Johan Hegg (Amon Amarth)
September 2008
Your new album is just about to get released. How happy are you with the final result?
I'm very happy actually. I think it's the best album we've done so far especially considering the production. It turned out great this time around. Also the songs are great and we squeezed in some new exciting ideas as well. I think this album has a little bit of everything. It's a step further in our development as a band and as musicians.
Are you usually satisfied with every new album when it's released?
Usually you are. I don't think there's ever been an album where I felt that the songs weren't as good as we wanted them to be. Obviously every once in a while you feel that something could have been done better but then again it's all the matter of what resources we had when going into the studio. I mean a couple of years ago we didn't really have the same economic capability of producing an album that we did now but that's the way it is.
You reach more and more people with every new album of yours. Does success puts any sort of pressure on you when you write an album?
I wouldn't say pressure. Obviously there's pressure but this pressure is mainly from ourselves. For us it's more inspiring that people are getting into the band more and more. This inspires us and really gives us more energy to keep doing what we're doing.
Did you have the same approach to the songwriting or you tried out something new?
It was pretty much the same as the previous album. We were working from Monday to Friday. The songs just came together pretty quickly.
Your previous album With Oden On Our Side was really varied as far as musical styles but the new one is even more diverse...
I think so too, I think it's the most diverse album that we've ever done. And I think there's a lot of factors to that but one of the key elements here is that in the production we brought the melodies forward a lot more. They are more present in the production. I mean they've always been there in the past but now they have a really front position in the production, which gives the album much more diversity in itself. It also makes it catchier and it makes the heavy parts even heavier. Before going into the studio we said, "We can do whatever we want here and we won't hold anything back. Any idea that we feel is a good idea we're gonna work with it." And I think this really helped. We didn't really limit ourselves to anything, we just went with what we felt was best.
You mentioned about the studio where you worked with Jens again. Did he inspire you there?
Oh yes, definitely. Jens is a very big part of what Amon Amarth is on the last two albums. Without him we wouldn't have these two great productions that we have behind us now. He definitely pushed us to do the best we could as musicians and as songwriters and he helped us a lot with arrangements and stuff like that to make them even better. He also had ideas for how to make the songs more varied and diverse. He definitely has a finger in this album.
What makes Jens more special compared to the guys you worked together in the past?
It's not really fair to compare that way because neither Peter Tägtgren or Berno Paulsson were really producers. They were more engineers and we were producing ourselves. Jens is a full pledged producer and he has a saying in everything and we listen to him, we take his advice into consideration whereas previously we had our way of working. Jens is very good and he's very tough as well. I mean he really pushes us hard in the studio to produce and deliver and I think that's what we need from him as a producer.
Did you have most of the songs written when you entered the studio?
Usually we have the full songs in mind when we go to the studio but obviously things will change during the recording process. There'll always be some adoptions or changes or even re-writes. It all depends. With this album there were no re-writes but we did make some minor changes lyrically and musically in the studio.
Speaking of the lyrics, do you have a lyrical concept for Twilight Of The Thunder God?
There's no main lyrical concept for the album. The songs are very diverse so it's more like a bunch of songs with different lyrical ideas. Some songs are connected in some way or another and some of them are dealing with similar topics but that's nothing intentional. It's just the way it came out I guess. Norse mythology is the key element here. I mean not all the songs are written out of mythology and history as some of the stuff metaphorical about stuff that goes on in everyday life.
Could you imagine Amon Amarth doing a full album with lyrical concept based only on real life?
Yeah, but what would that be, what real life? (Laughs) I mean what is real life? That sounded deep and philosophical. (Laughs) It could be about relationship things but I don't want to get too personal in my lyrics. It could be political stuff but we are not political as a band. That's not interesting for us. Surely you can write stories of what stuff concerns you but I just feel that the Viking theme really suits our music well. If I wanna express my opinion about something in my life or in the world in general I will use Viking mythology as a metaphor. In any case I don't wanna preach or tell people what to think and force my own thoughts and beliefs onto people. That's not who I am.
You sing a duet with Lars Göran Petrov on Guardians Of Asgaard. How come?
Well, we met LG in a bar in Stockholm and we asked him if he wanted to do a duet with me on the new album and he said yes and I started writing the song out of that. We've had the idea to use another singer on different albums but we never really had a chance to realise that until now. Luckily LG was interested and we could do it. I mean he's a friend so we would pretty certain that he would wanna do it. I think he did a great job.
The song Where Is Your God probably the heaviest Amon Amarth song to date. What did inspire you to write it?
I don't know. Sometimes things just come together. We had a really brutal riff and we started working with that and it just came together really fast. I think it's one of the fastest song we've ever written actually. It came to be pretty quickly.
What would be your favourite moment on the album? Whether it's a song or just a solo?
I have no bloody clue. I mean there's a lot of good stuff on this album. Roope Latvala's solo on Twilight Of The Thunder God is one of them. Apocalyptica's cellos on Live For The Kill is another highlight I think. Tattered Banners And Bloody Flags is just a great song for me. The whole production, the music and the lyrics just works so well together to make a fantastic dramatic song. Also Embrace Of The Endless Ocean is a brilliant epic moment for us. There are so many highlights on this album and it's almost impossible to pick one.
