This past Friday "Tales To Be Told" by the Swedes Lykantropi was released, a real delight for fans of that old and vintage rock sweetened by that folk touch that characterizes the band. Thanks both to Despotz Records and Marta Ribate, I was able to interview their bassist Tomas Eriksson who kindly agreed to the questions.

Hi, thank you very much for your time, how are you?

Hi, you’re welcome. We’ve just released ‘Tales to be told’ and are receaving good reviews, so we’re fine!

"Tales To Be Told" It is your second album with Despotz Records, although I think the first was reissued by the label. How did you come to sign for Despotz Records?

You could say it’s our first album with Despotz, although the two first albums ‘Lykantropi’ and ‘Spirituosa' were reissued by them last year. I don’t know how they stumbled upon our music, but I know that Ida Andersson on Despotz wanted to sign us just before releasing ‘Spirituosa’ on Lightning records. We didn’t have a written contract with Lightning so legally we could have done it, but it didn’t feel right, as the guys at Lightning had invested both money and time in the preparations for ‘Spirituosa’. So in August 2019, a couple of months after releasing our second album, just after a gig in Malmö, we had some drinks with Ida and sign the papers. Felt good, and still does.


How is the reception of your singles being?

They’re well received I think. We’ve had some radio time in sweden, mostly with ‘Coming your way’ and ‘Axis of Margaret’ as ‘Kom ta mig ut’ is a long one, almost seven minutes. In the rest of Europe I don’t really know.


How and when was the band born? Your first album is from 2017, but you have already been active for a year.

The band was formed by Martin Östlund as early as 2013 but he is the only member still left from that first constellation of Lykantropi. I joined the band in 2015. The reason why Martin started the band i guess was that he had a vision for a bigger sound, and another direction for his lyrics. He had been playing in a couple of trios and felt he wanted to do something different. Nowadays we write together, but from the beginning it was Martins child. Now all six of us is raising that child together.

 

How did the name Lykantropi come about?

Lykantropi for us refers to the dynamics. High’n’low, fast’n’slow in the creation of songs. And we also love what it stands for if you google it. Martin has always loved old, strange horror movies and I guess that influenced the name of the band.

You are a band of six components, is there a component that is the main composer of the band, or do you do it together?

For ‘Tales to be told’ me and Martin came up with four songs each. Then we brought them to our rehearsal space and the six of us made them sound like Lykantropi. So me and Martin are the main composers but everybody’s ideas is important. It’s great to have many members cause your options where you can take a song increases. Some of us can play keyboards, we have two guitars and flute. And we all can sing. So we can create a rich sound when we want to. We all listen to each other and we never fight when it comes to the music.

 

On the other hand, they compare you with bands like Mamas & The Papas, Jethro Tull, Blue Öyster Cult, Coven. I really do see similarities with Mamas & The Papas and with Jethro Tull on the flute, but in relation to the other bands I don't see that much comparison. What are the bands that have influenced you?

We have many artists we like, but the ones you mention are not on the top 10-list. We’re more into the artists like Bo Hansson from sweden and also early Fleetwood Mac, especially the album ‘Then play on’. The swedish band Dungen is also a favorite. I guess the flute in Lykantropi reminds people of Jethro Tull, and it’s a great band but not a big inspiration for us. When it comes to singing harmonies we’re more inspired by CSNY and the Beach boys than by Mamas & the papas. We’re six people in the band so we listen to a lot of different music styles. And probably all of it, to some extent, effects how Lykantropi sounds.

 

You are doing what they call a retro rock of the sixties and seventies. In recent years, great Swedish retro rock or heavy rock bands have emerged. There has always been talk of the British and American sound but I think we should also talk about the Swedish sound. How was the scene in Sweden itself, before the pandemic?

We like Graveyard, Horisont and Den stora vilan for example. But were not to familiar with all the new bands. We’re pretty old and we all have children and families and dont have the time to pay that much attention to the scene. I guess there is a certain sound you could call swedish. But I think it’s easier for you, outside of Sweden, to analyze it. From a distance.

 

Focusing on the new album to say that I have already heard it and it has seemed fantastic. It sounds very organic, analog and above all it transmits peace. How was the recording process? I imagine you recording it in a studio in the middle of the forest.

As I said me and Martin wrote four songs each and brought them to our rehearsal space, which is also where my recording studio is located. We worked on the songs together until it felt like they were ready to put on tape. And then we just pressed the red button. The studio is not located in the middle of the forest, but at the edge of town. So we can see the woods when we look out the window, and we can hear the birds if we’re going outside, taking a brake. We recorded ‘Tales to be told’ there, but I actually mixed the whole album in the middle of a forest in my grandfathers old cabin. Maybe it got something to do with the sound, it’s not impossible.

 What is your inspiration when writing the lyrics and compositions? There are songs like "Kom ta mig ut" or "Coming Your Way" that I have found especially beautiful, I suppose that being in a country like Sweden surrounded by nature will help.

The song ‘Kom ta mig ut’ is inspired by the movie ‘Only lovers left alive’ with Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston from 2013. The connection to the movie is more like the mood and the timeless line. That’s the same feeling and approach we have for our music.

Yes Nature helps. The human race is wandering further and further away from nature and things that are real. Especially in the western civilization. And I think that makes us more superficial, cynic and lost. Music is a way for us to escape that feeling and therefore it comes natural to write about stuff that are universal and timeless, like darkness, light, love, depression, nature and mysticism.

Unfortunately this pandemic is affecting us all and more in the cultural and musical sphere. Have you been able to give concerts during these months of pandemic?

We’ve only played one concert this summer. But of course there was a limited number of people allowed in the venue and they all had to sit down. So it felt kind of strange. Always fun to play live though.

 

Last July you gave a Live Streaming concert for Gaffa. How was the experience of playing without an audience? There are many bands that do it to be able to finance themselves, in your case you did it for free. How do you see that the bands use this method to finance themselves? Do you live exclusively on music or do you have other types of jobs?

For me personally it’s a very strange feeling when you can’t interact with the audience. And we all have day jobs so we don’t need to do streaming concerts to survive, which I’m glad for cause I don’t feel to comfortable doing it. I want to see the reactions from the people watching and listening. I really hope this shit it over soon. Cause many musicians are really struggling right now. And I’m really longing to play live again.

 

Do you have dates to present your album live?

No

Have you ever had the opportunity to play in Spain before?

No, but we want to. The plan was to follow up ‘Tales to be told’ with a little European tour, including dates in Spain. We’ll see when that happens. Hopefully soon.

For our part it is all, good luck with your new album and we hope to enjoy you soon in Spain. Thank you very much

Thank you!