Following the release of Feared’s new album Vinter (check out our review here), we caught up with guitarist/band mastermind Ola Englund to ask him a few questions. This is what happened!
You recently released your new album Vinter – how was the writing and recording process of it?
Like I usually do – I sit at home, playing around with a bunch of riffs. At some point they end up together and voila, a song!
Did it differ at all from previous releases?
Well it did differ since all the songs are new and fresh. I’ve always had a lot of songs that I wanted to release and all the former albums have had older songs on them that maybe haven’t really represented me at the time when the album was released. It’s not that they are bad or anything, just different. Vinter is more of the current me.
Were any songs more of a challenge than others?
Well there are some songs that come natural; a song like Erased writes itself. And then there are ones that take forever to finish, Invidia is one of those songs.
Which song is your favourite?
Probably Invidia and My Shadow World. Probably because I immediately knew how the vocals would sit in the chorus when I wrote them. It’s almost as the song told me what the lyrics are going to be about even before I start writing them.
I personally loved Erased – could you tell me a little more about that one?
It has all the elements that makes it a typical Feared song. It has the stomping rhythms and the part melodic chorus. It’s a song that represents Vinter, even if it’s a stand-out song amongst the others. Also a reoccuring lyric topic about a lonely person with anxiety who doesn’t feel like it matters if she/he’s alive or not. Noone cares. Definitely represents the depression in a lot of people in the cold north.
Are there any interesting tales from the studio recordings?
It usually happens when we record the vocals for some reason. Since Jocke (ex-Clawfinger) joined the band for this album, me and Mario did a Clawfinger-styled version of Mylingen with rap-metal vocals. We put it out on Soundcloud (click here to hear it!) and we also did a clip where Mario read the lyrics to an unreleased song but with a Russian accent. We also put that on Soundcloud (again, click here to hear it!) but I don’t think people appreciated it haha. We are weird.
If you could collaborate with anyone for a future release, who would you choose?
I’ve always been a guy who worked on my own, but the most natural thing would be to have someone do solos just to add another flavor to the songs. But then again I think I’ve overdone the guest solo thing on the previous albums. I would say that I would probably want to work with other producers rather than songwriters. Someone who can bring out other sides of me.
If you could get an artist to cover one of your songs, who would it be?
I would love for Justin Bieber to cover one of my songs. Just because that would be so weird haha.
Which album of yours are you most proud of?
It’s probably going to be Vinter. It’s the first album I’ve been able to solely concentrate on the music, with Jocke doing the mixing. I’ve been able to watch everything in a bigger scale and I can safely say that I’ve matured a lot through the process writing and recording the album.
How would you say your music has evolved since Feared began?
Feels like Feared has found its place in the music world. With the first albums I’ve always felt like we played around a lot and it didn’t always come out awesome. And I wanted to please people more. I have a stronger confident in myself and my music now. So I just concentrate on writing music that flows and that I enjoy listening to myself.
Are there any plans in the works for a tour?
I would love to see Feared on tour, but right now I don’t feel like we have to do a tour. Every up and coming band strives to get a good support act tour and it’s not the easiest thing to get. While I’d love to get out and meet all the people and fans and show everyone that we’re a good live act, I don’t feel it would help the band that much in the situation we’re in.
What’s your biggest ambition for the band?
To maintain a constant stream of music to our fans. If Feared gets bigger then so be it, but I’m quite liking where we are right now. We aren’t controlled by any label and we can do whatever we want. And we want to continue to write music.
What are your plans for 2014?
I’m working my ass off right now with The Haunted, but hopefully we’ll be able to pull an album out of our asses next year.
