The Dagger: Band Of The Day

By on 22 April 2014

thedagger

The Dagger are a new band from Stockholm, Sweden featuring Fred Estby (drums), David Blomqvist (guitars) and Tobias Cristiansson (bass) (who have all previously played in Dismember) with the bands current line up completed by vocalist Jani Kataja but this is a musical world away from the death metal of most of the member’s previous band. The Dagger deliver solid bluesy hardrock/heavy metal with a sound firmly rooted in the late 70’s/early 80’s and bringing to mind bands such as early Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Judas Priest etc. Soulful, powerful clean sung vocals soar over twin guitars and infectious classic style riffage whilst being driven along by a strong, no frills hard rockin’ drum/bass rhythm section which is all wrapped up in a wonderfully and perfectly fitting organic production. With a debut full length album already in the can and ready to be released in June by Century Media, I thought it would be the perfect time to make The Dagger a band of the day and send drummer Fred Estby some questions about Sweden’s latest hard rock sensation, whose sharp edged sonic attack will soon be making ears bleed across the world…

WORDS: Kat Gillham

WHO ARE THEY: The Dagger
WHERE ARE THEY FROM: Stockholm, Sweden
FOR FANS OF: Deep Purple, Early Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Rainbow etc
LATEST RELEASE: ‘Mainline Riders’ 7″ (High Roller)
WEBSITE: Facebook
OK, first of all, please give me a quick history of the band. When did the idea come into your mind to form this band?
Fred (Estby, drums): “At the end of 2008 I was working on the Necronaut album. After I had all songs down I realised I had a bunch of material that didn’t really fit for Necronaut but was way too good to throw away. I talked to David about this as he participated on some of the Necronaut songs and it turned out he also had material in the same style as mine. Not long after this Tobias told us he had been thinking about doing something different musically than what he was doing in Dismember and Grave. This made us intrigued to see if we could get a band together playing hard rock the way we wanted to hear it. The stuff in between us 3 was surprisingly similar and not like other bands in the hard rock/heavy metal genre of today.”

How did you initially go about finding the other members to play in the band? Was it quite an easy straightforward task to find the right kinda like-minded people/musicians to pursue this band with?
Fred: “Since we had drums bass and guitar we started making songs together rehearsing once in a while as we looked for a 2nd guitar player. As you say, it seems to be an easy task to find members for a new band in Stockholm but bear in mind that all good musicians here are already in a band which makes it somewhat problematic. After not too long though Tobias ran into Tyrant at a show and he was super psyched about the idea so we started rehearsing with him, writing a bunch of songs together. The toughest thing proved to be finding the right singer. We wanted a vocalist with character and good singing skills, preferrably rooted in blues and hard rock. It took us almost 3 years to find the right candidate but it was worth the wait since we found not only the perfect voice for our songs but also a very talented singer and musician as well as a great guy!”

First of all you have released a 7″ ‘Mainline Riders’ which came out a little while ago, please tell the readers a little about this recording and release in your own words and what they can expect from it. How did you hook up with the label who released it High Roller? Are you satisfied with the overall outcome of this release or is there something you would possibly change looking back? How has the response been to your debut recorded offering so far?
Fred: “Well, we recorded Mainline at the same time as we recorded the rest of our debut album. We decided to finish this song off before the others to release a limited 7″ ASAP just to show a sign of life. It’s a great song that we thought fitted us as well as we were sure we could improve it with our own sound. It was easy to get it out via HRR since we know them and they like the band. They also work fast which was a must. I think the response has been really good for the 7″. The only thing some might be puzzled about is why we chose to release a cover as first release. I dont see why this would be weird?!”

How can people get hold of the 7″?
Fred: “They can order it from High Roller Records. I’m not sure there are any copies left though. We have a limited amount that we will bring on the road.”

You recently signed a deal with Century Media and have been working on the debut full length album, if I am not mistaken the whole album is complete now? When can we expect a release? What can we expect from this album? Is the new material going in a bit of a different direction or is it just more killer hard rockin’ heavy metal? Can you reveal the title or any song titles? How did you hook up with CM?
Fred: “The album is complete and will be out in Europe on the 30th of June. It’s a solid hard rock album with a good variety of songs. If you like traditional hard rock hits with a genuine 1978 sound, this is the album for you. Some titles: ‘Ahead Of You All’, ‘Electric Dawn’, ‘Skygazer’, ‘Nocturnal Triumph’.
The signing with CM felt like a no brainer. They were really interested early on and the other labels we had in mind could not compete with their offer and enthusiasm. We also know some of the CM staff since way back.”

Have you already sourced the artwork for the album?
Fred: “Artwork is done for both LP and CD. It is very suiting.”

