DUN RINGILL
~ Interview mit Patrik Andersson Winberg ~
Die Lobeshymnen auf das zweite Album von DUN RINGILL reißen nicht ab. ´Library Of Death´ entwickelt sich geradewegs zu einem der herausragenden Doom-Werke des Jahres. Folglich haben wir Bassist und Bandgründer Patrik Andersson Winberg vor das Mikrofon gebeten, um Euch ein Interview im Originalwortlaut präsentieren zu können.
Patrik, congratulations on the new album. How satisfied are you with ´Library Of Death´?
I am upper satisfied! So satisfied that I almost feel that it will be difficult to top this album.
But it is to 90 % perfect so we can still fill in the last 10 % to make a perfect album.
The album came out surprisingly quickly, just a year after your debut. Are you in a hurry?
Always!!! That’s how it is to live with ADHD. 😉
But to be serious, we are in a flow right now, so it just felt right to do album nr. 2 so fast after the first album.
It´s like “seize the moment” feeling and all of our favorite bands from the 70s did it in this way.
You recorded the music in winter 2019/20. Were the lyrics actually written up on the mountains of Norway? As a Swede, do you climb up the Norwegian mountains to write lyrics?
Yes, it was and some of them on a buss or on a train on the way to the mountains.
I have my girlfriend living there and the area gives me inner peace so I can focus on being creative.
The environment there is so beautiful and it is the total opposite to the evil and darkness of the world so this contradiction is a big part of the process.
Do the most unusual ideas arise there, or do you already have reference points to fantasy or myths?
I get ideas from the forests and mountains but also from movies, books and like ´My Funeral Song´ which is a true and awful story about my best friends girlfriend who lied about having cancer and that she was about to die just to get the attention from people….
Can music like yours only come about in a dark winter?
No, the music is written even at sunny summer days, but to create the sound and the feeling on the album the winter helps.
In Gothenburg the winters are grey and rainy so this is the right place to be to create the doom sound on the album.
How and where do you compose your songs, does it depend on your mood?
I write them from my point of view as a bass player, but I do write them on an acoustic guitar with the TV on to distract my mind and just let the fingers do their walking on the neck and when I hear something interesting I turn off the sound on the telly and record the part on my iphone.
Then later that day or evening I sit down and listen through the ideas and start working on them, so they turn out to be a proper song.
And where and for how long did you record this time?
We recorded all drums, bass, rhythm guitars on 4 days at Grand Recordings in Gothenburg with Joona Hasinen, Studio Underjord, as producer.
Then Tomas did the vocals on his own at his rehearsal space and we also put the solos on tape there.
All of the odd instruments were recorded by our friends at their own recording studios and then they sent the material to us.
Are there any bands that have influenced you specifically at DUN RINGILL, and also others who have impressed you personally but do not find themselves in the music?
JETHRO TULL was the main band that we had as influence to form the band and our music and mainly how they implement their folk music to the songs.
We are all from different kinds of background musically, like Jens and Tomas are the Thrash guys in the band, Hans is the 70s rock guy, Tommy is the Stoner guy, Peppe is the AC/DC guy and I am the Post punk and gothic guy in the band.
But as a band we have BLACK SABBATH, DEEP PURPLE, CANDLEMASS and JETHRO TULL as main influences to the sound and how we play.
Do you agree with me that the folk influence has grown?
Oh yes!!! It is growing in us! Maybe next album will be a folk music album only? Who knows. 😉
No, but the folk music will always be a big part of the DUN RUNGILL sound and it just comes naturally to us.
Do you only use the bagpipes, violin and wind instruments as an ornament in your sound – and how do you choose an instrument from outside the genre?
The lyrics and feeling of the song decide what instrument fits to what song. ´Reverend Of Many Faces´ is about the evil power of the church, so a church Organ felt right and on ´Ravens Tear´ the Hurdy Gurdy, fire and the raven felt so right.
And could these instruments take up even more space?
We are trying to be as open as possible about this so maybe, but we will see.
We know we will use all the intros and outros from the album live, when we can play live again…., to create the right feeling for the songs. We are not cool with talking in between songs so the music has to do the talking.
I think the album comes out particularly well under headphones, but can you already experience how the reactions to the songs are live?
No, because we have not played them live yet but at rehearsals they sound and feel heavier and more powerful than the songs from the debut.
We will do some small shows starting with September 12th in front of 40 persons so we will see how they react.
There is also a stream gig coming up September 19th that everyone can take part of via our facebook and we will play the entire album there.
You once founded the band with Hans and Tomas. Does DUN RINGILL now deserve your full attention because THE ORDER OF ISRAFEL has finally come to an end?
DUN RINGILL was formed by me and Tomas, vocals, and then we asked Hans if he wanted to play the drums now that THE ORDER OF ISRAFEL took a break.
The break is still there for ISRAFEL and who knows for how long? Maybe Tom Sutton has the answer.
The band is not dead, but it is just barely breathing, I think. And for me DUN RINGILL is my main band now so if ISRAFEL will play again it is my choice nr. 2 if there will be bookings colliding.
How did you come across your colleagues, Tomas, Tommy, Jens and Patric and did you already know each other before DUN RINGILL?
I knew them all as friends and I had played with Patric in a southern rock band before so I knew his skills. Tommy, I knew via his old band SILVERHORSE and Jens via his band LOMMI and they all fit like a glove to DUN RINGILL.
We were supposed to be a band with two guitarists, but a couple of weeks before our debut gig Jens got really sick so we took in Patric as a stand in for the gig, but surprisingly fast, Jens got better but we loved the sound of Patrics guitar playing so we decided to be a 3-guitarist-band which gives us more freedom to create a bigger sound with more harmonies, but on the other hand it demands the guitarists to focus on playing their part of the song in their way, so no jamming allowed…
Singer Tomas Eriksson even sounds like Tim Baker. He hasn’t sung in a CIRITH UNGOL tribute band yet?
No, but in a CANDLEMASS and in a KING DIAMOND tribute band.
Maybe a cool idea for him to do. 😀
What plans do you have for the coming weeks, or are you already writing the next album out of desperation?
We will play live in front of an audience September 12th and October 3rd and a stream gig September 19th.
But after that we will start the work of the third album… I have about six songs in the bag and I know that both Jens and Tommy also have some songs almost written.
We are talking about doing a conceptual album this time so it will take a lot of work and time to get this right. And to be honest, all of the great reviews put some extra pressure on us to top ´Library Of Death´!!!
