eventually wake up, I’ll consider this. Honestly, I love my fans and their immense support and I show it to them everyday interacting back as much as possible. Rewarding them with hearts and such! Here; you have a heart too <3
Support
Q: How talented do you think your fans are? Scale of 1-10.
A: Depends! I think fans that after several months of answering questions in this blog, still can find qualified, unique and interesting inquiries are definitely 10. People that misuse my generosity and in their utter laziness just slap questions on me that have been answered a million times (if not more) before I’ll rate as 1.
Q: The Unguided Army is yours to command....if tacos were in danger...would you embark will a substantial force to rescue tacos?
A: All tacos must be saved; human loss is a sacrifice I’m willing to take. Pizza Must Fall!
Q: If you were granted the power to freeze time and do as you willed, what do you think you would do?
A: Make Robin sign the contract by forcing his frozen hand, and probably replace his frozen heart while I’m at it.
"Sign here, here and here."
Q: Ever had stage fright?
A: No.
Q: I've started screaming a little bit and I've recorded a cover of song by Parkway drive. If I uploaded it to YouTube would you be able to critique it? I understand if you don’t have the time but I would really appreciate some top advice from a boss such as yourself.
A: Sure, mail me the address and I’ll humiliate you in the next Q&A.
Q: Do you have any tips on how you prepare your voice for screaming and how you protect it?
A: This question was addressed in this blogs FAQ.
Q: Some people including me thinks that Sonic Syndicate(Old) was one of the creators of Modern Melodic Death Metal. What is your comment about this? Do you agree?? xD
A: That was the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. We never invented anything, we just copied what was already there, and did it better, hehe. Modern Melodic Death Metal… These stupid boxes drive me crazy, is there even storage space for them all!? Must certainly be a fulltime job to figure out silly names of sub genres, and if I ever met the guy in charge I’d fire him. Fire him with fire... AND ICE!
Attack!
Q: Isn’t it true that you live in Falkenberg? If so.. I’ve just been at vacation.. In Sjönevad.. really close to Falkenberg.. Just wanted to know if you have been in/at Sjönevad! If you have.. I'd be happy to say I have been at same place as you.
A: I’ve been in Sjönevad plenty. There’s an annual fair going on there where I regularly visited when I grew up. Haven’t been to the fair in a couple of years now though, but I drive through Sjönevad every time I visit my grandma and uncle. In the Sjönevad crossing, I even wrote an autograph to a cop that stopped me for a breath test, apparently he was a huge Only Inhuman fan, hehe.
Q: I don't know why but every time I see a Sonic Syndicate music video that has Roland in it and every time I see the Daily show with Jon Stewart, I don't know why but I get the feeling they're the same people.........maybe it's the face structure or something, but I can't help but say they look alike. What do you think?
A: Hmm I don’t know about that, maybe some facial expressions. But nothing fundamental, from what I see. I’d say the little guy from Despicable Me is more similar! They could be twins.
Roland?
Q: I was looking up some music and I came across an article by metal sucks, now me being the curious person I was decided to see what they thought of Sonic Syndicate. Needless to say the new sonic syndicate was thoroughly bashed, but even the old Sonic Syndicate was torn apart in one of their reviews. They cited sonic syndicate and said the song Hellgate Worcester, (the link here and another one here) was about how the audience booed you off the stage at the Amon Amarth concert.
I mean the way I see it the metal community is divided into factions were on one of the side there's the extremists who only like straight up death metal and any progression towards individuality is met with harsh retaliation, has the metal community always branded metalcore as emo? Or am I simply misinterpreting everything horribly? What’s your experience with this?
On a Side note the logo for the That's Not Metal Website is:
“You are inferior. Your taste in music, the actions you take, and the way you present yourself all make you an inferior person in the eyes of True Heavy Metal. That's Not Metal is here to tell you why, and what you can do to better yourself and grow out of your unmetal ways in the pursuit of achieving True Metal Redemption”
I've only been listening to metal for about two years, but I always thought it was about what appeals to you and not some religious cult convinced to make you see the error of your ways and trying to christen you towards salvation via “True Metal”. Sorry about the long question and my incessant ramblings, but I’m just trying to understand the community a bit better and I thought since you’ve been in the field a while you might be able to provide some insight
A: As always, sad people will be sad. Unfortunately, I can’t give much credit to individuals, or their articles, for that matter, which are based on lies fabricated on their own twisted confined version of reality—which ironically enough, has nothing to do with reality. If they were spiced up with at least a fibre of hard facts I’d be the first to say; bash all you want! Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and freedom of speech to go with it. Sadly there’s not so much of a trace of facts in those articles.
