Hi Anders and Sherwood. I’m so happy that we have the chance to talk again after a long time period. I didn’t like that Grand Illusion split-up but I’m very pleased that you are back with Code. Congrats on “The Enemy Within”, as you know we have named as the Surprise of the Month at Grande-Rock.com.

Anders: Thanks very much. We are glad to hear that you like the album and we are proud to be album of the month.

Before we go on to Code, please tell me what happened and Grand Illusion finally split up? The band was becoming more popular with every new record and the future looked so bright for it… finally only you and Ola stayed together from the band.

A: We started with Code before the break up of Grand Illusion. I would more say that Grand Illusion split up since I decided to invest my time in Code instead. Not everybody in GI was happy that I started to work with other people and that caused a lot of tension in GI.

OK. So, you stayed way from the scene for a long period but as I can understand all this time you were recording new songs along with Ola. Do you had in mind to release them someday, or to set it straight do you had in mind to form a new band and go on producing albums?

A: I always write music. Some of my songs didn’t seem right for Grand Illusion so I wanted to try them out with another singer. To do something new and different. I have been playing with Per since 1980 and Peter since 1983. Christian joined in 1986 so it was time to work with new people before landing up on the retirement home.

Thus, you came to a point were you had a lot of stuff almost ready for releasing and you had to find some other members for the band? Did you think at that point to work with a session vocalist and a session drummer?

A: Sherwood was right from the start more interested to have a band relationship than to just sing as a session guy. During the making of this album we have also become very good friends and I think it’s a relationship that will carry on for a long time. Maybe even life. He’s become a very close friend and we talk about so much more than music. We chose to use Gregg since he’s one of the best drummers in the world. But he is a session guy and hasn’t been involved with anything else than just the drums.

As I have read on your official website you haven’t thought of Sherwood Ball before but when you heard an old song of Jay Graydon where Sherwood was singing, you thought that this is it… this was the singer that you wanted. Have you tried out some other singers as well before you contact Sherwood?

A: No I didn’t try any other singers before Sherwood. Of course I had some ideas about some other singers but one day I heard an old Jay Graydon tune (“Holdin’ On To Love”) in my car stereo. Sherwood co-wrote and sings on that tune and I remembered two excellent shows with the Jay Graydon All Stars in 94 and 96. On those concerts, Sherwood blew me away with his vocals. I started to wonder what he was doing nowadays. When I came home that day, I did a search on the internet and found Sherwood’s web site. “Singer for hire” it said on one of the pages so I sent him an e-mail and asked if he would consider listening to a couple of songs. A couple of hours later he replied and said yes - please send some songs.

That was the start of a very intense communication over the internet. It has been very fun and we have also become good friends. Sometimes Sherwood has sent me stuff before he goes to bed and when he wakes up the next morning there’s a new mix or something new added to the song, and I have done the same and received had new stuff in my mailbox when I wake up the next morning, so the 9 hour time difference has also been very good.

I also believe that Sherwood was the best singer that you could team up with ‘cause he is a much underrated singer and has a fantastic voice as well. Do you think that a singer like Sherwood can “take” the band a step forward but on the other hand does the co-operation with Sherwood makes you anxious about the final result of the songs?

A: He has brought a lot of new things to my music and my way of writing songs. Not only great vocals but also introduced some other thoughts of how to write songs and how make them even better. We have a brutal but honest way when communicate about the songs.

The band took shape and then you started writing songs with Sherwood as well… At first I was surprised when I read that Sherwood hadn’t heard of your music in the past and he didn’t know what to expect from you… but in the end I think that he thought that chances like that do not appear everyday in your life, you do not have always the chance to co-operate with such a good musician, songwriter and producer in your life… and vice versa of course.

A: Sherwood and myself like very much the same kind of music and have a lot of common and that I think has been a great advantage. That was also probably the reason he wanted to be a part of this. There was now way for Sherwood to hear Grand Illusion since our albums haven’t been released in USA.

Sherwood: I heard these tracks by Anders and it lit a fire in me. The fire to take the genre’ of Melodic Rock, which I always loved, to a new level of quality. It was a lot of hard work, but I feel we achieved that. I was in Melodic Rock bands in the mid eighties, but got sabotaged by drug-crazed managers, Yoko-Ono type scenarios, you name it! No other genre’ has the passion, the dynamic range from tenderness to the rage of a warrior. To be able to intelligently communicate in a wide dynamic emotional range is Melodic Rock.

