WOLVERINE INTERVIEW

One of the most interesting bands on the metal scene these days is Wolverine. A band not easy to put into any "genre-description" as such, and therefore a real representation of the word "progressive". Wolverine plays a musical style somewhere between progressive metal, alternative metal, some symphonic rock anthems and more death metallic parts here and there - a strange mixture, and definitely a reason for us to throw some questions into the hands of frontman Stefan Zell.

Interview by Claus Jensen

Hi Stefan, congratulations on the new disc; It's definitely the best I've heard from Wolverine so far :-)

"Thank you, Claus. Well, what can I say? You're hard to please. :-)"

1) Please start by telling the band history in short …

"Wolverine was formed in -95 by me and Marcus Losbjer. It was just intended to be a side project since we both played in other bands which we had as our main priority. We set out to play death metal mixed with AOR so you can imagine how awful that sounded. Anyway, that approach made us use grunts as well as clean vocals and from there it just evolved into something completely different. In -99 we released our first mini-CD called Fervent Dream and in 2001 we released our debut full-length album The Window Purpose. Both albums were received extremely well around the world and now it's finally time for our third album to see the light of day."

2) The first full-length album was released through DVS Records - what was your impression about working with that label?

"We have nothing but great things to say about DVS Records. The label is run by a close friend of ours called René Janssen and he does an amazing job for underground bands such as us. DVS has a lot of exciting bands on their rooster and I really hope they get the exposure they so much deserve. It was actually René who "discovered" us and got us signed to Zizania Entertainment Group which was the label that released Fervent Dream. He was also the one to make it possible for us to play our first gigs outside Sweden which was in Belgium and in The Netherlands (ProgPower -99) so as you understand we have René to thank for a lot of things."

3) You've now signed a deal with Elitist Records, which is part of Earache … how did that deal come in place?

"It's actually quite funny… Bagge (our keyboard player) is a record collector so he's in touch with a lot of people around the world swapping stuff back and forth. He happened to make some kind of deal with a guy called Lee Barrett. Whenever Bagge sends stuff to someone he makes sure to include a flyer with some info on Wolverine. After a while Lee got back to Bagge asking him about Wolverine and somehow he got to hear some of our songs. Obviously he liked what he heard because a couple of months later we were signed to Elitist Records. The ironic part is that some time before Bagge got in touch with Lee we had sent out promo kits to all the bigger labels. The only label we didn't send anything to was Earache…"

4) What are your expectations about working with Elitist?

"The expectations are quite big and so far they have definitely lived up to those expectations. We find Lee to be a great guy and so far everything has gone really smooth (except for the recording of this album, but Elitist/Earache are definitely not to blame for that). The cool thing now is that the album really will be available in most countries. That's always a problem when you're on the smaller labels. Many times it's really hard for them to get good distribution deals but this we won't have to worry about this time. Of course there are some downsides to being signed by a bigger label. I'm mostly thinking of some contractual obligations but in the long run we feel that we definitely made a good choice. We just hope that they will be as satisfied with us as we are with them."

5) To me you don't really sound like a typical "Elitist" band, as they usually have much more a death metal basis than Wolverine do … how do you feel about being a more progressive metal band among death metal acts?

"Well, as I said before, Earache was the only bigger label we didn't send any promo-materials to since we never thought they would be interested in us. We thought a lot about that when we were offered the deal but we decided that that's a risk we had to take. We have a lot to say about when it comes to the promotion. We know what magazines and webzines could be interested in our music so we've made sure that they have received promos. I guess Earache had a hard time marketing us since, just as you say, we don't sound as any other band on that label. However, it seems to me that they have done a great job so far so we're not complaining."

6) Which leads me to my next question … do you consider yourself a "genre typical" progressive metal band? How would you describe the Wolverine sound?

"I would not call us a "genre typical" progressive metal band at all. To me progressive metal seems to be only about technical talent these days and we are much more into creating moods. We like to explore our musical boundaries and to me Cold light of Monday is nothing close to The Window Purpose (which was more typical "progressive metal"). Sure, you always hear that it's Wolverine but we still feel we've managed to adjust our sound quite a bit and we are really pleased with that. Our next album will hopefully sound different from Cold light of Monday which Lee once described as Emo-prog. I think it's kind of a cool description and in many ways very fitting. We've experienced a bit with drum loops and stuff which was really exciting."

7) On the previous album ("Fervent Dream", mini CD and "The Window Purpose" CD) you've worked with Mattias Norén on the cover artwork, but not this time ... why not?

"As a band we like to try different things out and that's not just musically speaking. We knew this guy, Thomas Larsson, and he had done some great stuff before so we decided to try him out. We are blown away by the result which we feel fits the music and the storyline perfectly. We also had a really great time taking the pictures for the booklet so overall it was a really cool experience. This doesn't mean that we won't use Mattias again since he's not only a good friend of the band but also an amazing artwork artist."

8) The front cover is definitely not a typical heavy metal cover - and (as mentioned above) you aren't a typical band for your record label - with that in mind, would you say that you're really threading on a dangerous path by not doing what you are "supposed" to do?

"That's really the least of our worries. We only write music to please ourselves and if someone else likes it we are thrilled about that. If we would write music to please others I'm sure we would be in for great disappointment. As long as we're happy as a band we know that we've made the right choices and right now that's exactly what we are, happy."

9) The concept of "Cold Light At Monday" is a very dark and sad one, about a young girl being mistreated by the people around her, making wrong choices in life and failing at everything she do. Where did the idea to that concept come from?

"I work a lot with kids that are having a hard time to find any true meaning with their lives. It's many times unbelievable what they've been through and I never stop to be stunned by how horrible the human race tends to be. It's almost as we're born evil… I do however try to see good in every person I meet but many times it's really hard to do so. Anyway, the concept came about because of my work with these kids but it's not a true story or anything, it's just inspired by their situation."

10) The concept, cover, production and music go hand in hand with each other - all being dark and very emotional. Was this a deliberate choice? Is there a deeper meaning behind it all - something you're trying to say about yourself? I mean, it's not typical of a progressive metal band to be this depressive …

"We tend to write about pretty heavy issues but it's definitely not something we struggle to do. It's just what comes easiest for us. Furthermore, I don't think we're a typical progressive metal band… It's not that I'm saying that we deliver something totally unheard of but looking at today's progressive metal bands I don't see any great similarity between them and our music. Sure, the influences are there but we're definitely not about technical ability. I think when we did The Window Purpose we were more into that kind of stuff but nowadays we definitely focus more on creating a mood, a vibe."

11) Any final words?

"We are really happy to finally release Cold light of Monday, an album that we're really proud of. Fans of the band may be a bit surprised by the musical direction but we really hope that you'll take the challenge and dive into the album and its' concept because we really think it will pay off. Hopefully we'll also be able to see you on tour some day soon! Take care and be good."