COSMIC SPHERE
Interview with drummer Kristian Enqvist
Interview by EvilG
From The Past...
First off lets get something out of the way that might not be the
most fun topic for you. Myself, and some of our readers with a good
memory, will remember you from the band Rising Faith. You guys even did
an entertaining "studio diary" in the summer of 2001 for us.
However, after the studio diary no CD came out and then I got news you
were leaving the band for "personal differences." What
happened? Did it come to fist fights or something? Was it mainly musical
differences....give us the dirt man! Haha...
I`m glad that you enjoyed that diary, because we sure as hell enjoyed
doing it! Anyway, to start off with, we weren't 100% satisfied with how
the sound turned out on that Rising Faith CD so I guess that was the
biggest issue of not releasing it. About the "personal
differences", Unfortunately (fortunately) there`s really no hidden
truth behind that and like the "topic" says It had nothing to
do with any musical differences.
Are you still in contact with anyone from the Rising Faith camp
and do you keep up on what they are doing?
Can`t say that I am, except that I have talked to Stefan once or
twice since I left the band.
Were you surprised to see Rising Faith get signed to LIMB music?
No, not really. Actually, they got signed just before I left the band
and the songs that actually got the signing "job" were 2 new,
really good, songs that we recorded in the rehearsal room (quite shitty
sound) and apparently LIMB liked those songs too.
What do you think of your replacement on drums in Rising Faith,
Mr. Tony Gelander? :)
I guess he`s ok, since he`s the one who got the job.
A New Hope
After
leaving Rising Faith you decided to put together Cosmic Sphere. First of
all, tell us how you came up with the name and what it means to you.
I wanted a name that sounded good, original and at the same time was
a bit abstract. Abstract, because everybody can have their own
opinion/idea what it stands for. Also, I have to confess that when I
came up with that name I was listening to an old time favorite band from
Sweden called Eucharist (who had a song named "Into the cosmic
sphere"), a coincidence you think?
Since I've only heard one very cool vocal-less clip from your new
material, I am not exactly sure what to expect from Cosmic Sphere. What
style of metal do you think you might lean most towards?
Hmm....hard question. I don`t know how to categorize our music, a
cliché I know, but all I can say is that it`s heavy, melodic music with
crispy, intense vocals.
I read this funny statement in your bio: "Cosmic Sphere are
not inspired by and nor do they support the campaign to legalize
dragons, kings, warriors, swords, knights or armour." haha!!! So
please tell me what's wrong with this sort of thing in metal? I know
it's overdone and can be cheesy sometimes, but sometimes it's ok isn't
it? :-)
There`s nothing "wrong" with using these things in metal,
it`s just that these topics feel kinda "worn out" now, at
least that's what I think, so I had to come up with something ha ha, but
of course it`s ok if some bands use it, especially those who first came
up with these topics, and sometimes, just sometimes, when the music is
really good and you actually can`t hear those announced
"DRAGON", "KILLER", "WARRIOR" I guess it`s
ok for other bands to use it as well ha ha.
When you put the band together I read that you said something to
the effect that you could not find the right players in Sweden. How is
this possible? I mean, to me sitting here in Canada, I look to a country
like Sweden as being very much a happening spot for heavy metal!!!!!!
No, It wasn`t like that at all. I mean, Sweden has thousands of great
musicians. What I said (or at least tried to) was that Kinna or the
places nearby are not exactly the right place to live in, if your
looking for musicians. During my time in Rising Faith we had a lot of
guitarists auditioning from Gothenburg and other places around and I
don`t want "re-live" that experience again. I mean some of
them told us that they were the greatest guitar players and when they
showed up they almost couldn't tune their instrument, y`know what I'm
saying....
I have a question about the current line-up. The band consists of:
- Vocalist Shawn McPherson from the USA
- Guitarist Antti Wirman from Helsinki, Finland
- Bassist Tapio Oksanen from Helsinki, Finland
- and yourself, Kristian Enqvist (Drums) from Kinna, Sweden.
Please tell us how you came to know about each player, how you
approached them and convinced them to be a part of Cosmic Sphere!
