You guys are back here in the US this year. First you toured with Accept in April and now in October with Evergrey. Are there any differences between these two tours?The difference between both tours is that in this round a lot of people are coming to the concert for our sake as well. During the Accept tour there were very few per night and now we noticed more Sabaton t-shirts and a lot more people singing along to the songs and stuff like that. Even though it is not as many people as we have over in Europe it is still a lot of fun, actually, in a sense like going back to “basics”, and I like that. Get the “club” feeling again, when you have the crowd so close that you can touch them. I like that feeling actually.
You guys have your own cruise festival: you played in the 70000 tons of metal… What’s the deal with the boats?
They are fun! We have our own cruise on December 1st [2011]. It is an annual thing. We pack 2000 metalheads on a ship between Sweden and Finland. It is 24 hrs of… I mean, not too much drinking and craziness for our side because we have a show to do, but I’m telling you, the atmosphere on those ships are fantastic. People are happy, they open the door to their cabin and they play their own music.
I remember when I went to these types of cruises. You hear something you like [from the cabins], you say “Hey, can I join you?”, “Yeah, come on in! Have a beer”! It is really a “party buffet” (laughs). People are really relaxed and friendly. We missed that stuff so we decided to book our own ship. So now we have the Sabaton cruise on the first Thursday of December every year.
The one for this year has been sold out for a while already, hasn’t it?
Yes. It is actually kind of fun. For the company who owns the ship, this has been the fastest sell-out music ship ever.
Your concert calendar this year was crazy! How have you guys been dealing with this craziness?
We don’t party like we did when we were in our 20’s…
I thought you guys were still in your 20’s!
No we are not. I’m 31. I turned 31 yesterday actually [October 5th 2011]. The youngest one is Dani. He will be 29 in a few days.
Congratulations! I thought you guys were all “babies”!
Oh no, no. Actually we drink so much alcohol that we look younger (laughs).I mean, we don’t drink before the shows. We usually keep the parties, not to a minimum but, way less than before.
Especially for the last year, we have been working out a lot on tour. I actually enjoy it better because I am not constantly hung over.
So, next year: is the agenda still going to be as crazy as this year?
Yeah! It is getting worse actually (laughs). As soon as we get home now, we have only a few shows left this year, but I will go into song writing, full time. I mean, I will be doing it 16 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week until we hit the studios in the 2nd of January. Then, we will be done by February 24th (mixed, done, mastered).
Really? Pretty fast!
Yeah. We don’t believe in long studio sessions. I don’t want to say anything too bad
about it because we have many friends, other bands, who take 9 months in the studio. We don’t know why and we will never do it.So no rest scheduled yet?
I think I can squeeze 5 or 10 days of rest in between or after that. That’s about all the vacation I need.
This year you have released a live album: World War Live: Battle of the Baltic Sea. Tell us a little bit about the recording of the album. Did you have any preparation or special type of venue to record it?
We have done a gig in the Sabaton cruise actually, last year. We brought some recording equipment. We chose the 2 or 3 first songs and the 2 or 3 last songs. Then, after that we let the audience d1ecide. We had like, 28 or 29 songs rehearsed and ready so, we had a big list of songs and we asked [the audience]: “So, do you want to hear Rise of Evil or Wolfpack?”, “WOLFPACK!” [doing a voice similar to an audience screaming]. OK, so, we played Wolfpack! So, in a sense, the fans that were there chose what went to the “live” CD.
In the second disc there are recordings from all over Europe. Usually from a place that is connected to the song. Do you know what I mean? If we do a song about a winter war between Finland and Russia, we recorded it in Finland.
Did you like the final results of it?
Actually, I am happier than I expected. I’m usually not a big fan on the “live” albums, especially because there is nothing new in it.
We spent a lot of time on it, you know? We had a guy doing interview with us, every band member answers questions that were asked by the fans. We also spent quite a lot of time digging up old photos of the band.
