Interview with Katatonia

How do you combine creativity with fatherhood and touring? Do you need discipline to pull it off or is inspiration something that cannot be forced?

Anders: Well, it depends on what I compare with. It's definitely not like in the past where I wrote all the album's music effortlessly by myself and honestly I don't know if I ever will be in that situation again. These days I rarely get the time to write at all, I'm always busy and that doesn't really leave a lot of room for motivation. These recent years, or especially 2007 and 2008 was probably the worst creative period I ever had. I wanna change that around now, so I'm trying to keep some guitars close at hand around the home, to be reminded and to have the opportunity to grab one when the inspiration shows up. I also have a small homestudio setup that allows me to write and record all my ideas, but the power has very rarely been on. Hopefully this will change too. I don't want to force myself, but I probably need to, if something is gonna come out of me at all. I need a big kick in the ass and a few more hours on the clock!


Jonas: This is something I have chosen. It works fine. Sure, I'm away for a long time occasionally but I also spend more time with my kids when I'm home since I have free time then.


Jonas, what kind of music do your sons like?

Jonas: I have two sons, one is eight and one is two. Both of them seems to like music very much, right now it's Eurovision kind of hit songs that are popular.

Do you sit down to compose music or do you wait for inspiration? 

Jonas: It differs from time to time. Sometimes the best idea in the world just comes without warning and sometimes I have to sit around playing guitar all day to find something ever so small that is worth working further on...

Night Is The New Day really surprised me because it’s the most harmonious and homogeneous record you’ve ever made. It’s a huge leap. How did this happen? Does it reflect your maturity as people in real life?

Jonas: I guess so, I haven't really thought about it. We get different sources of inspiration all the time. Stagnation is not an option.

When you listen to the album, does it take you to any particular place or time?

Jonas: Well, just the room where I was struggling with the songwriting. Unfortunately, I'd like them to resemble a much more beautiful place. But I think it is not for me, but the listener!

When and where do you write lyrics?

Jonas: Usually I collect parts, things I write when I'm home. Then I finish everything in the studio.

Do you do a lot of re-writing? Is editing your own lyrics hard?

Jonas: Loads of re-writing! It's kind of hard but I know that it will be worth it in the end!

How do you find the balance between simplicity and cliches?
Jonas: Im not sure I have found the balance, haha. But I hope that I have an inner censorship that prevents me from using at least the worst cliches.

You’ve said that the bird in Unfurl represents death – is this song about addiction or letting go?

Jonas: Could be both actually.

Were there any direct experiences that inspired Deliberation?

Jonas: Not really, just a lot of serious thoughts boiled down to something quite abstract.

Are you excited about touring with Opeth in the States? What do you think of Heritage?

Jonas: I think the album is great. It is the kind of music Opeth have been leading up to since their beginning. I am really looking forward to the US tour. Fantastic times are going to be had.

What do you think of Mike’s sense of humor?

Jonas: Well, he is a funny guy. Personally I think the music of Opeth is more serious and live shows would be more in line with the bands outlook if he didn't want to be the new Jerry Seinfeld all the time. But he knows my opinion on this and apparently he doesn't give a shit. Haha.

We know you like Jeff Buckley and Radiohead, what other non-metal bands inspire you?

Jonas: Sun Kil Moon, Red House Painters, Talk Talk, Massive Attack... and much more.

What are your top 5 albums? (No exact order)
Jonas: Right now... Sun Kil Moon - Admiral Fell Promises, Tool - Aenima, Morbid Angel - Blessed are the sick, Red House Painters - Ocean Beach.

Anders: It's easier to point out top artists, or top songs, but top albums... That's just too hard! I guess the most personal top album of all time to me would be The Cure's 'Disintegration', so I'll leave it at that.

Anders, what’s in rotation on your mp3 player right now? Have you discovered any cutting edge bands lately?

Anders: I've been cranking Morbid Angel's 'Illud Divinum Insanus' a lot for obvious reasons. The new Autopsy record as well! Other artists on rotation would be Sun Kil Moon, Rebecka Karijord, Fair To Midland, Lisa Miskovsky, Whitesnake... I keep my playlist very mixed and versatile, so there's always something for each mood and situation.

Is there a band you can’t stand and why?

