Location: Trieste / Etnoblog / Italy
Interview date: 11.04.2012
Seventh Wonder are today one of the central figures of the lively Scandinavian progressive metal scene, right up there with Mind’s Eye, Circus Maximus, Majestic, Minas Tirith, Moonlight Agony, Vindictiv, Triosphere, Silent Call (and we could go on). They may not have as wide a fan base as their prog compatriots Pain Of Salvation or Opeth, but they can boast a body of work of four studio albums that shine with that typical Scandinavian perfectionism. And each new release is an upgrade on the one before it.
The “Scandinavian-style” prog metal of Seventh Wonder is marked by a subtle balancing act: melodic, highly listenable main motifs with a crescendo in the chorus melodies, plus breathtaking trickery woven in the manner of complex Dream Theater-style excerpts. In their songwriting they never lose their punch and compactness to showy virtuosic complexity. That’s why Seventh Wonder are easy on the ears, while on the other hand they stun you with their technical polish and flawless execution.
The band released their latest studio album two years ago. It’s called »The Great Escape«, and you may well remember it at least for its cover, graced by a gigantic black widow spider with its limbs spread wide.
I did the interview with bassist Andreas Blomqvist right after the band’s show at the Etnoblog club in Trieste. It was well past one in the morning, and the band was already busily packing their bags to hit the road toward the Apennine Peninsula, where they were playing a short tour in the first half of this April, dedicated exclusively to shows in Italy. Despite the post-gig duties that couldn’t wait, bassist and band boss Andreas Blomqvist took some time to chat with me and bring us up to speed on where Seventh Wonder stand in 2012.
RockLine: This year you pleasantly surprised all the prog metal fans in Italy and Slovenia by deciding to do a short tour devoted exclusively to promoting your music in Italy, starting with the show here in Trieste. How did that come about?
Andreas: A group of friends from Italy had been putting this tour together for us for a while. But it never happened, because we wanted to put out the new studio album first. The period after the start of 2012 turned out to be the first real opportunity to finally tackle this promised Italian tour and make it happen.
RockLine: What are your first impressions after the first show of this tour, here in Trieste?
Andreas: Very positive. The people here, our fans, react very passionately and energetically, which makes for a really special experience, and that makes it all the more fun to play venues like this. Even if you get sound hiccups on stage, with the sound or the amps acting up, it’s somehow easier to brush off the problems when you’ve got such an into-it crowd behind you. Even those negative feelings when you’re up there and you know not everything is set up for the best possible performance of the set slowly fade away when a fantastic audience like this takes you in.
RockLine: Last year you released the new studio album »The Great Escape« . The previous one, »Mercy Falls«, was a concept album with a dark mood. What are the basic differences in expression between the two albums, what sets them apart most?
Andreas: The first key difference is that the new album has no concept. The other differences are in the sound of the production itself. »Mercy Falls« used a lot of »reverb«. It had what you’d call a »wet mix«, we gave priority to the keyboards and vocals. Especially the vocals. The new album has a much »drier« mix, maybe even »too dry«. Of course, I also think »Mercy Falls« was mixed »too wet«, which probably means I’m never completely happy with the production, ha, ha, ha,… Anyway, the new album puts the guitars back up front, it’s more guitar-oriented, and we tried a few new things on it too. For example, there’s a 30-minute song on the new album that stands on its own, kind of a mini concept, a song with a self-contained story. »Mercy Falls« as a concept album drained us quite a bit, while recording »The Great Escape« we were much more relaxed. You didn’t have to keep track of how the album was developing as a whole, you could focus in more detail on individual parts of the songs. That’s the main difference between the two. Of course, on both albums you get the feeling that it’s us, Seventh Wonder. The same people, the same music. So if you like »Mercy Falls«, you’ll surely like »The Great Escape« too. For us, the new album is a logical, natural step forward. Of course, our new member and drummer Stefan Norgren also shaped the different look of the new album. And enough time passed between the two albums, so we could really deliver an album polished the way we wanted. With the form the band is in right now, we’ll take an even bigger step forward with the next album. I’m sure of that.
RockLine: A step forward, right…
Andreas: A step in any direction. Where that step is headed is something the owner of our record, the listener of our music, our critical audience can ponder. For us, »The Great Escape« is definitely a step up in our development. Let me also say that material for the new album is already in the works. Our motive is to push the boundaries of our musical expression to an even higher level with the new album. A new level, to try things we haven’t yet tried musically. As for showcasing virtuosity, we’ve fully defined that element on the albums released so far. I think we now need to look for new expressive challenges, a new springboard for expression. To give priority to other things, other challenges.
RockLine: How do you see this whole new wave of fresh prog metal bands blossoming out of Scandinavia today, like yourselves – Seventh Wonder, and then Circus Maximus, Vindictiv, Mind’s Eye, etc…?
Andreas: What happened is very natural and easy to explain logically. It’s the first generation of musicians who grew up on the sounds of bands like Dream Theater, Symphony X and similar. Musicians who love the music of Dream Theater and Symphony X and started making their own music inspired by those bands. We belong to that group of bands you mentioned. With Circus Maximus, for example, we’re great friends. We’ve done a few tours together already. And this changing of the guard between generations is nothing unusual in the history of rock music. After Yes came Rush, after Rush came Dream Theater, and now here we are. Regardless of the fact that the music industry works quite differently today than it used to, it can’t stop this natural turnover of musical generations.
RockLine: How happy are you with your current label, Lion Music Records?
