{"id":12701,"date":"2014-04-21T01:00:18","date_gmt":"2014-04-21T05:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=12701"},"modified":"2014-04-22T10:23:02","modified_gmt":"2014-04-22T14:23:02","slug":"blowin-wind-with-sabatons-joakim-broden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=12701","title":{"rendered":"Blowin\u2019 Wind with Sabaton\u2019s Joakim Broden: \u201cI think Dee Snider should be mentioned up there with Freddy Mercury and Bruce Dickinson.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"irc_mi\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.werock.se\/Artiklar\/pictures\/Sabaton\/Joakimbroden.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"321\" height=\"483\" \/>Ever since laying my ears on Sabaton\u2019s 2010 album Coat of Arms, I have been a huge fan. Taking a page from the Iron Maiden text book, Sabaton molded themselves into what I believe to be one of metal\u2019s most interesting bands. With songs that cover a vast array of European history, Sabaton has carved a niche for themselves as not just a band with great songs but a band that puts on a monumental live show no matter the size of the venue. Whether they are playing to 300 people or 30,000 people, Sabaton puts on a live show that is completely mind blowing and equally as unforgettable.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I recently had the opportunity to talk with Sabaton\u2019s singer\/songwriter\/founder Joakim Broden and he was such an awesome guy to talk to. We talked about his love for Twisted Sister, history, and just what it\u2019s like to play in front of 60,000 people. Joakim is a really funny and engaging person and it totally made this one of my new favorite interviews. If you\u2019re a Sabaton fan you\u2019ll love this interview and if you\u2019re not, maybe this will pique your interest enough to open your mind and your years and give them a much deserved listen.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Joakim, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. How are you today?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So far, so good. I think we actually had the first fucking day of sunshine in this country [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Well here in Atlanta it seems like we\u2019ve had nothing but ice, snow, and shitty cold weather and today is warm and gorgeous so we\u2019re happy.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh, so you\u2019re the ones who stole our winter [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Yeah, well you can fucking have it back. We don\u2019t want it.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] Oh, thank you so much, Don! [laughs]<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>You must be a very busy guy today.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah, actually I am but it\u2019s quite fun to be doing something else besides only playing and listening to heavy metal. A little bit of talking is actually quite nice.<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Congratulations on the new album Heroes. It really is such a great album. How do you feel that it stands alongside the previous Sabaton releases?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thank you so much. To be honest, I never really know what I\u2019m going to think about an album until about a year after its release. Right now I\u2019m kind of tire of the songs [laughs]. I\u2019m the guy who writes the music as well in the band so I\u2019ve been living and breathing these songs basically 24\/7 since October or November. I write them, do the pre-production, then we go into the studio where we all record them and then I\u2019m there for the mixing, and then the mastering. When it\u2019s time to be done, I just need a break from it [laughs].<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kZPtGUVglbY\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><strong>This is Sabaton\u2019s 7th studio album. At this point, is it getting damn near impossible to pick a setlist for the live shows?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Uh, yes and no. I mean, in one sense it\u2019s kind of easy for us to make a setlist by picking only songs that in the past made our audiences go wild but actually making a set list for both of those who are attending their first Sabaton show and making a setlist that is also for our fans who have been seeing us for 10 years like in Europe by having some surprises as well. That is almost impossible.<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Listening to Sabaton is somewhat like going to school. Where did your fascination with history come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I was always interested in history but it was a healthy interest. It wasn\u2019t a big thing but I always liked it. We had come up with the music for the song \u201cPrimo Victoria\u201d. Me and Par were sitting down and we knew it had a big sound to it and that we needed something big to write the lyrics about so we say, \u201cOk, D-Day\u201d and all of the sudden it just clicked for both of us. Writing lyrics was then no longer a necessary evil anymore. All of the sudden it was fun so we decided to make an album about war and military history and ever since we did that it started something. From there we decided to do more and more research because the more you learn, the more you realize you don\u2019t know. That idea started the history interest so as our interest grew, we got deeper into it on the next Sabaton album. In a strange way, Sabaton singing about history boosted my interest in history and as my interest in history has grown, Sabaton has gone into deeper history.<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Overseas Sabaton is accustomed to playing to huge festival and arena audiences. When you come to the states you are playing usually small clubs to a few hundred people. Is that a hard thing to adjust to?