INTERVIEW:: Edwin Premberg & Erica Ohlsson (Metalite) - December 2020

QUICKIE OF THE WEEK: A short interview with Edwin Premberg & Erica Ohlsson (Metalite)

Pix666: Hello Erica, hey Edwin. The most important question right at the beginning. Are you healthy and are you well?

Edwin: Hi! Everything’s great. Still healthy and feeling great!

Erica: Yeah, me too! Feeling good and everything is fine except that I want everything to be ”normal” again…

Pix666: How are the other guys from the band doing?

Edwin: I think everyone’s ok, we haven’t been able to see each other in a while though because of the recommendations.

Pix666: At what age did you realise that you wanted to become a musician? Which bands inspired you most at that time and which bands do you currently like to listen to most?

Erica: I have been singing since very young age, and loved every second of it. But it was when I moved to Stockholm at the age of 18 I really felt that singing was something I wanted to do for real. I listened to a lot of different music and artists, but rock has always had a special place in my heart.

Edwin: I have played different instruments since I was 5 years old and it has always been a dream for me to write and perform with my own music.

Pix666: Tell the readers a little bit about Metalite – who are you, how did the band members meet? Have you played in other bands before?

Erica: When I joined Metalite they had already released an album. Edwin called me, after seeing me in a rockshow I was involved in, and told me that they needed a singer for the band and asked me if I was interested. So I went to do a rehearsal with them, also the first time I was going to meet the band for the first time, and it was so fun and they were so great, so after that night I really wanted to be a part of this amazing band, which also is my first one.

Edwin: I have played in different cover bands before this but not as serious as this. When I was looking for members for this band project in the beginning I started to seek among mutual friends etc. The social media is a very good place to find people or different occasions. In this case I started to contact some interested persons and soon I had the perfect musicians, perfect for this band!

Pix666: A few days ago you released the video clip of your new single ‘Peacekeepers’. Within a few days, the clip had over 30.000 views on YouTube – a clear sign that you are on the right track. Did you expect such a big response?

Edwin: Yes, thats kind of sick! I´m so happy about it. But of course, its a good song and we’re aiming for the top.

Erica: Yes I agree with Edwin, we are so happy with all the great respons and fantastic comments about the song. I love the song and I have had a very good feeling about ‚Peacekeepers‘ since the first time I heard it.

Pix666: Where did you shoot the clip? – This big hall with lots of graffiti is a pretty cool location for a video shoot. How long did the shooting take and did you have any funny moments during the shooting, any breakdowns or scenes that you had to shoot several times?

Edwin: The production team 11Frames had a suggestion of a place for ’Peacekeepers’ were a lot of productions have been filmed. It’s an old and big industry area in Mölndal, Gothenburg. They took us around these great industry buildings and made some great footage! We also did the shooting for the second video here, but in a studio in this area were some different film production companies reside. We shot 2 videos in two days and it was sooo much fun. 11Frames are so into details and every scene was filmed several times. Just to get that extra detail and perfect footage. I think I slept a week after that haha!

Pix666: The single is the harbinger of your third album ‘A Virtual World’. How far is the work on the album completed – will it be released as planned in spring 2021? What inspired you in songwriting and what has changed in comparison to the first two albums, apart from the fact that you now have Erica on board as the new singer?

Edwin: The whole album is recorded and now Jacob Hansen is working on the mix. He´s in the last process and I think we’ll have the final product within some weeks. About the albums, I think this one is a really melodic one. If you thought that we were melodic on the first two albums, this will be a melodic blast! I wanted to get back to the first album and write the music more as ”Heroes In Time” was written. This melodic synth leads and jump fast between different chord progressions through out the songs. The songs are more dynamic now when Erica has joined us. More harmonics, choirs and so on. Her voice is totally perfect for this kind of music!

Pix666: How big was the impact of the Corona crisis on the whole process – the work on album and video, the tour planning and generally the schedule for the whole product?

Erica: Corona has really ruined 2020 for us. It felt like this was our year. All our gigs, and we had some really awesome once, was cancelled. So that gave us time to get started with our third album. And that has been a very excited and fun journey. The virus couldn’t take that away from us, haha

Edwin: No the virus couldn’t take that away! I think that this was the perfect time to write new music and record in the studio. We really couldn’t do anything else.

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Pix666: Do you know in which countries Metalite is listened most often? If so, do you include these statistical information in your tour planning?

Edwin: We have got a really big response from the US, Germany and Finland. Of course Sweden too but this is a very small country and it’s a really small genre here. We hope that we can please the EU fans later in 2021 with a tour. Right now we have a small tour in Spain booked and it will be awesome to tour again, if we are able to.

Pix666: What else did you do besides the music during the contact restrictions? Do you have any interesting hobbies?

Edwin: We have worked a lot with the new album. It has been a process which actually went pretty fast. Just because of the lockdowns and recommendations. The music is my hobby so I have been able to concentrate even more on that.

Erica: Yeah, since everything was cancelled because of the virus, we decided to start recording the new songs for the third album. Me and Edwin is a dreamteam in the studio, Haha!

Pix666: Maybe you would like to tell us a little bit about the situation in your home country Sweden. What is the mood, what restrictions are there, are the shops still open?

Erica: We haven’t had a lockdown here in Sweden, but we had have a lot of different restrictions to relate to, which changes from week to week it feels like. But I hope everyone is striving for the same goal, and really do their best to defeat this virus.

Pix666: Do you have any other news about Metalite that you would like to share with the fans?

Edwin: Were looking forward to release the new album and of course the video for our second single. This time in the release process is sooo exciting and to finally show the fans our new songs. We hope that we can get out and play soon, keep an eye on our Facebook page for the latest info about the band, tours, merch, releases etc etc.

Erica: Yes everything that he said! We hope that this situation we’re in right now will turn to the positive so we can go back to touring and playing and meet our fans again! But until then we hope you will enjoy our music.

Pix666: Thank you very much for the interesting answers and good luck with the new album – Stay healthy!!!

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