Andreas Sandberg. Does that name ring a bell? Well, Andreas used to sing for Swedish metal/crossover masters Dr. Living Dead but had to leave the band because of other commitments. 'I left the band mainly cause I needed to focus on full time studies,' explains Andreas. 'I realized that I could not promise to focus 100% on the band during my future studies. It would have been meaner if I stayed in the band and were forced to cancel important gigs because of that. But you know, we are still friends and I still do all their artwork.' So no bad feelings between Dr. Living Dead and their former singer at all. On the contrary. 'I actually met Mike Muir, one of my all-time heroes,' begins Andreas his little story. 'That was shortly after I had left Dr. Living Dead! They did two shows as support for Suicidal and I had the chance to watch my own band live for the first time and of course Suicidal afterwards. I never talked to Mike about my music with him. I basically just'said hello, but Dr. Living Dead was accepted by everyone involved with the crew and so on. It was really cool!'
As you might have already guessed not long ago Andreas Sandberg formed a band of his own. Negative Self. One look at the fant'stic artwork and it is clear for all to see that Negative Self also seem to have been influenced a fair bit by metal/hardcore crossover legends Suicidal Tendencies. 'I am absolutely a huge fan of the band since I was a teenager, and still am,' confesses Andreas Sandberg. 'They are clearly a great'source of inspiration and an obvious one, too. I like the classic stuff of course. The 'Feel Like Shit', and the 'Lights Camera' stuff are the ones that are still spinning once a week or so.' Talking about their debut album ?Negative Self? Andreas explains: 'For us, it's a mix of everything we like: punk, hardcore, metal, melodic stuff, whatever the end result. We are really sat'sfied with the final outcome. It's crossover. A mixture of diffirent genres that we like.'
It would be just too easy to compare Negative Self with Dr. Living Dead, there surely are differences in songs such as 'Back On Track', 'Call It Depression' and the catchy 'No Tomorrow'. For one, the guitar work of Tor Nyman is really outstanding, very technical as well. 'Tor has played in a lot of bands before,' says Andreas Sandberg. 'He used to be in Oppression a long time ago and later in Headed For Disaster for a few years. Tor and Frank are also members of the band Christer Pettersson. Check 'em out. World's fast'st band. And, yeah, Tor is fast. Sometimes I get really scared of him when he reaches light'speed. I'm happy I am surrounded by fast people. I like fast'stuff. I had a project called Planet Ape that was a one-man project'shortly after leaving my old band, this one turned from one person into two, and then three, and later became Negative Self. That's how the band evolved.' Mentioned bass player Frank Guldstrand also deserves credit for the excellent production work on the nine tracks: 'Yeah, he is the guy responsible for that'sound. He is a professionally trained sound engineer and a damn good one too.'
There may be big differences between Dr. Living Dead and Negative Self but there will certainly be people out there deriding Andreas Sandberg's new band as mere 'Suicidal clones'. The Swedish vocalist does not'seem to be too bothered: 'They can call us whatever they want. There'll certainly be a handful of people who will call us this and that. It's always that way. In the end you like something or not. And that's cool with us. If you like us, that's cool, if you hate us, well that's cool, too. I mean, all the bands that came after Black Sabbath, where they tribute bands as well? No, they got inspired by them. That's all.'
Matthias Mader
