The genre "grindcore" has spawned a lot of great bands, a lot of really crappy ones too. Gadget is an up and coming Swedish act that definitely can be categorised as one of the great ones. The interview's done over the internet on ICQ... We had a "short" break in the interview, can't remember the first date when we started, but we put an end to it at the 11:th of July.


Hey there, how's it hanging? Just introduce yourself to the readers so they know who'll be answering the questions... please? :)
Everything is cool here... I'm staying up late as usual, drinking tea and listening to music. Hehe. My name is William Blackmon, I play drums, guitar and sing in Gadget. My favorite book is All Tomorrows Parties by Gibson, my favorite blackmetal band is Marduk and my best all-time movie is Fight Club. When I don't play music I work as a sound-engineer or drink loads of coffee. I turned 24 this summer. That's about all the important details I can think of right now... haha.

hahaha... That's way more information than I expected... What other members are there of Gadget, then?
There are 4 of us... the other three are as follows :
emil englund - vocals. 23 years old. Likes to skate and drink beer.
fredrik nygren - bass. 32 years. Works for Ericsson, is going to be a father and is a computer hacker. :)
rikard olsson - guitar. 23 years old. Is mostly seen in the rehearsal, but sometimes goes to Club Monster to drink beer. He is also a talented bassplayer in Diskonto now days.

I see...
Well, well... You've been playing together for some years now and you released some kick ass promos. But it's not really until recently that you got your recognition for being a tremendous band, I'm mostly thinking of the signing with Relapse... What's the deal with the contract, like for how many records and so on?
The contract is binding to one album, being recorded this summer (in two weeks to be exact) and hopefully released this winter at the latest. After that there are options for another 3... so if everything works out this deal will be for 4 records... or about 4 years if you will.

Cool! How many CD's will be pressed? And a question that I tend to ask is: is it a lucrative deal? :)
I don't know how big a normal pressing is... no clue to be honest. But I guess they make new ones when/if the first one runs out. And about the details on the deal... I don't know if I'm supposed to go in on details on these things. Hehe. But Relapse is not a rip-off company. We will probably not be making much money, but that's more or less a fact with this kind of music. I'm happy to be in good hands, since Relapse is a company that produce alot of good shit, and it puts us in a good context.

Exactly. They have some of the coolest and most interesting bands signed.
Will there be any touring and merchandise for the promotion of the CD?
I'm not sure about the merch, but we really hope they will make shirts and stickers and stuff... we are mostly too broke to make our own. Haha.
About touring, we know nothing as far as with Relapse. But there have been some planning on doing a series of gigs with Coma in Germany, and we have also been talking with Regurgitate alot about playing live with them. We'll just have to see what happens... we are just focusing on the record right now.

arrh. Now why does every Swedish band tour Germany and not Sweden? Dammit, we want to see you live too! :)
You've also become quite popular lately. When you discuss Swedish grind with people they always seem to mention Gadget as one of the more interesting band. And when I started looking for bands to be on a comp I will be releasing, a lot of people said "check with Gadget". Have you noticed the increase of fans like on shows and stuff?
Haha... well Germany might just be a very good place to tour... I wouldn't know much about it yet though... we mainly want to go so we can talk bad german with people. Haha. "ich habe ein kartoffel in meine hosen..." It's great to hear people are on the look out for us. We have noticed that there has been a bigger interest this recent year... we have been doing some gigs, and sold some shirts. And ever now and again we get emails or talk to people who are wondering if there is going to be a CD soon.
It seems it really is about time we make this record. I just hope it gets well received when it arrives...

Haha, but you're neglecting the Swedish audience, you bastards ;)
I'm pretty sure that the record will be well received, I haven't heard anything bad about the split 7" with Exhumed... Other than that Exhumed sucks, haha ;)
Hmm. Something I just though might be interesting to ask... Of all the great bands that Relapse have signed, which one would you say is your favorite?
We will hopefully do some gigs in sweden with regurgitate... but I can't say much since it is hardly planned at all. Rikard is keeping a dialog with them now and then.
I will surely hope that split didn't scare people away... it's crap. Haha. Everyone I�ve played the new songs for (my friends) say there's been ALOT of improvement. I like to think so too. :)
Good question... hm... I think perhaps I would answer Nile, but I think all the others would scream Neurosis.

