KAMCHATKA – Interview
"Long Road Made Of Gold" will be release next week via Despotz Records (here our review in italian); today we had the pleasure to talk with one of the three members of the band, Thomas Andersson, vocals and singer.
Well, first of all, I wanna thank you guys for giving us this interview. It’s a pleasure.
Les Fleurs du Mal: Kamchatka is an unusual name for a band, how did you get this kind of idea?
Thomas: We had the idea that if our music would be a place on the planet what would it look like, we searched on the internet and in books and decided that Kamchatka was a place that looked just in that way with its extreme and dynamic features, just the way we feel when we play our music on stage.
LFdM: In the same way “Long Road Made Of Gold” is a romantic name for an album, what’s the meaning behind?
Thomas: The life of being part of something as beautiful as the world of music, traveling around the world performing, writing, rehears, recording really is a “Long Road” and the reward is the music itself or “Gold” as the title refers to.
LFdM: How would you describe your sound to someone who never heard you before?
Thomas: I think we sound like a modern three piece rock group with a lot of blues incorporated and if you like any kind of rock music I think there is plenty to find listening to Kamchatka.
LFdM: What are the main differences between this album and your first one? We can talk about musical growth?
Thomas: The first Kamchatka album came 10 years ago and, of course, the band evolves and we learn new things along the way and there are many things that are different now both in how we approach what we do and the fact that Per Wiberg have such a strong influence to the group in the way he directs compositions and perform live.
LFdM: What do you think about the blues scene? Is it only a matter of trend?
Thomas: The blues will always be there and it comes and goes over the years depending on how much of it that gets exposed by artists and media, but the blues is and will always be present.
LFdM: When you compose a song where do you get your ideas from and how does a song evolve?
Thomas: Ideas for new songs can come from anything really at any time and for me it’s really important to have my hand recorder with me all the time, so I can grab hold of the music that floats around in the air and when something turns up i hum or whistle the melody or the riff. The next step is to listen through all these small ideas and start working them out on the guitar and, when I find something really cool, I start to do a simple demo with drums, bass, guitar and song structure. Then, when I feel like I have recorded something cool, I send it to Toby and Per and ask them what they think of it and if a song idea is good enough and survives this process it might end up on a Kamchatka album.
Thomas: Ideas for new songs can come from anything really at any time and for me it’s really important to have my hand recorder with me all the time, so I can grab hold of the music that floats around in the air and when something turns up i hum or whistle the melody or the riff. The next step is to listen through all these small ideas and start working them out on the guitar and, when I find something really cool, I start to do a simple demo with drums, bass, guitar and song structure. Then, when I feel like I have recorded something cool, I send it to Toby and Per and ask them what they think of it and if a song idea is good enough and survives this process it might end up on a Kamchatka album.
LFdM: “Long Road Made Of Gold” melds with success psychedelic rock with more classical stoner rock. Was this a conscious decision when the band started out or has this sound developed during the course of writing songs?
Thomas: We have never spoken about what we should or should not sound like and we try to be as transparent as possible and let the songs tell us what they want to sound like. I think when working with this type of music it’s dangerous to get “to intelligent” about it and it’s more a matter of going with the flow and if the songs are good enough stories can be told.
LFdM: The concept behind this album and its emotional impact, is this purely a psychological study, or is there a deeper specific motivator?
Thomas: The motivation for the three of us in Kamchatka has always been to let the music lead us to different places and emotions. The lyrics are also very important to us and most of the songs tell stories from our personal life experiences.
LFdM: What albums of the past inspired your interest in production and songwriting?
Thomas: I listen to a lot of different music, everything from folk music to metal and it’s difficult to name a specific album for me. I want to be as open as possible to new music just to be able to get influenced by new sounds, mixes and ideas to keep on growing as a songwriter, guitar player and artist.
LFdM: What inspired you to start writing and producing music or simply to become an artist?
Thomas: It started when I was 6-7 years old with being exposed to rock music through my fathers old vinyl records and I just got totally crazy when I heard all these classic bands and artists, my parents gave me an electric guitar as a Christmas gift when I was 8 and that was it for me.
LFdM: Thank you so much and we hope to see you on stage as soon as...
Thomas: Thank you so much Michela and yes I hope we meet live sooner than later!
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