Myth of Rock has been in contact with Kalle Lilja, founder and guitarist of Långfinger, a power trio band from the west coast of Sweden, who are going to release their new album äPendulum in a few days. That has been long waited!
Kalle is talking about that but also other interesting topics as well. I hope you enjoy this interview!
Interview by Antonis Mantzavinos
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Hello Kalle and thank you for being available for this interview. I hope you are doing well! First, I would like to start with the new album: I am interested to know more about the album title ‘Pendulum’. How did that come up and whose idea was it?
Hello, my pleasure! The title was something that Victor came up with. I think it was something that could describe our music well. Like a swinging pendulum, in constant move. You never really know where it goes and still you know.
Could you please tell us a bit about the writing and recording process of the album?
Long story short. Before the pandemic we had plans to record in early 2020 but since the world was locked down, we took a natural break. Instead of recording, like most bands did, we just rested. And I think that was clever, because we found the spark again. We recorded in late 2021, did some overdubs and mixed in 2022, prepared and did all the boring work in 2023. Regarding the writing process, we just recorded the songs we had planned to record in 2020 and some new songs was added along the way and some was discarded. The recording process itself was very fast. We booked a week in the studio and did the basic tracks. And recorded vocals and overdubs when we had the time.
Långfinger is for me personally, a band which incorporates so many elements on its albums, all albums are so diverse, open minded and ‘rich’ in regard to the structure of the songs themselves, the inspirations flowing on the albums, etc. What is the musical approach of you as a band member but also from the group perspective as well?
I don’t think we have a specific approach more than that we try not to have too many rules when it comes to making music. For example, I listened to Motorpsycho a lot when I wrote songs for the Pendulum album and off course I wrote a song in the vein of Motorpsycho. Because, why not? If you don’t have any specific rules it gets a bit more exciting. I don’t say that Im gonna write a Morbid Angel song and demand it to be on a Långfinger album, it has to be realistic and in the limits of what the band can do. If I wanna write a Motorpsycho song, no one’s gonna stop me! The Motorpsycho song did not end up on this album, but it has been refinished and will be given another shot when we record the next one!
Everyone in the band is busy either with work, family or other band obligations. How easy or difficult it is for you guys to get together, rehearse, record and dedicate time for Långfinger?
Get to together and have a beer: Super easy! Rehearse and write new stuff: not as easy. Even though we are just a three piece band, its pretty hard to find time. Victor has much obligations with Eclipse and I have a few other musical projects such as Toad Venom Wolves in Haze and Thick. Jesper works night shifts sometimes and weekends sometimes. So we have to prepare more these days, know exactly what to rehearse etc etc. I do most of the song writing alone so its not like when we were kids and could hang out and jam in the rehearsal space for hours.
‘Pendulum’, like all previous albums of the band, is a record where there is a lot of attention paid to the details, of every note, every riff and generally is a really well made and conceived record. How important is for you this balance, between the free-flowing jamming or creation of ideas with the meticulous approach when recording a Långfinger album?
Except for the first album, we have recorded everything we have done live, and that is the recipe for us. Just us three in a room, trying out the tunes. We have a form for all songs but you never know when the jam feeling kicks in. I don’t mean that the song turns into a pure jam but just so you get a sense of a free floating vibe.
How many years you have known Jesper and Victor? And how did Långfinger start back in the days? Tell us a bit about the formation of the band its course throughout the years.
Many years. Jesper was 15 and victor was 13 when we first met each other. We played in different band at the time and after a few years we started Långfinger just as a side project really. All of us had other bands and in the beginning we just jammed and played Kyuss covers. But after a while we realized we had something good goin’ on. We wrote some originals and had a few great shows the first two years.
How did you start playing music since you were a kid and who were your big influences?
I picked up the drums and the guitar at the age of nine. First I wanted to be a drummer but that seat was already taken when my first band was formed. Music has always been around me during my childhood so it was like the most natural thing to start playing music. My first major influence in music was Beatles, and first guitar influence must have been AC/DC. I convinced my parents to take me to AC/DC concert when I was 11. It was my first big rock show. And not long after that I found Deep Purple and from there it went.
Two of my favorite tracks of ‘Pendulum’ is the ‘Orbiter’ and ‘Team Building’, which are the heavy ones. I absolutely love on these the heavy riffs, the inspired solos and the whole rhythm section which all make the song very heavy. What is the biggest challenge for you, when you write new music?
Thx! Orbiter is one of my favorites as well. The biggest challenge is to come up with something that good that the other guys gets excited about it. I usually writes many songs and not all of them gets through the final filter and ends up on an album. And also you don’t want to write the same song again, and still you want it to sound like Långfinger. But when we did this album we knew we were gonna do a harder album than before.
What are your next plans with the band, in regard to playing gigs, etc.?
We have a bunch of shows booked for the spring, including a short trip to Spain. And hopefully we gonna do a bunch of shows in the fall and winter as well. And parallel with that we’re gonna record a new album that hopefully gonna come out in the fall of 2025. So not eight years between the albums again! Haha
Thank you very much for this interview, I hope to meet you soon in person in one of the upcoming gigs, for sure in Stockholm late March!
Thx mate! See you in Sthlm!
RELATED LINKS:
‘Pendulum’
Långfinger on Facebook
Långfinger on Instagram
Welfare Sounds & Records website
Långfinger’s Bandcamp
Album review of ‘Pendulum’
