Rock Overdose's Zisis Petkanas talked with the bass player of Swedish Power Metal band SABATON, Pär Sundström, about their new release "Carolus Rex", the piece that is dedicated to Greece and their future plans. Enjoy the interview below.
Rockoverdose.gr: Welcome to Rockoverdose.gr. How are you these days?
Pär Sundström: Perfect, actually, we've been on tour for a month in America now, and we're getting quite into the touring and everything feels really well. Considering the circumstances, we are good.
Rockoverdose.gr: That's the best. How did you get the idea of doing a concept album about the Swedish Empire?
Pär: For a long time, a lot of people asked us, "why are you doing songs about other countries? Why do you never do anything about your own country?" But we never had the right inspiration and the right context to do it, and also it could be seen as a strange, nationalistic thing to do it if we didn't do it the right way. After all these albums with Sabaton, we did our best we could to do it. And we got help from a historian, he was really a lot of help on the new album, we were able to do this album now.
Rockoverdose.gr: Why did you choose to record in two languages? Was it a difficult part?
Pär: The idea with the two languages came out of that Joakim had been writing part of a song, where he had to sing some of the melodies in Swedish so we can hear the words. It sounded really cool, we decided that we should probably try to do something like, maybe a song or something as a bonus, but it turned out to be so cool that we decided to make a complete Swedish version. It was the right album to do it, because of course it was about Swedish history, so it was the perfect album to do the song. It was a lot of work, first, we had to write double the amount of lyrics, and secondly, we had to do the vocal parts in the studio two times, which was a lot of work. But it was definitely worth it.
Rockoverdose.gr: It deserved it. How satisfied are you with the final result?
Pär: The outcome of the album is absolutely super. The producers helped us reach a new level of Sabaton, and we have been able for the first time to work on what we always wanted to do.
Rockoverdose.gr: So, the new album puts Sabaton once and for all in the big European metal bands. What do you think about my opinion?
Pär: Well, that's what we hope. We hope the album will bring us up to a new level.
Rockoverdose.gr: You made one of your greatest albums, with a new lineup as well. How do you feel about that?
Pär: We're going into a new era with Sabaton for sure, and we are going into that era with a lot of new-found energy, a new lineup. So, that seems really great. Now we have done over 20 shows in America with the new lineup, and we feel very comfortable. Of course we were a little bit worried, how it's going to work, how it's going to look like, how it's going to sound; but now we have no fear at all.
Rockoverdose.gr: Do you believe this is the best lineup to be together for a long time?
Pär: Yeah. I mean, the old lineup was together for 12 years, but now we're looking at something that's going to last for longer; that's our plan. We didn't look for temporary replacements or anything like that; we were looking for permanent band members.
Rockoverdose.gr: Okay. So, why this obsession with history?
Pär: The historical thing about Sabaton is that we thought it was a lot more interesting to write about something that was taken from reality, instead of making it up from fiction. When we wrote the album Primo Victoria, that's where we found out that we actually liked to write about historical events, and then about fiction. It makes it more comfortable to write lyrics, and also it's more for the fans, that they actually can connect to the lyrics if it's about reality; if it's about history, so it means something. It's not just some made-up story.
Rockoverdose.gr: We also owe you a big thank you for the pieces associated with Greece, especially for "Coat of Arms." How likely is it for you to make a concept album with a Greek theme?
Pär: A whole album about Greek themes? I'm not so sure. I mean, there are some real interesting things about Greece, and they are some of my favorite things, but on the other hand, we like more to stay where there are facts then where there are myths. I like Greek mythology, and that is very interesting, but I don't think Greek mythology would be something that Sabaton would write about. That would be the participation of Greek forces that we sing about in Coat of Arms that is the perfect theme for a Sabaton song.
Rockoverdose.gr: How did this song come out? How did you decide to write this song?
Pär: Usually we get a lot of ideas from fans about what to write about. We got several from Greece that we should write about it, and we started to research, we found some interesting stuff, like the celebration of the "No" day, and that Greece denied the occupation rights.
Rockoverdose.gr: It was a great honor; our favorite song. You also visited Cyprus, I think last year, for a live show.
Pär: Yeah, definitely, and we're going back to Cyprus in the summer.
Rockoverdose.gr: How was the experience there?
Pär: That was great. We loved the crowd there; it was amazing. We got to play for a Greek crowd in 2008, we were in Greece, and we haven't been able to come back since then, but we are looking forward to coming as soon as we can.
Rockoverdose.gr: I think you have to visit Greece. You have a lot of fans here.
