Manne: First of all, thank you for those kind words. We’ve been working a long time with this album and it’s great to finally hear what people think of it. Cheers! Now, to the question.

Influences are a bit tricky. I believe that you get influenced by almost everything that you hear or see. I don’t think that you’re even aware that you’re being influenced sometimes. Suddenly it’s just there. Therefore I think that even things like movies, books and TV influences you. It’s not just music. The feeling a great movie can give me is often a big source of inspiration for me. It makes me want to write a piece of music that gives the listener that kind of feeling.

The album mainly dwells within the Gothic Metal feel, yet the songs are Empowering to the listener, is there anything specific you were trying to get across to the listener?

Manne: There are tons of things we want to get across to the listener, but I think it’s up to them to sit down and make their own interpretation of what it is. Both music and lyrics are often very personal and deals with our own feelings and thoughts and those are hard to get across to the listener. But I think that there is something for everyone to relate to on this album. If you have a feeling about a song that isn’t similar to the feeling we had when we wrote it, than that’s fine. That is a great thing about music. You can make it your own. One song that reminds someone of a good friend that passed on could be someone's else’s wedding song. The album is mainly about our thoughts on the human mind and how it affects us. It’s also about how we see towards the future. What you make of it is up to you, but we tried to put it in a format that was as appealing as possible.

Do you have any favorites or tunes that you prefer over others?

Manne: They all serve a purpose on the album. Sure we have our own favorites on the album. That changes however from week to week. But we chose "Innerlane" as a single on this album. That has to do with how we felt for that song when we were starting to be finished in the studio and one song had to be picked. Maybe we would have chosen another one today. I don’t know. One of my favorites that has been among the top ones the whole time is "Every time I die". "Innerlane" shows a bit of a new side of Beseech therefore it is a good choice for a single.

You also covered Danzig's classic, "Devil's Plaything" and changed it up which was GREAT. But I really must ask, aside from you being a fan, what made you pick this particular tune? How do you think it turned out?

Manne: Early in the writing process for this album we decided to do a cover again. We started discussing what song to record. We had a really hard time choosing one. Then I thought about this Danzig song that I had wanted to cover for many years with my old band. I suggested it to the others and they loved the idea. Danzig was someone that all of us felt we could do right. It turned out even better than I imagined. I’m really pleased with it. We tried to put our own spin on it and I really think we did just that.

I've read in interviews that Glenn is not flattered at all by covers, did you get his blessings to record the track?

Manne: No, we didn’t even try to contact him and ask. We didn’t do it to please him or to try and snatch Danzig fans. We did it for our own pleasure. In a way it is a small tribute to the man, but mainly it shows a little bit of where we come from musically. We would have done it even if he had not wanted it. Hopefully he likes it, if he ever gets to hear it, but it’s not important to me to have his blessing. Like I said before, a cool thing about music is that you can make it your own. Danzig has a great body of musical work behind him, I’m sure he’ll be fine with us covering one of his finest songs. For him to say that he isn’t flattered isn’t that just typical of him? I think it is. I’m sure that somewhere he feels a little flattered. I know I would.

You also recruited another guitarist (Manne Engstrom) before heading into the studio. Were there any specific reasons why you felt the need for a second guitar player?

Robert: Manne joined the band last summer and played several festivals and some single off gigs before we entered the studio. The reason was we felt that we needed one more guitar player to get the sound and feeling in the music when we play live. Then we also knew he was a great guy with the same kind of view on music, bad humor etc.

Will we see a full-fledged tour in support of the album in the U.S.? If so, are there any touring packages you would like to be on?

Manne: I sure hope so. It’s a bit a goal that I have in my musical career, to come to the states and do a tour from coast to coast. It really depends on album sales and label politics I guess. I saw on the fanclubs website that they have started a fundraiser to get us to the states. I hope they make it possible. From what I hear, The Ozzfest is the best touring package over there, so that would be nice. I wouldn’t have been unhappy if we would have been on The Summer Sanitarium tour a few years ago. That was a cool tour. I saw the show in Minneapolis and it kicked ass. We have had some offers to come over and play, but nothing is 100% yet. Hopefully, it won’t be to long until we’re there.

