Nepal Death

First of all, how are you doing in these Corona times?

Well, in Sweden concerts are totally put on hold so it sadly keeps us away from performing live. We do what we can to stay happy, biding our time, meditating and preparing for the release of the new album which will be out on Friday (February 19, 2021).

We are also putting some extra love into our social media channels, slowly building our fan base that way. Expanding our universe through live clips and videos along with sixties pictures from the legendary road to Nepal - The Hippie Trail.  

                                                Photo Courtesy: Nepal Death

 

For those not familiar with your band, could you tell us why and how you started the band?

Guitarist Tobbe Petterson and singer Anders Hallberg met at a Dungen gig at the legendary concert hall Loppen in Copenhagen. We started talking about the soul gone missing in the modern music scene, drinking lots of Tuborgs and on the train back to Sweden ended up forming a band in the most cliché way. The very next day we woke up hungover with vague visions concerning heavy and dark psychedelic rock. So we called some local musician friends asking them to join for a jam session, having absolutely no idea where this would end. 

Very soon after that we decided to go all in with this sixties Hippie Trail psych rock thing and things really fell into place. Almost as if strange forces were taking control over the process. The whole concept was just folding itself out, like it was creating itself. Ideas and inspiration came from everywhere and ended up to form this magnificent and twisted cosmos.  

 

How many releases do you have so far?

A year ago we released the song ”Dead in Nepal” as a 7 inch single. Guess you can call that song something of our anthem. The idea came out of the demise of legendary Danish poet and psychedelic pioneer Eik Skaløe. The former singer of Steppeulvene dreamed and sang about Nepal and went out on a pilgrimage along The Hippie Trail but very tragically chose to end his own life close to the Nepalese border in 1968. It was something very fascinating about his story which sparked the ideas for the full album.

You can say that it is written as a loose concept album following a physical and inner journey to Kathmandu and The Himalayas. Thematically we took inspiration from albums like Pink Floyd´s ”The Dark Side of the Moon” or Nine Inch Nails´ ”The Downward Spiral” not having a full classical story but rather using reoccurring themes folded together by short musical bridges. Both side A and side B are continuous entities of sound. The lyrics turned out to become like a forbidden and forgotten traveller’s guide to Hindu witches, love magic, death rituals, and worship of the almighty Kali Ma. 

 

What do you prefer, to play live or to record in the studio?

As a musical collective we enjoy both equally but they are kind of two separate worlds. The album was conceived by the core of the band working together with small ideas like a riff, a chant or a feeling which we developed into complete songs. Since we had access to a studio with recording equipment we could create rough early demos and then let everyone have time to add ideas and sounds, get back and pour them into yet another demo, slowly building up towards the final versions of the songs and the bridges in-between. There is really a lot of things going on with many layers of sound. 

We also put some effort into finding interesting guest musicians like Aldenon Satorial from dark ambient project Coph Nia, Hamburg S:t Pauli based singer Gosia. Micke from Agusa, Chrille from Yuri Gagarin and Dan from Rymdstyrelsen have also added some amazing guitar magic to it all. 

Most of our songs have a different feel when performed live, which adds an extra dimension to our music. Live in concert we are more of a loud in-your-face experience with lots of sweaty rock and roll intensity and ritualistic magical vibes. We want it to feel like experiencing a psychedelic sound ritual. 

We see ourselves like more of a musical collective that could appear on stage in a classic rock band setting but in the future scale up to larger size with esoteric choirs, performance artists and oriental instruments. Therefore we welcome all kinds of collaborations and guest musicians. 

 

What are your main goals with the band?

A short term goal is getting our music out there, building a fan base and to get up on stages at festivals and cool venues. 

In the long term we really want to take this strange experiment as far as we possibly can. Imagewise we decided on an early stage to go all in theatrical. We really want to have a vibe of a religious cult from the sixties. Like some strange mix between a hippie community, Church of Satan and Hare Krishna. Packing our instruments into this run down VW bus going on an unholy pilgrimage along the Hippie Trail. Making stops in Istanbul, Teheran and Kabul and Delhi before reaching our own end in Kathmandu. That is of course a goal. To go on some kind of Himalayan tour in the future. 

 

If you could pick three bands that has influenced you, which one´s comes to your mind and why?

The musicians in this collective really have various backgrounds and musical preferences ranging from sixties psychedelic rock and garage rock via progressive rock to goth rock, post rock and avant garde metal. So far we are coming along just fine with the process of creating the music, listening to each others ideas, being experimental and trying stuff out. 

The album is best described as heavy psychedelic rock in the same school as classic Hawkwind, Blue Öyster Cult or Amon Düül II. We built a massive foundation of several layers of wah-wah guitars, fuzz bass and ritualistic drum beats. And upon that angst ridden vocals, hindu chants, oriental choirs, religious bells, freaky Beatle:esque backward sounds and eerie India tanpura drones. It would be fantastic if people would listen to the album and take part of the concept the way you used to do, from beginning to end.

 

Which plans do you have for 2021?

Once our album is out and the pandemic plague is under better control we’re going to promote it the way we do best; by performing live in as many places and countries as we possibly can. We also want to keep on digging deeper into this eastern hindu mystique and see where it takes us. We want to explore our own universe even more, as there is so much to find. Writing more music and finding new and exciting collaborations. Nepal Death is most definitely here to stay.

 

Any last words or reflections?

This band is ready to go and meet the universe! Please step right up and get ready to leave in a haze of smoke and steam on a trip towards Kathmandu, Nepal. Namaste!

 

For more info check out:

https://www.facebook.com/nepaldeath

https://nepaldeath.com