Hell Spawn

Hello Kristoffer, how are you? 

- Just fine, thank you. Happy as can be for the album. A little bit nervous but very excited!

 

How and when did the idea start to form Six Foot Six? Too make things clear and as the album title suggests it's a project right!?

- Well.. It started out as a project and then turned into something else. I sat down and wrote, recorded, produced the album and realized that this is meant for something bigger. So we formed the band. 

 

Did things go smooth for finding members and record deal? Is there a full line-up? 

- Yes, I'm happy to say. The lion's share of the band was found in our touring cover show Rock Circus. The last member Christoffer Borg is an old friend and was a guest on the album. While mixing the album we realized that we would love to work together and we just took it from there. The deal came after a short search and the Pride & Joy label felt just great for us.   

 

Any special reason why you called it Six Foot Six? 

- HA HA! Yes.. I'm quite tall. Can you guess how tall I am? We are all very tall, except two band members.They are just above average. I'm quite sure that we are the tallest band out there! Hahaha! 

 

Was it from the beginning clear you were going to use guests and did everybody you have in mind joined the project? 

- Yes. All the guests (Borg included) were in my mind from the beginning. Some other guests were asked to join but could not because of lack of time. 

 

Were the songs all written when the guests entered the project? Did any of them have any input? 

- Yes, all songs were already written. But all guests were free to add their magic for their parts, within given limitations. Does that make sense, haha? 

 

I personally think this is a record that hits you from the very first listen! Certain songs stick in your head only after a few spins! There is a little of everything on the record, some power metal, some heavy metal and lots of melodic metal and I can't help hearing some eighties influences! 

- You are certainly right! I can walk around humming some tune wondering what the hell I'm singing on. Just to realize that it's one of our own songs, I kid you not!! Haha. This is a record written to my teenage self. There are heavy influences from the 80s and 90s. No doubts about that. They are written as an homage to my teenage heroes. From 80s up to the present. Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Helloween, Gotthard and so on. If I was given this record in, lets say 1995, I would have been over the moon listening to it. Hahaha...

 

Are there plans to promote this record live? 

- In the closest moment - no. But in the future - yes! Some of the songs will be performed at the Release party in November and then we will take it from there. 

 

Some people might know you from Destiny and off course Falconer, how do you look back at those times? 

- With some mixed emotions. Both very happy feelings and some a little bit sad. I had a blast in Destiny but couldn't truly settle down there. In Falconer it was very large shoes to fill after Mathias. And I had a hard time getting acceptance from some fans. Even though I had NOTHING to do with him being sacked in the first place I kind of got the blame.. This is how I experienced it. I can't say what the others felt about it. But still I had a great time in Falconer and did some amazing gigs that have enriched my life and I treasure them fondly. I have to say that I was very sad when I got the call from Stefan.. But I have to clarify that we are all good friends I still stay in touch and hook up with the boys in both Destiny and Falconer.   

 

Can you tell me something more about my fave songs on the album? "Virus Inside", "Frozen", "Pride & Glory" and "In Defiance"? 

- You have very good taste, my friend! 

"Virus Inside" was partly written almost ten years ago. I had a project called Reactor 4 together with Johan Eskilsson from Cipher System. We wrote a couple of songs but it was just for fun mostly. Then they were more or less forgotten. When I started working on the new album they suddenly came into mind. The lyrics are the same, but the music is very different to the original. I can say this... Johan is a FAR BETTER guitar player than I am haha! The chorus are more or less intact though. 

 

"Frozen in Time" just came to me after watching a British drama on the tv. Can't even remember what it was. It was just a broken love story and it got to me. I sat down and mainly wrote the full song in one piece. Of course we then arranged it while recording. "Frozen in Time". The song has a young man called Isac Borg (no relation to Christoffer) doing the drums. While mixing it at Top Floor Studios we felt that we needed something extra on it. Danko Jones finished their drum recordings during that day so we called in Isac the day after and used Danko's set up. I think it came out just perfect. 

 

"Pride & Glory" - the gladiators' song. I had the opening riff stuck in my head for a while but couldn't do anything with it at first but I felt it was way too good not to be used. So one day I just sat down and worked hard as hell on it and the song came out. The lyrics and melody went through a couple of different stages before ending up in the final version. 

 

"In Defiance" is the only cover song on the album. It's originally by British synth band VNV Nation. I'm not really into to the sync music. Have nothing against it, but it's not anything I usually listen to. Some years ago an American friend of mine, a full head on goth synth dude in those days, played this song to me and I was blown away. For years and years I played it on Youtube. I alone must stand for 50% of the hits on that one, HAHAHA! I always thought that this would be a GREAT metal song. I just had to do it. There were some serious tweaking and modulations on the guitars to get the 'right sound' for it. I love the 80ths kind of  "Somewhere in Time" -vibe on the sound. Distorted guitars with chorus effects on is more or less forbidden these day, but here they fit as a glove!! 

 

The cool thing about your record is that like most releases I can't compare it right away with anybody else, cheers for that!!!!! 

- Thank you!!! Happy to hear that. Just as a fun fact I can tell you that I was a bit amazed and sad over how few answers I got in the beginning while looking for a deal on the album. Well.. Let me give you a top tip: Do NOT send emails to strangers included a file that clearly states "Virus Inside" on it. HA AHHA AHA AHAHAH AHAHAH !!  I'm a moron :p Thanks for the Interview and so happy to hear you like the record so much!

 

https://www.facebook.com/TheSixFootSixProject/