A couple of weeks ago at the second edition of Blastfest, it was possible to grab boisterous Swedish mob, Alfahanne, for a quick chat in the salubrious surroundings of Bergen’s USF venue restaurant. Now that the dust has settled, the time feels right to post what Fredrik (guitars), Niklas (drums) and Jimmy (bass) had to say and share a little bit about what’s going on in the Alfahanne camp at present.
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ZT: How have you found Blastfest so far? How do you feel your performance went?.
Alfahanne: It was great fun, we actually played in the day time at The Garage and there were a lot of people in the crowd, it was a great show. It’s our first time here, we have played in Oslo a lot of times and we are playing at Tonnes Of Rock this summer [Fredriksten, Norway], but this is our first time in Bergen.
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ZT: The band released its debut album, Alfapokalyps, last year and I hear you are in the process of doing the following up record. How is that going?.
Alfahanne: Actually, the second album is almost done already, we have recorded about 8 songs, I think, so it is in the final process of recording. I guess it would be out about September or October time. So, we shall be playing some festivals this summer and then getting the new album out.
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ZT: Was the recording done at the same studio as last time? Could you tell us something more about that?.
Alfahanne: Yes, we are again recording in our own studio. It’s better [using your own studio], for doing the mixing and vocals. The only thing we don’t do is mastering, that goes off elsewhere. On the first album it was handled by Necromorbus, who also does Watain.
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ZT: You had some guests collaborating on your last album (Niklas Kvarforth from Shining plus Hoest and V’gandr from Taake). Have you got anything similar lined-up for this release?.
Alfahanne: Of course, we have some very exciting guests! We can say that there are some good people that fit very well into the Alfahanne world. For the moment we can’t reveal anything, but be sure we do have a couple of very cool guests. It’s very exciting for us also, because we had such good reviews on the first album, it will be cool to see what people think about the next one. We think that it is the best we have done, so let’s hope everybody thinks so too.
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ZT: You are scheduled to play Incineration Festival in London this May. I believe it will be your first time in the UK. Are you looking forward to playing?.
Alfahanne: Yea, we are really looking forward to it. There are some great bands [on the bill], playing with Shining and Woland will be very fun.
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ZT: Speaking of Shining being there, can we expect any live guest appearances during the set?.
Alfahanne: I don’t really know, maybe, but it’s like when we get guest appearances now, it is in the heat of the moment. Maybe we talk about it the day before and be like “I want a guest” [and they’ll say] “Ok, I’ll come”. Yesterday with Ørjan (V’gandr), I had been previously speaking with him about if he wanted to join us. He did a really good job, the best show he has ever done with us.
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ZT: So, to finish off, what are your future plans? Any other festivals scheduled? Or tours booked?.
Alfahanne: We have some festivals this summer, not everything is official yet, but it will come and we will play lots this summer. I am very much looking forward to playing in London, it will be very fun for us to get into the UK. [It will be] the first time, then we will explode!
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To catch Alfahanne live, for the first time in the UK, make your way over to London’s Incineration Festival in May.
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Group photo credit: Fabiola Santini
