Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

Have any of you played in other bands? I have played with many bands over the years, like Slitage and Charly & the Slaves. The other members of Left hand Solution have played in the bands Darklands, The Kristet Utseende and Siebenbürgen.

Have you had other previous members? When we started out as a band I played the guitar together with Jörgen Fahlberg (vocals and bass) and Liljan Liljekvist (drums). Kicki Höijertz replaced Jörgen on vocals together with bass player Peter, and Erik joined in on the drums. When I left the band in 1997 Janne took over the guitar playing and when Peter left the band in 2001 Henrik Svensson and Robert Bergius played the bass for a brief period. Left Hand Solution then went on hiatus and Erik and Janne continued with the band The Kristet Utseende.

Where are you from? Sundsvall and Nyköping, Sweden.

What year did the band form? I started the band in early 1991 with Jörgen and Liljan.

What's your style of genre? Some say it’s Goth or Doom metal, but if you ask me, I don’t know. It’s heavy and dark, and it’s some sort of metal. We seem to enjoy playing a bit slower than most of the traditional heavy metal bands though.

What inspires you? Bands like Samhain/Misfits was the main influence in the beginning, Type O Negative was a hell of a band that we discovered later, but nowadays all kinds of heavy music inspire us. A single guitar itself can be very inspiring as well, when just sitting down and jamming in my livingroom.

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? At the moment we have no plans of touring at all. The dream of becoming a rockstar has faded, and we all have families, kids and day jobs. We have been inactive for over 10 years and last year we started jamming and recording again. The intentional idea was just to hear how we would sound today, if we still were an active band. That turned out pretty cool and we just couldn’t stop, and that became the album Through The Mourning Woods. 

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? We had a record deal with Massproduktion in Sweden, and Nuclear Blast released our album Fevered in Europe and America. When we told the label manger at Massproduktion that we were working on a new album he happily helped us out with the release. So we’re not really looking for a deal or anything, we are just happy to do some recording again. It’s very satisfying to write and record with the band with no schedule and no deadline.  

What are your songs about? Well, most of the songs and especially the lyrics tend to be about the darker days in life.

Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? Back in the 90’s it was mostly the drummer Erik who did the music and lyrics. Nowadays it is I who come up with most of the music, and then me and Erik record the guitars and drums. We listen and make changes in arrangements. When that’s finished Erik writes lyrics to the songs.

Do you compose in a certain environment? I usually sit down and jam on guitar, and the riffs just comes to me. Sometimes Erik and I throw riffs to one another and then we play together in the homestudio in Erik’s basement.

Have you done any covers live? Even though we mostly played original material in the 90’s, we also did a lot of covers live. Songs like ”Hybrid Moments” by the Misfits, ”Personal Jesus” (Depeche Mode), ”To Walk The Night” (Samhain) and also ”Black No 1” by Type 0 Negative.

What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? The least amount of people, I have no idea! The most people must have been when the band played the big stage on the Summer Breeze festival in Germany 2002.

What ages are most of your concert attendants? We really haven’t been playing live that much the last 15 years… But in 2012 we did a 20 anniversary concert at the local venue Club Deströyer. It was great fun to see that a new generation of doom metal listeners had emerged that understood and appreciated our music.

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We always change the setlist on every gig.

Do you have a regular place you play live often? Pipeline in Sundsvall used to be a very special place for us where we played a lot back in the days. In more recent years Club Deströyer has become the main place for playing metal live in Sundsvall. 

What was your first gig like? Hmm, I think it was in august 1991 in Sundsvall, outdoors in the middle of Sundsvall in daylight.

What was your latest gig? That was at Club Deströyer in 2012.

Where have you played live this year? We havn’t done any liveshows since 2012 and right now there’s no plans of touring at all. 

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? We made some t-shirts in 1994 that are out of stock, but there still are a few t-shirts and cd’s in Massproduktion’s webshop.

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? It’s pretty easy to just download or stream music today, so I can understand why people do it. I do it too, but to be honest, it’s so much cooler to have it on vinyl or cd.

How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? In two ways, it’s hard to make money these days by just making albums, but it also opened up for new bands. You do not need to have a record deal to release your music.

What do you think of my work? Your website is like a Fanzine was 20 years ago, so I am glad to see the next generation of music fans taking over and still promoting good music. 

How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? I still want to share our music, cause I like it myself, but besides that I am not intrested in the "business”.

Do you have any role models or idols? When I was a young kid, KISS was my heroes. I mean Gene Simmons, the god of thunder, blood and firespitting demon. How cool wasn’t that?!

Why do you think that they exist? I think we need idols and heroes, they are inspiring us.

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? I think that lots of the music that you listened to as a teenager gets like printed into your DNA, and leaves traces in what you do musically.

What have been your biggest obstacles? That I think I suck on playing the guitar.

What advice would you give other bands or artists? Believe in what you’re doing, never give up, don’t do drugs, work hard and work with people that you love.

Do you have any new material? Yes, we released the album Through The Mourning Woods in February 2019. We have started writing and recording new songs for our next album. But we do not have any release date for that one yet. 

Do you have something to add? We want to thank you for the support and we are glad to share some more music from the dark woods of Sweden in the future.