Hailing from Jonkoping in Sweden, stoner rock quartet Insonika started as a fun jam-project and later turned into a serious act and a force to be reckoned with on the Swedish live circuit. Having played together for a little over five years, they have released an EP as well as a full-length album, 'False Awakening', in 2019. Their latest album 'Pithos' was released on October 31st 2022. We caught up with lead guitarist/vocalist Oscar Flanagan to chat about how the band formed, early shows, meeting heroes, strange stage antics and his fave 3 albums in the world ever…..

Please tell us about your band, who’s in it, when/where did you form?

Our band consists of:
Oscar Flanagan – Lead guitar and vocals
Daniel Englafors – Bass
Mattias Altgärde – Drums
Sebastian Fingal – Keyboards, rhythm guitar and backing vocals

The band formed in February of 2017 when Mattias and Daniel asked me (Oscar) to join a little jam session they had going. Together with another guy named Alexandr we jammed a few times and then Alexandr dropped out so me, Mattias and Daniel formed Insonika and put together a few songs from the jam-sessions. Throughout our five and a half years together we’ve developed our own unique sound and added to that by bringing Sebastian in on the keys and rhythm guitar to make it sound even more heavy and experimental.

How did you settle on your name? Did you have any other names in the mix prior to agreeing on this one?

The band name is a funny story. We were spit balling different ideas and then one day Daniel came to the rehearsal room with the name Insonika, which he’d heard in a dream. We all immediately felt something, and I did a google translate with the option “identify language” and it turns out it’s Uzbek for humanity. Since most of our lyrics focus on the decay of humanity and things of that nature, we just felt something like “fuck yeah!”

Tell me a fascinating fact about the band or a band member….

A fascinating fact… That’s a tough one actually! I think the most fascinating thing about us is the fact that our name apparently is another language as we said in the earlier question, and the fact that Daniel (bass) dreams in said language apparently, haha!

Do you remember the band or artist that made you want to pick up and instrument and learn to play?

Well for me it was definitely Metallica and especially James Hetfield that made me want to pick up a guitar.

Do you remember the first gig you ever played? How did you feel? Did it all go according to plan?

Yeah, it was at a music competition here in Sweden and it went quite well actually. We rehearsed as much as we could before and just went up there to be ourselves and played a somewhat decent gig actually. I remember feeling nervous as hell and feeling like I had to throw up haha.

Have you ever met one of your ‘heroes’? Who was it and how did it go?

I have actually, I met the guys from Avenged Sevenfold one time and it went well, I lost the ability to speak because of being starstruck but other than that it felt okay!

What do you carry with you at all times that you CANNOT live without?

I always carry my glasses with me, haha. For obvious reasons since I can’t see without them!

Tell me about any new music that you have in the pipeline at the moment, where are you recording? Who is producing? What is the title of the new track/album? When can we expect to see it on the shelves?

Our new album Pithos is out now (released on the 31st October). It’s a heavy album both instrumentally and lyrically and draws from the story of Pandora and her box of mysteries and misery. We’ve been working on this album since the start of the pandemic and recorded it March of 2022. It’s produced by Ulf Blomberg at HoboRec studios.

What do you prefer more, playing a regular gig or playing a festival? How do they differ for you? (apart from the mud of course!)

I think playing a festival can have its charm because there are so many different types of people there usually. Some that might be there to see you and some that’s there to see another band but might stop by to hear what you have to say/play. But I think I prefer playing regular gigs at small venues because it feels way more intimate like that.

Tell me about the STRANGEST thing that ever happened to you when you’ve been on stage…..

The strangest thing to ever happen on stage I think is a guy coming up to us and pouring liquor down our throats, haha! Crazy times in Estonia.

Let’s imagine that you’ve been washed up on a desert island and there’s a record player, an amp and some speakers but only enough space for 3 records, which 3 would you have in the box to keep you going until you’re rescued? Why these three?

These three would definitely have to be:
Load by Metallica, this is the album that has inspired most of my riffmaking in terms of the sheer heaviness without having to have too much distortion or too much palm muting and stuff like that. It’s just the right amount of dirty and it’s so bluesy! Love it!

Meliora by Ghost is another must. It’s just the perfect album through and through. The riffs togheter with the keyboards and the orchestras and quires… Plus the seamless transitions between the songs is just fantastic.

…And Justice For All by Metallica, another one by Metallica. This is the record that started my metal journey and the first metal record I ever owned. Thanks to this one I am where I am musically and it’s just the perfect metal record.

Tell me about any forthcoming live streams / shows / festival bookings etc….

We’re playing a show in the Swedish town of Kalmar on the 3rd of December, other than that we’re in the midst of trying to book as many shows as possible to support the new album.

Name 3 bands or artists that our followers should be checking out….

Definitely Through The Plague, Rise Inferno and Reedon Green from our hometown Jönköping.

Where can people keep up to date with you on social media?

Facebook
Instagram
Bandcamp
YouTube

Lastly, there are MILLIONS of bands/acts/artists out there, why should people be spending the time to check you out?

People should check us out because we truly have a unique sound that we’ve been honing through the last five and a half years and it’s ever-changing so, as a fan, you will never be bored with us.

We’d like to thank Oscar for sparing the time to chat to us and we wish him and the band every success for the future, if you’re yet to check out their latest long player, you can do so by clicking HERE