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It has been quite tough adjusting to it but I think it\u2019s also a good thing. As you said, in the US we are essentially a 10 times smaller band compared to Europe. A really big show for us in the US will be 600 people as a headliner in a big city say like Los Angeles. If we are in Europe and we have a really big headlining show it might be 6,000 people. On the other hand, I do really like it because it\u2019s like a time machine for me. I like being really close to the crowd and not having 15 feet between us and the fans. In the big shows I think a lot of energy gets lost in the transition from the stage to the crowd if there\u2019s too much space in between us.<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you prefer one or the other?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No. They\u2019re both completely different. If you go on stage in front of 6,000 as a headliner or say on a larger European festival like Wacken where there\u2019s 60,000 people there you really do it much differently than if you\u2019re in a small 300-600 capacity place. I can\u2019t really say that I prefer one or the other but I wouldn\u2019t really ever want to do only one or the other.<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I\u2019ve talked to a lot of European bands who are much bigger overseas than they are in the States. They say that when they come to the smaller shows in the states, they feel like they need to be more on their game because they don\u2019t have the huge productions and spectacles.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yes, definitely. It is exactly like you are being watched under a microscope but I also really like that. I like being closer to the fans. If I stretch my hand out I can shake hands in the audience and if I headbang too much they will get my sweat on them [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I know that you are a huge Twisted Sister fan. What was it about them that made you want to pursue music?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When I was 3 or 4 years old when I saw the video for either \u201cI Wanna Rock\u201d or \u201cWe\u2019re Not Gonna Take It\u201d, I can\u2019t remember which one. My mother was in the kitchen and I was in front of the TV and all of the sudden she hears me scream like a motherfucker. She was thinking, \u201cIs my son dying? What the fuck is happening here?\u201d She runs into the living room and there I am jumping around screaming like a crazy kid and singing along even though I had never heard the song before. She said, \u201cHm, that\u2019s not bad.\u201d [laughs] That was kind of cool because in 1983, looking at guys that looked like that she said, \u201cSure, I\u2019ll get you that album.\u201d [laughs]<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I love hearing this. I\u2019ve been a huge Twisted Sister fan since around that time as well.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah. You know, I think that Dee Snider is one of the best front men to ever walk the Earth. I mean, he\u2019s not \u201cthee\u201d best because you obviously have Freddie Mercury and Bruce Dickinson but everyone always talks about those guys. I think Dee Snider should be mentioned up there with Freddy Mercury and Bruce Dickinson.\u00a0 Not to forget about the music. A good song has a good melody against the chords. It doesn\u2019t mean you have to play 3,000 notes per second. They have good, catchy songs and in combination with is voice of course.<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sabaton will be touring the US soon with Iced Earth and Revamp. What are you looking forward to the most about coming back to the US?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, several different things actually. One of them is getting a little bit of sunshine [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>You don\u2019t get a lot of that where you\u2019re at so come and get it!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] I\u2019m also looking forward to doing the smaller shows. If you have a little bit of a tough crowd, it\u2019s much harder to be in a small place because it\u2019s going be even more obvious and you can see the audience\u2019s faces and their reactions [laughs]. On the other hand, if you have a good night in a smaller venue it\u2019s fucking magic. You can feel everybody, you can smell everybody in the venue. Sometimes you don\u2019t really want to smell them but you know [laughs]. That vibe that goes on in a place where there is say a maximum of 1,000 people or less when they are all going wild, you don\u2019t that feeling on a bigger stage.<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I\u2019ve seen Sabaton live and it\u2019s always such a high energy show. As a front man you really give it your all. I have to ask, what goes through your mind that moment right before you walk out on stage?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh, that\u2019s a good question. To this day I\u2019m almost always very nervous especially in these places where we had a fucking amazing night. It might be a small show, might be big, it doesn\u2019t matter. Say it\u2019s a Saturday the last time you were in a country or a city and you had all these magic moments where the band played well and the sound was good, the audience was great, and everything lined up perfectly. Now it\u2019s a Monday and you\u2019re in a different city, we\u2019re in a different venue with not such a good sound system, shit. Now we\u2019ve got something to live up. That\u2019s probably the last thing that goes through my mind in a situation like that. Otherwise, if we\u2019re on a festival and we can hear the crowd going wild even before we get to the stage like at Wacken. At Wacken, there are 60,000 people there and 30,000 of them are shouting \u201cSABATON!\u201d and the last thing that goes through my mind is, \u201cAlright. Don\u2019t fucking suck.\u201d [laughs]<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9FkYxnm70vg\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><strong>So how about coming down from a rush like that? I\u2019m a musician myself and I get a rush playing to 30 people. I can\u2019t imagine coming down from the rush of playing to 60,000 people.