"All About The Album" - If you'd like to feature your band/album, email: urban

HOUSTON: "II"

HOUSTON -  the Swedish AOR band has just released their second album of original material, and it's been getting rave reviews from the melodic press. We liked it too, and thought that they should be interrogated about it. And cheese, of course. Drummer Freddie answered our questions.

1. How has the reaction to your latest CD been?
Freddie: First of all, thank you for having us! The reaction's been really good, almost better so far, than the previous albums. But you never know when a bad review's gonna turn up...

2.How long did this CD take to make from start to finish, recording-wise?
From song writing to hear it's taken about a year. The recording and production has taken a little less, maybe ten months.

3.What kind of 'sound', production wise, did you have in the back of your mind, prior to entering the studio?
A little bigger than the first album, a little more modern, but not too much of today's "hit the ceiling mixes and masters".

4.What kind of input did the producer have during the process?
Ricky Delin, our keyboard player and producer had pretty much all the production input. I tend to write most of the songs together with him, then he puts his his own mark on the production.

5.And are you pleased with the final outcome? (sound - production wise)
Very much, yes. I think that we couldn't have a much better job anywhere else with these songs.

6.Did the producer use any (weird) experimental miking and/or recording techniques?
Not that I know of. Then again, we have a pretty special writing process I can tell you about. We write a couple of chords to a chorus and perhaps a verse, then we take turns in going into the vocals booth and sing a lot of rubbish words to the melodies we hear inside our heads. After that, we take the best of the lot and write the rest of the words to it. A very effective way of "singing your heart out"!

7.How did you go on about capturing your 'live sound' in the studio, or perhaps you didn't?
For us it's the other way around, it always begins in the studio. We then try to get as much out live as possible. It can be hard sometimes, because you have your perfect version already recorded, sort of like a painting already finished. The blueprint.

8.Please inform us about your favourite songs and lyrical highlights and why?
For me it's "Talk to Me" on this record. It's a very true song with a very real lyric, having to do with missing your loved ones, even though they are still with you. At least that's my interpretation.

9.Any overall theme of mood that you're trying to capture while writing songs?
Well, one important theme for me is a spiritual one. There isn't much spirituality in Sweden, that I know of, a part from religion (which isn't very spiritual over here, to be honest). To have your body and mind come together and work as one is important to me. I think that comes across in our songs.

10.Did the record company interfere with anything on your "sound" and songs?
Nothing at all. A very nice thing if you are a band like us and you already know what you are supposed to do.

11.Are there any 'crazy' behind the scenes anecdotes from these sessions that you can share with us?
Sorry to dissapoint you here - I guess we are just too boring people to come up with any crazy stuff, we are too much into the work at hand.

12. Is Houston going to perform these songs live and if so, who's going to be in the band?
We are not sure right now, but we have had some interesting offers. Hopefully we will know more soon. As for the live band I think we will ask the same people that play on the album.

13. You have a quest vocalist on the album, Minnah Karlsson who sings a duet with Hank on one of the songs. Where did you find her?
Minnah was found through Ricky's contacts - she sang with some really special people live, and Tommy Denander and Ricky became great fans of her, which of course by now we all are.

14. I will ask you about the band's name, and this will be a complicated two-part question:
a) How did you come up with it?
Well, all the American bands of the mid 70's that had anything to do with what we call AOR or melodic rock seemed to be named after cities or states. So to honor them we chose a name that would evoce that period and that music, and at the same time make you associate with space-like album covers.
b) It sounds very similar to the finnish word "juusto" (cheese), that doesn't have anything to do with it, does it? :)
That depends on what kind of person you are, I guess, and how you interpret reality!

15. If there's anything you'd like to add, say, please do:
Thanks a bunch for having us and thank you to all out there supporting Houston!

Interview questions by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom and Kimmo Toivonen

Photos from Rock'nGrowl

Houston online:  
 www.facebook.com/Houstonsweden

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