At God Mother's recent show in Toronto supporting their sophomore album, Vilseledd, vocalist Sebastian Campbell flung himself around the room with wild abandon, stomping his way across the bar, crowd-surfing from the merch tables and even starting a game of limbo in the middle of the set. The band's performance was unhinged beyond a typical hardcore show, but in a phone interview with the band's bassist Daniel Noring, he it was just like any other set for God Mother.
"I remember one show we did in Gothenburg, Sweden, Sebastian was stage-diving and the crowd dropped him on his head straight to a concrete floor. He passed out for a minute, so that was a moment where we were quite worried about his health. We had to stop the show for a couple of minutes while he recovered, but we kept on going after that," Noring tells Exclaim!.
It's a telling anecdote from God Mother, who are quickly gaining a devoted following for their explosive live shows, technical hardcore and strong DIY principles — traits perfected by mathcore kings the Dillinger Escape Plan, whose ringleader Ben Weinman helped introduce the world to the Swedish hardcore outfit after his own iconic group disbanded.
Weinman was amazed by God Mother's combo of hardcore, sludge and noise after they opened Dillinger's final shows in Sweden. This led to the band signing to his Party Smasher Inc. label for Vilseledd, and had Weinman championing them as the successors to his band's manic presence within hardcore.
Wrote Weinman, in a statement at the time the band signed with his label: "To be completely honest, after 20 years of touring the world and playing thousands of shows with thousands of bands, it is hard to impress me. But Sweden has done it again. God Mother is an undeniable force majeure that demands attention like bands did in the old days, by just being that fucking good. Torch, officially passed."
God Mother made a bewildering introduction to Canadians on their first full North American tour with Cult Leader, Primitive Weapons and Echo Beds, delivering a high-octane set that left those in attendance grinning from ear to ear.
"It was a nice country with really great shows. I think it feels like a mix between Sweden and the United States in a good way. I think we all enjoyed Canada a lot," says guitarist Max Lindström.
Although watching Campbell turn the entire venue into his stage makes for great entertainment, his bandmates get nervous at times, not only for his safety but also for their music equipment.
"I'm guessing they're pretty occupied with damage control," Campbell says with a laugh. "Just blame the free health insurance we get in Sweden."
The band are currently working on their third full-length record, and recently added a new untitled song into their set. Lindström explains they like to test out new material through live performances when they can to get a better feel for the song and if they want to make any changes to it.
"It's always a different ballgame when we take a new song live and try to perform it because it always goes faster. You hear it differently and you may be sweaty, which makes you play it in a slightly different way," says Lindström. "This song I think is going to turn out really good. It's really hard to play which is a good sign."
Although they don't have a specific date locked in for when the album will be recorded and released, the band are expecting it to arrive before the year is up. They currently have a handful of songs completely written and have started working on planning things like studio time, producers and the direction they want the album to go.
"We're maybe halfway through writing it and we have started to collect ideas for how we want to record it. It's not set in stone yet but I think we know the timeframe at least, and what direction the album will be. But as always the direction can change as we work on the songs and they find their way," says Lindström.
After gaining some serious grindcore credibility off of their collaboration with legendary Rotten Sound vocalist Keijo Niinimaa on Vilseledd track "Tar Mirror," it's a no-brainer for the band to include more guest vocalists on their followup. The band explain they strive to work with a wide range of vocalists to add some diversity to their sound.
"We actually had quite a few guest vocalists on the first album as well. They weren't that well known but we always like to utilize different styles of vocals. I think it's pretty likely we'll have some guests on the next one too," says Lindström.
God Mother's third album is expected to arrive this year on Party Smasher Inc.
"I remember one show we did in Gothenburg, Sweden, Sebastian was stage-diving and the crowd dropped him on his head straight to a concrete floor. He passed out for a minute, so that was a moment where we were quite worried about his health. We had to stop the show for a couple of minutes while he recovered, but we kept on going after that," Noring tells Exclaim!.
It's a telling anecdote from God Mother, who are quickly gaining a devoted following for their explosive live shows, technical hardcore and strong DIY principles — traits perfected by mathcore kings the Dillinger Escape Plan, whose ringleader Ben Weinman helped introduce the world to the Swedish hardcore outfit after his own iconic group disbanded.
Weinman was amazed by God Mother's combo of hardcore, sludge and noise after they opened Dillinger's final shows in Sweden. This led to the band signing to his Party Smasher Inc. label for Vilseledd, and had Weinman championing them as the successors to his band's manic presence within hardcore.
Wrote Weinman, in a statement at the time the band signed with his label: "To be completely honest, after 20 years of touring the world and playing thousands of shows with thousands of bands, it is hard to impress me. But Sweden has done it again. God Mother is an undeniable force majeure that demands attention like bands did in the old days, by just being that fucking good. Torch, officially passed."
God Mother made a bewildering introduction to Canadians on their first full North American tour with Cult Leader, Primitive Weapons and Echo Beds, delivering a high-octane set that left those in attendance grinning from ear to ear.
"It was a nice country with really great shows. I think it feels like a mix between Sweden and the United States in a good way. I think we all enjoyed Canada a lot," says guitarist Max Lindström.
Although watching Campbell turn the entire venue into his stage makes for great entertainment, his bandmates get nervous at times, not only for his safety but also for their music equipment.
"I'm guessing they're pretty occupied with damage control," Campbell says with a laugh. "Just blame the free health insurance we get in Sweden."
The band are currently working on their third full-length record, and recently added a new untitled song into their set. Lindström explains they like to test out new material through live performances when they can to get a better feel for the song and if they want to make any changes to it.
"It's always a different ballgame when we take a new song live and try to perform it because it always goes faster. You hear it differently and you may be sweaty, which makes you play it in a slightly different way," says Lindström. "This song I think is going to turn out really good. It's really hard to play which is a good sign."
Although they don't have a specific date locked in for when the album will be recorded and released, the band are expecting it to arrive before the year is up. They currently have a handful of songs completely written and have started working on planning things like studio time, producers and the direction they want the album to go.
"We're maybe halfway through writing it and we have started to collect ideas for how we want to record it. It's not set in stone yet but I think we know the timeframe at least, and what direction the album will be. But as always the direction can change as we work on the songs and they find their way," says Lindström.
After gaining some serious grindcore credibility off of their collaboration with legendary Rotten Sound vocalist Keijo Niinimaa on Vilseledd track "Tar Mirror," it's a no-brainer for the band to include more guest vocalists on their followup. The band explain they strive to work with a wide range of vocalists to add some diversity to their sound.
"We actually had quite a few guest vocalists on the first album as well. They weren't that well known but we always like to utilize different styles of vocals. I think it's pretty likely we'll have some guests on the next one too," says Lindström.
God Mother's third album is expected to arrive this year on Party Smasher Inc.