What do you want the listener to go away thinking after seeing a you live or after they've just jammed on the new album? Personally, I felt very peaceful and happy with the world. As a musician/fan, I know I have quite a few albums in my personal collection that have made a life changing impact on me.

Manne: Hopefully we are able to have a lifechanging impact on people. I know it’s far fetched, but that would be nice. That is what we aim for both on album and when we play live. We also want people to have a good time. That is also very important. Sure, we don’t always have the happy-go-lucky feel in our music. That doesn’t mean that we don’t want people to have a good time at our shows. We try to have as much fun as possible when we’re on stage and I hope that shows. I think our music has the depth that allows the listener to both dwell in sorrow and scream in happiness. If that is true, I don’t know. It’s once again up to the listener.

Let's shift gears a little bit, shall we. The band has been around started in 1992 and has lost quite a few core members along the way, what kept the band going in these times of turmoil?

Robert: I joined the band 1993 after the first demo tape, at that time we just played music to hang around with each other and have a great time, but things slowly changed and became more and more serious. Some don’t have the same goal in life, so it’s kind of a natural change in the line-up to "find the perfect one". We have not really fired anyone or anything like that; we discussed it and came to a conclusion without destroying the friendship. Maybe we don’t hang out with all of the past members but we respect each other and the decisions that have been made in the past. I think the reason why Beseech still is a band is that we really explore the music and try to find new ways to make music and that keeps us going.

The band has also had a male/female tandem on vocals since 1994, now there are a ton of bands doing it this way. What brought this idea on? Was there a specific band that influenced you to do this?

Robert: I can’t think of any bands that made us want to have this combination, as we didn’t really listen to bands in this genre. I don’t even think there were any others that had this combination at that time, maybe there were but we didn’t know of any. It just came naturally to us. Lotta, started as a background singer in the band. It didn't take long before she made her way to the front of the stage, so to speak.

Are there any past/present bands that influence you as musicians? If so who?

Manne: There is tons of music that I listen to. I grew up with metal and it started sometime during the 80’s. The favorites from back then still have a special place in my heart. Bands like Metallica, Slayer and Entombed have been and are still very important to me. Nowadays I have widened my horizon quite a bit. Right now I’m listening to bands like Woven Hand, Explosions in the sky, Kent and Mew. Even if none of them are in the same genre as the music I play, they have an impact on me.

When Beseech is not touring or working on a new album, how do you spend your off-time, do you have day jobs or any specific hobbies to occupy your time?

Manne: Unfortunately we can’t live fully on our music yet, so we have to have day jobs. We all have jobs that let us take a lot of time off. They understand that we need to be able to spend a lot of time in the studio or on the road. I guess that we’ve made it possible by our choices of workplaces. The first thing you have to do when getting a job is to tell them that you are a musician and what it means to you and them as a company. I, myself own and work in Studiomega, where we record our albums. I am my own boss, so I don’t have any problems at all when it comes to touring which is great. Our hobbies pretty much consist of Beseech. We spend all of our time on the band. You have to do that if you want to have a chance of making it.

As a band when it is all said and done and you've decided to call it quits, what do you want the music world to remember for?

Manne: Knowing when to quit is hard. I think that if you get to a point when you say "we’ve made the perfect album" you’re on the wrong path. If you don’t feel hungry anymore, then it’s time to stop. I hope it’s a long way before that day comes. I guess that when I’m done with music, I would like to be remembered for the integrity of my music. That it has been clear that I haven’t compromised to please a large amount of yes sayers or some record company. Not saying that I want to be an underground musician, but to still not compromise my art.

Thank you very much for your time! Much luck with the new album and I hope to see you on a stage somewhere SOON!

Manne: Thank you very much and I hope to be able to tour nearby real soon!