With:	Erik Olofsson [Guitar]
Conducted by:	Herzebeth (e-mail)
Published:	06.06.2006
Band profile:	Cult Of Luna

- Hello I'm Francisco from Metal Storm; first of all I want to thank you
for allowing me to interview you. Now to the mandatory part ok? Can you
please explain your project to the people who's unfamiliar with it? Please
give us and introduction of what "Cult Of Luna" truly is.

Cult of Luna is a Rockband from Umeå, Sweden. We're 8 persons and by combining our different musical skills and inspirations we try to write music that feels interesting to us. 4 albums have been released and we've been touring serioulsy the last 3 years. Everything is done by ourselves - that is producing, recording, mixing and design.


- Now to my first question; is there a profound reason for choosing "Cult
Of Luna" as your band's name? I mean, is there something behind it or was
it the only thing you could think of at that moment?

"Just trying to capture the mood of the music you know... "


- The music you create is really profound in many ways; what do you really
want to transmit to the people who listen to your music, any emotion or
feeling in particular?

The thing with our music is that it goes up and down. Varying quite alot and I guess that goes with the emotions of the listener as well. As long as you feel something when listening to our records I'm happy even if you hate it. Like I'd rather get a real bad review than one that is just medium.


- Tell me about your lyrical content, "Cult Of Luna" writes about complex
ideologies with a philosophical narrative; lyrics are often
misapprehended, people usually interpret expressions independently and
then they forget about the actual meaning of those words. Can you please
explain what have you been communicating lyrically in your albums?

Yeah it' leaves alot open for interpretation, which is good I think. I must say that i have really nothing to do with the lyrics since it's just Johannes and Klas who writes. But we've never been much for pointing fingers. It's all wrapped up in metafors. The man subjects however has been surveillance - you know like big brother are watching conspiracy. The early lyrics we're also very apocalyptic. For the last album though the subject is about male loneliness and escaping society.


- Before I start asking about your new album I have another question for
you; your music has a lot of conversions and it's really versatile
generally speaking; I can see you have huge musical knowledge and
appreciation. Is there any song in music history (metal or not) that makes
you say "Fuck, I wish I could have done that song", a song that you would
have loved to write?

A song for you - by Gram Parson

I do not listen to metal and long for the day when we can release something that doesn't get so strictly associated to that genre.






- Let's talk about your new album "Somewhere Along The Highway", If I'm
not mistaken you've had a couple of difficulties with the release date; it
was moved from April to August am I right? Why did this happen? Was it a
problem with the label, the studio or just personal matters?

It's been released in Europe allready (April) I can't believe that the US date is in August! I don't know how that could happen. That's too bad. I can assure you that the problem is not in our hands.


- What can we expect of this new record?

Expect a less polished sound - not as produced as "salvation" definitively a more rough sound. We didn't have much time or budget on this one so we decided to do it that way which I think is great!


- I've heard the advance promo; this album shows great musical evolution,
the structures are multifaceted and generally the band shows a more
intense emotion in "Somewhere Along The Highway". What does this album
means to you as a whole?

Like I mentioned earlier the recording process was different from what we were used to. It was quicker and much more intense. While recording we sometime felt like we were losing the grip, but eventionally we pulled it together and now afterwards it doesn't feel that much different like it did then. But as allways I'm most proud of the latest release and hopefully that remains until our next recording session.


- Every album "Cult Of Luna" releases hides a general proposal and an
imposed concept; can you please explain the general idea and concept of
"Somewhere Along The Highway"? And how did you come up with it?

Male loneliness - I was very inspired by a book by J.M Cooetze about a man in South Africa with a hare lip. He escapes from everything and lives of the earth eating only pumpkins. Johannes had similiar ideas for the lyrics about loneliness, it all has a kind of countryside vibe to it.


- Now to another thing; I think "Cult Of Luna" is a very artistic band,
other than music, is there any artistic expression inspiring your work or
your personality?

For me it's all about the visual art. I'm doing all Cult of Luna artwork, graphics, photos and prints - so for me definitely. It's a great part of the time I spend on the band, it's very important for all of us. We want everything to go together like a concept.






- You are currently touring a lot; how is this working out for "Cult of
Luna"? Are you receiving good reactions from the fans all over the globe?

Yeah I suppose - we havn't been around the globe though... We'll Europe is good for us, especially France and some places in the U.K where we've been often. In the U.S it feels a little like starting over with beeing the supportact. We toured U.S with Mastodon last spring which was the perfect introduction for us. It was a truly great tour. I hope we can get over again soon.


- Your band is known for offering great live shows, can you please share
with us the most bizarre experience you've had in a tour or in a concert?

One time in Glasgow I had an experience that I speak of as "The Kafka nightmare". It's too weird to put down in text for you though. That whole European tour was seriously rough and nearly killed us...


- You've created four full-lengths in your career; are you sincerely
satisfied with what you've achieved over the years? Do you honestly feel
happy about what you've done until now?

Even though I'm happy with all of them I wouldn't dream of doing anything like our previous albums again. They represent a past time.


- Now my final question for you; which tune is the one that will haunt you
forever as the best song you ever played, the song that will make you say
'Damn I'm so proud of it' the day you die?

I think that's something I can't answer until I get there. Need some time and perspective to realize what's good and not.