You recorded a video for the title track. Can you tell me about the shooting?
It was stormy as hell. There was a hurricane approaching when we were shooting the band thing. We were playing our instruments in sort of a sandstorm. We got sand in our eyes, it was just terrible. (Laughs) But all in all it was pretty cool and the Vikings that participated were pretty much from all over the world. There were German, Polish, British, American and even Australian Vikings. These guys are highly professional fighters and they know what to do and they did a great job. We are very grateful to them for the unbelievable work they did for us.
Do you plan shooting more videos?
We'll, see, we'll see. I think the idea is to have another video out there eventually but we'll see when will that happen.
And how about a single? What song would you pick?
Ah, man, bloody question. (Laughs) I think actually the video song is a pretty good representative of the album. It has a lot of the elements that binds the album together. It's aggressive, it's epic, it's really brutal and it has a really technical solo by Roope from Children Of Bodom. There's a lot of elements in that song that really represents the album in a good way. As second single maybe I would go for Guardians Of Asgaard. It's a great catchy song that you can get into pretty easily.
Did you perform any of the new songs live?
No, we didn't yet.
So which one are you looking forward to play live the most?
See? That's another problem that we're actually discussing with the band right now. Which songs to choose for the setlist... let's put it this way: we are five people in the band and we have five different will. I think we all have agreed that Twilight Of The Thunder God and Guardians Of Asgaard are gonna be live songs. Apart from that we are not really certain. (Laughs)
How on earth can you put the entire setlist together if you can't even agree on one album?
That is very tricky. When you do a headlining tour then you can make it easier but when it comes to supporting shows like we are going to do this upcoming tour with Slayer, that's gonna be tricky. On the other hand you have to realise when you do a support tour that you are there to present your band to new fans or potential new fans. That can make it easier because you put together sort of a best of compilation and you go with that. It's definitely tricky because you want to present the new album in a good way but also want to present some of the back catalogue.
How do you feel about this Unholy Allience Tour?
I think it's gonna be a brilliant tour. It's quite a diverse line-up and I think that's a really good thing. For us it's a great honour to be a part of this tour especially since we're all huge Slayer fans since the late eighties. They've been a major inspiration to us as a band. It's definitely a great honour for us to share the stage with them and it's also a challenge for us because Slayer fans are not really easy fans. We know, we are Slayer fans ourselves. (Laughs) I think it's gonna be a great tour for us and a great opportunity to present our music to a new type of fans.
Do you also like the music of Trivium and Mastodon?
To be honest when it comes to Mastodon I haven't really heard of them that much. They have a very interesting sound and an interesting take on their music, which is quite intriguing but I haven't really listened to any albums. I know Trivium rather well even though I don't own any albums and maybe it's not really my favourite music but obviously they have a big following. I think the music is okay, it's just really that it's not really something new in my opinion. It's not music for me anyway, it's music for the kids today. What I think is not really important here. The important thing is that they contribute to the tour and I'm sure they will.
Unfortunately the tour is not stopping in Hungary but you've been here before. What kind of memories you recall?
Oh man, I have some great memories from Hungary. Most of them being drunk. (Laughs) We've only been to Budapest. I remember that we played the Summer Rocks festival in 2001 and we had a great time there. And when we were back with Dimmu Borgir last year we had a great time as well. We went to the big bathhouse and that was really nice. I had a really nice massage and everything and we went to dinner to the Sir Lancelot medieval restaurant. (Laughs) The food was awesome there. (Laughs)
There's another tour coming up for you in North America in a few weeks time. It seems like an even more diverse line-up with Ensiferum and Belphegor...
I think it's a great package. I think it will appeal to our fans as well as to fans of the other bands. I think if you wanna have a successful tour it's important to be able to attract fans from different categories and we have a possibility to do so here. I'm really excited about it.
Do you think there is a difference between your fans in America and Europe?
There are small differences but seriously I try to look at the similarities instead because when it comes down to it they are all metalheads. And metalheads are pretty much alike no matter where you are going in the world. And there are differences between metal fans in different countries in Europe as there are differences between metal fans in different states in the United States. There are so many different types of metal fans really but they are there to see the show and support the bands and that's the most important thing.
Are you going to record any of the shows for a live DVD?
Not on these tours but we do have the Bloodshed Over Bochum shows in late December and that's gonna be recorded and filmed. That's not for an official release, it's more like for bonus material for a future DVD. We'll see.
Your MySpace page is one of the most visited metal pages. How much importance do you think it has in 2008?
I think MySpace is a great way to keep your fans in the loop of what's happening with the band and it's a great way to get your music out there and introduce yourself to new fans. I think it's quite important to be on there especially for the US market. I'm not sure how big of an impact it has in Europe but definitely the US market is very important. It's a big deal.
Do you spend a lot of time on your page and the Internet in general?
No, I leave that to our drummer Fredrik. He's the one taking care of that. I don't know, I'm not a big Internet user, I don't have my own MySpace page or anything like that. It's not really important to me. I don't have a huge interest in it. I do try to check out MySpace every once in a while but I have other stuff to do. (Laughs) Some of the people that I know who have a MySpace page, they spend way too much time online. Instead of going out and doing stuff they hang out on MySpace. I don't know, it just feels weird.