By Michael Menegakis

Hi Johan, I'd like you to start this interview with a *brief* historic of Timescape, from the time you formed "Damaged"(their first name) since now.

Damaged formed by myself and Robert Haglund (ex-vocalist) in February 1995. A different drummer was tried out at first, but we quickly realized that despite Anders young age (he wasn't even 15 at the time), he would pull it off. Minutes before the first live-appearance we changed the name to Timescape. Recorded a three-song mini-promo-cd during the fall of '95. Released in April 1996. Robert Haglund and the band decide to part ways in August '96. Mikael Moberg joins in September '96. "two worlds" recorded between January-April´'97. Released privately in January '98. Picked up by the Swedish label Record Heaven in May '98, and "two worlds" is re-released in June '98. Record Heaven have an exclusive distribution for Europe only. The band still handles Asian and American sales.
The new album "Strange" have begun to take shape. Recordings started in
December '98 and we hope to have the new album out by September/October '99.

What are your future plans now? Will you make a promo CD again before your
second full length album?

We'll probably shop around for a world-wide deal with one of the major
"metal"-labels, like Metal Blade or Nuclear Blast. If that doesn't work,
we'll just stick with the deal we have.

I heard that you had plans for a video to "Whispering Shadows". What
happened with that?

We couldn't motivate it financially and then we had pretty much started on
the new album already so it didn't seem like a good idea anymore.

Did you play live for the promotion of "Two worlds"?

We did a couple of gigs in Sweden, but nothing much really. We're all spread out in different towns of Sweden, so that makes rehearsals very hard unfortunately.

How did you manage to achieve such a good production for "Two worlds"?

First of all, we pretty much knew how we wanted it to sound. Secondly, the
studio were we record is an extremely good studio, with a super
sound-technician, that knows how to get the best out of his equipment.
Finally, we mastered it at Cutting Room, which is one of Europe's best
mastering plants.

As far as I know you and your former Vocalist(Robert Haglund) were in a
band called "Unit Five". What happened with that band?

We still play ! Unit Five is a pure cover-band, and we do 70's and 80's pop and disco !

Are there any specific experiences that gave you inspiration for some of your music?

Well, Silent Room of Time is dedicated to my grandfather that passed away in cancer and the lyrics are about that. Caught In Reality is about growing up and facing the responsibilities that are usually connected with becoming an adult. I try to write from a personal perspective, since I feel the songs benefit from that.

I assume with happily :)) that you are fans of Marillion. How is it going with the cover for the tribute album them? Which do you consider the best Marillion albums?

We covered "The Space" and hopefully the tribute-album should be out in February. It was a very interesting experience and we decided to make a completely different version than the original.
As for my favorite Marillion-album, it would be either "Brave" or "Afraid of Sunlight".

And another question at this field, how is it going with the Fates
Warning tribute album?

We decided to stay off that tribute, since we didn't have time to do the
song as well as we wanted to. We thought it was more important to record our own songs for the new album instead.

Who musicians do you consider your 'mentors' as a guitarist and as
keyboards player?

Tough question, since I mostly consider myself a song-writer, arranger and
producer. However, for guitarplayers, I would say John Sykes and Steve
Lukather (Toto). Keyboardplayers, would probably be David Foster
(super-producer, conductor, songwriter and keyboardplayer). There are
several others that I admire for being excellent musicians, but I guess
that's not really the point.

In a big part you are responsible for Timescape's compositions. What is
your composing procedure?

It differs, but usually it starts out with a vocal melody and then I build from there. From time to time though, I've started out with a keyboard-sequence or a guitar-riff and built upon, but since I consider the vocals the most important in any music, I usually start with that.

Categorizing is sad in music, but imo helps to describe what we are used
to listen. So, how would you describe Timescape's sound?

Melodic hardrock/metal, with overtones of pop, jazz, fusion, electronica and progressive elements with lots of soul !

How fit is the band? Is the line-up the same?

The band is very fit. The line-up is still the same and we're even tighter
now than when we did the session for "two worlds". The new material flat out rocks !

