Matthias IA Eklundh Interview for La Chaîne Guitare – The Guitar Channel www.lachaineguitare.com

Questions By Pierre Journel ([email protected]) ‐ September 2009

Transcribed by Jenn at Random Chatter Music (metalichicka.wordpress.com) The full audio recording of this interview is available on www.lachaineguitare.com http://www.lachaineguitare.com/2009/12/lcg‐038‐mattias‐ia‐eklundh‐interview.html

Matthias IA Eklundh Interview www.lachaineguitare.com

PJ: Rock and roll. So, I am very happy to have with me, an amazing, new... maybe I shouldn't say new, but upcoming guitar players. And I'm going to try not to hurt your name too much. Your name is Matthias 'IA' Eklundh ­ how do you pronounce that?

ME: Matthias 'ea' Eklundh.

PJ: Is Matthias okay?

ME: Matthias is fine.

PJ: 'IA' ­ does that mean something; is that some kind of surname, or...?

ME: When I was a kid, I couldn't say Matthias ‐ I'd say 'Matt‐ea‐us', so then everybody started calling me 'ea'. So, it doesn't mean anything ‐ it's not Internal Affairs or anything like that. It's just a nickname.

PJ: Okay. Nothing nasty, or we should know about, or...?

(loud laughter)

ME: Oh... It's up to you. You can read anything into it if you'd like. But not really nasty, for me, no.

(uproarious laughter)

PJ: Okay. I usually start my interviews with the same question: What was your first guitar, Matthias?

ME: My first guitar. It was a really shitty Duke, for about 5 Euros. Impossible to play, impossible to tune. Then I had a Vantage flying V, which was impossible to sit down with, and impossible to stand with, but still, I managed to play it. Then I got a Yamaha guitar, which was okay, but it got stolen, so I bought myself an Ibanez. And now I have about a million Caparison Applehorn guitars, which is my signature model, so... yeah.

PJ: And the main milestones between those first guitars... and now you are the main guitar player for Freak Kitchen. Can you tell us the latest history of what happened... what you're doing now?

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Matthias IA Eklundh Interview www.lachaineguitare.com

ME: Well, my signature guitars, first of all... they are equipped with something called the True Temperament frets. And they are looking very funny. Each fret is a different shape. They call it... The guitar itself, is 'wrong'. It took 400 years for someone to figure out how to build a guitar that is actually in tune. Um, it's a Swedish invention, and it's wonderful. The guitar itself, is Japanese. It's got an Applehorn (??? logo?) on it, and something called a 'sandstone' finish. And it's got my logo 'IA' on the inlay. It's just a kickass guitar. 27 frets. Whereas, the Duke, was not a kickass guitar, when I was a kid, so... it's a big difference.

PJ: And do you have to re­learn to play the guitar, with this kind of True Temperament stuff?

ME: No, not at all. I tried it for the first time last year, when I was going to perform Beethoven's [triton?] concerto, the violin part of that one, together with a symphony orchestra. And it took me about 30 minutes to get used to it, but the thing is ‐ once I got used to it, I could never go back. So when I pick up a regular guitar, now it's like 'oh God, this sucks.' You know? The notes are just completely 'wrong', and the higher you go up on the fretboard, the more wrong you are. Now it's a hundred percent correct in every spot, you know. So, it's amazing.

PJ: Music­wise, what is your history?

ME: Yeah well, it started out with KISS when I was six years old. I wanted to be Gene Simmons and drool blood, and spit fire, and everything. So, I did that for a couple of years. I drooled blood and spit fire.

(laughter)

ME: And then I discovered Frank Zappa, and it changed my life forever. It was like... 'Good God! You can also do this onstage. You don't have to, again, spit fire and...' But then again, it would be great to spit fire and then play in The Black Page, and so on. But then, I discovered Miles Davis and Django Reinhardt, and Metallica and Slayer... all at the same time. And I liked everything. To me, it was about ‐ good music, bad music, or shit music, you know. It was just like ‐ 'I like this!' and so... I think you can mix, I think you can hear all of these different elements. Folk music ‐ traditional folk music from the Balkans. Ancient stuff, and metal, and whatever else is in Freak Kitchen's music. We're a big mess of many, many things. But I started out with drums when I was six years old, switched to guitar when I was early teenaged years, quit school when I was fifteen, and just sat home, and practiced, and wrote music. Moved to Copenhagen when I was nineteen, and since then, I've lived on it. For 21 years. And the last 10 ‐ 12 ‐ 15 years of it have been really, really good. The first couple of years were really, really hard. I was struggling to make money. I've always written my own music. No cover music, or nothin' like that. And I've traveled Earth so many times. I've been all around the planet a million times. I've been here, to South Korea, to Indonesia,

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Matthias IA Eklundh Interview www.lachaineguitare.com

Japan... India, Borneo, Malaysia, China, whatever... Mexico, France, many times ‐ Ile de France.

