KATATONIA

Big Dreams, Low Expectations KATATONIA

INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST ANDERS NYSTRÖM BY THOMAS PIZZOLA

On their new album, City Burials, out now on Peaceville, regal Swedish gloom metal merchants Katatonia weave another captivating spell filled with atmosphere and emotion. Powered by the expressive vocals of lead singer Jonas Renske, their eleventh album is another feather in the band's ever-crowded cap.

And it almost didn't happen.

After the tour cycle for their previous album, The Fall Of Hearts, they decided it was time to take a little time away from the grind and each other.

“It was a basically a time-out,” guitarist Anders Nyström explains. “We needed to get everyone attentive to the issues we weren’t happy with, and also get enough time to reflect on future direction.”

As fate would have it, their break didn't last too long. In fact, they got back together to celebrate the anniversary of very special album in their discography. “Well, if it hadn’t been for the Night Is The New Day anniversary, I’m not really sure when the next crucial motivation would have given us that much needed push,” Nyström says. “We were really eager to celebrate that album that the anniversary shows worked as a stepping stone back to the stage.” This would eventually lead as the impetus to get the band, which also features guitarist Roger Öjersson, bassist Niklas Sandin, and drummer Daniel Moilanen, to get back in studio and commence work on City Burials. But there was one more twist to this story. “Well, to tell you the truth, City Burials was originally supposed to become a Jonas solo album,” Nyström explains. “However, he changed his mind at the very last stage, just before hitting the studio with other musicians. Jonas rather wanted it to become a Katatonia album, so he played me all the songs, and since he writes just as much music for Katatonia as I do (or in fact even more these days), the Katatonia connection was already there in most of the material. So, we decided rearrange some of the songs, hit the studio and co-produce it together. Did it feel weird for me for the first time ever to see none of my songs on the album? Yes. Did it matter? Not really. The album passed far above the ‘quality control’

and that’s what counts.” In addition, the new album's evocative title has a deeper meaning.

“It’s all connected by metaphors inside the Katatonia universe that cir

cle our discography,” Nyström says. Through all the shifts and changes in sound over their lengthy career, and with band members coming and going, the driving creative forces in Katatonia have always been Nyström and Renske. It's a partnership that has lasted the test of time.

Nyström has one simple reason for this longevity. And then he elaborates.

“Katatonia became a part of our identity and has now been with us day and night for three decades,” he says. “This decision taken by a couple of hungry teenagers is still sustained by a couple of middle-aged farts. Our dreams have been big, but our expectations have been low. We basically have been living on a minimum wage our entire lives, just to be able to do this, which is something most (if not all) normal people would have rejected at an early stage. Elderly people used to tell us youngsters, ‘go get a haircut and get yourselves a job.’ How about us telling them to fuck right off? Because, at the end of the day, we know we followed our hearts, we had fun spending our youth, our 20’s and even 30’s doing exactly what other people will never experience in life.”

“And regarding that haircut?” Nyström laughs. “Age eventually took care of that, as there’s hardly any left!”” ��