Here are some facts:
We laughed our asses of leaving the stage in Worcester. The only ones embarrassed was the crowd (and the stoned monitor guy, possibly.) Doing a six-week tour with close to no days off, there were maybe two or three gigs that we weren’t appreciated. The rest were fine and we had a great time with Amon Amarth. Now why the song exists was simply for the fact of the peculiar behaviour we got the honour to imbibe that evening. It was exotic to us! Meaning; what happened in Worcester would NEVER happen in Europe. Not saying we have more manners or higher pain thresholds over here to ENDURE the 20 min of “horrible” support-band-music without crying about it, but at least that’s not what we do. We appreciate music; we appreciate the facts there’s hard work going on behind the curtains and that bands travel far to entertain us. Even if we are not down with the music there are very few selected people that would do huge fuzz about it in similar ways. In some cultures this is called humaneness. Feel free to look the word up!
There’s elitist bullshit in every community, and the metal community is not an exception by any means. But let’s face it, metal is not exactly majority. In my book, we should stick together and don’t let the small differences embark us into some kind of ridiculous civil war. There are always bands that bridge people to even harder music. Sonic Syndicate was such a band; the community should be grateful for how bands like that convert people to the right side of the force, instead of some bullshit which-hunt that does nothing but undermine the community, and scare people away from it.
But by all means, let them have their little sexist hate society in peace. They won’t achieve anything worth mentioning in the duration of a lifetime anyway. At least our achievements and hard work took us all around the world, while they were busy jerking off to their 2-channel tape recorders in their mom’s basement. I can understand their jealousy, as we got handpicked by their favourite band to tour with them.
Humaness
Q: Have you ever played a show on playback?
A: We have played two shows sing back. Meaning, the vocals are live, while everything else is play backed. We did it because they wouldn’t let us do the gig fully live hence dB limits. It was the Leipzig Games Convention, and we were the supporting band for the release of Guitar Hero. The year after we played there again and took for granted that it wasn’t the same conditions. So, I guess we were the only band that year that played sing back. Kind of embarrassing but I doubt the crowd noticed much of a difference since we’re tight as your sisters ass anyway!
Q: And what kind of legal copyright issues you three had to pass to remake FA stuff and live perform SS stuff? Did it need only literal permission from the SS team or some kind or official things through label?
A: None. “Fallen Angels – Fall From Heaven” demo does not belong to any label, and is entirely owned by Roger and myself. The SS stuff didn’t work out, as you could see in the last blog. But there was no label permission necessary, only Roland’s license from the band. Roger and I are still free to play Sonic Syndicate songs of course, and still own our share of the rights to them.
Q: My questions are, is there a link between 'Rebellion in Nightmareland' and 'Pathfinder'? Other than the fact that they both use Nightmareland in the lyrics?
A: This was explained in this and this blogs FAQs.
Q: My second question is, how do you come up with the imagery you use in your lyrics? Your style is a great inspiration for mine, but mine never seem to be anywhere near as good.
A: You can read more about this in the FAQ here and here.
Imagination
Q: How do I fix that Unguided badge on my Facebook profile?
A: There’s a few now! Here’s one, here’s another and here’s the brand new BOTC one!
Q: I wait to heard from you about the new In Flames album (I know that today started the sale in Sweden) I heard it today (by an unusual channel) and I like it! My favourite is 'A new dawn' really an atypical song (with a particular fusion of styles)!
A: I like it! It does not touch Clayman, Colony, TJR or RTR but I have to admit, I enjoy it.
Q: I want to know, what do you think about Basshunter? ._.
A: Not my cup of tea when it comes to his music. I have no personal opinion about him since I never met him. My friend dated him, though, and she thinks highly of him, so I have no reason to doubt that he’s a good guy.
Q: And to my little question...Will Roland do any harsh vocals at all in the Unguided?
A: No. There will be differences in sound of The Unguided and Sonic Syndicate. This is one of them. We have decided that he’ll focus on his clean vocals and take good care of them. And I’ll handle all the screaming vocals. We brought it up after Nightmareland, and we both thought it was a good idea.
