First, can you make a brief history of the band's beginning? Which was your motivation to create the band?

You could say that the idea for Falconer was born the same day that my old band decided to quit. That would have been in May 1999. I stood alone but with musical ideas, now I felt totally free to do whatever I wanted to do so I started to write music for a clean vocalist. After a half a year I recorded the demo which I attracted the coming members with.

Was your first band Mithotyn or were there other bands previous to this?

The first year of Mithotyn (1992) we were only 2 guys: me and Christer Schutz. At that time we were called Cerberus. Before that band I played in my first band (since I started to play guitar in '91 we weren't that good) Disruption, but that's nothing worth mentioning. Everyone have to start somewhere and noone is good in the beginning. During the years of Mithotyn I also played in the thrash 'n'roll band Indungeon and we released two albums.

And do you think you have find the right musical direction now?

For now yes. This would have been the right 3 years back too but the situation was different back then. At this present moment it feels absolutely right. How the situation will look like in 5 years I just can't say at this moment. I have 4 more albums to put out on Metal Blade and I think that will be no problem.

I think Falconer has a very mature sound... would you atribute that to your playing experience?

Eeehh that's pretty hard for me to say. I've played for 9 years but I think there is many who has done the same and more. I'm still pretty new in the Heavy Metal genre and don't take all this image part too serious, I just like the music. Of course a person mature in time but I can't look at my self with the eyes of an beholder so I feel pretty much the same. Well, if you look at the first years you can just laugh your ass of when you read the lyrics, so yes I can see some inner evolution.

Mathias Blad (singer) is brilliant! Where did you find him? Has he been in other bands?

I found Mathias thanks to his father who owns the musicstore here in town. It was him I asked about the vocalists in our town and he mentioned his own son. Since his background was so full of promising stuff as musischools and all kind of musicals I felt like he was the right guy for my demo. Fortunately he liked my stuff and agreed to sing on it, and the result was stunning so I was mighty satisfied with it and it seemes like the labels liked it too since we got offers right away. Mathias was in to joining the band more permanently now, and I can only be thankful. So no, he has no experience of any other Heavy Metal band or Heavy Metal at all and I'm just glad, thereby he manage to maintain his original and personal style.

In your opinion... which are your similarities and diferences from the typical Swedish metal band?

The vocalist of course and then too the change of tempo within the songs. Many bands have fast songs and slow songs, we mix it in the songs. I think that our songs are also more singalongy than many other bands and of course I don't try to sound as the other modern bands since I don't listen to them that much, I'm more into the music of the 70s and the 80s. That fact might contribute to the fact that we sound a bit original. Our lyrics differs from the ordinary band too I think since we have no lyrics about the usual topics: swords, blood, heroes and dragons and stuff like that.

Which bands are major influences to your music?

I try not to take inspiration from any certain band. This is impossible because if I come up with a riff that I like I just can't throw it away and of course there is some similarities between the stuff I like to listen to and the stuff that I write myself and of course also like. My greatest rolemodels or favourites within music would be: Jethro tull, Mike Oldfield, Roxette, everything with R.J.Dio, Iron Maiden, Dire straits, Guns'n'Roses, Max Martin's songs, etc.

Who writes the lyrics, the songs and which are your subjects?

I write everthing in the band. Our lyrical topics are mostly made up historical sagas you could say, I've tried to keep the fantasytopic away allthough it appears a bit in "Lord of the Blacksmiths".

Could you please tell a few comments about each song on the CD? Which was the first song to come into being?

The first song to come alive was "Mindtraveller". "Upon the Grave of Guilt" is dealing with the feelings of guilt, a feeling that can be pretty hard to escape. I think most people have felt this in some degree. "Heresy in Disguise" came to me after watching the excellent movie "In the Name of the Rose" with Sean Connery. A monk going heretic in the monastery, no deeper meaning behind it just a lyric. "Wings of Serenity" is dealing with mankind’s constant chase of the time, always trying to chase the precious day while the free eagle just soars the sky looking down at the foolish man, wasting his day in strife for money and success. "A Quest for the Crown" is a little story of a lost crown causing damnation to its country until it’s found again. It's just a medieval saga I am very proud of, I think it is a bit in the vein of theatreplays, although not in the same league as them but it has the same feeling. "Mindtraveller" is about a search throughout the mind for a higher conscience. Why were we put here on earth, what is the meaning of life, have we forgotten how to live in harmony with the rest of the planet? "Entering Eternity" is a story of the last journey we will do sooner or later (die), I know it’s not that original to do a lyric about this topic since many have done it before but anyway I think it turned out pretty well. Me myself don't believe in any afterlife. I'm pretty realistic and think that one will just rot away when one is dead since I think the "soul" is just an imaginary thing our minds have made up. "Royal Galley" is based upon a true event happening outside of Stockholm in 1628. The new built ship "Wasa" was to do its maidenvoyage but since it was built too high compared to its keel it tipped over pretty soon. In reality the king was luckily not on board at this moment as he were in my version. "Substitutional World" is also one of the lyrics on the album I’m most satisfied with. It deals with the never-ending fact that man is ready to sell out his future as long as he can make a profit today, thereby ending up as a bubbleboy surrounded by the polluted world, just laughing him back in his face. As we all know it isn’t economically prosperous to think about the sideeffects on our environment, it never has and never will thereby we’ll gladly destroy it. "Lord of the Blacksmiths" is inspired of fantasy and mythology. I often say that my lyrics are not fantasy, but this is and I think it's the worst lyric on the album, This one would have fitted better in Mithotyn I think but at least it's a lyric. "The Past still Lives On" is a lttle song about the past you shortly could say. I often think a bit deeper into the past as I behold something of great age. One can allmost hear the sounds and see the life of the past if you really dream yourself away.

Most of the reviews of your album are very good... has the response to your CD gone beyond your expectations?

Yes. I didn't really know what I could expect from it since not that many outsiders had heard it and since I was pretty unfamiliar with writing vocal dominated Metal and since I'm not that dug into the Power Metal scene. I just did what I thought was good, and it seems like people in general like it more than I expected as I sat and wrote the songs home in my sofa in front of the TV.

Internet? Do you find it useful for you as a band?

Oh yes. I can read reviews from all over the world and there is one more way to promote yourself. Napster is the other side, an economical bad thing. I myself can download some stuff but then mostly because I want to know how something sound like before I put my money on it. In general I think internet is a good thing as long as you don't get to hung up on it as someones seem to get.

Speaking of the internet... you're working on your official site at this moment. Any inside details you could provide regarding this?

Actually no. The guy who does it is Sven Fuchs, he's done the one for Hammerfall and Nocturnal Rites too. How the site will look like I don't really know yet, just wait and see I'll see to it so it looks appropriate. The address to it is www.falconer-metal.com

What can we expect from Falconer in the near future? Which are your plans?

We don't have that many plans for the future, just to do this ride once more. I have already 2 new songs ready, so I guess we'll have a new CD out every year, I think you can demand that when we're not a touring band don't you think? I guess there'll be some shirts out soon and hopefully even an official homepage. We have no drastical plans for any changes in the music for the next album but you never know what the future brings.

Well, that's all. Add something if you like...

Thank you very much Marina for this interview. Cheers to all who have bought the Falconer CD, hope you liked it!

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