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Johan should be a very proud man. He's the one to blame (if you don't like Tiamat) and he's the one to congratulate to (if you do like the band), since he is a vocalist and a guitarist of Tiamat - it's main member.
"I've played in a band before I came to Tiamat, but only as a vocalist. I wanted to be more responsible, not only for the vocals, I wanted to do everything I'd like, for example playing guitar. So I started my own project in 1988. We have recorded a demo and released a single using only our money. After that we've recorded our first album for the C.M.F.T. , a British publishing company. We weren't satisfied. We left C.M.F.T. to search a contact with an other company. Suddenly, the Century Media saw us and we signed a contract. Our first publisher made many promises, but never realized them. They've promised us a tour, which never took place, Also, we haven't been given any money for our first album. We never got to know how many copies of our first album were sold.
Does Century Media treat us fair?
Yes, of course, we are very pleased so far. I can assure you that Century Media is the publisher with which we would like to cooperate longer, and for now there is no need to seek interest in other companies, there is no need for that. We've organized a tour with Paradise Lost, but their vocalist had some problems with his throat so we had to call it off. Now we wait...
Tiamat had evolved much since its last album. After the guitarist Stefan Laergren and And Andreas Holmberg ( the drummer ) left, The band was strenghtened by two young and more active musicians: Thomas Petersson and Niklas Ekstrand.
"For the first time in our team we have a guitarist which is able to play cool solos" - says Johan. This was followed by deeper changes : "The most important thing is that we can write better songs now. We have a better recording studio and this time we have worked with a producer. The "Summerian Cry" album was recorded without one."
Did all the changes have had any effect on Tiamat's style?
"I wouldn't put it this way. The changes helped us to expand our potential and improve our style. We are better musicians now and we are closer to each other than it was in the beginning. To be honest with you, I like our music much more now. We're also more open for new things and we aren't being holded down by ourselves: We play fast or delicate just whe we want to ."
Polimorphism is a good word to describe the music of the band. Not being strictly a death or black metal band, Tiamat includes dark and sad tones in its music. What, in Johan's opinnion, is the thing that makes the band so different? "Our music is a strange mixture of death and old, traditional metal, at least as the way I see it. We mostly listen to old heavy metal, such as Mercyful Fate, Black Sabbath, etc. It would be stupid to think that we take example from modern metal music. Our roots reach 10, maybe 15 years in past. Not only ours, many of todays bands is a part of generation which grew listening to Mercyful Fate, Black Sabbath or Motorhead. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I don't like newer music. I like bands such as Entombed, but not everything they create, if you catch my meaning.
After the unpleasanties with the last label, Edlund finds himself uncertain about the future of the band.
"I hope that with "The Astral Sleep" we will satisfy every heavy / black / trash metal music fan. Normally, every one of them hates other kinds of music or loves them. I hope that we'll be able to reach to different types of audience, and we'll be sure about that when the album will begin to sell out and after we finish our tour. Don't forget that we've never played on a tour before, except a few concerts in Scandinavia: one in Norway, one in Finland, and the rest in Sweden..."
The number of metal music bands in Sweden grows all the time. Are there enough people to support such enourmous scene?
"Unfortunately, there aren't. They don't care about bands such as ours. We'd be very happy if there were 200 people on our concert. People aren't too kind. Of course on the other hand, there is only 8.000.000 people in Sweden, and most of them rather play in their own bands than listen to others."
How do you explain that?
"How? That's a good question! I really don't know why, Here in Sweden everyone wants to play in a band. Nobody cares about other bands. You just don't listen to music here, You play it."
Almost half of "Astrall Sleep"'s songs is slow and dreamful. Why do you think all bands tend to play in such way?
"I think that most of the death metal bands are beginning to understand how boring it is to play very fast all the time. We don't do it for purpose (play slow). We don't have any 'plan' that says anything about mixing slow with fast music, it just comes natural, we write better songs that way. After that, we enjoy listening to them. We couldn't just play like maniacs all the time! I mean that sometimes I'm in a mood for listening to the most brutal death metal ever, and sometimes I like to listen for something 'soft', Bryan Adams for example. I seek brutality in music only when I'm depressed."
I asked Johan if he thinks that black / death metal has a chance of (if properly promoted) becoming a popular type of music, or is just the type of music that is cursed to always be in the underground.
"I think it has a chance of becomming commercial. But if we get to that point when we will start to make music just to sell more copies, it will be a very sad moment. Howewer, when we play music because we like it and the sale will rise, I don't see anything bad about it. I'll be happy when we reach to as many peoeple as it is possible. Not because we want to be famous or make more money, but to know that our music is liked by so much people. Your fans don't come to concerts because of the promotions, they just find that you are a good musician. At least, that's what I want to believe in! Good promotion attracts attention and makes that your band is recognized, but if people listen to your album and realize that you're no good, they will give an account of that all the fame wasn't at all neccesary and won't buy the next album. Of course there are many bands in Europe which doesn't have the promotion they deserve."
Why did you choose 'The Astral Sleep' as a title of your new Longplay?
"First, it matches the cover. Besides, we searched for a name that would represent the main threads of the songs as a whole. We didn't want to use some specific words, it wouldn't represent the whole album. I had to find one piece that the songs would share. 'The Astral Sleep' is a part hidden in every human, and when you sleep, this part comes out. We live in differnent dimensions in the same time, our conciousness is in the world we know. 'The Astral Sleep' has a connection with that particullar part which lays in a slumber and which we don't realise in our normal life."
Do you happen to read books on this subject?
"I used to, but I don't any more. Now i'm trying to get all those thougts and questions from me myself. Books don't offer nothing of importance. It is better to think independently, that is why I don't need books. My lyrics don't come from books, but from me, they were born in my soul. They are very personal. I need to find myself in a different state of mind when I write them, it doesn't just come suddenly. I couldn't write anything in a bus! The best moment for writing is when I'm sitting in my home, lonely in a rainy night, in a deppresing atmosphere. Sometimes I lit candles to make the right composure. When, in the night there is no light, I begin to be afraid of the dark and start to tink about horrible things..."
How do you think, why there are so much prejudices against metal music? "I don't know, but I hope it will change. You can find serious, deep thoughts in metal music, deeper in pop for example. So I wait with hope that people will realize this fact. They aren't trying to understand why all the bands do it. When all these people talk abot metal music, it makes me laugh. Someday we will get the respect we deserve. I often see that people judge me by the fact that I play metal, but I have one answer for them: I don't care!!!
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