Confess: High Energy Sleaze Rock ‘N Roll Overload

Confess: High Energy Sleaze Rock ‘N Roll Overload

Confess is a high energy sleaze rock collective from Sweden ready to slam into the big leagues.  Their latest album is a raging scorcher appropriately titled Burn ‘Em All on Street Symphonies Records– jammed packed with a rock and roll overload you’ll want to revisit time and again.  Scheduled to play festivals this summer with the likes of Hardcore Superstar and Sister, Confess is destined to become the sonic addiction of many above and beyond their Stockholm home base – especially if the anthems found within Burn ‘Em All are indicative of greater hard rock glories ahead.  Highwire Daze recently caught up with lead vocalist John Elliot to find out a whole lot more about the one and only Confess.  Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Confess, and how long the band has been together.
I’m John Elliot, lead singer and founder of the band. I started this in late ’08 with some dudes from my high school. It was a whole other thing back then, you know. We just tried to learn different heavy metal covers and that was it. Pretty soon I met Sam (drummer) and him and I started to write music together and this whole thing took off. Blomman joined and the rest is history, haha. Naw but, we had a major line up change in 2016 that shook things up a bit for us. But now we’re back, stronger and better than ever before. We never had like a overnight success thing. We always become better for each tour, each album etc. I think that’s the reason why we’re still are here, knowing that we haven’t done our best album yet.

Where is the band based out of and what is the local music scene like there?
We’re from Stockholm, Sweden. I’d say that the rock scene in Sweden is pretty solid. Lots of bands.

How do you think Burn ‘Em All compares to the previous Confess releases?
I think Burn `Em All is the result of releasing Jail and Haunters.  It’s like a perfect mix of both those albums but still with some new elements added. I think the song writing on this one is better and more mature. When we did Jail, I was 21-22 years old. I was at a total different place in life, we all were. I think you can hear that in the music.

Who did the cover art for Burn ‘Em All and how much input did you have on it?
It’s a girl named Gisel Ippoliti, a very talented tattoo artist from Argentina. We had a lot of input on it. We told her what we wanted and she delivered.

What could one expect from a live Confess show?
We’ve been known as a pretty high energy band on stage, so expect a good time and expect a rock´n roll overload, haha. It’s never been something we think much about. We just lose our shit when we go on stage and trying to have the time of our lives and hopefully passing that energy over to the audience. For us its always been about playing live. I love being in the studio, creating and trying new stuff but only for a short period of time. Then I want to play live.

What are you looking forward to the most about playing the two upcoming Sleazefests – one with Sister and the other one with Hardcore Superstar?
Hmm, don´t know. They are both fun shows for us. Good friends with the bands and I think nights like that are like heaven for some fans. Getting that Swedish metal package delivered right in their faces, haha.

If Confess could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
Hard question. You could get 2 answers here. Either I go with a professionally smart choice that would help us grow, like Motley Crüe or something like that. Or, I’d go with a band that I just personally would love to play with, take a band like Pantera for instance (with Dime and Vinnie still alive of course) – their old shows seemed fucking brutal. So much energy going on there. Would have loved to open up for them in ’92 or something, haha.

Has Confess ever played here in the States or plan to do so in future days? If so, how did the show(s) go?
Yes we have. Played in LA a few years ago. At The Whisky and some other places. Shows went great, lots of people came and the whole trip was so much fun. I woud love to do a proper US tour. But it takes a big budget for a band from Sweden to come over and make that happened, but some day hopefully.

Are you or any other members involved with any other projects outside of Confess?
Our drummer has another band on the side called Horga who are releasing some interesting suff. Check em out!

What’s up next for Confess?
Up next is releasing Burn ‘Em All and lots of touring in Europe this year. Doing lots of festivals. Its gonna be a fun but hectic year for us. But still, this is why we do it, this is why we spend a year in the studio, so we can go on the road and play live.

Any final words of wisdom?
I have none 😉 Good question tho. Was fun talking to yaa and hopefully Confess will come over and rock the states in the future.

Confess is:
John Elliot – Vox
Samael – Drums
Ludwig – Bass
Blomman – Guitar
Pontus – Guitar

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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