COLDWORKER
Interview with Daniel Schroder
A CURA DI R&MIMB
27/09/2012
INTERVIEW: COLDWORKER
The Swedish band COLDWORKER are not new to the Death metal scene, having released their third album "The Doomsayer's Call" (Listenable Records). Let's try to find out more about the combo and the album with one of the band's axemen, Daniel Schroder, as he shares with us his considerations on the band's history, former projects and some interesting glimpses of what is yet to come.
R&MIMB: What is the meaning of your monicker? Who came up with the name?
Daniel Schroder: "Cold work" is an industrial process where you shape metal or glass without using heat. Methods in cold working are blasting, carving and grinding, all without using heat. Elements that a Death Metal band from Sweden would use to get shit done, right? Haha. It was Jakobson that came up with the name.
R&MIMB: That was good thinking!! Coldworker define themselves as a ?full blasting death metal band?. Can you explain this definition?
Daniel Schroder: It's a phrase that someone came up with in the early days, before I joined the band and we've kind of stucked with it since then. It sums up what we do pretty well. We play Death Metal with lots of grinding and blasting. Full blasting Death Metal!
R&MIMB: What does the cover artwork of your albums represent? Is there a relationship between the artwork and your music?
Daniel Schroder: Yes there is. On our two first albums "The Contaminated Void" and "Rotting Paradise" we've had the honor to have the artwork done by Orion Landau (head of the art department at "Relapse Records"). With Orion, our instructions have always been very brief and apart from a few guidelines he has only had our lyrics to work from. So what you see on the artwork for our first two albums are pretty much Orion's interpretations of our lyrics. Most of the lyrics we write deal with dark shit that happens all around us. Stuff like violence, corruption, psychopaths, murder, mental illness and so on, and that is pretty much what you see.
For our third album, 'the Doomsayer's Call' we all agreed on that we wanted something that differed from our previous ones, but still with a central figure. The idea for the artwork originated when Bertilsson saw "Metropolis", the 1927 film by Fritz Lang. He told Joel about it and he liked what he heard, so they brought it to the rest of us and we thought it sounded pretty cool as well! We were going to go with Orion on this one as well, and he actually started working on a cover but unfortunately his office got robbed along with all his work, so we had to get another artist in immediately since we were really short on time and close to deadline. We got in touch with Pär Olofsson who has done some amazing stuff for a lot of bands, and he envisioned our ideas, resulting in an amazing piece of album artwork. An artwork with a more specific "theme", yet with a dark, dystopian feel to it.
So yes, there's definitely a relationship between artwork and music/lyrics.
R&MIMB: How much has your sound been influenced by Nasum? What are your other musical influences?
Daniel Schroder: Since Jakobson is one of our songwriters, and our drummer, it?s inevitable that there will always be a trace of Nasum in Coldworker's sound, because he has his style of playing. However, I think that's about it when it comes to the similarities with Nasum. We listen to lots and lots of different music in the band, we have different favourites when it comes to Death Metal. Some obvious influences would be old school bands like Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal, Malevolent Creation, Death, Terrorizer, Carcass and so on.
R&MIMB: What is your relationship with other American death metal bands?
Daniel Schroder: You mean in an influential way? Coldworker's sound has pretty much "American Death Metal" written over it so you can't get away from the fact that we are very influenced by bands from over there. We haven't been there playing yet though, nor toured that much in general. We've shared stage with some American bands and we did a European run in 2007 along with Misery Index.
R&MIMB: I noticed that you covered a song by Repulsion, ?Crematorium?. What can you tell us about this cover?
Daniel Schroder: We got an offer from FDA Rekotz to participate on a Repulsion compilation CD, and of course we could not say no to that! We got a list with all the songs that were going to be covered and we actually voted for the song "Horrified" at first, but apparently the guys in Blockhead were faster than us. Crematorium was our 2nd pick, and I think that it turned out pretty cool. We recorded it in our rehearsal room and it features Rickard Alriksson (ex Nasum) on backing vocals.
