Interview with
System - The Band with an Infinite Radius
Venue: Sugar Bar, Kammakargatan 9, Stockholm, Alternight, January 8th, 2011 and Fabriken, Fabriken, Strandbergsgatan 51, January 28, 2011
Artist: System
Album Title: Circle of Infinite Radius
Genre: Alternative
Releases: Circle of Infinite Radius (New Release)
Label: Progress Productions (Sweden) / Broken Silence (Germany)
I was first introduced to SYSTEM after the new year at an event on Alternight at the Sugar Bar on Saturday, January 8th. We were all standing outside, just under the columns which were protecting us from the dangerously dangling blocks of ice on the edge or the building that later came crashing down, shattering into millions of little pieces of ice on the pavement and almost taking some of us with it. Herr A and Herr B were impeccably dressed as they usually are in very demure suits that perfectly lined their personalities. Their humour was dark and ironic like the black
and cold Swedish night that we were all engulfed in. I initially had no clue that these two well dressed gentlemen were one of the bands that were going to play that night. They joked and laughed telling me some strange tale I did not quite understand. They seemed a bit mysterious, like two men from a secret agency about to arrest us all for our subversive behaviour, yet they were the ones actually driving us to it in the end! For some reason I did not take them too seriously but an old friend of theirs assured me that they were excellent to listen to. I took her advice and went to listen to them. I found that I actually really enjoyed their music and we danced to every tune.
The next time I saw SYSTEM was at the SGA Club Night at Fabriken on January 28th. A precursor to the SGA Festival this summer. I did not think I would find the club called Fabriken since I had never been there before. The whole area seemed to be made up of old factories so I guess this is why the place was called Fabriken. I was one of a few early ones who were in line waiting for entry, then the men in front of me had to go and get cash for the entrance fee and left and then I ended up as the first one in line. It was nice to handed the first new SYSTEM CD, ‘Circle of Infinite Radius’. The first 100 to enter the club were given a free CD. I had been #1 without even trying to be. The night went by quickly, starting out with people mingling around then the DJ's started playing music. Then SYSTEM played and the place was packed and everyone danced on the dance floor especially myself. I can now say that I am really very partial to their music. On that particular night the mood of the crowd and the music blended together in perfect unison and we all became that ideal circle of infinite radius and had a grand time!
I asked the two gentlemen some questions and Herr A responded:
Reflections of Darkness (RoD): What was the inspiration for the new album ‘Circle of Infinite Radius’?
Herr A: It is complicated, I will write something about where the title comes from instead. Mathematically a circle of infinite radius is equivalent to a straight line. We liked the different metaphors, a dichotomy, such as a circle and/or line can give rise to. And as you also discussed in your review of the album, it is very easy to get ideas involving images of straight lines symbolising different linear events that turn out to be circular in the end.
RoD: Do you have any favourite songs on the album? If so, why? 
Herr A: I love all the songs of course, but if I have to single out one song I must say that personally I like ‘Common Sense’ the most at the moment. My preferences change from time to time though. I like it because I feel that the lyrics are really a spot on criticism of today’s society with its self-destructive need to expose every aspect of peoples personal life. Also I love the bass made with my favourite synth at the moment, the Pro-one.
RoD: Where did the ideas for the songs/lyrics come from? Life experience?
Herr A: As for the lyrics, yes mostly, or perhaps they are better described as coming from a personally biased perception of life, a mood or something that triggers any emotional reaction at all in me. The music is often formed around one single sound, a bass line or a kick drum for instance. Then this phase of the song, whatever part it might become later, is played over and over in absurdum and as this goes on the other parts of the song are crafted one by one to compliment that first sound. Every song starts out as one sound or melodic figure. It is a very creatively satisfying process building a song from nothing, one piece at a time. The lyrics are always programmed after the music, partly because they have to fit with the syncopation of the song and you can not do that before the song is finished, but also partly because the mood or feeling of the song influences the lyrics.
RoD: How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?
Herr A: It has changed a lot of course. Most of the machinery is the same as when we started but as you use it you get better at it, learn new techniques and tricks or sometimes even get worse at using it. By that I mean that sometimes not knowing a piece of equipment can be the greatest inspiration for a song. You really need boundaries or limits when you are being creative as that will help you figure out unusual solutions to problems that might arise. This will almost always result in a better sound than if the solution was easy to find. When you know a machine inside and out it is sometimes hard to get that unexpected and weird sound out of it that you might have made by mistake when you did not know the machine so well. This works both ways of course. When you master a synthesizer you get good sounds every time but sometimes that's not what you want.
RoD: In this album you seemed to experiment a lot more with sound production. Will you do more of this? 
Herr A: Well, I am not quite sure what you mean by that. It was certainly not a deliberate thing we planned to do. I think the answer might be intimately linked to the answer to the question before this one. Change happens whether you want it or not, it is not something you can control and it is not something you notice when you are in the middle of the creative process. As far as we are concerned we have always been about experimenting with sound so I am guessing the answer is, yes.
RoD: What would System like to do in the future? What direction will you take?
Herr A: We wont say much about the future at this point in time, we have some plans but they are not meant to be revealed yet. In the immediate future however, we are considering releasing a single from the album. We have made a new version of one of the songs that we think people would appreciate and we also have one more great song that did not fit on the album and that we would love to release. It will be the "b-side" of the single, in case there is one.
RoD: What is the most fun part of being a musician in System?
Herr A: For me, there is one thing that makes all the hard work I put into this worth while, to hear people say that they like the music or to see people dance to the music I created. That really is the one thing that could keep me going forever on this project.
RoD: Do you have any plans to play at events during the spring and summer?
Herr A: At the moment we are scheduled to perform at the SGA Festival this summer but more dates might turn up any day.
Tracklist of the Album
01. For You
02. Inheritance
03. The Beginning Of the End
04. True Loyalty
05. Common Sense
06. You Or Me (Nemesis)
07. Pitch Black
08. In Your Heart
09. Supremacy
10. Adapt and Overcome
11. Endnotes
Line-up: Herr A and Herr B
Website: http://www.progress-productions.com
Video Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxbBOzZDDpc&feature=player_embedded
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