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00:00you're even a pyrotechnic guy aren't you i realized very early it was very expensive
00:03to rent a company to do it so i learned myself i got the license and then i built the bombs myself
00:08and then i shoot the bombs myself while playing on the stage and it was a lot cheaper a lot more
00:13dangerous super stressful to sit there before the show and still being stressed about playing
00:18and then i'm there packing this uh you know gunpowder into this things
00:22rock metal prog and everything in between welcome to this episode of talking rock with meltdown
00:30don't forget to follow the audio only talking rock podcast on all podcast platforms and now
00:36it's time for today's conversation here's meltdown hey par good to make your acquaintance how's things
00:42with you it's very good with me uh exciting times we're closing in on the release of our new album
00:49so that's always a fantastic time when you're in a band yeah i i'm gonna say it's like i was gonna
00:55say that the sabaton machine is about to crank up again isn't it yeah i mean it all goes in cycles
01:02and we're just about to restart the cycle so to say with uh with a lot of tours new album and all the
01:09other stuff that is gonna happen what do you what is all the other stuff uh so always when sabaton
01:16releases an album there's always a lot of exciting things around it when we did the great war we
01:21launched the sabaton history channel when we did the war to end all wars we uh also have the animated
01:27movie and we did also the the big museum project where we donated this animated movie to museums
01:34and uh um did this huge event together with them and then we did a cinema experience later in the
01:42the thing there and for the upcoming album for the legends one of the coolest things is what we are
01:49working with the legendary orchestra i would say that's a little bit new thing where we are basically
01:53creating a new artist that is gonna be a sabaton tribute band touring playing sabaton songs in us
02:00very epic way oh that's that's cool yeah it's awesome so you're bringing that tour through here
02:06through detroit on march 8th with michigan's own pop evil uh that's gonna be cool and like you said
02:12the legends album drops on october 17th you just mentioned the word epic when you're writing songs
02:18is there ever a time where you guys look at each other and say no this song is not epic enough
02:22no but there was a time when we were working on this album and the first song basically that
02:30got together which is the templar song when we said this is too epic for making another album about
02:35first world war so we need to look at some more epic topic if you're talking about epicness in this
02:41so that's sort of where um where it all started and then we're like okay so we now have this song
02:49it obviously doesn't sound like first world war or second world war so let's find something else and
02:54we have this idea about doing legends in in the back of our head and when when we let's say get into
03:01that track it was uh it was a great thing for us because suddenly there were no limits no boundaries
03:08no borders for us where we're gonna be in in our lyric writing so suddenly we had all the history
03:15and all of the world to to go into when we were concentrating the last two albums on the first world
03:20war we're sort of stuck within the four years and mostly the european scene uh so this was a little
03:27bit of a blessing for us because suddenly we were free and the vocabulary got extended and the
03:33there's a lot of things happening that that made the thing writing this album more exciting
03:38now uh you and i both have a mutual friend my our friend scott from the military museum here in
03:43jackson michigan and uh he just you're talking about world war one world war two and whatnot and i
03:48guess um uh if i'm not mistaken a world war two veteran just passed away who you knew is that right
03:53yes that's true leonard uh we met him uh he at the the heritage museum in michigan so
04:02um we met him there and uh the talk with him and yeah of course always uh always something extra when
04:12you are doing what we do and sing about this uh it's always uh something extra to meet the people that
04:18actually was there and hear what they also think of our music if they sort of give it approval
04:23stamp or not and uh they well they so far we haven't met a single one from that time we didn't
04:30appreciate what we were doing yeah because i think you appreciate them so much what was uh
04:34sometimes i ask bands like what their gateway was to to music and stuff what was your gateway to to be
04:40in such a history buff um so i i would say it was the band itself uh when we started and we didn't
04:49have a lyrical topic for the first songs that we wrote but in in 2004 we we were working on on a
04:56couple of songs and we got the idea of doing military history about them or or sing about this and
05:02i mean obviously we we were inspired by other bands who've been doing it before us like iron maiden for
05:07example have done it really good over the years and um we thought okay it fits us and actually it was
05:14interest we had we i wouldn't say we were history nerds or buffs or anything like that when we
05:19started we we just thought well it's more more way more interesting than anything else we can come up
05:24with at the moment and as we went along with it and as we've been doing this for now more than two
05:30decades the yeah the the interest for it as well as our understanding of it has grown and we've also
05:41gone from let's say well it's it's something interesting to to also see what kind of impact
