{"id":16550,"date":"2016-09-30T01:00:32","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T05:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=16550"},"modified":"2016-09-27T15:29:39","modified_gmt":"2016-09-27T19:29:39","slug":"blowin-wind-with-sabatons-par-sundstrom-seeing-what-iron-maiden-does-at-their-age-they-are-the-inspiration-for-me-to-keep-going-and-to-believe-that-i-can-do-this-for-a-very-long-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=16550","title":{"rendered":"Blowin’ Wind with Sabaton’s P\u00e4r Sundstr\u00f6m: \u201cSeeing what Iron Maiden does at their age, they are the inspiration for me to keep going and to believe that I can do this for a very long time.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Par, thank you so much for taking the time out to talk to me today.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No problem at all, Don. Thank you.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s great to talk to you. I\u2019ve had the pleasure of talking with Joakim twice but I\u2019m running out of things to ask him so this is a real treat.<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Laughs) Yes, on this tour I am doing all the interviews so he can save his voice.<\/p>\n

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Do you like doing interviews?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I do. I think most of the time it\u2019s good and I also get to meet people and get some good feedback.<\/p>\n

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Sabaton is without a doubt one of most exciting metal bands I have gotten into since Iron Maiden. You guys just have it all. You have the talent, the brains, the energy yet at the same time, you all are silly and have so much fun.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny that you mention Iron Maiden. We do a lot of shows with them here. It works really well when Sabaton and Iron Maiden plays together. Even though we don\u2019t sound the same, if you take off the cover and see what\u2019s inside the box, Sabaton and Iron Maiden both do heavy metal songs with catchy melodies. We don\u2019t complicate it too much. We\u2019re just doing what we love and it shines through. If you take an Iron Maiden show, it\u2019s a bunch of guys running around on stage having a good time and playing good songs. If you take a Sabaton show, you see exactly the same thing. We wear camo pants and they don’t (laughs). Other than that, it is a similar idea.<\/p>\n

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Is it pretty safe to say that Sabaton looked to Iron Maiden as a model of how to do things as a band?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starting out, Iron Maiden, like for you, was what brought me into heavy metal. I was maybe 12 or so and it stayed with me ever since and I\u2019ve been a fan ever since. It didn\u2019t stop or change anything after we started touring with them. It had only become more clear why they are such a big band and why they are still doing it and doing it as good as they are. They were an inspiration to me when I started to play. For a different reason they are still an inspiration today. Seeing what Iron Maiden does at their age, they are the inspiration for me to keep going and to believe that I can do this for a very long time.<\/p>\n

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I also find Iron Maiden to be so inspiring because of the fact that no matter what was thrown in their way, they never gave up, even when they weren\u2019t as popular as they were.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exactly. Sabaton has been around now for almost 18 years. 18 years ago, if you go back, melodic heavy metal was absolutely dead in Sweden. Basically, heavy metal was completely gone. When Iron Maiden was doing a show in 1995, there would be something like 1500 or 2000 people coming. Today, they will sell 50,000 people.<\/p>\n

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To go back to Iron Maiden again, it\u2019s kind of the same thing. They weren\u2019t huge here in the US right away? They came over here and busted their asses playing as opening acts and playing small radio festivals. Do you ever envision Sabaton reaching the status that you have in Europe over here in the US?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t see why we shouldn\u2019t to be honest. I know it will take a lot of tours and a lot of years. If I may see it from a positive side, I say it might be 10 years from now or so. That seems more realistic because the amount of time that it took over in Europe. In Sweden, Sabaton is #1. Here, we are supporting Trivium tonight for 8-900 people. On a good night in Europe, Sabaton is headlining for 12,000. In Sweden, we outsell the pop artists, we are top charting, we are selling out ice halls even in small towns. To get to that point took a long time. Here, on festivals we are so low on the bill you can barely read our name but in Europe, we are much higher up on the bill. Here, we are starting so low but I love that. It gives us perspective and it gives us something to work hard for. Things seem to be moving faster now. We do better shows, we are more professional, we play for more people. So yes, it is going faster. It may take 10 years but I see that it\u2019s totally possible.<\/p>\n