Interview: Johannes Eckerström (Avatar)
Hailing from Sweden, Avatar are the epitome of metal sonic and dynamics; chaos, controversial and unfettered entertainment through a quintet of dexterous musos with over two decades of world stage experience.
Released on February 2023, their latest number 1 album on the metal and rock charts Dance Devil Dance is fused with devastating riffs, plummeting drums, and pure thunderous metal, entwined in a deadly combination of growls and crystal clean vocals across multiple octaves, generated by the energetic and charismatic frontman Johannes Eckerström.
After nine studio albums and several hundred million streams across all platforms, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are about to be ripped by the legends from Gothenburg in August for the first time. If the album is anything to go by, Aussie fans are expected to “shake their hips and bang their heads” to the cadence of the of their rambunctious essence.
Interviewer’s take on Johannes Eckerström:
Johannes is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating frontmen; he’s articulate, captivating, and speaks with a philosophical emblem and a stoic countenance. I was expecting a fast paced, energic talker aligned with the fiery bravado of a metal frontman; nevertheless he’s quite the opposite. He spoke of their latest album, the single, the evolution of Avatar, Satan, Jesus Christ, beliefs and the upcoming tour.
Dance Devil Dance, sings Johannes
Sheldon: It has been six months since the release of Avatar’s ninth album Dance Devil Dance. Congratulations anyway. The band must be happy about the album’s success.
Johannes: Thank you. Absolutely. It all comes down to the job description we want for ourselves. We want to record and perform our own material and take it in a way that we will remain as friends…always keep having fun…and Dance Devil Dance is a continuation of that. It is ours, since we are releasing under our own labels. Makes it prouder of the success….that’s the very unfiltered version of where we are at.
Sheldon: The track single title Dance Devil Devil – in Verse 1 you project that intimidating deep demonic growl – step inside the circle and then you transition into that high octave clean vocals, I am one of many and culminating into a high falsetto E Flat minor or whatever you call it, I’m Satan, I’m Freedom and then Whoo – which feels more human – like you right now – which also makes me more comfortable; I’m curious, when you sing with two vocals, do you project different characters?
Johannes: I don’t think that’s the intention. It’s a musical aesthetic choice – how it connects musically and lyrically. For me, is the journey, that wrapping up. Sure, that deep growl is dynamically intense and loud, and as you said intimidating, but information wise it adds intensity and in my mind the melody is another layer of information – which is another way of wrapping it up. It’s not always where I hit the high notes – it is always in a place where I need to put my whole thought to it – so it doesn’t set all lose. Just standing there is an intense exercise – just singing…but it’s all me in my mind.
Avatar music is the snapshot of their current selves.
Sheldon: You’ve been in the band since the beginning, two decades now – do you think the band’s soundscape has changed? As it used to be death metal and now more of an avantgarde melodic metal.
Johannes: Our albums represent a history (snapshot) of what we played…we always stand on a pillar of extreme metal…and for you to shake your hips and bang your heads. Ultimately once you start to look back and think about it from an outside perspective, I’m sure you can summarise it as aesthetically better.
Avatar has such a long history; we were clueless 14, 15, 16 year olds coming up with our own stuff…then as 20 year olds with mortgages we had different perspective. Somehow avatar has travelled with us.
I’m a huge Devin Townsend fan. My favourite aspect of his work is whatever he puts out is a total reflection of what he’s doing at that moment. So you only get one album of the version…that honesty without relying any successful formula of the past…and because of that there’s the chance his greatest work is in front of him. It is not about recreating some magic phase in your life. And we resonate that very sense of forward motion in creating music, and as a result Avatar will change a lot and will continue to change a lot. We want to believe in our 70s we will still be curious and hungry.
Satan, Jesus Christ, Symbols
Sheldon: And throughout Avatar’s journey, there have been accusations or some might say complements that the band promote satanism and the occult through their lyrics, videos and performances, while some say, that is just part of the entertainment.
Johannes: We’ve heard more explicit version of that but in our case it is not just entertainment. I don’t believe in anything; I’m an atheist. That being said there’s room for spirituality. I came to realise the power of rituals and symbols – even without the casting of spells and what nots that I find nonsense. But we still blow candles on our birthday cakes, and even if I’m not Christian I still celebrate Christmas – where somehow we get to have conversations with our ancestors in a way. We talk about symbols – and even though I don’t believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins, I still appreciate and acknowledge the power the crucifix has in the world. The swastika in the northern hemisphere doesn’t have the same meaning as that in India.
The name Satan is older than the Aramaic religions – as far as I’ve learnt, and the meaning has come to change through the years but the anti Christ and adversary come to the status quo and state of affairs. The conventional info in the scripture that people tend to follow, to me comes up as very totalitarian and misogynistic and a lot of things on Satan is the antithesis to that; you got the egalitarian, feministic and harbouring democracy – and I love that.
Also where you positioned yourself where you don’t believe in high power – who is this figure – I believe in the power and ability to change yourself, change the world, be accountable in that sense that comes the satanic ideology, and with the impression in mind: Satan is a symbol for yourself – is what being explored here. And if I connect that with – again speaking symbolically, religion and the connection to nature, it is a way to structuring and connect a way around you.
I’m an artist and I write songs at where I am at – that’s what we do as a band lyrically…and we make fans shake their hips and bang their heads – so that’s where it become part of entertainment, and they are not necessary mutually exclusive
Sheldon: So is that what you meant by I’m Satan, I’m Freedom in Dance Devil Dance?
Johannes: Exactly, exactly – that thought came during the pandemic – there was this jog that I tend to do time to time, and I guess it’s kinda like that…I was listening to rave music while running and got onto this trance state and in doing that came to me “I am Satan” and that was a piece of the puzzle for that lyrics in the song…and the whole album start to circle around it.
The Crow
Sheldon: Your makeup reminds me of Brandon Lee’s character in The Crow. How did the band come up with that?
Johannes: The girl who did the makeup was Johanna (inaudible). She did a bunch of makeup for musos during that period. At that it was just blackwalls – oh we got a guy who can eat lightbulbs, and shuff a power drill up his nose, and cool, lets do a video, and what should I do. And I go around and sing, cool – and how should I look and make sense, horrow films, fun, scary clowns, fun, endearing, terrifying, all at once… and once we came on and she put paint on my face, and we felt, ah there it is; we’ve been looking for years – this is what our music looks like. So it is a lucky break and journey and paint a big picture of where Avatar is.
The Australian Tour
Sheldon: Finally, Avatar are coming to Australia – what can we expect and should people like Marge Simpson be afraid of attending an Avatar show or just chill?
Johannes: Well…they shouldn’t chill either – they should get excited. It’s a really cool thing with our audience. It is not just a connection between us and the audience; it has been more diverse than it has ever been and we are growing a more diverse crowd…there is a mosh pit, there is a front row…there are groups in sweat…there are also other places in the room where you can be whatever you see fit at the time of your life….and so everybody gets to play the game the way they see fit.
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The full interview of Johannes Eckerström with Sheldon Ang
