Hard Rock Corner: Graveyard
Pushing the Boundaries
Nov 05, 2015
Web Exclusive
Formed in 2006 out of the ashes of short-lived Swedish metal band Norrsken, Graveyard went on to release three albums that mostly belied lazy metal descriptors in favor of heavy blues-based rock and roll, culminating in 2012’s Lights Out. But for the band’s fourth album, the recently released Innocence & Decadence, Graveyard has nudged the template a bit to the left.
Back into the fold is Truls Mörck, the band’s original guitarist, who left the band after its self-titled debut. For Innocence & Decadence, Mörck has moved to bass after founding member Rikard Edlund left the band in 2014, officially for undisclosed reasons but amid rumors of wild behavior. Rounded out by Jonathan Ramm (guitar), Joakim Nilsson (vocals, guitar), and Axel Sjöberg (drums), the four-piece has taken the Cream-inflected blues rock of its earlier albums and stretched itself stylistically for Innocence & Decadence. Where Lights Out tended toward the beautiful pummel, Innocence & Decadence is more nuanced. The album’s first single, “The Apple and The Tree” rides high on a Thin Lizzy-esque guitar groove. “Exit 97” is all sweet slow burn. “From a Hole in the Wall” is a blistering rocker with Mörck stepping to the mic and contributing a wonderfully Jack Bruce-like lead vocal. And the pièce de résistance, “Too Much Is Not Enough,” is straight-up soul, complete with backing choir.
The band spent a portion of 2014 touring the States with heavy hitters Mastodon and Clutch, and will return as headliners in the winter to support Innocence & Decadence (tour dates listed below). Nilsson took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to Under the Radar about the new album and future plans.
Frank Valish (Under the Radar): First, and most generally, was there was anything you knew you wanted to do differently with this album compared to Lights Out?
Joakim Nilsson: Even though we had a long time to write the songs for Lights Out, the recording of Lights Out became very stressful in the end. And this was something we didn’t wanted to repeat when writing and recording Innocence, but I’ll guess it’s always like that in the end. Also we wanted more of an open sound on this one and just try to sound more like people say we sound when we play live.
When was this album written and recorded? You toured quite a bit for Lights Out and were in the US as recent as May with Mastodon and Clutch. Do you write while you are on tour?
We took a major part of 2014 off to write and rehearse the new songs and then we recorded it in the beginning of 2015. So it was all mostly done by the time we went on the Clutch/Mastodon tour. We don’t write that much when we are on tour, no time for that really.
I hear the band’s classic rock/Thin Lizzy/Cream/blues-rock bent accentuated and perhaps emphasized more on Innocence & Decadence compared to your previous albums. Was there an idea to get back to roots or back to basics in your approach to these songs?
Not really, or on purpose anyway. We never think like that when we write songs. All the influences is just thrown in and incorporated in our songwriting, as I believe it is for everyone else I guess. The only time I can recall that I wanted a song to sound like anybody else was as PJ Harvey but I guess you’re not gonna be able to hear that on the final result, unfortunately.
“Too Much Is Not Enough” is perhaps the most obvious example of sonic departure on the album. Can you talk a bit about the genesis of that song and the decision to add the choir?
The song came out as a soul song and I have wanted to have some female vocals on a song for some time, and now we had the perfect opportunity. We never felt like we have any boundaries in how our music should sound like and I hope we never will.
Was there any hesitation or apprehension for you with the way you approached that song? Did the thought cross your mind of how the more metal-loving contingent of your fan base might react?
Not really, we never felt like we were a metal band in the first place. I think we would have scared off all metal-fans a long time ago if they didn’t appreciate different stuff.
I understand that Rikard left the band last year to pursue other ventures. How did his departure affect the writing of this album?
The writing procedure is pretty much the same. Some of us bring ideas for a song to rehearsal and we jam and arrange it together. So instead of Rikard, Truls played bass and he contributed as much as Rikard would have.
Will you approach touring any differently with this album? You seemed to really hit the road hard for the last album. Will you scale things back this time around?
The only difference is that we are touring for shorter periods, never longer then three weeks. But there is a lot of ground to break, so I guess there will be extensive touring in the future also.
Will you be coming back to the US at some point?
Our first tour starts early December and will cover mostly Midwest and West coast. The next leg will be in February, but those dates are not completely set yet. But there will be Graveyard for the US in 2016.
Is it more economically feasible to tour the US with other big bands, like Mastodon and Clutch? Listening to this album, over and over as I have been, I feel like I want to see it performed in a dank dark club somewhere instead of a bigger, arena-sort of space.
We have done both. There’s more money in doing headlining tours at clubs, but since we want to grow as a band and that needs bigger crowds like we get with Mastodon and Clutch.
(www.facebook.com/graveyardofficial)
Graveyard Tour Dates
Dec. 4-19 featuring support from Earthless.
December 4 Columbus, OH Ace of Cups
December 5 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
December 6 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line Music Cafe
December 8 Denver, CO Summit Music Hall
December 9 Salt Lake City, UT In the Venue
December 10 Missoula, MT Top Hat Lounge
December 11 Seattle, WA Chop Suey
December 12 Vancouver, BC VENUE
December 14 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom
December 15 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
December 17 Phoenix, AZ Crescent Ballroom
December 19 Austin, TX Mohawk
Jan. 22 - Feb. 13 featuring support from Spiders.
January 22 Cambridge, MA The Middle East Downstairs
January 23 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
January 24 Portland, ME Port City Music Hall
January 26 Millvale, PA Mr. Small’s Theatre
January 27 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
January 28 Detroit, MI St. Andrew’s Hall
January 29 Louisville, KY Headliners Music Hall
January 30 Asheville, NC The Orange Peel
January 31 Raleigh, NC Lincoln Theatre
February 2 New Orleans, LA Gasa Gasa
February 4 St. Petersburg, FL State Theatre
February 5 Atlanta, GA Terminal West
February 6 Chattanooga, TN Revelry Room
February 9 Baltimore, MD Baltimore Soundstage
February 10 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Bowl
February 11 Buffalo, NY Town Ballroom
February 12 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
February 13 Philadelphia, PA Underground Arts
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Comments
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November 6th 2015
11:15pm
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November 19th 2015
2:49am
After a long time these guys releasing a music album and I’m waiting for that.
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October 3rd 2017
4:54am
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