Location: Boogaloo / Zagreb / Croatia
Interview date: 26.01.2011
Avatar are young, hungry metalheads from Gothenburg, Sweden. Since that city is the cradle of melodic death metal, Avatar also took their first steps in that cradle as “classically” built melodic death metallers. The new self-titled album, though, gave the quintet, who are anything but afraid of new challenges, a completely new experience and served up some interesting musical experiments! It offers a colorful bunch of songs that mix different genres. So with the new album Avatar kept their shock element and musical appeal, while also managing to stretch the limits of their creative reach, without losing their bite.
It’s a little past seven in the evening. Urban and I are sitting backstage at the Boogaloo club in Zagreb, with all five of the guys. Two of them jumped into the conversation: vocalist Johannes Eckerström and drummer John Alfredsson.
How’s the current tour going? Is everything going to plan? Are you happy?
Johannes: Really, really well. We’re playing our best shows right now, we’ve never been this tight on stage before. On this whole tour with Hellowen, we’ve played in front of more than 30,000 people so far.
How did you manage to break the ice and land a tour with a metal name as big as Helloween?
John: The last album we put out is a neat mix of classic heavy metal and more modern ideas, death metal especially. So the new album, “Avatar”, got us the attention of a wider audience, since it melts different metal genres together. So it all felt very natural to us, ending up on the same train as Helloween. When they asked if we’d join them on tour, we really didn’t think twice, we made the call on the spot, because an offer like that just can’t be turned down. We hesitated a little, since we come from the harder side of things, but once we got amazing reactions from the crowd in front of the stage, we had instant confirmation that it was a very bold move.
You’ve made a noticeable leap in songwriting with the new album “Avatar”. By mixing different genres, you’ve managed to put songs on the record that have a seriously strong variety between them.
Johannes: That’s exactly what we wanted, and I love hearing what you’re pointing out and how you took in our new album. That was our goal when we were putting the album together. The goal was for our music to reach every single metal fan. So it doesn’t matter which genre of metal you’re into, whether it’s the more extreme stuff or the classic approaches. We wanted everyone who loves metal to be able to connect with our new album.
John: Yeah. We wanted to add a classic touch to our music, while making sure we didn’t come off nostalgic, but kept it modern and kept our own character. And we pulled that off. We pushed the boundaries of our music even further and widened our creative horizons.
How do you create music? Where and how does it come together?
Johannes: There are lots of ways. We can come up with something together at rehearsals, very spontaneously. Often I also pick up a guitar at home on my own, write something, and then show it to the guys. We also often help ourselves out by sending mp3 sketches back and forth that capture our ideas while the songs are taking shape. Right now all the doors of creativity are open for us and we’re not limiting ourselves when it comes to musical ideas.
How would you describe this evolutionary leap to a higher level, in the period between the previous album and the new one? What influenced it?
Johannes: When we started playing, we were fifteen, sixteen years old, we covered a ton of songs by well-known metal acts, Helloween among them, but most of the time we focused on death metal bands. That’s how we got shaped. We started our career as a death metal band. So our first release is completely devoted to the melodic death metal genre. All along we strained to push the limits toward the extreme, while keeping a clearly defined melodic component in our musical stance. That straining peaked with our second release in 2007, the album “Schalcht”. There we developed an even more extreme sound and pushed the limits of technical execution up another level. Everything on that album sounds so damn fast. We were really happy with that achievement and we’re really proud of that album. When we thought about where to go from the point called the album “Schlacht”, it was clear we didn’t want to stay stuck in a melodic death metal stance full of technical polish. So we took another look at our roots and realized that there’s a bit of a dirty rocker smoldering in each of us, heh, heh, heh…
The new album also uses a wide palette of different vocal approaches. Do you actually sing all of that yourself, Johannes?
Johannes: Yes. Basically, everything you hear on the new album, the shouting, screaming, growling, clean singing, that’s really me. The guys only contribute a few backing vocals on the side.
Other bands know you well too by now. You’ve toured Europe with In Flames, Obituary, Evergrey, Hardcore Superstar,…
Johannes: Yes. Those bands are our big supporters and vice versa. That means a lot to us. We’ve known the guys from In Flames for a very long time, and both bands come from Gothenburg anyway. In Flames guitarist Bjorn Gelotte also guested on guitar on our previous album. And in this very building, exactly where we’re talking now, we played together with the band Big Cherry three years ago.
How’s your new album coming along?
Johannes: We have tons of new ideas. The album is coming along nicely, and our current plan is to play as much as possible, especially in this part of Europe where we are right now together with Helloween. Since we’re a very creative band, we’ll try to polish the new songs off even while we’re on tour. The album should be finished this summer. Then we’re planning to release it in the fall! You know, Avatar are a live band, and all that energy we unleash on stage, we’d like to carry into the studio. That’s the point, to carry it over. When you explode on stage, that’s when you’re strongest. We’re a band that really only comes into its own on stage. We want to bring that energy into the studio as authentically as possible. That’s why we try to get as many shows as we can, because playing live bonds us more and more, the ties between us grow, and that carries over into the studio too, so you come across as even more convincing and honest in your artistic intent.
John: Avatar are a live band, and with the next album we’re going to redefine what a live show means, ha, ha, ha…
So is the plan for this year also to conquer as many stages as possible at the summer festivals?
Johannes: We’re fighting tooth and nail!
John: It all depends on whether people want to see us on stage again. So far the situation on that front is very encouraging for us. Of course, that goes for the metal fans in Slovenia and Croatia too. As long as that keeps rolling, anything is possible and the doors are open for us. Just a few days after our shows in Bulgaria and Greece, we’re already getting messages saying they want to see us back on their stages as soon as possible.
Why did you pick the word Avatar as your band name? What’s the story behind it?
Johannes: That’s a question for John, he was 14 when he came up with the idea.
John: We guys in Avatar have known each other since we were little, from childhood, we grew up together, played together and so on… that was almost 10 years ago. Around the time I started high school, I was reading some Hindu books, and don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Hindu, heh, heh…, but while reading one of them, I came across the word Avatar. An avatar was a god who appears on Earth in human form. It sounded really cool.
Johannes: See? That’s how we came to be, Avatar, we took on flesh. We’re real! Now we’ve got to call James Cameron and make him answer for using our name. He didn’t even ask if he could borrow it, ha, ha, ha,…
You mentioned earlier that in the beginning you covered other metal bands. It’s no secret if I ask which ones, is it?
Johannes: It’s a secret. Just kidding, heh, heh, heh… We played songs by bands like Vader, Cannibal Corpse, Slayer, Helloween, Iron Maiden…
John: We played the Helloween song called Push. Such a shame Helloween don’t play it live on the current tour. It’s one of the best songs they ever wrote.
Johannes: Of course we also listen to a lot of classic stuff, I always loved listening to things like Black Sabbath, I was always a huge fan of the albums Ozzy Osbourne put out.
Do you miss Sweden at all?
John: We never miss Sweden.
Johannes: I really don’t get bands that are always complaining how hard it is because they left their girlfriends at home, they’re away from their families and they’re homesick. We in Avatar are having fun the whole time. Every day of every tour is a big adventure for us. We can never be bored. And when we hang out with other bands on tour, we make real friendships and stay in regular contact afterward. I think that’s great.
John: Avatar even decided that right after this tour, we’re heading off on a group vacation to Duisburg, Germany.
You’ll be making the sequel to the first Avatar movie with Cameron anyway, right?
John: Yes. That goes without saying. It’s all arranged already, heh, heh, heh…
photos: Urban Bolta
This piece was a collaboration between RockLine and Rock Hard Slovenija.
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