05:48it has on the world that we live in today so yeah it gives us a slightly different view on the world
05:54and uh i'm thankful for it and uh i think it's been a little bit of an eye-opener the last two decades
06:01yeah uh you just i'm sorry maybe maybe the music that we do and the lyrics that we do will inspire
06:07some other people to have similar experiences yeah um you just talked about the you know writing
06:13this new record and whatnot and uh you know the world wars and what have you uh correct me if i'm
06:17wrong was this record written before you had a new record label and is the new record label really
06:22going to give you guys a big push here in the states so uh the it's true i mean when we were working
06:29on this album and until it was finished we still had no record label so um we we knew we had some
06:38times to catch but we didn't have a proper release date we just had something in mind um and we were
06:46negotiating with a lot of record labels so for the last one and a half year i've been in talks with over
06:5120 record labels uh in all over the world and it was essential to find somebody who had a global
06:58vision for the band and somebody who uh and thanks to that i had a lot of late nights and early
07:05mornings calling to to the various offices of each of these labels all around the world so the last one
07:11and a half year has been very exciting but it wasn't the likely choice to change a record label after
07:16being um uh together with nuclear blast since 2009 so um we but we felt that it was uh a time for
07:27sabaton to see what else is out there and what other what happens if sabaton changes our record label what
07:33new networks do we get what new people do we meet what new opportunities arise and what new thoughts comes
07:40into to to to the table so um after this one and a half year we we decided let's go hand in hand with
07:50the better noise music and see where this road leads us and and when you're writing a record without a
07:58record label is is there like less stress is there more stress are you trying to write something that
08:03you think a label would like or how what kind of mindset are you in no we never were influenced by
08:08anybody else than what we decided by ourselves so uh it was and here was no difference and it wasn't
08:15ever a difference before so uh in our 26 years career or something we rarely had any kind of input from
08:25a label how we can and cannot do uh and we we've been having a strong sense of what we are what we want to
08:34do ourselves and we are a do-it-yourself band managed by ourselves we control a lot of stuff in-house we
08:42we have our own uh teams and uh we we do from the management the publishing the the mail orders the the
08:51we we produce a lot of stuff and we do a lot of our shows and these kind of things and we've been
08:57doing that since since the beginning and uh so so we still decide a lot uh but uh going to better
09:05noise music it would be stupid of us not to take any uh ideas and uh um any suggestions that they have
09:12and and uh get something new into to us so to say yeah so you just mentioned how you guys you guys do
09:19a lot of this stuff yourself i mean you're even a pyrotechnic guy aren't you uh well i'm no longer
09:25because my license expired and i haven't been using doing it for a long time but yes i started
09:30because i realized very early it was very expensive to rent a company to do it so i learned myself i got
09:35the license and i built all the stuff myself and then i built the bombs myself and then i shoot the
09:40bombs myself while playing on the stage and yeah it was um um it was a lot cheaper a lot more dangerous
09:47and very stressful and and uh i have to say that it's super stressful to sit there um uh before the
09:55the show and still being stressed about playing so shaking a little bit just because i'm nervous
10:00before playing and then i'm there packing this uh you know gunpowder into this things and uh shaking
10:07a little bit and uh uh yeah well i still see you have all your fingers so that's a good sign yeah i still
10:14have everything so i didn't lose anything but uh but but at some points it was really uh
10:20because you know you always tend to go crazier and crazier and it was at a time when we meet this
10:29like leading pyrotechnical company in sweden who were there with a different artist and they're like
10:33what the hell are you doing and i'm like well you're too expensive we're just doing it ourselves and
10:37they're like but it doesn't look really like safe what you're doing and i'm like yeah yeah but but
10:43it's a lot cheaper and and we can't afford you guys and when we were shooting they came afterwards
10:48and they said you guys you know that uh sort of your your your stuff it's not valid i mean they are
10:54they don't have the right right you can't shoot them they they are simply dangerous and nobody has
10:59approved them they are not ce certified and these kind of things and i'm like yeah they're not
11:04it's true and they said yeah and you're shooting way cooler stuff than we can ever do so it's kind
11:09of unfair competition between the two of us so we ask of you kindly to stop and start working with us
11:15and it was at some point when he was like okay i get your point it looks way cooler when we are
11:20shooting because we shoot much louder bigger bumps than anybody else but at the same time i think it's
11:25time to to do that and it was in a good time when we actually could afford to make the transition
11:30to pay for the proper people to do it uh that's hysterical so so i was going to ask you before
