In the world where IA is active as a solo artist, attitudes are slightly freer towards spontaneous music making than in the world of straight rock music, but he has surprisingly hesitant views on jamming.
“If you listen to some albums known to have been created by jamming, such as a lot of newer King’s X albums, they just sound unstructured and uninspired. And I’m not very fond of the ‘get up on stage and jam!’ because that’s just showing off how fast you can play in twenty seconds and then it’s the next person in line to do the same.”
Playing with Jonas Hellborg, on the other hand, is quite a different thing.
“When I play with Jonas, we do create music as we play, but that’s more musical communication than sloppy jamming. It sounds pretentious, but there is a difference. The first time Jonas and I played together was in Frankfurt, and I was late because I had had another gig. They had already started playing and I had never even met the drummer. I asked what Jonas wanted to play and he just told me to play what I heard. That was really a major crossroads for me. Either I pull myself together, actually listen to what the others do and contribute to that, or I just play fast and then leave the stage and have created nothing lasting. But we created a thirty minute composition, some really cool music, and of course it had its ups and downs, but it was dynamic and a lot about giving and taking. The opposite has happened to me many times, where I end up in situations where people are watching just to judge you if you’re really all that. In those situations, where I’m put on stage with some half-arsed drummer and a bass player you can barely hear, it’s like I get musically tongue-tied. What the hell am I supposed to contribute with here? Fast licks? That’s not musical communication!”
Hyperbole Alert
SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN Organic and Land of the Freaks, Björn started refining his sound more consciously. He listened to old recordings and tried to learn from them.
“Organic was recorded in a pretty small room, and you can almost hear that sometimes. Around that time, I realised that I wanted to work a bit more with acoustics and different microphones. I’m not an expert in that field, but nowadays we work with someone who is: Johan Reivén, the drummer of the band LOK. He has his own drum studio, Bombastik, and I’m happy to leave those decisions to him. I take full responsibility for what I play, and trust him to work with what it sounds like on the album.”
In the world of music with progressive ambitions, gigantic drum kits are commonplace. Björn plays a pretty basic kit, and what mainly sets his kit apart from a standard set-up is the fact that he experiments a lot with broken cymbals which he combines in order to find new, cool sounds. He also has two snare drums.
“I’ve put my drums quite far apart to give the hits some momentum. It’s pretty much the opposite of what Thomas Haake of Meshuggah does: he tries to minimise his movements because of his physical problems. The kit I use with Freak Kitchen is customised especially for Freak Kitchen songs. Whenever IA sits down behind my kit, he mutters about how on earth I can stand playing ‘these shitty drums.’ He’s got deft fingers and all, but he cannot handle my drums set-up. But if I play jazz or in my Genesis cover band Lone Star Retractor, I’m positioned a lot higher in order to get a good overview and I use another playing technique as well.”
During the tour for Cooking with Pagans, IA did indeed get a go at playing those “shitty drums”.
“We changed instruments during ‘My New Haircut’ on the latest tour and I got to play the drums. It was actually Björn’s son Sindre’s idea originally, but Björn and Christer applauded his suggestion. It surprised me somewhat, because they are normally the ones who try to take my zany stuff down a notch. It was a lot of fun, but I really had to strain myself in order to play Björn’s difficult setup. I don’t know how he manages gig after gig! I have such rubbish technique. It’s like when I play badminton, I’ll hit ten times as hard as anyone else and get half as far. But the longer we got into the tour, the better my chops got, which means I got some confidence and started doing silly things and disturbing the order. It doesn’t sound very good, but it’s fun! And Björn looks like such a lovely little hobbit, barefoot with that big bass.”
Although Björn enjoyed the little adventure into string-land, he has talked about respecting your position in the band.
“I always tell my students that they should remember what they’re here for. A drummer’s job is to take the song from point A to point B, and you may fill it with interesting things along the way. But you should never be a hindrance. Sometimes drummers want to squeeze in fills where they end up messing up the flow or lead the song astray. Instead you can think like a big band drummer, do little set-ups where you ‘introduce’ the other musician’s interesting bits to the audience, or simply to guide your fellow band mates. You’re the engine. Something else worth thinking about as a drummer is your attitude towards your kit. Not one time have I played the drums just to let off steam. I love my drums too much for that. You don’t use them to work off anger.”
Björn and Christer record their parts in the studio at a stunning pace; they spend days in the studio while IA spends months. IA throws some light on why that is.
