Well, to be honest I started my musical path playing in hard rock bands as a teenager and I grew up on bands like Maiden, Priest, Accept, Helloween and so on, so it isn't so strange that I play this kind of music now. I can't say that I always have written metal songs, but it was pretty natural for me to write for bloodbound as I have metal in my blood as well as melodic rock

2. How does your writing process work - do you work more on impulse or do you approach the writing as work, and sit down and play an instrument until you come up with something?

It's very much about hard work you know. I sit down and try different ideas until something good comes up and then I concentrate on that idea. I have different song writing techniques so I can't say that I only write in one way...

3. Does it ever happen that a song you were writing with Street Talk in mind would end up to be a Bloodbound song?

Not yet, but I had an idea to save the bloodbound song Crucified for the new Street Talk album V, but I decided to put it on the bloodbound album instead as it might have been weird to put a song with double bass drums on a Street Talk album haha...

4. There has been some changes in the Bloodbound camp. Can you shed some light into the matter, why did these changes occur?

Well, where should I start... The problems that led to a line up change was a matter of money actually!

All the money we earn in Bloodbound goes straight into the band to cover touring, the stage show, pyrotechnics, merchandise etc. The problem in the old line up started when some of the “late” band members wanted to take the money instead of using it to support the band and make it bigger and better. They didn't share the same vision as the rest of us and wanted to go in a different direction. So that's why there's been some changes in the line up! But I can assure you that we are stronger and a better band now!

The new line up consists of

Kristian Andrén – Vocals (Wuthering Heights, Tad Morose, Memento Mori)
Tomas Olsson - Guitars
Fredrik Bergh - Keyboards
Henrik Olsson - Guitars
Johan Sohlberg – Bass (The Storyteller)
Pelle Åkerlind - Drums (Morgana Lefay)

[note: this line-up is so new that there are no photos of it yet!]

5. It seems that you are going to concentrate on keyboards from now on, as you're going to announce a bass player soon. Is this going to change to sound of the band?

I will concentrate on keyboards/backing vocals for sure and we have already a new bass player that I can announce right now. Our new bassist is Johan Sohlberg, a great guy and an animal on stage! He's previously known from the Swedish melodic metal band The Storyteller. This will only change the band for the better!

6. There's a new album in the works. How's it going to change compared to "Nosferatu"?

Yeah, we write songs like crazy as we speak! The album will be in the same style as Nosferatu more or less, but we have some small surprises for you for the second album. For example we have a big epic ballad that will be very cool! I can reveal some of the songs we're working on : “The Tempter”, “Book Of The Dead”, “Vampires”, “Turn To Stone”, “Lord Of Battle” and “Into Eternity”.

7. One thing that struck me as being a bit odd when I first heard about the band was the image. It seems to have worked for you though, you have a rather high profile. Now that the band lineup has changed, will you be continue using the "Norwegian black metal" make-up?

Good question...hehe...Yeah, it has worked because people talk about us and our image, some think it's cool, some think the make up sucks...haha....I guess all publicity is good publicity so all this talk have been good for us I guess. We'll see what will happen for the next album ;)

8. Do you think that the "look" has worked more for you or against you? I can imagine that it might lead a common hard rock fan to think that you are indeed some kind of a Black Metal group.

I think it has worked for us because of the discussions about our make up...

9. You will be participating in the UFOR in Ludwigsburg, Germany, on 1 October. Are you looking forward to the festival? Are you planning to check out some bands in particular?

I'm very much looking forward to it! I'm looking forward to meeting people from all around the globe! Both bloodbound and Street Talk fans, media people, and fellow musicians! It will be great! I will check out every band if possible! There are some great cats playing.

10. Does Bloodbound have something special in their sleeves for this festival?

Interview by Kimmo Toivonen,
Photos from www.bloodbound.se

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