Interview with
Rob Hakemo (bass) of M.A.N
After having written a review about ‘Massive Audio Nerve‘, the latest output of the uprising, Swedish nu metal band M.A.N, I had the chance to do an interview with them. After some technical issues, I received the following answers:
Reflections of Darkness (RoD): If you had to describe your music to an outstanding person, what would be your answer?
Rob Hakemo (Rob): Hmm…I guess I would say: Metal, a mixture between Mudvayne, Slipknot and Korn… it’s very hard to pinpoint your own music but I usually describe it like that just to make it easy and people can often relate to these bands.
RoD: From a musical point of view: who would be your main influences?
Rob: Wow, it’s so hard to pinpoint certain bands or artists cause there is so many I listen to, and I could go on forever, but to name a few: Trent Reznor (Nine Inch
Nails), he’s like the ultimate inspiration for me, both when it comes to lyrics and music. Otherwise I get very inspired by bands that comes up with a new sound like Mike Patton (Faith No More), Tom Waits, Woven Hand, Neurosis, Tool and Converge. It’s a really hard question to answer, there’s so much music out there that inspires me every day and I explore new one’s almost every week or so.RoD: Do you have any shows, tours or festival gigs planned in the near future?
Rob: Yeah, we got some festivals coming up and for the moment a headline tour in May with NEMHAIN from England, mostly German dates though. We’re looking forward to that, it’s going to be killer and we will play some new freaking tunes for you.
RoD: Are there songs, which you are looking forward to play live?
Rob: Yeah, absolutely. It’s going to be interested to see how the reactions will be for the new stuff and which songs are going to get the audience moving the most. I’m almost sure the new shit will kick really hard when it comes to the live part… it’s going to be fun. ‘Logocide’, ‘Identical Abuse’ and ‘False Memory Syndrome 1.0’ are some of my favourites as well as ‘Slave Program’ and ‘Mock at my Motion’, I think those will be something else live and they will get the crowd going, I surely hope so though.
RoD: Do you have any dreams concerning supporting/playing with a certain band?
Rob: Probably Slipknot and if so in the U.S. I think we would fit really well with them and their audience, and it would also be cool to do an arena tour. Korn would be cool as well, Mudvayne, Sevendust, Static-X, I can go on and on here… hahaha. We’ve toured with Fear Factory and Five Finger Death Punch, which also were a great match for us.
RoD: In which way does ‘Massive Audio Nerve’ differ from its predecessors, concerning the process of creation and the final result?Rob: If listening to the first two albums there is a big difference to the new one, both in sound and growth. We’ve developed into a more mature and stronger band and we know what suits our sound and not, without being boring. With the new guitars and basses introducing the Full Scale Quarter Tone System, 48 Fret Metal, the whole sound of the band has changed somehow. It’s a new era for the band and a new way of expression in sound and spectra. We’ve already talked about how we can evolve this “new” sound we made on this album till the next album and almost hear how it will sound like then. We will definitely get into the quarter tone system a lot more and evolve it much broader in our writing. It’s an exciting time right now. I just hope that people out there will take it to their hearts and understand how unique the Full Scale Quarter Tone System / 48 Fret Metal really is and that we actually are the first metal band to use it in the whole band, not just the guitar. And getting Ulrich Wild onboard for the mixing process made a difference to the sound as well and we let him do what he wanted to do with the material, and I think he made us more metal and we’re really proud of what he has accomplished.
RoD: How content are you with the album?
Rob: Very much so. I think it’s the best thing we’ve ever done, really. We’re very proud of it. Our main word for this one was “Metal”, because we simply wanted it to have more up-tempos and more metal in the songs, and I think we definitely got that. It’s also our third album and as most people / musicians know the third album often turns out to be the most important one in a bands career. Hopefully we will grow a bigger audience and fan base on this one, as well more airplay and touring.
RoD: Are there any favourite tracks you could name?
