interview with Zornheym
Have any of you played in other bands? Yes I have played in several other bands. To name a few, Devian (together with Erik Legion and Emil Dragutinovic that used to play in Marduk), Suicidal Seduction, still playing in the slumbering project Aktiv Dödshjälp (together with Roberth Karlsson from Scar Symmetry and Facebreaker). I also played bass in Dark Funeral for a few years but my main focus now is Zornheym.
How is it that you started playing music? I was early into music and kept scavenging my older brother's and my dad's vinyls. First it was Twisted Sister that got my attention with there stage clothes and catchy music. When I later bought my first CD album, Appetite for destruction, with Guns n' Roses I was totally blown away. Once I bought a live VHS with Guns I knew that that making music and perform live is what I want to do with my life.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? So far I'm the only official member, but I have a couple guys lurking in the shadows waiting to be presented when the time is right! We're kind of in the beginning with setting this band in motion.
My Name is Tomas and I play guitar and I'm 32 years old.
Did you make music even when you were young? Yes, I started making music around the age of 10-11. First with putting my own lyrics to other people's songs and later when my father had taught me my first chord, E-minor, I did a song consisting of that chord. Ever since that one chord song I have had huge urge to compose songs and express myself through music.
Where are you from? I'm from Sweden, a small town called Finspång.
What year did the band form? The band was formed last year but the idea for the band has excited in my for quite some time. I actually presented this lyrical concept that Zornheym is based on back in 2006-2007 for Erik Legion when we were making plans to write "God to the Ill fated", the follow up album to the "Ninewinged Serpent" album, both released on Century Media Records. He thought the concept was a bit too big to write about at the time, so we left it. Later I discovered that me and Emperor Caligula shared similar ideas when we did a festival tour summer together with Dark Funeral in 2013. We started planing on doing something together with it, but after a while nothing really happened (You know how it can be with musicians having way too many projects all at the same time) so I decided to start writing everything by myself.
What's your style of genre? I think I would label the my music as symphonic extreme metal.
What inspires you? A lot of things. I can get inspired by reading books, interviews with interesting and creative people. Documentations about people or space, history and stuff like that is inspiring to me. That can inspire me both musically and lyrically. Musically I'm inspired by bands or composers such as Dissection, King Diamond, Hans Zimmer, John Williams, Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Keep of Kalessin, Marduk
How have you developed since you started with the music? It's been a long process of learning how to arrange all the orchestral parts that's on the album and it's been taking a lot of time and effort to do that. It's probably been one of the most challenging parts of the process. Been a lot of trial and error!
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? I have kids so I love spending time with them and their mom, my lady. I do also enjoy the normal things such as watching TV shows, movies, I like walking and hiking, I love nature. I work out. Family and music take up most of my time.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? We're open to booking an Agency but not anything we're actively looking for at the moment. There is so much other stuff that needs to be done first. I like working close with people and when we get a booking agency it'll be one that really believes in us and that we can have a close collaboration with, so releases, tours and press and all that are synced like a clock!
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? Yeah we're looking for a label, not very actively yet but I have a few in mind for when we're ready to present the material. Right now we're trying to finish up the first batch of songs in the studio. We're using a real string orchestra and right now we are casting people for a real choir. Drums, all bass and guitars are done. I got a text last night from the string orchestra's Concertmaster that they have started recording there parts now. Once the orchestrations, percussion and choirs are done we'll start recording vocals, I want the vocalists to really get the right vibe from the songs when they are recording their parts and be into the story telling that the album demands. Once all that is done we'll start label shopping and present a pretty interesting package for them!
What made you decide to make this music? For a decade I have wanted to do a real epic project with a clear red thread in it and very bombastic. But I have never really played together with people who have shared my vision for it. So about like 1 1/2 years ago I started slowly composing the foundation to the first two songs and this year people started showing an interested in joining me on this new musical path. I have had huge urge to compose and record my own songs the last two years, it eventually took over and put me on the path that I'm roaming right now and I have never been more pleased musically.
What are your songs about? We're a concept band. Imagine like a hybrid between King Diamond and Tobias Sammet's metal opera, but more extreme and more background story behind the different stories within the frame story. What the concept/story exactly is, will be reveled in time.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? So far I have composed and written all lyrics. My lady has been a real asset to the concept part and helping me a lot with the language since English and German were her first languages. With the music I get some input from other people involved but so far I'm the sole composer, that will probably change once we start with the next batch of songs. I like to get different people's input and a wider perspective on things.
