What inspired the formation of the band, and what are your influences?
We started Craneium over ten years ago with the ambition to play fuzzy stoner rock. Back then we drew inspiration from all the classic desert and stoner albums by Kyuss, Sleep, and Fu Manchu When we dug deeper, we found amazing bands like Truckfighters, Dozer, and Kadavar.
As our sound has developed over the years, we try to bring in influences from all kinds of music styles. By now it feels like we have a pretty clear picture of what sounds like Craneium and what doesn’t. The ambition is still to play fuzzy stoner rock, and we do get inspired by all the amazing bands in the vibrant heavy underground scene. At the same time we want to bring our own thing to the table and we do this by listening to everything from hardcore to 60’s R&B.
How do you approach songwriting? Is there a specific theme you focus on, or does it occur organically?
Our music almost always starts with a riff. This album in particular mostly came together from jamming on riffs, recording demos and trying out different arrangements and dynamics. It can sound like quite the organic process, but we approach it in a somewhat practical way. There are usually big paper sheets with song structures and a lot of arguing before a song finds its final shape.
How do you approach songwriting? Is there a specific theme you focus on, or does it occur organically?
Our music almost always starts with a riff. This album in particular mostly came together from jamming on riffs, recording demos and trying out different arrangements and dynamics. It can sound like quite the organic process, but we approach it in a somewhat practical way. There are usually big paper sheets with song structures and a lot of arguing before a song finds its final shape.
What song best represents the album?
That’s a hard question to answer. I guess the title track and album closer Unknown Heights sums up the theme of the album quite well. When you manage to push through different types of personal struggles you sometimes find a greater knowledge and understanding about yourself.
At the same time, we never want Craneium to become a one-trick pony so the album is quite diverse. We want to be light as a feather and heavy as concrete. We want songs to have both melodic hooks and interesting depth. Hopefully, this is something listeners can find on the album.
Which song are you most looking forward to playing live?
After all this pandemic bullshit we are absolutely psyched to play just about anything live. Songs also have a way of living a little when you put them in a setlist. So it will be fun to see what shapes the songs from this album will take. But the song Somber Aeons will hopefully get people moving to the groove so that one will be especially fun to play live.
Which song are you most looking forward to playing live?
After all this pandemic bullshit we are absolutely psyched to play just about anything live. Songs also have a way of living a little when you put them in a setlist. So it will be fun to see what shapes the songs from this album will take. But the song Somber Aeons will hopefully get people moving to the groove so that one will be especially fun to play live.
What plans do you have for the future?
Since the start we have always been a band that moves forward. To release this album together with The Sign Records was a goal we put up some time ago. While we plan to promote this album and play as much live as possible in support of it, we have already started to write and demo the next album. Our plans are the same as they have been for the last ten years, to play our version of fuzzy stoner rock. Hopefully reaching new listeners with every live show and every release.