Robin Sjunnesson (Sonic Syndicate)
June 2008
Your previous album Only Inhuman became a huge success all over the world. I don't think you expected anything like that, did you?
No, we didn't expect anything like that at all. That was our first album on a real record label so we were basically just happy to sign a deal back then. But as soon as we signed to Nuclear Blast everything started to happen and after we released Only Inhuman we started touring like hell together with all these great bands. We never expected anything like that. It was really cool and it was a really good experience for the band.
Do you know about the sales figures of Only Inhuman?
I don't really know about the exact figures. Usually it takes about a year when the record company collects all the information and I didn't heard about this from them yet. It seems that the album is still selling pretty good.
Well, Nuclear Blast was pushing that album and also the new one a lot. I would even say that they are putting more effort into Sonic Syndicate than In Flames...
That's great, man. It's so great to have this big record label that backs you up and promotes you records. I can't be more thankful to them because they are really doing a great job and they are pushing us.
It seems that you became one of their top priorities.
It feels like that and it's an awesome thing. We never expected being a top seller band on a label like Nuclear Blast and we didn't even expect Nuclear Blast to be our record label, so we are very thankful to them. A lot of things happened to us since we signed to them and our lives and our music career completely changed and that's really cool.
I think one of the most important steps for the band was doing the Eastpak tour in October. That set up things pretty nicely.
Yeah, I agree. It was our first ever real tour with a nightliner bus and other big bands and the thing I remember most is that it was so much fun because we've never been on tour before so we had parties every night. We've also learnt so much things on this tour because everything was new to us. The other bands taught us many things as they toured their whole life. They gave us a lot of advices of how we should behave on tour and what we should do. We learnt a lesson of how we should behave and it was really cool to have those bands as a role model. We had a lot of experience on that tour and I can say that it was one of the funniest things we've ever been involved in.
What was the best gig for Sonic Syndicate on the Eastpak tour?
I would probably say the Budapest gig because at that gig Karin's parents showed up. That was like, "What the hell you guys are doing here?" That was really cool. That was a big memory. After the show we had a big party in the bus with them. I also remember that Caliban's bus broke so they were quite late to the show. There were a lot of things happening that day. It was very stressful but still it was a lot of fun. I also remember that we did a signing session in the city after the rehearsal. That was definitely one of the most memorable shows on that tour.
Then you teamed up with Caliban again for the Darkness over X-Mas Tour...
Yeah, it was really good but first we thought it wasn't a good idea to do a tour between Christmas and New Year's Eve. We didn't think that we'll have a lot of crowd on these shows but as soon as the tour started we were surprised to see that almost all venues were sold out and the response was really really cool. It was nice to play together with Caliban again and also Heaven Shall Burn were really nice guys. There were a lot of people at the shows that came to see us and we sold a lot of merchandise. It was a really successful tour.
And how about the one you did this year alongside with Nightwish in the US?
It was our second American tour because we've already been there with Amon Amarth in last December. This tour with Nightwish was unbelievable because they are the nicest guys I've ever met. They are so cool and down to earth and they treated us really good during the whole tour. All the Nightwish fans are very open minded, they listen to all kinds of music, so the Nightwish fans really loved us. It was a perfect tour for us in America and it seems like that we already started growing in America just because of that tour.
Do you also like the music of Nightwish?
I love Nightwish, I love the new singer and everything. They are way better than ever before.
Did you start writing the new Sonic Syndicate album after the touring or you already started in between the tours?
We actually started to write a little bit on the Eastpak tour like some guitar riffs that we saved and brought back home. We wrote the majority of the album in January and February when we had some time off from touring.
Weren't you rushed in the studio due to the upcoming Nightwish tour?
We were a little bit stressed because of the deadline as we were about to leave for the US tour with Nightwish. Our first impression was like, "Oh, how are we going to make this?" but as soon as we started recording there were no problems at all. Everything went just fine. We took the time we needed and still we finished way before the deadline. We had a really relaxed time in the studio.
The production team was Jonas, Roberto and Achim this time around. Did they all do an excellent job?
Sure, they did. Everything worked out pretty smoothly with these guys. They are the three guys that are best in the business and that's why we chose them. They did hell of a job for our record and the album turned out exactly the way the band members wanted. We are really satisfied with the final result. We worked with Jonas before so we knew what to expect from him but Roberto and Achim did an awesome job here too. Hopefully we can work with them again in the future.
Did you feel any pressure on you because of the huge success you had with Only Inhuman?
Not really. Everyone in the band seemed to love this great success so we thought that we need to make a better album. That wasn't really a pressure but something we had in our minds. We think that we worked fine and we think that this album is way better than the previous one was. We're very proud of the new album and we all love it.
Did you do anything differently compared to the way you worked on Only Inhuman?
Yeah. Only Inhuman was basically written by Roger, the other guitarist. He wrote basically all the songs on that record. This time we wanted everyone to be involved in the songwriting so we went into the rehearsal room and started jamming 8 hours a day. Everyone brought their ideas so what you can hear on the album is a real teamwork. Everyone is so proud of this record.
What is the most important thing for Sonic Syndicate when it comes to composing the songs?
We want to make sure that every song we do is better than the song we did before. (Laughs) We have to write every song as good as we can do because we don't want to release average songs. We want to put out only our best effort.