And you named the band Code? Who’s idea was? Does this Code is a kind of a secret music Code between Europe and America?

A: The name is always the hardest to come up with. I don’t remember which one of us that came up with the name Code but all of us immediately liked that named. We don’t think of the name as secret codes or data code. More of a code of agreement, respect for each other. Like a code of ethics.

S: See “Alive” below.

The debut album is titled “The Enemy Within”.  Is yourself the worst enemy that you could ever face… and we are all afraid to do so? Are you referring to that by this title? What’s the deeper meaning of the album’s title and how does it connected with the album’s cover?

S: Anders created this amazing passionate music. When I started to write the lyrics, I asked myself, “What is this music telling me”? I listened to the music over and over in my music room and in my car. While I was driving, another driver pulled up too close behind me. I was driving the speed limit and there was no place else for me to go, yet this person was so intent on putting everyone in harm’s way, I thought to myself, “This guy’s a monster, yet he is probably loved by his friends and family. What makes a person be so crazy in one moment and loveable in the next”? (This being the impetus for the first verse.).

I had given the music track and title to one of my best friends and co-writers, F. Scott Moyer, who had been living with the track for a little while. Scott had the exact same experience in his car with some freakin’ maniac. Ha! Living in L.A. When we met, he showed me pages of great ideas. I used his ideas and mine to communicate this idea and story.

The concept of enemy within is not about the concept of Satan or some demon. Putting the blame for one’s actions or thoughts on something or someone else doesn’t work for me (although I do believe that there is evil in this world). I hear people express hatred for a particular group of people, a religion, a race, etc. But we know it’s not the religion because there are moderates and fanatics in every religion. It’s the ability in every individual person to act poorly based on decisions we make long term and even spur of the moment and most of the time, based on not enough information or fear. The song is not saying that we are not responsible for the enemy within. On the contrary, it’s saying that we pay the price for not understanding and not acting on that understanding.

The CD cover shows the ability of a person to either give roses or cut you with a knife.

The feeling of futility, embarrassment, disgust with ourselves when we allow ourselves to get caught up in the insanity. That’s not who we are.

Can you comment about each one of the songs?

“The Enemy Within”:

A: One of the best tracks in my opinion. Catchy and very melodic but also with some pondus. Sherwood thinks that this song sounds a bit like Van Halen.

S: I originally wrote another lyric for the song which was very good, but when I went to sang it, felt like it didn’t match the music well. The music has intrigue. I felt that Scott and I nailed it eventually.

“Sign Up For Love”:

A: Ola started the creation of this song by writing the verse riff. I wrote a chorus and a bridge to also get it melodic in the chorus. This song is the heaviest on the album.

S: I played this track for Celia, who immediately started singing, “Sign Up for Love”. I said, “Naw. That’s not it”. She said, “You must use "Sign Up for Love’!”. She was right. I first wrote the lyric to be about some lawyer who always had everything in life so perfect and tidy. No loose ends. Everything written down in agreements. He was getting married and the lyric was about all the things he wanted his intended wife to do and he wanted it in writing. Ha! When I started to sing it. I couldn’t get though the lyric. I realized, “Who the heck cares about this guy?” Celia said it needed to be more personal. So I wrote about the fear of unknown when you get into a relationship, etc. and all the things I’d read and felt were important to have a successful relationship. Yikes.

“Home Away From Home”:

A: A little bit different but this is one of the first songs written. It could also have been recorded by GI it’s close to the GI style. Ola’s best guitar solo in life so far.

S: Another friend of mine, Rob Meister from Australia, had listened to the song and asked if he could have a whack at the lyrics and I said, “Sure, let’s see what you come up with”. Rob came back a little later with the idea of an alien attacking the planet. I turned it around to a “benevolent” alien coming here to kick some ass and clean this place up.

“In The Shadows”:

A: Many people have liked this song and I know that Ola likes this one the best. A little bit dark but still easy to remember.

S: I just loved the feeling to this music when Anders sent it to me. I put the DVD or the film “Sin City” in my computer and got an overall feeling. Then I started writing about a guy in prison in the middle of a jail break and how he is really going to live what little life he has left to the absolute fullest.

“How Do We Stay In Love”:

A: From the beginning we had another chorus melody (and also another chorus lyric) but when Sherwood start to record the vocals for this song he felt that the melody wasn’t good enough and he asked me to come up with a new melody for the chorus. I went out to the studio aright away and 20 minutes later, I emailed Sherwood this melody. “Perfect”!, he said. “You nailed it”!