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? It differs... I can start with a riff and arrange it. Once the lyrics or the concept for the lyrics is done I'll start adjusting the music so the lyrics and music will be one.
Do you compose in a certain environment? Sometimes the riffs come to me and I record them on my iPhone. My home studio is extremely mobile so I usually compose in a calm corner of the house. For me its often best to have a plan when I sit down and work like tonight I'll work on this riff or the cello part in the interlude needs to re-arranged cause its messing with same frequency as the bass guitar. So I usually plan what to work with during the day and then work on it at night.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? We sell merchandise through a merch company called Merchenary, they are pretty new but really good. So far we only have a t-shirt out and zip hoodie, but they are really cool!
Where can people buy your merchandise? Merchenary's webshop is down at the moment cause they're changing their website and stuff so right now its easiest to get it by PM:ing our page on Facebook - Zornheym - Official.
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records nowadays? I think that's how the market is today and if you wanna be in the game you need to simply accept it and try to adept to it instead of working against it. In metal I know that a lot of people, including myself, that will still buy an actual album which I think is awesome. A lot of time and effort goes into making albums and I intend to show my full support when I like a band by buying a physical copy their work. Especially with Zornheym you won't get the whole experience with a digital version of the album. But I will still push a lot for the digital stuff too, you can't leave out a market just because you yourself prefer a certain format.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? I think the music industry woke up a bit too late and is trying to catch up with the digital format. They are doing better now than a few years ago.
What do you think of my work? I think people like you are important to spread the word about different bands. I a greatful for people like you who have chosen to help those in the metal community. I hope this interview will help spread the word about Zornheym.
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? This is the first interview I have done for this band, so this is a special Interview. So this is the first interview where people will get a preview what's going on in our camp. I hope this will further entice people to check out what I am doing once it is ready to be out there!
Do you have any role models or idols? Great entrepreneurs are always inspiring I think, no matter what there profession is.
When it comes to guitar playing I'm into players like Yngwie Malmsteen, Marty Friedman but I also dig Jake E Lee's stuff that he did with Ozzy. Ritchie Blackmore has also meant a lot to me as well. Those people have inspired my own guitar playing dramatically! I was totally blown away the first time I saw Yngwie doing a TV-performance on Swedish TV.
Why do you think that they exist? I think they exist cause they have been dedicated to their passion and have never given up on it. They've failed more than less successful people but taken lessons from it and then they've kept pushing forward.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Everything that's made with the heart at the right place is inspiring to me. It can be a good movie, a good song or whatever. For example, I watched the movie "It follows" last night with my lady and it had a very cool story so right now I'm feeling inspired. Both newer and older bands inspires me.
What have been your biggest obstacles? Time, for sure! I'm getting better and better at planing. Like when I'm done with this interview I'll write a plan for what we're gonna do in the studio tomorrow.
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Never give up and actually learn from your mistakes and believe in yourself!
How do you get psyched for a gig? I like to spend some time alone and then like 30 mins to show time I like to psych up together with the band members. Like with Devian we used to be jumping backstages punch walls and each other... We were really like a pack of hungry orcs on stage! I learned a lot about stage performance in Devian, by playing together with experienced people like Erik Legion and Emil Dragutinovic. I've even been known to jump off stage and play in the crowd from time to time. I think it is very important to give the people an actual show!
Do you have any new material? Yeah, like I Said, we're working on the first batch of songs. The second batch is cooking on my hard drive at home, can't wait to record them too! I have really missed being in the studio. Playing live is the second best thing with being a musician, being in the studio seeing and hearing your art coming to life is absolutly the most satisfying thing, if you ask me.
What are your web sites?
Facebook: Zornheym – Official
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiW2Rm1SGDn1YSzWzEA2dpw
https://instagram.com/zornheym_official/
How can people reach you? Any of our social media pages. They are all run personally by the band. We're usually pretty good at getting back to people.
What are your plans for the future? To finish this promo package that we are working on and then start presenting it to different labels and start raising hell for real.
Do you have something to add? We're a band spawning from the Swedish black metal elite this is something that is definitely worth checking out! Keep an eye out on our social media pages for previews of things to come! A very big thanks to everyone anyone who actually takes the time to check us out!