Streamline – Interview

Streamline – Interview

17 Luglio 2014 0 Commenti Denis Abello

interview by Denis Abello

italian version

MR: First of all, thank you so much for taking some time for this interview…Let’s start with the first question: why did you change your name from Diamond Dawn to Streamline?
ST: Thank you too! Pleasure to chat with Melodicrock.it.
We changed the band name because we felt that it was time to make the band what we really want it to be. Most of us we’re in high school when we started the band, getting to release a debut album so fast gave us a good perspective on what we should really be about. Changing the band name to Streamline was a natural progression which gave us the opportunity to put some stuff in the past. If you’re worried that we’re going to keep changing the band name every year; don’t. This is a definitive thing and we’re proud to be Streamline now and anytime in the future! One reason among many is that we quite recently released our debut album. We don’t want to be compared with ourselves forever on, especially since we feel like we just got started. Now we are Streamline and what we do by that name is all we want to be seen as.
We have gotten the question if there is a legal issue here regarding our former name and the simple answer is no.

MR: Can you talk about your split with Alexander Strandell?
ST: We could but then again we’re not so very interested in it. It would be easy to go on and on about it but it just won’t bring you anywhere. We get that some of the fans are interested in details, we hope though that they’re even more interested in the great music that’s coming! The 5 of us simply split with Alexander, and we didn’t do it for fun. After a while together in the band last year we just got to a point where we found that it didn’t work out between us, viewing the band as 2 entities. The best thing to do when that happens is to take measures, in our case we knew that continuing and pretending like nothing wasn’t going to be the solution.

MR: Now you have a new singer, Gabriel Lindmark! Can you talk about him and how he was your first choice?
ST: Of course! We’d been looking around for a little while when Mike stumbled upon an ad that Gabriel had posted on a website. We all agreed that he sounded great and that we wanted to hear more. At that time we were receiving a couple of demos but Gabriel was the one that stood out! We had him sing a couple of our songs and he also visited us, hung out and jammed! It felt natural from start and we really connected both personally and musically. The ultimate test was when we started jamming The Trooper by Iron Maiden, if the guy sings along he’s our guy we said. He did, it sounded awesome, and the rest is as they say – history! That is perhaps not exactly what happened but we’re really happy to have Gabriel in Streamline, he’s got a great sounding voice that we’re gonna make sure to record ASAP! Gabriel comes from a slightly different musical background than we do with this band. The way that our songwriting has evolved and become a bit more hard edged it fits perfectly!

MR: “Overdrive” was a great album and received many recognition from the international melodic rock press. Don’t you think that changing your name isn’t good for what you have built in your past?
ST: Some people would say that and well, some people wouldn’t. For us there was really no alternative so becoming Streamline was not the result of us finding that ‘no’ was the answer to that question. We simply did what we had to in order to become the band that we want to be. Of course there are both negative and positive things about changing the name of a band. However we feel that we only spent a year with Diamond Dawn. In the long term, being Streamline, will gain us more than we possibly lost by changing the name. So there you have it!

MR: New name and new singer but how about the sound? there’s something new in your music or it’s the classic “Diamond Dawn” style?
ST: The sound of Streamline is more like an evolution of the DD-sound. The good songs will be there, the hooks and melodies will be there and we will practically be the same people writing and playing it! Some specific differences are that we’ve added a bit more edge and heavy attitude to the sound. Attitude is the most important thing when it comes to a good song, we’ll probably approach that a bit differently this time when recording. Last time we feel that we were a bit to obsessed with perfection that we lost a bit of the feel. We’re aiming to eliminate that risk while making this album! The sound of the new album will be more massive to sum it up in one sentence, more of everything! When it comes to the style of the songs people will most likely say that we have moved into a slightly more blues/ classic -oriented sound. Anyhow, what you’re all going to hear is simply the sound of Streamline and we’re confident that it will be our very own and even better than before!

MR: Which are your inspirations when you sit down and try to write a song?
ST: This is a hard question and there are so many possible answers! We’re inspired by everything from the stuff we hear on the commercial radio to old obscure rock albums. Feelings do of course also inspire songs at all times. At this point we’re probably also inspired in general by what we miss on Overdrive. We’re really proud of that album, but having played it live and listened to it along with us growing as musicians and persons we feel that we know more about how it’s done simply! What works and what doesn’t, what provides energy during a live set and what attitude fits us. We probably dare to be inspired by a wider spectrum of music at this point than before recording our debut.

MR: You are working on a new album, can you talk about it? When it will be avalaible?
ST: It’s hard to say when it will be available for sure as we haven’t yet moved into discussions about that. We’re hoping for and working towards a release in early 2015. Something we can tell you for sure is that we’re hitting the studio later this summer! What comes out of that session will most likely be the foundation of the new album!

MR: Will Streamline have the same record label as Diamond Dawn?
ST: That is a possibility but it is also for the future to decide. All we can say right now is that we have not decided yet which way is the best to go for Streamline. We’re writing, recording and preparing the launch of Streamline this year, the idea is to find the best solution for the release of upcoming material as well. We have a couple of options that we would like to investigate, as soon as we know anything about anything we will let everyone know! Be assured that the slight secrecy we might emit is to not give anything away that might not happen anyway. We want to do this the best way possible and therefore we hope that all the boys & girls keep following us while making that happen!

MR: Will you promote your new album with a tour? Any chance to see Streamline in Italy?
ST: Yes and yes! We will definitely promote our new album with a tour and there would have to
be a very special reason we wouldn’t go to Italy!

MR: What do you see in the Streamline future?
ST: We see lots of good times, that’s essentially what it’s all about! If we don’t have a good time doing it we might as well quit today. Really looking forward to entering the studio too! Behind us putting so much energy into this band is of course also a dream. In the Streamline future we see ourselves pursuing that dream, we’re working hard to make this happen! The most important thing when it comes down to practical stuff though, right after releasing a new album, is touring more! We did quite some gigs last year but it wasn’t as much as we would have wanted to. This time around, the intention is to come out and see all the people who support us! Europe is our first priority, countries like Italy and Spain!

MR: Thanks again for the interview and if you want to say something to your italian fans, it’s your time!!
ST: Thanks to you as well, we really appreciate the opportunity! To you Italian boys & girls and whoever you might be reading this we just want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the support we have received during these last few months! Starting up Streamline feels as good and right as it possibly could, so much thanks to you people following us! Keep on doing it ‘cause there will only be more and more fun stuff coming up! See you in Italy!

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