Exclusive new interview with Fredde Ernerot of the Swedish soul metal band Temperance.
Photos courtesy of metalgbg.com
 

I notice your website hasn't been updated in uhm a little while...

FE  We will change server in the near future, as well as webmaster.
 

Do you know what the url will be? Will there be any new exclusives for people to look forward to?

FE  Well, we shall see. The webmaster that offered us help is a real skilled one, working for the biggest metal zine in Sweden, Sweden Rock magazine, so it will be fine. No, I don't know the address yet. We´ll get our own domain for a good price.
 

I seem to remember in the past you had people from all over the world working on your site - that must have been hard to co-ordinate, when you're all in different countries/continents/time zones.

FE  We have had one webmaster from day one, nothing more - nothing less. She is from Venezuela, but we´ve not been in touch at all lately, and we really want someone in our own country to deal with the biz around Temperance being featured on the net. Yeah, I guess this will be for the better really.
 

More hands on - and you've always been like that, doing promotional tapes and newsletters.

FE  Well, we have been the type of bands that wanted to have control over things that concern the band. Still like that. But, there has to be a limit for it as well. We are first of all musicians, not promoters... so a helping hand from a pro that knows how to get the info as well as the layout across, doesn't hurt really :)
 

Speaking of which (musicians I mean) who's in the band now?

FE  Me, and B-hang (my brother) as usual, and this year we've had a guy from B-hang's side band playing with us, but as a stand in for gigs mainly. He's a good player, and a quick learner, which suits us well, as we have wanted to focus on new stuff mainly for the gigs done so far this year. His name is Mats.
 

How many gigs have you done recently? Any big festival types shows?

FE  This year we've done two gigs so far. One being a festival in our former city Växjö, and one in our home city Gothenburg. Both have been important to us, as we've haven't been on stage in either of the cities for along time.
 

Sounds like some of our bigger local bands - they're from here but they rarely play here. How often do you usually play live?

FE  Ohh, we've had a long time break from gigs during the last 5 years... so we've not been playing live at all since 1997. But, it seems like we're back from alot of other things during that silent period. The two gigs this year have been going down really well, and there are more to come further on, so... looks better on the gig-front again :)
 

Have you been writing new songs during that break from doing shows?

FE  Yes, that's a fact, and I think that this period was really a must for us. At the time we stopped playing live we had to find the course for the band to take, as it was time to move further on in our style progression. So yes, we did write alot of songs, and kept some of em, and then worked hard on the arrangements - much harder than before, and now we have around 5 totally fresh and well-made, strong songs to offer to the listeners and it feels worth the wait really, at least for us. We are doing something on our own for real this time. So, next step is to record 3 of the new trax in the studio here in Gothenburg. We have already picked the studio, just a question of when and how to pay really.
 

Ah yes, the money factor - I think a lot of people don't realize how much it can cost to be in a band. All they see is the "sex and drugs and rock n roll" party aspect, and that's not really all there is to being in a band.

FE  Should I make a comment on that ? LOL Nah. It's not for free, sure not. But that comes along with all the fun, so...

But not having a label behind you (which we haven't for the first time since 1993), and planning to enter one of the better studios in Gothenburg, with only two steady members in the band... that's not really cheap, ha-ha. But, this time its now or never, 'cause we have lacked production-wise earlier, but the new songs demands a great production, and we can get that in the studio we are planning to enter. So we see it as an investment for Temperance's future really.
 

Sometimes not having a label is a good thing - they may have the money to pay for the studio, but they're the first (sometime only) ones to make money from album sales too. Plus sometimes labels dictate what they want to hear from a band.

FE  Exactly. Thats why we chose to take the course on our own this time. We got stuck in a deal with Shiver records after releasing our first cd just because of lack of sales, which took the whole thing into a direction that the label didn't like as we changed our style quite alot during the years in the middle of the nineties.
 

How would you describe your sound now, how it's evolved from the early days until now?

FE  Well... that's not easy to explain.

Compared to the beginning around 1991, we don't have any death metal elements left in the band - not in vocals, not in structures or sound. We left that course when all fell apart around 1995. The cd took us into a more suggestive style I would say - more about atmosphere and emotion levels than power and technique. We have moved on that way, and now we are really taking the thing to a full-blown version, and there you have the new sound and style, but still with the Temperance style and sound in the bottom of the whole structure and picture of the music.

I would say we are getting alot of our open-mindness for wide musical styles into the band more today, and we can deal with it practically now... we know how to put it all together. It has not been easy at all - many years of struggling to get to know the tools, so to speak. Ahh, the new trax will tell, for sure :)
 

When/where will people get to hear the new songs - are they going to be available on cd, on your website, etc?

FE  They will be available when the new 3 trax promocd has been recorded. There are still none of the mentioned songs featured anywhere really. One of them was recorded on digital camera during our live set when we did the gig in Gothenburg last weekend. The songs went down really well, so I know they work as we wanted them to. In time I would say... in time.
 

