Interviews

MR: What do you think are the major differences between this album and the last one?

JJ: First of all, the production is much more precise and there is a cleaner sound. The songs are much more thought through this time. Much more varied songs and even more powerful arrangements.

Was there any specific direction you took with this album?

We didn´t have any formula on this one, the songs just came naturally. We made some small adjustments on the arrangements. "Effusion of Strength" was much longer from the beginning but Andy edited it with us. I think "Spectral" is the perfect follow up album to "Mind Revolution."

Which song is your favorite and why?

My favorite right now is "Tranquillitys Maze." I really like the atmosphere and the black metalish mood. I think it´s the perfect ending track it sums up the album in some way.

How are the fans reacting to the new album?

The response so far has been really good. Some think it´s our best album so far. I think it´s too early to say, some haven´t got their copy of the album yet. All the reviews we´ve recived so far has been amazing as well, only good ones.

How would you describe Skyfire’s current sound?

Hmmm, progressive, majestic, thunderous, melodic and atmospheric, that´s a pretty good description I think. It´s quite hard to describe our sound with only one word...hahaha

On your website, next to Jonas’ name there is an asterisk saying, "Skyfire recorded bass on this recording." Did you all play bass on the album?

Martin, Andreas and I played the bass on this album. We used my Warwick 5-string to get that powerful fat and crunchy sound. Jonas was too busy with his work at Sony/Ericsson so he couldn´t participate this time which was really unfortunate both for him and us, but we managed to nail his parts. He will continue to kick ass live on stage.

Also on your website, there are a bunch of videos that make it seem like all the members of Skyfire are high on crack each time they find themselves in front of a video camera! Are you just acting or is the entire band a bunch of maniacs as the videos would make it seem?

Yeah we´re a bunch of maniacs!! We´re not high on crack that´s for sure, nah we´re just messing around you know. We thought it would be fun for people to see how we are off stage!! Hahahaha... The clip you´re reffering to is during a break under one of our rehearsals in Västerås before our debut show actually...fun fact...hahahaha...

When I listen to Skyfire, I can hear many influences ranging from Dream Theater to Cradle of Filth to Rhapsody. What bands influenced the band and you personally?

Well Dream Theater is a big influence for me and I dig both Cradle and Rhapsody but I don´t consider them that much of an influnce for the Skyfire sound. We listen to a lot of different music but it´s mainly metal. Rush, Kansas, Deep Purple, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Rainbow, Talisman, Wishbone Ash, Magnum, Black Sabbath and Slayer are some bands we all dig. I personally like: Steve Vai, Zappa, Freak Kitchen, Morbid Angel, Fear Factory, Meshuggah and Entombed to name a few.

Was it hard to come into the band after they had put out such an amazing debut?

In a way yes, but I think I managed to fit in quite fast. I brought some new influences with me as well. I try to play as close to the original drums as possible but with my own touch.

Did you record any additional songs that will appear as bonus tracks? Any covers?

Yes we recorded a song called "Patterns" for the Korean release. The Korean release will also feature live versions of "Skyfire" and "Dimensions Unseen." Those two recordings comes from our apperance at last years "Busan international festival" a festival in Korea. "Patterns" turned out really great, too bad it didn´t appear on the original album. We recorded that track in Västerås with Henrik behind the knobs, the sound is really good. We´ve thought of recording some covers but it´s quite hard to pick on specific songs. Maybe in the future....we´ve always wanted to do a cover of some of Magnum and Rush´s tracks.

Are there any specific goals you have for the evolution of the band?

We´re always trying some new stuff on each release. I think we found a perfect sound on this one to follow up "Mind Revolution," some new elements as well as a completly new and different production. We haven´t reached our goal yet but we´re close I think, we´re really satisfied with the new album. It´ll be interesting to hear how the next one will turn out.

Some of the band’s early demos are on the Haunted by Shadows MCD. Will we ever get to hear some of the early, early Within Reach demos?

I don´t think so. It seems like "Within Reach" will be an unopen chapter in our story. I have only heard that demo one time and I have no memory of it whatsoever.

Who does all the great artwork for your releases?

Chrille Andersson at C.A interactive. He´s fantastic to work with so we decided to work with him once again. He does really get your ideas into images. We sent him a few extracts from some lyrics and he came up with some ideas which where all great, some adjustments and the cover for "Spectral" were born. I really like his style, many details and a great mood with his colours.

You switched labels from Hammerheart Records (now Karmageddon Media) to Arise Records for this album. What kind of deal do you have with Arise? Is it better than the Hammerheart deal? Also, what prompted you to leave Hammerheart?

Our contract with Hammerheart expired and we wanted to try something new and different so we sent out some mails to some labels we were interseted to work with, Arise gave us the best deal and we had hard many greeat things about them so we put some ink on their contract. The contract includes 2 albums. We have much higher priority on Arise than we did on Hammerheart.

What are the touring plans?

None so far unfortunally. We´re hoping to come out and play as soon as possible.

Can you tell us any great or wacky stories that happened when you were on tour?

We have so many crazy stories to tell. The weirdest thing was when we played at the Festival in Busan, Korea. We had signing session during the day. First it was quite calm, then they said on the PA system that "Skyfire are signing albums in the Dope Entertainment tent" and the chaos broke loose. Hundreds of people rushed to the tiny tent and almost tore the place down. We had security guards with us the whole day as well. Really strange!! It felt like we were Kiss or something , hahahaha....

Any chance of you guys ever coming to North America to tour?

We really hope so, that would be amazing! We´ve got quite a large fanbase in America and it seems to get bigger each day. Arrange some gigs for us!! Hahahaha...

We know that many metal bands are popular in Japan, but Skyfire seems to be very popular in Korea. How did that come about?

Yeah, I have no idea actually, it´s really cool.

What was it like to tour in Korea?

Kevin Kim at Dope entertainment (our Korean label) invited us to play two shows in Korea. The first one was at a two day festival in Busan with Arch Enemy, Soilwork and Rage as the biggest bands. We played as the subheadliner before Rage on the second day, they told us there were about 15.000 people attending the festival. SO many people, quite hysterical, but it was the best gig I´ve ever played. We signed too many albums!! Our label sold out quite fast. The second gig was at a small club in Seoul which was sold out, 200 crazy fans!!

All the members of the band seem to be very active in the official forums. I think this is great as it allows the fans to have a great relationship with the fans. Have you ever seen any of these people at your shows and how do they react in person?

We met some fans from the forum during our European tour. They were really nice. It was a lot of fun meeting them in person. We hope to meet the rest of the gang later on.

What drum gear do you use?

I have a Pearl kit, 1 bass drum and 4 toms. I have two snare drums; one piccolo and one wood. Sabian cymbals: Ride, Hi-hat, 2 crashes, 3 chinas, 2 splashes. Any sticks and a DW 5000 double pedal. I´m using a D-Drum 4 trigger with trigger mics on the bass drum and the snare. I wish I could afford a new drumkit. I´m pretty tired of it.

Thanks for the interview.

Here´s my answers. Hope your satisfied with them! Take care, keep in touch! Cheers!

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