Anders: Oh how much time do we got here haha! The first one that comes to mind is Godsmack! They do a great job at being terrible to both my ears and eyes.

What’s the song that describes your mood right now?

Jonas: Lars Danielsson - Berlin.

Anders: Any tune about sleep, getting way too little of that these days. i need a nap right now!

I think every Katatonia fan has one nagging question: what’s up with the EPs? :) Do you put your best songs on your EPs on purpose? Are they a reward for tru fans?
Anders: They are! I think ep’s are great collector items! The editions are usually really small and limited and there’s only space enough for a couple of songs, so you can promote maybe a main single off the album and then put some remixes and/or unreleased songs on there that just makes it really special to own. For some reason the songs we decided to put on our EP's have become fan favorites, but it's not intentionally, it's just some odd tradition that seem to repeat itself.

Do you have any Easter eggs (hidden messages) in your albums that no one has discovered?

Anders: There's been a few enigmas about the artwork on a few albums with some symbols and some text that people raised their eyebrows over. Nothing we planned on revealing or commenting on though. We like to keep things obscure.

When you write songs is there a moment when the songs start writing themselves?

Anders: Yeah usually that happens when you're really caught in the flow and reach the creative peak. It's a lovely feeling when you have the "luxury" to even trash ideas and sift through lots of left over material instead of waiting around for any material to even appear. Everything we write goes through a filter process, or even a couple of them, so we're very hard on ourselves. Every piece of the song has to be there for a reason and talk to us, so once we connect, the stream is steady.

What about Travis Smith – what’s your collaboration with him like? You obviously inspire him, but does he inspire you? How did you pick the cover of Night Is The New Day?

Anders: Yeah we've been working together for 11 years now and he's done every Katatonia album artwork since then. It's always intriguing working closely with Trav because we spin off each other's ideas. It's like walking a ladder, where I might get stuck he knows how to take another step and vice versa. I think we're a great team. We're actually working together right now on the new artwork for our upcoming DVD.

What’s the weirdest dream you have ever had? Are there any songs you’ve dreamed of?

Jonas: I usually don't remember my dreams, and the weird ones I remember are too complicated to tell, haha. I can use parts of interesting dreams in lyrics but it's not very common.

Anders: I kinda have bizzarre dreams every night. They're reminiscent of weird and hard to get David Lynch movies and mostly out of context. Sometimes I wish I could record these dreams and watch it again when you wake up, sometimes I don't!

Does Katatonia have a therapeutic effect for you? As Anders put it in an interview: "channeling the negativity" out of your system?

Jonas: Yes sometimes it's a real relief to immerse into the world of creativity and forget about all the bollocks in the real world.

Anders: Yes that would be fair to say. I'm pretty sure I would be a quite introspective, socially withdrawn and negative person if I didn't have Katatonia cause I wouldn't know any other rewarding method to release the demons. I think it's a very delicate thing, a very sensitive decision to have all your own emotional and uncomfortable states of mind as the direct source and also fuel for creating music/art. But this is what we chose a long time ago and thus who we are.

You speak of the void your music creates and your lyrics have phrases like “I am nothing”, “dark night of the soul”, “repeating cycle of light/no light” which remind me of Eastern philosophy – non-duality and enlightenment teachings. Are you interested in them, and do you think this void mental state is actually liberating?

Jonas: I would love to look further into a philosophy like that because it would work well with me. But I definitely don't have the enthusiasm to study... Void mental state is good sometimes.

Do you still think that labels will become obsolete with the expansion of internet? A lot of big bands like Radiohead and NIN sell their new records directly online which makes it much easier to support them.

Anders: I think record labels are a dying breed. Technology is advancing fast and much of the record label industry don't keep up and they're not just one step after, they're far behind! If or when the artist gets the sole control and power to promote themselves and the finances to allow them to fund their own touring, a record label would be the last thing they'd need in the equation, but we're not quite there yet.

Everyone has a ridiculous dream they haven’t fulfilled yet. What’s yours?

Jonas: I want to have my own house with an escalator leading down to my own subway station in the basement. It's something I have dreamt about for many years.

Anders: You know what, that would be go sharkdiving! Getting down the ocean face to face with a great white been a dream ever since I was a kid. I need to make that happen!