M.S: First of all, thank you very much for this interview, it’s a great
pleasure for Metal Symphony.
D.S.O: And we thank you. We’re glad you’ve taken an interest in us.
M.S: Where did the Diablo Swing Orchestra idea come from?
D.S.O: One could say that it’s a combination of visions spawned out of the
urge to create something unique by mixing influences, styles and sounds.
M.S: Before the band was formed, have any of you been a member of any other
band with released stuff?
D.S.O: Andy (bass) has released a lounge, nu-jazz record under the name
of .pledge.
M.S: One of the things that most surprises me about your cd is the estilistic
variety. Is this something you were looking for, or is it due to the different
musical preferences the band members have, or maybe it’s due to the need of
creating something different?
D.S.O: It’s mostly due to diverse sources of musical inspiration both within
the band and also when it comes to us as individuals.
M.S: How would you define your style? Which kind of audience do you think
it’s directed to?
D.S.O: Soprano-swing with heavy twist? Hard to name a specific audience
considering that there are very many varying kinds of listeners out there at
the moment. People who listen to goth, metal or similar kinds of hard rock are
maybe more prepared for what we sound like and are maybe therefor more likely
to eventually constitute the majority of our listeners but it’s hard to speculate
on who might like our music the most.
M.S: Which bands are the ones that influenced DSO?
D.S.O: Unfortunately influence often comes without being noticed and the
direction is coming from is therefore not always easy to define. Inspiration
on the other hand is usually one is more self-conscious about and to name a
few sources of inspiration that are definable would be a lot easier. Primus,
Infected Mushroom, Wagner, Kaizers Orchestra, Muse, Shpongle, Ben Charest, Tool,
System of a Down, The Mars Volta are some composers and bands that have inspired
some or all of us in the band.
M.S: Talking about the album, we notice it’s divided in 2 parts, why is
it like this? 
D.S.O: The idea comes from the world of opera and theatre where it’s common
to divide the shows into two acts. We felt the album should be listened to as
a whole and the song order is structured so that there is a climax at the end
of the first act and an end that sums up the entire album by spanning fairly
wide in intensity and style.
M.S: Musically, the cd is amazingly varied, you play such different styles
as swing, metal and jazz. When composing a song like this, isn’t it difficult
to mix all these elements together?
D.S.O: Some songs where definitely harder than others but the difficulty
in that matter lied mostly in getting the right sound for the specific song
rather than in the process of composing.
M.S: Annlouice is in my opinion one of the best singer I’ve heard in these
last years. How did you find her? Did you know her from any other similar project?
D.S.O: Thank you, the rest of us in the band feel the same way. We got in
contact with her through the opera-house where she is currently working and
no, to our best knowledge she hasn’t been a part of any band of this kind.
M.S: Mixing so many different styles it’s saying musical culture, has music
been a basic part in your education?
D.S.O: Annlouice & Johannes have both gone through musical education while
the rest of us have no formal education of that kind.
M.S: As i can see, Daniel in the main composer in the band, is there any
special reason for this to happen?
D.S.O: Many of the songs are ideas that Daniel have had for several years
and working with those felt very natural while getting the band together. The
songs on the following album will definitely contain more collaborate compositions
since we now are more in the clear with what our combined musical vision is.
M.S: Annlouice’s voice somewhat reminds me of Tarja’s, from Nightwish. What
do you think about bands like After Forever, Epica, The Gathering, Nighwish,
Lacuna Coil…? Do you feel in a way similar to them? If not, which bands would
you say you’re closer to?
D.S.O: Of course we often hear of people thinking of bands like that and
we think that it’s probably mostly due to the fact that the bands you’ve mentioned
(plus many others) combine distorted guitars with female vocals, some in various
sorts of opera-style. We feel though that it isn’t really metal-songs that we’ve
written. The songs have just been put in a context similar to metal or hard-rock.
M.S: Talking about the cd, it’s not available in Spain yet & i suppose it’s
the same in other places. For those who want to buy it, what must they do?
D.S.O: Drop us an email at crew@diabloswing or order it through www.cdbaby.com/cd/diabloswing
M.S: The cd’s style has some gothic touches, with the red and black on it,
has this been premeditated?