Q: Awesome news regarding your debut album! And even a new shirt and signed Posters! Sweet! ;)
So now I have the 616 shirt and the new stuff as well, bought two times, shipping and taxes to Germany that makes about 150€ :D I never spent so much for a band before, but let’s face it, I just love you! *g*
A: Only thing certain in life; Death & taxes ;) Thanks for the support, we’re proud to have you in the unguided army!
Death
Q: I know you can't change taxes and shipping costs but promise you guys at least try and get to Germany somehow.. please? We'd love to see you live again :)
A: We’d love to come back to Germany. But logistically, it’s hard. Best shot is a Festival gig offer, I assume, which would have the revenue to bring us in.
Q: The Betrayer of the Code artwork is truly amazing, it reminds me a bit of Eden Fire, does it have any connections? Argh, in other words.. What’s the story behind the picture? The stone thing, the grieving person etc.
A: It portrays the Queen Akasha of Kemet (the stone figure) and the vampire; Lestat de Lioncourt (grieving person). The pyramid and desert is to symbolize Egypt as it’s her origin. Read the book “Queen of the damned” by Anne Rice and it will make more sense. It has no connection with Eden Fire, except it’s the same artist that drew them and there’s the triple solar symbol. Well, thinking about it, I think I gave J.A.Aranguren a reference picture of Akasha back when he was to draw the Eden Fire artwork as well, actually.
Wolfkiller
Q: The Betrayer of the Code made me think of Dimmu Borgir's artwork, any inspiration maybe?
A: Not really, it’s just the style of J.A.Arangurens art that’s similar to their artist stuff.
Q: Is there anything you can tell us about the upcoming album which we doesn't know already? Really, anything! Working titles, official titles, release date, artwork, track listening, name? Or even just a day when you will reveal something more? Super excited!
A: I could answer all these questions, but I rather don’t. I’ll give you an album title / cover artwork / track listing when the Facebook hit 10k fans hehe, WORK IT SOLDIERS!
Q: Will there be a physical version of the Betrayer of the Code single?
A: Not at this point. There are some plans on printing the artwork to the album booklet or have unique artwork for every song. Whether or not it will be doable in the end, I can’t answer at this point. It would be extremely cool if J.A.Aranguren could find the time to do what he did for BOTC for every song on the album, though.
Q: Music video, if there's coming any, what song? BotC, PF or GED? Or maybe a new one?
A: There are plans and we have people in stand-by for this but as of late we haven’t found the time to work the magic, so-to-speak. I think we’ll be focused on unreleased material and push the album with it.
Q: Is Betrayer of the Code more a promotional single, or is it actually the lead single for the upcoming album?
A: It’s a digital promotional single and not the lead single for the upcoming album. We just couldn’t waste that amazing date 2011-06-16, now could we?
Q: Who made the artwork for the upcoming album?
A: Kuang Hong, same guy that did “Nightmareland”. Actually the “Nightmareland” artwork is just a piece of a bigger illustration. Another part of the illustration will be used as the album artwork. Check more of his art here.
.end.of.godliness. by Kuang Hong
Q: Have you heard the new In Flames and Arch Enemy albums? What did you think? I personally think they were both excellent, especially the In Flames album, IMO their best album since Clayman.
A: Answered the In Flames question above, I don’t think it’s the best since Clayman though, that title goes to RTR for me. And I bought Arch Enemy’s album as well, and I dig it a lot! It’s going hot in my car right now.
Q: When you were with Sonic Syndicate, were there ever talks about a live album? Is that something you might do with The Unguided?
A: We actually recorded our show at Summer Breeze 2008 for a live DVD. I think they kind of had the final product for that (and it was quite good!) But Roland informed us that he was to leave early 2009 so the idea got scratched. We never talked about just a live album without any visual rendering.
Q: You mentioned in one blog that there are radio edits of Pathfinder and Green Eyed Demon, is there any way I could listen to them without needing to wait forever and hoping to get a listen to those versions? Any way you would upload them for free download or anything since you aren't "selling" those versions?
A: There’s just a radio edit of PF. But it’s nothing different from it except the solo part and outro is cut out. There’s not any radio edit of GED. I think Bandit Rock play the PF radio version so if you’d like to hear it go to this site and wish for it, and then tune into their web radio!
Q: The red and curved version of the Unguided logo, is that the "new" one, or is it simply another version of it? Witch one is the OFFICIAL and real logo? The one on Nightmareland or BotC?
