Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

What made you call the band "Pharoes"? It's pretty stupid actually. While browsing through the internet to get inspiration for a band name we found "Pharoes Curse". It's a term used when you travel to Egypt and drink the water and get sick because of the different bacteria culture in their water. We liked the way Pharaohs were misspelled to Pharoes. It felt weird and kind of original (like our band, I guess) so we stuck with it. You can't really associate it to a specific genre either, which is cool.    

How was the band formed? Robin played bass in my old post-hardcore band called Far Above in which i sang for. He is a great guitar player. I knew that I wanted to write songs for my next "rock" band and that I wanted it to be more based around riffs and not so concerned about what's popular or scene or whatever. Robin had mostly been playing metal before Far Above, so he was excited to play guitar and cover some new musical ground. It was his original idea to tune as low as we do. It's been a pretty crucial part of our sound since way back from the beginning. Robin knew our drummer Philip. He also wanted to play music that grooved a bit more after having done drum duties for a couple of metalcore bands for a while. Our old bass player Jonathan joined and we started writing music and playing shows.   

Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band? My name is Ebbe, I sing and play guitar. Robin plays guitar. Sebastian plays bass. Philip plays drums. We're all from Malmö. 

What was the ambitions of the band when you started? To write great songs, getting out and perform them live and to record an album. 

Where was your first gig? In the middle of the night in a park in Kristianstad. Our set was cut shot for some stupid reason I can't even remember, the equipment that was supposed to be there, wasn't. It was a disaster.  

Where was your latest gig? In Malmö last year actually. We haven't played much lately since we've been busy working on our new record for a year now. We're doing a bunch of shows in 2014 though and it'll be great. 

Who writes your songs? Music and lyrics? I do. I want to keep things as real as possible. I would have a hard time singing someone else's lyrics. I write the music as well but the whole band is involved in fine-tuning everything. For example, for the most part Philip writes his own drum parts and comes up with most of his own stuff. I understand different grooves and the way i want it to move but i don't have a very deep understanding for the instrument, so it's great having someone in the band that "gets it". All the members bring individual ideas to the table. We try different stuff for quite some time before we consider a song done. 

Who has the best since of humor in the band? Obviously me. 

What genre do you feel you are? Alternative Rock is a great broad term we usually throw out there. 

Why did you pick that particular style? It wasn't really a couscous decision. We play what we like and what we would listen to ourselves. 

What are your songs about? I mostly write songs about personal thoughts and experiences. Our new album is based on a science fiction story that I've written. I have a hard time admitting it to myself but in the end, it's about some real stuff. I've just covered it with an awesome layer of abstract spacey weirdness.  

Have you recorded any albums? Our debut album is called Circle Of Seasons. Anyone who likes heavy moody rock music should check that out. 

Do you have any clips on YouTube? We have a channel on youtube. There's a music video, some live clips, a tour documentary and a teaser for our new album "Into The Infinte". Check out: youtube.com/pharoesband 

How old are you? I'm 27. Robin is 26. Philip and Sebastian is 25. We're only getting better with age. Like a fine wine. 

What got you started in music? It's been a creative outlet for me for a long time. I feel alive when I get to create something. Music is powerful and very important to me. I'll sound like a cliche but it's a bit like therapy. 

At what age did you start playing? I started singing when i was a kid. In the school choir. When I was about 15-16 i started singing in my first real band with a bunch of guys who were a few years older than me. We made some stuff that was actually pretty good for a "first band". I started playing guitar when I was a kid in what we call the "music high school" and I remember playing in the school band. I kind of put it aside once I started getting more into singing but about three-four years ago I decided that I needed to pick it up, relearn and try to develop. It's been a fun ride and I love playing guitar now.   

How old were you when you first stood on stage? I guess that it was in school at some point. 10 years old maybe? My first real band played live for the first time when I was about 15 or 16, I think. 

What year was the band started? We started working on it in 2010.