R&MIMB: How has your music evolved from classic death/grind sound?
Daniel Schroder: It's hard to say what the "classic death/grind sound" is! The important thing and what I definitely think, is that our music has evolved with each outing. I think our new album is a natural development for the band, I guess you could call it natural progression. You should always strive to do better and I think that is exactly what we've managed to do with 'the Doomsayer's Call'. We've taken our songwriting to the next level, just like we did from the 2006 release 'The Contaminated Void' to 2008's 'Rotting Paradise'.
R&MIMB: How much does the environment you live in (landscapes, culture and social habits) influence your way of composing?
Daniel Schroder: None, really! For me personally I don't think that landscapes, the environment and culture over here are things that affect my writing. It's pretty quiet and peaceful here in Sweden and I guess that quietness and peacefulness are two things that do not come hand in hand with writing Death Metal songs, hehe! Maybe things would be different if I were into some other genre, like classical music, or pop. Inspiration for me comes mostly from music I listen to or things I see or read.
R&MIMB: What made you consider the choice of having a singer after trying with Bertilsson?
Daniel Schroder: I think Bertilsson felt that he would rather put his full focus on playing guitar. The guys all agreed on the fact that the best thing for the band would be to bring in a separate vocalist. They got a hold of Joel, and he's done an awesome job handling that microphone since then! He's also a great lyricist AND songwriter, just listen to the riffs in "Monochrome Existence" and you will know what I'm talking about
R&MIMB: Why did Andrè Alvinzi leave the band and how did the choice fall on you?
Daniel Schroder: André had to leave the band since touring didn?t really work out for him. I actually got asked to play guitar in the band when the guys started out, but for some reason something got in the way back then. When they realized it would not work out with André I got asked again and this time I figured I'd give it a try.
R&MIMB: Can you tell us something about your other project, "Ruin"? Is the band still active?
Daniel Schroder: Ruin saw the light of day in 2004 but has not been an active band since 2006. The band consisted of me and Bertilsson on guitar, Einar Magnusson (All Hell) on vocals/bass guitar and Tobhias Ljung (the Bereaved, ex Bible Black) on drums. You could say that we played a fusion between old school and modern style Thrash/Death Metal. We released a split CD together with 'Relentless' (Oskars other project) that was released on Relapse Records in 2008 and it contains all 6 demosongs that we ever recorded. Check it out!
R&MIMB: Let?s talk about your latest album ?The Doomsayer?s Call?. Who is the ?Doomsayer? of the title?
Daniel Schroder: It is from a line in "The walls of Eryx", which is about fear of the future and turning a blind eye to all bad things going on in the world. The Doomsayer is basically a manifestation of that fear, that no one knows where the world is headed.
R&MIMB: How was it to work with the legendary Dan Swano?
Daniel Schroder: It's always a pleasure to work with Dan and we've been very fortunate to have him working with us on all of our albums so far. We all know him well so it was an obvious choice to work with him. Lots of credit should also go out to Johan Berglund in Ulgnor Studios, who managed the guitars- and bass recordings!
R&MIMB: Why have you decided to change label on your third album, releasing it on Listenable Records?
Daniel Schroder: Actually we did not decide to change label. It was Relapse that decided that they did not want to pick up 'the Doomsayers Call' as their last option on our contract. So we did not have a choice but to find another home for the album. We contacted Listenable and they seemed interested right away.
R&MIMB: In all your songs, especially in "Violent Society", the drums are particularly blasting. We can say that Jackobson is a pretty technical drummer.
Daniel Schroder: Schroder: Yeah, he certainly is!!! He's still developing a lot and you can hear him making progress as a Death Metal-drummer for each album we put out.
R&MIMB: Who does the songwriting in the band? Who wrote the lyrics for ?The Doomsayer?s Call??
Daniel Schroder: We are all songwriters in the band and everyone contributes with both music and lyrics, more or less. So the answer is simply, everyone!
R&MIMB: The themes of your songs, emptiness, apathy, death by murder, despair are very particular, especially the theme in ?Flesh World?. Can you tell us something more about this track?