“When Björn is in the studio, Johan Reivén spends a lot of time arranging and adjusting drum microphones, and I’m not in the least interested in that side of the recording. I trust them, and Björn works very fast. He’s like a little Duracell Bunny, does a take, bounces a bit on a rebounder trampoline, does another take. And even if I spend a long time in my studio, it’s not the actual recording that takes time. It’s all the thinking and trying out things, finding the flow of a song, dealing with the different aspects of the production, editing, writing and re-writing lyrics. And to be honest, the drums and the bass, they’re things I know will be there and I know pretty much what it will sound like. But the guitars and vocals and all the ‘decoration’ are still undecided until I say it’s finished. I may ponder on it for a month, try different things in my head, and then, bam!, everything comes out all at once. It does take time to produce an album yourself, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
During the research on album reviews, it’s quite easy to find thoughts on the early material, as well as about Move, but we find less enthusiasm about Organic and Land of the Freaks. They are perhaps not bad reviews, but these albums tend to be regarded as slightly less newsworthy somehow. They had their individual hits, yes, but not as hyped as the first albums and Move. IA says he understands this point.
“But Cooking with Pagans has been met with a renewed enthusiasm, and people talk about it just like they did with Move. I like both Organic and Land of the Freaks, but they’re quite different: Land of the Freaks has kind of a dark and cold feeling, and sound-wise I was never happy with it. I did a bunch of masterings and finally I had to let it go, because we were running out of time. For starters, the volume level is too loud and that’s not my style at all. I like Organic too, it has a few catchy tunes, but the production lacks a little. I would have wanted it to be heavier. It too has some songs people request at gigs because they’ve seen the videos, but I think songs like ‘Breathe’ and ‘Sob Story’ are among the best songs we’ve ever recorded.”
Land of the Freaks was released on the 19th of October, 2009, and although it seems as they had to a certain extent slipped people’s minds during the four years since Organic, the reviews they did get were mostly positive: “a tour of everything rock and metal, with a bizarre sense of the melodic and an insane sense of humor that’s hard not to love”, “an adventure into the sound”, “Mattias’ vocal pipes are impressive as well. I find it strange that he hasn’t received more accolades for this” and “Land of the Freaks has all the hallmarks of a great album; namely memorable songs, amazing hooks and a level of technical proficiency most musicians can only dream of.”
This time, IA felt more secure than ever in his ability to mix social commentary with humour, but writing about things you care for is always risk-taking. Will the listener under
stand sarcasm and hyperboles? One reviewer wrote: “With titles like ‘God Save the Spleen’ and ‘Honey, You’re a Nazi’ it’s clear the audience isn’t supposed to take anything too seriously here and instead should just have a good time.” This is probably the exact opposite of what IA aims for; humour, yes, but as a means to get a very serious point across.
Up until now, IA has never expressed an official opinion about party politics, and therefore it was not really possible to guess which party he votes for. But he admits to being interested in politics and society on a broader scale, and develops his reasoning behind keeping the commentary non-specific with regards to parties.
“If you have opinions about the age in which we live, you’re interested in politics. In my very first election I voted for the Left Party, at the time named the Left Party Communists, because their party leader Lars Werner was the only one who even talked about young people, that Sweden needed more youth clubs, rehearsal spaces, and so on. I’ve voted for the Green Party for a long time, but they’ve become too lame lately, and the only one who dares to speak her mind now is Gudrun Schyman of the Feminist Initiative Party. But no matter how strongly I feel about politics, I will not get engaged in a specific party. I’ve been asked to speak up against the nationalist party, the Sweden Democrats, and I’m happy to do that in my own name, in lyrics and interviews, but not in the name of a political party.”
Although Björn hasn’t talked openly about which political party he votes for, he compares his views with his general outlook on life.
“You should be kind and considerate. That’s basically it. Respect people around you and don’t be too quick to judge. Try to find out what’s what before you speak. You can’t really label my religion, just take care of people around you. Be open and listen to people and be helpful, and I guess that blends in with my political views as well. Of course most of us look to our families first, but try not to be too selfish.”
During a clinic a few years ago, IA criticized Lidl and their “fluorescent milk” and added “as I keep going on about”. But going through volumes of interviews and miles of web pages, it’s difficult to find comments about these issues. It is only very recently IA really started to voice his opinion on these matters in other settings than in lyrics.
“It’s very difficult to speak spontaneously about ethical questions; I prefer to save it until I get to formulate my thoughts, like in lyrics. That doesn’t mean that I’m safe from expressing myself bluntly. The reason I say no to charity gigs and specific political parties is that while it’s easy to feel you want to ‘do something’, more often than not you’re actually doing it for your own sake. So I prefer to work for what I feel are good causes through the band: lyrics and interviews, as well as monthly or annual donations to organisations such as Unicef, Amnesty, Greenpeace, Djurens Rätt (Animal Rights), The Swedish Carnivore Association, WWF and Civil Rights Defenders.”
Swedes are famous for sorting out their garbage to such an extent that Sweden actually imports garbage from other countries and use it to turn into energy. IA and his family are keen refuse sorting enthusiasts, and he says that ploughing through garbage in Kathmandu won’t bring him down.
“On the contrary! I become even more fervent, though sometimes it feels like fighting an uphill battle. Sure, I might wonder what the hell I’m doing when I run like a madman to fetch a tiny, tiny aluminium tealight cover caught by the wind, while remembering the state of certain countries. I recently went to Arkhangelsk in Russia, to visit a music school, despite bombings and disturbances, and my gut feeling was that we should probably just tear down the whole city, let nature take its course for two hundred years or so and begin again.”