A: The curved one is J.A.Aranguren’s version of The Unguided logo, and the normal one is Leah Eropkin’s original one. The curved one is not the “new” logo in any sense, it’s simply just a version of it and we’ll use both. They work equally well for different purposes.
Q: when you create your album!? May you open your secret!? And I’ve interested in position of drummer in your band.. .what is his name?!
A: We are creating our album as we speak! John Bengtsson is the drummer for our upcoming live shows.
Q: Is there anywhere that I could buy an HQ download of the new single? Or likewise a place where I could DL where you would get more of a cut? Anyways... guess I'm buying off iTunes soonish, preview sounds great and I'm looking forward to more!
A: Buying our music from iTunes is a great way to support the band! 256 kbps is not enough for you then?
Q: Freelancer is one of my favourite Sonic Syndicate songs, I bought all the old albums, but the song is not on any of them?! How come? And btw what is Freelancer about? Sounds like someone could have changed your life allot or something?
A: Freelancer is a bonus track of Only Inhuman. You can find it on this edition for example. The lyrics are about starting over and how certain events in your life could throw possible shadows for long periods of time.
Q: If I wanted to make a PvP video for my lvl 49 warrior "twink" would you let me some of either Green Eyed Demon, Pathfinder or Betrayer Of The Code? Would be awesomely awesome and badass.
A: We wouldn’t have a problem with you using clips of the songs in your PvP video on YouTube. We would, however, prefer you to use parts over full songs. But there are exceptions, of course. If you are really talented and are great at video editing, you’re bound to pull a lot of views, which would be promotion for us. It’s like the Adouken 3 video. 200k views and Pathfinder in it, we support that full-hearted!
PVP
Q: could you publish this link in your blog? It’s my review blog and I've given TU good marks. I reviewed Deliver Us and I will find other things. I’m trying to gain some support so I would really appreciate the help.
A: Done.
Q: When do you think the new Faithful Darkness album will be released? If there's no set date yet do you have an idea of when about.
A: Hard to tell! Towards fall 2011, I assume.
Q: How many emails do you go through every week that features questions for your blogs?
A: Too many.
Q: Do you consider yourself a celebrity? Like if you're walking down the street, do you expect people to shout "Hey look it's Richard Sjunnesson".
A: No and no.
Celebrity?
Q: How do you pronounce your last name? Just want to make sure I'm saying it right haha. I think you already answered this before with "Sevenson" but I just wanted to make sure because I don't understand how Sjunnesson is pronounced like Sevenson.
A: It’s tricky indeed, but that’s the truth and nothing but the truth. I promise.
Q: I know you said you don't have your Xbox anymore but I was just curious as to what your gamer tag was and your favourite game.
A: I still have it since the stupid bastard won’t sell. FIX ME! My game tag is/was “lestatharbinger” and my favourite game for Xbox is probably Halo.
Q: Do you have facebook? Because I searched your name (Richard Sjunnesson) but all I got was your page but no profile. Maybe you spell it differently or something but it would be awesome to have you on my friends list :)
A: I have a private one and one official where fans / foes can add me.
Q: Does the song Betrayer of the code have anything to do with old Sonic (Fallen Angels) song with the same name?
A: /Facepalm
HADOUKEN!!!
Q: What you think about Brazil?
A: I don’t know. I’ve never been there. Ronaldo is a great tennis player.
Q: I been pondering and looking at a lot of the artwork and thought of some shirt Ideas and was wonder if you would mind if I made some up out of my own pocket and not to reap any cash reward or sell. Just to show some creative interest in the Unguided project and maybe hopefully you'll like a idea and want to use it for an actual Unguided merch shirt also if I were to come to Sweden would it be possible to meet up with you and shake your hand to thank you personally for what you do for your fans, I do expect sarcasm in your reply LOL
A: If you have any ideas, you are, of course, free to do your own design and mail them in. If they are good enough, we might end up printing them. If you make a visit to the west coast of Sweden I’ll salute you with a red carpet and homemade taco pie.
Q: In BOTC, what do you say between: "I AM TO LIVE TO THE END OF THE WORLD" and "AND I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT I AM"?
A: The screaming part there is “I am to live”, “End of the world,” and “Never forsaken.”
Q: In BOTC, “Be my angels in a new world order”, Is it kind of speech or something or why did you set this: "......"?
