Sanctum

I think we should start with a short presentation of you and the other band members. Name and occupation.
- "As it is today there are three constant members in Sanctum. Janne Carleklev who writes and makes the music, Palle Paulsson, songwriter and song and then there are Ulrika Carlson who are responsible for the visual effects on our live performances."

I think that the idea of a musical project is interesting and Sanctum is a part of this collective. Have you ever thought about make a release with all the constellations of the collective on?
- "There are as a matter of fact thoughts of it. There are a lots of stuff that never been on a record, like all the music written for the dance group Agnes performances for example. I don't think it's impossible that we'll make a Crescens Collective sampler one day. One that includes the known acts like Sanctum, Mago, Azure Skies and Parca Pace but also shows the other sides of the collective that's never been on a record."

Since the start there have been a lot of changes in the band, but are there any special events that have formed you to who you are and the music you create?
- "It's hard to point out special happenings that have shaped our music. When Lena Robért left Sanctum must be such an occasion. Otherwise it's more like small ideas that forms, evolve and gets a huge impact on Sanctum''s sound."

The most musicians get inspiration from something when creating music. De great composers during medieval times often got their inspiration from God and the church. Now days it isn't that common with these inspiration sources. From where do you get your inspiration?
- "I get my inspiration from things I see that gives me a feeling. It can be art, movies and sometimes even a good book. But there are also things in life that brings up feelings and I think that these things affect me in my creation."

In the booklet that comes with 'Let's Eat' it says that you have recorded both music and song in various living rooms. Tell us a little bit more about the recording of the record. How come you choose different living rooms as studios for example?
- "Parts of the music have been recorded in a studio on Gotland, but most of it has been recording in my own studio. About the song, I had to go to different places and record and by some reason we always ended up in someone's living room. The most of the song-add-ons that Palle made we were sitting in his living room in Jönköping. Then I had to go to Gothenburg for a few days recording with Sara-Lo and there we also ended up in a living room. But I think it's a good idea since it feels a bit mote laid back and relaxed. But it can be a pain if you discover that the neighbour flushes his toilet in the middle of the best recording."

Let's leave the studio for a while and go out to the field. What sort of live performances do you like best? On a smoky club-stage or in front of a crowd on a festival?
- "It's hard to decide what's best. When we play on festivals the sound equipment often are bigger and better and musically Sanctum's music is best with bigger equipment because then we can use all registers. But the mode is almost always better on a club-stage. A great sound and light-equipment on a stage is the best but it seldom happens."

And automatically the next question appears. It''s about the best live performance you've done. Where, when, how and why?
- "Erlagen in Germany '96 was great. It was one of our first large gigs and I remember that Marika and I got a great cooperation during that gig. Cornerstone in the US '01 was also great. Except for those two I think it's one of the more recent ones after the release of 'Let's Eat'. We've been working hard to get a nice sound and good performance. What makes a good performance is when everything works well and the audience is totally in for it. Then you get a great kick that's hard to describe. A new dimension to what we've created in the studio appears."

Sanctum has evolved a lot since the beginning and you can hear big differences on the sound now and then. And the evolution continues and we wonder what Sanctums future looks like? And what will happen next?
- "Well, now it's only to go for it. If the audience managed to wait 8 years and also managed to adapt to the changes there are no obstacles. It feels really great and I'm looking forward to begin to work on new material. I can promise it won't take 8 years to the next record. I've got some other projects that go along with Sanctum and they will continue to run parallel with Sanctum as well so it's hard to tell what comes first. About Sanctum it's hard to tell how the future sound will be, it's something that time will answer. The big idea behind Sanctum is that we should do what feels right for the moment. To test your musical borders. I think you will be able to recognize Sanctum and hopefully we will continue to challenge the audience."

What about the side-projects? Tell us a bit more about them.
- "The side-projects that are active and play live right now are Mago, Azure Skies and Parca Pace. I've started to work on new material for a Parca Pace record; I've got this idea what you can do with the orchestral instruments in combination with field recordings and other sounds that normally not link to the orchestra-language. Azure Skies is a project with members from both Sanctum and Mental Destruction. We have plans on a new release but it's hard to find time for sessions together. We played in Oslo for a month ago that was fun so I hope that we'll get started for real soon. Mago released the debut record two year ago so it's time for a new one now. We'll see how long it takes before that one sees the daylight."

It's getting time to round up now, but first we need to know: Who is the greatest musician who's ever lived?
- "For me personally it's Blixa Bargeld and the rest of the members in Neubauten. They've succeeded in creating interesting music from record to record. The music they did in the beginning of the 80's is priceless. The cool thing about them is that they still makes interesting music, but from another angle. And the texts that Blixa writes are great."

The last question now. Mention some bands you think need some extra attention.
- "I just discovered LCD Sound System, don't know if they need more attention though but they are good. Can I say Neubauten?"

[font]This interview was made 2004 and initially published on Neurozine.com