11:36you got into the into the bomb tirade if you're talking to other bands especially bands that maybe
11:43are just starting out or you know it's starting to get i mean what are the pros and cons of what you do
11:47as far as you know really you know taking taking the reins of this horse you call sabaton
11:53so i i'm quite aware that a lot of people look to sabaton uh and uh especially uh sweden for
12:01example where everybody knows what where we come from and how we built it and uh and how we have
12:06created our own legacy there uh and a lot of bands they look to us there and a lot of bands they ask us
12:12for advice and i'm very often open to speak with them and do clinics with them and help them around
12:17and these kind of things and um as long as there is uh a little time i do that to uh without to
12:25never ask of anybody to pay me right uh for for that i think it's great to help the young bands to
12:33to to have a better chance i mean as a heavy metal community we need to stick together and and at some
12:40point sabaton already got so far that it sort of should be in our in our interest to make
12:47heavy metal continue and new generations to go on so a part of what we are doing needs to be to
12:53to gain to regain growth in the younger things but yeah i i do tell them quite a lot the pros and cons
13:00about what you what we are doing and i can't say that that doing the way we do is not for everybody
13:06i mean i i'm i find it exciting and i do not regret anything and i think that every part of my life is
13:12pretty much funny but i do sit at the computer working calling and whatever making decisions
13:20and talking to people giving instructions and and all of that as a part of running advanced management
13:26i do that from when i go up when i until i go to bed pretty much for the last 20 years and
13:31yes it is a big sacrifice of other things but i do not regret because it fitted me and also i i kind of
13:39had the the what you need i mean you need to have a certain type you need to be a certain type some
13:46people are made for other things some but i'm made for this so um it fits me to to be handling a
13:54band's management and uh it's quite quickly you can see uh in a band if there are entrepreneurs or if
14:01they are simply just pure uh enthusiastic musicians if they are pure enthusiastic musicians they should
14:07leave the business and the development of the band maybe to somebody who who would take that more serious
14:14so uh but but yeah some of them they really have and then i then i'm more of a helpful person i would
14:22say but in your band i mean like like every band you have a vision and you want to see that vision
14:28come to life so who better to create that vision and bring its life than you that is true i mean it's
14:34true for most of the bands most of the artists would have the vision themselves uh i mean that's what
14:40what we are as artists we are creative and uh um and and most them i would say have the vision coming
14:47from them then it's different you have the vision can you actually make the vision happen and that's
14:53where where artists sometimes cannot do it and need external help but in in sabaton case we actually
15:00have been able to do that internally since day one yeah now we were just talking a little while ago
15:06about a kraken here in america uh being a band from sweden how important was it to you to to to to make
15:13an impact here in america and and was there ever a point like in the beginning where that seems so
15:18far away yeah there was a point where it seemed impossible because everybody told us guys you play
15:24european power mail good luck in america it's never happened before that a band ever became any popular
15:29in in this and uh we had to be strong in believing in ourselves and we had to go and uh we we were doing
15:37a lot of support tours and uh we we said we know that this is the way we're gonna build it that's how
15:43we built it in europe and and that's how we're gonna make it um we we know that our biggest strength
15:50is the the the guys in the band and our music and what we do on stage is what matters most
15:56and uh we we won't be anything unless we are there playing so once we we sort of had a a a base to
16:05stand on in europe we turned our our heads and and really like okay now it's time for for america and
16:11we won't stop we won't let everybody who told us that it's not gonna work we won't let them
16:16speak to us in that way they said the same about the uk we went to uk and made 100 shows and then we
16:22sold out the wembley uh and uh that it was just hard work push push push push push and uh
16:31uh yeah uh i think we we have probably done 100 shows in in the u.s now and uh uh but but things
16:41are improving and they are really doing well and uh we are we are so excited to continue and still
16:48believe in what we do and you've done some big tours here in the states correct
16:51yeah yeah yeah we did uh and uh the last year we we added two tours uh where we joined judas priest
16:59they were not really supposed to happen but thanks to that our old guitar player uh tobe
17:05uh came back we wanted to kind of get back into the game with him before we went and finished the
17:11new album we wanted to get get to play together a little bit so um in order for that i went to
17:18see if there were any tours that we could jump onto and judas priest were one of those so we jumped
17:23onto judas priest and uh they were they were great tours and uh um and and between them and during
17:31there we could finish the new album and uh and also be really tight with our new old guitar player tobe