A: The whole lyrical content is written out from Lestat’s perspective, while that line is Akasha’s speech to the surviving vampires.
Q: I read yesterday that the Unguided are not allowed to play Sonic Syndicate songs live and that you have to write new songs now. I have an own written song text and if you want to have it you can get. It’s only an offer :-) If you want to have it writes a mail to me.
A: That’s a very generous offer, but I think I’m very capable of writing my own song texts after 12 years in the field. I, however, enjoy reading your lyrics and they are in some cases rather inspiring indeed.
Capable
Q: If/when we have a contest; it should be a lyric writing contest. Maybe the winner(s) lyrics could be featured in a song by TU. Or just the normal prizes. Or maybe the winner does a collab with you? Like the first prize is something along these lines and the others get the standard. You just decide which lyrics sound like yours the most. Maybe it’s a special thing that you do in your home studio just for that fan only.
A: Same answer as above, really. I already have a new contest in mind. We’ll get to it when things are less busy. For future contests it could be fun to have an award that revolves around us putting vocals on a homemade song and lyrics, sure. I’ll revisit that idea once we’ve done the upcoming contest.
Q: You made your own version of Miles Apart. And I saw the making of WRTN stuff and I hear some kind of pre-made of the songs (or what, when someone listened the songs on his laptop). May I hear them? (pls pls...with pretty eyes)
A: There are no eyes that pretty! Or well, possibly my girlfriend’s then. You can’t hear them, because that’s against the law! And you don’t want to be a criminal do you? Read more about the issue in the FAQ here and here.
Q: Are you and Karin still friends or are you going difficult ways? I read that Karin will not join into your new metal band. So I asked you because you and your old band had a long time together. I think it is not easy to have a relationship with different opinions of music isn’t it?
A: Last time I bumped into her at the pub, we were still good. As far as I know, nothing changed since then. She will not join The Unguided, that’s correct. We have already appointed the post with Henric Carlsson (former: Nightrage, Dead By April, current: Lavett, Cipher System and The Unguided). He’s an awesome dude and a hell of a good bassist!
No boobs, still works!
Q: I was wondering if you guys could release an instrumental version of Betrayer of The Code. I know you guys are busy and all and I don't expect you to say yes but I think people would buy that version too which would make more money for the band, just my opinion. Love the song! Keep it up.
A: We’ll consider this.
Q: Where was J.A.Arungen hiding when you were planning for Nightmareland artwork? Wouldn't he have been a good guy for that?
A: He was hiding, indeed. I tried to reach him when we started to plot in favour of The Unguided but he was nowhere to be found. Besides, I hadn’t heard from him in five years (but all of a sudden he reappeared, luckily.) I had him in mind for Nightmareland, but since I didn’t know how to reach him, I looked into other options. I always wanted to work with Kuang Hong in the past as well (the artist who did Nightmareland artwork and the upcoming album artwork.) I saw this as a golden opportunity for that. They have a very different style than each other, and I’d like to incorporate both in the future.
Q: The blog handles some questions according screaming vocals, but any tips for those really high pitched screams? Like in Plans are for people and Break of day. This is really new for me of you, and something I really love. Pure, brutal scream.
A: Sorry, but you’ll have to examine the other blogs where I’ve touched the subject.
Q: Have you ever played The Game?
A: If you are referring to The Game issued in the book The Game, the answer is no. I never needed to.
The Game?
Q: Now since you are not allowed, at least legally, go for SS songs at your premiere or maybe any gig, you have to make new songs in enormous tempo. Does the quality of the songs suffer from this?
A: No, we handled them in the exact same ways as we would have handled them if it was only for the album and not for live usage at this point.
Q: This with Robin is a real pity. Can’t you play Crowned In Despair or EF songs at least? Or can’t Roland play guitar either?
A: No, he would have to leave the stage for us to do it, according to the contract, and we wouldn’t want that.
Q: Will The Unguided tour through Germany this/next year?
A: No plans as of yet. I’m optimistic we could do random gigs there on weekends or festivals. But it needs to be beneficial for us.
Q: How will Robin's unhelpful attitude affect the Getaway show?
A: You got the answer to this in the last blog entry.
Q: Have you heard the most recent efforts from your former label-mates Amorphis, Scar Symmetry, In Flames and Soilwork (though Soilwork's was released last year)? Apart from you guys, these are my favourite bands.