I met Shawn at Musicians Institute. He was working in the library
there and every Friday M.I. had their so called "Metal
Meltdown", a show where teachers and students performs 2 chosen
heavy metal songs every week. On this show I heard him singing for the
first time. Shawn and the teachers usually performed the songs one time
first before the students went up there. Man, I was totally blown away
and amazed of his intense and panteracaristic voice, haven`t heard that
kinda voice since the release of "Cowboys from hell". I found
out about Antti after I came across some songs with Warmen and Craydawn
and it`s just way he plays, look, in my opinion, guitar solos should be
some kind of melody in (no offense Kerry!) and stick to structure of the
song and I believe that Antti can do that with blindfolded eyes 24/7 (ha
ha!). Finally, Antti was the one who suggested Tapio (he also plays bass
in Craydawn with Antti) and so far that has been nothing but an
excellent choice! I contacted all these guys, told them about the
project, goals, ideas etc. and luckily they liked what Cosmic Sphere is
all about!
Were all these people your first choice, or did you have a hard
time putting this band together?
Yes, they were all first choices and no I can`t say that I had a hard
time getting this thing together.
Everyone in the band is also in another band. So, is Cosmic Sphere
a "project" to them or a band?
Cosmic Sphere is a project, but I got to give these guys credits,
because until now I think they all have given more than 100% , but I
think you can do that in a project as well, don`t you? Or is 200% too
much (haha)?
What level of commitment can each member make or do you expect
them to make to Cosmic Sphere?
Like I said before the other guys have priority bands, but at the
same time we seem to be writing pretty quickly for a 'project', so it
seems as if everyone is working steadily on it, I'm very satisfied with
their participation.
Are you also in any other bands?
Well, a time ago I had this other project going on, but right now CS
are taking all my time and since it`s my 1st priority I`ve put the other
one on "ice"...
Since you are from different countries are you now all going to
move to the same location to write and record material? Tell us how you
plan to make this work out.
No, there`s no plan about moving to the same location, it works fine
as it does now and since none of us have enough money to travel on and
off I guess we better stick to the way we`re working now. Which is:
Antti and Tapio writes the music, burn it down on a CD together with a
clicktrack and send it to me. I record the drumtracks and ship the CD
over to Shawn. Does it sound complicated? Ha ha, It`s not!
Lion's Share guitarist, Lars Chriss, was originally a member of
Cosmic Sphere for a short time. Your recent press release said he was
leaving because of a lack of time. Why didn't he realize that before
committing to join the band huh? haha! I was a bit letdown to read this
because his band Lion's Share is fucking great!! A mixture of his guitar
playing with Antti's would of been interesting to hear!
When we started I don't think he knew how much time this thing would
require. At least not until he also agreed upon mixing the whole thing
as well and we all know how much time that requires. Looking back, you
realize that it`s almost inhuman to expect anybody to have enough time
for 1 band and three projects, right? Unfortunately I never heard a song
with them together because the thing we agreed upon was for them (Lars
and Antti) to write 2 songs each. I understand that you feel a bit
"letdown" but there's really no reason to, I mean , Lars is a
great guitarist, Antti is a great guitarist.
What is Lars busy with besides Lion's Share anyway?!?
I think he`s having a project with Messiah Marcolin (Candlemass) and
another one called Typhoon. Besides that and Lion`s Share he recently
contributed to an tribute album for Jason Becker (who`s suffering from
ALS, Lou Gehrigs disease).
Was the split with him on friendly terms or were you guys pretty
pissed with this?
If a split can be friendly I guess this is the one topping that list.
He just told me that he couldn`t find time for this and I was like, I
understand you and wished him good luck and all that. The other guys
weren`t pissed either, they basically told me the same things I told
him.
Lars did write some material with the band. Will you keep what he
has contributed or will you only use material current members have
written?
He wrote two songs for Cosmic Sphere, really good ones, but we will
not use any of them as we think it`s best for everybody if we use our
"own" songs.
Were you ever able to play live with the original line-up OR has
the full line up ever all at least played together at the same time?
