Interview with MOB
Mobb, not emm-oo-bee
After checkin out several websites, i noticed that several ways of writing the bands name exists, now its time to end that confusion..
-Our logo obviously states MOB and that is the way it should be. We are very surprised that lots of people says our name with the letters separated instead of just mob, as it sounds. Ourselves, we have always said mob and not emm-oo-bee like most seems to do, are you with me, ha ha. It should be MOB!
Im leaving the fact that up until now i've been a emm-oo-bee-person and instead ill continue to another reason that im so impressed by this band. The fact is, that these guys has stuck together in the same line-up for more than 10 years which makes them kind of rare in the "metal swamp".
-We’ve had this lineup since 1997 and to us it's about a friendship that keeps the band together, and it’s the same that you might want to see in other bands, that they should have the same lineup for as long as possible, for keeping the musical chemistry alive among other things. Musically, for us, it means that we know exactly what we want and what to expect from each other. For instance, there are 4 song writers in this band, something that would never work in, lets say Yngvie Malmsteens band, cos there, he’s da man, and the others are just backup musicians. For M.O.B, it means that we have a wide musical spectrum to work with. For example, the songs written by the drummer never sounds the same as the ones written by the guitarist.
The hunt for a record deal
Let’s move to the new album that receieved a nice 8/10 review at Swedenmetal, im a bit curious about how it’s been received by other members of the press..
-Very very well actually, in fact not one bad review. We have gathered them at mobrockz.com, check it out for yourself!
And he’s right, not a bad review in sight, but there’s one thing missing though, a record company that will release their music on a broader scale.
-We have been searching for a record deal since day 1. Our big problem has always been how we are gonna be able to do it all ourselves. To be a musician is just a small part of it. You have to book the gigs, design the merch, design album covers, report songs to Stim, publish the songs, record the albums, master all the software that comes with a recording project etc etc. Our dream has always been to be able to just focus on being musicians and let the other parts be handled by other people, managements and such, but im sad to say that that situation has never been realized for us. We have been close to some good and interesting deals over the years but it has always been something that never came all the way through. We feel it’s a bit strange, not even our duet with Ola Salo has gotten the attention that it deserves, even though we have sent it all over the country, in spite the fact that anyone can hear that it’s a kick ass high class tune! We are always on the lookout for collaborators though, and we sure as hell got the songs, that’s for sure!
-The downside about distributing the records on your own is of course the distribution issue itself, and the fact that the record wont get reviews in any “major” magazines, simply because it does not “exist” in a proper way, and also that its not available in the major stores. Sure, today we have the internet, but that also generates a lot of competition. Everybody wants to be somebody on the web, so its not an easy thing to do.
One way of being seen is of course a thing like that duet with Ola Salo, and i have to find out how un unsigned band manage to reel in the lead singer of one of swedens biggest bands to do a guest performance.
.-Our lead singer Fredrik Notling was a major Ark fan quite early on in their carreer, and since quite a few years back, Fredrik is the webmaster for The Ark:s official website. As a gesture of good will and a “thank you”, Ola Salo wanted to appear on “The Greatest Enemy” where he sings on the title track and also on the track “Inside The Fire”.
The future
In conjunction with the release of “The Greatest Enemy”, M.O.B has performed a bunch of local gigs in the Stockholm area. A more extended tour is not on the agenda yet, a fact that the band would like to change in the future.
-We hope so. But then again, if that should occur, we have to ”get in” the business on a larger scale first och get help regarding tour bookings and such. Today, we book the gigs ourselves and we manage that ok, but it cant be compared to a full scare tour booked by a management. We feel that with our current fanbase, five albums in the sack and the amount of stage routine that we master, we wouldn’t have anything to ashamed of out on the roads. We have a cool outdoor gig coming up at one of swedens biggest biker clubs just outside Stockholm on August 2, where a pro shot 4 camera dvd will be recorded that will be ready for release in the fall. Its not our first live DVD but it might be able to help us out a bit. Until them, we can only hope that “The Greatest Enemy” will end up in the right hands of somebody that likes us and are willing to help us!
I can conclude that the world is a damn unjust place and I really hope that someone will reach out with a helping hand to M.O.B asap. While im sketching on written complaints to all record companies, Richards thoughts about the future is this:
-Our dream scenario goes something like this: Someone approaches us and says: Hey guys, you have made five good albums, you are good musicians and great on stage, now im taking over here, im gonna help you! But I think that the actual future in real life will be to keep on gigging, and to record another album, we’ll just have to see how long the spark will remain in us!
Interview by Niklas Olausson, 2008-07-23