Lord K. Philipson

 Interview with Lord K. Philipson

(The Project Hate MCMXCIX,  Domedagen, 

ex-Torture Division)

Questions compiled by Andrey Tolkowiec 

Only 1,5 years have passed since the release of “Purgatory”, but you have a new album out called “Spewing Venom into the Eyes of Deities”. You are a very prolific musician. I’m just surprised how do you manage to keep such a rhythm?

- Well… Have in mind I work a regular 9-5 job as well on top of creating music that takes fucken forever to create due to its complexity. With that fact even I am impressed of the productivity, haha… But seriously, I love this music shit so goddamn much and this urge to compose is just never-ending. I couldn’t spell “writer’s block” if my asshole depended on it. And for that I am very thankful. This is what I am destined to do. I need it for myself and the world kinda deserves it too coz if I didn’t do this, who the fuck could?

Usually it takes some 2 years to get an album out, but that’s not due to me but everyone else involved as they all have families and other commitments, bla bla bla… I’m just happy they find the time to help me out when they do, coz without them there wouldn’t be much of a TPH entity. 2 years is a long fucken time when you think about it. Was it only 1,5 years between the last 2 albums? Wow, I’m impressed considering our latest album is just a level above anything else.

Tell us how do you create music, what’s the basis and where do you get inspiration for creating a song, does Jörgen Sandström do the vocal arrangements himself or you give him a completely ready sketch?

- When it comes to Jörgen’s vocals I make it very easy for him and hand over mock up vocals so he can hear what I have in mind. He always changes and improves a few things to better suit his breathing technique or something like that (I don’t know, I can’t fucken sing!) but for most parts he delivers it as I have originally envisioned it. And it’s insane how that fucken guy can be better by every goddamn album we release. He’s simply the best grunter in the business.

When it comes to song writing I usually just pick up the guitar when an idea comes to me and then I quickly record that into my phone and build from that as soon as my home studio The Dungeon is up and running. Sometimes it starts with a bass line and more seldom it’s something I come up with on the keyboard. But mostly it’s the guitar that starts the whole process. But it sure takes time to write TPH, make no mistake about it. Now I’m talking about a complete song with all the orchestral work and whatnot. The actual song template as a rough sketch doesn’t take forever to come up with. 

Mixing and mastering were handled again by the famous Dan Swanö. Why exactly him and are you satisfied with his work? He, like Mathias Lodmalm (Cemetary), moved to Germany a few years ago. There’s little space for such talents in the realization in Sweden?

- I go way back with Dan and the working relationship we have is outstanding coz he knows me so fucken well after all these years. And as I’ve stated many, many times in the past; I wouldn’t be able to do the stuff I do today in my home studio if it wasn’t for Dan and another guy named Johan Berglund who ALWAYS help me and assist me with any and every obstacle I face while writing and recording. Those guys are the best and I consider them close friend and invaluable people. I see no reason to work with anyone else but Dan coz he’s a fantastic guy, a true pro and a wizard when it comes to productions, so… I’m happy as a pig in shit I can work with him still to this day. He’s a huge part of TPH obviously. About Dan moving to Germany… I don’t think that has anything to do with anything except for the fact that his lovely wife Eva is from there, so I suppose she wanted to go back to her home country. And Dan can obviously run his business from the moon if needed, so… You gotta keep your wife happy, you know. That makes for a better life. 

Why did you decide to self-release this CD again and not to use the services of a big label?

- I had it with labels many years ago. TPH is such a small, non-touring band that a label wouldn’t make a difference to our “career” either way on top of being useless in many other areas. We sell a few hundred CD’s so it’s not like a label would see us as a great investment and after all labels are companies existing to make money. They have no value to me. Fuck’em all.

As kind of tradition, guest musicians have been invited to participate on your new album. Who are they and why did you choose them?

- Hmm… which one was on our latest one? I think there were but 2; Johan Längquist from Candlemass and Simon Johansson from Wolf (and many other things). Johan’s been on a TPH album once before and it’s such an honor to have this legend within my music, not to mention I love his voice obviously. Simon is a killer guitarist and has a great beard so he obviously deserved a spot too.

The cover art was designed by Japanese artist Seiya Ogino, just like on “Purgatory”. How did you hook up with him?

- The cover of “Purgatory” was done by Marko Saarelainen, not Seiya. But Seiya did the newest cover and everything that goes with it and he also did our “Death Ritual Covenant” album that was released prior to “Purgatory”. I have absolutely no idea how the fuck I ended up with Seiya helping us out with this crap, but I’m glad I did coz he’s fucken terrific. So is Marko who’s done tons of stuff in the past for TPH. These 2 guys are my go-to people when it comes to graphics and shit for TPH. I’m truly blessed to have all these amazing and brilliant muthafuckers in my life. If you’re in a band and need artwork or websites bla bla bla… Don’t hesitate to get in touch with these 2 heroes. Now I could give you links to their website but I just can’t be arsed so… Google is your friend.

Not music-related question regarding the invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine. This topic is now the most discussed all over the world. What do you think about this shameful aggression and about the upcoming accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO?