Cosmic Sphere is a studio project and our intention has never been to
play live. This was one of the topics that I told them about when first
contacted them. First, It´s kinda hard since we all live in different
countries (except for Tapio and Antti who both lives in Finland) .
Second, my hearing is really bad beacuse of all the drumming and I don`t
think I ever will be able to play live anymore.
Your Debut Album
How many songs are now written for your upcoming album?
Until now I think we have like 4 or 5 songs.
Does this album have a title and can you give us some more
information on it like the songs, running time, cover art, release date,
anything? :)
I've read some of Shawn's older lyrics and some of his latest for
cosmic sphere. The general vibe is about the world as a whole, either
about how the world is destroying itself or how the world needs to join
together. Their usually very positive lyrics with a very aggressive
delivery. So far no short songs and no anthems, each song so far is
roughly 4 minutes long.
Will the album be independently released, or do you hope to send
some early demos to labels first?
As it seems now, I don't think the album will be independently
released. We already have some labels that have showed interest in the
band and some of them seems to be pretty "eager", but I wont
mention any names because I don't want to be one caught with the beard
in the mailbox ha ha.
For "Shits and Giggles"
On your website I was reading your personal bio. Thanks for
listing Metal-Rules.com as one of your favorite website by the way!!! I
also noticed in there that you list your favorite sports team as the
Canadian hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now how does a Swede come
up with a Canadian hockey team and the Leafs as their favorite team?
That`s an easy one. First, I`ve always been a great fan of NHL hockey
and whenever there`s a game on Canal+ (Swedish movie channel) I`ll be
watching it!!!! Second, Toronto Maple Leafs: MATS SUNDIN, 'nuff said ha
ha.
What do you know about Canadian metal and do you listen to any
Canadian metal bands?
One of my current favorites are from Canada: Quo Vadis. I love the
albums "Alice In Hell" and "Never, Neverland" from
Annihilator, and oh, isn't Gorguts and Crytopsy from Canada as well? I
think that's the best I can do, sorry...
Tell us a bit about life in Kinna, Sweden. Is there a large group
of metalheads there? Do many bands play in Kinna or close by?
Ha ha. There`s really not much to say about Kinna except that we have
like 3 bars, 1 record store and like 5-10 metalheads ha ha so not too
many concerts going on here ha ha. But, luckily I live quite close (55
kilometers) to Gothenburg, which is a great "metal city"!!
How about you give a few words on these great Swedish metal bands?
HammerFall: Bold eye?
Soilwork: Excellent!!
Arch Enemy: Good look...eh...great!
Lost Horizon: hmm...
Europe: Sweden ran out of hairspray in the 80`s, guess why?
Lion's Share: Sins of a father!
The Crown: Trollhättan!
Vintersorg: Borknagar!
What are your favorite Swedish metal bands at the moment and what
seem to be the more popular bands at home?
At the moment I listen a lot to the new Impious album "The
killer", Opeth's "Deliverance", Darkane's "Expanding
senses", but I also like a lot of other bands like Edge Of Sanity
(r.i.p.), Meshuggah, Eucharist (r.i.p.), At The Gates (r.i.p.), The
Haunted and the list goes on forever. If you want a "power"
act, I think the best one right now is Evergrey from Gothenburg. The 2
most popular metal bands in Sweden right now must be In Flames and HammerFall
I think. They have been aired on some big TV channels in Sweden and
they're doing quite well on the Swedish selling charts as well.
If you weren't playing drums in a metal band what would you likely
be doing instead?
Playing drums in a dance band? Hell no, just kidding, I`m not sure,
but I think I`d better stick to the web-design then.
Were
you offended by "The Swedish Chef" from the TV show "The
Muppets" hahah... :-)
Actually, I think he looks kinda cool with those 10 ton eyebrows, you
don`t have those in Canada do you ha ha?
Satan only knows...
Any closing words....the floor is yours?!?!
Thanks EvilG and the rest of the crew @ metal rules for showing
interest in Cosmic Sphere, be sure to check out our new website,
soundclips coming soon!
Official Website: www.cosmicsphere.net