Interview with 

Congratulations to Ruin your brilliant first demo how has the reception been so far from those who have heard it and how has the response been so far in the reviews and the support you have got so far ?

Thanks Gabriel, the response has been totally amazing, the reviews and the support from all the various e-zines especially, this one included of course, but also from people that have downloaded a track on the net,bought the demo or seen us perform live and so on, we couldn´t have asked for a better start.

Semlah have been around for some time as unit, how was the band formed in the first place?

Wilbur and Thomas were working for the same company, so they hooked up there and eventually started to jam on some songs at Wilbur´s apartment. Then they placed some ads on the Internet and found Johannes and me. Although all of us, except Wilbur, were still in other bands as well for the duration of 2001, so the rehearsals were few and far apart. This year it´s a completely different story and now the focus is 100% on Semlah.

Looking at the unit, I felt that after hearing your first rehearsal disc that you clicked very quickly as a band, am I right in my opinion ?

Oh yes, you know the very first time all of us got together we never really sat down and discussed what we we´re going to play we just basically plugged in and started to jam, the song My ruin was actually written that first day and it´s been like that ever since, all of us are involved in the creative process, so we have a lot of material right now.

Talking about the production on Ruin, how was the production did you made it live or did you tracking, fill us in on the studioprocess ?

Well it was me, Wilbur and Thomas in one room and Johannes in another, all of us playing the songs live and recording everything from that except the vocals and some of the guitarparts wich was added later, there were some overdubs but very few.

The title Ruin, has it got any significant meaning to it ? 

No not really, we weren´t supposed to call it anything, I can´t remember who but someone said that we should have the first album selftitled so I said let´s call it Ruin then, because of My ruin being the first song we wrote together I think.

Looking at the musical and lyrical standpoint, are you pleased with the outcome of it ?

We had a lot of songs to choose from and we couldn´t really decide on what songs to record so we made it simple and picked the first 5 that we had written together.But I feel that both musically and lyrically there´s a lot of diversity and it gives you a pretty good idea of what we´re about. Of course there´s a lot of ground that we haven´t covered yet but hopefully we´ll get a chance to record a lot more stuff in the future.

More on the lyrics, what are the main subjects on Ruin ?

Serenity´s domain and Realms unknown are both from an old idea I had about writing a concept album, that was never really completed so I took some bits and pieces from that, I guess you could say that those two are about what a philosophy or a new sort of strange religion would be like if I tried to come up with one, there´s also a variation on the Icarus tale in it as well among other things.My ruin and Silent sermons are more or less stories and events from my childhood and The downward spiral is a story about some people I used to know and hangout with condensed into one person, a little bit of drug use and mental illness thrown into the mix.

Compare to Wilburs previous band Count Raven beside the same bass player and playing doom metal there is hardly anything you have in common maybe some of the atmosphere and the dynamic feel but that is my opinion if you would like to compare Count Raven to Semlah do you feel that there is a similarity in there ?

I asked Wilbur about that and he said that he couldn´t think of any similarities at all, he even said that he has a lot more freedom now to improvise on bassparts in the Semlah songs so not even the bassplaying is the same as in the Count Raven years. I don´t know but I´d say that there has to be some similarities but I don´t hear any obvious ones anyway, perhaps you´re right about the atmosphere.

I dont know how many times I have heard the cd so far but every time I play it I feel there is a experimental lust in here, there is various moods and emotions what visiual standpoint did you have in the creationof Ruin and how pleased are you with the mix of the demo ?

You´re right about the experimental lust because everytime we write a song we try to throw in something new that we haven´t done before and I think it makes it a lot more interesting to play and for me it´s great, I get touse my voice in different ways and I try to to convey the mood of the music and the lyrics vocally. Initially we weren´t that pleased with the mix, you know because of time constraints and not really being familiar with all the studio equipment and stuff like that, but Johannes knew a guy, Patrik, who liked our music and he helped us out and remixed the songs at his place, for the most part he and Johannes worked on the drumsound but all of us were there and some new guitar and vocalparts were added as well.So now we´re pretty happy with the overall sound but next time we´ll do things a little bit different I think.

I would say that Semlah are a Epical progressive doom metal band am I right in this description or do you have a different opinion ?

I don´t know how to label our music, judging from the reviews and what people have told us the descriptions have been somewhat varied to say the least but that´s cool, it´s not that important to us what you call it. There´s some epic, progressive and doomy elements to what we do so I can´t say that you´re wrong about that anyway.