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, you know it doesn\u2019t really matter how many are there. Of course, if you do a massive show, the chances are you could be a bit too excited. That doesn\u2019t happen too much but I\u2019ve done that a couple of times. Every time I feel like I had the biggest experience, I\u2019ll look at the video of the performance and I will be singing off key a little bit, I\u2019ll be trying to be all over the place, and actually getting too excited on stage. You get that adrenaline rush and you can be a worse performer actually [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I can see that. I mean, if you\u2019re so overexcited you\u2019re not going to be as focused.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Exactly. At the same time, we\u2019ve always said, \u201cFor fuck\u2019s sake. That adrenaline rush is the one of the reasons that we\u2019re doing this so if you get that rush just fucking go with it.\u201d [laughs] Just make sure that we know the songs so well that even if we\u2019re not at the top of our game we are having fun which will hopefully translate to the audience. So yeah, if I miss a little bit of that one note it\u2019s not going to matter anyway. I think we will last longer as a band and that people will like to come see us for longer if we are having fun instead of saying, \u201cNope. We should have too much fun. We have to pay attention.\u201d [laughs]<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I would much rather see a band putting all they have into a performance and make a few mistakes than to watch a perfect band just stand there bored.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] Exactly. Because in that case you can just listen to the album. I am exactly the same in that sense. After a show it\u2019s always hard for me, especially when you do a lot of shows per week and then obviously even though you want to do this every day you really can\u2019t. We don\u2019t go on stage drunk or hungover. If we party it\u2019s when we have a day off or something. I always have a hard time going to sleep after a show. I\u2019ve been having fun and I\u2019m all excited and it takes me 2 hours at least to calm down so much that I can go to sleep.<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Swedish Empire album\/DVD was one of my favorite releases of the year. It was so much fun to listen to and to watch. When you\u2019re filming a show for a release like this, is there a certain amount of stress and pressure while you\u2019re on stage knowing that the cameras are rolling?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I am usually way worse when I know I\u2019m being filmed. I\u2019m not so worried about the musical side of things because we have a rule within the band that we should be good even under the worst fucking circumstances. That\u2019s how we try to do things but those are good circumstances. If we make a mistake, so what? It\u2019s live. What I\u2019m really worried about is what I\u2019m saying in between songs [laughs]. Like if I make a joke, is it funny? I also remember, \u201cOh, this is going to be on a DVD and also released in America.\u201d Not you personally but Americans are a little more sensitive to language than they are in Europe. Words like \u201ccunt\u201d and \u201cfuck\u201d are perfectly alright here [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you remember the first time you ever played live in front of people?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah, I do actually. My first public performance was playing church organ at a school celebration when I was 10 or 11 years old.<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Did that actually make you want to be a performer?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No, it actually didn\u2019t. I never have any thoughts about doing this professionally at all. It was never in my game plan at all. I enjoyed music and I enjoyed playing music. I loved playing the church organ but I\u2019m probably the most nonreligious church organist you\u2019ll ever meet [laughs]. I just love the sound. It\u2019s a powerful sound but actually, I was really into electronics and computers. I was actually repairing guitar amps back in the day. Then I got into studio recording. I wasn\u2019t really counting on playing music, even early on with Sabaton, becoming my profession so I invested my savings into a recording studio. I started recording some bands and even recorded some Sabaton stuff and that just took off from there. I don\u2019t think it was in my plan to make a living playing heavy metal until I was actually doing it. Now, when people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them heavy metal. I get paid to go all around the world, scream into a microphone, and drink beer [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you think is the greatest metal album of all time.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ah, that\u2019s a tough one. I don\u2019t think I could mention one. It could possibly be Twisted Sister\u2019s Stay Hungry, Rainbow Rising, Accept has some, UDO\u2019s Faceless World which is one of my favorites of all time. It\u2019s one of the most underrated albums in heavy metal. Oh, and Judas Priest\u2019s Painkiller is up there as well.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BmerZbDPXns\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><strong>If you could sing for any band for just one night who would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To be honest, I have a pretty limited vocal range so there aren\u2019t too many bands that I could basically do well [laughs]. I can usually hit the notes but they usually sound like shit because I haven\u2019t practiced [laughs]. If we\u2019re talking pure fantasy, it would be Queen of course but I would do a shitty, shitty job at that [laughs]. Might be fun to watch but not to listen to [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>In your years of doing this what are some valuable lessons you\u2019ve learned along the way?