Interview by Kris Peters
Swedish rock outfit Avatar would have to be one of the longest overnight success stories of modern music.
Their rise as a musical force may have seemed to come from nowhere given the rapid upward trajectory their profile received in 2013 when they by happenstance scored the coveted touring opportunity to support Avenged Sevenfold and Five Finger Death Punch more or less landed in their laps after Disturbed were a late withdrawal due to vocalist David Draimen choosing to be present for the birth of his child.
Things have exploded for Avatar since, to the point supply is continually losing to demand, which is one of the mitigating circumstances that sees their upcoming Australian tour, which kicks off in Melbourne on August 23, their first visit to these shores since their inception more than 20 years ago.
In hype befitting the coming of the Messiah, Avatar are now widely regarded as possibly one of the greatest live bands in the world. Ever.
Which, funnily enough, people that live in the land Down Under cannot say or expect with any certainly because they have never been in a position where they could.
Not being ones to rely solely on the word of others, HEAVY yesterday tracked down enigmatic vocalist Johannes Eckstrom to test the waters ourselves.
"We're coming to see you," he directed at Australians everywhere. "We're coming to see you soon. It's our first time in Australia and you need to be there because I will."
Not being ones to beat around the bush we pose the question of why Avatar have neglected their Australian fans.
"We never really liked you," he sighed with enough conviction that I almost believed him, before breaking into his infectious smile and continuing. "It's not always within our control," he explained. "The short answer is, the first time's always the hardest, the first time that you get to do something and get that foot through the door. I think in particular... we're a Swedish band, so we played for the first time in Germany for nobody so you keep going to Germany until you play for somebody and the travel costs are manageable. But it's hard for a band living where we are to go where you live to play for no-one. I think it's all about making enough of a name for yourself on your home turf so that you have a bit of momentum coming over, which clearly we have because this is - I don't know exactly how many tickets we sold - but combined it goes up to a couple of thousand at least which is incredible. It's all about that. Having enough momentum combined with working with the right people so you get the ability to travel that far to shows. That's really it. The first time is enough but I think we are going to make enough of a splash to make the second one easier. We've been a band for 20 years but it's not like we have been where we are right now for 20 years because we started young. There are examples of being the Metallica's of this world or whatever when pretty much the same bunch of kids stay together being in a band together growing to where we are at now where as opposed I think it's more normal that we had everybody starting out in shitty bands with friends, then we had two or three ambitious kids find the two or three ambitious kids from that other shitty band and cross over and that becomes their band. We were that shitty band but we were also those ambitios kids that went off to seek a better band but we found it in ourselves so we had that lifelong journey with each other."
In the full interview, Johannes talks more about building momentum as a band, what he expects from fans Down Under, what we can expect from them, what are some of the essentials to remember when packing for a tour, their tag as one of the greatest live bands ever and living up to those expectations, the success of recent album Dance Devil Dance which elevated Avatar to another level, if he thinks this album is markedly better than previous ones, the story behind the song Train and how they moulded its shell into an Avatar song, future plans and more.
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