Peter Andersson

Mean Streak

Some people believe that following modern trends shall be the key to success. Fair with me; music progresses and needs certain musicians' services to grow. On the other side, can you close your eyes to skilled classic Metal music the way e.g. Sweden's MEAN STREAK offer in their Metal Slave debut CD (we really hope for a vinyl edition, too)? Founder/songwriter Peter Andersson speaks nothing but the truth; home is where the heart is, anyway.

By Grigoris Chronis

• September 16, 2009

Interview with: Peter Andersson from MEAN STREAK

Hello Peter, greetings from Metal-Temple.com! Where do we find you right now?

Right now I'm at home in Sweden doing promotion on the album and also writing on new material (which I always pretty much do)!

Well, let's move in for the kill: Metal Slave is due to be released on September via Black Lodge records. Still, it's been while some time since you wrapped up the song writing/recordings for MEAN STREAK's debut CD. In this meantime, what key points of the album would you refer to in order to describe it to the potential buyer?

I firmly believe that this is a very strong debut album, it's not that we are trying to conquer new territories here, it's just plain simple vintage Heavy Metal but it's written with a lot of love and compassion.

If you are into Metal as it used to sound before everybody started to tune down the guitars and all that shit and if you like to grab a few beers and sing along in catchy choruses, then MEAN STREAK is the shit for you! We are not into any special image or clothing or so, just let the music do the talking and one of these days we will appear in black leather and spikes and do our thing live on a venue near you!

Was it an inevitable decision to write classic Metal stuff for what resulted to be the Metal Slave album? You formed this band, hence it's you who has the most clear vision regarding MEAN STREAK, right?

Yes it was never any doubt about it! I've grown up with bands such as MAIDEN, PRIEST etc so that is where I come from and that is the general idea with MEAN STREAK. No bullshit, just classic Heavy Metal.

Was it difficult to find the rest of the band's members; people that share the same vision? Or this present lineup was used only for the Metal Slave sessions? Would you comment on each musician in a few words?

When I found singer Andy I was a bit relieved because ultimately the singer is probably the most important piece in any Rock band in my opinion. If you haven't got a good singer you ain't got nothing. Jonas on the drums is an old friend since way back and I've always knew he could manage this kind of drumming but I wasn't sure he was that into Metal but he showed to be a true Metal heart and he's also one hell of a drummer as well as a studio engineer. We have great fun together and he's the perfect Metal drummer in my book.

Patrik Gardberg who does most of the lead guitars on the album is probably the best timed guitar player I have ever worked with. He is intelligent enough to be able to do classic stuff and mix it with totally far out things and blend it together to create his own style. I just love the guy. When we recorded the songs he was unfortunately hooked up with another band so he was only doing session work on the album but now and onwards I'm happy to say that he is in the lineup full time! Second lead guitarist will be David Andersson, who recently finished his work with SOILWORK as a session guitarist on their world tour. A very skilled guitar player and I'm sure he will fit like a glove in MEAN STREAK. Yes, it was a bit tricky finding the right people but I had a singer and a drummer and since I write most of the songs I know I had the foundation to a really good Metal act. Now I feel I also have two of the best guitar players so things could not be better at this time!

How easy or difficult was it to put your ideas into songs? Traditional Metal is not the field known for its flexibility, nearly 30 years after the glorious 80s. You see MEAN STREAK as a 'paying tribute' band or your scope is to develop your own personality gradually (something that e.g. I can already witness from Metal Slave's tracklist and only)?

The songs come naturally to me since I'm born and raised at this kind of music. However I will definitely try to progress in my songwriting but it will always be Heavy Metal because that is basically all I can write. No, we are not a tribute band to the 80s, we write and perform this kind of music because I can not find any others that do that today. I like and listen to other kind of Metal as well but to really get me going I need some old Metal.

And then the only choice for me is to either buy old DIO/MAIDEN/PRIEST etc remasters on CD or to try and write that kind of music myself which I am fortuned enough to be able to do.

Sweden/Scandinavia hosts many bands in this New Wave Of Classic European Heavy Metal (to rephrase it a bit, haha!), and we can see MEAN STREAK holding some notable quality in both musicianship and overall atmosphere. Are you, though, willing to accept bad critics from some people claiming you do nothing than just reproduce/simulate the 80s Metal deeds? Really, would you say you should care 'bout the people's (fans, Media) opinion anyway? Should it matter?

I am very much prepared on that kind of critic. Of course it's always nice if people like the song one does but I wont be losing any sleep if there are those that don't like it and see MEAN STREAK as reproducers. In a way we are just that and I'm proud to be that because we carry on the legacy of those great bands earlier mentioned and we try to do our thing and if that is not that particular person's taste there's really not much I can do about it. We play this kind of Metal simply because we love to do so and because that is what we are good at.