(some laughter)

ME: And when you travel enough times, you realize that it's a very small planet, you know. And you come back and it's like 'it's you again, oh, the Swedish guy.' Great! OK, so...

(laughter)

ME: Yeah... yeah, yeah, yeah. So we need to buy your damn album now.

(laughter)

ME: And they do! And I start making more money, and my first solo album ‐ Freak Guitar ‐ sold so well in Southeast Asia that I just bought myself a house for the family, you know. 'Cause I own the copyright, and everything returns to me. The money returns to me. So I make good money on it ‐ I live a very comfortable life in the Swedish woods with my son and my wife, my French dog and my 3 crazy cats. I have my own studio, a little forest, and big fireplaces, and it's just very nice. So that's my musical history in 2 minutes.

PJ: Okay. Excellent. Can you tell us a little bit more about your latest album?

ME: Yeah. I think it's the best album ever made.

(laughter, pause)

PJ: Good (???) answer. Okay, next question...

(laughter)

ME: That's it. I have nothing more to say. I'm actually very happy about it. I'm... I think we broke some new ground. I think we went where no band has gone before. And you may not realize it at first. You may be like ... ' yeah, this is okay...' and 'there's some Indian stuff from blah‐blah‐blah' but we blended a lot of ingredients together, and cooked our own very much Freak Kitchen soup. And I'm just very, very happy with it, and the end result. It took me 3 years to produce it, and record it. And to think 'what are we doing''. I really wanted to get this one right. I think we actually got it right, for the first time. I'm very happy with every album. When I hear it, I think 'I did my very utmost.' But I needed to be 39 years old, in order to get this one right. I couldn't have done this one when I was 25, you know. So, that's how it is. And you gain so much experience from things that you see, and people you play with... and diarrhea in Mumbai, and so on...

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Matthias IA Eklundh Interview www.lachaineguitare.com

(laughter)

ME: You put all that in to your music. And you puke out what is hopefully your own soup, you know, your own stew.

PJ: I have to confess that I only recently discovered Freak Kitchen. [unclear] I discovered your music through the latest album, and I was very impressed with the production of it. It is very well­produced, but in a good way. Not just over­produced... the sound is still very dry ­ you can hear everything. Of course, the main point is that I think the songs are great, and it's a very definitive idea from you, to have a... Did you have a specific sound in mind when you produced the album?

ME: Thank you very much. I'm very grateful that you're saying these things. You made me a happy man. Because this is exactly what I wanted it to be. I wanted it to sound well. I wanted you to be able to compare it, sound‐wise, to a Steely Dan album, or something like that. Say 'yeah, this is a...' I mean, it's not the same kind of music, but this is a well‐produced album. And the thing is, I worked on the album for 3 years, over a period of 3 years.

I didn't work for 3 years. That's why I think that many people think 'aw, the new Freak Kitchen, took 3 years. It's going to be over‐produced, it's going to be a dead album...' but I think it's the most full and most energetic album that we've ever done. 'Cause I wanted to have the good takes. I wanted to have the energetic takes. And I could do like a 2 hour session of vocals, and then I wouldn't sing for a week... and build up all this energy, and then push record for another 2 hours, and go 'aaaagh!!'.

Instead of this factory kind of thinking, where you work in a studio that you rent, that cost you a lot of money: 'we have to do this, and now we have to do this, and...' : it's just a machine. I worked when I felt really inspired. I felt I had stuff to say. And I was really committed to that. And it took me a long time to get the production right, and the thing is, I was so happy with everything ‐ we miked the drums very well, a million mikes, and ambient mikes to get a decent drum sound. No triggering, nothing faked, you know. Well‐played instruments and so on.

We did a great mix, and then we came to the mastering session, and you have your local mastering genius, you know... (working on) all the compression and everything. And it took me 4 versions before I was happy. And the 4th one was 'just.don't.do.anything". 'Just open up a little treble, cut some bass here and there, and just bring it up so it's as loud as everybody else.' And then I was like 'Yeah. Don't fix what's not broken.' So it's like... it's as good enough as it was. So I'm very happy with it.