A: I’ve heard Scar Symmetry’s, In Flames and Soilwork’s latest releases and I think they are all good. My favourite of the three are Scar Symmetry’s ones. I haven’t got my hands on the Amorphis album yet but I’m getting it asap! I really liked the previous Amorphis album, so I have high hopes for this one.
Q: Have you already listened to the new In Flames album "Sounds of a Playground fading"?
Do you like it? And which songs do you like most?
A: I have not listened to it enough to do a very fair judgment but the songs that struck me the most the first couple of listening is: Sounds of a Playground Fading, Fear Is the Weakness and Ropes.
Q: I was wondering why most of the guitar solos from the Fallen Angels demos were removed when Eden Fire was recorded. And you also said the both Robin and Roger were uncomfortable with solos. Who did the solos in the Fallen Angels demos?
A: Because they were out of scale and tone, Slayer style. Robin recorded them.
Slayer solos
Q: Also, do you plan on recording some breakdowns like for future releases like found on most of Eden Fire or Aftermath?
A: I guess you just have to wait and see what the album has to offer.
Q: Where can I get hold of the t-shirts you have on your official promo pictures on Facebook? Store / Website?
A: The Affliction t-shirt Roland bought on our US tour back in 2008 so I doubt it’s still in their catalogue. You can find Affliction shirts at here through. I’m wearing a Sullen shirt called; Mother Roses. Roger is wearing a Billabong shirt that I bought as a birthday gift to him on Times Square.
Q: What were the other options you guys had in mind when deciding a name for The Unguided (your band)?
A: There was none.
Q: What will happen with sixonesix.se?
A: It will be kept for future usage.
Q. I wanted to give you some feedback on the recent Unguided songs and hope you can use some criticism: First of all, all 3 songs are amazing of course. But instead of telling you this for the like 2000th time, I want to give you constructive criticism: What I was kind of missing a bit were the clear chorus parts from Roland. Not surprising then that I like Pathfinder the most, where Roland plays the biggest role in the chorus I think. Don’t get me wrong man, I love your voice and I think you deserve more space for your screaming after WRTN. But what I always loved about Sonic Songs was the combination of "typical" metal instruments, awesome synthesizers (good job to Roger btw, the Synthesizers are fucking psycho so far!), the raw power of your voice and the way Roland sings (most of the?) chorus.
A: I know a lot of you are expecting to hear "old Sonic" in The Unguided. But kwwp in mind we are NOT "Old Sonic" we're The Unguided with all the properties that comes of that. We will not customize our sound after with someone else’s opinion, only our own. This will mean there will be a broad perspective on the take of our music. The three songs we have released so far is just how we wrote these songs, it's not a formula; it's not a set border at all. It’s simply just how we wrote these songs and what we considered was best for them. We are not doing this for anybody but ourselves, to satisfy our own musical needs and views and with the three last songs all the three of us are completely satisfied with what we have archived. Roland gets to do his solos and play guitar, which is his passion over his voice. Roger got to compose his songs without boundaries (plus synths, of course) and I get to scream my ass off, arrange vocals and write any lyrics I please. We are all happy, and as long as we are all happy with what we achieve that is what we will be doing. I'm not ruling out there will be more clean vocal oriented songs on the album because it will. I'm just saying we will not budge for anyone’s will but our own. And I guess if anyone wants to listen to it, that's great! But it's not a goal for us; the goal is to do music for ourselves and have fun. Hope you understand where we are coming from with this. Besides, until you have heard the entire album, please don’t get stuck too much on details. Come back after the release instead and see if you feel the same way.
Q: What was the intro you used for your live shows during 2007 – 2009?
A: Saw movie theme.
"You failed."
Q. have you ever had the chance to try Chipotle? It is a restaurant chain based in the United States, but there is one in London I think? If you haven't and the opportunity arrives, take it, you will not be disappointed. High five from the USA for making awesome music!
A: Send in recipe, and I’ll try to make it myself, hehe.
Q: Any baby or young childhood pictures you'd like to show us, Rich? If not, show us anyway :D
A: I’ll see what I can find.
Dad sent me two, GO BULLS!
Q: First I want to clarify that I have never uploaded and I will never upload TU songs on YouTube without your permission. With that said I just want some edification about the YouTube topic.