So will you quit as soon as you won't be able to top your previous albums?
(Laughs) I don't think that's gonna be a problem because we are full of ideas. If we would have some time now we could write a new album right now.
Do you have any limitations as far as the musical direction of the band goes?
Nothing at all. We just try to write the music that we love and it doesn't really matter if it's pop music or death metal. It's all okay because we're very wide in our musical tastes and we are very open minded when it comes to music. We listen to all kinds of music so basically we are influenced by everything, that's why our music sounds diverse. So there are no limits how far Sonic Syndicate can go.
How many songs did you record? Only the ones that are on the album?
I think we recorded three more songs that are not on the record. Two of them are bonus material for the limited edition version of the album and one of the songs we wrote for a TV game. All three songs are our own songs, no cover songs this time.
Are you going to release a single off the album?
Yeah, and it's already released for the radios. I don't know if they're gonna release it on CD. It's called Jack Of Diamonds and so far it's released in Germany and Sweden. We picked this song because it's a typical Sonic Syndicate song. It really represents the band and the album perfectly.
Did you already shoot a video for the same song?
We already shot two videos for this album. We just finished the second one two days ago and we are ready to release them soon. Jack Of Diamonds is gonna be released in August. It's a really cool video. It has everything from cars, motocross, girls and everything you can think of. It's a really cool video.
Which is the other one?
The other one is My Escape. It's more like a commercial story video.
You mentioned about a limited edition version of the album that comes with a bonus DVD. What's on it?
We filmed a lot of the studio activities when we made the album, so mostly we're gonna feature that on the bonus DVD. Actually I haven't seen those recordings myself so I can't wait to see the finished product.
I remember you recorded a lot of backstage stuff during the Eastpak tour. Will they also be released?
(Laughs) It was a lot of drunk and alcoholic things that were on those videos that we taped. We partied every day and we always had the camera on. Maybe we will put some of that material out too one day but not right now.
Love And Other Disasters sounds like an album title from an EMO band, how come? (Laughs)
The thing is that the album title is all about the lyrics we have in our songs. The lyrics are full about love and other disasters so we thought it fits the album perfectly. Yeah, maybe it sounds EMO but we don't care about it really as we all liked it when we chose it.
What is the song that you like the most from the album?
I would probably pick song number five Fallout because that song is typical me. I listen to that kind of music, which is a little bit more punk and metal. That song was a lot of fun to write and I'm really proud of the result. I's a really good song.
Is there a song on the album that you're really looking forward to play live?
I would say Hellgate: Worcester because that's the fastest song on the album and it'd be fun to play it live. We have rehearsed that song already and it worked fine. Actually there's one new song that we already played live and that is Jack Of Diamonds. It got really good response from the crowd.
What was the biggest hit with the audience in the shows you did so far?
I think Denied got the best reactions but it's hard to say as it might differ from place to place. Flashback also got really good feedback. They go crazy when we played these songs live.
You're joining In Flames on their upcoming European tour. What are your expectations?
I expect a lot of fun on that tour because In Flames are really good guys so it's gonna be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to the European leg of the tour as it's been a long time we haven't played in Europe. I expect a lot of people coming for In Flames and hopefully for us too.
Do you follow the fortunes of In Flames?
Yeah, I follow them from the beginning. I think Soundscape To Your Escape is my favourite In Flames album because that is a little bit different from the others. I know that it's quite an unusual pick but I really like that album a lot. Then I would probably say Colony, which is another great album of them. But I really like their entire discography, I'm an In Flames fan for many years.
And what do you think about fellow Swedes Dark Tranquillity and Soilwork, the guys you did the Eastpak tour together with?
I love Soilwork and Dark Tranquillity. They are great musicians and really nice persons. We shared the tour bus with Dark Tranquility and they were really cool. And from Soilwork Björn Speed is one of my favourite persons I ever met. He's really funny and really down to earth and easy to talk to. Both on the personal side and musicality they are really good bands.
Is it usual that Swedish bands in the same genres are pulling together?
Well, I can't speak for the entire scene but bands are kinda like friends to each other and everyone is trying to promote each other. Like the Soilwork guys were going on stage wearing a Sonic Syndicate shirt. There's no competition between the bands, we try to help each other here in Sweden and that's really good.
You're one of the few metal bands that have a female bass player. How does she fit in?
She fits in perfectly. Okay, she's a girl, but we treat her as one of us and she knows how exactly this is and she doesn't ask for special things just because she's a girl. We never thought of her like a girl, she's just Karin and she's one of us. She fits in perfectly and we work together just fine this way.
Do you think it's an advantage for Sonic Syndicate that Karin is an attractive girl?
Yeah, I think so. But that wasn't the intention when we started. We weren't like, "Let's take in a pretty girl" or something. People see an attractive girl and of course that's a good promotion for us and she's comfortable with that. (Laughs)
And it's still better than having an ugly girl...
Yeah, it's way better. (Laughs)
You took the metal world by storm. How do you see the band in five years from now?
I would say like this: we don't ask for much, we don't ask to be the biggest band or whatever. As long as we have fun doing this it's okay if we have 15 people in the audience or 15,000. It doesn't really make a difference. I hope in five years we'll still keep on doing this and having fun. Hopefully we'll be grown and became one of the bigger Swedish metal exports together with In Flames and all those bands.