Interview date: August 1998
Human Race's For The Sake Of Your Soul album was one of the more interesting CDs to be released so far this year. It takes a few listens to get into, but it is well worth the effort. On the eve of the release of the album in Japan, I caught up with guitarist Robert Hansson.
Q1. Your latest album, For The Sake Of Your Soul, was released by Z Records. How did you meet up with Z mainman, Mark Alger ?
Robert's reply:
- We released a MCD in Japan last year, which he got his hands on. But I´ve known him since -96, I think. So we started to talk about working together which ended up in the release of our new CD "For The Sake Of Your Soul".
Q2. I would describe the Human Race sound as 'Talisman/Rainbow updated for the 90s'. Do you agree with that? Most of the reviews I've read have mentioned them, maybe you are tired of whole Rainbow/Talisman comparison thing? Do you think you have a particularly modern sound?
Robert's reply:
- Its up to everyone who listens to the album but personally I´m so tired of this comparison to Talisman/Rainbow! I can understand that Stefanos voice sometimes can be related to Jeff Scott Soto, but the music...? I hadnt heard Talisman before we got some reviews of our album, so I went and checked
out some of their records. And I went...eeeh? I think they were great but I dont really hear the comparison exept maybe for the vocals time to time. I think we
have some kind of a unique sound with all our analog keyboards and vocal arrangements. On top of this, its recorded in a top modern studio during 4 months and mixed at the Swedish National Radio which offers the best equipment around.
Q3. I don't think it mentions it in the CD booklet, who does the song writing in the band?
Robert's reply:
- I´ll guess you got one of those rare booklets who some info were missing in? Basically its me and Stefano (the vocalist) who writes the major parts, but there are also some tracks that "happend" during rehearsals, like "Where Do I Belong". Then theres "Free Your Mind" that Mats (keys) had the greatest input on. "The Web" was written by me, Stefano and Dennis (bass).
Q4. Whenever you go back and listen to the album, are you happy with the results? Is there anything you would like to change?
Robert's reply:
- No, not really. I´m very happy with it. The songs are great and the production and arrangements are topclass! (thanks to our producer: Par Edwardsson)
Q5. The quirky little soundbites - "Ze Vebb take 1", "Mr Engineer faders up" etc - suggest that you managed to enjoy yourselves during the hard work of recording the album? Comedians and gameshow hosts all have catchphrases, but not many rock bands. Is "Mr Engineer, faders up" going to start your live shows?
Robert's reply:
- hahaha....good idea! But maybe "Dont Look Back" is a little bit slow to start a show with. Up to now we have started our live shows with "Free Your Mind" after a "dangerous" (ha!) intro, but maybe you have got me thinking of something else here... As you said, recording a album demands very hard work and we tried to have as much fun as possible and our producer was really a master of creating laughs during the sessions. The phrase "Ze Vebb..." was actually said by him when we recorded the drums, so its nothing we´ve come up with afterwards. Its quite odd to start a record like this, and I hope everyone who listens to the album get surprised and laughs.
Q6. Don't Look Back is my favourite song from the album. Do you have a favourite tune & why?
Robert's reply:
- Yeah, "Dont Look Back" is great! The heavy verse and the big and almost AOR-ish chorus are really good. Personally I like "Remember When" very much as it starts off really soft and grows heavier, then softer again etc. Take a listen to the vocal and harmonyvocal arrangement during that track.
Q7. The story behind E20 Expressway has been covered in quite a few interviews. Does it reveal a secret yearning for Human Race to be the next Tangerine Dream?
Robert's reply:
- Hmmm....to tell you the truth, I´ve never heard them! I have seen a review of our album in some magazine, which compered us to them. Have they recorded the motorway out of the window of the appartment as a ending of a record? I think HR would like to be the next Human Race! (laughs)
Q8. Now that you are signed to a UK label, do you have any plans to tour the UK, maybe with one of your Z labelmates?
Robert's reply:
- Yes, we had a couple of gigs confirmed in the U.K during October but unfortunately we had to cancel them due to personal commitments within Sweden. But we WILL tour the U.K, I promise. Maybe early December or January next year.
Q9. What are the plans for Human Race?
Robert's reply:
- We have started to write songs for our next record already. And we will do a small club-tour here in Sweden during the Autumn. Our goal right now is to
play as much live as possible. And since we just released our album in Japan, by Teichiku Records on August 21st, there are interviews to be done all
the time. We are very excited about the release in Japan, curious about the reaction.
Q10. Z has signed up quite a few Scandinavian bands. What is your view of the Swedish music scene at the moment?
Robert's reply:
- There are no really melodic hardrock scene to talk about, every band from Sweden seems to point their arrow towards Germany and Japan. In this genre you dont sell 20% of the albums here as you sell there. Most of the Swedish bands are high quality bands, but we dont reach the big audience here.
Q11. Any final comments?
Robert's reply:
- I hope everyone who´s a little bit tired of standard arrangements within melodic hardrock would offer a few minutes and chech out our new album. I must honestly say that its a damn (ops!) good and interesting album! And I hope we get to see many of you out there when we will come to the U.K and play live.
Many thanks to Robert for taking the time to reply to my questions and to Mark Alger for arranging the interview.
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