TM - Hi, this is Amelia and Elizabeth from Twinmusix, and we are here with Katatonia. Thank you for having this interview with us today; we appreciate it.
KA - Thank you for having me.
TM - We are excited to have you come to Australia. What can fans expect?
KA - Fans can expect Some New songs they haven't heard before, and some old classics. Our new album is darker than our previous ones. Hopefully, it will be good and exciting for everyone involved.
TM - Do you have any pre -show rituals that you do before your shows?
KA - Just the usual warm ups, that gets my blood going. I listen to some good tunes. Then I get some vitamins in to make myself last for the show.
TM - What's your favourite song to play live?
KA - I would say, it's Lithium. I Love Playing it live. We have some stuff in the set that I won't spoil. That is also very fun and interesting to play live.
TM - Do you find you push the drums further when you play live?
KA - What I am doing live Is Both timing, dynamics and Grooves, it makes the Mellow Parts more interesting. We're able to make Heavier parts Heavier by just pushing and pulling. My version of part two of drumming is really where it's at for these songs.
TM - How do you think your drumming has changed in this album. Since it's such a Different album in the dark aspects of things?
KA - My main influence for Drumming with Katatonia is always Katatonia. My main influence for going into that will always be the previous album because that's what we're building on as a band. The previous album, "Skyward of Stars", was much more oriented and is made to play on stage live.
This album, My Approach to drumming was to rain it all and make it mirror the Introspective Feel of the music and try to translate that into a live environment. The songs are made to share with everyone on stage and off stage, which makes it a different experience for me personally. For example, when we play "Skyward of Stars," we retain the same energy live and on the album.
TM - You recorded your songs in a converted church in Sweden; what was that experience like?
KA - It was a very satanic experience because it was a church that was converted into a studio by a guy who has converted a lot of the black metal classics over the last twenty years. It was a very different environment; it wasn't that bad just going into a studio. It was about going into a different space that occupied different types of energies. I hope more people try and experience a recording studio in that way because it's not only about recording music.
TM - If you could have any band play one of your songs, what band would you choose, what song would you choose, and would it be in your style or their style?
KA - A Swedish Prog Rock band called "Gösta Berlings Saga" They sound very close to what we do, but they are not metal music; they don't have vocals and have a different way of approaching music, and I would like to hear our song in their style.
TM - Who was your first band or Artist you saw live, and can you tell us a story?
KA - My first band Live was "At the Gates or Dissection" I think it was around 1994, and I was just a kid. I had just started buying records with my own money, and I was in 7th grade, and I had started playing the drums and the guitar in my own band, and that's when I decided that I wanted to be on stage.
TM - If you could go back in a time machine and see any band live, who would you see?
KA - I would like to go and see one of Frank Zappa's Halloween shows in New York and experience the magnitude of that.
TM - Is there anything else you want to say to your fans?
KA - Come early, get to the front of the stage, and have a good time.
TM - Thank you for having this interview with us today; we really appreciate it.
TM - Thank you.