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ELECTRIC EARTH : "Leaving For Freedom"

ELECTRIC EARTH -  groovy, fuzzy, hard rock from Sweden with their 4th album release, Leaving For Freedom. It's booming metal that mixes 70's classic rock with the 90's grunge. Find out more about the album and its melodies, here's their guitarist:  Tommy Scalise

How has the reaction to your latest CD been?

Our latest CD Leaving For Freedom has just left the office out to magazines, webzines etc. so we are very eager to see how the response will be to that one. The album before that (Touching the Void) had quite a good response out there so we know for sure that there is an interest in Electric Earth and to what we are doing.

How would you describe your role in the band?

Besides playing the guitar I'm also the organizer in the band. Making sure the process goes forward, taking care of the label side of things, the production of the albums, press and so on. Every band needs one, either a manager or a driven band member and in Electric Earth this would be me.

How long did this CD take to make from start to finish?

The recording was done in two sessions and each session was for a week. Then we let it sunk in for a while before making the mix which in itself took four days.

What kind of 'sound', production wise, did you have in the back of your mind, prior to recording

This time around we wanted a more intense sound that was more to be a kind of direct rock out sound so we opted to go with Marko Tervonen from The Crown as a producer. Marko is also a good friend of the band so the whole process was very relaxed. This definitely made the sound even more guitar oriented than the last time around.

What kind of input did the producer have during the process?

We are all very experienced to the recording process so we know what to do and how we want things to be so Marko helped us to bring that out from the gear but was also helpful to give feedback on things when needed. We also use Jonas Beijer as a co-producer mainly to work with us on the vocals but this time around we made most of that work ourselves.

And are you pleased with the final outcome? (sound - production wise)

Yes, I think we have come up with an album that shows pretty much what Electric Earth are all about. Straight forward Hard Rock with lots of guitar and drums. On top of that there are a very direct hard driven vocal line and the bass backs it all up to make the guitar sound more powerful.

Did the producer (you) use any (weird) experimental miking and/or  recording techniques?

We have done a lot of this in the past but this time it was pretty much straight forward as we wanted it to sound that way. Of course there are some overdubs on the guitars and even a Metal Zone driven guitar in the back to beef it up a bit but all in all pretty traditional this time.

Do you feel it's (un)fair that people tend to compare your product with Soundgarden and Sabbath?

We all take this as a good thing since we all like these bands and we love to have fans crossing between different genres.

Any overall theme of mood/sound that you're trying to capture while writing songs?

One thing that have been important with Electric Earth is to not let us go into a special mood but just to write songs that we all like not trying to fit in a special category. We have been quite criticised for this over the years but we all love Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and bands like that and one thing we all appreciate with these bands are that they are wide-spread in moods and styles. This time around we ended up with more up-tempo hard hitting tunes but the next time it might be different.

What's the story behind your moniker?

Before starting up Electric Earth I played in a band called Gooseflesh and for a short period of time we were called Earth which is what Black Sabbath was called before changing to Black Sabbath. I always thought that it was a cool name so when I was about to start yet another band I wanted to use this name. I also wanted it to apply to people that were into hard driven rock and in some way I thought that the word Electric might just be a good word to appeal to this category of Hard Rock listeners. So I combined them into Electric Earth and thought – Hey I like the sound of it – I’ll use it.

This is your 4th album. Are you finding it easier or harder to come up with new material?

Pretty much the same as always. All the members in the band contribute in the writing process and there is never lack of new ideas. Lyris is tremendous as he seams to have no stop-button when it comes to coming up with new ideas. I’m always amazed by his capacity on this matter.

Who are your influences and heroes? (music-wise)

We all grew up with bands like KISS, Black Sabbath and some other great bands from the 70's so they are our mutual influences but besides that we take influences from a great spectrum. Everything from Testament to Pink Floyd from Blondie to Shinedown. Personally I have always been a fan of KISS and still collect their albums, pinball machine and every other odd thing they have come up with. On the guitar side of things my heroes are Ace Frehley, Jimmy Page and Randy Rhoads.

If there's anything you'd like to add, say, please do

Stay true to your own ideals and to your roots and then if someone like what you do it’s all that more rewarding.
Tommy Scalise /Electric Earth

Interview by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
Photos from the band's websites  
www.officialelectricearth.com/ 
facebook page 

Live photos by Joachim Nywall

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