IA sounds slightly resigned when he talks about the experience he had in Arkhangelsk, but the exposition turns radically positive when he talks about the young people he met there.
“A place like Arkhangelsk doesn’t exactly sparkle with opportunity, but I think change must happen through enlightenment, little by little. A lot of the times, it’s young people who bring me hope. I don’t know what I expected – vodka, depression, close-mindedness? – but the young people I met were as open and positive as anywhere in the world, and had a progressive attitude towards life. The surroundings were ghastly, grey, worn-down, and there was a real atmosphere of dejection, but the students were hell-bent on going places. Some of them studied Swedish, spoke perfect Swedish and had their mind set on moving to Sweden to become teachers. And I can’t applaud that enough.”
Something IA has spoken about in interviews is his dislike and distrust of banks and stocks, and he refuses to contribute to “rich people’s evil-doings” by investing money in stocks.
“Even saving money for your pension means investing in the weapons’ industry and tobacco companies! No way am I supporting that! We put all our money into fixing the house, and when Camilla and I get old, we can sell it and live off that money and there’ll be something left for Gabriel too when we’re gone. And you know what the worst thing is? That nobody cares. And that’s the reason why I write such frustrated lyrics. I used to think that if I talk loudly enough, or speak about important things often enough, I could make a change. But people don’t care. But I can’t refrain from speaking my mind, and I just have to hope that someone out there is listening and in turn wants to make a change.”
When you, as IA does, sometimes visit 28 countries in one year, you get to experience many types of people and their attitudes and cultures. But IA says that when it comes down to it, people are more or less the same all over the world.
“Like I sometimes say, it’s just the setting that changes. What I don’t like is rudeness. If I specify that I’m a vegetarian, don’t bring me pig brains and say ‘very good’. No! Not ‘very good’! And when people push and shove you and scream in their mobile phone, that turns me into a person I don’t like being. I might put up with a lot of things others wouldn’t, but if people are disrespectful and treat me or someone I care for like they own you, I will speak up.”
Something IA has written about extensively on the old Freak Kitchen blog apart from music and the occasional social commentary, it’s all the trouble on the road: lost baggage, missed flights, policemen who drag you out of your tour van because they just feel like being a pain in the ass of long-haired musicians.
“You get used to the stressful situations. I don’t tend to flare up, but God knows Christer can. There is never anyone there to lead you by the hand either, and when I travel alone, I don’t employ a nanny, like other artists who do clinics do. It’s just me, and if a flight gets delayed so I miss my connecting flight, I’m on my own. Getting stuck somewhere in Europe all alone is scary enough, but try doing it in Malaysia or Borneo.”
The music business can be full of circumstances and confrontations where you have to deal with people who want to get as much money or as much time from you as possible. IA’s wife Camilla seems to be his sounding board and life coach in many situations.
“Mattias says that he feels that he’s changed during our years together. He’s not as afraid of being a bit more demanding in business situations now. When he started going to Japan, for instance, they demanded that he be available absolutely around the clock. No normal person can cope with that kind of schedule: record an instruction video at 3 in the morning and then interviews follow, and after that, brunch with this person and then a clinic and photo opportunity and then a session with someone. There are no hours set aside for sleep! Sure, they have paid for this PR trip, so naturally they’ll want to get the most out of it, but he’s a human being, he’s not a product you can use 24/7. He needs sleep, he needs to eat, and he gets jet-lagged just like everyone else. So we have discussed these trips and I’ve told him that you can’t keep living like that. You’ll die if you try to keep that up; your heart will just stop. You can’t travel to 28 countries in a year and accept that schedule everywhere. You’ll have to tell them you can’t do all the things they want you to. If they think t
hat you’re not as accommodating as you used to be, then so be it.”
What people perhaps don’t think about is that while their own life returns to normal the next day, the visiting musician has to face another day with equally ridiculous demands. Camilla continues:
“When he leaves one country, a new frenzied PR circus begins in the next. And so it continues. If the PR people can’t fit in hours for sleep, a shower and a quiet breakfast, they’ve not done their job properly. And that’s not his problem. We’ve discussed it a hundred times and he’s getting better at asking for the things normal people would simply expect as a matter of course. And at the same time, he’s never had any problems getting paid at gigs, for instance. A lot of bands get ripped off when it comes to getting paid, but people respect him too much to cheat him.”
Another aspect of IA’s social commentary is his recurring themes where Internet porn symbolizes something negative (“Proud to be Plastic”, “Entertain Me”, “Dead Soul Man”, “Do Not Disturb”, “(Saving Up for an) Anal Bleach”, “Guilt Trip”). He also uses sexually explicit situations in order to emphasize something extreme (fistfucking; give good head; rape; buttfucks; your brother is banging your wife; fucks for a living). How come it’s such powerful imagery?
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