S: This music had a special yearning feeling to it. A question. I went round and round with it in the lyric writing. I asked myself (basically prayed), “what is the question”? The answer came. Isn’t this the big question? “How do we stay in love”? LOL.

“My Time”:

A: I like the acoustic guitars in this song. Many won’t even think of them but on the bridge that’s actually three different things going on in the guitars and they blend very well together. The acoustic guitars are the icing on the cake.

S: Every job gets old. Are we going to live life or succumb?

“Alive”:

A: Sherwood has some Native Indian blood running in his veins and this song is the tribute to his Native roots. It’s about a warrior.

S: I’ve always felt something different in me. A passion. An anger. When I was sixteen years old, I received a check in the mail from the U.S. government for $164.00. At the bottom of the check, it read, “for the lands of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida”. I don’t have that much degree of blood, although I’m enrolled in the Muscogee nation. It’s not about degree of blood. I have listened to my ancestors. They have called me in many ways. I wanted to communicate how there’s a warrior in every man who has no place to be a warrior in modern times. How does an indigenous person function in modern society? A hugely important part of Native American life is the spoken word.

The spoken word is sacred. You might of heard the term, “White man speak with forked tongue”. It should have been, “Andrew Jackson, LAWYER, speak with forked tongue.” In tribal N. America, when you say you will do something, you do it.

Your word is more important than your life. Agreements were broken throughout history with the North American Indians. Part of the name, CODE, means conduct, how good is your word?

“Uninvited Guest”:

A: The last song written for the album. Maybe more bluesy than the rest of the material. But I think this some offer some variation for the album.

S: This is the external side of “The Enemy Within”. It’s when you get confronted with the insanity of others. The Uninvited Guest...

“How Can I Change The World”:

A: There’s too many things going on in the world. To many conflicts, wars, the global warming etc. Isn’t it time that we bury all the weapons and start to take care of the world instead.

S: When I wrote the lyric with Celia, she said, “It’s about looking around, seeing an upside down world and feeling helpless to making any change in the world. Just in our immediate vicinity, not just other countries”. It’s all about greed vs. humanity. Are we going to evolve or keep killing each other? It doesn’t matter what the reason is, what the difference of opinion, faith or politics is. The key word is CHANGE. Throughout history people were burned at the stake when new ideas were created. Think about it, aren’t we in the same place we were thousands of years ago? The human animal is capable of such despicable cruelty and rationalizing that it’s right.

“Flying High”:

A: A song that’s also close to the GI sound. Not as extreme as it would have been it would have been if it had been done with GI. The lyric idea comes from being in a big town and all the traffic problems that causes. Wouldn’t it be fine to have a flying machine just to sail by all the traffic cues in life?

S: Personal hovercraft. YEAHHHHHH!

“Sworn To Silence”:

A: This song comes from Sherwood. A beautiful ballad about how hard it could be to be sworn to secrecy. To protect a lie.

S: I wrote this with Arlene and Jon originally. When played it for Anders and he immediately re-wrote the chorus. He saved the song that was only part of the way home. Thank you Anders (“The Maestro”). This is personal. About an event happening in my life years ago.

As I read on the promo CD the album was produced by you and Sherwood. Did you also do the mixing and the mastering of the album? The production is very good and clear I must tell you… have you ever thought of going on as a producer instead of a musician in your life? Which one of those think (production and music) makes you really happy?

A: I personally like writing the songs best. That’s the most creative and fun part. I also like arranging music but don’t think mixing is so fun. I tend to get buried in small details and it takes me forever.

S: To be quite honest, we had the mastering done two different times and hated it. They thinned out the guitars and buried the vocals. I finally asked Anders, “Anders, why don’t you master the CD”? It took some convincing but I’m glad he took the bull by the horns. We created this music, we know what it’s supposed to sound like. Not some guy who’s surfing the internet while he transfers the tracks over.

Also, Anders really rose to the occasion of mixing the CD. Anders didn’t really have the confidence in the beginning. I insisted that he mix the CD because the tracks were almost mixed anyway. Anders is quite modest. I think he is a great MIXER.

He just happens to be very good at many things.  I think mixing can be really fun for someone who doesn’t write music, because then they get to go on the little journey of seeing how everything fits together emotionally. But many times, a mixer will miss it.