Andreas: This answer will only be partly positive. We actually get along well with them, since their boss is an honest, caring guy, and he gives us absolute creative freedom, which is increasingly rare in label deals these days. At the same time, what they do is very limited. For instance, they give us no support at all in organizing tours, and that limits the promotion that bigger bands get, so it’s clear we’re limited in breaking through the wall of critical mass. Despite the freedom our artistry enjoys at Lion Music Records, we’re also handicapped by the label. So the relationship works both ways. Positive and negative.
RockLine: Your singer Tommy Karevik recently saved the tour of the American-Norwegian symphonic power metal outfit Kamelot. How did that come about and how did you in the band react to it?
Andreas: Kamelot are a great band. They asked us themselves whether Tommy could jump in and help them out, since they had trouble with their original vocalist right before they were due to set off on tour. We said yes, of course. It’s definitely good for us, since Seventh Wonder will win over more female fans too, ha ha ha…
RockLine: On stage you use John Myung’s signature bass model. What were your earliest influences that made you decide to become a musician, and a bassist first and foremost?
Andreas: When I first decided on it, I was inspired by completely different things in music than I am today. Of course, that comes with development over the years. With an individual’s maturing, musical growth, and perception of it. It keeps changing all the time. In the beginning, the names Cliff Burton, Geezer Butler and Steve Harris made a particularly big impression on me as a young musician. Iron Maiden still have a big influence on me, I’ve always been a huge Iron Maiden fan. I watched videos of these bassists. They played with the fingers of their right hand, and I always wanted to play with my right-hand fingers, I didn’t want to use a pick. Later, when I practiced a lot, other influences came along, like Marcel Jacob, Billy Sheehan and the original Symphony X bassist Thomas Miller. One of the most important musicians I’ve met in my life was the late Talisman bassist Marcel Jacob.
RockLine: Have you stayed in touch with anyone from Talisman since Marcel’s death?
Andreas: I played with Marcel for a few years. Marcel Jacob is an original musician, a unique bassist, I’m really sorry he’s no longer with us. Nobody was like him, and that went for the sound of his bass playing, his technique, and both showed in his songwriting too, when he was creating his own music. He was my mentor, I learned a lot from him. About relationships between musicians in a band, how to approach things when you’re part of a band. Sometimes he was very strict with me too, when it was called for. But he was an excellent mentor, and we were always very good friends. I’ve always really valued Talisman. Even today, when I watch videos of the band and see Marcel Jacob in them, a smile spreads across my face, because I always realize how great a musician he was and how special his way of playing most of his bass parts was.
RockLine: Speaking of Talisman there’s another phenomenon going on on the scene right now. A new wave of AOR and melodic rock from Scandinavia is on the march too. Treat and others are back… How do you see that?
Andreas: Exactly! AOR and melodic rock! Johan (Johan Liefvendahl, Seventh Wonder, guitar, editor’s note) and I have always been big fans of that genre. It’s our common ground. Johan and I are the only original founding members left in Seventh Wonder today. This genre is very important to us, we respect it a lot, even though we play progressive metal in Seventh Wonder. Those big anthemic choruses, that melodicism, that’s exactly what we want Seventh Wonder to get close to in our music too.
RockLine: That quality is already felt in your music. Those choruses in some songs really stand out and get catchy fast when you listen to them. Setting aside the complex figuration that goes with your arrangements, of course.
Andreas: Yes. Tommy has an ear for melody and a feel for bringing a good tune into a song. A solid melody, a melody in the sense that you never get tired of it. Many times when Tommy sends me ideas for how he’d sing the verses, meaning the idea for the verse vocal melodies, it happens that I’m not crazy about the idea at first, but it grows on me after a few listens. So such a melody has to be accessible, simple enough, and once it touches you while listening, it’ll touch you every time. Every time you listen to it again.
RockLine: Already tonight, in the early morning hours, you continue on toward the south of Italy. Shows in Turin, Florence, Rome follow,…. What are your expectations?
Andreas: We’ve played Turin once before. It’s one of the cities on the new tour that I already know. I think this tour will bring our band a lot of fun. For us, tonight’s show here in Trieste was a very successful start to the tour too. I have to make an exception for the sound conditions, which were awful, and I hope we never run into sound engineers like tonight’s in Trieste again. During the show I could only hear the drums on stage and no other instrument whatsoever. Luckily we’re tight enough, since we recently played a ton of shows, so I knew what I was doing on stage the whole time, even at this show in Trieste. But of course the problem came when we had to bring out a certain feeling. That’s where we ran into quite a bit of torment. And the result is often similar in such sound conditions. Whenever you end up in club spaces like the one we had here in Trieste. As for the rest of the tour, we hope we’ll be visited by just as many wonderful people as came tonight here in Trieste. And at the same time, everyone in the band will be praying hard for good sound conditions.
RockLine: And in the summer you’re heading out to festivals?
Andreas: Not really, because this guy (points at guitarist Johan, editor’s note.) is going to become a dad in the summer, so we’ll take a break and won’t be playing during that period. Anyway, for this renewed lineup, with Stefan Norgren, our new drummer, joining us, this tour is the first real concert tour, and so we don’t hide how pleased we are to be able to present songs from our latest studio album »The Great Escape« to our fans too! After the tour ends, we’ll focus on creating new material for our next studio album.
In the photos: Andreas Blomqvist during Seventh Wonder’s show on 11.04.2012 at the Etnoblog club in Trieste (Italy) – RockLine concert report HERE (RockLine photo archive 2006-2012, all rights reserved).
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