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...........A V A T A R

If childhood dreams can come true, then straight outta the cradle Swedish band Avatar are proving (with one or two minor hiccups along the way) that you don’t have to go to Rock School or be mentored by the likes of Gene Simmons to be heading for the main stage. Shan Siva takes on his guru role in offering a guiding hand!

Shan Siva

How did you guys come by the name Avatar? It wasn’t from playing computer games was it?
John (Alfredsson): when I was 13 and about to start the band I got the name from religious studies class which was discussing Hinduism. Avatar is the god that walks the earth in a human form and at the time I though that was so cool that the band should be named after it.

Jonas (Jarlsby): in Sweden you actually learn something at school ha ha!

So why did you start the band?
John: because we love metal. It was always a dream for everyone in the band to be in a band - and today we’re touring!

You started relatively recently in 2003, so far has it met you’re expectations (of being in a band)?
John: its more or less what I expected. And I’ve got an expectation of where I expect to be in the next 10 years, which is that we should be quite a big band playing headline shows for quite a lot of people. I’ve been a Metallica fan since I was a kid and I’ve read a lot about Lars Ulrich and how he worked to get Metallica where it was and he said that you can get what you want but you have to put a lot, a lot of work into it. So that’s what we’re doing too.

I think you may need to simply cos you come from Gothenburg, which is famous for quality bands!
Jonas: yes, there are a lot of really good bands, not just the well known ones but also in the underground scene like when we started. But to me the problem that a lot of these bands had was that they just concentrated on the music and thought that that would be enough. They did nothing on the image or the business like collect money, save money so...

John: of course you will never get anywhere if you don’t have good music so that’s the main thing for us, to be a good band, but then you need all the other stuff.

But wasn’t finding a good band, even in talented Gothenburg, a problem in your first ‘band’ Lost Soul correct? I mean, how did you end up with 2 guys into funk?!
John: yeah, we sucked ha ha! We definitely didn’t want to play funk but the bassist and the guitarist wanted to as it turned out.

Jonas: we didn’t formally audition them, we just kinda assumed they were into metal and then...ha ha! At the time we were 14 years old but that actually didn’t matter cos first of all you need a band, then from that, you can get a good band.

So how did you get the good band?
John: actually it was the guys who were into funk ha ha! They said ‘look, if you want guy that can growl then we know this guy (Johannes) and from then on we found the other members like Henrik and Simon, who is over there (pointing) and of some reason, they stayed.

(Shouting) Hey Simon, why’d did you stay in Avatar?
Simon (shouting back): because it was the best band I’d ever played with. And I didn’t wanna play funk ha ha! Seriously, Avatar was at another level, a new level especially with John’s fast drumming.

Ok, John having met the great speed metal drummers like Gene Hoglan and Dave Lombardo, what’s your secret to fast double bass drumming?
John: my secret for fast kick drums? It’s known as double stroke rolls. Its like Nico McBrain’s style with one drum going ‘thudda thudda’? Well, I do it with both drums, right-right left-left. I have the pedals set on high tension. I don’t have any muscles unlike some of the other drummers so I just try to use the right technique. At the start, when I was a kid it was difficult and I used to wonder how these guys did it because it is technical, but you just have to keep trying. I practice a lot, everyone in the band does as the songs become harder and harder to play, especially before you go into recording.

Did you guys have to take lessons or are you self taught then?
Jonas (looking around at the other members): I think we’ve all taken lessons but in Sweden we have very good communal music schools, and you don’t have to be rich cos they are not run for money.

Other Swedes have told me there is quite a difference between the styles of metal and their associated scenes that vary from city to city - what’s you opinion on this?
John: yes, I think that’s true. Malmo for example, the 3rd biggest city in Sweden, has a big reggae scene. I dunno why. In Stockholm probably much more commercial pop music scene so I guess its more difficult if you’re into metal to have a band.

Jonas: although a lot of great metal bands like Entombed come from Stockholm so its still an important scene.

Tell me about the albums you’ve released.
John: ok, we’ve had two albums, the first was in 2006 and called “Thoughts of No Tomorrow” and the second last year was given a German name ‘Schlacht’, which is really hard to pronounce but it means ‘slaughter’. They’re both on Gain Records - not gay ha ha - which is a Gothenburg based label.

Is there quite a difference between the styles on each?
Jonas: I guess you could say we’re modern melodic death metal but we prefer to just say metal because we use elements of all kinds of metal and also because if we say we’re from Gothenburg and we’re melodic everyone just says ‘oh fuck, its In Flames’. We just keep it at metal cos at times its death, power - no funk ha ha - but we keep it to the roots.

So what’s the next crucial step for Avatar?
John: the next step is to play support to Megadeth in Stockholm which will be crucial because its a really big place. We’ve got a good label in Gain and we’ve come a long way in two years from having problems to now hopefully going places!