Today there's this really really weird [sigh] y'know, way to record albums. They're supposed to sound in a complete way, with a lot of compression to keep everything as loud

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Matthias IA Eklundh Interview www.lachaineguitare.com as 'in your face'. And I *hate* that. You can grow so tired of listening to it. And I'm very happy (that) I have the guts to back off and say 'No. I do not want this. I've done this... I've recorded this album for 3 years. I know what I want to do.' I don't care if you say 'this is how it sounds today' because tomorrow, something else is 'the way it sounds.' So I said 'Fuck it. Don't do anything. Just leave my album be.' And I'm really happy with the end result. Really happy.

PJ: Yeah, and it's true that there are some actual quiet parts in the album that sound quiet. It's not 'right in your face' all the time. It's very tiring to hear this kind of sound.

ME: (Good God.) Buy any metal album today, and get it in to your music editing thing, and you see it's just a group of 12 or 15 fat sausages with no dynamics whatsoever. And life itself is dynamic, you know. Sometimes you have a shit day, sometimes you have a good day, sometimes you're in Paris, sometimes you're not, you know?

(laughter)

ME: And that's how it is. But I grow so tired, every time I buy like a metal album... 'you have to get this stuff!' And I buy it, and I get tired after 5 minutes, and I just put on some Dean Martin. You know, for my mental health. That's all I listen to. Dean Martin: why does everyone not listen? This would be a better planet if you had to listen to Dean Martin for 2 hours every day, you know?

PJ: How were you able to keep the focus, the ideas ­ the same for 3 years? I mean, maybe you run the risk of getting lost: 'Oh, I'm going to try this...' and realize after, well 'that's not what I wanted to do.'

ME: I like your questions! I really do. Yeah, because this is a thinking man's question. It's like 'yes!' because this is the stuff I think up myself, you know. 'How do I not lose track of what I'm doing here?' because it's so easy to. And the thing is... that's what time is doing. You work on something like crazy ‐ an arrangement. And 'wow!' and I add this, and this... it started to get like a cluster feeling, and 'it's so cool, it's so interesting, it's so intellectual', and so on.

You take a day off, you listen to it, turn it on again, and you realize... 'what is this?! I fucked up the song! That was a good song before this one'... and then, it's so hard to kill your darlings, but you have to. It's like 'man, I may be able to use this arrangement somewhere else, but not right now.' 'It has to go. Delete. It was so well done, it was so well played, but it does not belong in the song.'

You know. And that is heartbreaking every time. And that is what I did with each song as I worked. 'How do I dress up this song', you know? 'What do I do to this one to make it work?' And that is what producing is all about, and I need time to figure out, in order not to

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Matthias IA Eklundh Interview www.lachaineguitare.com lose track. I need to figure out 'what's hiding behind the corner, what I need to push it, what I need to keep interest, um, when to back off...' Because it's just getting too much, you know. And that's tricky (part). And I think, I hope ‐ I succeeded. I think I did. Give it 5 years and I may say differently. But right now, it just feels good, because it was a tricky album to produce. But I think we found a way out ‐ we saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and so on. So I'm happy with it.

PJ: Did you play the whole album with the True Temperament neck on your guitar, or did that come after...?

ME: Unfortunately, no, because at the time I started to record, I didn't have it. It wasn't even invented when I started to lay down the tracks. But some of it is True Temperament, and it's a big difference. Especially when you do overdubs and orchestrations and stuff like that, and you need to put many guitars in there. Or, say, if you play piano parts, and you play along with a guitar. Then the guitar will sound like shit. You need to re‐tune it. So... True Temperament. The best invention since the string.

PJ: That's interesting. (question is unclear) Technically speaking, it is usually in the (??) scene that we find the best (technical) guitar players. I guess you're not an exception to that. Is it difficult to find your own voice in this jungle of guitar players? Because it takes a lot of work to play fast, but it also takes much more work to play well. So, how do you do that?

ME: I think, if you take a look at YouTube, you realize that everyone can play fast. It's just mathematics ‐ it's just a matter of sitting with your click track and repeating things, you know. Having said that, that is not making music. That is a completely different thing, making music. And I think, for each year, the older I get, the more potent or original 'mustache' I have ‐ for how original my sound is. So the thing is, the guitar hero part ‐ I am considered a guitar hero by some. Blah blah blah, you know. Of course, it's fine, and I like that. But what I do most is ‐ I write lyrics, I produce, I arrange... and then there's like 5 minutes to do a guitar solo, and I'm like 'woohoo!' OK, it's like a reward, 'I can play guitar!' I don't have to listen to a snare drum the entire day, you know.

