Transcript of an interview I recorded with Marcus Jidell of AVATARIUM - 20191014. Full article here. MAL-
On the phone Marcus Jidell from AVATARIUM, thanks for joining me. MARCUS- Thank you. It's my pleasure. MAL- It's good to have you here. Now I gotta tell you the first time I heard of AVATARIUM was when I heard 'Pearls And Coffins' and it moved me in a most profound way. Where did that song come from? It's amazing. MARCUS- Yeah, that song was written my Leif Edling and he came to the song to me and the Jennie-Ann and just had like, just played it on acoustic guitars like very simple way and when we heard it, we felt like we can do something really special with this song because it has a certain vibe to it so I think that song is important for AVATARIUM because we've kind of found a new way of arranging songs, and you can hear some almost like surf guitars and that kind of stuff like ghostly you know like if you if you are like 'Ghost Riders In The Sky' with JOHNNY CASH and this can you know we were able to put in some elements in it that we never did before. And I remember when we did arrangements and played it to Leif Edling who wrote the song we were a little bit scared it would be like 'What have you done to my song' you know? But he and he just said 'Oh this doesn't sound anything like I imagined it to sound but it's great'. That's what he said. So, so that was a good you know then we knew Okay, this we have a good thing going and it was also a door opener for you know, making AVATARIUM become even more you know its own thing, so to speak. MAL- Let's skip forward to just the most recent album 'Hurricanes And Halos'. How did that go for you? MARCUS- Yeah, it came out quite good that album. The only thing we felt with that album like afterwards was that it became a little bit too much classic rock you know we all with AVATARIUM we want to push boundaries and you know try to redefine our own voice and our own sound, and then on that album it became a little bit too much you know traditional like classic rock traditional sound wise. I really liked the album but with the new album we felt, the new album, 'The Fire I Long For', we want to bring in more heavy stuff we want to make it more modern the way we like modern. MAL- Let's get on to the upcoming album 'The fire I Long For' when when did the process for putting this down start? When did all this come about? MARCUS- I think it was one year ago we started. We made a decision. Okay, let's write a new album. We had some ideas and we started to work on them. Me and Jennie-Ann Smith worked on our songs and usually I give her some ideas and she listened to it and she comes back with 'I like this but let's see if we can change that' and then she comes in with a new chorus or something and then I work my way through that and and then also Leif Edling came in with a few songs. So, I think it was in September last year we started and then with we said, okay, let's try to record it in December. We started to record it in December and managed to record four or five songs and then we took a break and then we continued like in January, February something. MAL- Let's talk about Jennie-Ann, I mentioned off air, how lucky you must think you are unearthing such a talent. Where has she been? Where's she come from? MARCUS- Yeah, that's really true because you know, it's not easy to find a really really good singer like that and I think one of the cool thing is that makes AVATARIUM is that we come from different backgrounds, you know? Leif Edling is like very much from the doomy and like old school metal style and and I'm more like I love you know, JIMI HENDRIX and the psychedelic stuff and LED ZEPPELIN that kind of stuff and, and Jennie-Ann she comes from, she's been singing a lot of jazz and blues and that kind of stuff and rock roll but I think we all unite in like, let's say LED ZEPPELIN and that kind of, you know that kind of style. And so when she started to sing on the on the songs on the first album, it just, she just from the start made the songs her own, and it was just a good we were just happy. You know, she hasn't been doing like much recordings because she's the kind of person that really wants to like what she's doing. And so we were really happy that she really liked to work with us so so yeah, sometimes you're lucky in life and this was one of the times. MAL- She seems that, there's a couple of tracks on here especially which really show off her, I mean, the word that springs to my mind is soulful voice. She's got a very soulful voice and a couple of songs on here, most notably, the title track and also 'Lay Me Down', really show that off. MARCUS- She has a very special way to approach the songs and the lyrics that I never I never have experienced that with other singers in that way because she's always most like, you know, like an actor goes into character. Always before we start to record a song she usually talks more about 'what is the song about? What's the emotions of the person singing this?' you know, all this kind of stuff. So she's going very much in into the emotions more than the technical aspects as a singer. So I think that's one of her secrets, because sometimes she can be really, really moved, you know, and then tired you know, because she's been going into this emotion so much. So she has a very special way of understanding emotions, I would say and that's what's probably what is coming out when she sings. MAL- Now the album's scheduled for release on November 22nd. What's happening for the band then and who is in the band for the tour? MARCUS- Yeah, the album will be out on the 22nd November and we're going to do some Sweden shows. It's quite far from you, but if you are in Stockholm, or Gothenburg in January, you're very welcome. So it's gonna be fun to play Sweden because we haven't played that much in Sweden actually. So we're really we're really looking forward to that. Then it's going to be this summer festivals. That's the next step. And the touring is going to be next, beginning of the maybe end of summer beginning of fall like 2020. So, that's the plan for now. And the lineup is same as the album but and but we have Mats Rydström playing bass, who played bass on 'Hurricanes And Halos' as well, and he will be playing live with us for a while. But he couldn't play on this album because too much things on his hands, so but he's playing with us live as usual. MAL- How's the reaction been so far to the videos that you've released? I seem to think it's gone pretty well so far. MARCUS- Yeah, I think it's very positive. You know, you never know. I think for us, it's with the new album, I think we've been pushing the boundaries a little bit more, as we always try to do and it's always a little bit scary, you know, when you release a new album, it's like okay, what? How will people react and what are they going to think and, but we always do what we feel like doing and what feels true to ourselves. So the first video, I think we get very good response on that one and hopefully people will like the album as much, but you know, you never know. It's always it's a time of, you know, when you're about to release like, the time before that it's always a lot of fun and it's a little bit scary and you have a lot of hope, like I hope I really hope people will like it and I hope we can, you know, go out and tour and meet our fans and you know, we always have all these kind of things going on in your mind because at the end of the day, you want to play your music in front of people. That's that's, you know, that's the main goal for me. MAL- I imagine it must be very nerve wracking, but I'm sure you do well. If everyone likes it half as much as I do, I think you'll do very well. MARCUS- I'm very happy to hear that. It makes me, makes me happy. Will be great to go to Australia as well as being there. Yeah, that's one of my you know, that's on my bucket list to go to Australia. So I really, I really want to do that. MAL- All right, Marcus from AVATARIUM, thanks so much for taking the time out of your day to talk to me about the new AVATARIUM album, 'The Fire I Long For'. Best of luck with it. And hopefully we'll see you next year. MARCUS- Yeah, that will be great. Thank you very much. It was my pleasure to talk to you and we're happy that you like the album? As I said, I really, I really hope we can come to Australia and play our music that will be like a dream come true, really. So, have a nice evening. Good to talk to you. See you. Comments are closed.
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AuthorMetalhead who hates bad parking. |