Daniel Schroder: I can tell you that I struggled quite a bit in the writingprocess for this song. I rewrote parts and rearranged it many times before I was happy with it. Strange to say, the outcome is almost the same as the first demo I did of it though, haha!
Jakobson wrote the lyrics for this one. The title "Flesh World" comes from the fictional BDSM magazine with the same name in "Twin Peaks". The lyrics are quite graphic and gory but it's really about manipulation and the power to make weaker people do demeaning things.
R&MIMB: In one of your songs, ?Violent Society?, there seems to be a reference to Nietzsche when you quote ?the abyss stares back into us?. Were you influenced by Nietzsche?s theories when you wrote the song?
Daniel Schroder: I asked Joel about that, and he told me that actually he did not think of Nietzsches words when he wrote those lyrics. The line was something that he came up with that he just thought would fit right in there, a coincidence really.
R&MIMB: Have you ever shared the stage with an Italian Metal band?
Daniel Schroder: I don't think that we have, no. We have not been out touring as much as we would have wanted to. Hopefully we will do more of that in the near future, maybe with an Italian band, who knows. Would be cool!
R&MIMB: Have you ever played in Italy, if not, what do you think about the idea?
Daniel Schroder: No, we've not been fortunate enough to go there yet. Actually, I've never been to Italy! I love the idea and I really hope that the opportunity comes for us to go there soon.
R&MIMB: How about a message to all the Rock & Metal in My Blood fans on behalf of Coldworker? Thank you for your support and we hope to see you real soon Italy!!! Check out coldworker.com and facebook.com/coldworker for updates regarding touring and all other sorts of info, and don't forget to pick up "The Doomsayer's Call"! Cheers! Lucia Rossi, Sally Reynold and Angelo Lorenzo Tepes n. R&MIMB: How about a message to all the Rock & Metal in My Blood fans on behalf of Coldworker? Thank you for your support and we hope to see you real soon Italy!!! Check out coldworker.com and facebook.com/coldworker for updates regarding touring and all other sorts of info, and don't forget to pick up "The Doomsayer's Call"! Cheers! Lucia Rossi, Sally Reynold and Angelo Lorenzo Tepes
Daniel Schroder:
R&MIMB: What is the meaning of your monicker? Who came up with the name?
Daniel Schroder: "Cold work" is an industrial process where you shape metal or glass without using heat. Methods in cold working are blasting, carving and grinding, all without using heat. Elements that a Death Metal band from Sweden would use to get shit done, right? Haha. It was Jakobson that came up with the name.
R&MIMB: That was good thinking!! Coldworker define themselves as a ?full blasting death metal band?. Can you explain this definition?
Daniel Schroder: It's a phrase that someone came up with in the early days, before I joined the band and we've kind of stucked with it since then. It sums up what we do pretty well. We play Death Metal with lots of grinding and blasting. Full blasting Death Metal!
R&MIMB: What does the cover artwork of your albums represent? Is there a relationship between the artwork and your music?
Daniel Schroder: Yes there is. On our two first albums "The Contaminated Void" and "Rotting Paradise" we've had the honor to have the artwork done by Orion Landau (head of the art department at "Relapse Records"). With Orion, our instructions have always been very brief and apart from a few guidelines he has only had our lyrics to work from. So what you see on the artwork for our first two albums are pretty much Orion's interpretations of our lyrics. Most of the lyrics we write deal with dark shit that happens all around us. Stuff like violence, corruption, psychopaths, murder, mental illness and so on, and that is pretty much what you see.
For our third album, 'the Doomsayer's Call' we all agreed on that we wanted something that differed from our previous ones, but still with a central figure. The idea for the artwork originated when Bertilsson saw "Metropolis", the 1927 film by Fritz Lang. He told Joel about it and he liked what he heard, so they brought it to the rest of us and we thought it sounded pretty cool as well! We were going to go with Orion on this one as well, and he actually started working on a cover but unfortunately his office got robbed along with all his work, so we had to get another artist in immediately since we were really short on time and close to deadline. We got in touch with Pär Olofsson who has done some amazing stuff for a lot of bands, and he envisioned our ideas, resulting in an amazing piece of album artwork. An artwork with a more specific "theme", yet with a dark, dystopian feel to it.