D.S.O: We all like, prefer actually, when the feeling of the music one is
listening to correlates with what is given to the eye. The style of the cover
and the webpage (www.diabloswing.com) is very close to what we think is the
visual feeling of the music.
M.S: Talking about the songs in the album, it’s quite difficult for me to
highlight just one, it’s an amazing album, but we could name some songs like
que «Velvet embracer», «Poetic Pitbull revolutions», «Infralove» or «Zodiac
Virtues «, I think these ones are really brilliant. Which songs would you highlight?
Tell us something about your favourite tracks.
D.S.O: Most of us in the band feel that Heroines is a very strong track
considering that it starts of in an atmosphere with very mystical suspense and
unfolds into full-forte intensity with glass-chattering lead vocals when it
arrives at the chorus.
Ragdoll Physics is one of the tracks that grew quite a bit throughout the recording
process. A verse that has obvious elements of Swedish folk music combined with
a chorus that is not far from music of the 60’s turned out to become a very
interesting musical blend..
M.S: Maybe the song that stands out in the cd is «Balrog Boogie», what can
you tell us about this song? Why can’t we find the lyrics in the booklet?
D.S.O: We’re very fond of the humour that lies within Balrog Boogie and
we all feel that there’s a definite lack of humour within the rock/metal-scene
today. Unfortunately though we could not fit all of the lyrics in the booklet
and therefore Balrog Boogie was left out. It would be interesting to see if
anyone can hear and figure it out what the lyrics are…
M.S: If we take a look at the tracks’ titles, they are pretty curious and
atypical. What can you say about it? What kind of concepts do DSO talk about
in their songs?
D.S.O: One of the goals would have to be to provoke thoughts and give listeners
a little more than only a first impression. Many have told us that after listening
to the album a couple of times they’ve started to notice things somewhat hidden,
subtle effects and harmonies buried deep within the texture that the main instruments
produce. This is definitely premeditated from our behalf and we hope listeners
will enjoy it as much as we did creating it.
M.S: Some songs are really strong, such as «Velvet embracer», which kina
of songs do the band enjoy the most in a live show: with the strongest or with
the more elaborated ones?
D.S.O: Of course the trickier tracks cause for more concentration regarding
what’s being played on the instrument. The stronger more straight forward songs
are usually a little bit easier to play and therefore it’s during those songs
it’s more possible to «freak out». 
M.S: How’s DSO live on stage?
D.S.O: That is yet to be seen since our debut performance is set to the
15th of November in Stockholm, Sweden.
M.S: In your home country, how difficult is life for such a peculiar band
as DSO? Is any problem for you to be different?
D.S.O: Today it is probably fairly hard for any band that is trying to be
noticed. There are a lot of bands and the hardest thing can sometimes be to
get people to actually listen.
M.S: Talking about the live show, will there be any touring? Will you have
the opportunity to be supporters for any band?
D.S.O: The goal is definitely to be touring and we do have some shows coming
up but not so many confirmed dates.
M.S: If you were to try and persuade people to buy your album, what would
you say to them?
D.S.O: Are you looking for something that definitely will give you a strong
first impression but still grow on you and continue to surprise you for a time
to come? Then this is an album for you. 
M.S: Until this very moment, how have reviews been? Any interesting or funny
anecdote to tell during the recording of the album or any unexpected reaction
because of your music?
D.S.O: So far we’ve gotten good reviews and many have written about very
interesting experiences and very diverse musical references, some that we hadn’t
even thought of ourselves. Anecdotes, hmm… Unfortunately I can’t think of any
specific ones really. Some early mornings were quite strange though – recording
at 4 o clock in the morning can give some really interesting results but also
some quite horrid ones. But altogether, although there were occasional situations
of frustration, we generally had a really good time.
M.S: That’s all, thank you very much, if you want to say something else,
this is the right time. Thanks a lot from Metal Symphony and good luck!!!
D.S.O: We like to take the opportunity to invite all the Metal Symphony
readers to our newly founded forum at www.diabloswing.com/forum where you can
discuss the album or anything else that you feel like.
Alberto Bravo
Fotos: www.diabloswing.com
Links:
Butcher’s
Ballroom Review ( Spanish )