One strong point- in my opinion- is the fact that the album's production is not that stuck in the classic Metal sounds. I mean, there's clearly some vintage Metal aura spread, but at the same time there's something fresh hitting the listener's ears; something now happening. Would you agree on that? If yes, under what circumstances did your sound evolve?

We tried to create a sound that we like. Just because we do old-school Metal we do listen to other new Metal and Hard Rock. We tried to get the sound in a way that it would feel powerful an' heavy without having to D-drop the guitars and bass. We try to show that you can do heavy stuff if the songs are strong enough. There is not much guitar dubs, one left and one right, an ordinary drum kit and a bass without distortion on the album. This way we tried to maintain the honestly in the production. But, yes, we do feel that the sound is fresh and much of that is due to Fredrik Nordstrom who mixed the album. A great sound engineer with awesome feeling for mixing Metal and that was exactly why we hired him. Nice dude and extremely good work by him.

Now a typical one: would you say your influence comes mostly from the British or Central/Northern Europe Metal landmark bands? Some examples of bands you think have contributed to MEAN STREAK's sound would be of help, I think.

Well I've mentioned a few above, those are probably the most important influences but we like many other band as well. I think it was around 1998 sometime Swedish TV decided to air what they called heavy Metal night. It was bits and pieces of three nights at Westfallenhalle in Dortmunt, Germany. Of course me and Andy didn't know each other back then but we have many talked about how that night changed our lives forever. For the first time ever we saw and heard bands as MAIDEN, PRIEST, SCORPIONS, DEF LEPPARD, KROKUS and so on.

So, all of those great bands have really meant a lot to us and if someone thinks we copy them I say- hell yeah ! why shouldn't we ? That is to us the best music ever written and performed and we are very proud to carry on the legacy as best as we can. So the short answer is probably British Heavy Metal first and then later German Metal with SCORPIONS and ACCEPT.

Were you eager to invite some renowned guest to participate in some song off the new album? Or you think this is some short of promotional bonus only and nothing else? Who'd you like, though?

No, we did it by ourselves but I wouldn't mind if Yngwie had sneaked in to the studio and lay down some solos!!! We do consider him a great guitar player and songwriter. I've worked with Ian Hauglund of EUROPE in the past and he was a great person and a great drummer but the album did not sold any more copies just because he played on it so I don't really believe in the idea of guests.

To be released through Black Lodge Records, Metal Slave is also to be distributed all over the world or we're talking- till now- for the European territory and only?

It will be distributed all over the world as far as I've being told.

Really, how did you come into agreement with Black Lodge? Any other negotiations you've been into?

Yeah, we had a few. One was very funny by the way, no names mentioned, but it was an Italian label that was very keen on everything for a couple of weeks and then all of a sudden stopped answering mails and everything the next day! I don't know, maybe I offended him in any way...It was pretty funny though.

We did a show at a Rock club here in Skovde, Sweden and after a few beers we came up with this idea that instead of getting paid for the gig it would be cool if the club could pay for 500 CD copies instead.

The owners are friends of mine and they are really into Metal so they agreed and a couple of weeks later we ended up with 500 copies in my garage!

What the hell are we doing now?, we asked ourselves. So I listened around and came up with this distribution company- Sound Pollution - and sent them a copy. A few weeks later, when I had forgotten all about it, I suddenly received a phone call from Johan Hargeby at Black Lodge and then it was a done deal.

Peter, are you into any other forms of Metal music? Some melodic Heavy/Power Metal stuff or anything more into Extreme Metal maybe? You believe the conscious metalhead should show true belief and walk on the same music path or Metal music is another field where exploration and development is an inevitable result, like it or not?

Yes, I like a lot of different music but one thing that is truly important to be is honestly and energy in the music. I really love RAMMSTEIN, SKUNK ANANSIE, JOURNEY and a lot of other stuff but I do believe that I will keep myself in the vintage Metal area simply because I love it and I slowly but surely feel I'm getting the hang on it. It's nothing wrong with development but I believe that you should stick to your guns and never surrender.

Extreme metal is not for me, I'm afraid, unless I'm hammered and feel like doing some serious mooching and headbanging. And then I can only stand it for like one song before I gently sneak in my mp3 player and hit the play button and the familiar sound of the intro to Holy diver appears!

Thanx a lot for your time, Peter. Really hope we'll be listening to MEAN STREAK's news again in the future to come.

Thank you for showing interest in MEAN STREAK! Best Regards, Peter Andersson.

Share on Facebook

Share via Email