Enigma Experience – Interview With Niklas ‘Mr. Dango’ Källgren

General consensus states that 2020 is a terrible year. Friday the 13th also has a negative connotation. However, in this case I feel two wrongs do make a right because on Friday, November 13th 2020, a band emerged that brightened up a dark world.

Enigma Experience is a new band masterminded by the legendary guitarist from Truckfighters, Niklas ‘Mr. Dango’ Källgren. Dango recruited an old friend and bandmate Oskar ‘Pezo’ Johansson to sit behind the drumkit. Lastly, introducing Maurice Adams on lead vocals. Enigma Experience is the perfect band name and truly describes the atmosphere of their epic debut Question Mark.

Today I had the amazing opportunity to interview Dango to discuss his new band!

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with me about your new band Enigma Experience. I feel you’ve done a great job getting Enigma Experience’s name out there, however do you find it difficult to start a new band without the ability to tour?

Yes definitely. We can’t even rehearse as the singer is Norwegian living in Norway and they have strict quarantine rules for getting into the country. I spend a lot of time on the computer these days trying to make people aware. Would prefer to play shows to make people aware.

I don’t really like the modern way of listening to music with playlists, I prefer to listen to albums…

Although I really miss live music, I’ve spent a lot more time relistening to older albums and exploring new music. I’ll admit that I avoided listening to the singles off Question Mark before the album dropped so I could hear it fresh from start to finish. (I’m very glad I did). With so many music streaming apps, do you dedicate a lot of time to the track order on your album?

I am old school and think track order is very important. One song builds the mood into the next song and the album in its entity. I don’t really like the modern way of listening to music with playlists, I prefer to listen to albums, at least the few albums that manage to deliver from start to finish.

Realityline just pulls you right in with the soft opening riff and the following songs take you through a wild genre busting ride. I do however find myself hitting repeat on Might Mind. Is there a specific song on this album you would hit repeat on as well?

I’d hit repeat on every song! The whole album on repeat! I don’t know I seriously think all songs has something special in them and all of them are good. So this must be the album of the decade then it seems, haha.

Ive read that grunge music is a big inspiration, in particular you have mentioned Soundgarden. I get a hint of Chris Cornell from Maurice’s voice. Is that what interested you in having him as your lead singer or did you see something else in him?

He is a very sexy guy haha! Maurice has maybe the perfect rock voice, he could just as well have been singing in one of the major 90s bands you know. Also, he is very wide in his range and sounds, and it’s a bonus that he can also play some guitar. I didn’t know him before the God of Rock and Roll sent him to me for this project, but he turned out to be a very nice guy and we very quickly became very good friends.

I never write songs with a pre-decided thought on how to do it. It’s all about the flow following my inner voice…

I love the concept of soft music followed by hard hitting riffs. I feel like this whole album has that feel, for example, Mighty Mind preceding the heavier song Corruption. In My Mind My Secret Place takes that to the extreme in the song structure itself. It starts acoustic and has that epic fuzz at the end we all know and love. Do you set out to write your songs like that or jam with your bandmates and develop songs that way?

I never write songs with a pre-decided thought on how to do it. It’s all about the flow following my inner voice. One riff leads to the other usually, or like in Mighty Mind there is not really a riff, just a flow throughout the whole song. Whatever sounds good and feels good that comes out of my mind. It’s a bit strange though as first the mind makes an idea unconsiously, then the consious part of the brain works on it and decides if it’s good or not!

The Z is a nice addition just before the epic closing song The Zone. I never really enjoyed intrumental music in the past but recently I started listening to Russian Circles and Pelican, giving me a new appreciation for instrumental music. I enjoyed The Z quite a bit and was curious if you ever considered making an instrumental album?

Not yet! For your information The Z and The Zone is actually intended to be one long track but I ended up splitting it on the digital/CD release. On the vinyl there is no track separation in between.

In February 2020, my wife and I got to see you perform live with Truckfighters and Valley of the Sun in South Carolina. It was the last date of your US tour. It was probably the best show I’ve ever been to. I got to jump on stage and play your guitar for a second! I’ve noticed you primarily play a Gibson, I was curious how you decided on that particular guitar and if you have any interesting stories relating to it?

It’s abit funny. I had been playing Rickenbacker 481 (great guitar) for about 6 years or so. I started to feel sorry for touring a relic like that and as a coincidence we got an endorsement deal with the Swedish distributor for Gibson in 2007. They told us to pick what we wanted from the catalogue and I took the coolest looking guitar I found. Hadn’t even tried it before or heard it or read any reviews at all. So I ended up choosing a Limited Edition Gibson SGGT, without knowing it was a Limited Edition. When I found out, I immediately bought another, the last one on stock in Sweden. Then I started to look for used ones on the world wide web. Kept going until I had eight of them :).

I ended up choosing a Limited Edition Gibson SGGT, without knowing it was a Limited Edition. When I found out, I immediately bought another…

You’re also a very good entertainer and I was tired just watching you jump around on stage. I was curious when writing riffs for your records do you practice jumping around before your 100% sure on a it?

Niklas: Hahaha, no!

Thanks again for this opportunity and I look forward to doing this again with your future projects. Is there anything else you would like to add or hopeful tour information with Enigma Experience (assuming the world will be normal again)?

We will tour, until then please support us by spreading the word, buying physical records and merch from our webstore. MAY THE FUZZ BE WITH YOU.

Label: Fuzzorama Records
Band Links: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Twitter | Instagram

Interviewed by: Josh Schneider