Drummer Tobben talks about his recording experience for album 7 and joining TPH.
“To sum this whole TPH experience for me in one word: exciting!
When I first got the question from K to play drums on the new The Project Hate album I was somewhat divided. One part of me badly wanted to do something else that isn’t fast, brutal and straightforward death metal – which I’ve done for years in both Vomitory and Torture Division – but something that challenged me as a drummer and musician. The other part of me didn’t want to do it because I’m already playing with K and Jörgen in Torture Division. I didn’t want it become infected and perhaps make both bands lose a bit of their credibility. K didn’t get a straight answer from me right away, ’cause I needed some time to think about it. But after a while I thought “fuck it, I love playing with these guys and they obviously love playing with me, so let’s go for it!”. And I knew for sure that the TPH material would challenge the drummer in me.
Said and done, K provided me with the songs one by one as they got created. I have listened so many hours to these songs before I recorded them, that I almost puked on them at times. But the material is very strong and I have looked forward to record this album so much, it’s ridiculous. This has been said before, but I have to point out again that this will – hands down – be the darkest and heaviest TPH album to date. I still get chills down my spine when I hear some specific parts on this album! K has managed to create some exceptional music for this album as well as having both myself and the magnificent Ruby on board now, which definitely have brought new dimensions to the TPH sound.
The recording process for me went very smooth. Because of a lot of different things we had to re-schedule the recording one week earlier than planned. This was not a problem at all, I was well rehearsed. So, a few weeks ago I moved my dearly beloved Tama Starclassic drum kit and my beautiful Meinl cymbals from the Vomitory rehearsal place, some 10 minutes away, to Big Balls Productions new studio in Karlstad/Sweden. Just as with recording my drum tracks for Torture Division, Mats Lindström was a pure joy to work with. He’s very laid back but job-effective and a talented musician so there were never any problems with getting our part of this job done in the best possible way.
After setting up and sound checking the drums on Tuesday evening, we started to record on Wednesday evening. We aimed on nailing one song per night, which we did. On Saturday we did two though, and the last one on Sunday. I have never been this picky before on any recording – not even with my dear Vomitory. I wanted all parts to feel as perfect as I wanted them to, and listening back to it now, I’m very happy that I was that picky ’cause it’s safe to say that I’m very happy with my effort! Most of the “crucial” parts, that I was a little nervous about before entering the studio, were the ones that I nailed on the first take. Bam! Just like that! Very unlike me, haha! Funny enough, I had to struggle a little more with some of the “easy” parts. But it was totally worth all that extra work and time. As I’ve said so many times before to K, joining The Project Hate has made me a better drummer and I guess that’s the best compliment I can give him, me being the drummer in his band.
Now when I’ve heard some clips from the final mix I can just once again state that my drums and cymbals sound so fucken ace, and that makes me very happy as the drum-nerd I am. But also, now everything makes sense when I hear the beautiful voices of Ruby and Jörgen in the music (which I didn’t while recording the drums)! I am so looking forward to get the final product in my hands, put it in my stereo, put my headphones on, turn out the lights, sit back and just enjoy!”
