With the release of "The Will to Power", we caught up with guitarist Joacim Carlsson to get his thoughts on things:
Metal Mayhem: Firstly, thanks for talking to us.
Joacim Carlsson:Well, thank you for having us!
MM: Before we get onto your new album, there’s bound to be those that are unfamiliar with Facedown, can you introduce the band for us.
JC: Face Down is a metal band from Stockholm, Sweden, hell bent on annihilating all your audio systems with the heaviest and meanest music possible.
Hope the new album will prove that point to you all!
MM: When and how did the band form?
JC: The band formed in 1993 with a different line-up from today, only our bassist and vocalist remains from those days.
I joined roughly a year later when they felt they needed a 2nd guitarist. We had a couple of more line-up changes, recorded two albums,
toured the UK and Europe and then the band disintegrated in 1999. Mostly we can put the blame on the business side of things, it killed off
any momentum we had left in us. In 2004 we reformed the band, and now it feels better than ever.
MM: The band seemed to have a very bright future ahead of them, until Marco received an offer to join The Haunted. When he left, did the band try to continue or did you just all agree to disband?
JC: The downfall really started when we got dropped by Roadrunner (as they dropped all their licensed bands) in 1996 and got signed by Nuclear Blast.
It was pretty clear from the start that we didn't get along very good, and by the time the second album was released our drummer had gone on to join Entombed.
We got a new drummer and struggled along for a while, and by the time we felt we should do a new album we once found ourselves without a record deal.
So, I can't say I blame Marco for abandoning ship at that point since the band was pretty much finished anyway. After that happened, we felt it was appropriate to call it a day.
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MM: With Marco in the Haunted, what were the rest of the band up to band-wise? JC: Joakim joined Construcdead and released a couple of albums with them. I've been playing on and off with my other band General Surgery, releasing some records and played shows in Europe and in the US.
MM: 6 years later, Facedown reunited. How did this come about? |
MM: When you played together for the first time since reforming, how did it feel, did it all just come naturally?
JC: I gotta admit it was pretty awkward the first time we rehearsed. We couldn't play with a full line-up,
and Erik was not used to playing our old songs so it was a bit of a struggle at first. But we overcame that pretty
quickly, and as soon as the new songs started coming it felt very natural. We all really enjoy playing the new stuff
more than the old songs since we have created them with this line-up.
MM: A question I’m sure all bands hate, how would you describe yourselves to someone who hasn’t heard you before?
JC: To quote our vocalist: “No mess, no fuss, just pure impact!” Don't know where he got that from, but it surely
works for me!
MM: So, onto “The Will to Power”, Surely has to be the bands best work to date. What’s your opinion?
JC: I can only agree with you on that! In fact, I rank our albums from the newest to the oldest, simply because we didn't
have very much input on the first record. On the second record, we had much more of a say of how things should sound,
and that was very pleasing to us. Add five years of experience and a very relaxed studio atmosphere and you get what
you hear on the new album. It was a great time making the new songs come together, even though it was very hard
work and we had a few snags along the way. We felt so confident about the new songs that we didn't allow the record
company to hear any of it until we had the finished master in our hands. This was quite the opposite from working with our
older label(s).. Looking forward to working with producer/engineer Jocke Skog on our next CD.
MM: With you all in other bands, is Facedown your main project now, or is the time going to be split equally between all the bands?
JC: It's pretty much the main project for everybody, even though Erik is fully committed to Construcdead as well.
I'm doing stuff with General Surgery as well (recording an album in December) but it's not on the same scale as FD.
MM: You’ve just done an album launch/party over here in the UK, how did that go? What was the turnout like?
JC: It was awesome coming back to the UK to play. We've always had a pretty strong fan base there. I don't have any
exact figures, but it looked pretty good to me. We had an excellent time and the other bands were great. Next time we
hope to be able to play on our own gear in order to bring you the full FD experience.
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MM: What touring plans lay ahead for the rest of the year, and for 2006? JC: None for the rest of 2005, and possibly some UK shows in the spring of 2006. We only have one show lined up right now, and that's Helsinki on February 4th. We've just started working with a booking agency, so we're hoping to hit the festivals hard next summer. We're not gonna do long tours with FD any more due to the family situations in the band. |
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MM: Final question now. We know its good, but why should everybody rush out and buy “The Will to Power”?
JC: Well, because you need to have your ears caved in by some of the heaviest tones ever committed to CD, that's why..
Don't sit there, just go get it!
MM: Thanks again for your time, any last words/comments?
JC: Thank you for the interview. Make sure you check out our website for updates on gigs and merchandise. We also
have a new MySpace page that you need to check out. Hope to see you on the road in the UK soon! Cheers!
http://www.facedown.nu
http://www.facedownsweden.com
http://www.myspace.com/facedownsweden
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