DMG: What messages are you hoping that your audience picks up from Silence? There is an obvious sense of spirituality in the music.

BS: Generally, we don’t try to put forth any message; we’d just like for listener to get whatever he can from it. People may pull from it something we didn’t think was there to begin with.

DMG: But what happens when you refer to God or spirituality, the first thing people do is painting you as this pro-Christianity band.

BS: We really don’t care what people refer to us as, as long as they are getting something good from the music.

DMG: Right. After giving the record several listens, I didn’t feel as though I was getting a sermon. I was only able to pick up on things that I was kind of looking for. Unlike say a Creed, who generally use the whole religion slant as a selling point.

BS: Yeah, again we just trying to put out a positive vibe, and you don’t have to be a Christian band in order to do that.

DMG: What in your lives do you reflect upon in order to create a positive message? I mean is this just an extension of who you are?

BS: There’s just so much negative music circulating right now, and we just wanted to put forth something a little more positive. We have a love of music and that shouldn’t come out in a negative manner. The music we do is what is inside of us. We just want to stay true to ourselves and keep evolving as a band.

DMG: Growing up were there certain bands that you looked too, and said, “that’s what I want to be and what I want to represent”?

BS: Well, not anyone in particular, but one thing that has happened as we’ve grown as a band is that we’ve lost our idols a little bit. We were inspired, and it still is by other bands, but we don’t look to them for style or anything.

DMG: When I listen to your music, I’m thinking Fugazi, Quicksand, and obviously the Deftones. There’s more of the alternative take on metal.

BS: We come from that background of hardcore and metal, but we didn’t set out to find that sound, it’s just what came out.

DMG: How is it that a country the size of Sweden has such a diverse and quality-filled music scene?

BS: First off there is a lot of American music that influences everyone. Also, the government looks after the arts as a representative for the country, and has been paying musical acts to rehearse and record for some time now. There are a lot of small scenes and they just have developed over time.

DMG: The Swedish scene has everything from pop to metal to alternative, but Blindside seem to be the only hardcore/rock band to come from the scene.

BS: Well, we’ve never really fit into a scene over there, and were able to create our own sound. We got licensed over here on an independent in 1998 and have played more here than in Sweden. Bands like The Hives are very popular there, but we are not due to our commitment in the States. So we developed more of an American sound, which hardcore comes from.

DMG: One thing that comes to mind when Blindside is mentioned is the connection to P.O.D. How’d that they come about?

BS: We first met them in 1998 when we were both playing a festival. They liked our album and we struck up a friendship. We stayed in contact and did a tour with them the following year. They’ve been really good to us, and have acted like a big brother in order to get us through the music world. It’s been interesting to see them go from being a band like us to now becoming like this super-huge band, and we’ve learned from them the mistakes and everything. We now share the same management company. They have been a good role model for us, and they have stayed down to earth and we want to follow their path.

DMG: Speaking of, you’ve both had the same kind of growth as bands. You’ve put out some independent albums and have graduated to the majors and have generated a loyal following in the process.  Which brings into question, why didn’t you also sign with Atlantic (P.O.D.’s label) instead of Elektra?

BS: Well that’s where we wanted to not get confused and look like their little brother band. If we would have followed them there it would have been completely obvious, and we wanted to be able to stand on our own. Plus, we felt good with Elektra and the band’s they have, AC/DC and Metallica.

DMG: My thought was that with Atlantic, they already know how to break a band like P.O.D.; so building an audience for Blindside would have been a breeze. But you’re right; you need that separation in order to grow.

BS: Plus, the fact that Atlantic has so many more rock bands that we may have been lost somewhere in there. And Elektra was able to give us more attention.

DMG: With this being a major debut for you, did you do anything different in the studio as opposed to the last release A Thought Had Crushed My Mind (Tooth & Nail)?

BS: We were able to fly to Los Angeles and since we didn’t have a lot of distractions we were able to really focus on the music and production. The process was slower and more concentrated. Before we had to worry about affording studio time, but with Silence, the money was there so we could take our time developing the songs one at a time. Plus, we had more people involved looking after our equipment and assisting us.

DMG: Where was Silence recorded?

BS: This one was done in Los Angeles, but our others were done in Sweden.

DMG: Did you pick up on any influences in L.A. that you were able to apply to the recordings?

BS: Not really so much. Back in Sweden, the wintertime was very beautiful and it served as an inspiration. Without many friends in L.A. we were just doing the recording, sleeping in and then recording some more. But if you mean did L.A. influence our songs at all, then no it didn’t.

DMG: How did the Papa Roach tour come about?

BS: They actually hand picked us for the tour. They are friends with P.O.D. and they heard our records and just invited us to come along.

DMG: Blindside has developed a reputation for a pretty intense live show, where’d that come from? From what I’ve seen, it reminds me of early bands like Minor Threat and The Bad Brains, with lots of crowd interaction and almost a violent energy, sans the violence.

BS: Our kind of music is stuff that you have to move around too. We want to convey a lot of energy when playing and that is how it comes out. You also feed off the energy of the songs and your audience knows whether or not you can feel it. It almost becomes non-reality when playing because you become this other person onstage. There’s a freedom that comes from that energy.

DMG: The title track on the album Silence, was that written before or after all the other material? Because it does a 360 in regards to its mood as it pertains to the record. It’s like a very hard collection of songs and then bam! Here’s this acoustic piece that is very serene.

BS: It was a song that Christian came up with and it wasn’t even intended for the band, but we heard it and thought that the lyrics fit the content of the other songs and end up putting it on the end of the record because it summed up the feeling we were trying to convey perfectly.

DMG: What does the song “Cute Boring Love” refer too?

BS: A lot of women nowadays have been so repressed by men, that it deals with women now turning the tables and treating men as objects in the same way that men have done that for so long.

DMG: What are the plans for the rest of the year as far as the band is concerned?

BS: We’re going to keep touring and working the record. There aren’t any confirmations yet, but we’ll probably go out with Linkin Park this spring. * We get offers a lot but until it happens, we just don’t really speculate on anything.

DMG: Finally, for the video to the first single “Pitiful”, what are you trying to convey?

[The video shows the band in an Alice in Wonderland type setting with quite a few references to the crucifixion, mixed with performance scenes]

BS: We wanted to show off the energy of the band and let the viewers determine what we were talking about. We didn’t want to get to arty on the first one, but did want to make you think.

DMG: Thanks for your time and good luck with the tour and much success on the record.

BS: Good, thank you and we’ll be looking to speak with you again.

Aaron: Hello everybody. Thanks you for  ~Justin Press (dallasmusicguide)