Doomed Confessionary: Adam, Isac, John & Olle (Spacedrifter)

Sweden’s Spacedrifter is a heavy rock band influenced by 90’s alternative rock and takes inspiration from bands such as Queens Of The Stone Age, Nirvana, Alice In Chains and Kyuss, combined with a healthy mix of other genres as well, such as punk, blues, psychedelic rock and doom. The band was formed in 2019 by a group of friends cranking their amps to eleven and rocking out in the evenings.

The band produces and records all songs by themselves in their own studio. In the summer of 2020, they released their first single »Cabin Fever«. That same summer, the band recorded their self-titled EP, which was released on January 1st, 2021. Since then, new music has been in the making.

Spacedrifter’s first full-length album »When The Colors Fade« was released on April 5th, 2024 and is available now on all streaming platforms.

Can you say a few words about your band?
We are Spacedrifter and we play some form of stoner-influenced heavy rock music. Our songs can be quite varied style-wise, ranging from heavy, almost doom-like riffs to softer, psychedelic and almost indie-style. Although it all revolves around a sort of fuzzy stoner/alternative rock central core.
We hail from Mariestad, Sweden (a tiny town mostly known for beer, ice cream and toilet paper) and we formed in 2019, although we have all been playing together for much longer than that. The band consists of Adam Hante (guitar and vocals), Isac Löfgren (drums), John Söderberg (guitar) and Olle Söderberg (bass and vocals). Most of us are multi-instrumentalists so we often switch instruments while recording, but when we play live we have fixed roles. It’s easier that way.

What was the biggest challenge for the band last year?
The biggest challenge for us was to finish our debut album »When The Colors Fade«, which we have been working on for the past 3 years. Just finding the time to get together and record has been a challenge in of itself. Also learning all ins and outs of producing an entire full-length album has been quite challenging and we have learned a lot along the way. There are both upsides and downsides to doing everything by yourself.

Upsides are: It’s cheap, provided you already have equipment and a place where you can record. You don’t need super expensive equipment. You can also get a lot of good second-hand deals. Unlimited time. You can tweak as many things and rerecord as many thing as you want!

Downsides are: Unlimited time. It’s as much a curse as it is a blessing. When you have unlimited time it becomes very difficult to finish the project because you constantly find new things to tweak. It can become very tempting to rerecord or even rewrite parts you aren’t 100% happy with. It’s very time consuming. This relates to the unlimited time thing. It’s as time consuming as you make it, but easily becomes very time consuming.

What can you be most proud of so far?
That we finally finished our debut album after all this time. We finished it in December 2023 and it is being released on April 5th 2024.

What was your biggest regret?
We don’t really have any big regrets. I guess that we didn’t invest in a proper coffee machine for our rehearsal/recording space while we were recording our album. We had to survive on instant coffee, or “speed coffee” as we call it in Sweden (that’s not really an accurate translation, but it sounds funny)

What was the best concert/tour last year and why?
We helped arrange a show in our hometown Mariestad in April 2023 which was a lot of fun. The whole process of planning, promoting (we designed posters and all that) and everything and then see all that work actually pay off when people come and see the show was very rewarding. I think together with the 2 other bands we managed to pull around 150 people, which is not bad for a small town!

What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
For us as a band? That so many people from other countries seem to enjoy our music! According to streaming stats, the majority of our listeners are from the US!

What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Adam: Lately I have been listening to Dungen, Kent and southern Swedish legend Kal P. Dal!
Isac: Viagra Boys and Rage Against The Machine.
Olle: The Beatles, mostly, as per usual. And also Soundgarden and Men I Trust.
John: Little Barrie, one of favorites. »Rubicon« by Abramis Brama, »Superunknown« and »Badmotorfinger« by Soundgarden, »Ja dä ä dä« by Pugh Rogefeldt and »Banchee« by Banchee.

Can you say something more about the music scene in Mariestad, Sweden?
There is no music scene where we are from, people mostly listen to tractor techno around here. There are some rock, metal and punk bands in the area but there isn’t really a scene to speak of, at least not in our genre. Although it feels like things are starting to change (maybe not in our hometown exactly, but in the wider area, nearby towns), with more venues opening up, more bands coming to play and more local bands cropping up, so we are hopeful! Otherwise, the city closest to where we live that has a music scene is Gothenburg, which is about a 2 hour drive away.

Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
At the moment we have a few local shows booked this spring and summer. There may be more to come, but this is what our schedule currently looks like:
Fri, Apr 12 Skövde (Husaren Underground, supporting Långfinger)
Sat, Apr 13 Falköping (Bowlingstället)
Sat, May 25 Hova (MF Rockfickan)
Sat, Jun 8 Larv (Ladugård Live)
Sat, Jun 15 Lidköping (SufferCity in Rock)
Sat, Jul 27 Skövde (Nöjesarenan)
We are always open to more bookings or opening slots!

What are your plans for the future as a band?
Our debut album »When The Colors Fade« releases on April 5th, so in the near future the plan is to promote the album. We also have a handful of live shows booked this spring and summer.
We are also going to recording a second EP this summer which we might release in fall or winter this year, but we haven’t really planned that far ahead yet. We know we just finished an album, but you can never have too much music!
As for plans further into the future, we hope to get to play more festivals next year. One of our goals is to do a European tour at some point, so we’ll be working towards that!

How can people best support your band?
Come to our shows!

Buying our merch on spacedrifterband.bandcamp.com is probably the best way to support us financially. You can buy our new album »When The Colors Fade« on limited edition vinyl. You can also buy all of our music as digital downloads. We also have some T-shirts and tote bags coming in very soon that will be available on Bandcamp.

Follow us on our social media.

Another really good way to support us is to just spread the word! Tell your friends, share our music on social media, etc!

Do you have any message for your listeners?
Support your local venues! Also invest in a proper coffee maker.

Links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well