Can you give us a brief introduction to the history of Mind:State?

Mind:state was spawned in the end of the 90’s or similar by a guy from Sweden (me) who had  too much creativity and needed a way to channel it. So Mind:state is the result you see today.

Does the name Mind:state have a special meaning? How did you came up with this name?

I guess is has some meaning yes. The previous names I had for the project were all crap. And I thought that State of mind was a cool phrase. So I just re-arranged it and had a cool sounding name :)

In your biography you mention Darkseed and Tiamat, in what way were they important for you, what influence did they have?

Tiamat write quite excellent lyrics. And the vocals are superb. Also, great guitars, and not to mention the state of mind you enter when you listen to them. They were the best band I had ever heard, back then. Darkseed make catchy songs with great guitars and interesting lyrics.

What other bands influenced you and in what way?

Front 242 of course. I think they have inspired all electronic-industrial-ebm-dark electro-future pop-bands. Love the singing in F242 and the simple but yet complex music. Also, KMFDM was a huge inspiration in the early work. The most obvious inspiration is Assemblage 23 I think. 
His lyrics, vocal composition and music production is just perfect. How can something like that not inspire other people. 

How do you write music, how do you start with a new song?

There is no one way, every song is different. Most of the time I walk around with a song in my head and when I come home to “make it real” it turns out totally different. It’s weird, but that’s the way it works. But for some reason, the best songs turn out to be the ones where I just improvise the vocals and add some new and more interesting melodies afterwards. Like Close your eyes. After that is done, I redo the vocals so they don’t sound like something that could have been spoken by a linguistic genius like George W. Bush.

What’s the hardest for you in songwriting?

The lyrics, no doubt about that. English is not my native tongue so writing good vocals in English is a bit more difficult than you might think. Sure my English is good, but I could easily need a few more hundred words in my vocabulary. 

What are the goals for mind: state?

To conquer the world actually! But I try to keep quiet about that. No but seriously, the goal is to take it as far as possible. Giving 100% all the time and being supportive to fans. Trying to improve, evolve and just enjoy it. To be able to make a living on Mind:state is my current goal.

How are the responses on the ep and cd so far?

The EP got both good and bad responses. Germany loves the song Black Angel, and people like the remix of Black Angel by Cut.Rate.Box. Then we have a site (I won’t mention the name, but google is your friend) that feel a bit different about the whole thing. So good and bad I guess. The album is a bit more interesting because it got a lot of good responses (and a bad one from the same site as earlier – they hate me buhu!). It has a nice mix of tunes, so there’s a song for everyone, which was a good strategy for a debut album I think. The reviews I have read all gave Decayed Rebuilt good grades. Both the EP and album got on the DAC (German alternative charts) early! The album stayed there for a total of 6 weeks, peaking on position #4! I did not expect that. Another cool thing is that the song “This above all” has got great response from the less alternative scene!

Does the cd title “Decayed Rebuilt” refer to anything special?

Yes the fall and rise of man. Just man as me and you and also the society at large. You fail, you get the blues, you get hurt. You stand up, back on your feet and try again. You can also think about it as seasons come and go. With winter, things decay, with summer they bloom (or rebuild if you will). Societies fall (war etc.), but there is always going to be a new society to rule, they rebuild.

You worked with several other people like Len Lemeire and Brittany, how did you get in contact with him and how did the collaboration work?

I got in contact with Len via Seba on Alfa Matrix (AM). Turns out that Len is the best guy in the world to work with! At first things were a bit slow but after a while we got on quite well and Len knew what sound I was after. Len has two other bands, both on AM Implant and 32Crash. 
Same with Brittany, she’s the lead singer of I:Scintilla, also signed to AM. So working with them was an easy thing, and good. 

There’s also a Swedish song on the album called Din Värld. Why did you choose to put a Swedish song on it?

Swedish is a really beautiful language, and I thought that the last track on the album should be special. Adding Swedish instead of English had an interesting twist and I don’t think it has been done that much in this scene. We have all heard German and Spanish songs and now we have
some Swedish too. You will hear more Swedish from Mind:state.

You are often mentioned in the same breath as assemblage 23 and VNV Nation, do you think the comparison is right?

Uhm, well yes and no. Compare me to A23 yes, my music resemble his a bit, and so do the lyrics. But the styles are still different. Same with VNV Nation. To say that the music is similar would be a lie, but the feeling you get or the feelings that the music create are similar. Compare the feel of the three bands in question, and the comparison is correct (mostly sad feelings for some reason). Of course it is nice to be compare to two greatly respected bands as A23 and VNV Nation.

You also have a special live line-up, can you introduce the other live members?

I finally have a concrete line-up also! When we play live I have my good friend Marcus Liverholm on keys. We go back a few years, studied together at college (in the early days). He thought it would be fun to play and when I heard him try out for the position I was amazed, considering he has no education in music or anything. The second member is my old friend Mathias Fogelström. We grew up together. He plays the nice digital drums. Hopefully he will stay with me as long as possible, he’ll become a dad this summer, so I don’t know what will happen next.

What can we expect from a live show?

Sweat, blood and tears! We try our best to make it a show with lots of energy. A good crowd always help. The coming shows will feature songs from “Decayed Rebuilt” and also some new unreleased tunes. I could use a manager though, finding the time to book shows, study and make 
music at the same time is difficult! 

Any last word for the readers?

Thank you for listening to my work! With out you there is no need for me. Keep the scene alive! Buy the albums – support the artists and labels.