Unfortunately, with rampant downloading of free music, the production budget gets smaller and smaller as the record companies and artist make less money. I think this has been reflected in the lack of quality in the production in just about every CD you hear nowadays. Sorry for the short rant. I must say Anders worked harder than anyone to give us all this great sounding CD.

When you started looking for a contract with a label? As soon as you had finished the recordings of the album or before? Why did you sign a contract with Escape Music? Did it make you the best deal? Are you satisfied by their support till now?

A: We started to look for a contract after we had recorded six songs. Escape Music wanted this album as soon as they heard the songs.

S: I trusted Anders experience with Escape Music from the Grand Illusion CD’s. Yes, they have been very supportive and we are very happy with the reviews, etc.

Are you satisfied with the reactions of the fans and press so far?

A: We have got a lot of good feedback from a lot of different countries. Both from fans and from reviews. Of course, we have got some bad feedback as well. German Heavy Metal sites have not liked the album but that’s only natural. We have very little in common with speed metal. And we do not consider us or have any intention to be a Heavy Metal band. We are a melodic band.

S: It’s been really funny to read reviews from Heavy Metal sites/zines. It’s like asking an RnB fan to critique Jazz. Really silly.

By the way, how would you characterize the kind of music that you play with Code?

A: Toto meets Giant meets Journey.

S: When Anders and Ola kick ass!

What are your expectations from this new album? What shall we expect from you in the future?

A: This is our first album and we hope to establish us as a good solid melodic band. We know that we could take this concept much further if we could continue to make albums. Very much depends on the sales of this album.

S: We can’t wait to see what shape the songs take once we get out and play them live to an audience. In the mean time, we’ll keep creating music that we care about.

Tell us about your Tour plans. Do you have a session drummer for the live shows? Are you planning to play to some big Festival this summer or do you prefer small clubs better?

A: We really hope that we could play and hopefully do some of the rock festivals this spring. That is our goal and we think it's very important to play live to establish ourselves as a band.

S: Lead me to the stage!!!!!!!!!!!!

And some weird Questions now!!! How difficult is it survive and to succeed in a music world that is ruled by irrelevant people that promote shit-wannabe-good pop music all the time… without caring about the music’s quality?

A: None of us does this for a living. I’d personally rather have a normal job to get a normal life instead of having to be a starving musician.

S: Lord knows, Anders works as hard as if it was a normal job. Even harder. Bottom line, “You get what you pay for, if you’re lucky”.

The mega million dollar radio stations are owned by mega multi million dollar corporations. They do NOT create their play lists for the largest listening radio audience, ROCK (based on surveys in N. America). They create their play list for their “advertising” audience. That’s where radio makes its money.

They’re selling crap. In the 90’s and before, the record stores didn’t make the majority of their money from record sales, they made it from record companies paying for positioning product in the store and listening posts. Too many weasels in the pie.

Another point: If you work your ass off every week in a 9-5 job and you barely pay your credit card bills, are you going to buy a CD with one or two good cuts on it, or upgrade your hard drive on your computer? We’ve been getting ripped off for decades

by the record companies AND the recording artists. How many GREAT CD’s are there out there really? With “The Enemy Within”, we chose to create the best freakin’ record possible, which has no fillers. No freakin’ cream donuts. By gosh, there’s beef in this taco!  Haaaaaaaaaa LOL. Time’s are speeding by so fast. We’ll see where this bus takes us. More of Sherwood standing on his soapbox: As the level of education gets lower and lower on this planet, so does the level of communication. When you have thousands of kids who didn’t graduate from high school, what is their reality? A shit life and anger. A shorter attention span. No rules, no boundaries, no CODE.

What would you tell to someone to convince him to buy your album instead of hundreds others that are being released every month?

A: Listen to the samples on our web site. That’s the best way to make a decision. It’s impossible to describe music with words.

S: Do you want a donut or a taco?  Haaaaaaa!

What is missing from today’s music industry and most albums are missing that quality that they used to have back in the 70’s and 80’s?

A: Song writing and originality. How many bands do NOT sound exactly the same these days. Still, I listen to a lot of my old music and the reason for that is good song writing.

S: You must understand that we’re a little crazy. We don’t have production budgets to create those kinds of albums from the 70’s and 80’s anymore. Who can afford to take a year off and write and produce a CD with the only chance of return for your effort is a couple thousand dollars? What’s missing is passion and education.

Do you believe that is so easy for a band to differ in today’s music industry than in the past? And if yes what shall it do in order to achieve it?

