Interview with Steve Drennan, bass player of the Swedish Metal band, Engel.
Hey Steve, nice talking with you, how have you been?
Hey Carla, thank
you and all is well with me at the moment, have stopped smoking so starting to feel the benefits a little and hope that goes towards performing a better show.
Tell me when Engel was founded.
Engel I guess officially started in 2005 which made this the band’s 10th anniversary. We haven’t made a big thing about it even though in these days and age within the so called Music Industry it feels that bands seem to have a supposed shelf life of a few years and disband. It shouldn’t be seen to be an achievement to have stayed together for this long, we have because we love what we do and want to carry on as a long as needs be.
Lets start talking about the releases, which is the first one?
The first official release would be the ”Absolute Design” album which I guess brought Engel on to the world stage. This was back in 2007 which was followed by ”Threnody” in 2010, ”Blood of Saints” in 2012.
“Raven Kings” is the latest album released in 2014, tell me about it same.
With our most recent album ”Raven Kings”, I think it was important for us as it was the first time to record with Mikael Sehlin on vocal duties and Oscar Nilsson on drums and was a really good album to make together. There is an amazing dynamic now within Engel these days and always seems to feel quite relaxed and enjoyable. It can be difficult for many bands where maybe ego and personalities clash but thats just how it is sometimes, you can always be best friends with the people you work with. We are lucky that this isn’t a situation for us, we are all great friends and we love to hang out and drink ESB together and laugh when we are not working.
What are Engel’s influences?
Influences, well that’s a tough one as I think musically we are as similar and as far apart in our personal tastes but collectively we tend to like bands that inspired us growing up. From classic Heavy Metal like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Motley Crue and all the other usual suspects that make you want to pick up and instrument and bang your head but also we have been influenced from the more industrial sounds of Ministry, Front 242, NIN, Depeche Mode and of course our good friends Rammstein.
Who use to write the music in the band?
Well that would be our commander in chief Niclas Engelin who formed Engel and has this natural ability to always come up with great songs and riffs. I think songwriting is a gift that just comes naturally to some people and Niclas is certainly one of those and of course its inspiring for us to be able to translate these ideas and turn them into songs. On times we have collaborated with other friends to try some new approaches and thats great as it takes us away a little from our comfort zone and pushes us a little harder.
Are you going to release new materials soon?
At the moment, we are just preparing for a Scandinavian tour with our friends Raised Fist which starts next week on the 26th In Gothenburg and will finish in Tampere Finland on the 18th December. We have been working on new material this year for the next release and its coming together nicely and can’t wait to start the recording process as soon as we are ready.
What message do you have for those who support and enjoy Engel’s music?
I guess the only thing one can say to so many great fans and friends of Engel is to Thank you all so much. I know its typical for nearly everyone to say this but the simple truth is that we are truly grateful to be able to share what we love doing with so many awesome people and for them to like our music and show there appreciation time after time… This is just amazing and we hope to continue making music that inspires and genuinely makes a difference in peoples lives.
Cheers to you Steve, thank you for this interview. All the best!
Carla, thank you so much for this excellent interview and for taking the time to do this. You Rock and look forward to catching up on the road soon!
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