(laughter)

ME: And that is what many people judge by: they fast forward to my guitar solos, you know. I think I have a personality of my own, and I think you can hear 'it's Matthias IA Eklundh', you know. But ‐ it's up to you. I don't know. But... shred... anyone can shred, but it's not making music.

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Matthias IA Eklundh Interview www.lachaineguitare.com

PJ: You mentioned Frank Zappa and Django Reinhardt, who are not huge metal guitar players, right. What were your main influences ­ either guitar players or not?

ME: Well, Django is for sure, a great influence, as are many gypsy players. Actually, I think: heavy metal and gypsy jazz. There you have the best virtuosos. Some of them... I heard some gypsy jazz players yesterday. Some local guys, 23‐24 years young, in a studio where we were shooting some video footage. And I was completely blown away. I was like 'Good God! They can really, really play.'

And nobody had heard of them, but they could pick up any guitar, and just blow you away. Um, the energy and the swing of Django, and his output... the stuff he's got to say, or had to say ‐ it is wonderful. Really, really wonderful. I love it. But I listen to lots of different music. In order to create my own voice, I have to listen to lots of folk music and stuff like that, and try to incorporate that in to my playing. Traditional Indian music, for instance... Contemporary classical music... because then I can make heavy metal with a different twist, you know?

PJ: Are there any guitar players that are still influencing you now ­ young, or old ?

ME: I think John McLaughlin is one of my favorite players. He can do like a 20 minute guitar solo, and still have things to say, so he's a hero.

PJ: You mentioned your signature guitar. What about the amps? Is it really a special combination, to get 'your sound'?

ME: I think the sound is very much in the fingers, but the amp and guitar helps, okay? I use Laney amplification. I've been using them since 1996. No modifications: (just) standard, stock stuff. Also, my Caparison guitars, I've been playing, since 1996. And that's it. I don't need anything else.

PJ: Regarding how to handle the guitar sound on the album... again, did you have a specific idea on how to make it sound? Because, I mean, of course the album is pretty... it's not the same, but you can find an identity all throughout the songs.

ME: That was my goal, and I spent a lot of time doing some EQ'ing, going where I wanted to go, listening back and comparing, listening to different speakers, and so on. Yeah ‐ I wanted like a 'red thread' throughout the album. And I have a heavily distorted guitar... Usually, I want one to the left and one to the right, sometimes one in the center. Then I add lots and lots of clean guitars, to create some orchestration, to raise the roof, so it's not 'only distortion here', you know. You need ambience from the drums, you need vocals, and you need clean instruments, in order to make it 'high' in spots, otherwise it's just going to be

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Matthias IA Eklundh Interview www.lachaineguitare.com like a widescreen sausage. So that's what I did. I spent some time actually... I'm very happy with the guitar sound. It's crisp, and still warm.

PJ: What is interesting about your style is that you're very famous, because of your YouTube videos, because of some crazy harmonic stuff and so on, but you are actually able to use those tricks within a musical situation. And sometimes you can see something incredible on YouTube. It's nothing unmusical on there. But I was listening to the album again last night, and I realized ­ 'wow, this is some crazy noise'. And you don't even think anymore, because you're creating noise ­ it is a part of the music, and that's it.

ME: Yeah. Again, that's a big difference in just being a 'shredder' or being... 'wow, I'm such a crazy guy.' and you know, I'm taking a 'wow, I'm super crazy!' (approach). I throw myself out the window by a sweeping arpeggio or something. I'm so... 'I'll put it on YouTube and I'll be famous for 5 minutes', you know. That's a big difference from doing something musical. Uh... Using unorthodox elements, or unorthodox objects, like beef muscle, or a chopstick, or...

(laughter)

ME: And to make that music, and not just 'hey, I'm so weird'... that's the tricky part, and I think that's where many people, or guitar players, go wrong. A guitar player like... 'I want to be so different. Woohoo! I'll take a piss in the pickups of the guitar and I'll get electricity in my penis, and I'm so different. Woohoo!' But is it music? No.

(laughter)

PJ: Regarding the project of Freak Kitchen ­ what is the ideal goal you want to reach? Do you want to 'make it big' in the mainstream, such as Metallica, or bands like that? Or, are you happy where you are at the moment... or, the sky's the limit?