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Honestly, we had just done some shows with Iron Maiden, we toured with Accept, and with the Scorpions. I had met up with an old friend of mine, he\u2019s also the guy who did the Sabaton logo, and he asked how I was doing. I told him that I was feeling stressed and what not and he almost slapped me in the face and said, \u201cListen to yourself. You sound like a spoiled fucking kid. Look back on your year. You toured with Maiden, with Accept, and you toured with the Scorpions on a private plane.\u201d Then it dawned on me that you\u2019re so into what you\u2019re doing all the time that you\u2019re mentally at your next challenge so you don\u2019t actually enjoy the moment. When I\u2019m on stage, nothing else matters except for that very moment. When I get off stage, I\u2019m already thinking ahead to the next show and not really being in that moment. Sometimes I forget to just enjoy the ride.<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Are there any types of music that we\u2019d be surprised to hear that you are a fan of?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>ABBA! [laughs]<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>No shit? You love Abba?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah. It\u2019s in the Swedish constitution. If you don\u2019t like Abba they\u2019ll revoke your citizenship [laughs]. Obviously, my main preference is heavy metal but if I\u2019ve been doing show for five days straight listening to nothing but heavy metal, it\u2019s great to hear something else like Abba, Dire Straits, whatever. I still think when it comes to writing songs, I think that Bjorn and Benny, who wrote the songs for Abba, should be right up there with McCartney and Lennon.<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you remember the first concert you ever attended?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It was probably when I was 17. I snuck into a place that had an 18 year old age limit to see my childhood friend playing drums in a death metal band called Without Grief. He\u2019s the same guy who\u2019s now playing for Yngwie Malmsteen. That was probably my first proper heavy metal show. My 2nd one was when Dee Snider\u2019s SMFs toured all over Europe with AJ Pero on the drums.<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Have you ever met Dee Snider?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I have a couple of times. The first time was in 2010 at the Bang Your Head festival in Germany I believe. I think it is the last picture I took with someone as a fan [laughs]. I\u2019m not much for bothering other artists and asking them to have a picture with them but when I met Dee, I had to do it [laughs]. I really surprised my mom. I sent her one as a postcard and she was like, \u201cWhat the fuck?\u201d [laughs]<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>If Hollywood was to make a movie about your life, who would play you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh shit man [laughs]. I would never think about such a thing because a movie about my life would not be exciting. It\u2019s not like we could write \u201cThe Dirt\u201d like Motley Crue did. Of course, we did our share of crazy shit the older we get, the less crazy shit we do. I think we could probably match one chapter of that book.<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>So maybe it would be a magazine instead of a book?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] Exactly. It would be a very short feature film. Like a 10 minute movie [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you could put a band together with any musicians alive or dead, who would be in this band with you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I would play keyboards for sure. I would have Dio or Freddie Mercury singing. I\u2019d Cozy Powell on the drums and on bass I would have Jimmy Bain. Finally, on guitar, Ritchie Blackmore and Wolf Hoffman!<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Let me know when this band is touring so I can make it out your way!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, first I\u2019d have to invent a time machine and find a cure for AIDS so give me a week or two [laughs]. Actually, while I\u2019m at it, I\u2019ll go back in history and shoot Hitler in \u201933 but that would probably mean that 60% material of our material couldn\u2019t exist [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Joakim, finish this sentence for me: if I wasn\u2019t a musician I would be ________<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Indiana Jones [laughs]. I\u2019d love to be an archaeologist. I love history and I\u2019ll get some adventure along the way.<\/p>\n<p>=========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Joakim, thank you so much for taking the time out to talk to me today and I look forward to meeting you here in Atlanta.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Of course, it\u2019s safe to say that we\u2019ll be at the bar after our show since we\u2019re the support band [laughs]. Then I\u2019ll go watch the Iced Earth show. Thank you Don and I will see you Atlanta. Thanks and take care!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>For more on Sabaton, head over to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sabaton.net\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.sabaton.net<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ever since laying my ears on Sabaton\u2019s 2010 album Coat of Arms, I have been a huge fan. Taking a page from the Iron Maiden text book, Sabaton molded themselves into what I believe to be one of metal\u2019s most interesting bands. With songs that cover a vast array of European history, Sabaton has carved a niche for themselves as not just a band with great songs but a band that puts on a monumental live show no matter the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194],"tags":[1129,1127,1128,1126],"class_list":["post-12701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","tag-iced-earth","tag-joakim-broden","tag-revamp","tag-saabaton"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12701\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}