S: Practice for three months and then quit! Ah yes, the golden key…  Learn how to do something amazingly well. Go to the museum and observe how other artists looked at things differently and then created something that communicated their art differently. If you want to be great, do what it takes to be great. If you want to compete, get better than the competition. Study, study, study. Practice, practice, practice. Are you going to learn from Toto or the Monkees? Start with the Monkees and then work your way up to Toto. THERE AIN’T NO FAIRY GOD MOTHER! THERE AIN’T NO KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR! Look after yourself. Look after what it will take for you to get there. Mark next years calendar and start and the end of the year with what you want to achieve, then go month by month, backwards, writing in the days/weeks with what you need to do to get to your goal, until you are at today. Then DO IT!

Which is the most overrated band today?

A: Pass. My thoughts about that this are only relevant to me. No one else. Why should I put other bands down.

S: It’s hard to look at something that doesn’t appeal to you. It’s easy to judge something with not much time spent observing it. I used to think that Bruce Springsteen was a boring half assed musician with a mediocre voice, until I had to back him up at the Hollywood Bowl and learn his songs. What I found by further observation and study was he is a brilliant poet/story teller, an ass kicking-hard working performer who cares about his audience. I was sorely mistaken. What a jerk I was for judging him based on very little information. An even more importantly, he’s honest with humility. How many songs are out there like, “Racin’ in the Streets”? I was totally embarrassed when I went to learn the song and started crying half way through it. Look deeper. If it’s not the ability, it’s the feeling or the energy.

Dig the energy of MCR, the honesty in Corrine Bailey-Rae, the recklessness of Edward Van Halen’s guitar playing, the mastery of Steve Lukather’s playing in Los Lobotamy’s or Steve Morse’s solo work.

Do you believe that internet has helped the bands to become more popular or has caused many problems?

A: Internet is good for marketing but the downloading is killing all the small bands. How should they survive selling 1 000 – 2 000 CD’s. I could understand that people think CD’s are expensive but not that they downloading music from sites like _________. They only hurt the artists they love. Mostly they hurt the small bands with small markets. Of course the big acts lose a lot of money but the small acts used to be able to live on their music. Today they can’t.

S: I deleted Anders mention of a particular download site. There have been 370,000+ hits on our CD for the download site. With this type of downloading, do you think our record company will be able to afford to advance us money for people like Gregg Bissonette to record on our next CD? Please don’t make copies for your friends. Buy a copy and give it to them. Buying music supports further creation of music. Downloading it, kills it!

Do you distinguish any new groups that worth listening to?

A: I don’t have any new favourite bands but I like Mike Slamer and his productions, Pride of Lions, Masterplan to name a few.

S: Worth listening to, to me, means great songs, great voice, great production, great musicianship. I loved Los Lobotomy’s. New groups, none that I know. I wish EVH would record something soon. I have always loved Paul Rogers voice. I guess I should buy the Queen CD. I loved “Machine Head” – Deep Purple so much. If you know of a band that rocks as hard and with as much fire as that CD, please tell me. Toto when they rocked. Man, intelligent rock, refreshing. Bonehead rock, pass! I heard AC/DC “Stiff Upper Lip” when I was exercising. It put a huge smile on my face.

Do you prefer to get good scores from the press or to please your fans with every new album?

A: Both. We need both to survive. But it means more to me if I get an e-mail directly from a fan than to read a good review. If someone takes their time to write us it makes it special.

S: All artists need acknowledgement. Both press and financial are incredible, to be sure. To be respected by your peers is great, but to reach millions of people means you are doing your job of communicating as an artist. When the music is undeniable, it has to reach people. Getting good reviews helps get the music known. Creating a great CD is only half of the process.

Which are the things that piss you off from today’s music industry?

A: Illegal downloading. It’s the end of many small bands and the traditional way of making albums. People have lost respect for music as a product. Many people today think that music should be free and that touring should be enough for people to survive on. People that think that haven’t been on the road. That’s hard work and why shouldn’t you be paid for the work you do in a studio?

S: Lack of ethics and integrity. Welcome to the music “business”.

Those were my questions Anders and Sherwood. Keep up the good work, please leave a note to Grande Rock readers… Take care!

A: I hope that you give us a chance! Check out or website www.codeband.net. There, you will find samples of our music and lots of other stuff. Take care!!!

S: If you’re still reading by this point, thanks for taking the time to get to know us a little. I hope at least one song has meaning for you in your life and keep one eye open for the enemy within.

by Thanos Aggelakis