Imminence

Swedish band Imminence are fast emerging as one of the most promising acts from their country with such a diverse sound embracing everything from metalcore to acoustic music. Fronted by vocalist and video director Eddie Berg, guitarist Harald Barrett, drummer Peter Hanström and bass player Max Holmberg; Imminence was formed in Trelleborg/Malmö in 2010 and now are expanding their fan base all over the world. Eddie Berg shares a few words with Hi Fi Way: The Pop Chronicles about their new album This Is Goodbye.

Congratulations on your second album This Is Goodbye. Do you feel that the second album for any band carries a lot more pressure and expectation that the debut?
Thank you very much! For me personally, everything we do carries more and more pressure because we always aim to make it better and bigger with every new step. This time, we also have a big label in our back, so of course the expectations are a lot higher.

How much do you feel that the Imminence sound has evolved from the debut?
I feel that our sound has evolved into a much more mature and thoughtful record. Both musically and lyrically I’m a lot more proud of our current release.

What is the metal scene like in Sweden and how much influence did that have on the band?
We have a lot of great bands coming from Sweden, but not such a present scene. There’s not a lot of people living in Sweden compared to the size of the country. Swedish bands like In Flames, played a great roll in influencing Imminence.

Are there any other bands you look up to and you consider as significant influences? And who?
Like I mentioned before, In Flames. They were a big reason why we started Imminence. Linkin Park and Chester were a big reason that I started singing in the first place. Other bands like Thirty Seconds To Mars and Coldplay has also been really important influences.

How important was producer Simon Peyron to the recording process?
He opened up our eyes to other musical genres and a totally different approach to writing music. We clicked really well and he had a way of pulling out the best in me.

What do you think he bought to the table compared to another producer?
Fun and creativity together with an attention for detail. I just really enjoyed working with him, I was comfortable in our work relationship.

What was it like listening back to the final product back for the first time?
It’s not like a big surprise, because it doesn’t really change from black to white. You have a lot of stages in the production and bouncing drafts back and forth. So it’s more of a slow evolution. But it felt really great to finally be able to sit back and listen and just breathe out, that it was finally done.

Do you look forward to the grind of touring and how’s life on the road right now?
The ultimate goal with creating our music, is to bring it to the stage, to the fans. We actually already started the grinding in Europe, but we love it.

Any plans to tour Australia this year?
Nothing is planned yet. But we have people working to spread the word about Imminence in Australia, and as soon as we have a good opportunity, we can’t wait to seize it.

Interview by Rob Lyon

This Is Goodbye is out now