Sweden's heritage of producing metal bands of all genres is second to none. Harms Way, the brain child of ex-Terra Firma guitarist Freddie Lindgren and Born Of Fire bassist Dim is the latest quality export. Metal Chaos spoke with vocalist and bassist Dim to get the background on the band.
How are things with you and the rest of the band?
Great, thanks!
For those who are not yet familiar with Harms Way how would you best describe the band and your sound?
I'd describe it as a mix of old school hard rock and newer stuff that comes from our hearts. The influences are from the 70's, the 80's, mixed with a modern sound of today.
All four members come from quite diverse musical backgrounds. What influences do you all bring to the band?
I suppose most of us have been playing Death Metal from the beginning but as far as Harms Way is concerned the things we listen to at home, we bring a lot of old style genres is what we like along with the likes of Queens Of The Stone Age to Monster Magnet. That kind of mixes the whole thing together.
Harms Way formed in the wake of the split of Terra Firma. How did Freddie and you hook up?
Well Freddie and me meet at sixth grade, we were just kids. Twelve years old. We just hung out, listened to the same kind of music, but we didn't collaborate on music until a couple of years ago when we thought it would be cool to do a band together.
Were you in touch with Erik and Stipen prior to the formation of the Harms Way? How did these guys come to join the band?
Erik and Stipen played together in Merciless, and when they broke up we just thought that they would just be perfect for this band. Initially it started with Erik first and then Stipen came, as we had another drummer before Stipen.
All four members come from quite diverse musical backgrounds. How does the dynamic in the band work when it comes time to writing? What influences do you all bring to the band?
Freddie and I that have done all the stuff that you hear on the record. Freddie and I work together and make the arrangements and make the lyrics fit with the riffs and so on. Basically we work together first, then bring the material to the other guys and then rework it again. Finally it turns out to be a song.
As the chief lyric writer in the band how do you approach the subject matter for a song?
I'm not a fantasy type of guy, I'm not into that at all. It comes much easier to me when it comes from my heart, and it is the same for the other guys. I'm not talking about big issues, it's about general issues you have in life.
September sees the release of your debut album, “Oxytocin”. How pleased were you all with the final result.
I was quite happy as most of the songs turned out better than we thought as there was a good job done mixing and mastering the record. It of course could bet better, but as a starting band it is the first record and we didn't have the budget to make a super album sound wise. You have to deal with the budget you have and the result is very satisfactory. We were in the studio if you put all the time together for about a month in total.
So is the studio and environment you enjoy?
I do quite enjoy the studio environment as it is a place where thing get whipped into shape. When you rehearse there are always things you don't hear and when you record them you can always improve them by laying a second guitar here or doing a dub on your voice, or whatever. I like it but if you stay to long you get kind of bored, if you are there a lot. It's a 50/50 situation really.
The album was mastered by Henrik Jonsson of Hellacopters and ABBA fame. How did you find working with him? How did you all get hooked up with Henrik?
He listened to the record first of all with Stipen and Freddie as they were mastering also. It sure felt like he knew what he was doing. The first result was kind of to much bass, so we had to cut that down. When we did the second mastering it came out perfect.
“Oxytocin” is some sort of hormone, is there any hidden meaning behind why you chose this name?
No not as much as much as the meaning of the word itself. It was Freddie's idea from the beginning. It is a hormone that is simulated when breast feeding, and as I had a son three weeks ago I know all about it. It's like the birth of something if you can relate to that. It also encourages the listener to go and find out what it means in Goggle or Yahoo. It just makes people think a little more you know?
	After spending all this time in the studio what are your plans to tour in support of the “Oxytocin”?
	Well if you don't tour you don't exist. As things look at the moment, we have a couple of things planned. We are going to have a realse party where we will play with a couple of bands, but no tour dates set as yet. When you get the album out there are obviously going to be some kind of offers. We just have to see what this space.
	The album is to be released via Black Lodge. How and why did you sign with Black Lodge? Is this a multi album deal?
	Well we released a 10 inch vinyl in 2004 and Black Lodge got interested as a result of listening to it and were willing to sign us. We have recorded this album with them, and maybe we record ten more with them but we never know.
	The album includes an instrumental track, “Tsunami”. Is there any connection to the events in Asia 2 years ago, and why instrumental?
	When Freddie and I were sitting writing that song it was December that year, just before the Tsunami came in Asia. We were just working with it and the events just happened, maybe some will call it a celebration of the memory of the victims, but it sort of worked out that way...it wasn't intentional at all. Why an instrumental? Well when we starting working with the song we didn't think about lyrics at all as we thought that they would come later. As we worked with it, the riffs took on melodies themselves and we thought the melodies would sing the lyrics themselves.  So we skipped the lyrics.
	“Move Your Face” appears to be the first track to get air-play from the album. Is this to be the first single and if so why this track?
	The decision for making that song the single was one we made instantly, all four of us. Once we had heard the mixes of the album, it was the obvious song to release. It represents what Harms Way is about. The song has it's melodies and the lyrics are uplifting, so it is a good song for everyone to relate to.
How is the scene in Sweden from your perspective?
The best places to play are the smaller cities. These people often don't have a lot to do, you know the guys in the country. So their only pleasure is to watch a good band, and there are a lot of good bands in Sweden. In bigger cities people have a tendency not to go to concerts, not unless there is a very big band. They don't give a shit about a half known band.
How do you juggle the balance between your musical and personal life? Is it a strain especially as you have recently become a Dad?
Sometimes it is very hard but if you surround yourself with people who accept and respect your struggle when you play music there shouldn't be a problem you know. You can always get those two or three hours to rehearse or write some music, or at least I do at the moment. Obviously if you are on the road for two or three months things can change, it depends also on your family situation. I have a three week old son, so my situation changed but I can handle it for the moment.
How have you found fans of your previous bands have taken to Harms Way, and have you found that there is a weight of expectation?
It shouldn't be a problem as it is not the same genre to begin with. If you wipe out the Death Metal audience then the expectations shouldn't be so high. Harms Way fans will be new people and not old Merciless or Unleashed fans. Or maybe they will. We don't really care about it because it can make you paranoid if you worry about what people think. We kind of mixed things as we wanted to sound kind of new but not to confuse the listener by playing something strange. We are taking the roots we have and putting it into something new.
Any message to all the Harms Way fans out there?
Buy the album (laughs!!) I hope all the people who hear the record enjoy it and we hope to come and play soon.

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