BESEECH Interview

Maintaining a haunting, gothic tone whilst at the same time giving forth an assertive rock accessibility, Sweden's Beseech exemplify a presence of dark romanticism that one finds in artists such as labelmates Sinamore and teen favorites HIM. Balancing melody and a wickedly alluring ambience on their latest Napalm release, "Sunless Days", the group brings forth strains of bleak harmony tempered with a degree of rock sensibility. Lotta Hoglin speaks with The Gauntlet about the new record and what lies ahead for Beseech.

The Gauntlet: Please give our readers a short history of your band. What are your musical roots? How did your band form?

Beseech: The band was founded back in 1992 and released 3 demo tapes until 1995 before we were signed. But there were some problems with our first label and the album "from a bleeding heart" got delayed and was in the end released through Metalblade Records in 1998. After that we signed with Pavement music in 2000 and released "Black Emotions", but with lack of promotion and support we did break the contract. Directly after the tour in 2001 with Theatre of Tragedy and Lacuna Coil we signed with Napalm Records, whom has released "Souls Highway" in 2002, "Drama" in 2004 and now "Sunless Days" this year.

The Gauntlet: You employed the talents of a violinist and cello player in the early part of the band's career. Who played these classical instruments? Where are they now?
Beseech:

The ones that played violin and cello was just involved on the first album and it was people on the musical school in our city Boris. Today I don't have on idea what they are doing but they were pretty young when they were involved in 1995.

The Gauntlet: Beseech began as an atmospheric doom and death metal band; however, around the end of the nineties you opted for a more clean, goth rock approach. How do you feel about the band's older material? Why did you decide to change your style?

Beseech: As time goes by you get other influences and different ideas, so the change has been quite natural and as new members has joined in and others' left over the years the sound has developed with the new set up along the way. But we still enjoy listening to the older materials and try to play some of the older stuff live as well.

The Gauntlet: You did a European tour with Lacuna Coil and Theatre of Tragedy in 2001. How did that tour go? Did it give you a lot of exposure?

Beseech: That tour was great and gave us much experience and a lot of new fans all over Europe. The other bands were very professional and inspiring to watch and hanging out with, we really had a great time. All though our bus was like sent from hell, but that's another story..! After that tour we were full of new influences and energy and I believe that shows in the following album "Souls Highway".

The Gauntlet: Please tell our readers about the movie soundtrack with your music on it.

Beseech: It was with our second album "Black Emotions" a canadian B-horror movie company wanted to have some tracks from our album featured on their movie that I�ve actually haven�t seen yet, but other members have and it was not the best movie they�ve seen so to speak. Other that was featured on this movie was also Entombed and a dutch band as I remember.

The Gauntlet: Beseech has a somewhat nomadic history with record labels. Please tell our readers about some of the labels you were on, and why you left those labels.

Beseech: Yes, we have had our share of working with difficult labels. We started out with but there were some economic problems and the album "from a bleeding heart" got delayed and was in the end released through Metalblade Records in 1998. Then we moved on and signed with Pavement music in 2000 and released "Black Emotions", but with lack of promotion and support we did break that contract. So we look for other labels and then in 2001 signed with Napalm Records where we released "Souls Highway" in 2002, "Drama" in 2004 and now "Sunless Days" this year. And now were back again searching for a new label as the contract has ended with Napalm. We are negotiating with a couple of labels right now and hopefully will end up with a great deal soon!

The Gauntlet: How do you feel about being on Napalm Records? Are you finally at home for awhile?

Beseech: This is our last album on Napalm Records and then we will go separate ways. The years on Napalm has been a different journey but alike at the same time as the other labels we have had. We have had our differences and would have worked in another way sometimes then they have. But I guess that is hard to get around, but we're hoping to find a new label that shares our way of ideas and the way we'd like to pursue our future.

The Gauntlet: Going back to the Lacuna Coil and Theatre of Tragedy tour, did those two bands rub off on your look and sound in any way? Do you often get compared to those two bands?

Beseech: I think we got new influences of the whole tour, the cities we visited, the people we talked to, the complete journey and of course some of the other bands in a way. And you will always be compared to other bands in your genre, people like to put a label on you, that's just the way it is and we're fine with that. As long as we're compared to great bands as Lacuna! ;P

The Gauntlet: Let's talk about your latest album, "Sunless Day." How do you feel about the finished product? What do you think about the digipack version?

Beseech: We are very pleased with the response of our new album Sunless Day's! I believe it is our strongest and best album so far. The Beseech sound is still there but with a fresher sound and more songs with high potential. I really do believe in this album and hope we will reach out to even more listeners then before. The response so far has been really good; people seem to like what they hear!

The Gauntlet: Please select a few tracks to talk about. What are the lyrics and ideas you are trying to get across on these songs?

Beseech: Okay, We can start off with Innerlane; to this song we have made an animated video. The song is written by Manne and Erik and the lyrics are about being feeling haunted and out of place. Misunderstood and left out. A great song in my opinion! Then we have Lost; a song written by Mikael and myself. Ant the lyrics are all about the headline, about feeling lost and loosing control over your life.

The Gauntlet: You chose an interesting song and artist to cover with your version of "Devil's Plaything" from the classic Danzig album Lucifuge. Why did you choose this song? How did you manipulate this song to fit your own style?

Beseech: Well, it was our new guitar player Manne Engstr�m that came up with the idea of making a cover of the Danzig song "Devil's Plaything", and we all agreed that it could turn out to something very special. It's a great song from the beginning but I truly believe that me managed to make it justice and gave it a completely new sound. It's quite fun making a cover sometimes as long as you can interpret it in an entirely fresh and different way than the original. We played around with a couple of different sounds and effects and finally ending up with this version.

The Gauntlet: Beseech has gone through a couple of changes in the last few years. Please tell our readers about the new member and the most recent departure. How have these additions and subtractions changed the band?

Beseech: In my opinion the line up changes has ending up being for the better in most of the cases, For example all the new members are great musicians and have given fresher ideas and new inspirations to the band. All for the better and we have more fun nowadays!

The Gauntlet: Lotta H�glin has a very beautiful, serene voice. Where did she learn to sing? How does she keep her vocals in shape?

Beseech: I have always been singing since I'm brought up in a music family. Have played in a couple of bands over the years and did actually took a couple of singing lessons over a few months. I keep my vocals in shape by rehearsing a lot and taking care of my voice in general, like not smoking and trying not to sing while sick and stuff like that.

The Gauntlet: What tours or festivals have you recently done? How do you feel about those tours?

Beseech: This year we've been playing at the Wave Gothic Festival, Sunstock, a couple of Swedish festivals like Metal Town and couple of gigs in Finland and of course here at home. We love playing live and doing our best to get out as much as we can and the label let's us!

The Gauntlet: What does your future tour schedule look like?

Beseech: We are in the middle of planning all that right now, but we have a couple of gigs a head in Turkey, Germany and Sweden. But keep an eye in our website, www.beseech.net, for upcoming info about that!

The Gauntlet: I am going to give you freedom to talk about whatever you want to. Is there a message you would like to leave to your fans and our readers?

Beseech: Yes, check out our website for coming gigs, tours and other cool stuff! Hope we'll see you all on tour soon!