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11. Juli 2017

Interview with Kerbera

The Swedish Band Kerbera, with the Lead Singer Seike, actually earned a high attention with their Cover of the Song "Heathens" by Twenty One Pilots.
We´ve talked with the Band about their Cover and upcoming things like a german Tour and new Album.


In 2016 you'd released your first full lenght album "People like you", what does this Album mean to you personally and as a band? And how long did you worked on it?
Seike: The first album you release as a band is always special. Some of the songs on the album were ready demos, almost two years before the album was recorded. But once we went into the studio it took only about two weeks to record everything. We even made most of the harmonies while recording. For me personally the album is very special since I got to express myself in so many ways. I evolved and learned a lot during the recording. Zave: Like Seike already said, some of these songs had already been writen two years before the release. To release the album was so rewarding since people could finally hear what we sound like. We knew what we sounded like, but the outside world could only judge us by what we had already released. Because of working on songs, how would you explain the process in creating songs? Who is the creative leader? Or is it a mix of everyones ideas? Zave: On our last album, our former bassist Freddy Hale wrote the majority of the songs and their structures. Then we'd go through it all together, change a few things. I got to add my own flavour to the guitar parts and write guitar solos. And finally I wrote the remaining vocal harmonies. Our upcoming release will be different because we have three new members. Me and Fredrik (bass) has started to write songs together and I feel like we're definitely going in the right direction and while it is something new, it is definitely Kerbera. Seike: It's so different every time, and with this new set up of band members it'll be a whole new way to work. Zave is very dominant musically and I feel very confident with that. I mostly write melodies and lyrics myself. Also I've got a lot of ideas regarding harmonies. Me and Zave complements each other there quite well. I get ideas and he completes them. Lazsarus: Since I joined the band I feel like I've gotten a bigger role as a writer. If I dont write myself I usually write with Zave; wich is a blast! We have the same vision of what direction we want the music to take and it's wonderful to have Zave with me since he adds the "Kerbera" sound to the ideas. When the music is done Seike delivers lyrics and alter/write the song-melodies. You guys are playing the Keios Festival. Which other festival would you like to play as well? Lazsarus: I stood on stage with YOHIO last year but it was because of the KEIOS festival I got in contact with Kerbera. I guess you could say that was the thing that led to me joining the band. I would love to play Rock Am Ring - a dream of mine. Zave: Yes, we played at Keios Festival last year and it was a blast! We also played a festival in Japan. The obvious answer here is Rock Am Ring. Every rock band that is something has played there and it is a festival every band wants to play at. I would also love to play at Download Festival and Warped Tour. I bet we'd love to play at all rock festivals in general. Mike: It'd be awesome if we got the chance to play at festivals such as Roskilde or Wacken Open Air. Never been to any of those two, so it'd be cool both attending and playing at those festivals. Dave: The dream for me ofcourse is to play on the big festivals such as wacken, graspop, rock am ring, etc but every gig is a unique experience so it doesnt really matter where we play for me!



Is it right that Kerbera tried to represent sweden at the ESC? 

Seike: That's correct. We have sent two songs to Swedish ESC. One of them were our single "From Hero to Villain". For people not living in Sweden it's quite hard to understand the music scene here, but actually there's not much else to do here than ESC. Sweden is a big country by size but no people live here, so for a band like us it's something we would do just for fun. I don't have any ambitions to represent Sweden in the finals. Dave: ESC is the biggest music arrangement we have in Sweden, so playing there would mean that we would be able to reach out with our music to more people. I wouldnt say that Im personally dying to play ESC, but if we would get the opportunity I would be excited! Heathens is your actuall release, a cover. What was the reason for THIS song, and will there be other covers? Seike: I like the song and wanted to try out something really different from what we've done before. It's my first cover ever and I'm satisfied with the outcome. Zave: Seike wanted to do this song and we, the rest of the band, pretty much agreed that it would be fun and a great song to cover. We don't have any more covers planned and we're definitely going to focus on our original songs in the coming year, but I'm not opposed to doing more covers in the future. Heathens is a classical rock/pop cover. Your sound is a mix of rock, pop and parts of heavy glam rock. Will your style change now to the standart rock and pop genre or could we expect the kerbera style for your new songs? Zave: It will be different from our earlier songs, but it will still have that Kerbera feel to it. To answer your question. No, it will not be standard rock/pop. We are influenced by a lot of different genres and try to incorporate them in to our style. And I think that this time, we are going for something a little more progressive. Dave: Kerbera does not have the same line up as it did a couple of years ago, Seike and Zave are the only original members left so the sound will change. Lazsarus: I've never really listened to Kerbera or written anything like their earlier songs before joining its hard for me to incorporate that into my writing so the new stuff will be different but as I said earlier: It will all have that Kerbera-feel to it. Mike: I haven't been writing with Kerbera earlier but I really felt that everyone in the band got a chance to really write for their own instrument. We will however always be Kerbera and have that Kerbera sound and feel. We're not going too far off from our genre our style, we're just branching out slightly and try to add a little flavor to it. Are you actually working on new songs for another EP or Album? 
Mike: Yes, We're in the process of writing new songs at the moment. I think the writing process for our new stuff differs a lot from how it went down with "People Like You" - I as a drummer who loves writing drumparts is being able to really get my vision of how the drums should be played and how to get their sound through. There's lots of new members in the band since the last album (me being one of them) so there're lots of new influences, the music will, however, always be Kerbera and have our sound, but we might venture in genres and musical areas which we've left somewhat unexplored earlier. Seike: Keep your eyes and ears open.


Kerbera´s succesfullest Single 
"Inglorious" out of 2013

You had played a german show last year, will there be another Live Show or tour this year which includes germany? Mike: I'm pretty sure we'll be visiting you guys in early 2018, can't tell you more than that! Because we're a german blog. What do you know about german musicians? Maybe Anyone you like? Mike: There are lots of good German artists out there, I like music from all kinds of genres - Kraftwerk, Rammstein, Beethoven and the amazing drummer Benny Greb are just a couple of names that pop up in my head. Zave: Definitely Hans Zimmer. Many of the greats were germans. Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Händel and so on. I've got huge respect for their individual work. Dave: Of course the classics such as Bach and Beethoven and the work of Hans Zimmer.
I listen to a lot of German metal bands such as "Heaven shall burn", "Caliban" and "We Butter The Bread With Butter". Lazsarus: I can just agree with everyone else. Zimmer and the greats like Beethoven, Bach, Händel ect.

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