On the back on the release of their brutal new self-titled album, Dismember have been storming around Europe unleashing hell in the name of Death Metal. And as they prepared to lay waste to the infamous Camden Underworld, Planet Loud had a quick chat with Martin Persson and new drummer Thomas Daun.

Planet Loud – You’ve just released you’re brand new album, ‘Dismember’ – tell us a bit about it.
Dismember – It’s a Dismember album, it’s death metal! Haha, no actually, Dismember will always be Dismember so you can hear that on the album; but there are a few changes production-wise, and maybe it’s a bit slower than the last one. But as I said, it’s Dismember.

Planet Loud – You recorded the album totally in analogue, so why have you gone against the grain and shun all the technological wizardry?
Dismember – We’ve used some really old shit for this one, it does sound better and is a lot more fun.

Planet Loud – Have you got any particular highlights from the album?
Dismember – For me it’s hard to say because I think it’s all pretty even. It’s fairly hard to pick out one particular track, but maybe the first one, ‘Death Conquers All’, that’s good.

Dismember – ‘No Honour In Death’ is another favourite, especially to play live.

Dismember – Yeah, and ‘Under A Blood Red Sky’ as well, as a live song. For me, I usually think of how they are to play live rather to listen to them.

Planet Loud – How have the new songs gone down live?
Dismember – Really good; we’ve done about 30 shows before the album was released, and now we’re doing this UK and Ireland tour. But even before people had heard the songs they went down really well live, they’ve had a really good reaction. We’ve played almost the whole album now, we play new songs every night, and it’s been really good I think.

Planet Loud – Have you found any songs that work particularly well live, or conversely songs that don’t?
Dismember – Not really. As I’ve said, we’ve done almost the whole album and each one has been fun. As with every album there are songs that the fans want to hear, but maybe you don’t have as much fun as the fans have; it’s always fun to play, of course, but some are more fun to play than others. But all the new songs have been met with a good reaction, so far.

Planet Loud – You worked with Nico Elgstrand in producing this album, what was it like working with someone completely new?
Dismember – He’s a funny guy, such an idiot – but in a good way. We first spoke about it several years ago, even when Fred was still in the band, about getting Nico in as a producer, so he could concentrate on the drums more; he’s been a good friend of ours for years. But also just to get some fresh ears to the production, we had a blast with him in the studio, a nice guy and did such a great job – we just told him that we wanted it to sound like Dismember, but even more raw.

Planet Loud – How have the dynamics in the band changed since Fred has left, given how much he did within the band?
Dismember – The drums.

Dismember – Haha! But when there’re changes in members, there’s always going to be differences; and when it’s a guy like Fred, who has done so much for the band and had such a huge impact and input to the band then it’s even bigger. But with the writing for the new album it has been really smooth, and we’re lucky to have this short idiot on drums [points to Thomas], he does a great job both live and on the album, he fits perfectly in the band; so it’s gone a lot smoother than people thought it may of done.

Planet Loud – What’s it been like stepping into Fred’s shoes and playing all his old stuff? Any extra pressure?
Dismember – Yeah of course; it’s a band I’ve been listening to since I was 15, so it’s weird. But it’s really fun, I don’t think about it like that, it’s more about who I’m playing with and it feels natural. Of course it’s weird to replace Fred in a band I’ve been listening to for so long.

Dismember – I just have to say we tried out some drummers when Fred left, but Thomas has the same style as Fred plays, the old school style that Dismember needs, but more than that technically he’s similar, it really suits Dismember.

Planet Loud – Do you know if Fred has heard the album?
Dismember – Yeah, I gave it to him a couple of months ago.

Planet Loud – And what did he say?
Dismember – Said it was totally crap! [Laughs] Actually he thought it was really good.

Planet Loud – You recently switched to Regain [before ‘The God That Never Was’], how have Regain compared to the other labels you’ve been on, like Nuclear Blast and Karmageddon?
Dismember – It’s much better. It’s great to have a Swedish label, all the contracts are in Swedish; it’s a lot easier when it’s the same language, we can just pick up the phone and speak in Swedish, less scope for confusion. But it’s also a nice sized label, an underdog to the bigger labels and that’s perfect for Dismember; on Nuclear Blast, for the last two albums they didn’t care, and Karmageddon didn’t do shit for Dismember either, they were like a ship sinking. But I think Regain are really good, and I like the fact Per, who owns the label, has been into metal forever and likes the music, and not just that his wallet gets fat. That’s why we chose to do the new one with them as well, because we only do contacts now for one album at a time, and they did a really good job with the last one.

Planet Loud – You’ve got a few festivals coming up in the summer; how different is it playing festivals compared to club gigs like this?
Dismember – Both are fun in different ways; festivals are really big, but places like here it’s really intense.Dismember – Absolutely; when you play for like 10,000 people, especially for me without glasses, it feels like rehearsing, whereas clubs are, like you said, more intensive and in-your-face. But both are fun.

Planet Loud – And you’re doing the Vader 25th anniversary show in August; how did that come about?
Dismember – Well, they just asked us, and of course we said yes, will be a really fun thing to do. It’s a great line-up so far, and it’s going to be even better; I think that’s going to be a really cool show, I mean it’s better than most of the big festivals’ line-up already, so I think it’s going to be really cool.?

Interview by Dominic Hemy