Is it easy for you to compose? I mean, is it fan the composing
procedure, or just the result?

Usually, composing is a pain in the ass (smiles) I can't sit down and compose, I need to have inspiration from one source or another. It has to be a vocal-line or a guitar-riff. Then I usually outline the songs in 4-6 weeks. Then we spend another 6 months on arranging and rearranging it during rehearsals. The final lyrics is usually what I do last, and that is a real pain, since I think it's hard to write lyrics.

Do you have any other hobbies and interests except music?

Oh yes, political science and international relations for example. I'm a political science major and journalism minor at the University of Linköping. I also do downhill skiiing and lots of beer-drinking (not at the same time though). I'm also a big fan of movies and try to go and see at least one film every week.

Is your bassist(Johan Erixon) as I've heard still playing with a Swedish
band called "Pandora"?

Yes, he's still in Pandora's touring band. I believe he's going to Japan
again for some gigs in the beginning of June. Pandora is a multi-million
selling Swedish artist in the dance/pop style. Very good actually.

You are an active internet user. What is your opinion on internet's use?

I see a lot of benefits with the internet. Especially in the fields of
promoting a new band. If we would not have had internet, we would probably
not be where we are with Timescape today. There's a very big progressive
rock/metal community on the internet, with many sites devoted to that kind
of music, which is of course very refreshing. Personally, though, the
internet, can be a drag. it's too easy to get caught up in it and forget
about real life.

Your brother for his age is a really good drummer. How many hours is he
practicing a day? Is it only his talent?
 

It's mostly talent, he plays pretty much all the standard rock-instruments
very good. He's a fantastic keyboardplayer and plays both classical piano
and jazz. He also plays guitar and bass. He started out with drums when he
was 7 years old and has been playing since then. I think that these days, he practices about 4-6 hours/day, so that's pretty much !

There are diverse opinions for Queensryche, Dream Theater and Fates Warning's most recent albums. Some people hate them and many love them. What do you thing of all this?

I think they're all very good, with Fates Warning's "APSOG" being a
mile-stone. I did like QR's "HitnF" and DT's "FII" very much as well, but I like that sound, as opposed to many other people that thought they went too alternative.

As I know you are christian. Do you consider yourself part of a religion
or just your beliefs are at that direction?

yes, I'm a Christian and my beliefs are very personal. I have my own relationship with God and I really don't need 200 other people in a church to tell me how to pray or how to believe. I believe that religion should be more personalized instead of more institutionalized.

Which are your favorite bands and albums?

Too many to list (smiles), but I can give you a couple.
Marillion - Brave, Afraid of Sunlight and Seasons End
Fates Warning - APSOG
QR - Rage for Order
Alanis Morissette - Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
Garbage - Version 2.0
Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go
Toto - Toto IV, Isolation, Fahrenheit and 7th one
Pages - Pages
It Bites - Once Around the World
Francis Dunnery - Tall Blonde Helicopter, Let's go do what happens
All and everything by John Sykes
All and everything by David Foster
Everything by Depeche Mode

Those are just some examples. I listen to a lot of music and buy about two albums every week, from all different styles. I try to be as open-minded as possible and listen to everything.

Are you happy with the Swedish music scene? How are the things going
there with progressive rock/metal?

I think that's it's growing, but it's still very small. There's really no
point in doing gigs in Sweden, unless you've sold at least 20,000 albums in the country. The Swedish music-scene in general though is doing very good, with several multi-million artists like The Cardigans, Ace of Base, Roxette and Robyn. I think that's very good and it also puts Sweden on the map, like a country of quality music production.

Which is your highest hope for your next release?

That we'll be able to secure a good deal with a good distribution, so that the album will be available in all stores. I also hope that those who liked "two worlds" will like the new album as much, of course !

Thanks Johan for this interview. Is there anything that you'd like to
add?

Thanks for doing the interview. We need all the exposure we can get, and
it's thanks too people like you that we sell records. Thanks for your
burning interest in good music and for your help in promoting it to the
people. All the best on behalf of Timescape