Best/worst gig you've played? Our first gig was our worst. I think the other guys would agree. I remember telling the very small crowd and the people who worked there how much it sucked and how bad everything was organized from the stage. I think we played alright but it was just such a bad experience. We've uploaded a video from it, for some reason. Our best gig is probably when we did the release fest for Circle Of Seasons in Malmö. It was pretty amazing to see all of our friends and family in the crowd. I also remember a specific gig we did in the UK that i keep as one of the best we've done. Second floor on a small bar but it was intense and everyone was really cool. It felt like we won the crowd over. I love doing that.   

What places will you be playing in in the immediate future? We have a gig booked in Karlstad with our friends in InOcean and we will announce an other cool thing we're doing with another band that we're friends with. We will also try to get over to the UK again and do some more shows. Also we wanna get out in Europe and play. We had a thing booked but we got fucked over and now it's not happening. 

Which band is the best you´ve seen live? Very hard question. I've seen so many great bands over the years. First time I saw Deftones was very special to me. I also think that I saw them in the best form they will ever be. Seeing Glassjaw in London was amazing. Thrice, Fantomas, Isis, Cult Of Luna, Converge and Jimmy Eat World are bands that have blown me straight away. A Swedish hardcore band called Meleeh. They put on one of the best shows I've ever seen. I don't really care much about hardcore music but they were just unreal when they were around. I'm sure i've forgotten about loads. 

Do you always play the same songs live? We mix it up to keep it fun and exciting. Some songs tend to always stay on the setlist though. 

Have you had any bigger tours? Since we are working class heroes, we tend to get on weekend tours. So not really. Also It's hard to book a big tour, especially for a band like us without a real genre. It would have been easier if we just decided we were a punk, hardcore or metal band. But we are none of the above. We don't really fit in anywhere but we kind of like it that way. 

How big crowds do you usually play for? We've played for everything between 10 and almost a 1000. I think some of the shows we did with Adept had almost 1000 attending. Crazy. 

What are the plans for the rest of the year? Get the record done, get it out and start playing some shows. 

How do you get psyched up for a gig? I usually drink some water and do some vocal warmups. I'm making sure my guitars, amp and pedals works the way it should. I'm sure I could have fabricated some story about smashing bottles over our heads or something totally bad ass. Sorry. 

What are your goals with your music? To have fun, be creative and real. To make a connection with people through music. To get someone to feel something. 

When did you decide to go all in for the music? Well it's not that much of a decision to go all in for me. I love to be creative and I want to create awesome stuff. I love making my vision of something into something real. I don't see it as a business or something you can succeed in. Or rather, I've reached success when i've created something out of my vision. I'm not trying to be weird and cool or something. It's just the way it works for me. If i listen to something, I don't care if it's popular or not or if it's cool to like it or not. Music is not a fashion statement to me. It goes deeper than that. I have a hard time thinking about music in terms of something I go in for. I go all in to create but I'm not compromising my art to sell myself and appear a certain way to kids who want something temporary. Once again, not trying to be, anti-sell out or something like that. I hope I understood your question correct.  

Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? I am not a big fan of what's going on in heavy music right now. I can't listen to what people are calling metal these days. I mainly search for old stuff. There's so much awesome music that was around when I was a kid but that I didn't pay attention to back then because it didn't sound like Korn and Limp Bizkit or whatever. I'm sure it's the same way for a lot of kids these days. Except Korn and Limp Bizkit have been traded for Bring Me The Horizon and Asking Alexandria and every other identical band like that.

What's the first step when making a new song? It starts off with an idea. I'll mess around with my guitar at home. Once I feel like I've got something that can become something, I'll bring it to rehearsal and we'll start working on it as band. Once you play it together you know what to keep, change or throw away. 

