I interviewed FEJD

I interviewed Esko, drummer for FEJD. The interview deals with the band, and their upcoming album entitled “Trolldom”.

01. Hi Esko ! First of all, You all have named your band as FEJD which means "quarrel",  why ? What is the story behind that band name ?

Well, everybody who knows us knows that we’re always fighting about something, it’s a constant battle in the band. 

Seriously, we wanted a short name that was easy and when the name Fejd came up we all agreed that it would work

02. Soon will be released your fourth album entitled “Trolldom”, are you happy with the result ?

I don’t think we would release anything without being happy with the result. But of course, in retrospective, when you have all the cards in your hand and have the possibility to lock back, there are always things you might have done differently. That’s the reason we started recording stuff in the first place over 15 years ago, because we knew we could never move forwards and create new stuff as long as we didn’t record songs to kind of close the chapter. We would still be playing Arv but in a very different way. But yes, we are happy, this is where we are today and today we wouldn’t want it any other way.

03. What does “Trolldom” mean ?

Trolldom means sorcery, witchcraft, magic, it’s actually quite hard to describe as it’s more of a feeling we want, something surreal , a kind of dream world where everything can happen.

04. FEJD ever been labelled either as a folk band or folk metal one but this year, it sounds like you want to put an end to that indecisive matter with the help of the new and guitarist member of the band, Per-Owe Solvelius, isn’t it ?

We have been outlaws for over 15 years, in a world where we are not accepted as folk or metal, quite strange considering our songs and how close to metal it has always been. We have a Mora harpa that in most situations people couldn’t tell if it’s a guitar or a Mora harpa.

The music we create is still the same, we didn’t do special songs in any way because we added a guitarist we wanted to add the guitar in a way that suits our music, not change the songs so that they suite a guitar. I don’t think this will change the way we are as a band, only add new dimensions to what we already had.

05. When have you got the idea adding a guitar player in the line-up ? How things happened exactly ?

This is something that we have discussed as long as we’ve existed. Sometimes it has been a aim for us to show people that we can be heavy as fuck without using traditional Metal instruments, sadly we never had the same energy on a recording as we have on a live gig. We have had so many moments playing festivals with corpse painted acts mocking us for our music before the gig, just to see them stand close to the stage for a whole set and asking us after how the fuck it is possible to be so heavy with those instruments. It’s not in the instruments, it’s in our music.

We’ve used electric distorted guitars in our music before, it has never been an issue before, I never heard anyone complain about Eld or any of the songs we use guitars. Bringing Ewo to the band was a very needed injection for the band, and something that gives us so much more than just an extra instrument, it gives us musical space and a room to breath where we were trapped before. We spent some months where Patrik used a “Metal” guitar instead of the bouzouki to try out both new and old songs before we even talked to Ewo, I think we had a quite good idea of how the sound would be, the only thing we didn’t know is how much more Ewo did for the band in terms of input and energy and ideas, we kind of found our way back to where it all started and thought it was fun to play again, inspiring and motivating.

06. Weren’t you happy enough with sound from the previous records ?

Of course we are happy with it, but it’s in the past. We can’t spend our time looking in the mirror on times that have passed, it won’t make anyone happy. We have to make sure we take our band forwards, keeping it interesting for ourselves.

07. Can you describe sound for that new FEJD album ?

No, actually not. It’s still Fejd but more Fejd than it used to be in the past. I can’t tell how people will react, I know some will be disappointed and some will be happy.

We are six in the band that feels very happy and I guess that is what’s most important for us, sad but true, but first and foremost we make music for ourselves.

08. Is “Trolldom” a concept album ?

No, no concept album

09. What are the songs about ? 

We actually never liked telling people that this song is about this or that, I think you should use our music and our lyrics to create a guide for your own imagination, make your own movie in your head with our guidance.

10. How do you work composing songs ? 

Well, for most parts Patrik or Niklas (or both) comes with an idea and then we work together around that idea, making the song what it becomes in the end. Sometimes the difference is huge and sometimes you can hardly notice anything more than some added instruments.

It has always been a lot of compromise, with tempos and dynamics. We do lots of rehearsal recordings during the writing process as songs have a tendency to feel different compared with how it sounds. 

11. Will the new record be available in various editions ?

We will release it as Cd and digitally first and foremost, we have talked about Vinyl but it’s a decision our label has to take. 

12. Do you plan to re-release ”I en tid som var” & “huldran” demos ?

No, there are no plans for such a thing, we don’t have any masters left for them and I believe that they should be special if you got them in the past, I don’t even have them myself. We more or less decided to make new recordings on old songs instead of releasing them as they were.

13. …And your albums in vinyl format ?

It has never been our decision; personally I would have loved to have them all as Vinyl. 

14. Can we expect one upcoming official video soon ?

Yes, I really hope so, we are planning the promotion to start in the end of March or early April and will hopefully have the video finished by then, we will also release a digital single through most of the digital platforms at the same time. 

15. What are your next plans ?

Our plan is to take this one step at the time and do things the way we do it.

We know we are late for all 2016 gigs and work hard to make the most of what we can, but 2017 looks really good at this point and hopefully we can book a whole bunch of gigs all around the world. And we are already working with songs for our next release so…