You recorded and mixed the album in Gutterview studios which you co own/co run with Nicke Andersson, how was the recording process? Quite relaxed I would assume since you were using your own studio.
Fred: “The whole recording was really relaxed and just a lot of fun. It would have been wrapped up earlier if we hadn’t recorded in such a busy time.”

You have been producing, mixing, engineering bands for many years now everything from death and black metal to stoner doom to dbeat/crust punk to garage punk rock ‘n’ roll etc.. but when did the idea come about to have your own studio? How did the whole idea to open Gutterview come about, was it Nicke who instigated the idea or was it decided during a chat between yourselves?
Fred: “We decided to start the studio in 2008. We were discussing the problems of finding the right studio for the right price since we were both in the process of putting material together in my case for Necronaut and his case Imperial State Electric. Nicke suggested we start a studio together at 2 locations. Recording studio at his place and mix studio at my place. Thats how we started and after a while we realised we needed more space so we started renting 2 great rooms in 2010 at Black Sheep in Stockholm which we refurbished in our own style.”

How is the songwriting process for The Dagger? You are known for being the main songwriter in your previous band Dismember, is this the case with The Dagger or is David heavily involved with the writing too?
Fred: “Since day 1 me David and Tobias have been writing material in equal amounts actually. This is great since we know what suits us and we have 3 different ways of writing material even though we aren’t too far away from each others styles. It’s gonna be great involving Jani in the songwriting for the next album, when he joined the album was already down for recording.”

You were originally known as Dagger but changed it to THE Dagger more recently – why the slight name change?
Fred: “It was all about avoiding clashes with other bands called Dagger. There have been a few and we don’t wanna be caught in a name dispute. It has happened to quite a few bands lately as we all know.”

Who designed the logo? It looks like it comes straight out of the early 80’s! Which is obviously the intention!
Fred: “Tyrant designed it and Nicke Andersson finalized it for the 7″ cover. I love it, its really late 70’s/early 80’s looking!”

Which bands fuel and shape the sound of The Dagger influence wise? Which bands and musicians made you want to form a band playing this type of music in the first place?
Fred: “Our influences and catalysts of our songwriting are bands like Deep Purple, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, early Scorpions, Thin Lizzy etc. And of course all musicians of those bands are vital influences to us as musicians too.”

Even though you are a new band the band is made up of “scene veterans” and some people once they find out who is in the band might look at The Dagger as being some kind of “supergroup” as it features ex members of Dismember and also currently Grave…how would you prefer people to perceive the band? Would you rather people look beyond your past and just focus on The Dagger’s music for what it is and not for who is in the band (although I guess given the fact that Dismember is one of the biggest Swedish death metal bands that could be hard for people to seperate the two)?
Fred: “I dare say it will be inevitable in reviews the “ex Dismember” tag will keep popping up! I really hope people will look past our earlier bands and really take in our music. It has not much to do with Dismember, Grave or even Sideburn. We have been determined from the beginning not to use our earlier bands as selling points for The Dagger. Or to promote this as a “supergroup”.”

Lyrically, what inspires you guys to put pen to paper?
Fred: “Anything from news to novel reading or even lyrics by old masters as RJD, Geezer Butler or Blue Oyster Cult.”

How active are you as a live band? Any plans to tour or do festival dates abroad? What can people expect from a The Dagger live show? Is this band more of a “hobby” thing than Dismember became? No grand plans for world domination or is there?!
Fred: “So far we have only played one show. It was a short set at a small club in Stockholm raising money for cancer research. We will however definitely start touring as soon as the album is out. The Dagger is NOT a “hobby band”! We are of course heading for world domination, be sure we will show up in a city near you in the next year.”

Sweden these days has a very strong and vibrant old school style hardrock/heavy metal scene with bands such as In Solitude, Enforcer, Black Trip, Portrait, Witchgrave and many more all paying homage to the 80’s hardrock/heavy metal… What is your overall opinion about this resurgence in such styles? Any newer up and coming bands you care to recommend?
Fred: “I think its amazing that we have a new wave of great hard rock bands coming out of Sweden. I guess some old farts of the old tribe just want to do something new musically but in the style of their old heroes. When it comes to the younger bands creating that same kind of music I think they are probably looking back on bands that sounded great and wrote awesome songs compared to many crappy metal bands of today. Simply a sound reaction… Some new Swedish bands I like are The Oath, Dead Lord, Heavy Tiger, Monolord.”

Describe The Dagger in 5 words only!
Fred: “Heavy Metal Rock From Sweden”

What are your plans for the rest of this year? And beyond?
Fred: “Video shoot, album release and a lot of touring! Then a new album to further establish The Dagger to the hard rock audience!”

Thanks for answering this short interview Fred…the last words are yours!
Fred: “Thank you, see you on the road!”

 

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