Interview With 'Nocean'

Firstly, introduce yourself/yourselves and tell us a little bit about the band and how you came to be?

We are from Sweden (Stockholm) and play Melodic, Alternative Rock with Metal influences and electronic elements. The members are Hanna (vocals), Ozzy (guitar), Patrick (drums) and Sara (bass). The band started as a classic Hard Rock band in 2013, but last summer we made some changes both in our line up and with our sound - going from Hard Rock to Alternative Rock. We've been working with a label before but now we are on our own. This year we are booked to play at Sweden Rock Festival and we are also going back to England on a mini tour in May which is really awesome! We will play in London, Tamworth and Birmingham.

What were you all up too prior to the band, was this always the chosen path or did you have other dreams and aspirations?

For this band it as always been to go all the way in the Rock biz. That's the constant struggle though, finding members that are willing to put that much into the band. It's like a relationship - you never know when it ends but if it feels right, you can come far together. And life changes sometimes, dreams changes. But not for us! We all have jobs on our sides of course, but flexible enough so that we can go on tours. I work as a freelance TV editor. Ozzy runs a local movie theatre and works as a freelance sound engineer. Patrick works with social care and Sara works as a sound technichian on a big dance venue in Stockholm. Much work with the band is made late at night or on weekends.

Tell us about your latest Album and why our readers should check it out.

We released our debut album in April 2016 on Attitude Recordings. But after some members quit, Sara and Patrick joined the band and we started to work on our second album to present 'Nocean 2.0' - with a new sound and working on our own. So since fall 2016 we've released two new singles from our second album - and two music videos. The first one, "The Change", was filmed in 360 degrees reached out to many new fans, especially in Mexico and Brazil. We did all the PR work ourselves and reached more viewers than we could imagine. It prooved that we don't need a label. But we will be looking for a label this spring and if we don't find any, we will release the next album on our own label.

Have you ever come face to face with someone within the music scene who has left you awestruck and why?

I've never met anyone face to face but I wrote to Cherie Currie once and she replied! Very cool for me as The Runaways were my biggest inspiration before and the reason why I even started a band again after many years on pause. Also standing 10 meters from Lzzy Hale in Halestorm on a concert in France, was pretty cool. Ozzy met two guys from Trivium once and I remember him telling me that he was shaking from being star struck! (And that happens very seldom for him). Patrick had a drum session with the drummer of Devin Townsend Project in March and Sara got to support Anneke van Giersbergen on a local venue outside Stockholm.

If we were to head out to one of your live shows what can ourselves and others expect?

Lots of energy and headbanging of course! We want our music to be heavy and grand on records and on stage - we use electronic elements and synthezisers in our backing tracks to get a massive sound. Right now we are playing a mix of old songs that go with our new sound and some of the new ones.

If you had one artist/band that you could go on tour with tomorrow who would it be and why?

We all have different favorite bands, but Thirty Seconds To Mars and Muse are bands that have the same target audience and of course it would be awesome. Personally I'd like to go with Halestorm, it's not too far from what we play either. Ozzy says Trivium, Patrick says Devin Townsend (well we all love his music actually) and Sara's dream is to support Skunk Anansie.

You can spend an hour with a musical icon living or dead, who would you pick, why and what would you speak about?

Ooooh... how could anyone choose? Lizzy Hale, Joan Jett, Jimi Hendrix, Flea, Lemmy! They've all done so much for the world of Rock. I coult talk about anything, but I would of course like to get advise, to speak about their experiences in the musc biz.

And finally and most importantly is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?

No! In Sweden, at 3 pm on Christmas Eve, children and grownups gather around the TV to watch the same hour with several short films from Disney (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck etc.) every year.

Check out their video for 'This Must Be'

Website - www.noceantheband.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/noceantheband