Code 64

Hello Code 64, how are you guys? Thank you for making this interview.
- "Hello! We are fine, thank you! Getting ready for the release of 'Trialogue' so we are quite psyched for everything to kick off."

First off all, let's get rid of the huge pink elephant sitting in the sofa. What happened with Henrik and how come you guys walked separate ways?
- "We can put it like this. In the early years of Code 64 we all had the same views on what we wanted to do. During 'Storm' everything went smooth but when we started to make 'Departure' all the three of us realized that we had different opinions (some more than others) It was a lot of hard work making 'Departure' and it took quite a long time to finish it. After 'Departure' was released and we started to work on the third album, we didn't agree on many things at all. Henrik wanted to go more into the Bitpop/Chipmusic direction and we wanted to continue to evolve in the same way we had done from 'Storm' to 'Departure'. After a while the three of us realized that to save our friendships we had to split up. So Henrik started making chiptunes under other aliases while we continued with Code 64."

Now we are ready to move on, how did you guys find Bjorn?
- "Well, it actually goes back a lot of years. When we were on Angel Productions Bjørn was on the very same label as a keyboardist in his cyber metal band Black Comedy. So in that way we already knew of each others existence. Then it took some years before he approached us to ask if we were interested in letting him do a remix for us under his alias Bariuz (Check that out!). It was an easy decision and his remix eventually appeared on the 'Elektrisch! vol. 2' compilation on Major Records. A couple of years went on and we split up with Henrik. During that carbonation period of Code 64, we did a lot of other stuff with music. One of the things was ambient music. In a crazy coincidence Bjørn did guest vocals for an ambient song and it hit us, he could very well be perfect as the new vocalist in Code 64 and after a few demos we decided that he was the new third member."

You are about to release your new album 'Trialogue', could you tell us a little more about it?
- "It follows in the vein of what each of us are, what we think, feel, what we love to do. Of course there is this sci-fi aspect to it as we are geeks (surprise, surprise!) In addition to this there is a quite personal aspect to it too, both musically and lyrically. Our own musical vision wrapped in science fiction, occasionally exploring our musical roots. Something like that."

Some tracks have an almost trance feeling to them, a bit different from before, how come you integrated these influences?
- "Well, in our eyes, Trance is just one of many elements we've incorporated into this album. In addition to Electropop and EBM, it has elements of Techno, Acid, Breakbeat etc, but in our very own mixture. It wasn't anything we planned at all, it's more that we are being influenced everyday by different kinds of music and since all the three of us has such a wide taste in music it's only natural to be inspired by it all."

The end of 'Masquerade' is amazingly cute, who is the little boy singing and how did you come up with the idea?
- "The little boy singing is actually one of Crickes sons, Liam. As the good parent he is, teaches his kids to listen to electronic music and Liam loves to follow us to the studio to watch (and hopefully learn) when we do stuff. When he sang along to Masquerade it was like a bright light popped up in our heads. Liam loved to sing to it so we recorded it. He is the main character in our "Advanced Robotics" video we did as well (Check it out on YouTube!)"

You signed up with Progress Production not long ago, after the first release on Angel Production and some releases on Memento Materia. How did you come in contact with Progress Production and how is that collaboration working out?
- "Sweden is a small country and in the scene almost everyone know of eachother. Hasse and Torny Gottberg (Progress productions) met each other at different clubs in Gothenburg a lot of times and it always resulted in Minttu shot races. In between they started to talk about collaborating on the next release. Now we are here and couldn't be happier with that choice. Progress Productions is a great label for us, suits us perfectly."

Release party and live show coming up in Gothenburg, what can we expect?
- "You can expect to be able to buy the album, kidding. You can expect more energy from us than ever before! And since we have an awesome support band, Kropp (that will deliver you some fresh EBM), we are going to do our best to make everyone dance their asses off."

Will it be something similar to the support for the Covenant show or perhaps more new tracks?
- "You'll see. We're going to mix it up quite good for the fans, but obviously the new tracks are our main priority."

What do you guys think about the Spotify streaming music service and similar services? Good for the artist, bad for the artist or no difference?
- "Tricky question, in one way many people choose not to buy the album (And not only stop supporting us and other bands, but also the labels who usually spend quite a lot of money getting the album out there for you). On the other side if it is on Spotify exactly everyone with an account can get a hold of our songs to enjoy, which sometimes results in people actually buying an album they never would have bought otherwise. There simply isn't a true answer to this question."

Any last words to our readers?
- "Thanks for your time! Be sure to get 'Trialogue' when it's released on the 8th and 10th of september! And of course, if you get the chance, come see us play live!"

Promo photo by Helèn Qvillberg & Jonas Mattsson