Peter Norlinder and Dan Norman (Slaughter of the Bluegrass) interviewed

Posted May 6 by Chris D.

We went absolutely bonkers over Slaughter of the Bluegrass’ cover of At the Gates classic "Blinded by Fear" (see video at end of interview) last week. So nutso, in fact, we contacted Slaughter of the Bluegrass for an interview. Just to see if these dudes are real. Turns out, A) they’re real B) they’re totally into Swedish death metal and C) they might put out a CD of covers if timing and cashflow are right. Rad!

Founders Peter Norlinder and Dan Norman answer our questions while working on cover number two. A ripping version of Dark Tranquillity’s "Punish My Heaven." Vote on Slaughter of the Bluegrass’ website to see which cover they’ll tackle next. At the moment, percentages say it'll be In Flames’ "Moonshield". Though we feel we’re gonna have to rig some of those votes to get Opeth’s "Bleak" in front of it.

Give a background. Who is Slaughter of the Bluegrass? Where are you guys from? What bands are/were you in?
SotB began in Peter and Dan’s recording studio in Stockholm as a fun project in our spare time. We had been playing in different garage bands throughout the years and now wanted to try something new. When the idea came up, we realized that we actually had a few friends that were already playing folk music (Alexander from the Finnish band Skrå, Hannah from NuWa, and a jazz bass player named Mike from a small town near Stockholm).

So, how long have you played your respective instruments? I’d venture to say the lot of you sound competent enough to pull off some pretty adventurous covers. The violin, banjo, mandolin, etc. could all take on interesting lead and layering roles.
Our friends are experts on their respective instruments, but we had to struggle to learn our parts. Peter had only played the mandolin and the banjo for about a year when the recording took place, although his guitar skills made the learning process less tedious.

Bluegrass versions of metal songs? Where’d this idea originate?
We'd heard a few songs by the band Iron Horse and thought, "What the hell! We should do this with the bands we like!" Also, we wanted to get people that aren’t used to metal to appreciate these great songs.

I have to admit, I’m addicted to your cover of "Blinded by Fear." How did you pick this song to cover first? I imagine you jammed a few tunes first to see how they’d translate.
To be honest, we do not jam at all. We chose "Blinded by Fear" because it's one of our favorite metal songs of all time. We did the best we could. This applies to all the songs in the poll on our website.

Was it difficult to transpose?
Yes.

Did you have to ask At the Gates for permission to cover the song? I’m not sure who -- ATG or Earache -- is the rights holder for the song.
We care more about the music than legislation, but as far as we know you're allowed to cover someone else's music as long as you pay a fair share of the profits to the rights holder and our profits so far is SOTBsales * 0 * 666 = $0.

Have the (former) members of At the Gates heard the cover? What’d they think of it?
Yes, we got some words of appreciation from Erlandsson, and they 'favorited' our video on their Youtube channel, so they are certainly aware of our existence.

Now that you’d covered At the Gates. What’s next? I see the poll on your websites indicates after the cover of "Punish My Heaven" you’ll be doing "Moonshield".
We are currently working on "Punish My Heaven," which is not done overnight. And we have a few ideas on the "Moonshield" arrangements.

How far are you along with "Punish My Heaven"?
We've put down the basic rhythm parts on acoustic guitar and bass. We had to re-harmonize some chords and melodies to fit the genre. Right now Peter is struggling through the mandolin parts and we are waiting for our drummer to get over here from Finland.

Any specific challenges you had to overcome?
The hardest part is to arrange the vocals. We have to compose entirely new melodies that fit into an already melody-crammed arrangement.

Now that you’ve transposed "Blinded by Fear" and parts of "Punish My Heaven," how would you say they differ? Both are considered of the "Gothenburg" style. Interested in what you think about them musically and structurally.
Structurally, "Blinded by Fear" kind of resembles an ordinary pop song (verse, bridge, chorus and so on), while "Punish My Heaven" is more like a Classical piece of music, where themes are being used in different ways and the song takes new directions all the time.

I see you’re also interested in covering Opeth, Meshuggah, Soilwork, and Amon Amarth. I could see all but Meshuggah. How do you think you’d tackle the staccato rhythms and atonality of Meshuggah?
Don't underestimate the rhythmic power of a banjo, a snare drum and a double bass! Giving atonal music catchy melodies is part of our job. Luckily for us, "Soul Burn" isn’t attracting many votes in the poll, so we can wipe the sweat from our brows. For now.

If Slaughter of the Bluegrass takes off -- meaning there’s a demand -- do you think you’ll change the name? You could call it Bluegrass Attack. Or Bloody Roots.
Since our main focus is Swedish death metal played as bluegrass, we wanted our name to reflect that. Given the impact that the record Slaughter of the Soul had on subsequent Swedish death metal, the choice was easy.

Who are some of your favorite bluegrass artists? I gather most metalheads proximity to bluegrass is the O Brother, Where Art Thou? movie.
Peter is, in fact, a big fan of that movie and it was probably one of many things that led us to this project on some subconscious level. By and large, we are somewhat into folk music, but we are not hardcore fans of bluegrass in particular.

What if someone offered you $5,000? Would you put it towards recording a CD of covers or a down payment on one of those cool little houseboats you see parked in one of the many rivers around Stockholm?
If the interest doesn't fade we will make an album, with or without the funding. Never the less, time is the limiting factor, and a few dollars could speed things up a bit. On some days when you are struggling with that 17th riff off "Punish My Heaven" and the drums blast like machine-gun fire, and a cacophony of sounds has to be sorted out, it feels tempting to take the money, buy a houseboat and sail off into the sunset.

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