Eyes Wide Open is an interesting hardcore band from Värmland and I was so interested in them so I was "forced " to do an interview with them .... December. , 2013. It's the singer Patrik who respond to the interview ...

History?
- Eyes Wide Open started about two years ago. We have previously been playing in a shitload of other bands , but never really " come home " in the compositions , and that is precisely why we formed the Eyes Wide Open . The idea was never that we would bundle the best musicians , but the best people we could find and it was exactly what we did, in autumn 2011.
In early 2012 we released our EP , " Reveltations " and since then everything has gone into a crazy fucking pace ! We played on radio stations around the world, gigs all around the north, has fans in the most obscure corners of the planet and fans pouring in from all sides .

Tell us about each member, age, family, work, interests and something bad about every one?

-Vocals - Patrick M. Fahlin :
27 -year-old farmerboy from Karlskoga , newly married and lives in Örebro with my wife. Other family consisting of a mother and father in Karlskoga , and a brother, his girlfriend and three kids in Stockholm . In addition to the music , I work as jobs and rehabilitation consultant, and lecturer . Besides music that is my main interest, video games. I have 23 brackets and a hell of a lot of games . Around 2000 + , I would guess . In addition to that , I check also way too much movie and series.
Drums - Charles Adamson : 25 years old from Phoenix. Works as a machine designer . Snowboarding in the winter and fish in the summer. Family consists of mother, father, sister and girlfriend.
Bass - Jesper Lindgren : 23 years from Karlstad. Lives for the band , video games, snuff , beer and Manchester United
Guitar - Erik Engstrand:
29 year old beard steak from Kil . Live there with my girlfriend last several years. I work as an alarm technician for Securitas Direct on weekdays and playing rock hero on weekends. Throughout my childhood , video games , movie and sports been big part of my life and the music really came in recent years.Guitar - Kristofer Strandberg:
25 -year-old music nerd from Karlstad. The family consists of girlfriend in Norrpan , mother and father in KD and sister on the dance folk high school in Katrineholm. Outside the EWO I work as a guitar teacher at Study Promotion . Otherwise, I do some producer job and dream of starting a guitar website. Good food is not so bad either :)
I understood that you were from Karlstad and Gothenburg, you stay left of each city , how does it work in blunted with rope and gigs ?
- Now you've probably got something wrong. It is true that we live in different cities , and I ( Patrick ) lives in Örebro, Christopher, Charles and Jesper live in Karlstad and Erik lives in Kil . It's a fucking legwork back and forth, but we can make it work ! We always keep in touch over eg phone, email and Facebook on the days we do not rehearse / or doing gigs . However, I will move towards Karlstad sooner or later.

I think you have splashes of both the Flames and the hardcore ... how you described otherwise ?
-Nice to hear! Troubled difficult question that is. People usually like to place us in the tray "modern melodic death metal " or " metalcore " . Personally , I usually say that we play " metal" , for short. I have never been so much for all the fucking subcategory and titles , preferring to classify most of what " metal" and then rather try to explain in more detail how the music sounds , rather than classify it as " metalcore " or " modern - melodic -death / thrashcore - whatever " . It sounds so damn silly to me . But now I chumps again . If I myself would describe the music so I would say type like this; heavy melodic metal with both growls and clean vocals, complete with a handful strings and a piano.

What kind of audience you attract to your concerts?
- It's fucking varying indeed! We have everything from kids of 6-7 years of ... let's say ... something more "mature " fans in ages up to 70 bass . And when I say that I do not mean " ah, it came by any 70 –year old  and moaned over the ' youth of today ' once in a concert ," but I mean real die hard fans. Fucking fun!
How does it feel to have released new full length album ? Is it a self- released disc?
- It 's not released just yet , but it feels so damn founded to release it! We 've worked so damn hard on this album , so it'll be awesome fun to finally get to see what you all think about it. We are all cruelly satisfied with our achievements , so now we crave only after getting to get out on the road with it in the back.
The album is self- released . We have been in dialogue with many record companies who contacted us , but finally decided to continue work on their own instead . There are many benefits to having a company in the back, but there can also be disadvantages . At the stage we are in right now, so it fits the creative process to control the cabin alone.

Has it entered any reviews yet ? Are they good or bad ?
-I've seen a review yet , and it was in Norwegian and frankly, I did not really all that was , haha. What I do not understand was that he gave a rating of 4/6 and that there was a " strong and solid 4th ." These reviews should start to fall into the accelerating pace now and it'll be a blast to see what people think !

How do you think this will work to play this kind of music in Sweden today?
-Metal is unfortunately all with severe sold for each year that goes in our country , but we've had a hell of a float must say. We have found it easy to get gigs and fan base has grown like mad , but we still have relatively little fans in Sweden when compared to the rest of the world.


 
What are the biggest band you played with ?
- It depends on how you look at it : we 've been playing at the same festival as eg Alice Cooper, Testament , Doro , etc. In addition to festivals so well it 's probably Lita Ford , what I can think of right now at least.

If you could choose five bands ( live and dead ) to play a big concert together with whom would it be?
- Oh fuck , this is impossible! If we are to agree on the band that's it outright, haha. We have different taste there.
I can drive my top 5 though:
1. Faith No More
2nd Pantera
3rd The Beatles
4th A Perfect Circle
5th Viza
Faith No More is my favorite band , so they are obvious . Pantera holds place no. 2 on my favorites list and I never got a chance to see them, so they are also obvious . The Beatles as well.
A Perfect Cricle and Viza are two bands which means hell of a lot to me and who inspired / inspires me a lot in my artistry, so why do I choose them .

