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*Interviewed by Scott Smith
Biography
In 2008, Stefan Örn (Guitar/Keyboards) was playing in local bars on the east coast of Sweden and came across Fredrik Lönngren (Vocals), whom he would describe as “sort of a local hero, with a voice like he’d never heard before”.
The two began writing together and after a few failed attempts of solidifying a band, they were introduced by mutual friends to Mason Pitts (Bass) and Bobo Ölander (Drums). Finally, the band they had tried to form for so long had come together.
The deal was sealed between the guys on a random street in Los Angeles called Apollo Drive, and the rest, as they say, is history.
As the band continued to work on new material and tour Sweden, they sent a song demo to renowned producer/songwriter Anders Bagge. Anders loved what he heard, especially Fredrik’s extraordinary vocals. “…I like bands that have a voice that’s very personal and that’s what they have. It’s one of their biggest strengths.”
The result is a well-crafted, one-listen record titled “Papercut”. With heartfelt lyrics that are instantly relatable along with a genuine anguish from the vocals of Fredrik Lönngren, the song easily strikes a chord with anyone that hears it.
For starters you are a band from Sweden, yet you "sealed the deal" in confirming and naming the band on a random street in Los Angeles, USA. Can you fill in a few gaps and explain what led you to head over to the USA in the first place before the band "officially" existed?
Actually we were already a band at the time, but under a different name & a slightly different constellation. We took a trip out to Los Angeles together to get some inspiration, meet some contacts and to just have a good time together. For a long time we had been looking for a name that would best suit the band and we bounced some names off one another trying to find the right one. While in LA we passed a street that Mason had talked about, where he'd spent some time making music, in an old make shift studio, round the corner from "Apollo Drive". He'd been brainstorming on names & that one kept coming back to him. All of us agreed that it was a cool name, so we gave it a couple of days to think on it, but in the end we all agreed that Apollo Drive was the name that fit the band best.
For those who have not yet heard your music, how would you describe your sound?
Well I'd say power and emotion come to mind.. and strong, melodic hooks with a cracking good lead singer;)
You released the single "Papercut" earlier this year on ITUNES and people can hear it on your Myspace page. How has the response been to the song so far?
It's been really amazing so far, Papercut's gaining more & more attention both on myspace and youtube everyday now. We have people telling us on a daily basis in the U.S. that they're hearing Papercut both on major radio stations and on Sirius XM regularly, so Papercut is definitely gaining steam in the U.S.A.
You have also signed a deal with Robbins Entertainment in the USA. When can we expect an album or more releases from Apollo Drive?
The single is going very well in USA, so no plans for a full release right now, but we'll have more of a plan for a full release come late summer.
What’s the general songwriting process for the band? How does it start and where does it end?
It often starts with Stefan and myself jamming on different chord structures & melodic ideas until we shape it into a strong song, then Mason and Bobo come in & put their mark & input into the songs to help complete them.
In terms of your songwriting, what do you consider to be the most important ingredient in a song?
There should be really strong feeling in a great song that moves the listener on an emotional level. A great song should have strong lyrics that people can really relate to, they'd don't have to be literal, but they should paint a picture, so the listener can make their own interpretation. Most of all it's important for me to be able to put my feelings & emotion into a song, I have to be able to really relate to the song myself in order to put everything I've got into it.
What music did you grow up listening to and how did it help create the style of music that can now be heard through Apollo Drive?
We've got pretty eclectic tastes individually, everything from classic rock, punk rock to jazz, but I think we all like bands like The Beatles, Springsteen, The Who, The Stones, The Clash, Muse, Oasis, Radiohead, Aerosmith, INXS, Mother Love Bone & Nirvana to name a few..
To us here in Australia, Sweden is more commonly known in the last couple of years for an abundance of hard/sleaze/glam rock bands which we also love. Is the modern rock/pop that Apollo Drive plays common in Sweden at the moment?
No, there aren't really any other bands here in Sweden doing anything like us, but we're about to change that!
If you could travel back in time, or even into the future...and play your music to any one of your musical heroes, who would it be and why?
I'd like to be able to play our stuff for Macartney, Springsteen or maybe Steven Tyler, to see what they like about the songs & hopefully we could get some good advice from one of our heros while were at it..
As a band, you have travelled to both Africa and the USA. Did these trips involve playing any shows whilst you were in these countries? What were some of your highlights of the trip to Africa?
Neither trip involved any official shows for us, but we did get to play with some natives in both cases, which was a blast. The scenery in Africa was something right out of a movie and it just us away. The day we arrived we travelled by car for about 8 hours to get to a spot that our guide knew of, a really cool old Kasbah way up in the mountains. It was a really difficult spot to get to, a dangerous and risky ride straight up through the Atlas mountain range. We travelled to about three different spots including an amazing oasis down the mountain on the other side of the range. There we slept outside in these cool old Bedouin tents with lizards, snakes & cockroaches. Then we headed back down to Marrakech for two nights where we stayed in an old palace turned hotel, which was inside the walls of the old city market. Our first night at the palace they served us a lavish dinner & we got to jam with some berber natives who were playing at there. They had these really cool African instrument's which we got to jam on, then they played some our songs with us while everyone was dancing and eating dinner. All & all it was a really great experience, with some absolutely breathtaking scenery.
What is in store for Apollo Drive for the rest of 2010?
Just to get out and play for our as many of our new found fans as possible. We want to spread the word about Apollo Drive and we want to get our music out to as many listeners around the world as possible.. Speaking of breath taking scenery, we hope that we can tour Australia in the in the coming year. I think a trip "Down Under" would definitely make for good inspiration for some new material!
