House of Shakira have never been a band to stand still. Their blend of traditional AOR with unusual rhythms has ensured they have carried the music into the 21st century, openly paying hommage to their roots but never afraid to make things interesting or exciting. The last four years has seen the band step out of the recording spotlight and many thought they had seen the last of the band, but Swedes are made of sterner stuff, and despite problems with past record lables and broken promises they have come back with an album to make the melodic hard rock world stand up and take note. Kieran Dargan gets the low down on the downtime from bassist and fashion guru Per Schelander.

Well Per, it's been four hard years - a long, long time in the music business for any band to delay in bringing out a new album. Things must have gotten incredibly frustrating for you?

"It did take a long time, but effectively we did have a year off. We were constantly writing and recording during our 'quiet time', basically trying to work out what we should do next and how to move on. It did get a little frustrating but looking back everything just went so , so slowly.

Since the debut release 'Lint' back in 1997 you have been very consistant releasing albums at regular intervals. This time it has taken you four years to get 'First Class' out to the public. Are you in any way worried that the fans may have forgotten you or you may have lost the momentum you had built up?

"Hard to say. Does anyone know us? My impression is our die hard fans remember us. We have managed to do a few live shows here and there throughout the last four years and we did also release the live record so maybe that has kept us from dropping out of sight totally. After four years you have to present something special like 'Hysteria' or something. 'First Class' is not in that league, but a very solid album with good songs that show you we have been working hard during the time we were out of sight."

I think that this album is even stronger than 'Lint'. It seems you have always liked to have a little twist in your writing, not exactly straight ahead melodic hard rock, not exactly progressive, not quite acoustic based. I think a lot of that is down to Michael Ericksson's involvement. In saying that, with 'First Class' you have really plugged the guitars back in and went for the big bombastic hard rock record ?

"Well, it just happened."

I always wonder how things like that 'just happen' because it seems to me House of Shakira had already defined their sound over the course of four studio albums?

"Well it just happens because we never sit down and say 'Well, it has to sound like such and such.' With Michael it was very natural to say 'Here's this part' and we'd say okay, because that's what we were used to. I think we just jammed out anything that sounded good and we just watched to see where it went. I think we left a lot of pride behind on this record because previously we would always try and come up with something new, but this time it was a case of whatever sounds good and is fun to play we'll play it."

Is this an indication of how HOS will continue?

"Well, maybe. We're getting older and this way is easier, hahaha!! No, I think we will continue to play things that are fun and not worry so much about coming up with 'interesting' things for every song. Do it the old way, haha!"

Songs such as 'You Are' and 'State of Grace' are really huge, driving melodic rock anthems and then you have a song such as 'Chicago Blue'. You really wouldn't expect to hear a song such as that, especially after listening to the first eleven songs.

"No, not really. We didn't know where to put it. We recorded thirty songs for this album and this was just one song that didn't sound like everything else. The reason it's on there is because we love it and it's very simple. Maybe we haven't lost that HoS 'Twist' after all."

The one thing that struck me on this album is that you really appear to have worked very, very hard on the backing vocals, especially on 'Hey Lord'.

"Oh, that is very high and the chorus is ridiculous, and it goes even higher on the last chorus. That's Michael Ericksson and I doing all the backing vocals. We did work hard on getting it right on the entire album and you are not the first to comment on it. I'll take it as a compliment, thank you. I think the fact that we are more used to everything now, the recording process and how to construct things make it a lot easier, plus the fact that we have our own studio as well give us a lot of extra time to make sure everything sounds right, and that is a great advantage."

Was the actual recording process for this album drawn out, or do you tend to work quickly?

PS: Well, when we actually get into recording mode we work pretty quickly. Sometimes it takes two weeks to do one song, then we do nothing for two weeks , then we go back and work on something else. We started the recording process two years ago, but we had a lot of set backs on the way, you know, changing labels, sorting out legal shit and things like that. When we started out ,I had ten songs , Mats had ten songs and then we come up with ten more, making a total of thirty. We narrowed it down to the twelve on the album..the rest are crap..haha, no seriously we wanted to have an album of ten to twelve top class songs and that's what we think we achieved.

So just where does Michael fit in the HoS set up? Is it primarily on the vocals and lyrics?

"Michael and Mats write everything together, music, melodies and lyrics. They are a great team, and it's always great to have him around the studio. He's a really talented guy."

So if Michael is such a big part of the band (and original vocalist prior to Andreas) how come you have never roped him into coming along to play live?

"He has his own career with Zifa that he works on as a full time professional. He also gives lessons and arranges workshops for singers and choirs. He has just released his third record. It is very African, too much for me. He does really well with it. He is a great singer, composer and arranger. That is more or less why he never sang with us because he was signed to a major label and they wouldn't allow him to do anything outside Zifa. Ironically of course, it happened just at the same time we released 'Lint' back in 1997. He is the sixth member, he is a very important part of the band even though he doesn't get to play live with us."

You have decided to sign with Lion Music based out of Finland. Given that 'First Class' is such a huge sounding melodic rock album it seems a little strange to me that you have signed with a label that has a reputation for dealing mainly with instrumentalists and progressive bands.

"So far it feels really good. Their communication so far has been excellent. We have been unlucky with the labels we have worked with, Bluestone went out of business, and we have been left down by others too, promising this that and the other only never to deliver. We rejected an offer from MTM for the new album. We released two albums on MTM and they really didn't do anything at all for us. We felt we were wasting our time. When we were on Bluestone we were a priority , but on MTM we slipped down the roster after they promised us they would look after us. We signed with Lion for one album only, that way we can see what they do with us and they can decide if we are worth the effort, so it's a sort of mutual thing right now. So far they have been really good to us and we have no complaints whatsoever."

What about live performances? Spain has been very good to you in the last few years. What is it about Spain? Is it they have never lost their love of hard rock?

"I honestly don't know. I am told it is a very small but a very committed community. The Spanish fans have been great to us every time we have played there. It's almost like a second home to us now."

Have Lion mentioned anything in relation to playing live, or would you be considered too mainstream to tour with some of their more established acts?

"We have spoken with them and we have told them we want to play out live but I think they want to see how well the album does before they commit to anything definite. We have sold about 5,000 of every album so far in Europe so I think they would want to see an increase on that figure. Touring is so expensive."

What about England? You have played the Gods on two occasions previously but you have never managed to come back and capitalise on those performances. Why?

"Nobody has ever asked us. Simple. We are a bunch of lazy guys and we need to be asked. We are not very active in getting off our arses and looking for gigs, haha. It's hard when you don't have the connections, but if anybody wants to contact us please do."

With so many top class releases out right now what would you say to somebody to convince them to buy your album?

"Whoa!! That's a hard one. I think if you like melodic rock, with lots of melodies and some big arrangements then our record is something you would want to listen to. I really think we have recorded a fine album, and we are all very proud of it. If you have a House of Shakira album already then I would like to think that 'First Class' is better, so maybe you should go out and treat your self, haha!! No, seriously, I would like to think it's well played and well produced and as I said, if you want to play something loud and have a lot of fun singing along, then you will like this album. Besides, we could use the money, haha!"