So yes, there's definitely a relationship between artwork and music/lyrics.
R&MIMB: How much has your sound been influenced by Nasum? What are your other musical influences?
Daniel Schroder: Since Jakobson is one of our songwriters, and our drummer, it?s inevitable that there will always be a trace of Nasum in Coldworker's sound, because he has his style of playing. However, I think that's about it when it comes to the similarities with Nasum. We listen to lots and lots of different music in the band, we have different favourites when it comes to Death Metal. Some obvious influences would be old school bands like Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal, Malevolent Creation, Death, Terrorizer, Carcass and so on.
R&MIMB: What is your relationship with other American death metal bands?
Daniel Schroder: You mean in an influential way? Coldworker's sound has pretty much "American Death Metal" written over it so you can't get away from the fact that we are very influenced by bands from over there. We haven't been there playing yet though, nor toured that much in general. We've shared stage with some American bands and we did a European run in 2007 along with Misery Index.
R&MIMB: I noticed that you covered a song by Repulsion, ?Crematorium?. What can you tell us about this cover?
Daniel Schroder: We got an offer from FDA Rekotz to participate on a Repulsion compilation CD, and of course we could not say no to that! We got a list with all the songs that were going to be covered and we actually voted for the song "Horrified" at first, but apparently the guys in Blockhead were faster than us. Crematorium was our 2nd pick, and I think that it turned out pretty cool. We recorded it in our rehearsal room and it features Rickard Alriksson (ex Nasum) on backing vocals.
R&MIMB: How has your music evolved from classic death/grind sound?
Daniel Schroder: It's hard to say what the "classic death/grind sound" is! The important thing and what I definitely think, is that our music has evolved with each outing. I think our new album is a natural development for the band, I guess you could call it natural progression. You should always strive to do better and I think that is exactly what we've managed to do with 'the Doomsayer's Call'. We've taken our songwriting to the next level, just like we did from the 2006 release 'The Contaminated Void' to 2008's 'Rotting Paradise'.
R&MIMB: How much does the environment you live in (landscapes, culture and social habits) influence your way of composing?
Daniel Schroder: None, really! For me personally I don't think that landscapes, the environment and culture over here are things that affect my writing. It's pretty quiet and peaceful here in Sweden and I guess that quietness and peacefulness are two things that do not come hand in hand with writing Death Metal songs, hehe! Maybe things would be different if I were into some other genre, like classical music, or pop. Inspiration for me comes mostly from music I listen to or things I see or read.
R&MIMB: What made you consider the choice of having a singer after trying with Bertilsson?
Daniel Schroder: I think Bertilsson felt that he would rather put his full focus on playing guitar. The guys all agreed on the fact that the best thing for the band would be to bring in a separate vocalist. They got a hold of Joel, and he's done an awesome job handling that microphone since then! He's also a great lyricist AND songwriter, just listen to the riffs in "Monochrome Existence" and you will know what I'm talking about
R&MIMB: Why did Andrè Alvinzi leave the band and how did the choice fall on you?
Daniel Schroder: André had to leave the band since touring didn?t really work out for him. I actually got asked to play guitar in the band when the guys started out, but for some reason something got in the way back then. When they realized it would not work out with André I got asked again and this time I figured I'd give it a try.
R&MIMB: Can you tell us something about your other project, "Ruin"? Is the band still active?
Daniel Schroder: Ruin saw the light of day in 2004 but has not been an active band since 2006. The band consisted of me and Bertilsson on guitar, Einar Magnusson (All Hell) on vocals/bass guitar and Tobhias Ljung (the Bereaved, ex Bible Black) on drums. You could say that we played a fusion between old school and modern style Thrash/Death Metal. We released a split CD together with 'Relentless' (Oskars other project) that was released on Relapse Records in 2008 and it contains all 6 demosongs that we ever recorded. Check it out!
