Live interview with Blindside featuring Christian Lindskog (vocals) and Marcus Dahlström (drums)
July 14, 2005

As soon as we had word The Black Friday tour would be featuring Blindside, WMP knew this was not a show to miss. So myself, Dennis, and a buddy arrived at the venue, Mississippi Nights in St. Louis, about an hour early. We were excited to get there knowing we had a live interview scheduled with Blindside. We quickly made our way around to talk with their road manager who told us Christian would sneak out the back and meet up with us at the bar grill next door on the famous Landing in St. Louis.  About 6:30, we were told Christian was sneaking out the back. We met up with him and Marcus, who told me they were interested in looking for some seafood or a more vegetarian friendly restaurant.  We walked over to Skeeter's Eatery and had the privilege of having dinner with the two.    And YES, their latest cd is freaking amazing (read the review here)!!!

Dennis: The re-release of your first two albums on DRT are incredible and I loved all the extras. The demos were classic that you placed those on there.  What led to the re-release?
Marcus: Uh, hello, the waitress is giving us waters as we go to speak. First off, uh...we signed with DRT and before we had started up our own label, Wasa,  and in the process we looked at getting the rights to all our own records.  We got the rights to our first two releases and thought it would be cool to re-release them. We are doing a dvd and thought it would be cool to get it all back out there.
Christian: It was a cool thing you know, just to get something out there for the fans that have been out there a long time and also the new fans that didn't know we had anything before Silence.  Not just to pout out the same record, we added new artwork and added some embarrassing stuff also (laughs). 

Dennis: About your new label...are there any bands you guys are signing?
Marcus: Mainly as of right now it is just us but in the future we may look into signing other bands.
Christian: And NO we don't want anymore demos. (laughs)

Dennis: Well, it is good we clarified that since this interview will be posted on the web. I know that most bands hate this question but I still have to ask...
Marcus: Is the question, can you describe your music (laughs)
Dennis: (laughs) No, not at all like that.
Marcus: Is it, how did you guys get to know P.O.D.?
Dennis: Nope, well maybe you guys won't hate this question to much since I don't have any questions like that at all.  The question is, I know when Blindside first started you had a different name.  Just curious where you got the name and what it means to you?
Marcus: Actually Simon came up with the name and we had some friends that rehearsed next door and we basically stole it from them.  They would sing 'blindside' and we thought it was cool. So, we tried it out and it stuck and now for me, you know it can mean so much.  You know like someone can get blindsided.
Christian: I think also now for us it means four friends going out to work.  That is what it means and making records.

Dennis: How did you guys team up with Billy Corgin on "Hooray, It's LA" and will we be hearing anyone on the new album? 
Christian: You know, I think our manager just called him up and asked if he wanted to be in the record. We always loved Smashing Pumpkins and we had this part that would be cool if he would do a solo since he sings with so much emotion. We were surprised when he said yes because he usually doesn't sing much on other peoples records.  After he heard it, he ended up playing on the whole song. On the next album we have a guest appearance from Jan Jemta. He is lead singer from Koma and yeah he is an old friend and have been on tour with them before.  Also a guy named Ilkka and he used to be lead singer of a band called Self Minded on Solid State. We are old friends so it was cool.

Dennis: One of my favorite things about Blindside is the incredible thought provoking lyrics.  What do you think has kept the band so focused in bringing those types of lyrics on every album?
Christian: Well, I don't know. It has never been a conscious thing.  But it is always just about things I am going through. So, it is has never been a specific decision to be a certain way, it just seems to always come out that way. 

Dennis:  We have heard a major changes in style coming into “About a Burning Fire” and now hearing the debut track “Fell In Love with the Game….what do you guys consider the biggest evolutionary aspect in your change in music?
Christian: I think the reason it is shifting so much is because we are four different individuals and we all have different ideas on where we want to go.  So when we come together something very creative comes out.  You know, before a record sometimes we think, 'yeah man we should do a record like this.' Then we come into the same room and we really dont know what is going to happen.  It comes down to we are all very different. 

Dennis: Christian, I read you and your wife went to South Africa last year through World Vision. How has that experience changed your lives and what can fans do to help with that ministry?
Christian: It was very, well first off let me say, if you ever have a chance to go somewhere like that then you should take that opportunity,.  It is so different hearing about those things and seeing them on tv then actually being there and looking in their eyes. One thing people could do is get involved.  One thing that keeps people back is they are so jaded and think it is all about fundraising and them making money. People don't believe in it so much.  I mean if you dont get involved then well you will never get involved.  I think just getting involved somehow and there are many ways in doing that.  We have a chance for fans at our shows to sponsor kids through World Vision and all those kids are effected by HIV and Aids.  There are different organizations that help out doing that and that is a great way to help out.  It can be pretty cheap, I mean it is only $1 a day and people can afford that.  It saves lives and I have seen it first hand. 

