Angels vs Demons: The Solence Story

SOLENCE returns with fresh visuals, a new look, and a retrofitted sound that combines the best of their past with a look into the future for both the group and the genre. “For some reason, I’ve always felt like my time on earth is limited, as if I might die young,” frontman Markus Videsäter explains. “Our music is about making the most of life, relationships, and passion before heaven calls us home.”

SOLENCE’s lineup consists of frontman Markus Videsäter alongside guitarist David Strääf, keyboardist Johan Swärd, and drummer David “Viking” Vikingsson. They focus all its energy on uplifting anyone in a dark state of mind to a brighter place. “SOLENCE is all about having a good time,” Videsäter declares. “Our message to our existing fans and potential new ones is that we want to bring the fun back into rock n’ roll.”

“Storytelling is a lot of fun,” he continues. “I write about motivation and how to get myself up in the morning. So, yes, there’s still a lot of that. We bundle it up in a lot more energy and craziness. ANGELS CALLING is so cool. I love every single song. I’m so excited about how massive it feels.”

I sat down with Markus Videsäter and we discussed everything from the process of making the new album from the ashes of a scrapped one, making the video for Wish You The Worst, on through to, well ... penguins!

Being that this is your fifth album and sets out to uplift anyone in a dark state of mind to a brighter place, before we explore it can you please explain how you lyrically construct your songs in this specific way, with your specific message always threaded throughout? - “I think we just try to wake up every morning and write the songs that we wanna hear, that give us energy and that helps us to go through life easier, hopefully. It comes from a genuine emotion and isn’t something that I necessarily think that much about - more comes naturally,” he smiles.

What were some of the biggest obstacles along the way to bringing this album to fruition and how did you overcome them? - “Biggest one by far was scrapping the album we did before. We and our team felt like it just wasn’t up to par, so we had some difficult conversations and just decided to redo it and make it better. I’m so happy we did though. ANGELS CALLING in itself really came together pretty easily. It often happens when we stop to think and just do whatever we feel like doing at the moment.”

As for the album, Angels Calling, I understand that it is one created with fresh visuals, a new look and a retrofitted sound. So can you please explain just what that means within the context of how it came together, both thematically and musically - “Sure! Fresh visuals are due to our amazing creative director, Anton, and our designer, Michael Cortada. We just wanted to make something fresh, but also something that connects all the past albums both visually and musically. It really feels like the ultimate “Solence Experience,” which is exactly what we were after!”

A lot of words have already been used to describe your music, but how would you yourself sum up your sound on this album ... and in just five (5) words? - “Energy, Motivation, Empowerment, Tempo, Bulldozer!!” Please tell us (in a couple of sentences or less) a little more about what these tracks noted below mean to you and how they came to be:

Angels Calling - “David (guitarist David Strääf) came up with the choir sample on tour with The HU last year. We thought it was awesome and I (Markus) wrote the vocals in the studio in L.A. Really sums up the whole album for me: do what you want here and now, because you never know when your time is out here on earth.”

Monsters In My Head, Wish You The Worst -““Monsters In My Head” and “Wish You The Worst” came together pretty similarly. We wrote together with our good friend Jimmy Duval and made the ideas together. After that, David and I got together and fleshed it out, wrote the breakdowns and finished the songs. “Monsters In My Head” is about having memories that haunt you at night, while “Wish You The Worst” is the “Fuck you” anthem of the album,” he smiles

MESS - “Fastest song we made on the album! David made the track, I came up with this vocal talking about our generation, and we just put it together. One of my favorites from the album!”

And was Angels Calling always going to be the album’s name or was there another that nearly won the race come the time to take your hands off the project? - “I think “Angels Calling” always had the top spot, actually.”

Being that we’re not called Exclusive Magazine for nothing, is there a hidden message, a secret notation or an easter egg to be found amongst all the tracks assembled for Angels Calling? - “Hmm, that’s a tough question! You better listen to the album back and forth a couple of times and maybe you’ll figure it out,” he laughs. “No, but there is a lot of production happening and we try to make every listen a new experience. So hopefully there’s always something new going on when you put it on repeat!”

The video for Wish You The Worst is very darkly shot, very red at times, so who came up with the idea and what can you tell us about the behind-the-scenes set up of it and how the filming went? - “I actually ruptured my Achilles in April, so we had to film in different locations. We all filmed on green screens, overseen by Anton and then our wonderful director Kristoffer put it all together. Anton and Kristoffer had the vision all along. We wanted to make something black, white and red for colors for this album.”

What are some of the last albums (CD, vinyl, cassette, et al) you physically purchased (vintage and/or new releases) and which one have you already gone back to listen to more and why? - “BLOOD SUGAR SEX MAGIC, BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES…those two I always go back to. Because they ROCK!”

And as we come to the end here, with regard your upcoming new album Angels Calling, what would you like all the readers of this interview to know about it and what to expect?

- “I hope that they listen to it and get inspired to go to a Solence show and enjoy the “Solence Experience”! We really poured our heart into this one and I think it shows. Thank you so much for having me.”

And yes, we ask everyone we interview this very same question (as we are putting together a kid’s book). We here at Exclusive Magazine love Penguins and so we were wondering if you had any love for them and/or had a story of one (soft toy, zoo, chocolate bar, relative, etc.) that you could share with us? - “Hahah this is so random, but I remember a kids show called “Pingu” that I watched when I was little. That’s about the only experience, haha!”

And finally, we asked Markus to kindly provide a never-before-seen photograph of himself. One that perfectly personified their readiness for the world to hear his new musical endeavor. And kindly, this is what he sent.