hey... Good thinking. I would probably say Nile too. And I hate Neurosis, they suck big time :)
Who writes the music/lyrics in the band? Is it sort of a co-operation or what? 'Cause in some bands one guy writes everything and the rest just takes the credit for the end result ;)
I guess I write most of the stuff... a good guess would be that 80% of the songs on the record are mine. Since I play guitar and drums, I usually put the stuff together and record a pre-production in the rehearsal to show the others. It's quite an advantage to play both instruments, and to own my own portable. :) But Rikard writes songs as well... it used to be more that we made riffs and put the songs together in the rehearsal, but the trend now is that we finish up the stuff at home. I just feel that it works better that way for me... But then of course everyone will have their say about it. Which usually means that I get shit because I've been listening too much to deathmetal for inspiration. Haha...

hahaha. I know what that's like. I have kind of the same problem with the guitarist and the drummer in one of my bands ;) They get too inspired from crappy trash metal bands :)
Crap... It's getting too late for coming up with interesting questions, hehe... What are your lyrics usually about? Are you a politically active band...?
Our lyrics are most often about experiences, thoughts or emotions, which is kind of funny since we did a split with Exhumed. :) Sometimes I try to write lyrics inspired from literature, since I'm a sci-fi fan. Or actually a cybepunk fan. I read stuff like william gibson, philip k. dick etc. However, I wish there where more of the latter.
We are left-winged people in the band, but we're not organized and not very dedicated to politics. I wouldn't mind writing a lyric about politics, but It would have to be something I would need to express. Most of the things I feel inspired to write about are more of philosophic, ethic or emotional nature.

A friend of mine wanted me to ask you why you chose the name Gadget. He was wondering if it's because of Inspector Gadget?
Hahahaha... The most expected question of them all. =)
Thing is... it has nothing to do with the cartoon. It is just a word, and we thought it sounded cool. Also we liked the idea that it was neutral. Alot of swedes don't know it is a word, they think it is a name of a cartoon. So we once speculated in changing it, but we never did. I guess we hope to sell records abroad instead... haha.

haha. Really? Swedes don't know that gadget is a word? Boy, do we suck! :)
And yeah, the band name-question is one that I try to avoid since it, along with the biography- question, are the most asked one I think.
You could change your name to something like Gadget Friends or Gadget Boys and sell records as a popband. :) Ever thought about something like that just to make money? ;)
Yes I guess it is a well-used question, but especially for us in swedish media becaus of that people relate the
word to the cartoon. haha.
The boy-band idea is worth giving a shot if we ever end up broke... or perhaps I should say more broke. Haha.

Yeah. I'll tell him it was a crappy question ;)
What will you do after the CD is out and promoting it is over... Will you take a short break or will it continue as usual and you'll get right back to composing new tunes?
We will probably take a short vacation from the rehearsal, as in a couple of weeks. Then I guess things will get back in place. I'll be writing songs daytime, rehearsing 2-3 times a week and hopefully we will be doing some gigs.
Best thing would be if we could go on tour to promote the album. We'll see what happens.

Yeah. You mentioned maybe touring with Regurgitate.
You've started recording already, right? How's the recording going?
yea we really hope to do some gigs with them.
But nope, we haven't started yet. We leave monday for Gothenburg and start recording Tuesday.

haha, ok then. My mistake :)
How do you feel then, a little nervous or are you definitely certain that all your material rules and it will go great? :)
This week has been hectic.... getting everything in order for the trip.
Getting the gear in trim, writing lyrics, making sure I know how my guitar is supposed to play on some of the songs. Hehe... But it feels great! I'm absolutely psyched and positive this will kick ass. The only thing troubling my mind is that there are a few lyrics missing still, and that the layout must be done very quickly when we get back. But I'm not too worried.

ahh. Record the songs without any lyrics last, my tip! hehe. Hope everything turns out as great as you want to. How long have you booked the studio? Hmm, what studio is it? A big famous one?
yea that's a good idea... we will have some time to work on the lyrics when we're down there as well so I think it will be ok.
We are booked for 14 days in Phlat Planet... I think it's a quite new studio, but they've recorded some cool stuff. Burst, Crowpath, Dimension Zero, In Flames, Passanger to name some bands...

Who�s paying for the studio, you or Relapse?
Relapse is... they gave us a budget and we put most of the money from that on the studio. Which means we have to pay for other expenses ourselves, as in strings, drumheads and the trip down.

Cool... Well� I hope things turn out great in the studio and with the artwork. And I hope you�ll get your tour with Regurgitate :) Hope everything else turns out great for you guys too. This is it from my side, don�t think I have anything else to ask. Thanks for taking the time for this interview. Any last requests or sayings?
Nope I think we said it all! Many thanks for making this chat with me!
And all others reading, remember; only grind is real!



Related links:
Gadget
Diskonto
Relapse Records