Here in the U.S., when the word Avatar is mentioned, I think it would be safe to say that most people would think of the James Cameron movie with all the blue creatures running around. Well, there’s a group of five guys from Gothenburg, Sweden who are making a name for themselves by running around and rocking out on stage and catching the attention of lots of metal fans here in the U.S. In case you were wondering, these five metal heads from Sweden are not blue. They have been building a huge following overseas for over ten years and now it’s time for them to conquer the U.S.
The band is comprised of Johannes Eckerstrom on lead vocals, John Alfredsson on drums, Jonas Jarlsby on guitar, Tim Ohrstrom on guitar and Henrik Sandelin on bass. Although the band formed in 2001, it wasn’t until their latest album The Black Waltz was released in 2012 that they got the attention of many metal lovers here in the U.S. Their unique blend of death metal with classic rock influences like Black Sabbath combined with a high energy stage show has them wowing fans over in large numbers here in the U.S. I spoke recently with lead singer Johannes Eckerstrom as he was laying comfortably on his bed thinking about Jager bombs, Hulk Hogan and pickles.
Hey Johannes, this is Johnny from RockRevolt Magazine. How are you doing today man?
Hello Johnny, I am doing good thanks.
I actually got to see you guys perform while you were here in the states back in February. I saw you open for Lacuna Coil and Sevendust at Ziggy’s in Winston Salem, NC. I think that was either the first or second night of that tour. You guys totally won that sell-out crowd over within two songs. That was a pretty awesome set that you performed that night.
Wow, thank you! That’s great to hear. That show was actually the second show of the tour with Lacuna Coil and Sevendust.
You guys were really tight on-stage as well. How long have you been playing together?
The lineup that started in 2003 and since then, we have only had one lineup change and that’s when Simon (Andersson) left us and then Tim (Ohrstrom) joined us towards the end of 2011. We had known and loved him for years anyways, so it was all good and it really felt like family.
I will admit my ignorance when it comes to the history of the band. I didn’t know that you had four albums under your belt before I saw you that night. Why do you think it took until the newest album Black Waltz to really garner a lot of attention here in the U.S.?
I’ve always taken great pride in the music we have put out throughout the years, but with Black Waltz we finally got it all together where it’s not just a sound, or it doesn’t just look like something or feel like something; it was a whole package. I feel like we are finally better songwriters to be able to push ourselves in a direction where it feels, at least to us, that we are newer and something that isn’t necessarily going on. On our earlier work, you may have been able to hear more of where we came from as opposed to where we are going.
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Was the Lacuna Coil/Sevendust tour the first time you had played here in the U.S.?
Yes, that was our first time ever on American soil and it was really, really amazing. I don’t think we could have hoped for or wished for a better start than what we got here in the US. We kind of got a warning that when touring there it can be really rough. We heard that American crews would always hate the openers and if you don’t put toilet paper on your rider, then you won’t have any backstage; oh wait, there is no backstage, etc., etc. In the end, all the people who were involved were really great. There were passionate metal heads in the bands, in the crews, at the venues, and in the audiences, so it was just like home. Also, Americans have exquisite tastes as to when they show up for a show. The places were usually packed when we came out and that gave a great chance to expose ourselves to lots and lots of people.
What a great opportunity for you guys because there were so many people in the crowd who didn’t know who you were, but they were there early and ready for a show and you guys delivered.
We have four albums under our belts in ten years and the reception that we got in the U.S. was like nothing we had ever experienced. To be so new and to get that kind of a reaction from the crowd – it’s supposed to be harder than that! I mean, I’ve read about when Van Halen toured with Black Sabbath for the first time and that’s really the only thing that I know to compare it to.
Who were some of your influences that helped to mold you into the musicians that you are today?
The first common ground that we found as a band was a common interest in extreme technical death metal and melodic death metal with other technical and classic heavy metal stuff sprinkled on top. We listened to lots and lots of The Haunted and other bands from Gothenburg where we are from, combined with the death metal scene of the late 80s/early 90s. You have to throw some Iron Maiden in there as well because that’s where it all started. We do extreme music, but as a death metal fan I wouldn’t really consider us pure death metal. We like extreme and heavy music, but right now we are at a point where we want to focus on the riff for the song and there comes the Black Sabbath influence and way of thinking. Then, we also like to do stuff with machines. Rammstein, Manson or Ministry and that kind of thing, you know anything that works with big layers and big sounds. I’m a huge Strapping Young Lads fan and Devin Townsend is my personal house god. We’re at a place now where we can pick our influences to draw on even though they are from all over the place. The kind of metal that we want to do is about 50% the big sound with machines, industrial and samples and the other 50% is that the song has to be pretty damn sweet when jamming it in the rehearsal room. It’s like this cyborg envision of it, I guess.