Dennis: You guys were brought through the Christian market here in the US and have been accepted by the mainstream world as well.  Why do you think Blindside has been accepted where others have tried and fallen short?
Marcus: (While eating his fish) Oh, um, I don't know. (laughs)
Christian: I think people embrace us in the Christian market but we have never really embraced that.  I mean when we came from Sweden we didn't know there was a Christian rock scene and didn't know it existed.  It was so strange to us. We always just wanted to play shows and be with bands and not be segregated as as you put it earlier, play in the Christian ghetto. We saw that right from the beginning.  I remember coming to Cornerstone and thinking this is so awesome, I love this, I love all this music and really cool people.  But at the same time the only people that know about it are the Christian kids. We have always been bothered with Christian segregation.  There are two things to do about it, one we can be bitter and say 'oh I hate the Christian crowd' but try to see everyone as just people listening to music whether they are Christian or not.  So with that in mind we just kept going forward playing shows. 

Dennis: As Christians in Blindside, how or do you feel led to share your faith with fans?
Marcus: Yeah, if people ask us about our faith then we will answer but we aren't forcing ourselves on anyone.  I mean after a show we aren't going to corner fans to talk about God but we are never avoiding it. Also it is a lyrical thing and if people dig in and will then see the band has something to say. 

Dennis:  Why choose Jesus and Christianity rather than other faiths and what led you to Jesus?
Marcus: We all grew up in Christians homes and had a good upbringing. So I dont know that any of us really have a life changing story.  There comes a point even if you grow up in a Christian home, you have to make a decision whether what you believe is real or not real.
Christian: Why choose Christ? You know I think that is a decision we make every day. It comes down to this, either it is real or it isn't.  I mean it has to have an effect on your life.  It isn't really a choice, I mean if you know it is the truth then you have to believe it. 

Dennis: Earlier, we were talking off the mic about legalism and things like that.  That is my major pet peeve with the Christian faith are those that are so closed minded that they point their fingers at everyone that doesn't fit into their bog of Jesus.  For example, tonight one of the college students in my college ministry was supposed to be here but his mom called and said she didn't want her son listening to music that sounded like it was from the pit of hell (all laugh). She had never even heard you or the other bands that are playing tonight. What do we need to do to face head on against things like that and what would you like to say to this mom?
Christian: Well, to the mom, I would like to say Jesus loves you. You know there is definitely an amount of narrow-mindedness on both extremes.  I mean I don't know how to answer it really. The other night we played in a Christian venue and everyone treated us great, 10 times better than in a normal club. Showbread was playing a guitar riff of "Highway to Hell" by ACDC and this lady was like "Well, I don't think this is appropriate to play this song." I was thinking you know, he only played a couple bars of it so how did she know what song it was (all laugh). You know, ok, so that riff wasn't Christian? I mean the way they paused and played wasn't Christian? You know sometimes it just becomes stupid and we should all think.  But you know then on the other side, you have bands that think they know everything and we as bands come into areas and judge people.  I mean someone will say "They don't know anything about God" and we realize we are judging also.  There is so much legalism but I do think it is changing. 

Dennis: What do you hope fans get from your album releasing August 2, The Great Depression?
Marcus: I just hope they like it.  I hope they dig it as much as previous records.
Christian: You know bands always say, this is our most creative album ever, but yeah you know. We definitely went in another direction that we did from About a Burning Fire. I mean we went harder in some songs and softer in others.  The album is called The Great Depression. It almost came out as a concept album even though we didn't mean to.  But really almost all our albums end up being like that and each record is about something. We still are trying to figure out what this record means to us.  So much deals with what I saw in South Africa as people are dieing young and with the similarities we see in Sweden and in America.  You know we have everything but suicide is growing and sadness is prevalent.  No one knows where it is coming from and we are in a society where nothing is right or wrong and even more in Sweden really. How can we feel so sad and so that is where it came from. 

We ended our time just hanging out and talking more about Christian's experience in Africa. The compassion was so intense as he talked about he and his wife's time there. After, we all headed to the show and saw an incredible performance from The Showdown, Showbread and then Blindside. Click here for our review of their show!

Also if you would like more information about a ministry Wise Men Promotions supports for relief of AIDS in Africa please visit: