Project-X

Will ever the former band members Andreas Sandberg or Magnus Lindström work with Project-X again?
- "Oh, no I don't think they will. Very odd and funny question though. First time I ever had that one. I have a little contact with Andreas who were in at the start of Project-X, even though it's minimal. I haven't heard from Magnus in five years I think. I played with the thought once when we released 'Closing Down The Systems' that contained old and unreleased material that we should do a gig together with all the former band members thru the times. But sadly it ended just as a thought. Although it would have been cool to do that. Who knows, in the future? I like small surprises. But it's unlikely. But you shall never say never."

You have toured with Velvet Acid Christ a couple of years ago. Tell us a little bit more how it was to play with Velvet Acid Christ.
- "Yeah, that tour was a couple of years go now. It was together with and Stromkern, both American bands. We went to Germany, France, Netherlands and Switzerland during three intensive weeks with the end at the German festival Wave Gotik Treffen. It was pleasant and we had fun. That was really the first foreign tour we had. We have still very close contact with Velvet Acid Christ and we have some plans for touring together in the US in the future. The best thing about that the tour was that we matched each other very well. The personal chemistry is very important when you live very tight to each other for a couple of weeks. Because you travel by "nightliner" (tour bus) you sleep at the bus and you have your living room at the bus. You live side by side 24-7. But it was a positive experience and we would like to tour with Velvet Acid Christ again. We met for two days when we played in Colorado Springs outside Denver in US a couple of years ago. Extremely fun."

On your latest album you have started out using female voices in a small extent. Will we hear female choirs or back voices in the future?
-"Maybe, we used it on the songs "Unreal" and "Blindfold" and that was a small step just to see how it worked out. Especially the song "Unreal" we felt directly that we needed something extra and odd to flavour up the song because it's kind of weird and it fitted just fine to add some female voice in it. To "Blindfold" we came up with the thought kind of late during the recording and we thought it would be cool. I'm sure we will do something like that again when we have the opportunity because everyone in the band thought that the result was interesting and gave the material a new sharpness. Sounds fresh and different comparing to the other material we have done."

Tell us about your new album "Modus Operandi" and what the album name stands for.
- "We have worked hard with this album the last two years. It have taken allot of time because of gigs, remix jobs and so on. We chose to take a whole year to do North America when we signed for the North American label Inception Records. I think we have gone through allot as a band and I think we sound more mature altogether comparing to 'Forbidden Desires'. The album has a more brutal sharpness then the last one. It's still EBM but I think we have dared to borrow some from other genres to do the result more interesting. We are very pleased with the album and we hope that the people like it to. The name Modus Operandi is Latin and is translated to "Method of Operation" in English. It's a term that is used in the police, especially when they are talking about serial killers. He had the same modus operandi. He made the exact same things as he did earlier. The title name is kind of weird though since we have renewed the sound from the 'Forbidden Desires' album. But 'Modus Operandi' was the work title for a long time and the title worked so we decided to use that title when we finally released it."

You released your first single from the album in November, how is the single doing?
- "'Infected/Reminder' have done well and have gotten a better reception then we hoped for. Those two songs are the most "old-school" Project-X so to speak. They were made kind of early after we finished our "Forbidden Desires Tour 1999/2000". It's a difference between those two songs and the rest of the material I think. After we were done with those songs we had a longer break from the studio when we were in the US. Although the songs are a good transition to the new sound. About the singles you don't really get that much reviews, because it's pure promotion to the DJ's and the radio. You sell much less singles than records so talking sale statistic is a little bit dumb with a single. But it's gone all right. So we are really pleased. And all the bands that have done remixes on 'Infected/Reminder' have made a great job. Thanks to all of you (you know who you are)."

You've played allot in Germany and North America, but it's been a while since we really saw you home in Sweden. What's your plans?
- "That's true. There are many reasons. But the biggest one is probably that we played so much in Sweden in the beginning and we felt that we couldn't keep the pace because Sweden is too small. It's hardly fun to see the same band five times a year. I think it is more bands who should stick to our example. I hope we stopped before we bored everyone out. Sweden is such a small market and you fill it out kind of fast. But now we are going to do a club tour again, it's been 3-4 years since last I think. We are working on gigs in Gävle, Göteborg, Skövde, Växjö, Sundsvall and Umeå and so on. Shortly a real turn around the country to show up our new a scene show that we actually just used once in Sweden so far. Projections and effects. It will be fun. We in addition also will play in Stockholm the 30th of August at the Electric Gathering Festival that's in Fryshuset. That we really looking forward to. Looks like it will be a great festival."

How's the rest of the tour plans? Will there be a tour with this new record? Any collaboration with other bands?
- "Yeah, we will go around Europe in this autumn. It looks like we will tour together with our new label friends Láme Immortelle. We nowadays are on the German label Trisol GmbH/Matrix Cube in Germany/Austria and Switzerland. Later on we have plans to go to North America once again. We will do a number of gigs in Canada and Mexico and at the same time it will be a longer tour. We are actually talking with a German band named Lights of Euphoria about doing a split 7" vinyl together. But everything is not settled and on a early state and only the future will tell if there will be a collaboration. Some form of result I'm sure it will be. Later we will do some remixes for other bands that have asked us. It would be a pity to sacrifice Project-X's own material that we did on our last album to mass-produce remix songs for other bands. But sure, remix jobs are fun. But this time it will be in a smaller scale."

Will there be a limited edition-version of this new record with unreleased material or similar?
- "It's a little to early to say that now. We probably will release a EP or a single more from this record. But that will be later this autumn. Right now we have to concentrate totally on the album. That's number one. But you never know, we have kind of a great storage of material that we didn't use on this record. I think we have about five or six remixes on 'Infected/Reminder' those we didn't use from quite big bands as Suicide Commandos keyboardist Torben Schmidt, Neuroactive and T.O.Y just to say a few names. So we have the material if we feel like it. But it will feel a little bit poor because we already made that kind of album record ('Closing Down The Systems'). But you never know. It's nice to use the material that we have laid time on. But that's a later question. However we will do a limited vinyl picture disc on this album during the autumn tour. It will mainly be sold during the gigs and at our homepage www.project-x.se. Now we just finished a video recording for our new video for the track "Last Notes". First we thought about it would be the next EP, but we have changed our minds. I know, we are hopeless. We can't really decide. But maybe that's why people don't know what we will do next. Everything will be a big surprise!"

Any last words from Project-X?
- "I would to thank you for a nice interview and showed interest. Further on I would like to thank the whole electric Sweden. We missed you and I hope we will see you at the clubs this autumn. Take care!"

This interview was made 2003 and initially published on Neurozine.com