17:39uh who were on an eight-year holiday ah that's funny yeah so uh wrapping things up here as far
17:46as the new record is concerned it's called legends drops on october 17th uh what do you think is going
17:50to stand out to the uh sabaton fans uh on on this record uh uh what what what do you think uh stands
17:56out for you i think i'm pretty confident in the new record we have been doing quite a lot of
18:02interviews by now and we played it to a lot of people as well and we feel very comfortable that it's a
18:06super strong record that hits our fans a lot of them they say that we we get the the the vibe of
18:13a what classic sabaton album we with some new new things that are sticking out as you as we usually
18:20have so it sounds and becoming very sabatonish and for some people that is like oh sabaton sounds
18:27like sabaton always did but that's not always a bad thing and in our case not at all when we started
18:34our band or or when we made primo victoria in 2005 we didn't look to anyone else like we had no
18:41um like vision how we how how anybody else sounds that's how we want to sound look at them we want
18:47to sound like that we created the sabaton sound and and that was just what happened when we went to a
18:53studio and made our songs and play them and we came out with the sabaton sound since then we had the
18:59sabaton sound we just perfected it by every record and it sounds better than ever and i think we have
19:04a super super amount of strong songs which also pointed out to how how diverse everybody's suggestion
19:13was like i think this song is best i think this song is best and the more journalists we talk to the
19:18more uh i don't know schizophrenic the album gets and the more input we get and like no this song is
19:24really the best one this one is really the best and once we signed with better noise music there was a
19:29a big like uh like okay wake up call these are are really singles that could go in public and become
19:39very popular and we're like oh wow that's not how we thought it's gonna be so uh but let's let's see
19:45and test your your skills and knowledge and i mean in in this as well and um yeah so if you ask me i still
19:54think that we have some of the absolutely best songs that have not been uh out yet that we are
19:59still uh holding on to and uh that's gonna be very exciting when when fans get their hands on on the
20:06record and see because we still we have a lot of cool song that hasn't come out yet all right that's
20:14awesome that's october 17th the rest of the record drops like i said march 8th here in detroit
20:18speaking of detroit sense we are in detroit rock city i don't know if you know this or not but
20:23um the other the other the other thing they like to call detroit is hockey town are you familiar
20:27with that yes uh and uh yeah i am and uh one of my friends perhaps is one of the greatest swedish
20:37hockey players to ever play you know who i'm talking about uh forsberg no no no he's good though
20:45i'll tell you he's good i'm talking about nick lindstrom oh okay yes and oh wow okay so
20:50and and if i'm not mistaken he's he is not from a place not far away from us in sweden either
20:58yeah i saw he told me one time which part of sweden he was from then thomas holmstrom is from a
21:04different part of sweden because he he he speaks like what they call a a swedlish or whatever like
21:10it like you know it's really english um and then we got you know of course there's been a lot of
21:14swedes here that have played hockey in detroit um for all these years yeah and um yeah yeah i am
21:24a little bit hockey fan i mean we we have our own local team uh which is uh near to us which we
21:31i sometimes go watch their games we perform there a couple of times uh we we we did their intro song
21:38we we like supported their their like younger teams and stuff like that so we we sponsored young
21:46younger the kids teams yeah that's cool and a final thing here for you i know that you're um
21:54uh you know a history guy and stuff now you've never been to the henry ford correct you right you
21:59guys went to the greenfield village last time you were here which is the outdoor part right
22:02yes uh and where i've been two times but i've never been to the henry ford inside okay so we
22:10can make that happen uh on march 8th which is two days away from my birthday right we can make that
22:15happen uh that sounds so interesting absolutely and uh i think uh i will be up for that uh i mean
22:22the the the village has been interesting and i uh i'm lucky to be in there two times i've seen it
22:29uh because it's big and we don't have so much time when we are on tour to check it out so uh it needed
22:36two times but yeah uh i haven't seen anything of what's in the inside museum yeah so the henry ford
22:43is pretty much like um it's like a history of america inside so the chair that uh uh lincoln was killed
22:52in is there uh the car that uh um kennedy was shot in is there stuff like that oh wow okay
22:59yeah well i i know some of it because obviously we had the option like do you want to go
23:04inside or outside and yeah it's a nice day let's walk around outside so but we didn't have the time
23:11to do both i got you well i'll tell you what like i said march 8th at the film or sabbaton the new
23:16record drops on october 17th uh par have a great uh tour have a great safe travels holidays and all
23:23that stuff and we'll see you here in 2026 in detroit and i'm gonna i'm gonna get the record i may not
23:27be a journalist per se but i'm gonna check it out myself all right cool yeah good talking to you and
23:35see you see you when we come around
23:37you
23:46
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