| No
doubt the return of HALF MAN is among the most expected releases due for
2002. Their debut album "The Complete Field Guide for Cynics"
had attained to the heart of many, despite the offering from the Swedish
foursome wasn't that much in line with the standard sound of stoner-rock. As a matter of fact, Half Man fit in the wake of a kind of 70s stamped psychedelic hard-rock also taking deep roots into the blues. And a smell of blues emanates from the tracks of "Red Herring" as well. Harder and more psychedelic than its predecessor, this new work is tastefully arranged and definitely manages to consolidate the cult surronding this Scandinavian band now counting in addition on such accomplice as the jet propelled Beard of Stars Records which, having routed any competitor, secured one of the most interesting and fresh realities in today's European heavy-psych genre. This is the first time I interview you for the Vincebus Eruptum magazine, so tell shortly our readers about Half Man's history and previous releases... Janne Bengtsson: Half Man has been around forever, or at least so it seems nowadays... The first line-up was formed around late 1986/early 1987 and played together for about two years before it split up. After the split-up of the original line-up, Patric and I played in a number of loose constellations, still under the name of Half Man, for about two years. Eventually the current line-up was finalized: Roger Bengtsson - drums, Peter Lilja - guitar, Patric Carlsson - bass and myself on vocals, harmonica and lead guitar. For some reason we didn't get around to recording anything until 1994-95, when we made our first demo. There was some interest in publishing it, but we had doubts whether it was good enough and finally it was let go. Then in 1998 Hitparade Studios was built in the small community (some would say dump), where all of us come from (although only Patric and Peter still live there). That made us get together and finally record again. The result was "The Complete Field Guide for Cynics". We released it by ourselves, because we had no idea what kind of label could be interested in this kind of music. The band had some savings from previous years of gigging which were put to good use in making the record. From the above it's easy to see that Half Man has a very brief discography: "The Complete Field Guide For cynics" (CD and LP) 1999 and "Half Man vs. Mothercake Vol. 1" split vinyl EP 2000. Then there's of course tracks available on the occasional compilation and a contribution on the Aerosmith tribute "Right in the Nuts" from Small Stone Records. Was it difficult to compose "Red Herring" after the underground success of your first album, "The Complete Field Guide For Cynics"? Patric: Of course there were some added expectations, but I don't think it influenced the way we approached the songwriting, at least not on a conscious level. You can't go about thinking "we need another song like "Two Perverted Men in the Swamp" or this album won't work" and try to force things. The songs must grow at their own pace. Sometimes everything you do seem to turn out horribly wrong, sometimes things just fall into place. Perhaps the studio work was a bit more challenging this time, which might be a case of performance anxiety� What are the main differences between the first and the new album? Roger: The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that when entered the studio to record the CFGFC all the tracks were already finished, some being more than a decade old. The new record had more loose ends and incomplete arrangements going in. "Red Herring" is more unpredictable than the CFGFC I think. The latter is perhaps more "straight ahead" than the new one, less challenging. Janne: We knew virtually nothing about the possibilities of the studio when we made the first album. This time we had a better grip on what kind of a sound we were after. "Red Herring" has a much better sound than the first one! Why did you choose to name your new album after a song appeared on the split 7" with Mothercake? Is it just a coincidence that in that song you for the first time showed a more "stonerish" sound? Patric: The name came in to being at a pretty late stage. Originally we thought about how we wanted a simple title along the lines of "Half Man II", until we decided that perhaps it was better with no title at all. However, a time later Roger blurted out "Why not call it Red Herring"? The inane logic behind it being the fact that a red herring is a false lead and the track doesn't appear on the album. However, since the EP is out of print and few copies where available outside Sweden anyway, we decided to include the tune as a bonus track on the vinyl edition. So it has nothing to do with the more "stoner" sound of that song. "Red Herring" is still a red herring in the Half Man repertoire. Even this time you put a long instrumental track, "Departed Souls", in the middle of the album, as it was with "Two Perverted Men In The Swamp" on CFGFC. Tell me more about "Departed Souls", which seems to be one of the most elaborate Half Man's compositions ever written... Janne: "Departed Souls" started out as a rehearsal jam built around some nice lazy drumming from Roger. We taped that very first jam session. Then it sort of evolved in the studio, once we decided on the title "Departed Souls" we tried to incorporate the moods we got from that. We also experimented a bit with different effects. The engineer Mattias was also very much involved in the arrangement of the song and does some additional guitar work on the track. But the foundation was the original jam, which by the way, was much longer, about 20 minutes... I know you received offerings from various record labels dedicated to stoner rock, but then you chose to release "Red herring" on Beard Of Stars Rec., an Italian label. How did they convince you? Patric: The deciding factor for us was the total concept of Vinyl Magic 3/Beard of Stars/Vincebus Eruptum, the fact that they have an established, worldwide distribution and that they were the most positive to the idea of releasing the album on double vinyl as well. Three quarters of Half Man are rabid vinyl collectors and to just put out a regular CD did not seem right to us. Roger: I am the sole band member, who isn�t a raving lunatic, when it comes to record collecting, but I definitely agree that it is a much nicer format. Vinyl still rules supreme. What are your favorite songs on "Red Herring", and why? I would like you to comment them for our readers... Janne: The aforementioned "Departed souls". I was sitting in the control room when I recorded the guitar. We had turned off all the studio lights except for the light from the recording equipment. The rest of the band was sitting in the dark right next to me. A strange moment. I like the sound of it all, sort of like it was recorded in a swimming pool or a fish tank. Patric: Pigs in space is definitely one of my favorites. It's actually a