- I will never understand why the fuck people just can’t mind their own business and do fucken better towards each other. Humanity is obviously shit or we wouldn’t be where we are today. There’s a very good reason for Sweden and Finland wanting to join NATO. None of this would have happened weren’t it for Putin, obviously. Everything about this Ukraine situation is just such a shame and a new low for mankind. And it’ll get worse before it gets better, that’s for sure. We’re all fucked.

I’m surprised that you don’t have a personal FB page, but you are very active and quick to respond to emails and messages via the FB page of The Project Hate MCMXCIX. Why is it so?

- I had a personal Facebook page a million years ago, and I had it for some 10 seconds. Never went back to it. I have FB pages for the music I do, nothing else. I don’t need to tell the world about every fucken little thing I do in my private life, but to interact with the people who support my musical activities is another thing. Usually I prefer to do that through emails instead of various comments sections, but some people just can’t be fucked to write emails it seems. The least I can do is reply to the interactions I get on Facebook, it’s not like it takes up all my time to do so. These people make TPH possible, you know. As said, replying is the least I can do.

Is there a possibility to see The Project Hate MCMXCIX playing live in the near future? You’ve been playing live in the past. In any case, one of your live show was in Helsinki.

- Absolutely not. We’ll never play live again. That decision was made almost 20 years ago, so… fuck it.

Which famous musicians would you like to collaborate with in a separate project or just to have a guest appearance by them on a future album of The Project Hate MCMXCIX?

- I have been lucky enough to work with most of my heroes actually, which is insane, but there are 5 people that will always escape me, I think, no matter how hard I would try to get them on a TPH album; Melissa Horn, Liam Howlett, Alanis Morrisette, Vanessa Carlton and Yngwie J. Malmsteen.

Who knows though, maybe they’ll see this and get in touch asking if they can do a guest spot? Fuck yeah. That will happen.

There aren’t really anyone famous I wanna collaborate with in another project. The people I wanna work with I wanna have within the TPH context.

Why did you decide to shut down Torture Division and is there any chance to reanimate this project?

- We did what we were set out to do; create the world’s best death metal. And after that was done we pulled the plug. Nope, Torture Division will never come back. That band is probably the only band that quit and actually never reunited when you look back on metal history in a hundred years. I take pride in that.

Throughout your career, you’ve been featured as a live session musician for bands such as Grave, Dark Funeral and Candlemass. How quickly do you learn the material before going on tour?

- It all depends of course. It’s not like Dream Theater is asking me to help out, haha… It’s just metal, plain and simple. If a band approached me, wanting me to help out I’d say “gimme a month or so” to learn the songs. If I didn’t have to work a regular job I’d need less time. But a month seems fair. The easiest material to learn of those bands you mentioned was definitely Candlemass, for the sole reason they have been a constant in my life and I know their shit by heart, haha… You didn’t mention the great Vomitory who I helped for a few gigs, their stuff was definitely the most physically demanding to play and it sure developed my picking hand. 

What’s new in Domedagen? Will the back catalogue be released on CD/vinyl?

- We had a few offers from labels but nothing even remotely interesting. Me and Jörgen are like 50 years old, we don’t sign record deals nor do we feel like touring whatsoever. So, nah, I don’t think anything will be released on any physical format. We haven’t done anything with Domedagen for quite some time, you know. And it’s not becoz we don’t have any material written, there is plenty, but Domedagen is just something that Jörgen and I felt like doing to embrace the Candlemass/Bolt Thrower part of our lives, and right now we don’t feel like doing anything at all with it. Maybe that’ll change, maybe it won’t. 

How a typical day in your life looks like? You're have children? Do you have a permanent job or you live from playing/creating music?

- As mentioned, regular 9-5 job in a warehouse, driving forklifts and shit. I have never made a living on music. You can’t make a living on the sales of 150-200 digipacks every second year combined with a few paid downloads and a handful of shirts sold, haha… So, regular job it is. And no, me and my wife don’t have children, simply coz we don’t want any. A typical day is; work, make dinner, watch TV, take a walk, play guitar, enjoy life. It’s a fucken beautiful typical day when you think about it. If possible, of course I’d rather have money coming in from music so I could pay my bills with that and just be home and create even more music. But it doesn’t work like that for most of us.

How often do you visit concerts in Sweden?

- In the last few years, not at all thanx to Covid. In normal times (if there is such a thing anymore) I might attend a gig a few times a year. Last show I saw was Candlemass in Stockholm some 6 months ago. Fucken fantastic evening.

I see that you love tattoos. Which master would you recommend to us in this field from Sweden? I know that Legion (ex-Marduk) is a great specialist in this matter. By the way, I heard that he got into an unpleasant incident related to drugs and ended up in prison.

- Mr. Dist is probably the best we have out of Sweden. But there are so many talented ones these days. I don’t know Legion, nor have I heard anything about what you’re referring to so I have nothing to say about that.

Thank you very much for the interview. What do you want to say in conclusion to the fans of The Project Hate MCMXCIX?

- Thanx for giving a shit. There are a few physical copies left of our latest album. Ordering details can be found at www.theprojecthate.net. Or you could buy the digital downloads by the millions so I can quit work.