{"id":68602,"date":"2020-10-17T06:51:32","date_gmt":"2020-10-17T11:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=68602"},"modified":"2020-10-17T06:51:34","modified_gmt":"2020-10-17T11:51:34","slug":"interview-with-christofer-dahlman-of-hellsmoke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2020\/interview-with-christofer-dahlman-of-hellsmoke\/","title":{"rendered":"Christofer Dahlman of Hellsmoke"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Alexandra Mrozowska
\u2014 Senior Columnist \u2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Only a few bands manage to survive without line-up changes, and that says a lot about the challenge that keeping the line-up stable through the years is. These changes are common, but certainly not easy \u2013 and it\u2019s difficult to imagine how discouraging it may be if they happen yet before the release of the band\u2019s first album! But even in such circumstances, the Swedish guitarist Christofer Dahlman (ex-Alyson Avenue, Bai Bang) wasn\u2019t about to give up. He returned with a renewed line-up of Hellsmoke, including his previous collaborator Roger Landin (ex-Cloudscape) on drums, Rimbert Vahlstr\u00f6m (ex-Syron Vanes) on vocals, J\u00f6rgen L\u00f6fberg (Darkane) on bass guitar and Michael \u00c5kesson (Alicate) on guitars. The band\u2019s aforementioned first effort titled just 2020 <\/em>hits the shelves this month, so we just couldn\u2019t pass up the opportunity of chatting with Hellsmoke\u2019s mastermind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hardrock Haven: With the first spin given to Hellsmoke\u2019s first album, one can mistakenly believe it\u2019s an American Southern Metal band. Where\u2019s that kind of inspiration come from?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: I think it\u2019s from the period when me and Torbj\u00f6rn [M\u00e5nsson, a former member of the band] started this band. He was into that style of music, I was not (laughs). But the music progressed along the way and initially there was no intention of getting there. I think this kind of direction was due to Torbj\u00f6rn; I just thought it sounded good and we worked on the songs. And somehow we ended up sounding like that, with no intention at all. It\u2019s just happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Having mentioned Torbj\u00f6rn and his subsequent departure, how did those changes influence the band and the process of making the album?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: It\u2019s a long story (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: We have time, I think (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: So, I\u2019ll start from the very beginning. Me and Torbj\u00f6rn started out as members of a cover band at the beginning, just playing traditional Hard Rock songs. But we wanted to make our own music, so we started it [Hellsmoke] and we also set the rules for the band and how we would like to have a band. And along the way we tried to play with some guitarists, bassists and singers as well… but in our age \u2013 we\u2019re all over forty \u2013 usually you have commitments and you\u2019re not really burning for the cause (laughs). Torbj\u00f6rn and I were really burning for Hellsmoke. I mean, it\u2019s one hundred per cent or nothing. So of course, if you\u2019re not one hundred per cent committed, you couldn\u2019t have been in Hellsmoke. Then we got two Danish guys \u2013 a guitarist and a singer \u2013 and the singer was really good, I must say. His voice fitted our music perfectly. And a record deal came along our way, but we \u2013 the Swedish side \u2013 said no to that deal, \u2018cause in economical terms it wasn\u2019t too good. We have done recordings and have paid a lot of money for them, so it wasn\u2019t good enough. The rest of the band was dissatisfied. So, we kicked one out and the other one \u2013 the singer \u2013 wanted to leave by himself. We\u2019re still good… well, I don\u2019t know if we\u2019re good friends actually, as we don\u2019t speak (laughs), but we\u2019re friends on Facebook and we don\u2019t have any issues with them and hopefully they don\u2019t have any issues with us too. But to be honest, I couldn\u2019t care less. Because, you know, when you enter a band \u2013 for me, it\u2019s about brotherhood, it\u2019s about giving one hundred per cent for the band and your bros in the band. Basically, you become a kind of a family. But they went out and Torbj\u00f6rn had his personal issues at the time, so he wanted to jump off as well. I asked him one hundred times to join again, but he\u2019s not there anymore. So it was up to me to find the new guys and of course, Roger \u2013 the drummer \u2013 was with me as well. But it was only me and Roger, and we had a record (laughs). Then we found Rimbert [Vahlstr\u00f6m], our singer, and then J\u00f6rgen [L\u00f6fberg] and Michael [\u00c5kesson]. And the timeline for that is roughly one year, I would say. Quite a lot of work too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: I believe you actually used the term \u201crewriting\u201d regarding the process of making this album, having it actually finished before the current line-up was completed… so why was the material rewritten, or maybe reworked?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: I would say \u201creworked\u201d rather than \u201crewritten\u201d. We disassembled the songs and put them together again, but we didn\u2019t change that much. But we got a new singer who\u2019s got his way of singing and he\u2019s very different from the Danish guy that sang before. So for sure, I also wanted him to put his DNA into the songs as well. And for some songs, he was just like, \u201cI don\u2019t want to change it. It\u2019s good as it is,\u201d but we changed quite a lot when it comes to other songs. Like \u201cBlack Sun Rising\u201d or \u201cRest When You\u2019re Dead\u201d \u2013 we changed both a lot. Mostly the harmonies, I would say, and I\u2019ve changed some guitars too. But we didn\u2019t re-record the whole album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: You\u2019re one of the band\u2019s songwriters. What\u2019s your general approach to songwriting like and how does it translate into Hellsmoke?