TME

Band: TME
Interviewee: Andreas
Year: 2007
Website: www.generation666.com
MySpace: myspace.com/generation666
Label: Aphotic Records
Featured on: Loucifer Speaks Exclusive - so far!

Interview

TME are one of those bands currently dancing in between Thrash and Death Metal. They managed to engage my interest after my first listen to their CD. Yep, I was hooked straight away - there was a perfect mix of melody and aggression. I was lucky enough to ask Andreas a few questions about their album - "Worlds Collide".

Lou: Thank you for agreeing to take part in this interview - I really appreciate it! I understand that most of the band's members have been in Vintersorg at one point or another. How and when was the idea to create a Thrash Metal band conceived?

Andreas: Hey! No Problem!
Yeap, we all have been, and as you know some of us are still involved in Vintersorg in different ways. But, musically we differ really a lot as you may hear! Haha! The idea came as early as 2002 and the reason was mainly that Benny and Mattias wanted to create some old school thrash metal together. Both of them have grew up with that style, but never really played it so, they just thought that the time had come!

Lou: How would you describe your music? Are you a Thrash Metal band or a Death Metal band? There seems to be a lot of influences from both genres on the album.

Andreas: There is a lot of influences, but, I think we are somewere in the middle. We trye not to label ourselves anymore, we just do want we feel like musically. Since we all write the music to TME we end up mixing a lot of style in different songs and in the songs too. Its more fun that way! Haha!

Lou: If someone asked you to describe "Worlds Collide" in only 5 words, what would you say?

Andreas: An aggressive brutal energykick FTW!

Lou: Where does the name TME come from? Was it chosen before the song "TME" was written, or afterwards?

Andreas: The name TME came in the first year of the bands existence. The song TME came after the name for the band was chosen.

Lou: Which bands/musicians influence you the most and why?

Hmmm.... Quorthon of Bathory and Mikael Åkerfelt of Opeth. Both of them seemingly did/does their own thing and are not afraid of experementing and evolving!

Lou: Where does the spoken word sample on "Flesh And Blood" come from? I've been searching my brain for zombie films because it sounds familiar!

Andreas: Its from some Romero movie I believe. Mattias is a really great Zombie and Horror movie fan!

Lou: I've had a read through of the band's biography on your website (www.generation666.com) and I noticed that much of the album was written while you were busy with Fission and Vintersorg. Was it difficult to allocate time to writing these songs?

Andreas: Well, not really. At that time we had no rush at all to complete any TME album. So, when Benny needed time to do the Fission album and Mattias for Vintersorg we just took a break from rehearsing with TME. But, since we all write songs to TME we had a bunch of new ones when we got back to the rehearsing room again. And, when the Fission album was completed Hägglund had time to write music to TME again. So, all in all it kinda sorts itself out.

Lou: How long did the album take to write and record? Did you encounter any problems during the process?

Andreas: The writing process was quite long for this first album. I promise it will not take 5 years to the follow up to "Worlds Collide"! Hahaha! And, from when we started the recording til it was completed I´ll guess it was about 5 months. But, the was alot of breaks too. The drums took about a week, and we started to record the guitars like one and a half months after that and and so on. And, since we had access to the studio to record the vocals and guitars we could come and go as we wanted. We did not have any problems with the recordings.

Lou: I'd really like to hear and see these songs played live. Will TME have time to tour with this album?

Andreas: Nothing planned for the moment unfortunately. But, I can promise that we will will hit the road and meet our fans out there!

Lou: Have the other projects been put on hold for the time being, or do you find a way to juggle everything?

Andreas: No, not really. As I said earlier things kind of fall in place. Of course when we are in the recording process with one of the bands we take a break from the rehearsing. But, otherwise we just keep on creating and playing.

Lou: If TME could tour with any band in the world, who would it be?

Andreas: Oh, don't know really! We like to tour with every band who's into metal and beer! Hahaha!

Lou: If there was to be a tour, would you play in England... and, more specifically, London? (Just thought I'd ask - it's worth a try!)

Andreas: Hehehe! I´ll guess if we would come to England, London will be one of the stops!

Lou: I really love "Flesh and Blood" and "TME" from the album. Which tracks are your favourites and why?

Andreas: Hmm.. Its hard to pick any favourite, but, I'll guess, Blank Infinity, Superiour and Hell Incarnated But, every one of them rules! Hahaha! Blank Infinity is a good example of the death/thrash kind of mixture we have, Hell Incarnated is a killer thrash song and Superiour is just superiour!

Lou: The whole album seems to be pretty dark - are there any on-going themes running through it?

Andreas: Yea, kind of. Many of the lyrics circle around the fact thought that mankind are slowly discovering that no one waits for them when they are dying. People are beginning to feel a great panic of dying as more and more scientific evidence points at that direction. At least in the western world, luckily, religion is losing their grip on people. So "Worlds Collide" is kind of representing the spiritual and non-spiritual worlds that are colliding. I had that in mind in one way or another when I wrote the lyrics to the album.

Lou: Have you or your record label done much promotion for the album? Unfortunately I haven't seen anything anywhere - I just happened to find your album in a record shop and I bought it on impulse! In hindsight, I'm very glad that I did!

Andreas: They have been promoting the album quite hard I think. But, since it is a newly started label they of course have not the financial capabitily of marketing it like the big labels. But, they have sent out several hundereds of promos and ads in magazines and so on.

Lou: What's next for TME? Will there be another release in the near future?

Andreas: Not in the near future since the album just have been released but we are writing material for the next one right now. But, watch for the next one some time next year! Otherwise its playing live and hopefully embark at some tour thats next for us!

Lou: Thank you for your time and the awesome album!

Andreas: Thank you for the intreview! Thrash on!

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