Pär: We can't wait. We see Greek fans in other shows that have been travelling, it's about time that we traveled to Greece.
Rockoverdose.gr: How possible is it for you to visit our country?
Pär: I know it is possible. We are already confirming shows in Greece at the moment, so I know we are coming. I cannot wait. It's going to take a little while, but be patient with us.
Rockoverdose.gr: We wish to see you. What do you expect from the Carolus Rex album, and, do you have any ideas for the next album?
Pär: We've seen the reactions of the fans that have heard it, and from what we see, it's very good. So, we are very comfortable that it's going to help Sabaton to get further and longer into what we are planning to do with the band. We want, of course, to be a very successful band. For sure, the album will help us on the road to that. Carolus Rex is a sidestep from the military World War history that we normally do. We don't know if we're going to step back to that, but we have some ideas for the next album, definitely. But it's going to take a long time. We have a long, long tour that's coming up, we're going to tour for one and a half years, and play something like 200 concerts all across the globe. So, we have a lot of things to do before that.
Rockoverdose.gr: Have you thought to record a concert from this tour for a DVD?
Pär: Yes, we're going to record for an upcoming DVD, but all the details about that haven't been completed yet.
Rockoverdose.gr: In the special edition of the album, you have three cover versions, from Amon Amarth, Status Quo, and Rammstein. How did you choose these cover versions?
Pär: Every song has its own story. We decided to do Amon Amarth because we wanted to do something fresh, not just old. We wanted to do something that is close to us, and very unexpected. We are good friends with Amon Amarth, and this song is a great song, and it's sort of fresh. When you hear the Amon Amarth version, you can hear that the melodies are possible to be sung in a melodic way, so that's what we did. And it worked out fine. With the song In the Army Now, basically the title of the song says everything. It's a perfect Sabaton song cover. And we also did Feuer Frei. That's also one of those unexpected things that was a little bit cool. We wanted to do something that people had no idea to expect, and actually Joakim had to sing this song live together with an orchestra in Holland a couple of years ago, so we thought that this would be a great one to record.
Rockoverdose.gr: I'm very curious to hear the Rammstein cover!
Pär: You're going to like it; it's very brutal.
Rockoverdose.gr: We'll listen to it soon. What's your opinion on metal music nowadays, comparing it to the past years?
Pär: We have seen basically the power metal genre come and go. When we started the band, power metal was pretty popular. Now it's not anymore. When we started the band and the early days of the band, there were bands like Stratovarius and Gamma Ray and Hammerfall, which were all really popular bands. Today they're not so popular anymore. But I think metal in general is getting bigger, and old school metal is coming back. We see more and more bands that are old school classic metal, but less power metal. Sabaton is a little bit of everything, so we are doing fine.
Rockoverdose.gr: Have you ever thought of changing your sound to experiment with an album, as a lot of great bands have done in the past?
Pär: No. Sabaton fans should know what they'll get when they buy a Sabaton album. We are not going to try to do something completely experimental like Metallica; we are not interested in that at all. The fans of Sabaton will see this. We will continue to evolve, that's for sure. But we are not changing direction or anything like that.
Rockoverdose.gr: You need to be true and loyal to your fans.
Pär: The fans are very loyal to us; you will see that we have a lot of those fans. It would be stupid of us to not be loyal to our fans back.
Rockoverdose.gr: How do you want Sabaton to be remembered after many years?
Pär: I hope that we'll be remembered for making an impact and inspiring people. That's a huge thing that I want to do. I hope that there will be a new generation of musicians who can say that, "I want to be like Sabaton." That's what Iron Maiden did for me. I wanted to be like Iron Maiden, so that's what I hope to become one day.
Rockoverdose.gr: Is there a message that you'd like to leave to the listeners and fans of your music, especially in Greece and Cyprus?
Pär: That's basically the whole idea! We're going to try to do what we were doing and what we have done. I hope that the fans stay with us for a very long time. As any relationship that you go into, you hope that it's going to last forever. I hope this relationship between Sabaton and our fans is going to last forever. We're going to do our best not to cheat with other musicians or other music styles. I hope that the fans keep on supporting us, coming to our shows, getting our music.
Rockoverdose.gr: We are looking forward to seeing you in our country, Greece.
Pär: We can't wait to come.
Rockoverdose.gr: We will always be checking your tour schedule to see if we are in!
Pär: Trust me, when we'll come to Greece, you'll know about it.
Rockoverdose.gr: Okay! Thank you very much for your time. Have a great tour. Stay strong and together for many years!
Pär: Thanks a lot, my friend. Thanks for the interview.
Questions by Petropoulos Panayiotis
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