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With a little delay - thanks to Björn who was so patient and kept trying - this phoner finally took place. Due to a thunder storm the phone net was partly down and he finally caught me about 90 min. later as planned.
Disfear is a band which is around since 1989, even when they started under another name, as Disfear they are around since 1991. In the following year they released their first 7" on their own label, Björn told me. "In 1993 we released a MCD through Lost & Found Records which contains the songs from the 7" and 4 new tracks." In 1994 the band broke up, but after about 7 months came back together. That was mainly caused through problems with their label. "In 1994 we released an album through Distortion Records. Afterwards we toured. The next album Everyday Slaughter was released through Osmose in 1997. And again we toured." Later the singer left, also the drummer. In 1998 Tomas joined Disfear and about 6 months later they found Marcus to fill in the vacant spot as a drummer. Since that days the line-up is stable. Björn was in touch with Relapse Records for a longer time through trading and liked to work with them. "We did some demo tracks. We tried a new studio, the SoundLab Studio and it worked out good. We got the new deal with Relapse Records." The new album is Misanthropic Generation. "The lyrics of Tomas are all sad, misanthropic. In a way we are also part of the misanthropic generation. After 5 years of fighting problems, where we almost broke up, we are kind of misanthropic our own. But it's also about the global situation, coz when you hear the news these days, it seems that there are just bad news." The album was a kind of self-therapy, to work up all the problems. "But it made us stronger. Some of the songs are 5 years old and some recordings about 2 ½ years old. Due to the problems with Osmose Records which we wanted to leave, it took a long time 'til we got out of the contract. On the new album the songs Desperation and Rat Race are from that period 5 years ago." But even if some songs are quite old, the album sounds homogenous. "When Tomas joined us it was a positive thing. There was a positive vibe then. We played a lot live in that days. But then the problems started." At the moment there are no details about a tour, but on the bands website you can find the latest news about the band and touring. "Our drummer Gu is doing our homepage www.disfear.com. It'll be relaunched soon. There soon will be some old pictures and more stuff. Little by little, coz we all have our day jobs. Gus is a web designer, he really enjoys to do our site. And now little by little we get more and more emails from fans. We will answer everyone, but it might take time, coz we have our jobs and family." A tour in Scandinavia is scheduled for December, but at the moment Björn can't tell any details. It's too early. Beside that there are talks with Relapse Records about a tour in Europe, but nothing is confirmed. "As soon as we know more, it'll be announced on our website." The band toured in the past in Europe with bands like Dismember, Raised Fist, G.B.H. and D.R.I. "In 1993 we toured the first time in Germany. It was a good tour, but we weren't a good live band at that days. These days we are live quite good." Last March they did some shows in Spain and Portugal which were quite good, as Björn remembers. "We definitely want to tour, if possible with a bigger band, if not then we do a small tour." At the moment it would be great for them to tour with Entombed or probably Discharge. "These days hardcore is more metal with a hardcore attitude then about 10 years ago." The different genres melt into another. There are no clear borders left these days. "Nowadays punk, hardcore and metal fans are get along. A decade ago it was impossible to get them together and not get some trouble started. When we toured about 10 years ago with Dismember it didn't worked out, coz the fans weren't open-minded like they are now. It's going into the right direction that it melts together and that the fans now enjoy the music and don't fight each other." The Swedish are hot to tour, just waiting to find the right one. Even if it ain't easy and takes time to arrange, coz they have families and jobs. "We need sometime to arrange everything. We can't go on tour on short note." On the other hand you appreciate it more and enjoy it more then. "Right, we really enjoy it. It's the same when we rehearse, coz Tomas lives about 400 km away from us. When we rehearse it's real fun and afterwards we have some drinks. We really enjoy hanging out together." At the moment the quintet hopes that they can also tour Japan and the USA. "In 1995 Distortion Records talked about a Japanese tour, but it never happened, so if we could do it now it's like a dream come true." Björn also told me that he had an interview earlier today with a Japanese zine and that it seems that they are really into the music, so there is hope.
Back to the main subject of our talk. The album! The artwork fits in my opinion very well to the CD and Björn agrees. "Actually we wanted the artist who does the artwork for Napalm Death and we got in touch with him. Relapse Records had another suggestion, they said they have a good guy working for them. His name is Orion Landau. He made some suggestions, it sounded good and we gave it a try. It did work out great! We emailed and he made changes until the very last moment, until it got send out for printing." The music of Disfear is brutal and mostly fast. So in Björn's opinion the title track Misanthropic Generation represents the album best. "Relapse Records favorites An Arrogant Breed. It's a tough question which presents the album best, there are also slower songs, but that might gives a wrong idea..." I agree with Björn and can just recommend to listen at least to the 2 mentioned tracks to get an idea about Disfear. What the future brings? We have to wait and see. The band is hot to tour and if there shouldn't be a lot of touring, then they will start write new material. "We are the kind of band which works best under pressure, so..." It seems it'll take awhile, but not too long, coz after 5 years they won't waste more time.
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