Interview with Magnus Delborg, Horisont

1. First of all, for your new potential listeners, could you introduce the band please? Why the name Horisont?

We are a five piece classic rock band from Gothenburg, Sweden. We have been around for 10 years now and are just about to release our fifth record titled ”About Time”. The name Horisont is swedish for horizon. In our early days as a band we wrote mainly in swedish, and the name just stuck. We still write some songs in swedish though.  

2. You play classic hard rock and your sound is so 70’s, why did you decide to play this kind of music? Also tell us a bit about your biggest influences please.

It wasn’t really a decision to play this kind of music, I mean we’ve always been listening to mainly 70’s music so it just comes out that way.
We have a lot of influences but I would say maybe Thin Lizzy, Rainbow, Kiss, Saxon, ELO, UFO and early Scorpions are some bands that we've always been inspired by. On both Odyssey and About Time we've been doing some more progressive stuff inspired by Rush, Gamma, Eloy and that kind of stuff.

3. Your latest LP “Odyssey” came out in 2015 and you recently released the new single “Electrical”, are you going to release a new album soon, maybe next year?

Yes, we have a brand new record titled ”About Time” due to be released February 3:d next year.

4. If the answer is yes tell us what you can about the songwriting, the recording process and mixing.

When I write a song I usually try to make it as finished as possible before I present it to the rest of the band. When Axel writes a song it’s more an idea and he then directs the band in to a finished song. Sometimes we all just write a song together.
We did the recording this summer with a little help and guidance from Henrik Magnusson, who recorded and mixed ”Odyssey” and also Ola Ersfjord came by and helped us set things up. Then we recorded the whole thing by our selves in our rehearsing studio and then just handed it over to Henrik who did a great job of mixing it all together.

5. Tell us about how your relationship with Century Media started.

It actually started the same day that we had our 10th anniversary in Gothenburg at a festival called Rock fest. We had some contact before but this was the day they flew over and we signed the papers.  
We had a 3 record deal with Rise Above before this and we felt that we wanted to try something else. Century Media made us a really good offer and they really like Horisont so it just felt right to go with them. So we started looking for alternatives right after we released "Odyssey", the last album for Rise Above.

6. You recently finished the US tour, what are your plans about touring around Europe soon? Any interesting festival coming next summer?

After the release of ”About Time” we have plans to do first a couple of shows in Sweden then a European tour and hopefully we will go back to America again after that. We are definitely doing some festivals but nothing’s really done yet.

7. If you need to choose your best experience as a musician in Horisont which one could it be?

Azkena rock festival was a cool experience. We played really late just after Black Crows. There where several thousand people in the audience and the stage was huge. You kind of got the feeling, they had booked the wrong band, but it was awesome.
Also when we released our first album and you got it for the first time on vinyl, that was special.

8. And the worst one?

Probably sleeping in a camper van full of dog shit. We where on a european tour with Graveyard and Charlie accidentally put one of the merch boxes in a pile of dog?(I assume) shit. He then put the box in my bed, on my sleeping bag. So after driving several hours through the night after the show, I was super tired and there was crap all over my bed. That was kind of a bummer.   

9. Have you noticed any changes about hard rock and metal music since you started listening to it, and of course since you started playing music in general?

You see more and more classic rock bands poping up, especially in Sweden. Some are great and some are not but it’s nice to see that people have good taste in music.

10. Anything else to add? Any interesting story to share with your followers?

Just check out the new record, I hope you’ll like it  and we’ll see you on tour. Hail and kill!

Thanks a lot and Cheers!

Thanks!

HORISONT:

Members
Axel – Vocals
Charles – Guitar
David – Guitar
Magnus – Bass
Pontus – Drums

Interview by: Fani Nadki