Lapis Lazuli Interview w/ Timo, Frida & Jocke
July 18, 2011
Lapis Lazuli was introduced to me a few years ago and the minute I realized they had a brand new record out titled “A Loss Made Forever“, I knew that I had to at least ask for an interview. Storming out of Sweden and never living with a boring moment, Lapis Lazuli could be the next great act if people learn to pay attention.
Make sure you check out Lapis Lazuli in the links below and support some real people that are dedicated to making real tunes that anyone and everyone can love.
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Timo, you dreamed up Lapis Lazuli back in 2005 while watching a Nightwish DVD, has it finally sunk in that you are living what you dreamed of that day?
Timo: I'm just happy that I get to play music that I like and that the band keeps evolving all the time. A lot has happened since the beginning and you can really hear the difference between everything that we record.
Since 2005, you guys have released a demo and two full-lengths, Why the long pause, nearly 4 years, between the demo and the first full-length "My Mortal Strain"?
Timo: Well, it's rather complicated. In 2007 we changed the name to Aftermath and released an album called "Tides of Sorrow" in 2008. Then in January 2009 we started working on "My mortal stain", but there was a lot of problems with producers and with the recording so we were not finished until 2011. But we were not happy with it, since we, during the time of recording. had wrote several new songs that were much better. So we decided not to release it, changed the name back to Lapis Lazuli and started working on "A Loss Made Forever" instead.
"A Loss Made Forever" was just released early last month, what are the plans tour wise, festival wise and would you guys like to tour the States eventually?
Timo: We have plans to go out and do a couple of shows around Europe this autumn. Otherwise we´re just taking the gigs we get. Of course we would like to tour the US, as well as the rest of the world. And we are going to keep working hard to get there.
Speaking of festivals, you guys just played Dundermarknaden 2011, correct? How was that and were you guys excited to see any specific bands play?
Timo: Dundermarknaden is a small festival. only 3 big acts, one each day. And this year they were all pure shit. Some pop singers from Sweden. We actually had to play without Frida since she was busy doing something else. But we pulled it off anyway. We have a cover band on the side with the same members, but with me on vocals, called Hugo. That play metal covers of pop songs. So we threw in a couple of those covers along with the Lapis Lazuli songs that I am able to sing. It worked out well.
Frida, with you being the newest member of the band, do the guys sort of give you some space or did they assimilate you immediately within the band family?
Frida: Well, unfortunately we already have some space between us since I live in Stockholm and the rest of the band members in Hammerdal ;) But I felt very welcomed from the start, and the guys are very funny/mad and nice to hang out with!
Hammerdal, Sweden - What is there to do for fun and how much of an influence did the city have on your guys while growing up?
Frida: Not much, haha.
Timo: Hammerdal is a village with around 2000 people in it. For people who don't like sports, hunting or snowmobiles there is not much to do. Most people would just be whining about it, but we did something about it and started playing music instead.
At the end of "Dragged Into Shade", a very small drum section is played to close the record, was that put in to just tease the listener or was it on accident? I ask because I was one of those that was tricked into thinking I was about to get more. Haha.
Frida: Haha, I wondered the same first time i heard it, Timo can explain...
Timo: Jocke never can keep quiet after the takes, He always does something like that. Mostly i just delete it but this time i kept it. Not for any specific reason. I just though it was kind of funny.
While on tour or in a different city/country, what do you guys do to keep busy before or after a show?
Timo: It's always very different. Sometimes we can just sit around for hours doing nothing, sometimes we go around to museums and check out the city. We're not that picky. We can do what ever that kills time. We usually ending up finding old medieval castles and stuff like that to visit.
Jocke, as a drummer, who influenced you the most and if you could play in any band at all, who would you play for?
Jocke: Chris Adler is a great drummer. And if I could play in any band it would be In Flames.
The line-up you guys have now, how are you feeling about it and do you feel good enough that this line-up will be the one you guys keep for as long as possible?
Timo: It's hard to tell what will happened in the future. Me, Jocke, Johan, Tobias and Henrik have stayed together since the beginning and we are very happy with Frida. So I hope this line-up will stay together for a while but nothing is written in stone.
What's next for Lapis Lazuli? Any plans for tours, videos, side projects or are you guys just gonna ride the roller coaster and party it up?
Timo: We have a lot of things planned at the moment. We're going to try to shoot a music video later this month. We are also working on our next release. When we announced that we wont be releasing "My Mortal Stain" we promised to release 3 smaller albums with 3-4 months in between. That is a way to kind of apologize to the people that was waiting for "My Mortal Stain". We kept pushing the release date for that one, the first date was mid 2009. But then our previous singer wasn't happy with the results and wanted to rerecord with a different producer. We figured that if we only work on 6-7 songs at the time, we can get songs out faster. and it's also a good way for us to not get bored.
Lastly, I wanna thank you guys for doing this, I know some of your schedules can be rough. Is there anyone or any bands you guys would like to shout out? Also, anything you would like to say to the fans that have stuck with you up to this point?
Timo: Thank you all! Expect a lot of good music from us in the near future! We will keep working hard.
[Retired] A cool kid with no talent but tons of heart! A passion for grindcore and writing in general pushes me onward to reach new heights within music journalism.