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: I have to go back to Torbj\u00f6rn again as we both started it. Me, I\u2019m more technical kind of guitar player. I shred a lot more than I do on the album (laughs) but instead of presenting a lot of ideas, I took it as a challenge. Torbj\u00f6rn had simpler ideas which I thought weren\u2019t good enough \u2013 technically, I mean. But then he just added some singing phrases to it and I thought, \u201cOh, he\u2019s got something there!\u201d, so we started working on it. So mainly it was Torbj\u00f6rn coming up with the riff or a verse or a chorus and then me jumping into it, and from then on we worked on the songs together. On the other hand, for the next album, I will write more complete songs and Rimbert, our singer, will do that as well. Then we\u2019ll both have a sit-down and then we\u2019ll work on the songs like me and Torbj\u00f6rn did. So I don\u2019t know the outcome yet, \u2018cause we\u2019ll get to that in a couple of weeks. But the approach is, what comes out of my fingers, it just does. I don\u2019t know what will come out (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: So it\u2019s the beauty of unpredictability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: Yeah, because like I said in other interviews \u2013 a good melody is a good melody, and a good riff is a good riff. Sometimes it fits Hellsmoke and sometimes it\u2019s too much AOR, because I love AOR, but I also like Death Metal and all that in between (laughs). So sometimes it\u2019s various kinds of songs and various kinds of riffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Are the songs on Hellsmoke\u2019s first album personal, or presented from more of a general viewpoint?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: Torbj\u00f6rn wrote the lyrics and I was never involved in it. I run a company on my own as well and I did bodybuilding as well so I didn\u2019t have the time. I like the music (laughs) and I do that. So Torbj\u00f6rn wrote the lyrics and I know for sure there are some really personal lyrics. Probably he wouldn\u2019t agree upon that, but I know they are. And those lyrics are the best, I would say. I did the most part of the song \u201cNowhereland\u201d, I think eighty to eighty five per cent of it, but the lyrics that Torbj\u00f6rn wrote were amazing. They hit your heart and I know it\u2019s a really personal song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Another song on the album, called \u201cCommon Man\u201d isn\u2019t a typical Rock\u2019n\u2019Roll clich\u00e9 lyric-wise. Do you think Rock\/Metal should be more down-to-earth and less of a fantasy-driven genre when it comes to topics of the songs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: That\u2019s a really good question, I have to say, \u2018cause I struggle to answer it. And \u201cCommon Man\u201d is exactly that song that portrays that struggle, because initially I said to Torbj\u00f6rn, \u201cAre you kidding…? We can\u2019t have those lyrics, you have to change them. It\u2019s not always a struggle and we\u2019re not living that kind of life\u201d, but I know that in his mind, he thought he lived it. And, in a sense, he did. But I don\u2019t know really… For sure, you can write about fantasies or make up stories \u2013 I think that\u2019s really good \u2013 but in an earlier interview I also said that with all lyrics, it\u2019s up to the listener to interpret the meaning and put them into their life story. So you can surely write personal lyrics and all of us will relate to that, but you can also make it up and still people can relate to it. So I think it\u2019s both yes and no (laughs). But for me, the strongest lyrics on the album is \u201cNowhereland\u201d, \u2018cause I know what\u2019s behind it. And I think a lot of people \u2013 for sure, people our age \u2013 can relate to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: The other song on the album is titled \u201cRest When You\u2019re Dead\u201d. Can we read it as your (or the band\u2019s) motto, especially with your \u201call-or-nothing\u201d approach you\u2019ve already talked about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: Yeah… Of course, I didn\u2019t write the lyrics like I said, but knowing Torbj\u00f6rn very, very well, I\u2019d say it\u2019s exactly that one hundred per cent kind of thing. Because for us, when we were together in a band, it was all in \u2013 or fuck off. Don\u2019t waste our time if you\u2019re not committed. It\u2019s quite hard, I know, and I\u2019m not that kind of person in private (laughs), but you know \u2013 we\u2019re not thirteen, sixteen or seventeen anymore. We\u2019re grown-ups and it\u2019s taking responsibility. And if you\u2019re willing to accept the terms, you should also live by them, and that\u2019s the most difficult part of having a band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: In general, are lyrics important to you, both as a songwriter and a listener, or is it more about the overall melody or groove of a song?