Mixing it was quite easy actually. I guess we were all surprised that we didn’t suck as much as we thought we would (laughs). “Hey, these are actually not bad at all! We don’t have to re-play everything! Woohoo!!”
Now talking a little bit about Sabaton’s lyrical style. Do you do any research to be able to write about war(s)? How do you get inspired?
When it comes to inspirations: everything! Now we even get fantastic stories told by fans. People come up to us after the concerts. First thing I say: “E-mail me, because I’m drinking tonight and when I’m drinking I don’t remember anything”.
So, the fans send us stories by e-mails. Also, I do look, when we are on tour, for books about such subjects. Documentaries are a really good way to have a first idea of how things were done. I’d say 50/50 of the last album were ideas we had and ideas sent by the fans.
Do you guys watch stuff like “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific”?
Especially “Band of Brothers”, I think it was one of the best things ever produced for TV. It is a perfect “marriage” between science and fiction. I think that is my favorite TV series or movie of all time. “The Pacific” is very good as well.
I know you must have answered this a thousand times but: How did this idea started?
Actually it was 2004. We didn’t have a record label or anything, we got tired of our old labels that wouldn’t release anything. We decided to save up some money and record the album ourselves. We didn’t
have the lyrics for all the songs, only for 2 or 3 of them. We had the song “Primo Victoria” and we thought that it had a huge sound to it. So Pär [Sundström, Sabaton’s bass guitar player] and I sat down and said “We need a big fucking subject”. So we thought: “Hey… D-Day!”.
So, we wrote that one and while doing it, we realized that it was actually more fun. Before, writing lyrics was a necessary evil. All of a sudden it became fun. I already had the song “Panzer Batallion” written [before Primo Victoria]. So we had 2 songs [about war] and we thought: “Hey, let’s make an album with songs only about war”. That’s how we started.
You have already worked several times with Peter and Tommy Tägtgren at “The Abyss”. How did that relationship started? Do you plan to keep using “The Abyss” for the next album?
Yeah! Peter is going to mix, produce and record the next album. This is the first time that we are using Peter only. We started making demos and the second album with his brother Tommy. We have been working with them since then.
I mean, they are really nice, they are good friends, we are 45 minutes away from them, Peter is one of the best metal producers from that part of the world [Sweden, Northern Europe…] so, why go somewhere else?
On the last album [Coat of Arms] though, he couldn’t do it so at that point we did the drums with him, recorded it in our own studio and mixed with Fredrik Nordström.
I have interviewed Alestorm a few weeks ago. When I asked them about how they were able to get such a fast growth, they said that it was maybe because there was a “gap” in the market for pirates in the metal scene. Do you feel the same way for Sabaton? Was there a “gap” in the market for “war” inspired lyrics in metal?
In a sense yes, but sure as hell it didn’t go as fast (laughs)! We have started 1999 but we started doing the war lyrics in 2004. We have been “hammering” Europe with tours for several, several years. It is possible. We do have a whole lot of people discovering us through the lyrics as well.
For the SOM readers who don’t know Sabaton yet, how would you describe your music?
Oh… I don’t know. Modern version of classic heavy metal, I guess. Someone who likes Running wild, Judas Priest, Accept and that kind of stuff should probably like us.
So now… what’s next? Do you guys have something planned besides the release of the new album?
Yeah, another tour! We might do a few headlining shows in America before the album is released. Then we might go back to Russia with Scorpions again, I am not sure about that yet. After that, summer festivals and then we will do Western Europe for 50 days. Then, starting in January [2013] we will start Eastern Europe for a month or a month and a half. After that I think it will be time to come back to America again, Australia, Japan… So, I think we will be touring non-stop from April 2012 until August or September 2013.
Any messages for the SOM readers?
That is the toughest fucking question. 50% of the interviews have that “Any last words?” (laughs) I never have them! No… no last words (laughs)... because they suck (laughs).
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Interview done by Deesse_de_la_nuit
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