March 29, 2024

Weekly Music Express

Music News Weekly Music Express

Soul Exchange sit down with W.M.E – New Album ‘Bloodbound’ – SHIT HOT

How would you describe your music ?

Metal influenced guitar driven modern Hard Rock with a dark theme and with great attention to the vocal melodies and arrangements.

What is your new single about and where did the inspiration come from ?

The albums’ lead track and 2nd single “Life Eternal” is about a young kid who find himself in a church searching for answers about life and death, he is confronted with a dark hooded figure “Demon” who promises him eternal life in return for his soul which eventually leads to disaster. Lyrically the track is inspired by a classic horror movie theme and musically we have aimed at creating a modern sounding metal tune with a very melodic and pop oriented chorus. Typical metal meets pop/rock in a modern framework.

Does singing come natural to you or did you have lessons ?

Daniel – Singing has always come naturally to me. Also harmonizing has been natural for me.
Never took any lessons since I think most singing-teachers are destroying the personal voice and expression, replacing it with a somewhat generic sound.

What’s been one of the most hilarious moments or highlights while touring or playing a gig ?

Hans – For me, it was probably when I was 16 years of age and we played at one of the major outdoor music festivals at the time, outside Stockholm. As we entered the stage we were hit by a hail storm and it was so freezing cold that I still wore gloves when getting on stage. I had almost given up on this gig before we even played the first note. To my surprise, after we finished the first song, the people got to their feet and I couldn’t believe the roar from the 5000 in the audience. The rest of our set was a total victory over the natural forces.

Daniel – I’d say the best feeling I’ve got from playing live was at Okej-dagen in Gothenburg. At the time, I was working as a tour musician and for the first time we played in front of a little over 22000 people. That feeling was almost unreal.

Band members / instruments played ?

Hans von Bell – Guitars, programming
Thomas von Bell – Guitars
Patrik Ekelöf – Bass
Daniel John – Lead- and backing vocals and keyboards
Benny White – Drums

Where does your name come from ?

Hans – The Soul Exchange is the title of one of the songs that I co-wrote with Jens Joel Evaldsson (Lyrics) back in 2013, at the time of recording the song, this was just a recording project. When I eventually decided to form a band, I thought that song title would be a really cool band name, that had a certain mystique surrounding it.

What was the first song you ever played or learnt ?

Hans – The first song I ever learned was a hymn called “Den Blomstertid Nu Kommer” that I was forced to play on flute in a school performance. The first song I learned on guitar was probably something by Led Zeppelin, perhaps “Whole Lotta Love” or maybe it was “House Of The Rising Sun” by The Animals?

Thomas – Black Dog by Led Zeppelin

Daniel – The first song I’ve ever learned to play would have been a song called “lilla snigel” and was played on the recorder. But on the guitar it was a song called “Mördar-Anders”.

The Soul Exchange – The Full Story

Mervilton Records recording artist The Soul Exchange is a band that has constructed a new alchemy from the rock solid foundation of the 70’s hard rock scene.

They have taken this influence into the new millennium and have created their own unique style of metal infused  modern guitar driven hard rock  with great attention to the melodies and grand vocal arrangements.  

The Soul Exchange was founded in 2013 by guitarist Hans von Bell, drummer Benny White and guitarist Thomas von Bell.

In 2014  the trio was joined by vocalist Erik Olofsson and Tobias Chevalier (vocals  keyboards etc). The band enjoyed success with their eponymous debut album “The Soul Exchange”  produced by the seasoned rock producer and studio engineer Mats “Limpan” Lindfors  released on January 20th  2015.  

In 2016 the band underwent some personnel changes  with Daniel John joining founding members Hans & Thomas von Bell as new vocalist and also bringing in Benny White on drums and Patrik “Patte” Ekel on bass making up the present line up of The Soul Exchange.

Behind the scenes

With the new line up  the band has moved into a new direction  both musically and image wise with a different modern sound and stage image. The Soul Exchange now releases their 2nd full length album ‘Bloodbound’  produced by the renowned Swedish producer Magnus “Tank” Ljungqvist  on the Mervilton Records.

‘Bloodbound’ is a much darker and modern sounding effort  than the debut. The band claims that “this is a new era of The Soul Exchange” and that “Soul Exchange have found its sound on the 2nd release and this will be the formula going forward.

Modern hard rock with a great portion of metal influences  and most importantly  the vocal arrangements and melodies are having a major focus in The Soul Exchanges otherwise riff oriented music”.   

The phrase “It is the sound of a new world being born and the louder sound of an old world being destroyed” has never been more relevant than for the new album by The Soul Exchange ! 

The brand new single from ‘The Soul Exchange’ is entitled ‘Life Eternal’ and is out now.

Online:

http://www.soulexchangeofficial.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soulexchangeofficial/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/soulexchange1

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-CqPilBcOUsQh3-4PrgJKQ