How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? That's a tough question. I've always been a fan of having a physical cd or vinyl. I love reading the lyrics and looking at the artwork while listening to the music. I'm not a fan of buying a physical release though. I pay for spotify and listen to most of my music through that. I think I'm a bit on both sides when it comes to this. If anybody wanna download our album for free, go ahead. We've given blood, sweat, tears, about two years of our life and a lot of money to create it for you but hey if you get that feeling when you hear the music, I guess it can be worth it. I know what it takes to make a great record so I usually try to buy smaller bands albums through iTunes if I can't get hold of a physical copy. 

What genres and bands do you listen to? In my opinion, if you dig deep enough, there's good music to be found in pretty much any genre. At the moment I'm into a lot of noise rock bands. The Jesus Lizard for example. I've been jamming a Japanese band called Boris quite a lot. I jam The Melvins a whole lot. Their best stuff is insanely good to me. They really set the stage for a lot of the sludge/doom bands. I'm listening to band called Big Jesus that released a great record last year. I'm looking forward to the new album by a band called White Clouds. A noise rock band which is actually way more noise than rock but it's great. Also looking forward to the new I Am The Avalanche. One of the few punk bands that I'm interested in. And Brandon and Todd from Far-Less's new project PWRS is releasing an EP. That'll be great. 

What do you hold most dear? My sanity, probably.  

What would be your greatest fears for the future? Being alone. Not having stability, a creative outlet and losing my self control.  

When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? I don't really fear anything on stage to be quite honest. Bad sound is always a bummer though. 

Have you been part of any other projects/bands? I have. I've got another band called Head Like Orange, which pretty much started out as a pop/hiphop act but has now turned into an indie pop/triphop act. Very different from playing in a rock band and a lot of fun. I did a studio project called Nemorosa with a couple of friends of mine from a band called Chemical Vocation a couple of years back. I sang for a band called Far Above before that. I'm sure I've forgot some stuff. I've done some songs with a rapper. Not sure if that is ever seeing the light of day though. 

What do you work with outside of the band and the music? Right now, nothing. I used to work in a video game store but that closed. I'm thinking about maybe going back to school.

What would you do if there was no music? I would probably draw. I'd find an art form to be creative in. 

How important are your fans? I don't like to think of anyone as a fan. I'm not a rockstar. Anyone who supports my band and my music has my respect and gratitude. 

What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you? We've gotten gifts after shows and great emails about how much people enjoy the album. Some kids helped us promote Circle Of Seasons by printing their own posters and putting them up around their home town. That's awesome to me. 

How often do you rehearse? About three times a week. 

Where do you rehearse? In Malmö. 

Name 2 of your own songs that you like at the moment? I like a new song called Lunar Patterns. We just shot a video for that. I also like the opening track on our new album. It's called Adventurer. 

Do you have any webpages? We do. Check out www.pharoesband.com. Also make sure to give us a like at Facebook.com/pharoes. If you can't get enough of us, we're on twitter.com/phareos and youtube.com/pharoesband as well. 

Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? Play what you want. Art is more important than money. Art is more important than fame. Don't compromise your art. Don't be too shallow. Don't make your band into a business more than you absolutely have to. Don't expect anything out of music. Don't listen to negative or positive feedback unless it's from someone you truly respect. Be your own worst critic. Follow your heart. 

Describe your show, visually and musically. Energetic and passionate. Visually, it's us having fun.

How do you view the music industry? It's a dirty business.

What are the biggest obstacles for a band? Economy. It's hard out here for a pimp. 

What is best/worst with playing the clubs? I like playing clubs. Sometimes it gets too hot. 

How would you describe your sound in one sentence? Great.

What is your favorite crappy instrument? I have pretty awesome instruments actually. I love them all for different reasons. 

What was one of the most quarrelsome times for you in the band? Any time we have to cancel gigs for dumb reasons. Working with amateurs. 

Anything else you would like to add? This has been a long fucking interview but it was cool. Make sure you keep up with us on our Facebook page and get ready for our new record INTO THE INFINITE which will be out later this year. Braiii.