To begin with allow me to start by asking about your previous band, Lost Horizon. Can you tell us a few things about them and the reasons you left?

Well, Lost Horizon was a band that I (Fredrik Olsson) and Daniel Heiman participated in for a few years. Daniel sang on both their albums, but I joined them after the release of their first album. They are still active as a band, but are searching for a singer.

The reason for me to departure from Lost Horizon is that I wanted to create heavier music and that I felt that Lost Horizon didn't go anywhere. The last year in the band, I felt no joy of playing music at all and felt that a change was necessary. I mean, music is what makes me staying alive, and as I said, I felt no joy of playing with LH, so I had to take a different path in life.

Daniel also wanted to create his own music, with a heavier touch to it, so for him a split was necessary too.

Do they still exist?

Yes, but they do not have a singer at the moment.

When did you have the first the conception of Heed? How did the band get completed?

Me and Daniel have been playing together for a long, long time. Actually, we started our first band when we were 13 years old, so for us to start a new band together was a natural thing to do. We have the same musical influences, ideas and visions. As soon as we both left Lost Horizon the embryo for Heed was born.

The drummer Mats Karlsson who joined the band we met when he was a replacement drummer for the Lost Horizon drummer on a Spanish tour. Lost Horizon's drummer got hurt in a car accident so Mats had to learn all the LH's songs in two days. He did a great job with that, so when we started Heed, he was the first name on our list.

Mats recommended the bass player Jörgen Olsson. They had played together in several bands before, so we tried him out and liked what we heard.

How long did it take you to compose and record "The Call"? Are there any interesting shots of the recordings that you could tell us?

For me to compose the songs took about 2-3 months. Some of the songs were written in just a couple of days, while others took weeks to finish. A funny thing is that one of my favorite songs on the album, "The Permanent End Celebration", was the song which took me the shortest time to write.

The recording progress took about 1 - 1 ½ months. We were all well rehearsed and the recording went very smooth. One interesting thing that comes to my mind regarding the recording is when Daniel was laying down the vocals for "Salvation". At the last chorus of the song, he told us that he wanted to hold one note over the entire chorus. We said, yeah give it a try. And damn did he do that! On the first try, he held a note that never stopped. After all the music had stopped, he was still holding this damn note. Me and the engineer just look at each other, wondering what was going on? I mean, how much air can his lungs keep?? If we hadn't told him that the song was done and that he didn't need to sing anymore, I bet that he still would be holding the note….=)

You are a new band and our readers are not aware of your music. How would you describe your music so they could have an image of "The Call" while going at the disc shop seeking for it?

The music of Heed is a mixture of traditional metal and newer metal. I don´t care about if it is heavy metal, progressive metal, power metal, doom metal, thrash metal, etc… I write the music after the feelings I have for the moment. And if it happens to be a combination of heavy metal, thrash metal, progressive metal, when the song is done I´m fine with that! As long as it sounds Heed everything is accepted. "Sounding Heed" for me is a combination of the vocal melodies, the way every instrument plays and the whole arrangement of the song. Combined together they form the music of Heed. So to summarize the question: Heed is a mixture of all kinds of metal, and therefore I label it under "Heed Metal".

How the title ‘The Call" did come out? Does it have anything to do with the Pirelli movie?

No, it has nothing to do with the movie. The title "The Call" is a continuation of Heed. What I mean is that Heed combined with the call becomes the sentence "Heed the Call". That is the reason for the title.

I was always wondering. What is it with Sweden and the majority of the bands there are impressive and interesting?

I think that the reason for that many great bands comes from Sweden is that the government has put a lot of money in the music for kids. We have music schools that are free, great teachers, rehearsal spaces that you can borrow for free, and so on…. Sadly though, the government more and more reduces the money and several music schools has been shut down. This sucks and I really fucking hate what is going on! The government spends many, many millions of money on crap instead of letting kids play music. For many kids, music is a way out of misery, and so it was for me. If I hadn't gone to a music school at the age of 11 and realized that I love to play the guitar, and spent all of my time doing that, I know that I would sooner or later end up in misery. Problem kids needs to find an interest that keeps them out of trouble, and for many of them that is music.

Have you prepared any new material? If so, are there any musical differences?

Yes, the working progress of new creating new songs is always active. So far, for the next album four new songs are completed.

The new songs sound Heed but they are much more aggressive and progressive. On this album, a big change will be regarding the keyboards. I have decided to completely remove all keyboards, and put bigger focus on the guitars. I mean, metal is guitars! The louder the better!

Are there any directions/barriers as far as your music is concerned?

A simple answer to that: no. Well, we will never ever put rap shit on any song! Besides rap, we do whatever we like and as long as the arrangement and melodies is "the Heed way" everything works.

Can you give us Heed's stigma as far as the lyrics content are concerned?

The lyrics are mainly based on misery, death and how the world is turning more and more cruel for everyday that passes.

Are you pleased with company? What are the plans for Heeds' next steps?

We had several label offers, but we decided to go with Metal Heaven. Metal Heaven is not the biggest company, but that was what we wanted. We didn't want to be in a major label where they have many bands to deal with. We think that Metal Heaven was the right decision for us. We put our trust in them and so far everything has worked fine.

Our plan for the next coming months is to get on the road as soon as possible! Besides that are we also working on new material for the next album that we will release in a not distant future and we are working on a video. Europe will be over flood with Heed!

This is the end of your first presentation in Metal Perspective. I am sure that your next releases will cause us to present them as well. Please close up by saying your message to the readers of Metal perspective.

We in Heed hope to see you metalmaniacs soon! Until then, stay metal, believe in yourself and take Heed! Cheers!