Regards
Patrick
fiendformetal@live.com
Interview with Mattias all instruments for Soijl done by Patrick
1.Hello Mattias please introduce yourself to the readers?
Im a 35 year old male from Sweden that loves music, and mostly the slower part “Doom” of it or the faster “Black/Death”. I have played in Saturnus, Vanmakt, Istapp and Nidrike with others. Beside my fiance, music is what makes my life worth living. I live and breath music. I like honest and direct people. I dont like lying people, hypocrites or religions. I do not like anykind of violence! I see myself as a kind and thoughtful person that only wants to write music and enjoy life.
2.When did you first become interested in playing and writing music? What were the first instruments you learned to play? Are you self taught or did you take some lessons when first starting out?
I have always been interested in and loved music, I have photos when Im a little kid playing with my Dads bassguitar. He couldnt play it though so I never learned how to at that time. It wasnt until I was 13-14 I was approached at schhool by some guys in the class under me. They asked me if I liked Metallica and if I wanted to sing in their band. I had never hold a mic in my life, but I said yes, and I was in my first band! The guitarist there Andreas Svensson (Kaptain Sun) became a very good friend of mine, and we spent basically all free time together, listening to music, watching videos etc. And since he always played the guitar while doing this I asked him to teach me. I didnt have a guitar at the time, but my parents bought me an acoustic one, but it was broken and couldnt be tuned so it wasnt fun to play on. BUT! My uncle Allan had an electric guitar that he didnt play on much, so I got to borrow it. And I guess it was love at first sight! Since then I havnt been able to stop playing!
I never liked practising scales and chords though, I just wanted to play. So I guess I started to write music right away without even knowing it.
I see myself as self taught, at least in the start. When I was 16-17 I went to a music high-school, and sure, I learned alot there, but it was only jazz and classical music, wich I at the time hated.
But the writing has always been there, I remember that I could sit for hours and just play, and if I did something I thought sounded nice I wrote it down on paper. I still have some stuff on paper from that time. Its not that good though haha
3.Who are some of your influences and favorite musicians?Are their any instruments you have not learned to play that you would like to learn someday? If yes what instruments are they?
Thats a massive question. I have alot of influences and favourite musicians. But the most influential musicians is: Ricardo Amorim (Moonspell), Greg Mackintosh (Paradise Lost) and Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth).
My most influential bands is: Anathema, My Dying Bride, Moonspell, Paradise Lost, Saturnus and Opeth.
Im actually gonna start learning the accordian. Both my granddads played the accordian and it would be amazing to be able to play the old songs they did when my family comes together.
4.When did you first get the idea to start Soijl? How did you come up with the name of the band.does it have a special meaning?
Soijl has always been there I guess. I just havnt found the musicians since noone wants to play this kind of music where I live. Its to slow haha. But even if I did some stuff under the name Soijl in 2006-2008, Soijl didnt start for real until me and Henrik came together and decided to do something in 2014.
The name story is kinda funny. I wanted to call the band Soil, but since it was taken I just added a “j” so it became Soijl. It doesnt really mean anything, but we really like it. And the meaning of Soijl will be created by us and our fans. Soijl will mean the feelings we get when we write or listen to our music, and I like that!
5.When did you first meet Henrik{vocalist of Soijl} was it long before he joined the band?
I cant really remember the first time I met Henrik, but it was during high-school. We had some friends incommon and I guess we met at someones party, and since Henrik and I listened to basically the exact same bands we found eachother right away! I think I have known Henrik for at least half my life now. Henrik will be my bestman at my wedding next summer!
6.Have you ever thought of adding more members to make Soijl a full band?Or do you prefer to work as a two person band?
Hehe, well, heres some breaking news! We have decided to recruit a drummer for the next album! But more about that will come soon. But I dont think we will ever be a full band. I like it as it is, that I write the music, Henrik the lyrics and then all of us comes with suggestions to make it better. But with a full band its just to many people that wants their opinion to be the right one, and since the music of Soijl is kind of my child I wouldnt like that. But at the same time it would be awesome to rehearse the songs and to play live sometimes. No tours though, Im done with that.
7. Soijl is getting ready to release the debut cd "Endless Elysian Fields" how long did it take you to write the music for this release?
Well, on the album theres some songs that are really, really old. But most of the songs are brand new. It took maybe 5-6 months to write the new songs on the album. The actual writing time though is maybe 2 weeks. I can only write when I have a certain feeling, and cant force it. So when I actually write it usually goes very fast but it can be a couple of days/or weeks in the middle where I basically write nothing.
8.I know Henrik writes the lyrics for the band do you help him at all with ideas? What are some topics Henrik writes about?
Not really, no I dont. Its all up to him, sure, if he asks me I help him, but so far he hasnt asked me.
On “Endless Elysian Fields” the bigger part of the lyrics is about mental illness and the people that suffers from it. It can be stories from the view of the person or the ones standing at the side, that tries to help.
9.Besides the debut cd "Endless Elysian Fields" does the band have any other merchandise available for the fans? If yes where can the fans buy it from?
Not at the moment, but we will see what happens in the future.
10. Mattias you live in the great country of Sweden what is your opinion of the Swedish metal scene?
Its as amazing as always I think. Theres new bands popping up everyday, and even though we dont have many metal gigs and no metal at all on the radio we continue to make great music!
Sure, theres alot of crappy bands as well, but it still amazes me that theres so many good bands in this small country.
11.Who are your all-time favorite Swedish bands? Are their any new bands you feel the readers should check out?
Katatonia, Opeth and Dissection would be 3 of the 100:s of Swedish bands I like and listen to.
You should check out Majalis, its a band with a mate of mine (Jonas Martinsson) and some other people from In Mourning, October Tide etc. Another great band that just released their debut fullenght album is Ages. They dont play Doom though, its more black, but they are really great!
You should also check out Onda Makter, a Swedish blackmetal band from Karlskrona where I live. They havnt released any album yet, but I will help them to record a proper promo during this winter, and they are really, really good! So dont miss that when it comes out!
12.Are you or Henrik currently working with any other bands or projects?
Henrik has Skald, but I dont have anything else at the moment. Its hard where I live cause theres not many that likes the kind of music I do or want to play it. So I try to help other, younger bands instead, like Onda Makter. I mean, Ive been doing tthis for so long now that I feel that I want to share what I have learned. I would like to play some oldschool deathmetal though. Like old Entombed and Dismember. Maybe even do some death vocals again, it was a long time ago, but its fun as hell!
13.When not working on band music or business what do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Spend time with my fiance, watch good movies, tv-series and listen to music. I also like to spend time with my family and friends, and I would like to go more to concerts, but since theres no metal venue even close to where I live its hard. I have to go to Henrik for that and it takes about 3 hours on a train to get to Malmö, so its not something I do everyday. I also follow Liverpool FC!
And champions league in Football. Yes, I like football haha
14.Thank you Mattias and Henrik for taking the time to fill this interview out.Do you have any final comments for the readers?
I would like to send my deepest respect and thoughts to everyone thats reading this. The world is not what it used to be, and I think that we need eachother more than ever. We need to step up and take care of those that need help and we need to make sure that our world is a safe place to live in. Dont let things like religion or idiots ruin your life. Stay together and take care of eachother!
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