CULTofLUNA.::.INTERview
    I saw the guys just a few weeks ago performing live on stage and honestly... do you know 
    this feeling, standing there with closed eyes, open ears and opened mouth?!;) such energy 
    and such dynamic, hard times with melodies of emotion... for me Cult of Luna is definetly 
    one of the best acts which appeared in this early year. Draw a darkened landscape, the sun 
    turned off and silence... just wait and listen! We had a nice talk with Klas (singer) via email, 
    so lean back and enjoy! 

Q: what do we definetly need to know about the Cult of Luna?  A: That we consider ourselves as a band that don’t “belong” to any scene. Often people onsider us as a metal act, but no one of us is really into metal. We like to break boarders between genres. Plus the fact that no one has ever been a member of Breach. Apparently some people in Europe, especially in France got that idea.

    Q: you're hailing from umea, sweden. back in time, i did some interviews with swedish bands 
    and most of them told me that the swedish music scene is nearly dead. hey, what's wrong?;) 
    you're the third or fourth (good) band i know from umea and i don't consider this town to be 
    so big... so what's the deal, are they all lying or are there only good bands' having no scene?!;) 

    A: Yes it’s true that we have a few great bands, but the live scene isn’t that big. Bands don’t 
    drop by Umeå on tour simply because it’s so far up north. 

    Q: is it more aggression, or more emotion what makes cult of luna so outstanding? 

    A:  I would say the nice combination of the both.

    Q: how would you describe your own music?

    A: Progressive and heavy post-hardcore indie rock with slow and long-ass songs.  

    Q: any bands, which had a vast influence on any of you or the whole group and your music? 

    A: don’t like namedropping, but I guess there’s a few bands that the whole group enjoys: 
    Interpol, Radiohead, Tool and Sigur ros maybe…

    Q: the first time i saw you guys live was in trier (08/02) and i can't denay that i was really 
    smashed, honestly!;) one of the best shows i've seen in the last months! but one thing i noticed: 
    the "melodic" vocal lines i heard on "salvation", which i definetly supposed to be from you(Klas) 
    were sampled on stage... so are the really from you or real samples? 

    A: Wrong! They were NOT sampled, they where sung by Fredrik who also did some 
    percussion live. Maybe you didn’t see him? On the “salvation” a guy called Rasmus Kellerman
    aka Tiger Lou does the melodic vocals. Me (Klas) don’t do any melodic vocals what so ever.

    Q: no i didn't see him;) don't know when you get this, but right know you're touring germany 
    with bleeding through... so what can you tell us? 

    A: Right now where back from that tour since 3 weeks. Well the tour was really good, a little to
    long (6 weeks) and tough for us, but we made it and we had a really great time.  

    Q: when people listen to your records, i'm sure they will immediately notice this kind of perplex 
    song structure... i can't remember one song getting it done under 5 mintes on "salvation". so do
    you want people to listen or people banging their heads to your music??? 

    A: I think it’s important that they just get in to the music you know… We’re trying to bring 
    about some kind of emotion live as well on record. If people want to headbang, that’s fine 
    with me. 

    Q:what you wanna express with your music... lyrical and musical? 

    A: Lyrically the basic message to people is not that we want to preach anything, like when we 
    put in samples of people/writers/politicians we like or quote stuff on our releases, more to get 
    people to think by themselves. Musically it’s all about emotions and aesthetics to rock the 
    listener. 

    Q: who creates all these wall of sounds... is there an appropriate mastermind who has most 
    ideas or is CoL a definite unit bringing it all together? 

    A: It’s more like our two guitarists have the basic ideas or sometimes Johannes (guitar) have 
    got a whole song ready and then we jam it together until we’re happy with it and everybody 
    have got they’re saying. Then I usually put down the lyrics. 

    Q: are you satisfied with your current deal on earache records? 

    A: Yes, pretty much. There are always details you want to change but in the whole picture, yes.

    Q: unfortunately i just had rare opportunities listening to your older stuff... so i can hardly 
    compare. what do you think, any changes between the records over the years or just 
    progression?  

    A: Changes and progression, yes. Within the band we feel like we’re just getting better and 
    better and songs more refined. 

    Q: one question i forgot to ask for a long time, but once upon a time we had a section in our 
    magazine' called: crimes in the past. where we ask musicians of their criminal and violent 
    background... feel free to tell us some funny stuff when you got in conflict with law or police;)
    don't know why, but this question had always been very fine with scandinavian bands;) 

    A: Sorry to let you down dude, but I don’t have any criminal past nor ever have I got in trouble
    with the law enforcement.

    Q: okey;) last words before end... where the expectations pointing to... new album, new tour?

    A: Right now we’re getting ready to head over to the USA on our first tour there ever. We’re 
    going to support mastodon on the east coast and then do some headlining shows in California.  

    text: frankie