Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

Have any of you played in other bands? My first band, Soldier, formed in the mid-nineties.  I joined another band in the early 2000's called Poor Atticus and played guitar in both bands.  

How is it that you started playing music? I started taking piano lessons when i was 3 years old.  My older brother started lessons and like any typical kid with an older brother I wanted to do everything he did.  I stuck with it for several years but eventually traded the piano for guitar when I was about 12 or 13.

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you?

As a solo endeavor I'm the only member.  Over the years I did Seven with a live band on and off but I've always written and recorded the albums solo, including all the instruments and vocals.  I just go by the name "VII" for anything Seven related and I'm 34 years old.
Have you had other previous members? Back when I still performed live with Seven there was somewhat of a revolving door of several musicians in the band over the years including my brother, David Tuttle, Stephen Holliger, Derek Necessary, Cody Holliday, Mike Daugherty, Johnny Funk, and Keith Dailey. 

Where are you from? I recently relocated to Atlanta, Georgia from Central Illinois in the US.

What year did the band form? It was around 2005 when I first started turning it into a live project but I've done Seven continuously since 2001 or so.

What's your style of genre? I think of Seven as mainly progressive metal.  When the project began people called it nu-metal.  After that ran its course people started calling it metalcore and eventually Djent.  In another few years they'll inevitably call it something else.  The style has stayed fairly consistent over the years but people with always have their tendency to categorize it into whatever the popular heavy genre is at any given time.  

What inspires you? Other than main musical influences like Tool, Deftones, Meshuggah, and Nine Inch Nails I draw a lot of inspiration from movies.  Psychological thriller type movies especially influence the visual concepts used with the project.

How have you developed since you started with the music? A majority of my musical development has been studio based work.  I started a studio called Seventh Sounds in late 2009 and have continued to emmerse myself in that ever since.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that?

Although I've always turned down label offers in the past I'm strongly considering one for the next release for movie licensing purposes.  Many companies that license music for movies and video games require the artist to be on a label.
What made you decide to make this music? I've just always had a passion for making music since I first took piano lessons as a kid.  Tool can definitely be credited for a lot of it too as they were the band that made me realize how powerful music can be.
What are your songs about? After 4 full length albums theres a lot of ground to cover there but the lyical content has a lot of recurring themes including apocalyptic scenarios, drug addiction, power abuse and corruption within the american government, heartbreak and generally negative things.  Its very therapeutic for me so I don't feel the need to write about satisfactory things nor would it be appropriate for the music itself and the music always comes first for me, before the lyrics.
Do you compose in a certain enviroment? Writing and recording for seven has always been hand-in-hand so it all happens in the studio in front of the computer.

Have you done any covers live? Nope!  I've finished one cover over the years: Losing My Religion by R.E.M. but Ive never done a cover live.

What language do you sing in? English is the only language I know well enough to sing in.

What was your first gig like? The first show would've been at a local bar called Paulie's in Bloomington, IL.  It was very low key and went well for what it was.

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? When the first album was released in 2007 the physical copies for that album were the first merch item.  Currently the physical copies of the newest album Dark Scientific and some logo decals are the only available physical merch.

Where can people buy your merchandise? Its all available on BandCamp.  The web address is seventhsounds.bandcamp.com

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? It has its pros and cons for me.  I think there was a certain experience people miss out on with no physical product to enjoy but there's a lot of potential with the digital age and higher resolution audio.  Also I think that digitally animated album artwork will eventually become a normal thing.  I'm somewhat surprised that its not already with high resolution animated GIFs at minimum.  

How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? Successful bands have become t-shirt companies that make music. 

Do you have any role models or idols? Tool.  ha.

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? For me bands from the 90s continue to be the most influential but I occasionally find newer artists that have an impact.

What have been your biggest obstacles? The amount of time it requires for one person to put together the albums is always somewhat of an obstacle but it also took many years of practicing mixing to get decent at it.

Do you have any new material? The newest album, Dark Scientific, was released mid 2017 so its relatively new still but I'm always working on the next full-length for which I have 8 songs currently in the works.

What are your web sites?7project.net is the official site.

How can people reach you? The website includes contact details and the facebook page is run by myself so thats a viable option.

What are your plans for the future? Continuing to improve my craft and outdo my previous work as best I can.