So you know that song will be bootlegged and everyone will have it before you go into the studio to record it.

FE  He-he... well, its a rather good version of how it shall sound when its recorded in the studio, so it will cope pretty well. Nah, I have the copyright on that shoot, so... he-he.
 

So hopefully you'll have the only copy before it gets out... How do you feel about people downloading music? Ever done it yourself?

FE  Well, I will have a deep look on it before we will do anything with it, that's for sure.

Sure I have downloaded music, and I really like the idea of it, in several aspects...

Sure, musicians will get even less out of their already small profits, but I think the money argument is more of a smokescreen for the real bosses at the big companies, 'cause they are pissing in their pants right now. They have lost control over the whole damn thing, which makes me laugh a bit.

Temperance will never be a band earning money on their music as we follow our souls too much, so why not. This means bands like us get in the game on a better level right now 'cause we have no money to lose in the first place, ha-ha. Music shall be free - and not for sale, like it is right now. So... for bands like us it opens up new ways to get the music across. That's a fact, and that was the main goal from the beginning, so I'm not complaining at all. More Temperance music for the people - that's my motto !
 

Unlike a lot of the big bands that cry and complain a lot. That's one reason why I like Rob Halford so much - he's got a few cds worth of songs freely available on his website.

FE  Thats how it should be. Then even more people will go to see his shows as well - that's how it works... simple as that! And bigger bands whining... well, the ones that already have the biggest part of the cake are always the ones that complain and whine the most. In other words: losing perspective!
 

Tell labels that - as if they'll listen... Here in North America we rarely get bonus tracks just for our versions of an album - Europe and Japan get that all the time. Plus when an album gets reissued there are often bonus tracks. How many times do they expect me to buy the same album???

FE  Yeah, shows how desperate the labels are today. Thats what I meant about pissing in their pants. They underestimate the listeners that buy the albums as well. A normal reaction against that is of course to download the stuff on the web instead... simple as that.
 

Instead they raise their prices, and wonder why even more people download, while smaller bands and labels take advantage of the whole situation. How much has the internet changed the way you do promotion?

FE  Exactly. Sounds like you're in a band yourself... thinking clever and all, he-he.

Well, I still have a big pile of regular mail here in Temperance office, so you see, they are just collecting dust. The last tour we did in 1997 included 7 gigs in 4 different countries in Europe. I didn't use the phone 1 time for that tour - only e-mailing, and booked the whole tour that way. Cost me nothing and kept me up to date with all necessary details for a tour-booking round like that. Marvelous!!!

The same with all the rest- promotion, websites, downloading music. Yeah it changed the whole music biz, I would say. But the net starts to get crowded - too much junk take space, and it's rather unpersonal and boring sometimes, so... but really effective, I would say!
 

Well you could have regularly updated audio and video on your new site - you already have one video. Any chance of promo videos for tv, or is the internet making that obsolete too?

FE  Of course... that's a fact!

Well, can't tell right now... but, sure it can work over internet. Video clips and full length music promo videos are downloaded in an wider aspect today, as the computers can deal easier with it... its a natural reaction.
 

Thankfully people can watch them on their computers - over here there's a lot of stuff that tv and radio barely touches (like most bands from Europe).

FE  Mmm, tv stations have really turned their back against metal stuff nowadays, compared to the years of Headbangers ball and stuff.
 

Actually Headbangers Ball has just recently come back in the US. Where I live I can watch Power Hour, which is mostly 80's, but they'll play stuff from the 90's too and every so often they play something really cool. Then there's Loud but it's really getting to be a lost cause. They pushed it too far toward nu-metal and ignored a lot of other bands, and now that that trend has died, the show's timeslot has been cut in half.

FE  Aha, sounds healthy. Yeah, Power Hour was a show from England running here in Europe even before HBB started here. Also, Monsters of Rock show where Mick Wall from Kerrang hosted - the golden years.

Yeah we had a Power Hour way back when and it eventually morphed into Loud. I actually e-mailed the station asking if they'd bring Power Hour back, not so much because I want to feel all retro (and old LOL) but because Loud rarely plays anything that's more than a year or two old, and they weren't playing all that much new stuff that I'm interested in. I have to find the new stuff online.
 

So I take it you're pro-internet... anything else you'd like to say before we say goodbye?

FE  Well, nice interview really. More of a follow up conversation, which I like a lot, both as interviews to answer, and read with other bands. Wise decision Sheba :)))

I would like all bangers to get their hands on the compilation album Beyond The Gothenburg Sound which shows 15 bands from the city, Temperance included. The Temperance track are never before released. They can mail me for more info at: btgs@metalgbg.com as well as entering the metalgbg portal at www.metalgbg.com

Thats about it for now I guess... feels like you covered it all.
 

Until next time :)