You encourage the fans to spread the word about the band. Perhaps hardcore fans are pleased with a 20 sec preview of a new song, and when they hear about the new band they get excited and buy the songs instantly but what about the new fans? I mean I guess you don’t want the fan base to consist only from the old SS fans. But to get new fans who don’t even know what old SS was like it will take more than a 20 sec preview. I understand your explanation of the financial loss with YouTube download but it’s also a great chance to get reputation. And anyway trust me if somebody wants to support the band, they will pay even if they have the chance to download it and if somebody doesn’t want to pay they will certainly find a way to download it and the source won’t be YouTube primarily. Yes, I know that I’m not an expert in this subject and I shouldn’t act like a smartarse but please make me understand where the errors in my theory are.
A: We’ll take care of this problem when we do music videos with full songs which YouTubers can spread all they want and gain new fans that are not coming from the old community. We don’t want effortless people to steal a picture from the official site and upload a full mp3 to it. Also, on Spotify people can stream the full songs and there’s actually an economical gain to the band from doing so (I know Spotify is not accessible in all countries but it certainly should be and it’s a genius way to work with the problem and not against, like so many other music industrial entities.) YouTube is a great and powerful promotional tool, but it’s also about having material tied to you being presentable and appealing enough so it attracts people indeed. So, let us deal with it officially ourselves. There’s nothing we can/will do against illegal sites but YouTube is a legitimate legal site which labels and bands can control. And we will! Up to date there’s not one single full song on YouTube (except Pathfinder in Adouken 3) because everyone is helpful and report them in and we deal with it. Keep up the good work!
Q: Do you have any information about current SS members listening to TU songs (except Roger of course)? I’m just curious about their opinion :D
A: Guess it’s kind of hard for John not to listen to it since he plays the songs regularly. And I’m pretty confident the rest of them are more initiated in our work more than they dare to admit. I mean, why is there always 3 dislikes on the YouTube clips? Coincidence!? I THINK NOT!
Q: You used the myth of King Midas as a reference for some lyrics: a few lines about it are in ”Power Shift” and the whole ”The Curse of a Gift” is about it. You also mentioned ”the river Styx”, ”the Elysial fields”, ”Pandora’s box” and ”Antichrist” in some Eden Fire lyrics. Do you like Greek Mythology or did you just write those references to show your literacy? Why are there less and less of those references with every album? Greek Mythology is cool, it would be sooo great to read them again.
A: I love Greek mythology, in fact I adore all mythologies and fictional stuff altogether. I guess I used it more during Fallen Angels and Eden Fire since our post Eden Fire albums had a different formula, with a more straight forward concept. But I’m going back to those references for sure and I’ll certainly keep this in mind. Actually, the lyrics to “Icheart Fragment” (new song) there’s a line about Pandora’s box thinking about it, so it’s already started!
King Midas
Q: I was just reading your blog. And said you won't be able to play any old SS songs (to bad:'( ). But I am wondering what happens if you do play those songs. Hoping you could answer this.
A: Nothing I suppose. It’s solely just to keep Roland out of trouble. He’ll do an act of contract violations if he play/sing the songs. Once that’s done, it could result in a lawsuit. Which, I, however, strongly doubt it will since the only one that could start the legal proceedings would be me, Roger, John, Karin or Robin. And it would cost about 50 000 Euros to go to court, which none of us have. And even if we did, I doubt we would ever use it for this ridiculous matter. I think all of you know who the biggest threat (or only threat) here is. And even if he’s not capital strong now, it’s possible he could be one day, so we’re simply not taking any risks.
Q: Ever get sick of everyone asking the same questions over and over to the point you just want to kill someone? Because it seems like you would, hell I get annoyed reading the same question over and over xD
A: Who said I didn’t? ...
Q: So, from what you explained in the last blog and FAQ it didn't become clear to me - are you going to play Sonic Syndicate songs or not? You said something about "songs Robin wouldn't touch", so are we going to hear them live?
A: No, you won’t ever hear Sonic Syndicate songs in The Unguided.
Q: Will the fans be allowed to record and post online a live gig of your are you going to "forbid" that too? Because I personally can't afford to come ALL THE WAY to Great Swedenland in the near 3 years [ x) pwned! ], but am interested in how you will do live...
A: We will not take action against live material on YouTube.
Q: How can I contact Robin? (lol!) And possibly an adress? =]]]]
A: Try his Facebook.
Q: This is a totally NON-UnguidedOrAnythingRelatedToYou question, but - you said you attended the Falkenberg gig of Dead By April in December (around Christmas). Who played the solo on "Stronger"?
