Visceral Bleeding

Visceral Bleeding was founded in the late nineties by Peter Persson and Niklas Dewerud to perform what they thought was lacking in the Swedish death metal scene at the time. They set out to mix raw brutality and technical skill and follow in the footsteps of bands such as Suffocation and Monstrosity. With Calle on bass, Dennis on vocals and Marcus joining as a solo guitarist, they found the right mixture to play their brand of extreme metal.

interview with Peter on 27-4-2002

Please give us a short introduction of yourself?
Ok, the name is Peter and I play guitar and write Music/Lyrics in Visceral Bleeding, the new skull crushing death band from Sweden. We're trying to prove to the world that we Swedes can produce other kinds of metal than melodic ’Gothenburg death’.

Why did you start the band? What was lacking at that time?
Well, Niklas and I started the band back in 96 or 97. We started out as a typical Swedish death band such as Dismember/Hypocrisy. At the time the Gothenburg scene was getting started for its big boom. We felt that we didn't want to be a part of it so we started to play what we were listening to at the time, brutal, technical death.

Did you practice the instruments before the band started?
Yeah I had played guitar for a while before we started but Niklas was pretty fresh behind the drums. Calle is a guitarist who we forced to pick up the bass due to the lack of bass players in our area hahaha. But it has worked out great!! And I think Calle likes the bass more than the guitar, it gives him more freedom and he can swing his head until it looks like a snake caught in a blender. Hehe. Marcus has played guitar for quite a while. But Tobbe, our new drummer, hasn't played for that long so we are molding him as much as we can so that he'll play it like we want hehehe.

How much time do you spend on becoming better as a musician?
It varies. I try to spend as much time playing as I can but it's hard to find the time because of my working hours. But I try to at least pick it up for a while every day. I know Marcus plays every day and I hope Tobbe does as well. Calle's situation is pretty much as shitty as mine and Dennis is blasting away behind his drums everyday (Dennis is also drummer in Spawn of Possession along with Niklas Dewerud, who has left the drumming in V.B and picked up the Bass in S.o.P) but I don't know if he is practicing any lyrics.

Is it better to have 5 good musicians or one good tight and strong band?
I would prefer a combination of both.

Do you think anyone could play the brutal stuff? Even if you don't like the style?
Play it, yes, but not write it. I think you have to have it in you to write and arrange songs in any genre. Otherwise I think it will be boring to listen to.

What kind of music do you listen to yourself? Even non metal?
I listen to mostly metal but also a bit of rock and stuff like that. At the moment I'm totally hooked on a new Jazz CD I just got.

To what kind of music do you parents listen? Like it? Use it as inspiration?
My father is a jazz freak and I think it's starting to rub off on me but up to this point I've had no inspiration from my parents' music.

Does your family support you? Buying your albums, visiting gigs etc?
No not at all.

Are you satisfied with the new album?
Very!! I feel that the album is as good as we could possibly do it under all circumstances. You know, first album, first time in a studio etc but we had a great time recording it and it turned out just the way we wanted.

Why is it better than everything else you have done?
Hahaha, I guess you didn't hear the demo we recorded. Let me tell you that it sucked!! The songs were pretty good (they are all included on the album) but the recording... lets not even go there.

Why did Dennis play the drum parts while Niklas made the arrangements?
Niklas was, at the time we entered the studio, the drummer in Visceral Bleeding and he was going to do all the drums. But things came up, circumstances changed, and we were lucky enough to have Dennis and that he managed to learn all the songs in studio and put them on tape. Otherwise we would just be standing there with three weeks of studio time and no drummer to do the drum tracks. Niklas sat along the entire recording and nearly drove Dennis mad because it had to be exactly like he had written it. Hahaha Dennis was no ray of sunlight after that let me tell ya.

What do you think of the drummer of Def Leppard with one arm? Also a good replacement?
I don't really know that much about Def Leppard so I'm afraid I can't answer you on that one.

It would be obvious if you played the Swedish style. Why choose the US style?
We have always been into Suffocation and Cannibal Corpse and bands like that so I think it was pretty natural for us to play it the ’American way’. Its much more of a challenge you know. It's got to be brutal and fast, it takes a lot of work.

Do you like getting labeled with your style of music?
I don't really know. I don't think that we play typical Gore metal but that's what we've been called because of the lyrics. But I guess people can call it what they want as long as they listen to it with an open mind and don't judge it because of what someone else has labeled it as.

Did you also have some negative comments on your album? Take this serious? Doing something with it?
No, nothing that I can think of right now.

Why is alcohol expensive in Sweden? Is it not a medicine to get rid of cold feelings?
Hahaha, I don't know man. The government has got a monopoly on booze in Sweden and that's why it's so expensive. If you want to drink for a decent penny, you just have to start cooking yourself I guess... But mostly we drink a hell of a lot of beer.

Is this a reason why Scandinavian bands like to come abroad?
Amongst other things, yes. The audience in Sweden tends to get kind of dull you know. And that's a shame because we had a good reputation in the early nineties and bands were eager to come here to play. That's just not true anymore I'm sad to say.

Have you been to a lot of countries yet? What was the best country so far?
We have not played outside of Sweden yet but we're hoping there will be a small trip around Europe later this summer.

Do you spend your summer holiday in Sweden? Or going to the sun?
I'm spending my summer in our rehearsal place. Molding and molding... we have to get Tobbe in shape and finish up our new material which I promise you is going to be brutal as shit.

The best drink on the beach under the burning sun?
Carlsberg, probably the best beer in the world...

Say something positive to promote ’Remnants of Deprivation’?
Blistering Fucking Death Metal in the US vein. The music is fucking sick!
Visit our site www.visceralbleeding.com and download Carved Down To The Bone... then buy the album.

Last rites?
Thanks for the interview...
Carving in my signature
Peter