Blindside| Still Burning
Whether you’ve kept up with old school Christian rock such as Living Sacrifice or P.O.D., or you’ve shed those adolescent years in exchange for everything on the Facedown roster, you can’t help but have deep respect and longing admiration for a band like Blindside. Albums like Silence and About a Burning Fire hold their place well in the epic canon of pioneer Christian “hard rock”. With the release of With Shivering Hearts We Wait, Blindside is back and show no signs of changing up their style to accommodate their ageing fans, which is another reason to respect these Swedish boys; they still have love for the game. Blindside’s Simon Grenehed spoke with us recently regarding their long awaited return and what we can expect from the new record.
You guys released The Black Rose EP in 2007 and that has had to sustain Blindside fans for four years now. Besides recording and preparing for the release of this new record, where has Blindside been?
Simon Grenehed: We have been in Sweden. The writing process has been different. Two years after we recorded TGD we felt we needed to take our time and figure out what the right path was for us and it took a little longer than we suspected. Also, it does take some preparation to set everything up again once you’ve been away for a while. Not only musically but everything surrounding as well.
Seven years after making About a Burning Fire with Howard Benson, you were able to step back into the studio with him. Was it a pretty seamless transition or had a lot been learned/changed in that between time?
SG: It surely wasn’t something we expected to walk right back into. We felt he was right for the album but had no hopes that he’d be able to take the time to make it happen again. There were some changes from back then but also a lot of things that worked like it was yesterday. The band and the Howard Benson team work very well together and from the previous two recordings we understand each other well and don’t have any problems communicating what we both want to get out of the recording. We all enjoyed making this album.
You’ve had a promotional site up for the album for the last several months. Why choose to release so many tracks for streaming off the album? Any worries that this will affect sales? What has the response been so far?
SG: Well, of course there’s a risk with everything that you expose but then again everything will leak out or be up as soon as the album is out. We decided that we wanted to showcase one song at the time in our own pace and get people to get to know us and our music once again. Hopefully people will feel that it’s worth investing a few bucks on June 7th if they’re excited about it and if not; well at least we provided an option of letting people know we’re back and this is how our new music sounds.
With Shivering Hearts We Wait is the new record title. It certainly feels to me like a leap from previous efforts. After all this time as a band and some great releases under your belt, what still inspires you to create?
SG: Thank you. I think we feel we still create something interesting once we get together and write. We don’t feel we’re limited by anything music wise and that makes the creative progress interesting every time, at least so far. If it ever does feel boring or dull I think it’s time to call it quits. We did have a moment during this period when we were trying to make a decision of either stop playing or keep going and ultimately we felt we weren’t done. We have a lot more music in us and we honestly don’t feel we’ve fulfilled our ideas just yet.
For the fans who still hang on tightly to the days of Silence and About a Burning Fire, what can be expected from the new record that will bring them out of the past with you?
SG: Hopefully people will get what we’re doing right now. Since we don’t adapt our music to what people want to hear, it’s a hit or miss with different genres of listeners every time we do something new. We go into every recording with our hearts first and thus don’t really decide beforehand what the direction is going to be. It’s very vague for us from the start but it builds stronger as we move along. “…we like what the music does to us, it’s like you express yourself and “live” the song in a totally different way than when it was recorded or written.”
We could never go in and try to recreate something we’ve done before; it’s just not possible for us. However we will of course always play those good ‘ol tunes live when we tour.
Personally, I’ve only seen your live show once and it was years ago on The Great Depression touring cycle. What I remember most is that your guys had 100 times more energy and showmanship than the headliner band (Trapt). How important is that intense and fun stage presence to Blindside?
SG: We always try to give 100% and we like what the music does to us, it’s like you express yourself and “live” the song in a totally different way than when it was recorded or written. We’ve experienced a few transitions with tracks before like “My Alibi” that has got a brand new life when we discovered it onstage. That is very exciting and we are really enjoying working this new material into the live show.
Sometimes you feel it and sometimes you feel like you’re absent onstage. The good thing is that we don’t decide on what people will grab or feel from that show. We know that people get touched sometimes when personally you feel you had a real terrible show, which is a good reminder that it’s not about us. We’re part of the experience but so is everyone else in the room.
Also, we do feel we want to explore the ideas of a live show more this time around. We have some ideas brewing.
You guys have a great reputation as one of the giants in the more alternative Christian music scene. How has your faith carried you throughout your band’s career? In what areas of your life in faith and music do you see the most growth or change?
SG: It is the central point in our lives. I don’t think we could even function as a band without that passion that our faith has brought us and that we share every time we get together. We have grown a lot spiritually over the years and we always try to let the spirit lead us in our walk together.
Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us. Is there anything else you’d like to add? Tours to plug or the like?
SG: Thank you too. We’re coming back to the states, first to Cornerstone festival in July and then for a tour.
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