VNTER

Making an album with 13 tracks on it, and releasing every month a track, that’s what the Swedish band VNTER is going to do. A very special project I think, so I took the opportune to ask them all about it. And Andy is the one who is giving me the answers to the questions, while he is listening to a live concert by Corey Taylor!

Thank you Andy, and of course VNTER, to give me the opportunity to do this interview. Let’s start!

The band is new for us (in Holland). So can you tell us something about the history of the band so we learn something more about it.

Hi, and thank you for taking your time to interview us, we really have a strong believe that everyone should co-exist and help each other out in the music business. I will do this one and it’s our pleasure to answer your questions, so let’s begin.

The band in general is pretty new, we started in November 2017 but we have to go back a couple of years to really get down to it. I played guitar and wrote all music and lyrics in my former band called White Limo and when that band decided to split up I was left behind with all this awesome music and I couldn’t let it go. I knew I was on to something really good and I really wanted to continue on that same path but I wanted the songs to be even bigger. So I found the right people that could make the songs bigger and better and we re-recorded them and a couple of new ones with the help of the great producer Micke Andersson at MRG Production. So now after a couple of changes in the lineup we’re here with a really huge and bad ass album and ready to take this one as far as we possibly can. And I really believe that we’re going to the big stages in a near future.

Please introduce yourself (bandmembers). Who are you and which instrument(s) do you play? Musicals background etc.

We are:

Andy Larsson – lead vocals, guitar. As a musician I´m from the punk scene and have played in a lot of punk bands before I found Foo Fighters and wanted to start the greatest arena rock band there ever was., As a music fan my first encounter that really stuck was Twisted Sister and the Stay Hungry album. That lead me in to NWOBHM and it all went south from there.

Mathias Jakobson – Lead guitar, backup vocals. Played in a band called Stockholm Syndrome for many years and toured a lot before VNTER.

Claes Magnusson – Bass, backup vocals.

We have a new drummer and we haven’t really revealed who that person is yet. Keep an eye out on our social media and you will know soon enough.

You’re releasing a new album, is this the first one or are there more albums released? If the answer is “yes” can you tell something about them?

This is the first album from us, we have released singles before this and technically this one is just singles as well but it will come out as an album in July 2020.

You’re releasing the first single of the new album. The plans are to release every month one song. Why every month?

We live in this ”fast food era” where we consume everything really quick and its so much music that’s being released daily that its really easy for an album to go by without even being noticed. With the release of a new single every moth we will be constantly up to date with new music for over one year. That makes a lot more noise that just to release an album and hope for the best.

 The album contains 13 songs so it take also 13 months before the album is “ready”. That’s a long time. Is it not to long?

Hahaha yes I agree, that’s I long time. But on the other hand we are constantly up to date with new music for 13 months who else can say that? We can have 13 release parties, our fans will always have something to look forward to and I think this is just to our advantage. People want to know why we are doing this, we get interviews because of it (and hopefully because of our great music as well), we can pitch every song to playlist curators at Spotify I just see advantages.

If you release one song every month people have heard all the songs after 13 months. Did they hear a complete story or are all the tracks different from each other? What I mean is, lots of bands make complete stories on their albums.

No there is not really a story from the first song to the last although every song is a story itself. Its 13 of our best songs that we could write at this time and that I brought with me. We think that every song deserves to be a single so that is also a reason why we are doing like this.

The album is produced by Mikael Andersson. How was it working with him?

This man is the most humble, nice and professional producer I’ve worked with thus far. But with that said he really worked us hard, he had a vision of what he wanted to do with this album and he elevated the songs even beyond what I’ve imagined. I´m really grateful that he did that and we’re already talking about to work with him again. I remember when I was doing all the vocals for the album I slept in the vocal booth for 4 days, not just to get the right vibe but also that it was cold in the rest of the studio, haha. We did the whole album in 12 days, recoded it live to capture the sound of the band and in the end we are really proud of what came out from Soundport Studios.

Is there a tour when the complete album is released? And are you coming to Holland?

We are planning this as we speak and yes Holland is for sure one of the country’s we want to come to. We hope to go as an opening act for a band that’s bigger than us go gain a bigger crowd. So Holland keep an eye out for VNTER.

Something different now. I listened to a few of your former songs and it’s not easy to say with genre it is. See it as a compliment because I believe it’s great when a bend creates her own sound. But how would you call your music?

Wow, thank you. That’s really a compliment, hopefully you would say rock of some sort? We call our music Arena rock, it’s made for the big stages and that’s where we belong. But we love to play smaller venues as well of course, honestly we just love to play and we think when you see us you will be surprised how good the show was. We’re looking forward to play for you and hopefully meet you afterwards.

And is the new album the same genre or is there something new to discover for us.

I would say it’s the same genre but with influences from punk, pop, metal and with all this mixed together its arena rock and it sounds like VNTER and its huge.

The title of the album  is “When It All Comes Down”. Can you tell something about the title?

Yes! Good question. There is actually a continuation of that title but if we would write it out it would be too long and it goes: ”When it all comes down can you say you did everything you could” and it basically means that I´m going to do everything in my power to take this band as far as it can go. That’s a saying that I live with every day and it’s also a lyric in a song with one of my favorite bands Rise Against.

Who is responsible for the music and the lyrics? 

It’s me, Andy. I wrote all the song foundations and you can describe it like that I have the big paint roller and I splash on the paint with that big sucker. When that is done Mathias and Claes takes the small fine brushes and fills in all the holes so that in the end will be a nice looking painting or in this case a song. The lyrics is all me and I usually write about things that’s happened or is happening in my life.

Why should people listen to VNTER? Maybe a stupid question but a stupid interviewer asks sometimes stupid questions.

No not a stupid question, it’s a good one. I think you want to listen to something refreshing, something new and something that you can relate to. But I also think that you want huge rock in your ears so that’s why you should listen to VNTER. If you like Foo Fighters, Biffy Clyro, Queens of the Stone Age and Muse you will love us!

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vnterofficial/

Instagram: vnterofficial