What do you think you would cite as your biggest obstacle along this ten year journey?
I would have to say ourselves, especially when things get rough. You have to remember why it is you are doing this and why you wanted to do it in the first place. There have been rough times and over here we have had our fair share of ups and downs. We’ve grown stronger over time and now we are like a perfect fit and we’ve overcome all of that. It’s real easy to give up if you really want to, the temptation is always there.
As far as remembering why you got into this, do you remember when you knew you wanted to do this as a living?
I guess I got bitten a couple of times. I was around five and the combination of Michael Jackson and Hulk Hogan got me.
Now there’s an interesting combination. Let’s talk about that for a moment.
Well, of course Michael Jackson was a musical genius and one of the greatest performers of all time. When you watched TV and saw all that he did up on the stage, it triggered your imagination as a kid. The same goes for Hulk Hogan
and the entire pro wrestling thing when you’re a kid. Visually, they are like real life super heroes, larger than life. The first music that you get to listen to is usually what your parents are listening to, so at the age of four I was already listening to Beethoven in our living room. Then The Beatles came along when I was about eight and I was bitten. They were holding guitars and here were all of these screaming girls around them. The area that I grew up in around Gothenberg, we all listened to Guns N Roses, KISS and all that stuff. In a way, I was a metal head before I knew I was a metal head. When I decided to stop cutting my hair, that’s when I discovered the German bands like Helloween and from then on, there came the double bass drum. Then, we all did what most metal heads have done along the journey and that’s to explore the different branches on the metal tree. We’ve all had a friend who had an older brother who just happened to have a CD that turned us onto something that we had never heard before.
When did your stage makeup come into play? I think it kind of shocked some people that night when you pulled your hood off and showed everyone your painted face.
Yeah, that’s something new for this album. It happened quite organically as we were doing the music video for “Black Waltz” and it was specifically for that one video. We were on location and thinking about what we could do to me for the video and it just sort of happened. There was something inside of me that clicked when I put it on and it clicked with the band as well and we decided to run with it. I mentioned KISS and pro wrestlers and this helped tap into that larger than life thing of performing.
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What about coming back to the U.S. and doing more dates? I know I had quite a few people contact me on-line and wanted me to ask about that.
There are quite a few cool things in the pipeline and it may happen real soon. I am not in a position to say anything just yet, but something really cool might happen soon. I was told that there was a 95% chance of it happening. Now, in the music industry, when they say 99% it means 50/50 in the real world. It’s hard to know what 95% actually means, but there is something really cool developing in the pipeline. You guys there in the U.S. were just too cool to us not to come back and see you. We want to go back, the people want us back and it’s not a question right now of if it will happen, but more of when it will happen. I am very excited about it and I wish I could say something, but right now I really can’t.
What’s coming up in the band’s near future?
Well, we are writing new material and we are also going to be doing a Northern European tour with some neighbors and friends. Our drummer John is directing a music video for Pop Evil. We’re pretty busy right now and we will keep busy over the summer and hopefully then go back to the U.S.
Other than the U.S. fans showing up earlier for a show, which you mentioned before, what would be the biggest difference in shows in the U.S. and European shows?
I think that there are more similarities between the two than there are differences. As much as possible, we went out to our merch table while there in the U.S. and people want to be nice and show you their appreciation by buying you a drink. They insist on giving me shots and that’s a significant difference (laughs). That’s nice, but for most of those people, my night started way earlier and will last for months longer than their weekend will. Of course, I will not say no to a drink, it’s a very nice gesture, free beer is free beer, but please buy me the beer. Even though I’m the lead singer of a band, there’s even a limit for me as to how many Jager bombs I can indulge in 42 days in a row. Again, there were more similarities than differences, and that’s the great thing about being a part of a sub-culture like metal. Just today, I received an email from fans in the U.S. as well as Iran and that says a lot for how unifying the music can be within a culture.
One last question for you as I see our time is drawing near: what was the food like over here in the U.S. as compared to back home?
Well, it depends on what kind of food. One of the things that I missed the most being away from home was the bread and cheese of my country. I also learned that people in the U.S. love their pickles and there are so many different types of them, I had no idea.
That’s pretty funny about the pickles and I bet that most of us over here don’t even think anything about it. Johannes, I guess that’s a wrap my friend. Is anything you want to say in closing to your fans?
Yeah, we want to thank everyone for their support and we do hope to be back in the U.S. very soon. Make sure to check out our videos on YouTube and go out and get our new album Black Waltz.