Rob: ‘Identical Abuse’, ‘Logocide’ and ‘False Memory Syndrome 1.0’. I also like ‘Loveless’ because the lyrics refer to an experience I had last summer, which touched me deeply. The last song on the album, titled ‘Last Light Drains’, is a favourite as well and the lyrics tells about when I had to spend over 2 weeks in hospital and almost died, back in 08.
RoD: Is there any deeper meaning behind your album title ‘Massive Audio Nerve’ and does it refers to your band name or is there another explanation for this?Rob: No, not really, we just thought it would be a perfect title for this album due to the Full Scale Quarter Tone System and the heavy sound of it. The title could stand for what M.A.N means, yes, but we will leave that to people’s own interpretations, it’s much more fun that way.
RoD: How would you describe the band’s background, or the member’s background?
Rob: Tony, who is the founder of M.A.N, has a lot of background with bands such as B-Thong, Transport League, Mnemic, Icon In Me and lots and lots of more bands. I met Tony back in 1996 when I contacted him and wanted him to lay down some vocals for my band, Ton Of Bricks, back then, we later changed the name to Slavestate. We’ve done a lot together and have been really good friends ever since, he’s like a brother to me. Rob Guz (guitars) been mostly involved in fusion bands and had a tribute band for Allan Holdsworth and some folk music. I just live a couple of blocks down from him and he was asking me if he knew any metal bands that needed a guitarist and if I could help him out. I tried to hook him up with some bands looking for guitarists at the time but couldn’t find a match, until Martin, our first guitarist, quit the band. Engberg (drums) released an album with his band Painfield and did some touring with Transport League in Europe. He joined the band right after Magnus 55 quit. Myself been involved in a whole bunch of bands, not as many as Tony but I released a couple of albums with Gooseflesh and Relevant Few, I also recorded an album with Niclas Engelin (Engel), named Kerozene, which never got released because we formed Engel instead. You can say we all are pretty much experienced musicians and I think we really are a powerful match together.
RoD: Were you influenced by your local music scene or were other aspects more crucial to form a band and play this sort of music?Rob: No, we never been influenced by the local scene, we pretty much looked up to bands outside Sweden, especially bands from the US. We want to do our own thing and I think it’s kind of hard and people think we are some kind of nu metal, but I don’t see that, we write what comes out naturally; it’s metal, simple as that. We’ve never been into the Gothenburg sound. All respect to those bands and that scene, but I think we got our own thing going here, and it’s slowly growing, I think.
RoD: In which way would you evaluate the development in today’s metal scene?
Rob: Ha, what a question that is. I don’t know… it’s hard to say, I think it has stagnated along the way. You don't hear any bands coming up with a new sound like Pantera, System of a Down or Tool anymore really. I think it's so hard to do that today because of the millions of bands existing already, it's a jungle out there and the originality of bands is getting lost. There's so many genres to get influenced by, that you lose yourself on the way, I guess. We're trying to find our own unique sound and I think we're on a good way to do so now that we got the Full Scale Quarter Tone System, and it's going to evolve a lot more on the next album.
I listen to a lot of music today and there's a lot of interesting stuff to take in, but there's more and more lack of originality.
RoD: How important is the internet for your work? Especially regarding platforms such as MySpace and the whole networking?
Rob: It’s very important. The internet is our base to be seen and to be heard through. MySpace have helped us a lot, such as finding booking agencies, labels, gigs, merchandise and printing contacts etc, it’s an huge well and source of information that can help the band. It’s the perfect place to market ourselves and we do that every day of the week. It’s one of our most important tools in this band and I guess for most bands today.
RoD: Is there anything you wish to tell your fans and our readers?
Rob: Hope you enjoy the new album and go buy it, just not only downloading it and that you can catch us live somewhere, and if so; bring your friends as well and don’t hesitate to come forth after the show and say hi and have a chat with us. Spread the word and take care. See ya soon!
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