Pulverised Records Artist - Bastard Grave Interview
1. Tell us about the Melodic Buzzsaw Death metal sound of Bastard Grave and how it came to be?
Since childhood I've always had a love of the death metal of my homeland, but never ventured into actually playing it. After years in different crust punk bands, that all started to sound more and more metal, I just thought "Fuck it" and started writing pure death metal songs. It was a slow process in the beginning, since neither me or Peter (drums) had ever played metal before, we had some practice to do before we could get an actual band together. But in 2012, when my old punk band broke up, all focus shifted to Bastard Grave, and we got a full band, finally.
2. Your sound remembers me of bands like Dismember and Unanimated with doses of Bolt thrower for good measure are some of these bands were your influence and sound came from?
Well, since Dismember and Bolt Thrower are two of my all time favorite bands, it would be strange if that didn't shine through. In my opinion Dismember had the mix between melody and brutality perfected like no other band. As for influencing the sound, I would throw in some Autopsy and you're good to go.
3. Whats a live show for Bastard Grave like? Is it similar to album or something very different?
It's just us playing 8-9 songs from the album, as best as we can. No pyro or make-up needed. Mostly in front of drunk punks, since we're basicly just punks ourselves.
4. I see you had a demo before this album was the sound close to " What Lies Beyond" ?
Yes, pretty much. Hopefully the album sounds a bit better to the listeners, I sure do think so. But in the end it's just primitive death metal with a punk edge, no big production or fancy gimmicks needed for it. It is what it is.
5. How did you come to work with Pulverised label?
Somehow they heard our demo that we posted online, in the overcrowded online world. Among millions of other shitty demos they heard they must have thought ours sounded less shitty. I had just gotten home from practice one day and read the mail Calvin had sent me, and had a hard time believing in it. It's worked out great and we couldn't be happier, Pulverised sure knows what they're doing.
6. If you could make a video for any song on the album what would it be any why?
I think I would choose the album opener, "From the depths". It's a long and epic song, and you could get a decent narrative into it. All about Cthulhu rising from the depths. Now all we need is a multi million dollar budget.
7. If you could tour with any artist who would it currently be?
I'm heavily into the dark synthwave, so touring with and seeing Carpenter Brut or Perturbator every night would be amazing. But I think I would choose a band with people I know and trust. When being on the road it's important to be around people you like. So maybe Age of Woe from Sweden, I think it would be a good match of styles, and they are very nice people. Check them out.
8. Is the band fans of the digital age or do you miss the days of Tape Trading, Print Zines and Underground radio or do your see this age of You Tube , Facebook, Soundcloud and Bandcamp a new age for the indie band?
I think everyone likes having something physical to present to people, be it a cassette, cd, vinyl, zine, whatever. That is something you can't get away from. But there are certain benefits with the digital age that you can't deny, you can hear all the mucis of the world whenever you want. That's how Pulverised heard of us. That might have happened in the pre-digital era as well, but it would have taken quite some time for a demo we only printed a 100 copies of to find its way to Singapore.
9. What Bands are currently Impressing the members of Bastard Grave?
Since it's me Andreas answering, it will be what currently impresses me. Carpenter Brut, Perturbator, Tribulation, Charles Bradley, Nightfell, Vastum, Chelsea Wolfe.
10. Is there a story or theme behind " What Lies Beyond" ?
No theme, only death.
11. The Swedish Metal scene is still a strong one . Do you see a rebirth of Death metal as Thrash and Death metal in the USA is making a large comeback in fan base and press.
The rebirth has come, and maybe it's fading again. Seems like there was a big surge a few years ago, with many new bands. Is it still strong? I'm not the right person to answer this.
12. Do the members of Bastard Grave play or perform in other projects if so tell us about them..
Me and Peter have punk band called Slöa Knivar, Rille and a friend make some weird and great stuff under the moniker Skeletors, and Anton and Peter have a new band called Lawgiver, crossover thrash/metal.
13. Where do you see next album stylistically?? More experimental, Raw, Punk???
Hard to say. The album is still pretty fresh, and we only have a few new songs. Maybe a bit more diverse, since on "What lies beyond" it was only me who wrote the songs, but now maybe we'll try a bit more collaborative approach to it. But who knows, I hope it won't sound too dramatically different, which I don't think it will. I generally don't like when bands I'm into release an album that sound like a totally different band from their previous albums.
14. Thank you for your time any closing thoughts here.
Thanks for the interview, and remember what Sepultura said in Propaganda, "Don't believe what you read!". Take care.
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