Since its 1996 debut album, Welcome to The Infant Freebase, singer Ebbot Lundberg has watched the band find an identity in rock music that it can call its own. For Lundberg, it’s been quite the ride since his previous group, Union Carbide Productions—Lundberg and guitarist Ian Persson are the only remnants of Union Carbide that helped form T.S.O.O.L. Whereas Noel Gallagher and Oasis beat the irony of borrowing from the likes of The Beatles, The Who and The Rolling Stones into the ground, The Soundtrack of Our Lives managed to weave in and out of its musical influences in such a way that the songs maintained the character of the band while not acting as an inferior caricature of the influence (i.e. The MC5, Iggy and The Stooges). The artistic success of T.S.O.O.L.’s third album, 2001’s Behind The Music, propelled the band as an international force that not only had solid songs but also a live show that could stand alongside some of the major rock acts currently on the scene.
In a time when there is more freedom to judge the worth of a single song let along an entire album, Communion succeeds as a complete body of work from start to finish, much like Wilco’s 1996 effort Being There. For any band deciding to release a double album, there’s always the temptation to go in the direction of absolute bloated, self-indulgence merely to stack the album with songs that hold back any chance of cohesion. Thankfully, T.S.O.O.L. avoided that path.
Speaking from New York City, Lundberg, drummer Fredrik Sandsten and bassist Kalle Gustafsson Jerneholm took time to discuss the band’s current status after 15 years of making music.
How does the band feel the album (Communion) has held up in the past year?
EL: I think we can live with this album for the rest of our lives. It’s no problem at all. You don’t really feel like you don’t want to hear it anymore. It’s just a thrill to do it.
Have all the songs from the album been performed live by now?
EL: Well, not every song. We’ve tried to play songs like “Reconnecting The Dots.” We haven’t played that song much, but we’ll probably do it in Chicago. We’re just trying to figure out what we’re missing. We haven’t played the new songs from the EP (Immaculate Convergence). We’ll see how that turns out. It depends how we feel.
The band has been together now for about 15 years. How do you feel the songwriting relationships in the band have developed over time?
EL: Maybe the tension is not so high anymore. We kind of know each other now. I think it’s easier to communicate. Sometime we don’t communicate; we e-mail each other or whatever. I think it’s just easier to do things. It’s a process. Sometimes you’re not in the mood. I don’t know if the songwriting has evolved, but we’re just trying to do what we wish to hear for the moment.
FS: I kind of agree with Ebbot. You kind of realize that even if you can’t fit all your songs on the album at the moment, maybe they’ll be released in 10 years. I think we kind of realized not to stress to finish all the songs at once. Some songs become better if you don’t think about it over the years. Some songs can be 10 years old and some songs can be 2 months old. I think it’s relieved the pressure to think that way. Every song has its own history.
How many songs did the band have going into the making of Communion?
EL: About 30. We left 6 out, and 1 of them showed up on this EP now. The other 2 were left over from Behind The Music.
FS: It was actually maybe 100 songs if you could see all the demos and all the material that we tried to choose from.
The band took more of its time with Communion compared to the previous album Origin Vol. 1. Is that fair to say?
EL: Yeah, you could say that. It was a turbulent situation. I think we were in a really unbalanced space, as people, in a band. It was just a strange period. We didn’t really rehearse the songs on Origin. We’d been touring so much. We tried to relax, but it wasn’t relaxed. We were just trying to figure out how to make an album because everyone was waiting for one. We took those 12 songs that we felt we could live with this, which is why it’s short as well. But this time we really started from the beginning. We totally just ignored everything we’d done in the past, started to rehearse like a normal process.
FS: Also, we did most things ourselves regarding everything around the recording, the production and the mixing.
It seems like the band is in the best position it could possibly ask to be in at this point of your career where the band has assumed more control in how things run.
EL: Yeah. Kalle built our studio, thank god. We didn’t have any expectations how it was going to turn out. We just let it happen by itself. On the Origin album, everybody had so many expectations on us. This just happened in a very organic and natural process; a very lucky one. It just felt like we were making our first album, again.
Are there any plans to start work on the next album once this tour is completed?
EL: We’ll just see what happens. We still have songs to finish.
FS: I guess in a year we’ll be in the process of recording a new album.
In the band's collective mind, what has been the biggest achievement, so far, over the past 15 years the band has made music?
EL: I think our biggest achievement, come to think of it, is working and staying together as 6 people, making it work; not end up being really bad or sucking. We kind of got better and better. We had our bad times of course, but, as a band, we’ve become very strong. That’s an achievement in itself.
KGJ: We’re satisfied with everything we’ve done. The albums are like treasures. To still work together and be friends after 15 years, it’s kind of rare. We have fights and stuff, but we learn how to continue to work. Time heals all wounds.
EL: Also, you try and stay interesting as a band for yourself, which you can sometimes kind of lose. You think, “There’s nothing else to do. We can’t go anywhere.” Obviously, we can. When we’re on the brink of maybe splitting up, something happens that makes the band stronger.
KGJ: I think it’s important not to be too successful.
EL: One good thing when it comes to success for a band like us and where we’re from, we have the ability to hide, which I think a band like Oasis or any other big band couldn't do. We can always hide somewhere, which is really good to help recoup and recharge the batteries. I’ve come to the conclusion that we’re really blessed with this sort of situation.
The Soundtrack of Our Lives is currently on tour including a performance at Chicago's Lincoln Hall (FEB 28th)
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