Memfis pour l'album "The Wind-Up"

1. First, could you please introduce Memfis to our readers and sum-up your story so far?

Memfis are a metal band from Sweden, founded in 2003. Our album ‘The wind-up' were released in September -06. The album received very good reviews and made its way to top 20 on the Swedish album charts. There's also a 7” vinyl single out on Futhermocker Records.


2. Could you give us an explanation about the name of the band and its origin?

The name is actually taken from the ancient city of Egypt named Memfis. We thought it was good and that it would be cool with a name that doesn't reveal what kind of music we're playing.


3. Your music has many facets and feelings. How would you define it and its atmosphere?

I think it's important to use dynamics in the music. The album would be dull and boring if there wasn't any variation between the songs. I'm trying to compose in different tempos, keys and time signatures, to force myself avoid old patterns. I try to make the music I want to hear, play and record.


4. On many reviews, your music is compared to Opeth, The Dillinger Escape Plan or Mastodon. Is it something that makes you angry? Do you feel any link with these bands?

All of them are very good bands I have been listening to for a while. They were definitely an influence to our music, especially when we started the band. I can understand why people always comparing us to those bands, but they are just influences. I think that we have found our own sound and that will be more noticeable on the next album.


5. "The Wind-up" is your first album and it was released in September 2006 but for us in France, it's something new because we always have to wait here for good music... So what would tell us if you had to sell it?

I think we did a fine album with a collection of good songs. The thing I'm most proud of is the whole continuity of the album, that all the songs are connected to each other with sounds and/or experimental passages between the actual tracks.


6. Listening to "The Wind-Up", it seems to be a 38 minutes one-piece song. But regarding the titles of each part, it also seems to be a compilation of your previous demos and EP. Could you tell us more about that strange thing? How did you manage to make everything so coherent?

Dental records wanted us to keep the songs from our second demo, Breathless (2004), as they were and then add more songs to the recording. So we recorded six more songs in 2005 to complete the album. I had this idea of a connection of the songs when we recorded Breathless, so it felt natural to complete that idea to the whole album.


7. Can you tell us more about the title of the album and the lyrics? Where does your inspiration come from?

The lyrics are mostly based on my thoughts and opinions about how we, the mankind, are hurting our planet. I think that we have to stop thinking about economy and profits and prior those more environment-friendly options instead. I wanted to write about a subject that suited me and this theme felt right for this album.


8. "The Wind-Up" is also the first album of the new Swedish Label Dental Records. How were you contacted by them and how was the collaboration with them?

It was actually our friends from Burst who gave a demo to a friend, who gave it a friend… which finally ended up at Dental records label manager Omer Akay. He contacted us and said that they had listen to our demo and wanted to offer us a record deal, which we later signed.
I think that their promotion for 'The wind-up' has been good so far. And I know that they prior Memfis very high on the label.


9. Finally, was it hard to lead this album to an end?

No, I love the whole process of a recording and we are very focused in the studio. It felt good to complete this record, because we already had done the material for a half album before.


10. Perhaps it's quite precipitated but is there a new album in progress?

I have composed five songs for the moment and we have started to rehearse on them. We're hoping for a studio session sometime this year.


11. What do you do for a living apart from the band?

I'm working as a personal assistant for a handicapped person. The job suits me just fine and it has worked out with Memfis shows so far.


12. What do you have in your CD/MP3 player at the moment? Any recommendations for our readers?

Right now I'm listening to Salem al fakir's debut album ‘This is who I am'. It's a guy from Sweden who is a multi instrumentalist; he played almost every instrument on the record. The music is a mix of soul, pop and rock from the 70th's spiced with experimental passages.


13. Do you know any French metal bands? (you can be honest, it's just to confirm that French metal is not really known :D )

Well, I have heard some songs from Gojira and isn't that band Scarve from France to? Sorry, there are probably more bands that I've heard of, but can't remember just now.


14. What is your opinion concerning the metal webzines? Are you a reader of them?

Daniels younger brother had a fanzine a couple of years ago, called “Brave new words”. That's the only one I have supported. I can understand why it's more common with e-zines nowadays, because my friend spend a half fortune to print all the issues.


15. Thank you for the interview and I wish you the best for the future. Last words are yours!

I hope that the metalheads of France give Memfis a listen, check out some of our songs at: www.memfis.net / www.myspace.com/memfisband