A: The only guitarist present was Pontus, so I guess it was him, but Joel Nilsson from A Silent Escape jumped in and did a guest solo somewhere. If it was “Stronger,” I do not know. I know he toured with them when Pontus wasn’t touring or something like that.
Q: May I suggest you take Georg Listing as a bassist for The Unguided. He might be a member of Tokio Hotel (who are quite sissy compared to you) , but he does great bass lines! (OMG? :))
A: We’ve already appointed the bassist slot in The Unguided with Henric Carlsson.
Q: Is your name REALLY pronounced "Sevenson"?!?!
A: No
Q: I love Roland’s voice live & on the record, no matter if he's screaming or clean singing, but also I have a lot of respect for Nathan as a clean vocalist. On the first episode of Sonic TV Season 02 I guess, you introduced Nathan as the new Singer of SS, in an interview you've said that you had never heard the songs this good before. What's your real opinion?
A: This was addressed in the FAQ of this blog.
Q: Which parts will Roland have in The Unguided? Will he be a guitarist and the clean vocalist or will he scream a lot of lyrics too?
A: As said before in this blog, guitarist and clean vocalist.
Q: Who will play the bass and drums live in concert?
A: Henric Carlsson and John Bengtsson. If they can’t attend, or are busy elsewhere, we will have backups for them, but they are the fixed live musicians that we will always return to.
Q: How much was Nuclear Blast involved in the Sonic Syndicate business? Rumours tell that they were even responsible for your long hairs? Did they even tell you guys what haircut and clothes to wear?
A: This was addressed in the FAQ of this blog. And no Nuclear Blast was never involved in what clothes to wear, management did sometimes but we rarely listened.
Q: I have noticed that if I go to www.sonicsyndicate.com I will come to a "entry" page or something where I can choose my destination, the sonic syndicate website or the the-unguided website. And I wonder what the reason is, is it because the fans of SS that don't know about TU should "discover" you :P ? Or something like that?
Personally, I think it is very good :)
A: Looks like a double agent 616 job again. I’m sure good 'ol 616 has his reasons, as always.
616
Q: what microphone model did you use on Eden fire? I love the sound it has, and you can make together. Really brutal.
A: “Eden Fire” was recorded with a Shure SM7 (As said before?). Same model I used for my vocals on “We Rule the Night” and “Nightmareland”, and the upcoming The Unguided album.
Q: Also, was there really any particular PA-stuff back then, you used on practising and recording FA and EF stuff?
A: We had a shitty PA in the rehearsal room yeah. FA – Black Lotus and Extinction stuff and Eden Fire was recorded in Studiomega.
Q: Also, what mixer did you use back then? You have answered about what you now use, yes. I mean stuff like audacity and soundengine and stuff.
A: I’ve used a 12-channeled Mackie board as far as I remember for rehearsals. It’s the one I used back then and it’s the one I use now. It’s an older version of the Profx12 I belive.
Q: Love your dedication to your fans, and I bet these mail storms will come to their end soon, since you have answered almost every question. Let the hope live, right? Hehe..
A: AS IF… haha
Q: you happened to quote some e-mails received from J.A.Arungen into your blog some time ago. It concerned SS symbol, and my question kind of too, except not SS. We have discussed in the forums about what is the meaning of this new symbol. SS was about you, your heart. So is there any particular reason or meaning on this new logo/symbol?
A: This will be revealed in time, as for now it’s just subjective.
Q: Also, do you follow forums?
A: I follow www.armyoftheunguided.com from time to time yeah. Most of us do.
Q: Happen to know who did this sonicsyndicate.com "hacks"?
A: Double Agent 616 happened.
Q: What’s your favorite Blind Guardian album?
A: That’s a tough one, since I love them all! My first BG album was Tales from the Twilight World, so that’s always close to my heart. I’ve spent a lot of time listening to, A Night at the Opera, as well. In my book, they never released a bad album, so I have to say they all are my favorites! The new one, At the Edge of Time, is awesome as well. It’s funny you ask since I have the DVD Imaginations through the Looking Glass playing in the background right now, hehe.
TFTTW
Q: Next Summer I'll spend my holiday in the end of July in Falkenberg, so did you planned some gigs at this time? Then I'm 18 and it would be very great! Love you're music. (=
A: We’ll see what we can do.