EF have been around for quite some time now and just released "Ceremonies", a tremendous piece of emotional, hones music. I took the chance to speak with drummer Niklas about the new album, touring in Asia, the upcoming european tour, and the concepts behind EF. InterviewEf - Interview

Your new record "Ceremonies" has been released not long ago - how's the feedback from fans and media?

That’s true! We released it on September 6th and the feedback have SO FAR only been positive. It’s always scary to release a new album since you NEVER know how other people will react to it. For you it’s your baby, you’ve put your heart into the songs and to record them and you don’t want anyone to talk down on it. But this time everything gone smooth. Our fans seem to love it and media have given it raving reviews. That’s super fun! Especially since it’s great reviews from BOTH metal media and alternative/ indie media. It’s awesome to attract such a wide crowd – and that’s something EF always have as a goal.

You did an asia tour around the release date (early september). What will be the lasting memories of this tour?

Asia is amazing! It’s extremely different from touring Europe and a great experience. Beyond all the smells, impressions, crowded places, hectic traffic and massive cities – there’s a fantastic underground scene growing with a lot of dedicated and beautiful people behind it. They appreciate your arrival so much and the crowd that comes out for the shows are incredibly respectful and interested. Of course it’s annoying to not play your own backline night after night – and have to get up early to check in at airports etc. But the great food, the beautiful people makes it all worth the while.

While touring has become daily business for many bands, touring in asia is still the expection. How did get in contact with promoters there to make it it possible to tour asia for the second time now?

Like I just mentioned – the underground scene is growing and of course there’s people who want to benefit from this. We had the luck to get in contact with a fantastic Belgium dude who runs New Noise Agency and brings a lot of great acts to Asia; PG.LOST, THE OCEAN, MOGWAI, MONO... But of course there’s probably a lot of “rotten eggs” over there who are just in it for the money. It all takes a lot of planning, good promotion and of course a huge risk financially.

What are the main differences between touring in asia and euope?

I love both parts – but I believe the differences are to many to even compare both parts. The only similarity is that you soundcheck, drink beer and play a show. Afterwards you sell merch and hang out with fans. The 20 hours in between is the big difference. What you eat, how you travel, how you smell, how EVERYTHING smells, what gear you play on… The good thing with Europe is that you just have to wake up, pack your bag, get into the tour van and drive for a few hours to the next city. There’s hardly any time for rest while touring Asia. And of course that you can play your own gear, that you can bring as much pedals as you want, your own drum kit. The sound of a bands gear is extremely important.

A european tour will follow soon - are you excited about it? Are all dates booked yet?

Extremely excited!!! I mean, we’ve been touring Europe for what… 20 times soon? But it’s always lovely to get out on the roads and meet a lot of old friends and promoters that have become “family” to us. But it will also be extremely exciting to play the new songs for a lot of new people we hope have found our music through all the great reviews etc. We’ll also visit some new countries this time like Croatia, Hungary and Czech! It will be amazing.

Back to "Ceremonies": how long did you need for songwriting and arrangement of the songs?

We’ve more or less worked with this recording for the last 3 years. Not specifically the songs that ended up on the album – but to write a album. Two years ago we got two new members (Erik and Emanuel) and it took a long time to find the “feeling” together. We wrote 1000 pieces of melodies but threw most of them away – some of them are in the songs. But when we finally started to play shows together, learn how to talk, how to work it went smoother. But when we finally entered the studio we had about 75% of the album ready – mainly in our heads. About 25% of it have been created and arranged in the studio after hours of discussions, trial and errors etc. The result turned out… not exactly what we expected but 100% as we wanted!

Did you discard songs prior to the recording session?

Well – not full songs but a lot of ideas, scetches, melodies… We jam a lot together and at one moment a piece of a song can feel absolutely magical. The next week it sounds exactly like a piece of a Explosions in the sky song – or just not EF enough… You know what I mean? We can get inspired by other bands but don’t want to copy or steal from them. We always try to have a EF sound.

Did you develop a routine when it comes to wrting a new EF-song?

No, EF are not about routin. We’re about trial and error. We don’t have any dedicated “songwriter” in the band – we just try to jam it all together. We are also pretty old now and our minds are pretty slow. We have a hard time to remember what we’ve done earlier during the rehearsal so we’ve started to record a lot, which helps us remember… Though we sometimes forget to push the record-button instead. Haha.


But as soon as we’ve created something EF-ish! All of us can feel it. While playing it we can just look at each other’s faces and see that satisfying EF expression.

Some of you are working as producer/ songwriter for other artists - how much does that influence EF?

All of us have been involved in other bands and some of us still are. Daniel is also trying to make a living out of arranging and writing music for motion pictures. Thomas have done some music for indie documentaries. Emanuel was working as a studio engineer when we first met him. He actually recorded and mixed our debut album “Give Me Beauty… Or Give Me Death!” in 2006 and later on also helped us record the foundation of “I Am Responsible” in 2008.

I don’t know if their private work influences EF – but I hope EF influences them.

What is the main theme of "Ceremonies"? How much are lyrics and music interlinked?

I believe there’s no real theme in the music – the theme is in the album cover art of our last three releases ("Mourning Golden Morning" 2010, "Delusions Of Grandeur" EP 2012 and now "Ceremonies" 2013) but I think you can really hear the influences of Erik and Emanuel in the songwriting. That’s a nice new touch. The songs are a bit more poppy (maybe) and we’ve been working more with “red threads” throughout the songs – like pop bands work with verse/refrain – you know?
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When it comes to lyrics we always write these in the last minute… Sometimes even WHILE we’re actually recording them.

What are the lyrics about? How important are they for you personally?

Ever since the beginning of EF we’ve said that the lyrics shouldn’t be political or religious in anyway. We’re not here to tell you what to think or believe – there’s so many other bands that do this better. We want to write lyrics that can be translated in various ways from person to person. Some lyrics are just very beautiful phrases, some are just dreamy lyrics about nothing and some actually have a story behind – but we don’t want to say “This is a story about a broken heart – feel like I do”. We rather write and sing the lyrics for you to feel whatever you want to feel and maybe you can find some salvation in there that’s only for you. EF is a lot about feelings.

Had there be songs whose lyrics make you re-think your life or change your view on certain topics?

Of course! All of us come from the hardcore scene and in the hardcore scene the lyrics are extremely important. I believe that Swedish hardcore pioneers REFUSED really formed my teenage years and my view of the meat industry and political aspects.

What are you plans for the rest of the year?

This massive tour will probably break us down totally – so I believe we need to rest and not see each other for a few months. We’ll be home well in advance for Christmas and after this I hope we can start write some new music and in 2014 we’ll HOPEFULLY be able to do some spring and summer festivals.

The final words are yours…

I would just like to take this opportunity and THANK all of you that have read this interview, that have listened to “Ceremonies” and that will come out to any of our shows. Bring your friends and loved ones – and we’ll have a fucking blast together. Without You we’re nothing!