Swedish Pirate Veterans Ye Banished Privateers recently released their sixth album entitled ‘Til the Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead on April 11th. The band’s vocalist/violinist Frida Granström and lead vocalist Pete Mollwing spoke with Metal Express Radio about their latest album, signing with Napalm, playing large scale Open Air Festivals such as Wacken, and more. Check out the chat below!
Metal Express Radio: Your band, Ye Banished Privateers, just released their sixth album entitled ‘Til the Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead on April 11th, what can you tell fans about your band’s sixth album?
Granström & Mollwing: We rarely start with a clear concept or spark. In fact, songs tend to start leaking out before the previous album is even released. Someone brings in a melody, a verse, or just an idea, and it sparks a small collaboration. We don’t usually write as a full group – it’s more often one to three of us putting something together, then presenting it to the larger collective, which proceeds to twist and shape it into something unmistakably Banished Privateers. Eventually, we’ve got a handful of songs… and someone spots a pattern.
In this case, it was: “Wait – weren’t we supposed to make a fun, upbeat album after that tragic ‘end of the Golden Age of Piracy’ one?” So why is everyone writing songs about grief, drowning, and existential gloom?
Oh well. I guess we’re just not built for a successful pirate party album. Time to lean into the Nordic melancholy again.
MER: How was the writing and recording process having this being your band’s sixth album?
Granström & Mollwing: Of course we just love these weekends when all of us gather for a chaotic and intense recording weekend full of creative mayhem. We all have different musical backgrounds and rolls musically, so we divide in different recording teams, like percussion team, choir, melody instruments, accompaniment instruments. Since there’s so much to be done we are following a tight recording schedule with rehearsing in between for the groups not recording. You come out of that weekend and sort of wonder what tumbler you just came out of.
Same goes for the weekends when we try new songs, write and rewrite them and arrange them in the big group. We have some strong personalities and strong wills in the band, but we always love the result of this process.
MER: How did it come about being signed by Napalm?
Granström & Mollwing: Against all odds our violins and accordion have always been appreciated by the metal audience. So when Napalm asked us to join their ranks we decided that it suited us quite well to be the odd bird among the rockers.
Napalm has given us a big artistic freedom even if we don’t know how a distortion pedal is used.
MER: Who are some of your favorite artists on Napalm’s roster?
Granström & Mollwing: We truly enjoy the diversity in the Napalm artists. We have been touring with some of their artists like Visions of Atlantis and Xandria and really enjoy these bands both on and off stage. Since we are so many band members it’s hard to say we have a favorite among their artists.
MER: You have a number of shows this year which include headlining gigs, festivals, and supporting Faun, what are your expectations on your band’s busy touring schedule?
Granström & Mollwing: It’s always so much fun being out on tour. To meet fans who’ve been following us for 15 years as well as the ones coming for the first time. We have the best fans in the world. They dress up, come with gifts and just give us so much love.
We also look forward to playing our new record live to see if a song about a burial at sea also can bring a great party. No doubt it will with the audience we have.
MER: Who do you hope to tour with and why?
Granström & Mollwing: We did a concert with a symphony orchestra in our home town of Umeå. We would really like to do a tour, playing with symphony orchestras around the world. It brings a majestic sound to our big arrangements.
MER: What can a new fan expect from your live show?
Granström & Mollwing: Many of our fans come to see us like three or four times per year. They know to always expect the unexpected. No show is the same, there’s always surprises, even for us in the band. We have a lot of fun and like to play around. So, prepare yourself for some serious fun and just enjoy the madness.
MER: You’ve already had a lot of success having played the Wacken Open Air Festival, and have toured throughout Europe, how were those experiences for the band?
Granström & Mollwing: We’ve been around since 2008 and have had a lot of fun gigs in this time. We love those big festivals, to see a huge crowd of thousands and thousands jumping around to our tunes. But we also love small concert gigs with 200 of our biggest fans who know all the lyrics and dress up when they come. We get so much response from the audience and can really just relax and play around. In the end it’s all about the feeling we have on stage also, we enjoy ourselves so much playing together and hopefully the audience can feel that and also feel like they are part of the crew, whether there’s 10 000 in the audience or 200.
MER: What are your hopes for your band’s future?
Granström & Mollwing: To keep on playing and share our music with an even bigger crowd. We often get questions like “When are you coming to the States?” or “When will you come to play in Brazil”. We would love for all our fans to get to see us live at some point, and still deliver great shows to our fan base here in Europe. And of course to keep writing great music. Other than that we have many projects we want to do, a sailing tour, a tour with symphony orchestras, releasing a live album, and collaborating with other great bands and musicians. We can promise you there’s a lot more coming.
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