reworking of an old song, an extended instrumental psychedelic jam-piece. Janne found an old live recording from circa 1995 from where we could learn the song again. We rehearsed it, but felt that something was missing, so we decided that Janne should create some lyrics and sing it in a falsetto voice to the melody of Peter's guitar play. When Janne finally came up with the lyrics we pretty much nailed it on the first take. I don�t know where he gets that weird voice from. Amazing! Then we added the grinding coda, which I am very fond of. I love Roger's violent drumming. Janne does some nice quirky guitars as well. Roger: My vote�s on "Sugar mama". Mostly because I never once figured out how to play drums on the damn thing. During the slower parts the drumming mostly resembles mixed noise emanating from a run-down bicycle workshop. The track is an old live favorite from the mid nineties. We considered putting it on the CFGFC, but didn�t have the guts at the time. It took us a couple of times to appreciate the studio version. For us "Sugar mama" is supposed so be sweat, smoke, frenzied crowds and about 20 minutes longer. Not as polished as the album version. I know Half Man members are all big collectors of old and obscure hard rock albums from the 70s. What are the artists and vinyls you would suggest to pick up? Janne: To me Amon D��l II are gods. German krautrock and the likes of Sperrm�ll and 2066 and Then really has a lot to offer. I recently bought the Turkish album Elektronik T�rk�ler by Erkin Koray and was immediately taken. Among my latest purchases are also the Brazilian Modulo 1000 - N�o Falo which is good, dark psychedelic music. The Australian Masters Apprentices is also incredibly good and strongly recommended. Patric: There really is a lot of wonderful music to discover, it seems like it never ends. The major bands of the late sixties/early seventies like Jimi Hendrix, Doors, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep and Deep Purple are not in any way unworthy of their success, but they weren't alone in creating great music. There are a multitude of "One-hit"- and "No-hit"-wonders, who seemingly gave their all on one single release. Just this year I�ve discovered lots of progressive rock from former eastern block countries. I gladly recommend for instance Blue Effect/Modry Efekt, Collegium Musicum, Framus Five and Flamengo from the former Czechoslovakia. None of these can be categorized as heavy metal band, it�s more a question of progressive jazzrock. But it�s so great!!! The Romanian band Phoenix is also very exciting, their "Cantofabule" from 1975 is a weird mixture of heavy rock, progressive rock and folk music. Italian readers are maybe already familiar with J.E.T. but I recently discovered the masterpiece "Fede Speranza Carita" from 1972. Unless I am mistaken Vinyl Magic 3 reissued this on CD a number of years ago, but the copy I got is a Korean vinyl reissue, complete with the original gimmick cover. The title track is about 10 minutes long and is a classic. Heavy riffing, hammond organ, long freaky solos and some wonderful melodious vocals. In Italian, which of course mean I can't understand a bloody word of it. This year hasn't been a great year for heavy-psych rock, and only a few bands released albums worth to be mentioned among the best of 2001. In your opinion, what's happening? And I would you judge the prolific Swedish stoner rock scene? Patric: I must admit that I haven't really paid that close attention to "the scene" recently. . So, I don't know what happens. I got the latest Spirit Caravan album, which was good, but maybe not quite on par with their masterpiece "Jug Fulla Sun". Admittedly not a stoner rock album - come to think of it I wouldn't say that Half Man is Stoner rock either - but an amazing release nonetheless, is Five Horse Johnson�s "The No 6 Dance". We saw one of their gigs in Sweden this spring. It was on a Sunday, in a minutely small room without a liquor license... Which probably means it should have been a flop, but they really kicked ass. Awesome! There are a lot of really good Swedish bands at the moment. Abramis Brama is my favorites. The vocals are in Swedish, but can still be enjoyed by everyone who likes heavy blues infused hard rock in the vein of Black Sabbath 1972 (or the old Swedish band November if anyone heard of them). They are an incredible live act to boot. We have gotten to know the guys from Abramis Brama a bit recently. During their latest tour they stayed at Janne�s house, where it is said to have been rather wild partying during that weekend. Janne: I can�t quite remember� But Abramis Brama is really good - their latest album "N�r tystnaden lagt sig" is a must. Buy it already! Patric: I'm also looking forward to the release of the Grand Magus album on Rise Above. What I've heard so far is nothing short of spectacular. Then there have popped up a lot of generic stoner rock bands that more or less sound the same. At least they do to me and that I can live without... Do you prefer to work in the studio or to play live? Janne: It took us twelve years to make an album, so I guess the answer by default has to be "to play live". The studio work is very tiring and sometimes we get on each other's nerves in the constrained environment. The studio work is often more fun in retrospect than it is when it actually happens... On the other hand we haven't played live for a while. Roger: Half Man is better live. We are a typical live outfit, huddled up in some corner of a minimal dive, making noise as best as we can. That used to be our thing. Patric, I'd say that while your approach to songwriting is more bluesy and classic, Janne's guitar work is the one that completes the moods you create with psychedelic atmospheres. Do you agree? Is that the way you compose? Patric: Usually I come up with basic riffs and song ideas, but we do almost all of the arrangements together to find the right atmosphere. Janne is a blues man and has an ability to infuse the songs with nerve. That goes for his singing as well as his guitar or harmonica playing. But I think all of us have a part in creating our sound. Listening to "Red herring" and its various moods, I've got the impression that Half Man is still maturing. Are you able to predict how you're going to change in the near future? Roger: It�s impossible to predict. When we started recording the "Red Herring" album, we had an idea of what we wanted it to sound like. In my opinion we ended up with something almost completely different. You can see what kind of music Janne and Patric is listening to at the moment and I think that Peter has become immersed in the late sixties brand of Swedish progressive rock. My own tastes are more along the lines of Icelandic fusion from the eighties. Perhaps a crossover of them all? I guess you're going to play in Italy soon. Any date yet? Janne: Well, your guess is as good as ours. It would be great coming over, but no date has been set as of yet. |