They had the songs down, they had studio time booked with producer Jacob Bredahl (ex-HATESPHERE), and their brand of death-thrash-punk is catchy, heavy, and full-tilt. But THE DOWNWARD CANDIDATE hadn’t quite found that perfect guy for the vocal delivery they wanted – and it was time to hit the recording room running. Well, turns out that the tunes were more persuasive than they thought; Brehdal offered not only to step into the studio to lend his vocal vulgarity, but he joined THE KANDIDATE on the spot, too. New moniker, new singer. How's that for efficiency?
The end product of the partnership is Until We Are Outnumbered, a full-on hybrid of everything under the sun. Well, at least if your sun is made of metal. Apparently, though, this hell-borne partnership is more than just the one record, and for good reason. The former Hatesphere singer joined the fold for the long haul after initially signing on as producer. No singer? No problem. And that whole transaction? Yeah – pretty sure the music speaks for itself.
So, right off the bat – obviously you were in Hatesphere and KB and Allan started The Kandidate, or The Downward Candidate as they were known at first. How did you come into the fold, since you were recording the instrumental tracks? And does that make you an official member of the band for more than just Until We Are Outnumbered, the debut?
“Last things first: Yes, I am in the band, and not only for this record. They started recording the album without a singer. The previous one left a few months before they entered my studio. They even auditioned singers right up to a week before recording. Anyway, I was really stunned by the material right from the beginning when I heard the pre-recording they made in the rehearsal room. As the recording went along, we got to talk about me doing the vocals, and found out that this would be the right and only meaningful solution. [Laughs]”
What does that mean, then, for your recording side of things?
“Well, I did whatever I could to make it sound the right way – no matter if I sang or not. And when it came to the point with me doing the vocals, I again did what I could do to make it diverse and powerful [as much as possible].”
Speaking of the progress with The Kandidate, did you get to inject your own take on the lyrical side of things, or was that already sort of in place by the other guys?
“Allan and KB already wrote most of the lyrics when they first entered the studio to record the instruments. So I just got handed some lyrics, and did what [I] do best. I actually like to just get some lyrics, and then make it fit to a piece of music. In many of the songs, I did something that was totally unexpected, I mean compared to what Allan and KB had thought of. That made it fun – and at the same time, good; everybody is happy with the outcome.”
And based off that, what do you see as the future plan for The Kandidate’s next stuff? We know it’s a ways off probably, but are you going to continue along the same path, or is it a ‘wait and see’ sort of situation as far as new stuff and the future for the band?
“I am really into making new songs these days, and the other guys are too. I play the guitar as well, and have some ideas and riffs. I think we will have the same kind of vibe, ‘cause when Allan plays the guitar it sounds like The Kandidate. But, on the other hand, we also want to experiment more now - Try new stuff, and maybe do heavier stuff. We'll see, but I am very excited about it all. Future? Well, good question if we have one at all in this world of shit. I hope. We will do our best to make the best possible records ever.”
Going to more of a near-future sort of thing, what do you guys have planned with the release of Until We Are Outnumbered? Can we expect some European dates live, in the flesh?
“We are working on that now. We had an offer for a three week tour in April, but it did not work out, which sucks. We have a few Danish shows in April, and hopefully we'll get some [European] festivals during the summer. We have been a bit late with the planning, ‘cause we did not know when the album was going to be released, and we were a demo band with no records out, so it’s hard to plan things. We have an offer for the fall, which we will go for, but more about that later. Hopefully you guys over there like our stuff, so we can tour the North America – would be great!”
You dealt with SPV with Hatesphere, and with Napalm, they’re distributing through SPV, right? How do you see that maybe being a benefit? Or is it just more of a coincidence for over there in the European scene?
“Napalm changed their distribution to Edel, cause SPV is not going so good. So, no benefit! (Laughs) The relationship with SPV in the past ended a bit bad. They promised me things which they chose to deny later on, even though I had all documentation for it. Tour support and blah blah, so fuck it… That's when I left HateSphere, just was fed up with everybody’s bullshit.”
Can you describe the transition between switching from Hatesphere to The Kandidate, or The Kandidate to the rest of your experience? Or is this something completely new?
“It has been great and refreshing to start playing with these guys. But, at the same time it's also the same old story being in a band. Some things never change. That's the name of the game, but fun and good times it sure is. When I quit HateSphere, I did not feel like ever singing again. I got several offers from bands, which I was happy about when I think back, but I didn't feel like it all at that time. I just wanted to play guitar and do my hardcore band (Danish outfit LAST MILE). Then when I heard the pre-productions of The Downward Candidate, I started to go like, ‘Hhhmm…these songs fit to what I actually want to do’. I was really excited about it. It was hard to get started doing it, ‘cause I didn't want to do something that sounded like me or like HateSphere. I wanted to do something new, at least for myself. So it took time. But now I'm ready to go out there and raise hell. When you start something new, it's always extra exciting, and there are a lot of ideas on the table. You feel the creativity flow. That's a nice feeling.”
As far as the songs go, there seems to be a meshing of styles with an obvious death/thrash influence, but sometimes some parts sound almost hardcore inspired and ‘…We Conform To The Unrighteous’ sounds almost sludgy. How does that translate to how you treat the material?
“Huh…We just do what we feel like doing. We of course have some preferences and inspirations, but what we do – or more what Allan and KB, did I don't know – is follow our hearts, I guess. It’s no secret that we all love the old Swedish death metal scene. I grew up with DISMEMBER, EDGE OF SANITY, and of course ENTOMBED. Same as the other guys. I think we have a unique sound: It’s tight but dirty at the same time, and it’s played by human beings and not computers. That’s important for us. You know so many bands using Beat Detective and other shitty stuff to make things 200 percent perfect. Being perfect, though, in that sense is far away from perfect in my opinion. I can’t stand listening to those clinical albums, where everything is spot on ALL the fuckin' time. And everything is copy-paste and blah, blah. I hate it! We try to keep it in the vein of the ‘90s death metal, but with a touch of something else. I guess we would call ourselves a death-punk-metal band.”
