Interview: Vanhelga

Tell us about your latest release: the main concept; what fans should expect; what were/are your goals with it:

This creation is the result of a long period of time beeing hospitalized under the Swedish law called “LPT”. I had no freedom at all and the only thing present was total misery and silence. All lyrics, music and artwork was created during this time of isolation because I was lucky and had access to a laptop.

The conclusion of this is; if you want to get a feeling of the anxiety, misery, depression and pain that beeing locked inside of a psychiatric ward provides – listen to this piece of art.

Did you have a specific sound in mind when you formed the band, or did that grow and evolve as you played together?

We never have any sound in mind. We do what we want to do and as long as we are content with the results then everything is fine. It is useless to limit your creativity by trying to “copy” a specific sound. VANHELGA is like an organism, it evolves and changes over time.

How does your writing process normally work out?

You can not control creativity. When it comes it comes. Usually 145188 or J. Ejnarsson writes the foundation of a song. Then we continue to work on it together over time. And in the studio while recording we are very open-minded for changes and ideas. Some songs are exclusively written by one person while others are more of a collaboration.

What are your ambitions and how far do you want to push your band?

As far as possible. Beyond this existence.

What are your influences/musical references and the impact those same influences had in your sound?

Unfortunately it is impossible to not be influenced in one way or another. One of our goals is to try to avoid being influenced or inspired by other musicians because we want to create unique art and not just copy what someone else already have done in the past.

What’s next for you?

Touring, recording new material, chaos, death and misery. Only positive things.