EMQ’s with WOLVER

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EMQ’s with WOLVER

Hi everyone! Welcome to our new EMQ’s interview with Karlstad, Sweden based Rock band, Wolver. Huge thanks to Vocalist/Guitarist/Bassist, Marcus, for taking part.

What is your name, what do you play, and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?

My name is Marcus, I’m the singer and riff guitar/bass player in Wolver. When I was younger, there was no one in my circle of friends that had any interest in music except for me. But with an unquenchable thirst for writing music and singing, I kept going, and it wasn’t until I entered university that I found my soulmate, Elias Arvidsson Nordgård (Wolver’s Drummer), who shared my vision and passion. This was back in 2011, but it wasn’t until the spring of 2018 that we finally found the third and final piece of the Wolver Puzzle in Filip Larsson (Wolver’s Lead Guitarist). When he joined everything clicked… The sound, the structure, the live performances…Wolver was complete!

How did you come up with your band name?

The name originated from a dream. I simply woke up and had the name stuck in my head, wrote it down on a piece of paper on my nightstand, and fell back asleep. It might sound made up, but when I woke again, I glanced over the paper and immediately knew that it was the name of our band.

What Country/Region are you from and what is the Metal/Rock scene like there?

We are from Sweden, where there’s a big metal scene at the moment, which makes us stick out like a sore thumb! Our live shows are very appreciated, but our main audience is found abroad.

What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)

Our latest release is our debut album, “Act I: It Starts With a Bow”. A concept album that consists of 17 tracks, and is a total of 55 minutes long. It is heavily complemented with illustrations by Daniel Nagy, that drives a narrative of our fictitious stage personas, The Protagonist, The Brawler, and The Charmer, on a journey through a spectacular fantasy realm, which portrays and mimics a lot of our world’s problems, and challenges them (e.g., politics, racism, source criticism… etc.).

‘101’ (Official Video)

Who have been your greatest influences?

Personally, I must say Muse, but as a band I believe that Queen, Queens of the Stone Age and AC/DC are all strong candidates for that role!

What first got you into music?

Even before I was seriously considering a music career, I had always taken singing lessons. But it wasn’t until I got hooked on Blink 182, sometime in high school, that I started playing guitar and writing songs for hours on end, daily.

If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?

I’d have to say Muse. Matthew Bellamy’s sense for music is to me out of this world, combining strings, his signature guitar riffs, flawlessly fitting piano arpeggios, raw sawtooth bass sounds, and sprinkling it with outstanding lyrics accompanied by his angelic voice. If I sound like a fanboy… That’s because I am 😉.

If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?

Rock Am Ring is a given! They always seem to book the very bands that make out my entire personal playlist.

What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?

It must be a compliment, and nickname, in contrast to my band mates. Firstly, Filip got told that he looked like Bradley Cooper, then Elias was told that he was as cute as Ed Sheeran. Then someone approached me and said that I look like Jiminy Cricket…“Thanks…”

If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?

In this day and age, it seems like so many people only read and believe what supports their biased opinion. People seem to rather state individual cases, that strengthen their arguments, instead of basing their beliefs on proven facts and statistics. That alone makes it almost impossible to reach common ground with anyone. And as the cracks between people, be it in politics, or racial issues, only seems to get bigger, we want our music, storyline, and message to help reverse the trend and instead bring us all closer together.

If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?

For me personally I’d have to go with Kurt Cobain. He died way too young, and I believe that his songwriting genius streak had only just begun…

What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?

Being in the studio must be it for me. To see everything come together and finally sprinkling it with the minor details that raises everything an additional step.

What I hate most must be the constant pressure of social media, when you want to focus your time and creativity on the music, and live performances, but instead have to make new clever content that becomes irrelevant within a day or two, just to keep up with everyone else.

If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?

It would be to have everyone in the world listen to Wolver all day, every day! That would be pretty awesome…

Name one of your all-time favourite albums?

Then I again need to flick my fanboy switch and say Muse – “Origin of Symmetry”…hands down!

What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?

I truly appreciate Vinyl, but I’m mostly too lazy to put one on, so I’d have to go with Spotify!

What’s the best gig that you have played to date?

Maybe it’s the part of me sick of Covid-19 circumstances talking, but probably one of the smaller gigs. We love when it’s so packed with people that you can feel the audience radiating heat and energy, unstoppably spreading like a wildfire!

If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?

I actually have a degree in Music and Sound- engineering, so probably something with use of that!

Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?

Probably people I know would show up! Like my bandmates, my girlfriend, and my sister… The last seat I always keep open in case I am ever so lucky to have my pal, King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf dropping by!

What’s next for the band?

We have some radio time coming up, some interviews, a streamed live performance, and in short trying to do as much as possible before Covid-19 is over, because then we’re hitting the road!

What Social Media/Website links do you use to get your music out to people?

We focus mainly on Facebook for news, Instagram to get our story across and finally Youtube for combining everything!

www.linktr.ee/wolver.official

Jaffa Cakes? Are they a cake or a biscuit?

Jaffa Cakes must be a cake! Or, who in their right mind would name a biscuit Jaffa CAKES? That would be stupid…but I guess…stranger things have happened, right?

Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?

No, I don’t think so! Thank you yourself, for a pleasant interview!

Wolver Promo Pic - Credit Linn Wedin
Photo by Linn Wedin

Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this interview, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.

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