How do you think it is to live in Sweden?
- It all depends on what you compare it with ; , do we compare with Sweden 20 years ago ? If we compare with Syria today? If we compare with how it is to live in a dying city like Detroit today , or we compare with Switzerland and Luxembourg? It's all about perspective. I would like to turn the question a bit and instead asked how it is to live on this planet today , but on the other hand, it is probably lucky that the issue was not so , for then it would follow a 15 page essay below.


 
Some say that it is the government's "fault" that there are very angry music ... would you agree with that?
-Should we give the government credit for that we have such good music ? Fuck that ! Jokes aside ; nja . Angry music is based largely on some form of dissatisfaction. It may be politics, religion , friends, family , neighbors , economy , etc. The list goes on . To say that it is " government failure" is to dumb down something that is much bigger and more complicated than that. With that , I say , however, that a government can not have anything to do with it . Quite the opposite ; discontent is often fed in the decision taken in high places , but " angry music " is not the product of a grievance still receive a government.

What influences you when you write lyrics , etc?
-I answered a little bit on it already in the question above , but in short , everything . It can be anything from everyday worries and dissatisfaction with various situations , to strife in Syria, abusers of power and religious fanatics. Anything that gives me a reaction - positive or negative - inspires me to create .

Are there any good bands in Sweden today? In foreign countries?
-Yeah damn , the list can be endless ! In Sweden we have a shitload of great bands : Ghost , At The Gates , Opeth , Katatonia , Meshuggah , In Flames, Jeudah , Soilwork , Khoma , etc. Out in the world, it 's almost impossible to list, but my personal favorite bands live in today, we have Faith No More , Visa, Wankers of the Zoo Crew, Deftones , Bring Me The Horizon , Architects , Periphery , Machine Head , Down , Killswitch Engage , Slipknot , Tool, Muse, Pearl Jam , Cynic ... well, you see : the list can be endless !

How would you describe your music in three words?
-Mighty . Melodic . Fearless .

Some releases just their music on iTunes / Spotify etc. why are you a real disc ( I think this is good because I gather ) ?
- There you have one reason : we like yourself to have a physical plate in his hand , thinking that maybe there is more ancient fossils beyond us , haha. In my world , it's somewhere a bit so that if you have not pushed the plate up and sold it physically , you have not really released a plate; then they have released some files online.

You have not done anything more than Aftermath or ?
- Oh, yes ! We released our EP " Revelations " last year.

Please rank your five favorite records, five favorite and five most important things in life?
Records:
1. Faith No More - King For a Day , Fool For a Lifetime
2nd Faith No More - Angel Dust
3rd Pantera - Cowboys From Hell
4th Viza - Made In Chernobyl
5th Wankers of the Zoo Crew - Modulated Launderings

concerts:
1. Faith No More , Peace & Love in 2009.
2nd Muse , the Royal Court in 2009.
3rd At The Gates , Debaser Medis 2008.
4th Ghost , the Royal Court in 2011.
5th Tool , Metal Town 2006.

Important things in life :
I am not directly material to me, but I guess we 're talking "stuff" and not emotions , etc. so we drive on it
Music .
Video games.
Coffee .
Food .
Friends .

No specific order at all.

First, last and most expensive record you bought?
-First: Pantera - Cowboys From Hell .
Latest: Ghost - Infestissumam .
Most expensive: Oh, I do not know. Have some old picturediscs with Iron Maiden , King Diamond and Metallica that are all worth a lot, so it's probably one of them!


Best album to have sex to?
-I'm actually not much for the notion that having sex to music. I was there before, but my own music making has fucked up the total for me . The problem ? I have a tendency to get caught up in the music, which can go deep shit , haha!

Do you buy still CD / LP and not just downloading ?
- I have actually never downloaded anything . I mostly listen to Spotify, but I also buys records still . I have , as I said, any kink in it where the physical discs . I like to be able to put in the disc , listen to it and browse through the lyrics without having to have a computer screen that illuminates an in your face all the time.

What 's the best real discs ?
- As I said before: being able to sit and browse through the envelope 's pretty damn founded ! And honestly, who does not like to first open a record and feel that classic scent of freshly printed disc. The scent connects at least I so very many fond memories .

Eyes Wide Open is a name that describes your music good in any way , it is important to have a good band name ?
-Thank you ! Yes, the band name is really important. It may actually be crucial to whether you look up a band or not. A band name should clearly be able to represent the music they create. I mean, we could have created the same music, had the same stage language and singing about the same things , though we could have baptized us to Karl- Jesperz instead. Had as many discovered us then? Had an equal number taken us seriously? Sure, it 's a stretch now, but you know what I mean about .

Which is the best band name you know ?
- Different categories here. Coolest names , which also fits the music ; Cynic , Viza , Korn, Tool , Ghost . Short and concise name gives a damn aplomb !
A little longer name, which also fits the music really good and is slightly more appealing ; Bring Me The Horizon , Faith No More , Times Of Grace , Killswitch Engage .
Odd and somewhat obscure names and it is getting damn good in context: Wankers of the Zoo Crew, pissed , Breaking Benjamin , Stone Sour .
It all depends on the context in which you discover bands , the bands in the last category , I sure never discovered if I had just seen the name .

Future plans for the band?
- We are now releasing the record in a few days . After that we set off on " The Aftermath Tour" and that's the plan right now. We would of course move outside the region we already touched us , that is to say our neighbors . Next stage is suppose to come out in Europe and then out into the rest of the world.

For yourself?
-Move to Karlstad !

Words of wisdom ?
- " Practice makes training. " - Per Fahlin

Something to add?
- Hope we run into each other in some gigs during the tour ! Feel free to check us up here:

www.facebook.com/Eyes.Wide.Open.SWE
twitter.com/weareewo
e-w-o.net

Ha det gôtt, gott folk!
//Patrik M. Fahlin
 

 

.