More of Epic doom Metal, I stick my nose out here by saying that Semlah have carried on where Candlemass left off the operatic vocals, the heavy riffing, the atmosphere and the epical feel to it. What do you reckon about the comparison ?

Well for me that´s a huge compliment cause I think that Candlemass is/was a great band, although I don´t think anyone else in the band has listened a whole lot to them, but I don´t think the comparison is all that accurate. I suppose if you say operatic vocals, heavy riffing and so on it sounds like we would be a similar band but I would have to say no to that. I guess it´s in the same vein of music in a way. Anyway they´re an established band with a great past, and I think they should do another album by the way, and we´ve just started out you know. I actually have a little story here, years ago I went to see a Manowar show at a small club in Stockholm and I ended up standing next to Messiah, the singer in Candlemass, and we stood there singing Manowar songs together, that was a lot of fun for me and it was a great show, Eric Adams and Messiah, now there you have two amazing voices wouldn´t you say.

More on the vocals, they are sounding brilliant how long have you been singing and do you feel that after joining Semlah that your voice is more established than before and what singers are the inspiration for you ?

Thanks, well 5 years or so seriously as a leadsinger and before that I sang backup and lead on a few songs on demos, but I really hope those are lost forever he he, I played the guitar mostly in the beginning. Well I believe that my voice has improved a lot and with more experience and with the freedom I have in Semlah to basically do whatever I want that will hopefully continue.There are so many singers that inspire me, I listen to a lot of different types of music so the list would be endless almost.

Speaking of response from record labels has it been anyone that have shown a serious interest so far for Semlah ?

Yes a couple of labels have been interested but we´ve only sent out a few demos so far, we´re working on putting together a proper promopackage now so we can send the demo to a bunch of labels.

For those who still havent heard Ruin, would you like to make a review of it ?

No not really, we´re all happy with the reviews that you and others have done so I don´t know what we could say that hasn´t already been said. So go and read Gabriels review instead people.

The name Semlah can mean a few different things, Semlah is a biblical word and a Swedish pastry a bun with cream and sugar on top, how did the name came up and do you feel that the name represents the concept that this band have ?

The name came up during a conversation between me and Wilbur, he had never written any lyrics before and I told him to give it a go, anyway after he bought and ate some semla´s I guess the creative juices were flowing and he actually began to write some stuff, I thought that was pretty funny so I said let´s add the letter H to that and we´ll name the band Semlah, that´s how the name came up. But like you said it also has a serious side to it and I guess that fits right in, we´re serious about the music and lyrics but as people we´re not that serious, not that often anyway.

Looking more on Semlah what do you feel are the bands major strength ? 

I think it would be more interesting if you or someone else outside the band commented on that but for me I guess one thing is that we seem to have known each other forever, songs come together quickly and we communicate musically, you know it usually takes some time before you can start to improvise for instance and that seemed to take place almost from the start. We also get along great and have a lot of laughs together and that helps. Another thing is that all of us come from different backgrounds and wehave a slightly different musical taste but somehow the songs we end up with is something that everyone really likes and it´s almost effortless to get there. The more obvious strength is the musicianship, I love the heavy guitars with that progressive twist, the classic basslines and groove that you don´t hear so often nowadays and the brilliant drumming that incorporates a lot of different styles and comes across totally original, that´s how I feel about it anyway.

So far you have played a few small gigs,how has the turnouts and the response been so far to your liveperformance ?

The turnouts and the response has been great, the last gig had a hundred or so people in the audience and we stayed afterwards at that place, free beer you know, and a lot of people came up to us and said nice things and bought the demo and stuff. But like you said there has been very few gigs but that will change.

Finally what is going on in the Semlah camp at the moment, are you planning a new disc, new shows, an album how is the situation for the moment ?

All of the above, first I believe we´ll record some new stuff with Patrik, the dude who remixed ruin. If that´s for a demo, EP or an album only time will tell.

Thank you very much for the interview, all the best wishes with Ruin and Semlah. Hope you get signed soon and release an album that is what I and other doom freaks and fans of heavy rock needs, a debut album from Semlah. Thanks for a great demo.

Thanks a lot Gabbe, we really appreciate the support you´ve given us and yes a Semlahalbum would be something wouldn´t it. I can tell you that we´re not giving up until that happens, not a chance. Oh yeah if you want to buy a copy of the demo check out Black tears mailorder or Hellride music.

By Gabriel Lilliehook

For more Semlah info check out their Web at www.semlah.com email the band at webmaster@semlah.com

GL productions review of Ruin at hem.passagen.se/lillie/demo15.html