R&MIMB: Let?s talk about your latest album ?The Doomsayer?s Call?. Who is the ?Doomsayer? of the title?
Daniel Schroder: It is from a line in "The walls of Eryx", which is about fear of the future and turning a blind eye to all bad things going on in the world. The Doomsayer is basically a manifestation of that fear, that no one knows where the world is headed.
R&MIMB: How was it to work with the legendary Dan Swano?
Daniel Schroder: It's always a pleasure to work with Dan and we've been very fortunate to have him working with us on all of our albums so far. We all know him well so it was an obvious choice to work with him. Lots of credit should also go out to Johan Berglund in Ulgnor Studios, who managed the guitars- and bass recordings!
R&MIMB: Why have you decided to change label on your third album, releasing it on Listenable Records?
Daniel Schroder: Actually we did not decide to change label. It was Relapse that decided that they did not want to pick up 'the Doomsayers Call' as their last option on our contract. So we did not have a choice but to find another home for the album. We contacted Listenable and they seemed interested right away.
R&MIMB: In all your songs, especially in "Violent Society", the drums are particularly blasting. We can say that Jackobson is a pretty technical drummer.
Daniel Schroder: Schroder: Yeah, he certainly is!!! He's still developing a lot and you can hear him making progress as a Death Metal-drummer for each album we put out.
R&MIMB: Who does the songwriting in the band? Who wrote the lyrics for ?The Doomsayer?s Call??
Daniel Schroder: We are all songwriters in the band and everyone contributes with both music and lyrics, more or less. So the answer is simply, everyone!
R&MIMB: The themes of your songs, emptiness, apathy, death by murder, despair are very particular, especially the theme in ?Flesh World?. Can you tell us something more about this track?
Daniel Schroder: I can tell you that I struggled quite a bit in the writingprocess for this song. I rewrote parts and rearranged it many times before I was happy with it. Strange to say, the outcome is almost the same as the first demo I did of it though, haha!
Jakobson wrote the lyrics for this one. The title "Flesh World" comes from the fictional BDSM magazine with the same name in "Twin Peaks". The lyrics are quite graphic and gory but it's really about manipulation and the power to make weaker people do demeaning things.
R&MIMB: In one of your songs, ?Violent Society?, there seems to be a reference to Nietzsche when you quote ?the abyss stares back into us?. Were you influenced by Nietzsche?s theories when you wrote the song?
Daniel Schroder: I asked Joel about that, and he told me that actually he did not think of Nietzsches words when he wrote those lyrics. The line was something that he came up with that he just thought would fit right in there, a coincidence really.
R&MIMB: Have you ever shared the stage with an Italian Metal band?
Daniel Schroder: I don't think that we have, no. We have not been out touring as much as we would have wanted to. Hopefully we will do more of that in the near future, maybe with an Italian band, who knows. Would be cool!
R&MIMB: Have you ever played in Italy, if not, what do you think about the idea?
Daniel Schroder: No, we've not been fortunate enough to go there yet. Actually, I've never been to Italy! I love the idea and I really hope that the opportunity comes for us to go there soon.
R&MIMB: How about a message to all the Rock & Metal in My Blood fans on behalf of Coldworker? Thank you for your support and we hope to see you real soon Italy!!! Check out coldworker.com and facebook.com/coldworker for updates regarding touring and all other sorts of info, and don't forget to pick up "The Doomsayer's Call"! Cheers! Lucia Rossi, Sally Reynold and Angelo Lorenzo Tepes n. R&MIMB: How about a message to all the Rock & Metal in My Blood fans on behalf of Coldworker? Thank you for your support and we hope to see you real soon Italy!!! Check out coldworker.com and facebook.com/coldworker for updates regarding touring and all other sorts of info, and don't forget to pick up "The Doomsayer's Call"! Cheers! Lucia Rossi, Sally Reynold and Angelo Lorenzo Tepes
Daniel Schroder:
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