Interview with Fredlös
(Robert Lindgren, Tomas Karlson,
Alex Hellid)
Questions compiled by Georgius and Joanna
Hail Fredlös, you are very welcome to my small blog. On the 10th of February your band will release the debut album, “Fredlös”. I’ve got your promo material in 2022 and in my Hungarian review in Kronos Mortus I marked 10, brilliant material. What are the responses to “Fredlös” from the underground press and the fans so far?
- Hi Archangel's Lantern, Robert, Tomas and Alex from Fredlös here.
To have had the opportunity to make this album in our own way, time and pace and then get to see so many writing about us and liking what we have done so far, has been quite overwhelming actually.
The album attracts a lot more people from different countries all around the globe than we ever expected it to do. Especially since the lyrics are written and sung in Swedish. And to get a 10/10 review from you guys is a great honor! We are really excited to see what will happen and what people think about the rest of the album when it is released on the 10th of February.
When, where and how did start the Fredlös? What is the correct meaning of the name of your band? Introduce your members please. Who is/are the main song and lyric-writer(s)?
Robert: The band started out of the ashes of another earlier band called ”Barbro Says No”. It was founded by Tomas, Fredrik, Liv, Victor, Micke and myself and was a more traditional rock/metal band. But Tomas and I had a desire to write darker heavier music and he one day showed me a Swedish lyric he just wrote. Reading the lyrics I just felt it was absolutely brilliant. We did a demo and presented it to the rest of the band who all loved it except for our drummer at the time, Micke. He decided it was not for him so he left the band. All on good terms of course.
We continued on in the new direction and the result is what then became the song ”Våt Varm Jord”. Alex joined and Iman was recruited on drums. And there you have it, Fredlös was born.
Robert Lindgren
Tomas:
The name Fredlös directly translated to English is ”OutLaw”, but that isn’t really correct. The word “fredlös” is more like “outcast”. Before Christianity was introduced in the north and a long time after that we had this “social punishment” called fredlös. In the absence of a strong state this was a punishment where the individual was cast out of social context. In most cases this resulted in death. No one would shelter, hide or feed an outcast.
Tomas Karlson
Fredlös Members:
Robert Lindgren: Bass, engineering, Recording and Mixing.
Tomas Kalrson: Guitars, and writing all Lyrics
Fredrik Danielsson: Guitars and Vocals
Alex Hellid: Guitars
Victor Dahlin: Keys
Iman Zolgharnian: Drums
Liv Hope: Lead Vocals
Fredrik Danielsson
Alex Hellid
Victor Dahlin
Iman Zolgharnian
Liv Hope
Guest musicians:
Erik Grawsiö: Vocals on the songs ”Våt Varm Jord” and ”Fredlös”
Martin Björklund: Violins on ”Våt Varm Jord”, ”Otto” and ”Requiem”
Britta Zetterström: Erie “Kulning” vocals on Requiem
Tomas: I write all the lyrics for the band. I would say it most often starts with a riff, an idea or a topic the lyric will be based on. Then we work together around that and build the bones of the song. Then I write the lyrics and Liv gets to try out melodies. I adjust the words of the lyrics to fit her melodies. The process is a team effort.
Your debut will be released through Threeman Recordings. Enlighten us about this awesome alliance. By the way, how did you meet legendary Alex Hellid of Entombed/ex-Nihilist, who joined your forces?
Robert:
Tomas met Alex some years ago and then ran into him again about a year ago and slipped him a demo. Alex just loved it and to quote him: ”Entombed is the best band in the world, but I want to be part of this, even if it's just me dancing around in a plague mask”.
And to have Alex onboard has proven to be invaluable with all his skills contributing to the music and all his knowledge how the music business works and to avoid all the pitfalls. For us to be on the same label as such fine bands as Entombed, Nihilist, Wachenfeldt is simply fantastic, it couldn’t have turned out better.
I know, it is hard a bit but tell the readers in your own words all the Fredlös-songs.
Våt Varm Jord:
The inspiration for the lyric comes from the religious oppression that accelerated after the plague in the mid-14th century. The image of God became increasingly severe. Sin and shame took center stage. Life was an ordeal of mourning in anticipation of purgatory. Misogyny grew stronger among sexually fixated prelates, which sometimes had to take the form of witch burnings or heresy trials. The most famous during the era is the execution of Joan of Arc which we used in our video for the song.
Otto:
The lyrics are about Tomas' grandfather. Born in poor conditions in Jämtland, Sweden, he was politically red-blooded. Believed in a strong and humane state where everyone had the same conditions. Otto is a tribute to Tomas grandfather's values and the blood spilled by the working class to give us the living conditions we have today. It is also Tomas' declaration of love to his beautiful soul. I imagine that images of poor Sweden and Ådalen in 1931 visually explain the song.
