In a new interview with MSN.com, drummer Tomas Haake of the extreme, technical Swedish band MESHUGGAH talks about what it was like incorporating thrash and funk elements on their eighth studio album, KOLOSS, as well as the physical rigors of playing in the band:
How refreshing was it for everyone to go back to this old-school thrash style?
Haake: I don’t think it had that much of an impact on us as a band, apart from the fact that we just really liked how the sound came out. Hearing that in our music again is not something we’ve been doing on the last few albums. That was definitely refreshing, but mostly for Fredrik. He wrote “The Demon’s Name is Surveillance”, and you could see his eyes when he started playing that, because he loves those guitars with the thinner neck, he just finds them so easier to play compared tot eh stuff that we use for the other songs, bigger, bulkier eight-strings. So there was a certain amount of joy in that guy’s face, to be able to record and play with a guitar like that for a few songs.
“Do Not Look Down” is an interesting track, it almost feels like the band is incorporating a little funk.
Haake: [laughs] How about that? Yeah, it was one of those songs that we were really happy that it ended up on the album. We did spend a lot of time to get that groove to pop out and really be in there, so you automatically want to dance when you hear it. Like you said, it’s almost like Meshuggah goes rock ‘n’ roll or funky there. Still from the sound context it still feels like Meshuggah, but it’s definitely one of the songs that to ourselves does stand out on the album
When I interviewed you four years ago you mentioned how physically challenging the song “Bleed” was. Is there a song on Koloss that’s been just as difficult to pull off?
Haake: Not technically. As far as stamina-wise, we haven’t even tried to play “The Demon’s Name is Surveillance” as a whole band. It’s a quirky one for everyone, not just because it’s challenging physically for me as a drummer and for them as guitar players, but also because of the waltz feel that song has, it’s something a lot of people aren’t very used to playing. Playing those 16 triplets every other bar you’re leading by playing upward with the pick instead of downward, so it’s a quirky song to play for that reason, and of course for pure stamina reasons. I hope we can pull it off live, but we haven’t even tried to play the whole song through. We’ll see. [laughs]
How difficult was it for Marten and Fredrik to pull off those riffs in the studio?
Haake: That song, Fredrik recorded all the guitars and the bass as well. Dick felt the same way, he started rehearsing it and practicing it, he was at it for a good few days, and he just felt it was going to take more time, so he gave the bass duties for that song to Fredrik.
So he played on more of this album than on ObZen?
Haake: He didn’t play on all the songs on ObZen, he only played on a couple songs I think. For this one he played on the whole album aside from that one song. Apart from that he played on everything, and we were all just stoked on how well he played and how it came out. We’re all super-happy about the fact too that he actually played on it. Last time around we were really short on time, and he doesn’t live in the same city as us, so we had a lot of issues getting those sessions to come together, but this time around he took time off from everything else and was at the studio for three or four weeks, and really put a lot of time and work into it. It really shows, and it’s a fun thing for us as a band that he was part of the whole recording process this time.
Read Part 2 of the interview here. Read Part 1 here.
KOLOSS will be released in North America on March 27th.
MESHUGGAH will be headlining “The Ophidian Trek” tour with BARONESS & DECAPITATED, which launches April 29th. Confirmed dates are:
4/29/12 House of Blues - Houston, TX [BUY TICKETS]
4/30/12 House of Blues - Dallas, TX [BUY TICKETS]
5/01/12 Emo’s - Austin, TX [BUY TICKETS]
5/03/12 Marquee Theatre - Tempe, AZ [BUY TICKETS]
5/04/12 House of Blues - Anaheim, CA [BUY TICKETS]
5/05/12 House of Blues - Hollywood, CA [BUY TICKETS]
5/06/12 The Fillmore - San Francisco, CA [BUY TICKETS]
5/08/12 Commodore Ballroom - Vancouver, B.C. - CANADA [BUY TICKETS]
5/09/12 Showbox Sodo - Seattle, WA [BUY TICKETS]
5/11/12 Odgen Theatre - Denver, CO [BUY TICKETS]
5/13/12 First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN [BUY TICKETS]
5/15/12 House of Blues - Chicago, IL [BUY TICKETS]
5/16/12 St. Andrews Hall - Detroit, MI [BUY TICKETS]
5/17/12 Sound Academy - Toronto, ON - CANADA [BUY TICKETS]
5/18/12 Theatre of the Living Arts - Philadelphia, PA [BUY TICKETS]
5/19/12 Palladium - Worcester, MA [BUY TICKETS]
5/20/12 Olympia de Montreal - Montreal, QUE - CANADA [BUY TICKETS]
5/22/12 The Fillmore - Silver Springs, MD [BUY TICKETS]
5/23/12 Terminal 5 – New York, NY [BUY TICKETS]
The North American deluxe digi-pak version of KOLOSS will include a bonus DVD. The album can be pre-ordered now from Amazon.com.
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2008’s obZen has sold over 82,000 copies in the U.S. and debuted at #59 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, clinched the #14 spot on the iTunes Top Rock Albums chart, was the #1 Most Added metal album on the CMJ Loud Rock and FMQB radio charts.
Alive, MESHUGGAH’s 2010 live DVD, debuted at #8 on the Nielsen SoundScan Top Music DVD Video chart.
Visit MESHUGGAH online at www.MESHUGGAH.net, www.facebook.com/MESHUGGAH, www.myspace.com/MESHUGGAH and on Twitter.com/MESHUGGAHBAND.
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 5:46PM 
