INTERVIEWS

Interview mit Rob von RELEVANT FEW

TL2IN: Hello! How are you?
RELEVANT FEW: Hi! We’re doing fine thank you. We’re in the rehearsals writing some new songs as well as rehearsing old ones.

TL2IN: Can you tell us something about Relevant Fews history?
RELEVANT FEW: Alright. Back in 1991-92 I got very influenced by Napalm Death and Brutal Truth and thought it would be great if I could manage to get some people with the same influences and start a grindcore band just for the fun of it. I tried to put a band together in 1993 but we didn’t last for long and it wasn’t until much later in 2000 I found the right members with the same goal and attributes. I formed Mindsnare, which later became Relevant Few with my old mate and companion in the late Gooseflesh back then, Kristian Lampila. We found interest in a drummer called Mojjo and started jamming around with a couple of ideas. Kristian knew of singer J.C. he had seen performing in a club here in Gothenburg that he thought would fit perfectly in the band. J.C. joined forces immediately and also brought his friend Johan Nilsson along, which was the guitarist in his band Abandon at the time. We wrote about 10 songs in just a month and released a demo that got us signed to the Swedish underground label No Tolerance Records. Shortly after that we changed our name on the band to the more suitable Relevant Few and released our first album “ Who Are Those of Leadership” in 2002. In January J.C. decided to leave the band according to personal problems in his family. We were really devastated and for about 4 months we finally found a replacement for J.C., Henke Svensson, a guitarist who recently had found out his vocal capacity and knew about me through a friend of his. Just after one month with Henke on vocals we got an offer to play the Fuck the Commerce V festival in Neiden, Germany, to replace label-mates Retaliation, who had cancelled. The gig was a blast and we felt very comfortable with Henke live on stage and he was the definitely the right man for the job. We started right away writing songs for a new album and in December 2002 we recorded “The Art of Today”. But then we lost our drummer Mojjo that wasn’t comfortable with the band situation at that time and our second guitarist Johan Nilsson also left the band to move about 850 kilometers from Gothenburg, so everything stopped for once again. After a 7 months pause we finally got our drummer Mojjo back in the band and No Tolerance released the album in Sweden in November 2003.

TL2IN: Your new release "The Art Of Today" is out since a few weeks. What can you tell us about the feedback?
RELEVANT FEW:It’s been great so far and we’ve got some really great reviews for this one, so we’re very thankful for that. I have done interviews both on mail and phone for this one so it’s a big step up for Relevant Few compared to the last release, so you can say that we’ve already seen some major results when it comes to the collaboration with Century Media and New Hawen. There seems to be a certain hunger for this kind of music out there and it’s growing as well I think.

TL2IN: Why did you record the songs in a live session? Do you think that the energy and aggression can catch better in this way or was their any other aim?
RELEVANT FEW: We did this on our first album as well and I must give our engineer, Risza the credits for the idea to record everything live. Honesty is an important factor for everyone involved in the band and we’ll stick to the live thing as long as it works and try not to record each instrument itself, it would ruin our vibe as a band I think. We think that people can feel the presence and the nerve of the band and yeah, the energy and aggression comes in a much more natural way. I think there’s more soul and rawness to it when it’s recorded live and I think people in general can hear that. Honesty is an important factor and it’s the key word for this band and we’ll stick to the live thing as long as it works. Each member of the band loves what we do in Relevant Few and honesty is the key word here and I think it’s an important fact in our sound.

TL2IN: Can you please tell us something about the lyrics?
RELEVANT FEW:  The main issues this time became a more personal view but still in a much political oriented structure which we developed with our first album “Who Are Those of Leadership?” In general the lyrics I write usually deals with my daily life experiences and past relationships, also if there is something I read in the newspapers or watch on TV that upsets me, those things are some of the topics concerning “The Art of Today”. Some of the lyrics are very intimate like for instance the opening track on the album, “Is there no hope?” which deals with a relationship I once was involved in. Then you have “No Savior” that deals with the fact that every store, bus, building, has surveillance cameras in every corner watching your every move. “Lustrous Pattern” was something I wrote when US declared war after September the 11^th. So I will say the main issues we deal with in our lyrics are mostly political. Next album is going to be written from an even more personal view. It’s a fucked up world we’re living in and there’s so much to write about, it’s an inexhaustible source to dig from.

TL2IN: Will you hit the road and play some shows in Germany this year?
RELEVANT FEW: Hopefully yeah. What we really hope for now is that we could manage to get out of Sweden and tour some in Europe, that seems very important right now, we want to reach more people and spread the word and we love playing live. But it all depends on the financially side cause there is a lot of expenses when you get out on a tour.

TL2IN: If you can go on tour with one of your favorite bands, which one would that be and why?
RELEVANT FEW: I would personally say, Napalm Death cause we were suppose to go with them on a couple of dates in Sweden back in 2001, but unfortunately our singer at that time decided to leave so everything got cancelled. So it would be great if we could get a second chance again, that would be a blast.

TL2IN: What kind of music do you listen to instead of metal?
RELEVANT FEW: Oh, I listen to a lot of different kinds of music. For the moment and what comes to mind there is such acts like Prodigy, Depeche Mode, Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack, Muse and Placebo to just name a few.

TL2IN: What can we expect from Relevant Few in the near future?
RELEVANT FEW: Some kind of tour maybe, if we’re lucky. For the moment we’re writing on new material for a third album. With these new songs I think we have just broaden our minds a little cause they are a lot more song-oriented and a bit longer than our previous material. And as we now have become a four-piece band since our second guitarist Johan Nilsson left us in August last year, our sound has become much rougher and noisier since then. It’s a much wider sound with just one guitar and I can do more as a bass-player now.

TL2IN: Now you have the chance to say something you ever want to say:
RELEVANT FEW: Cheers to everyone in Germany! Now go pick up our latest release “The Art of Today” and we might come visiting you soon. Thanx and take care, Peace!

TL2IN: Thanks for the interview and all the best for your future!

Mehr über RELEVANT FEW
Review - The Art Of Today
Website - Band
Website - Label