Farsot:
The lyrics are about the plague that hit Sweden in 1350. Initially, the plague wiped out a large part of the population. The exact death toll is unknown but estimates place it at ½ or 2/3 of the population between 1350 and 1420. As usual, the clergy blamed the population and declared the plague as God's response to human sinfulness. Movements such as the Flagellants arose who wandered from town to town scourging themselves to appease the wrathful god.
Missväxt:
During the Middle Ages, the middle of the 14th century, a significant cooling of the climate occurred. Partly due to the lack of sunspots. The lyric line "Havet födde väldig rese" refers to the volcanic eruptions at sea that historically threw enormous amounts of ashes high into the atmosphere and caused a cooling of the climate. The result was stunted growth, famines and floods and years of winter. After the outbreak of the Plague in the middle of the 14th century, the colder climate followed, which further added to the population's suffering. At the same time, there were intense battles between noble families similar to the struggle between mafia families, which of course ultimately affected the population. The church, as usual, blamed the sinful people who incurred God's wrath.
Fredlös:
”Gästning” was the duty of the peasants to entertain the king, bishops and grandees with their retinues during their travels. ”Ledungsskyldigheten” seems to have been, along with ”Gästning”, the only charge (tax) that the king could demand from his subjects at the beginning of the Middle Ages. Sometimes the visit turned into pure looting of an already poor peasant home. That's what happens in the song. The lord and his jacks slaughter the last heifer and famine awaits this poor peasant family. The farmer kills a jack in desperation and flees to the forest. What then awaited was to become outcast (fredlös). The outcast could be killed for no reason by anyone and it was forbidden to harbor, feed or help the declared outcasts. You could buy yourself free if you had plenty of money (Nils Dacke did).
Uppror:
The song describes a peasant uprising. During the 15th and 16th centuries, there were a large number of peasant uprisings throughout Europe, including in Sweden. They rarely succeeded and were often put down very brutally. The peasants often rose up against the innovations introduced by the authorities as well as against oppression, exploitation and serfdom. The text was inspired by ”Dackefejden”. It was a peasant rebellion against Gustav Vasa in 1542-1543, led by Nils Dacke, a farmer from Vissefjärda in southern Småland. The reason for the rebellion was the strong dissatisfaction that prevailed against the king's attempts to strengthen the central power, something that was felt especially hard in the previously relatively independent Småland. The insurgents were mainly dissatisfied with Gustav Vasa's tax levels and with church politics.
Iman Zolgharnian
Undergång:
The lyrics describe the total military defeat of the peasant uprising. Much depends on the treachery and unscrupulousness of King Gösta. Although the peasants were not as poorly equipped as one might think, they were totally inferior to the well-equipped mercenaries that were being trained by the king. The mercenaries often came from Germany but also Scotland and other places. In August 1543 Dacke was shot and fell at the border of Blekinge, after the rebellion his head was put on a stake and placed at the gallows hill. To reduce the risk of another rebellion, Gustav Vasa put Dacke's son in a prison cell where he was starved to death.
Deus:
The Lord's ways are his own
God was never on your side
In ashes, hope prevails
The ice never seems to melt
God was never on your side….
Requiem:
The epilogue to the defeat. After the war, savage reckoning awaited all the farmers in the participating parishes and those who participated in the insurgents' crowd. No amnesty was granted. Dacke's home village was brutally ravaged and Dacke's relatives were either executed or deported. At the same time, the chaos continued through the local peasant chieftains who continued to live on raids and waged their private war several years after Nils Dacke was dead. Economically, the war was a disaster for Småland and initially also for Sweden as a whole.
Because of Gustav Vasa´s victory over Nils Dacke, it became possible for him to centralize Sweden even more easily from Stockholm. The ”Dackefejden” is an important part of Sweden's history and it was significant for a long time.
Fredlös created 3 awesome videos, namely “Våt Varm Jord”, “Farsot” and “Otto”. Who made these awesome videos?
”Våt Varm Jord”, ”Farsot” and ”Fredlös” (coming on release date 10th of February) was done by Robert and Tomas.
”Otto” was made by Staffan Thorström, same guy who do our Album Art.
We have more ideas and hopefully more videos will emerge later this year.
I like a lot your cover, which absolutely fits to your music. Share us some thoughts about it.
Tomas:
The cover art was made by my friend Staffan Thorström. It's truly a masterpiece of art where he tries to be as accurate as possible to the perspective and style of drawings that were made in the medieval times.
The idea was a cover where you could spend some time looking at it and see fine details and new things every time you look at it. For example you can find elements from all the songs, like the burning castle (Uppror), someone burned at the stake (Våt varm jord), people infected with sickness ( Farsot) and so on…
Erik Grawsiö of Månegarm has been invited as a guest vocalist on 2 tracks, “Våt Varm Jord” and “Fredlös”. What should we know about this awesome cooperation? What are your favourite songs and albums of Månegarm?