ME: The sky's the limit, but we are doing very little to ... Freak Kitchen is the least 'media whore' kind of band I know. We don't really do a lot of things to be seen. Now I know I'm here in Paris, doing a couple of days of promotion. And of course, it's good. I really enjoy it. But we are happy doing what we're doing. Of course, we want people to buy more albums. Of course, we want more people to come to the concerts. Of course, we want to make more money. I know of course we want to have a good time.

But, having said that, it's also very important that we do things with integrity, and that we are in control of. So, we can say no, and we are not bound by any legal things, or contracts.

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We do what we do, and we do it on our terms, and that's the most important thing. If Freak Kitchen gets much bigger, fine. But it will still be on our terms. It will still be a very tight freak circle, you know. The band, together with their right hand ‐ together with my friend in Denmark, Torben, is calling the shots.

We are making the decisions. No one is going to make the decisions for us. To say 'now you have to do a 3‐month tour, in South America.' Said 'can't do it. We are parents, and we're gone for 2 weeks at most, and then we need to go back, and change some diapers.' and that... because that's also life.

(laughter)

ME: And we don't want to be stereotyped, where we're musicians that... I have a life. And I want to conduct it in the best possible way for me. If I make enough money, cool. Then I can say no to this and that. I need the cash to come in, to pay the bills, and whatever, and finish my studio work for what it is. And then I balance everything. I don't want to be away for too long a period of time. Two weeks ‐ that's the absolute maximum, you know. Then I need to be at home for at least two weeks.

PJ: Regarding the band format: was it a choice right from the start, to play in the power trio format? And that's it? Because it's not the usual format in the metal or hard rock scene.

ME: Yeah. I feel that the power trio is the best possible way to play. And men actually socialize very well in groups of 3. If you're four, you have, how should I say... subdivisions, and it can be... I played in a quartet at one point, and it was not cool. It also depended on the personalities of the band, but still. There's more money for everyone, and it's less bullshit, and we travel light, and we play hard, and we play loud, and it's just great. I don't think of it ‐ I just realized it right now when you said it. Yes, we're actually a trio. But it's the best form. You have some pretty cool trios, you know. Hendrix, and Rush, and King's X.

PJ: How do you handle your composition? It can become quite complex. Again, in the album, there are many guitars. Are you going to be able to play that live?

ME: Yeah, most of it. We'll find a way to find the 'essence' of the song. And everything can be played. Perhaps not at the same time, you know. Say, at the end of 'Tear Gas Jazz', there's a long guitar orchestration. I might do just a improvisation there ‐ that you found, again, the 'essence' of the song, and you're bringing it out. So, yeah, most of it can be played. Of course, we have to get our shit together to do some parts of it, you know.

PJ: Any plan on touring in France any time soon, or in Europe?

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ME: Yeah, absolutely. We have a French tour in February, starting on the 7th or 8th of February in Paris. Then, I think 7 or 8 concerts, so, yeah.

PJ: Okay. Thanks a lot. Any advice you would give to young guitar players?

ME: The most important thing, to me, in my book, is to 'grow your own mustache'.

(laughter)

ME: It really is, you know. If you put too much focus on learning other people's music, or other stuff... you're sitting with your tablature books... chances are pretty good that you will lose track of who you are, and so on. And it's not easy to 'grow your own mustache'. It's not easy to find out who you are, and how to make that contribution in music. But, it is really important, to do that. So that's the best advice I can possibly give you. Walk your own path, on the roads less traveled, and grow your own mustache.

PJ: And is it a choice you made very early ­ you said 'I'm going to play music for the rest of my life' and that's it?

ME: Yeah. Thank God I had supporting parents. They could see that when I was 16, I was practicing like a maniac, getting to play 10 hours every day, and they were not like 'yeah, you have to go back to school' and so on. They said 'okay, he's really in to music, so we shall not stop him.' And that was a smart decision.

PJ: Well, again, thank you very much for your time Matthias, and I hope you're going to be an even greater success with this latest album. So thank you very much.

ME: Thank you. I appreciate it.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

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Bonus transcript: The Swearing

PJ: OK, so let's do a quick mic test. Is this working?

ME: Hellooooooo...

PJ: Okay. Can you tell me something nasty in Swedish? Tell me a bad word.

ME: In Swedish? Um... (rattles off a Swedish phrase. GoogleTranslate says it's this: "Sug min rˆv")

PJ: So I should be insulted now, or... What did you just say?

ME: I said 'suck my ass'.

PJ: Yeah, excellent!

(much laughter)

PJ: That's a good mic test.

(much more laughter)

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