Interview with Bottenhavet

Dark, cold stone rock, reflecting the coldness and Swedish dryness. This is Bottenhavet, who this year in the first half of April 2024 are releasing their first album, not in Sweden, but in Holland (?? Album will be released in both EU and US?). They did not wait long to sign the contract. Fuzzorama Records knew what they were getting into after listening to the single track they received as a pilot.
Alan – Hello band. When did you get together and who makes up the group?
Andy – Hello there! Currently Bottenhavet consists of singer Kim Minkkinen, drummer Marcus “Mac” Wigren, bassist David Lecander and guitarist Andreas “Andy” Bohman. The band was formed back in 2020 and released our first EP in 2021.

Alan – Did you play in other bands before Bottenhavet? Which ones? And the musical focus of these bands?
Andy – Yes, we've all had many previous projects that have come and gone. For instance, Kim has a lot of experience in the punk genre, Mac has played a lot of metal, and Andy used to be a blues guy - so a lot of different influences are brought into Bottenhavet!

Alan – Bottenhavet is a stone rock band by musical style. What other genres do you combine in your work?
Andy – Besides fuzzy stoner rock, we're quite fond of 70's rock, grunge as well as a bit of metal. These different influences make their way into our riffs, vocal lines and drum fills as an almost automatic flow.

Alan – How is it playing to stone rock bands in the north? In Sweden? Do these bands have a good background here?
Andy – It's quite a lively and active scene here in Sweden actually, even though it's relatively small! Legendary bands of the genre like Truckfighters and Dozer come from Sweden, so we get a lot of inspiration from bands here at home!

Alan – Before you released the album Ljud i Tysta Rum. You released the pilot track to the public. Which one was it? Did you also send this song to different labels? And the only one who contacted her was Fuzzorama Records? Or did you have more offers?
Andy – Before this album, we've relased an EP called "Ett hav av tårar", as well as a few singles after that. We then created demo versions of the songs on Ljud i Tysta Rum and started sending it to a few labels – but it didn't take long at all until we got in contact with Fuzzorama.

Alan - Why did you decide to release the LP + CD on Fuzzorama Records?
Andy – Fuzzorama Records is home to some of our favorite bands, so naturally we were thrilled that they liked our demo. Once we started to talk to them further, we got a really great vibe from them. Iit was clear that they were going to let us do our thing with the music according to our own vision, while still helping us move forward in several ways besides just distributing records.

Alan – The album contains 8 in stock. How long did you work on this album? Or did you all come up with an idea in advance when the group was born, and as a whole (the whole band) you adjusted the songs to your liking so that they formed the face of Bottenhavet?
Andy – We started to properly work on the new album in 2022, when we felt that it was time to take a leap forward after releasing an EP and a few singles. The writing process was a joint effort, where different riffs and song ideas originated from all band members. We spent a lot of time together in the same room, constructing the songs piece by piece. The idea was to find a cohesive sound for the whole album, using what we learned from previous releases. We tried to give ourselves a relatively tight deadline in order not to get stuck. Being frustrating and discouraging at times, it certainly taught us a lot about each other, and forced us to spend quite a bit of time philosophizing around how we best capture the creativity of each individual, as we’re certainly not the kind of band where one person dictates and the others simply execute.

Alan – You have an announced tour of Sweden, Finland, and Poland. At what stage is the tour scheduled? So where do you get off at?
Andy – We're really excited to get out there and play this spring! A few of the shows will be together with Truckfighters, which is going to be awesome of course. We're still in the process of booking shows for this year, so expect more dates to be added.

Alan – Isn't the Swedish lyrics a hindrance in planning the tour? I personally don't mind, on the contrary, I'm glad when groups from different countries have lyrics in their native language.
Andy – So far, we've actually only gotten positive reactions from listeners in other countries regarding that our lyrics are in Swedish. It's a central part of our sound and expression, so hopefully any audience can appreciate the authentiticy of it even if they don't understand the words.

Alan – Have you tried to contact an agency or even an individual about playing in the Czech Republic and Slovakia?
Andy – Not yet, but we would love to go there and play!

Alan – Speaking of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, do you know any bands from these countries?
Andy – I heard a band on Bandcamp recently called Opium Warlock, from Prague I believe? Absolutely insane sludge, very cool!

Alan - Your satisfaction with the work done? How would you rate Ljud and Tysta Rum yourself? Succeeded?
Andy – We're actually very proud of the album and how great it came together, but it also helped us realise what we can do even better for our next album of course. An essential part was also played by Robert Pehrsson of Humbucker Studios – he did a fantastic job mixing and mastering, as well as helped us with a few key decisions regarding the sound which really took the album to another level.

Alan – Thanks for the interview. And yes, we like your work.
Andy – Thank you very much, hope to see you out there!

https://www.bottenhavet.se
https://eu.fuzzoramastore.com/en/bottenhate.html