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: Lyrics nowadays are more important to me than it was before, \u2018cause I just wanted the melodies and I\u2019m all about them. And melody can be found it Death Metal or some really hard shit (laughs), but there still could be a melody there and you\u2019re like, \u201cI like that\u201d. It\u2019s what gives the feeling. But nowadays lyrics are more important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: If you could have writing credits for just one song in the history of music, which one would it be and why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: I\u2019d say something from Whitesnake\u2019s catalog, \u2018cause they\u2019re my gods. I\u2019ve got John Sykes tattooed (laughs). So I\u2019d say \u201cStill Of The Night\u201d or \u201cBad Boys\u201d \u2013 the latter\u2019s riff is the best riff ever written. 1987\/Whitesnake <\/em>is a killer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And back to Hellsmoke \u2013 in terms of production, you collaborated with Anders Hahne on this one. Why did you choose to work with him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: Early on, when we had the demos, we were looking for how some other bands sound on the records. And we\u2019ve heard the name Syron Vanes somewhere, and it came along our way while scrolling on Spotify… and me and Torbj\u00f6rn were totally blown away by Syron Vanes. And I loved the singer (laughs), and the production was amazing. And then we found out that was Anders Hahne who was the band\u2019s guitarist and songwriter along with Rimbert, of course. It was Torbj\u00f6rn who contacted him on Facebook and actually he had some time, so we sent him some songs to work on. The result is amazing, and the next record will be even better because I think he made magic with our album. He\u2019s the best guy ever to work with and he\u2019s one hundred per cent (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: He made magic indeed, \u2018cause the album\u2019s sound is big but not polished… How did you manage to get this balance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: I\u2019d say it\u2019s the result of collaboration between Anders and us. Because, as I mentioned before, we made some changes in some of the songs, and Anders was deeply involved with those, so he\u2019s a co-producer. Also [he made it easier] with decisions \u2013 \u201cYou can change that\u201d, \u201cYou can\u2019t change this\u201d and so on. Torbj\u00f6rn was quite involved in the first mix and mastering that Anders did \u2013 and it was not that good. So this time, we gave Anders the entire responsibility, but we also shared our thoughts with him. And by that, he made magic. We\u2019re extremely fortunate to be working with Anders, so he\u2019s highly appreciated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: A rumour has it that the album\u2019s working title was a title of one of the songs \u2013 \u201cHellcome To The Badlands\u201d. Why did you decide to drop it in favour of 2020<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: I do all the artwork and all the illustrations, I\u2019m also responsible for everything that ends up in our social media and so on. And working with the album cover, I had some ideas and started to work on a compass. And as it has the North, the South, the East and the West \u2013 you erase the North and you\u2019re left with S which can mean Sweden. As we\u2019ve got lost with the Danish people and we\u2019re a band from Sweden after all… But 2020 <\/em>means of course the year we release an album in, but also a point zero \u2013 a new start for the band in a double sense. Me and Roger and Rimbert will surely last a couple of records, I know that. Oh, and we decided on this before this pandemic actually started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: So you didn\u2019t know how meaningful this title would become. Anyway, you\u2019ve already mentioned a couple of times that you\u2019ve been working on some ideas for your next album. Do you plan it to be a  continuation of 2020<\/em>, or perhaps experiment with your sound?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: Of course, it will be a process, so we don\u2019t know for sure what we\u2019ll end up with (laughs). But we want to make music that is more technical \u2013 just a little step forward… I think you\u2019ll be able to hear it\u2019s Hellsmoke, but there will be some changes in the style. Maybe we\u2019ll lose the Southern Metal vibe, I don\u2019t know. But we won\u2019t force ourselves into this genre if we don\u2019t make this kind of songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Like you\u2019ve said before, you listen to everything from AOR to Death Metal and you don\u2019t seem to mind genres while songwriting. So are genres and labels that reviewers divide music into redundant?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: I don\u2019t think you can remove the division into genres, and it\u2019s because people need to have a feeling of belonging to something. So if you\u2019re a Death Metal guy, I don\u2019t think you\u2019d admit you listen to AOR and probably otherwise (laughs). Me, I\u2019m an open guy. I don\u2019t need to belong to a subgenre or whatever. I also listen a lot to \u201880s Pop (laughs). That is a kind of a fetish for me, but I love Pop songs from the \u201880s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Some of them are actually really good music!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: Yeah, it\u2019s again all about melodies. I love the melodies, so I have a lot of different kinds of records \u2013 even though I\u2019m a Metal guy. But to answer your question, I think genres are important because today they\u2019re almost like a brand. AOR sounds this way and Death Metal sounds the other way… They\u2019re like brands really, not genres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: I believe you\u2019ve already managed to hit the stage with the previous band line-up before this pandemic started. What kind of experience was that and what kind of feedback did you get?