Rockezine.com interview with Within Y on Apr 27, 2004

with Andreas Solveström on Apr 27, 2004

Within Y recently released the strong debut album "Extended Mental Dimensions" on Karmageddon Media. It`s a mandatory purchase for all Gothenburg death metal fans who are searching for another strong release in their genre. Singer Andreas Solveström was kind enough to provide answers to my questions.
		You`re a young band but many things have already happened with Within Y. Can you give us a brief intro to Within Y? Yeah! It was Niklas and Mikael who started this band. They soon wanted to do something more with it, so one day at work Niklas asked me if I wanted to join as the singer of the band. After a short while we were in need of a drummer, so I called my friend Thim and asked if he wanted to join us, and he did as well! After that we started to rehearse and write songs, after a while we recorded the four songs we wrote by that time, so we called Niklas´ friend Mattias (who later joined the band as the bass player) and asked if he wanted to record us, since we knew that he is a really good studio guy. That recording became our Feeble And Weak demo.
		Your demo is released in 2002 and received great response. Did many record labels offer you a deal and why did you chose for Karmageddon Media? Yep! We got a few offers from different labels, and since we didn’t have any expectations on our demo, we all were really glad that the response was so great! It was Karmageddon that seemed most interesting, cause they were the hungriest to get their hands on us!
		Are the reactions to the album as good as to the demo? Yeah, I think so! It’s only been out for like three weeks now, but I have read some reviews and people seem to enjoy our album, which is just awesome!
		I noticed that you didn`t record in the Fredman Studios, because you didn’t want to sound the same as other bands. Did you succeed in creating another sound? Since we play what people call ‘Gothenburg metal’, we wanted to do something else than the sound we could get in Fredman, cause if we had recorded the album there it would sound even more like the other bands in our genre. I think we did something different. It’s a bit more raw and not as polished as it can get sometimes, and we didn’t use any trig kits for the drums, I guess that’s what makes it a little different.
		You may call me ignorant but what exactly does "Within Y" mean? I did some Googling on it but I couldn`t find an answer. I don’t think that it has any meaning at all, but nowadays I wish it did, cause there are many people who wonder about it, and it would have been great to give a good answer to that question. We were thinking of different names when we started the band, but no one came up with a good one. Then one day Thim said; What about WithinY? We didn’t really understand where he got it from, but everyone in the band seemed to like it, so we kept it!
		The press release enclosed with the promo mentioned a quote from Karmageddon: "So you thought Gothenburg metal was dead ?!?!? Then you surely haven`t listened to this album yet".
		Is this your own opinion also? To give Gothenburg metal a kick in the butt and revive the genre? Yes! Many bands that played the style we are in left off some years ago to do something different, put some new elements to it or whatever, and we thought why not proceed where they took off? And since we all like the music we play, and have a lot of fun playing it, we keep on doing it!
		Are there any promising Gothenburg metal bands nowadays that you are aware off? I think there is a whole bunch of them. They often have small metal gigs here. Like every other week or so, so if that will continue I think many of these bands will bloom!
		What is your favourite all-time Gothenburg and overall metal album? Hmm? I don’t think I have any favourite album, it varies from week to week.. But Slaughter Of The Soul never seems to wear off.. There are many great albums.
		Because you signed with a Dutch label: Who is our prime-minister? I have absolutely no idea.. hmm? Isn’t it Roy van den Brink? (hehe...not yet,rb)
		What is/was the best Dutch metal band? Can I pass on this one? The only ones I know are God Dethroned and Callenish Circle, so it has to be one of them!
		Why is Holland so much better that Sweden? (Pun intended) I can’t tell, never been to Holland! But I guess Sweden is better anyway!
		When are you guys playing in Holland? As soon as Karmageddon puts up a tour for us, we’re really eager to come out and play!
		Thanks for answering these questions, the last words are yours.. Thank you for doing this interview! Buy our album and enjoy!
		(Roy van den Brink)