Interview with Chrille Andersson, Supreme Majesty (May 26, 2005)

Hi, first off I just want to congratulate you on your new album. To new fans could your please fill us in on the history behind it all?
Chrille
- Thank you! SUPREME MAJESTY started out in 1999. The founding members were me (Chrille Andersson), Rille Svensson and Bartek Nalezinski. Bass player Daniel Andersson was recruited and shortly afterwards vocalist Rikard Larsson. We released our first songs in 1999, it was only a MCD (4 tracks including the original version of "Die In A Dream, which now can be found on "Elements of Creation“ in a new version). After this release, the band went through a number of line-up changes. Joakim Olsson (vocals) and Jocke Unger (drums) were recruited to the band and 2001 we released our first full-length CD "Tales Of A Tragic Kingdom “ on Massacre Records. It took until summer of 2003 to get into the studio again to record the tracks for our next album "Danger“. The album was in the same vein as its predecessor and received great critics in the media. In late 2003 our current lead guitar player Tobias Wernersson was recruited to the band. As a consequence, I took the position of the keyboard player, a position I had somewhat been doing all along, since I was the one putting the keyboards on the previous albums. I strongly felt, that this was the right path for me. During 2004 we worked intensely with songs for the third strike. In summer Jocke Unger decided to leave the band and current drummer Johan Rydberg took his place. The third album "Elements Of Creation“ was recorded in October-November 2004 and has now been released!

How has your new album been received by the media?
Chrille - Overall very positive, this feels great! We have received a lot of important reviews and interviews, that is needed to make the ground for a “successful” album.

I know artists are not happy to categorize their music, but how would you describe your music to an outsider?
Chrille - Like you say, it’s kind of hard to, but perhaps “Scandinavian Melodic Power/Heavy Metal with plenty of 80’s influences” could fit our description pretty well.

Where does your inspiration come from, both musically and lyrically?
Chrille - I guess inspiration can come from all kinds of sources, yourself, things you see, read, hear or listen to and so on… Most of the SUPREME MAJESTY lyrics are written by bass player Daniel Andersson and some by guitarist Tobias Wernersson. The music is for the most parts contributed by me, Daniel Andersson and Tobias Wernersson. Some bands that really inspires me are among others EUROPE , WHITESNAKE, old BON JOVI, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN but also “new” acts like SONATA ARCTICA and NIGHTWISH. There’s a lot of great music out there ...

What topics do you deal with in your lyrics and why?
Chrille - Well, I’m not the one writing the lyrics, but from what I know the lyrics are written from either personal experience or as a tale of some sort.

Who has produced and mixed the album, and are you pleased with the end result?
Chrille - We worked a bit different this time compared to the other albums, both of them were recorded and mixed at Studio Fredman. This time we entered a studio, close to were we live, called JFK Studio. After that we waited about one month before we mixed the album in one week at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg. The album was produced by us, but Fredrik Nordström (Studio Fredman) made the last touches on the album. We are very satisfied the production and it’s possible, that we will work like this again.

Who has done the artwork? And how important do you feel it is to have a great cover?
Chrille - We used Niklas Sundin for both the “Tales Of A Tragic Kingdom ” and “Danger” artwork and he did an amazing job! But on this one I felt like, I wanted to do it myself since I had worked quite a while with this and have made artwork and layouts for SKYFIRE, AXENSTAR, GHOST MACHINERY, EXCALION, IMPERIAL DOMAIN among others. I love art - it’s my passion and to be able to practice it on metal-acts is just awesome! I think it’s very important to have an artwork, that represents both the band and the album. This is the first thing, that catches your eye in the record store before you decide to listen to it ...

Do you have any touring plans?
Chrille - Not yet but we will contact some booking agencies now and hopefully get a deal signed in a couple of months so we can get on some tours. That would be truly great! Hopefully there will be some festival-gigs this summer as well.

How do you feel about the co-operation with your label, and are you satisfied?
Chrille - Yeh, we are overall satisfied with our label. But some more tour-offers would be great ...

The internet is a very important source for many music fans - how do you use the internet and how important is it for you and other bands?
Chrille - Yeh it is. We use it as much as possible. For example, when we recorded “Danger” we put a studio diary on or website. This way the fans could follow the process of the recording and also see exclusive photos. We did the same thing with “Elements Of Creation”, but this time we added some video clips as well. I think internet is great for these kinds of things. To be able to reach the fans and offer a bit “more”. We also have all our lyrics, pictures and so on included on the website.

How do you see the metal scene at the moment?
Chrille - It’s growing stronger I think. The genre is on its way up again, which is great!

To finish things off - could you pls. make a all-time Top 5 or sort of the 5 most important albums in your opinion?
Chrille

  • Metallica - Metallica

  • Europe - The Final Countdown

  • Iron Maiden - Number Of The Beast

  • Alice Cooper - Trash

  • Kiss - Hotter Than Hell

These are awesome albums, released by the best bands ever! Thanks for the interview!

For more info about Supreme Majesty, visit www.supreme-majesty.com
ROCK ON !

Supreme Majesty - Elements Of Creation

Album out on Massacre Records.

Click on the album cover to see more info on Supreme Majesty.