https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

Dozer Interview & Full Album Stream, Pt. 3: Call it Conspiracy

dozer call it conspiracy era

Man’s Ruin Records, which put out the first two Dozer albums in 2000’s In the Tail of a Comet (discussed here) and Madre de Dios (discussed here), had folded. At the same time, the Swedish four-piece — still working with the lineup of guitarists Tommi Holappa and Fredrik Nordin (the latter also vocals), bassist Johan Rockner and drummer Erik Bäckwall — had well earned momentum on their side both from the quality of the two records they’d put out and the tours they’d done to support. They’d done vinyl releases before through their own Molten Universe imprint, including the LP version of Madre de Dios, so when it came time to unveil 2002’s third album, Call it Conspiracy (also discussed here), rather than take the time to chase down another label, they simply pressed the album themselves.

That choice is important in understanding where the band were at stylistically at the time as well. Call it Conspiracy is an urgent 13-track shove, more crisp in its production and more assured in its drive, less distinctly desert rock than either of its predecessors, and it therefore marks a turning point in Dozer‘s sound. They could hardly be said to have been lacking in identity before it, but even though it had only been a year, there’s a marked shift that takes place between Madre de Dios and its follow-up, though the band’s songwriting — on display right from the start with the essential opening one-two punch of “The Hills Have Eyes” and “Rising” — was more resilient than ever, and Call it Conspiracy remains a fan favorite even some 18 years after its initial release. They’re the kinds of songs a promoter might ask to hear twice and then the DJ would play through the P.A. afterwards anyhow, but I suppose the same could be said of the entire Dozer catalog.

After Call it ConspiracyDozer signed to Detroit-based Small Stone Records and offered up 2005’s Through the Eyes of Heathens (discussed here) and 2008’s Beyond Colossal (discussed here). By 2005, Bäckwall was out of the band. He and Rockner can currently be found in moody atmospheric rockers Besvärjelsen. In the meantime, around 2007, Tommi Holappa‘s long-established side-project Greenleaf began an ascent to the forefront that, as Dozer receded following the 2008 offering, would only continue to shift the balance between the two groups. A succession of albums and tours that in some ways answers the stylistic progression that Dozer left behind, but with its own, bluesier sensibility as well, took shape, and even now awaits its next installment, as Greenleaf recently announced they were writing their next full-length for release on Napalm Records.

As Call it Conspiracy is the third in the trilogy of Dozer releases being reissued through Heavy Psych Sounds, and this is the last of the full-album-streams/interviews to coincide, I’d like to send my thanks to the label, to Purple Sage PR and of course to Tommi Holappa for allowing me to host the records and do the Q&As. These records have meant a lot to me over the years and I’m glad they’re getting back out there again. The more who hear them, the merrier.

Thanks for reading. Please enjoy:

Call it Conspiracy Q&A with Tommi Holappa

Call it Conspiracy marked a shift in Dozer’s sound away from desert-style heavy rock. How purposeful was that progression? Was there a reason behind it, or was it just the way your sound evolved?

When we started writing songs for C.I.C. we could early on hear that we were going in a different direction on some of the songs, which I think was just natural growth of the band, new influences and maybe not wanting to do the same album over and over again. We still wanted to have a fat heavy sound but maybe it didn’t have to be the fattest and fuzziest sound in the world, this is when we decided to tune up our guitars half a step to make everything sound a little bit clearer.

The biggest change was definitely that we hired a producer for this album. All the earlier albums and demos were recorded by Bengt Bäcke (Greenleaf) at the Rockhouse studio in Borlänge. This studio was a simple demo studio but it worked just fine for the first albums. We thought it was time to try something new and see what happens so we hired Chips Kiesby, he had produced High Visibility with The Hellacopters which was an album we all loved. So a producer and a “professional” studio (Music-a-matic in Gothenburg) was the biggest change.

It was only a year’s space between In the Tail of a Comet, Madre de Dios and Call it Conspiracy, but the band seemed to go through so much growth. How do you feel your songwriting process changed over that time? What was it like being in Dozer in 2002 as opposed to 1999 or 2000?

Well it was a year between the releases but in the end I think it took a year for Man’s Ruin to release In the Tail of a Comet so when it came out I think we already had most of Madre de Dios written. But yeah we were growing fast, we didn’t want to be stuck in one place and write the same song over and over again. The more albums we put out the more time we put into trying to write better songs.

Of course, Call it Conspiracy also helped set up the progression across Through the Eyes of Heathens and Beyond Colossal. How do you feel about the thread of Dozer’s work overall?

If you listen to the albums from first to last you can really hear a band that keeps growing the whole time. The first and last albums are almost like two completely different bands but you can still hear that it is Dozer and that is the most important thing.

Anything in particular you’d like to add about Call it Conspiracy? Any other standout memories to share about this time in the band?

This was a crazy and fun time for us! We toured a lot! We did support act tours with Clutch and Mastodon in Europe, we did shows in US, Canada and Australia for the first time.

Also Karl Daniel Lidén joined the band to replace Erik Bäckwall on drums. With Daniel’s energy, heaviness and kick in our asses we started the writing for Through the Eyes of Heathens, but that’s another story.

Will there ever be another Dozer album?

There are no plans at the moment for an album or anything but It would be fun to at least try to write a song together with the guys and see how it would turn out. It’s been 12-13 years since we last wrote together so it would definitely be interesting.

Dozer on Thee Facebooks

Dozer on YouTube

Dozer website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds on Instagram

Heavy Psych Sounds on Twitter

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Tags: , , , , , ,

One Response to “Dozer Interview & Full Album Stream, Pt. 3: Call it Conspiracy

  1. greenskeeper says:

    Didn’t they use one of Smokey Joe Wood’s drum kits for that US tour? Was a great show!

Leave a Reply