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: We played in Copenhagen with Pretty Maids at Amager Bio with the capacity of about thousand people \u2013 and it was packed that night. Pretty Maids is obviously big in Denmark (laughs). So we got great reviews from those who wrote about the show and the experience was fantastic. I love Pretty Maids and actually I bought my Les Paul Custom that I have in the videos from their guitarist Ken Hammer \u2013 I think a year prior to the show with them. So it was fantastic and so was the response, \u2018cause we went into the audience to watch Pretty Maids play and people came to us to congratulate us on a great show. All was great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: So can you make any predictions or tell about your expectations as far as resuming playing live is concerned, especially to promote the new album?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: We actually started to ask around \u2018cause we know some people whom we pay to book us, and may pair us with bigger bands. We got an offer to do a one-month tour with a well-known artist \u2013 in nine countries \u2013 in December, but that won\u2019t happen now and is out of the picture… Last week and this week we\u2019ve been asking around \u2013 preparing \u2013 but the answer we get is that it\u2019s either fully booked, or cancelled. \u2018Cause there were so many gigs that were planned, but many of them got postponed \u2013 some even twice \u2013 and some got cancelled. And they\u2019re all next in line. So actually we\u2019re just joking within the band that maybe we will release the second album until we hit the stage (laughs). Because we don\u2019t really know when this is over. So I don\u2019t have a good answer for it, but of course \u2013 we have our ears open and we\u2019re looking for opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: So let\u2019s keep our fingers crossed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: We\u2019ll surely do a smaller show here in the southern Sweden, \u2018cause we need to do something onstage and try our wings together, with the new line-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Definitely. So you guys all come from different bands, so how does all that experience translate into what you do now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: I think it\u2019s really, really interesting \u2018cause we had noticed that as well when we were rehearsing. You see, J\u00f6rgen comes from the really heavy, tough side \u2013 I think it\u2019s Death Metal that Darkane plays, and the guys are friends of ours \u2013 and Rimbert comes from more Progressive side with Syron Vanes. Me and Roger have the same background, listen to the same music and love the same songs and bands… So we\u2019ve noticed in rehearsal that\u2019s interesting and it\u2019s more details, but the details are really important when it should sound great. So we\u2019re working on it and it sounds good \u2013 don\u2019t misunderstand it \u2013 but for sure we want to make it a one hundred per cent great show. But when we enter the stage \u2013 in a real way \u2013 we will have flamethrowers and shit on the stage. So it\u2019s not another band just staying on stage and playing ten to fifteen songs. It will be a show. And again, it\u2019s one hundred per cent determination on that one (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Actually, every other musician I interview these days is from Sweden, so why do you think there\u2019s so much potential in your Rock\/Metal music scene?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: There are so many different explanations to that, one of them being that it\u2019s so cold and dark in Sweden and we have nothing to do, so we sit in our rooms and just play…? (laughs). I don\u2019t know, but I think it\u2019s probably not. Other explanation is that we have traditional Folk music which is very melodic, and then ABBA came in the seventies… I don\u2019t know, but what I do know is that people I know who are really good on their instruments and succeeded \u2013 they\u2019re really into it. It\u2019s, again, one hundred per cent. It\u2019s not like sixty per cent or \u201cI just wanna be in a band so then I get girls\u201d kind of thing or whatever. It\u2019s just about being a good guitar player, or a good drummer, or a good singer and they work really hard on it. Then also, when I grew up, my parents went out to dance and it\u2019s kind of Folk music. So I grew up on that too \u2018cause I couldn\u2019t stay at home all by myself and I went along (laughs). I was really little and I was sitting on the stage behind them just listening to the music. Melodies, melodies, melodies… For a lot of people in Sweden, it\u2019s all about the melody. We\u2019re quite a small country, but we have quite a huge music industry… And ABBA had a lot to do with it! (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Is there anything you\u2019d like to add in the end?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofer Dahlman: Thank you for your great questions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit Hellsmoke online: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HellsmokeOfficial\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska\u2014 Senior Columnist \u2014 Only a few bands manage to survive without line-up changes, and that says a lot about the challenge that keeping the line-up stable through the years is. These changes […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":68604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[15140,15141,203],"class_list":{"0":"post-68602","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-interviews-recent","8":"tag-christofer-dahlman","9":"tag-hellsmoke","10":"tag-interview"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}