Tomas:
Erik is a friend. We all come from the same area around the small city Norrtälje just north of Stockholm. A lot of good bands and talented musicians can be found here like: Månegarm, Wormwood, MercuryX, Kråkslott and so on. Everyone knows someone who knows someone… Like Liv's Hope's Cousin is the drummer of Månegarm. Our friend Tobias Rydsheim, the man behind Wormwood also plays guitar live with Månegarm on tours and so on. So, it's just a matter of calling them up and asking.
Robert:
Hard to just choose one album from Månegarm, they have made so many great albums. I would have to choose two atleast and that would for me be: ”Fornaldarsagor” and ”Ynglingaättens öde”. And if I am allowed to choose just one song from each of those albums I would say: ”Hervors Arv” and ” En snara av guld”
As a fun note, in the video of Månegarms ”En snara av guld” you will see our guitarist Tomas acting in the role of the king.
Alongside the Fredlös, in which bands are active your members? What about the past activity of Fredlös musicians in different bands?
Robert:
Alex has Entombed which will always be his number one of course.
For the rest of us Fredlös is the main band.
The only fun thing you could do growing up in this small town was to play music in a band. So there have been plenty of unsuccessful bands that started and ended over the years.
Then came the family-life and kids. I met Tomas I think around 2014 and we started to record a bunch of demos in my studio. And everything later grew into ”Barbro Says no!” And in 2021 Fredlös emerged from its ashes to become what Fredlös is today.
Tomas and Robert
Tomas:
Liv comes from the “sing and songwriter” and Country scene. Before “Barbro says No” she had very little experience in metal music. She has a major impact in our song writing process due to her unique ability to evoke spelling melodies. In Liv we sure have struck the golden motherload.
Liv Hope
If I mentioned legendary Alex Hellid, what are your favourite Nihilist/Entombed releases?
Alex:
Let me go cliché supreme on y’all, OK? All of them! As it should be hard to single out favorites among the children. They all mean and represent and mirror a period or moment in time, something that was created with another cliché, blood, sweat and more sweat…and sent out in the world to hopefully find new homes in the orbits of others minds. From our first releases with Nihilist (Premature Autopsy a title we got suggested straight from our idol Chris Reifert of Autopsy!:) leading up to the first album (Left Hand Path) and to our most recent Serpent Saints I never take anything for granted and always find excitement in the possibility that creativity and energy will be picked up and spread inspiration. Sounds corny for sure but that’s the greatest feeling….so everything! :)
What are your favourite historical era and why? Are you have some preferred authors and books?
Tomas:
I devour books about history as a whole but right now at the moment it's the Middle Ages as my main interest, but that could shift tomorrow ;-)
Man's way of seeing the world shifted dramatically in the Middle Ages.The life and agony of the common people and their reality and living conditions is actually far more interesting and gruesome than just writing about “knights and dragons flying high in the sky with fire”.
I'm heavily influenced by books by Vilhelm Moberg and Professor Dick Harrison.
But you also need to read Machiavelli and such.
Unfortunately I’ve never been in Sweden. What interesting places could you recommend me to visit, especially from your area? What local foods and drinks are your recommendations to taste it?
- Stockholm and the old parts of the city, “Gamla stan ''. Wander around the streets where the “Stockholm bloodbath” took place”. And then go to djurgården to see the Wasa ship museum. To get a nature experience I would recommend going north by train on “Inlandsbanan '' to Kiruna. Or travel by car up north on the east coast to see the high coastal areas (höga kusten). But then again, I know you live in the Carpathians mountains so maybe our hills and nature aren't that much to brag about really ;-)
Food wise I guess it's the same kind of food here just like any other western country.
But some things to try that you might not find everywhere else is:
- Blood pudding, Slice the pudding into 7mm slices, fry it in butter and serve with lingonberry jam and crispy bacon. Best served with Milk.
- Palt / Kroppkakor. depending on where you live it has a slightly different flavor and name. “Kroppkakor” in the south and “Palt” in the north. Kroppkakor are essentially big chunky potato dumplings with meat inside them, and there are many versions of these all over the country. Served with melted butter, lingonberry jam and pork/bacon. Also best served with Milk.
- One thing I like to do out in nature is Kolbulle.
50% wheat flour and 50% water and salt. all mixed up. Make a fire. Put a pan directly into the fire. A big lump of butter and lots of pieces of smoked pork, let that fry for a while. Pour the wheat mixture over it and let it fry for a while. It will become something like a thick pancake with pork. Serve it with lingonberry jam. A beer goes really well with this to warm your bones beside the fire.
I just realized all of the above include pork and lingonberry….
Things not to eat:
- Fermented Herring, just don't do it…smells rotting death. People say it tastes good, but the smell is overwhelming. And why eat something that smells like that….
Tack så mycket Fredlös, wish you all the best! Send your message to the readers of Archangel’s Lantern please to complete the interview.
- Bye and thank you Archangel's Lantern readers, wish you all the best and thanks for all support! Hope to see you at a show in the near future!
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