ANTIBODY formed in Uppsala, Sweden, in May of 2003, with Mats Gustafsson on lead vocals, rhythm/lead and acoustic guitars, backing vocals, programming, and Claes Wiberg on bass, backing vocals, piano and programming. Gustafsson and Wiberg, who knew each other since high school had played together in a metal outfit called Expired for about a year, but there was enough unhappiness in that band to warrant breaking it up. At the time, its members did not get along anymore, on a number of levels, and Gustafsson and Wiberg decided to cut their losses and go do their own thing. They still wanted to play metal, but without the constraints of the somewhat uniform sound of Expired, they felt free to experiment a bit with the music. MG and CW decided that, first and foremost, their new outfit should be dedicated to having fun playing music first and foremost. So the writing and recording of the first CD, "Dreaming this September", took up the better part of a year - they were having fun playing, writing and recording, and didn't want to rush things but rather let them take its natural course and see what they ended up with.

 

The result was the five-track CD "Dreaming this September", released in January 2004. With the direction decided upon, new material started coming along very quickly after its release, and after deciding on a more progressive and advanced metal style, ANTIBODY got down to work on their next release. Good ideas for songs started flowing in no time, and the first song, "I love what you hate", was written and recorded in record time. "The mutiny... ...Shows that have no soul", a two-part track, took a little longer, mainly because the band wanted to make sure it was up to par with the first song. Gustafsson's vocals had evolved, and more time was spent on the vocals than ever before. Once the final mixes were in, it took less than a week before the final product, with full CD packaging, was ready. After securing song rights, the guys released the CD on May 14, 2004.

 

MEET THE BAND:

 

MATS GUSTAFSSON, 27, has been playing guitar for a long time. Inspired by metal legends like James Hetfield and Dave Mustaine, he's spent years and years perfecting metal guitar. Other influences range from Queensryche to Rachmaninov (see bio). He holds a daytime sales manager job, and likes to fish, watch movies, hang out.

 

CLAES WIBERG, 27, started out on the guitar at the age of 13, and didn't change to bass until Expired started. Before that, he played guitar in various punk outfits, and had a little metal project going with MG in high school. His fate was sealed when, at age 7, a friend (Rickard Österman - R.I.P.) played him Twisted Sister's "Stay hungry" LP. From metal to punk to electronica to goth to hip hop via film scores, rock 'n' roll, death and black metal, grindcore and glam, Wiberg is a full-on music junkie.

 

The ANTIBODY concept?

 

"First and foremost it's about the music", says Gustafsson. Wiberg agrees: "We do this because we love writing, recording and playing music. Now that people are starting to notice us, it feels real good because everything we've ever done in this band, we've done because WE wanted to. Regarding the lyrics; they're about the way WE see the world, and I think we see it differently than a lot of people do. We are both world-class cynics who've been through a lot of shit, and that's shaped us accordingly."

 

"And it's a gang mentality", Wiberg continues. "We've known each other for a long time, and we function very good together, whether we're writing music or just hanging out. A lot of the melodies on the new CD came up very spontaneously between the two of us when we were writing, and when we're writing together, we come up with good shit very quickly."

 

And they'll continue to write, record and release "good shit". That much is certain.

 

The new CD, "I love what you hate", is out now.