My HeadBangers please welcome from the Southeast of Sweden the Groovy Heavy Metal Band:
CAREGAH
“Smoke of Doom”
They say this is a slower groovy stoner metal song, and I am there!!!!
“Tomahawk”
I really really love the sound of this band, from the instrumental to the vocals. It all works and produces a great sound for your gray matter. I love it when I come across a band I have never heard before, it’s like Christmas when you open a gift and are so surprised it brings the biggest smile to my face and I have to bring it to the blog. I was lucky enough to get an interview with Marcus who does the vocals, so let’s get to it, as always mine in blue and Marcus’s in black.
I know you started the band in 2019, that was around the time Covid hit. Did that influence you in starting the band?
Yeah, we started jamming in the fall of 2019 to see what ideas we had. Covid came in the spring of 2020, so we tried to continue while it was not too widespread here in Sweden. We had mouth guards and stuff, we didn’t want it to stop us when we had something cool going on! It really was a bump in the road if you say so, but we tried to push on as best we could!
That’s about all any of us could do during that time. There were plenty of those bumps in the road, but you guys came out of it and have a great sound.
I have dug around and really can’t find much on you guys out there, except that you all started at the same time, and you all have played in other bands. What made you all come together?
Me (Marcus) and Patrik knew each other a little bit before because our wives worked together for a while in the mid-2010s. Then we moved up to the northern part of the country for a while around 2017-2019, I had before that ended in my previous band. In the spring of 2019, we were back in the southeast part again, (my hometown) and I had a lot of riffs, ideas and other things lying around and had a great desire to try to form a new band. I knew then that Patrik’s other band was on hold for a bit, so we started talking about getting a band together. The rest is history so to speak 🙂
I always ask what does the name mean and why did you choose it?
The band name comes from a word from our dialect here at home. It’s a word you can use for most things, about things you think are cool or if someone does something bad ass or tough. You can say that to both boys and girls. It’s often in a happy context, haha! Then we replaced a couple of letters and played a little trick with it. Band names are not always so easy to come up with, but I think this name does justice to who we are and how we play.
I know, there are so many bands on this planet, I would be banging my head trying to figure one out. I love hearing about how bands choose their names. It takes a lot of thought and others I know just pop up. Also not knowing the language makes the name that much more unique.
Is there anything new you can add about the band? I read you EPK on your website, and I always like to dig a little deeper to give fans something extra that they don’t know about the band.
Yes, we are in the process of finishing our debut record which is supposed to be released in the summer of 2023. We are releasing the 3rd and final single on June 2nd which is a real monster! We just finished shooting a damn good music video for it too. We also have Filip back on drums who was with us from the beginning. He’s had other things to do for a while, so we’ve had Johan from the band Onda Makter join in. But now he’s smashing drums again in Caregah. We also have some gigs booked, and possibly we will go to England this autumn and play a couple of gigs.
I definitely will be looking for that single on June 2. I’ll make sure to put it on the blog.
I love your vocals; the first time I heard it I could swear there was a mix of both growl vocals and throat singing. What do you do to keep that throat in condition?
Hehe, I thank you for that, it’s nice to hear that you like the voice 🙂 Yes, it’s a mixed bag, but it probably comes naturally as I have no theory in vocal technique. I have picked up some warm-up exercises and such and continue to work in this way. Throw in coffee, tea and beer and you’re done! Maybe some warm water sometimes 😉
LMAO you are one of the lucky ones. There are vocalist that go to the extreme, even coaches. Hey if you were born with it, we are grateful, because your vocals are great. And I’m just not saying that. I have read and dug deep into the history of growl vocals and throat singing. I always say I need to write a book, most people don’t know that growl vocals can be traced back centuries ago to Viking culture. In the 10th century, an Arab merchant visiting Denmark commented on the local music as follows: “Never before I have heard uglier songs than those of the Vikings in Slesvig.” He had no appreciation for our music back then lol.
Is there anything you would like to say to your fans, or anything you would like to add?
We are super happy for everyone who likes or shares stuff about Caregah, it feels too damn good. Feel free to leave comments or write to us, we’ll try to answer as best we can! And spread Caregah if you get the chance, tell a friend or just shout out Caregah if you’re walking around town or in a bar, haha! We want to go out and play for you all, that’s the best thing about this, getting to play live. We are working on bringing out some new merch stuff, for example, so stay updated.
Oh don’t worry, I will be looking for your new release. It would be great to see you guys live. You never know what time will bring.
Patte – Guitar (from Kräk)
Dogge – Bass (from Sledge)
Fille – Drums (from Kräk)
My thoughts:
Well my HeadBangers, I think you can tell by our conversation, I felt like I was talking more to a friend than just the usual interview. Sometimes it just happens that way. I wish all interviews were this way, but every band is different and when you talk to bands from all over the planet people are different. That’s why I love my Northern Bands so much, my spirit is from the North and you can’t change it.
That’s it for this week my HeadBangers. Join me next Wednesday for Hump Day and next Saturday for the weekly band. Again I would like to thank Marcus for taking the time to talk to me. I say talk and not interview because all my interviews feel like I’m talking directly to them. That’s just the way I am. Remember don’t stand to close to the fire if you can’t handle the burn…..
Please feel free to leave me a comment or question, I appreciate it HeadBangers: