Grand Magus
Guerilla Band

10.01.2014

Sweden’s Grand Magus fit nicely with the latest wave of old-school hard rock and heavy metal that big European labels have been so keen on in the past few years. However, unlike their fellow countrymen and labelmates Graveyard or Scorpion Child, the three-piece are not newcomers to the scene. Grand Magus already have six full-length albums behind their belts, and their mastermind JB Christofferson has been involved in two more remarkable projects, one being Spiritual Beggars, where his partners were Arch Enemy’s Michael Amott and Sharlee D’Angelo, and the other being Ayreon, where he was invited by Dutch prog metal wizard Arjen Anthony Lucassen. It is JB whom we tracked down to call for an answer with regard to the past and future of Grand Magus, and primarily about their upcoming CD “Triumph And Power”, which will see the light of day on February 4 via Nuclear Blast.

Let us talk about your forthcoming album. On the official Nuclear Blast website you claim that the album is your strongest so far. What makes you say that?

Well, I think that it’s the combination of the songs, of the sound and the atmosphere of the album. We just felt that that everything fell into place this time. And I feel that there is a strong cohesion, everything fits together really well, and it also projects the kind of feelings and emotions that we wanted. I feel that it’s just the best combination of everything that we’ve done so far. I’m very pleased with the way it turned out.

Judging by the song names, the main theme of this album are the Vikings. Why so?

I wouldn’t say that the Vikings are the main theme at all. The Scandinavian tradition and of course the Vikings - that’s been a part of the band ever since we started. It’s something that I grew up with, you know - the stories about Odin, and Thor, and Loki, and Baldur, and the Midgard Serpent, and everything. These were the stories my dad used to tell me to put me to sleep when I was a little child. And our music and lyrics have always been a kind of a… let’s say, a framework for these themes. Many things on “Triumph and Power”, but also on “The Hunt” (2010) and “Hammer of the North” (2010) deal with the power of Nature and the connection with nature that I feel very strongly about. And the Scandinavian tradition has very strong connections with Nature and respect for it. So I would say that if there’s a theme, it’s actually the power of Nature.

I like the cover artwork very much – as far as I can see, it’s hand-drawn and I think it fits your style very well. How did you choose the painter to do this work?

I agree with what you said. The guy who did it, his name is Anthony Roberts. It actually our manager, who also works with other band called Conan - Anthony had done the artwork for them, so our manager suggested that we should work with Anthony. I checked out some of the stuff that he had done and, yeah, I really liked his style. I had a very basic idea what kind of imagery I wanted for the album cover and just words, you know, the description in words but he got it. Then he sent back the first sketch – it was just perfect! So, it was a very lucky set of circumstances that led us to him.

And what about the painters who did the artwork for the previous albums? What can you say about them?

I think we’ve been very lucky. Since “Iron Will” (2008) we've worked with three artists. For “Iron Will” and “The Hunt” it was Arik Roper who is an extremely talented artist. For those two albums his artwork was perfect. And then for “Hammer Of The North” we worked with Necrolord who is a Swedish guy that has done many classic album covers for At The Gates, Bathory, etc., and what he did for “Hammer Of The North” was also absolutely perfect so we’ve been very lucky. But I also think that we have a sense of what we want and we always wanted the stuff that doesn’t look like anyone else’s album covers.

Yeah, I like the cover of “Hammer Of The North” very much and the whole artwork of the booklet.

Yeah.

It’s great! Anyway, I’m looking forward to hear your new songs so please, could you tell a little bit about the most significant ones from the forthcoming album?

Well, I think that the songs…you know, when you look at the album artwork, you will feel that they are very much connected to the album cover. I would say, it’s a very powerful album and it’s got the good variation also good dynamics, so it’s not just ten songs that sound the same. There are a couple of really heavy songs with quite majestic choruses and things like this and there’s also a couple of faster tracks and a really long track and a couple of instrumentals. It’s very hard to describe in words, I would say. But if I would describe it, it would be: “Triumph and Power”.

Ok, and what’s your favorite song from the album?

You know, it’s really hard when you’ve just done an album, it’s very hard to kind of listen to it the way you would listen to someone else’s music, so it’s very hard for me to say “a favorite song”, because we can’t look at it from any perspectives. The title track “Triumph and Power” is a really important song of the album and I think it turned out really, really good. If you start with that one you can’t go wrong.

“Triumph and power” - these words fairly describe your way from being a local band in the 90s to a well-known metal act signed to Nuclear Blast. Do you feel triumphant because of your achievements?

Yes. (laughs) When we started out we didn’t even dream of doing an album. Our first album was released in 2001, and back then it wasn’t very easy to get a record deal and so when we got the chance to do it, it was a huge thing for us. And then we were only growing bigger since, we’ve never really gone backwards, if you know what I mean. We’ve only taken small but sure steps towards becoming bigger and bigger. So yeah, I’m very proud of that. And the scene of triumph is also something that we want to project with our music. And also the scene of power.
 
Your tour for the new album starts in March and you are playing almost all shows with Norwegian band Audrey Horne. I like them a lot and I’m curious - do you know these guys personally?

I think we’ve met on a festival somewhere we both played, and yeah, I remember them as really nice guys. But we don’t know them well at all. I think we’ve only met once, but I’m really excited about the tour and I think it’s gonna be a great package.

Yeah, it definitely should be. It’s a pity you are not coming to Russia with this tour.

Yeah, we would love to play in Russia and unfortunately there’s not so many bands that get a chance to come over to Russia and play there. I’ve heard great things about it from friends that have played there, so that’s definitely something we want to do in the future.

Going back to your music, I think that Grand Magus is very notable for, I would say, an honest sound. You don’t use any triggers or samples, especially when it comes to the drums. And the drums became even more natural on “The Hunt”. What’s the cause for it – a new drummer or you changed something in the recording process?

Emm… I think that all albums are different, every recording is different. Even if you you try to do things exactly the same, it’s not gonna be the same anyway. And of course, the mix also has a deep effect on the sound of the album. As to “The Hunt”, I think it had a pretty special sound also because of the songs – they were different than some other stuff we’ve done in the past. ”The Hunt” had more like a hard rock feel to some of the songs, maybe even going into the direction of AC/DC and stuff like that, ‘cause I was in a very serious AC/DC period at the time. It was very natural to have that kind of style of the mix. But on “Triumph and Power” the mix is different and this is, I would say, a more metallic-sounding record and a bigger-sounding record. But it still sounds very natural, and that’s because when we record, it’s very “meat and potatoes”, you know, there’s no crazy stuff going on. It’s the guitar to the Marshall, bass with a distortion pedal and the drum kit - that’s it.

Yeah, and that’s why we love your band! You’ve just mentioned AC/DC. What kind of music do you listen to in your spare time apart from them?

Well, actually it really goes in periods. Sometimes I don’t listen to music at all, especially when like you’re recording and when you get pretty tired of music, in your free time you just want things to be quiet, you know. Normally, I would say that I still listen to the bands that I have always listened to, you know, like Judas Priest, Accept and Motorhead...

So the old stuff?

Yeah, mostly old stuff, but also a lot of new stuff from the bands that I’ve listened to for a long time. I listen to the new stuff that bands like Amon Amarth and Unleashed do. I don’t actually track new bands at all.

I saw Grand Magus at the Masters Of Rock festival in the Czech Republic back in 2010. I was really unhappy that you played in the morning, while weaker local bands got better time and, as a result, a bigger audience. Do you have a more appropriate time slot at MOR-2014 where, as far as I know, you are playing once again?

Yeah, I think we are playing Masters Of Rock again and hopefully yeah, we’ll play a bit later in the day. But I remember that day, it was extremely hot…

Yeah, it was a very hot summer.

Yeah, it was. In that sense I guess we were pretty lucky because I think we played around… Was it like noon or something like that?

Yes, something about that, maybe even earlier.

Yeah, and after that it just became insane, so I think that there were some bands that had real problems getting through the set because it was so hot. We are Scandinavians, we are not really used to that kind of heat, you know. (everybody laughs) I think we will have a later slot this time but I don’t have the exact time.

I also remember that in 2010 you had no technicians on stage and tuned all the stuff by yourselves. Is the situation the same nowadays?

It depends. I mean, it depends on the whole set-up. Sometimes we have a crew with us and many times we don’t. If you do everything yourself, there’s no one else to blame. And also I’m a bit of control freak and it’s hard to find people that you can really trust to make things just the way you want it. Also it’s the matter of logistics. We aren’t a band that has a huge truck with things that we bring with us. Usually it’s just us three and the front of house guy. We're a bit of a guerilla band in that sense - we get in, the four people, and we play, and then we disappear. (everybody laughs)

Now I have a few questions about your past in Spiritual Beggars. I won’t ask you about the reasons why you quit the band because I think you are tired of these questions, my question is: was it hard for you to leave Spiritual Beggars? They were more popular than Grand Magus at that time, so I think you had to be very confident.
 
Yeah, it was a really tough decision and I think I’ve said it in other interviews that if I were two people, if I could clone myself, I would still have one copy of myself to stay with Spiritual Beggars. I really love that band, and we had some great times, and I think we did some great music together. It was very tough, but at the time that I left the band I really had to choose. With Grand Magus, we were just about to start working on “Hammer Of The North” and we knew that it would be a really, really important album for us. I didn’t have the time to record with Spiritual Beggars at that time and they had to record at that time, because everyone else obviously is in other bands so this was the only chance that they felt that they have. You know, it was a necessary decision, but it was a hard decision, absolutely.

I understand, and I think time has proven you right - Grand Magus is getting popular, so you’ve made the right decision.

Well, I think you know that Spiritual Beggars have done two great albums since I left.

Yeah, I love them.

So I think no one lost and no one won, it was just a change.

Yeah, I agree. Your current vocal style differs a lot from early Grand Magus and Spiritual Beggars records – now it is more high-pitched. Did you take any vocal lessons in order to do this or did you just change the technique by yourself?

I’ve never had a vocal lesson in my life. I probably should.

No, you are a very good singer. (laughs)

Well, I think that the main difference is that I started singing quite late in life. When I started singing on the early Grand Magus albums and also the first Spiritual Beggars album, I didn’t really know what I was able to do, and I obviously hadn’t played live that much. Since that time we’ve done so many shows and a lot of albums and you drag things as you go along, you know. I think I’m a bit more relaxed as a singer, and if you put too much strain, there’s no power. You have to sing the right way. I think I have learned a lot, but I still feel I have a lot of things to learn, so the quest never ends.

Personally I like both your current vocal technique and the way you sang in the past, for example, on Spiritual Beggars’ “Killing Time”. We’ve even made a cover for this song with my band, we play it frequently here in St. Petersburg.

Cool!

But it’s not only your vocals that have changed, but the whole Grand Magus music has changed - from stoner/doom to more traditional heavy metal. What was the cause for it?

Yes, we have changed. But then again, we haven’t really taken any huge steps in any direction. Around the time we did our third album, “Wolf’s Return” (2005), we realized that the album we did before, “Monument” (2003), was very slow and very heavy, and we felt that this was as far as we wanted to go in that direction. I think we all felt that we need to go back to the roots that we have, and that is heavy metal, bands like Judas Priest, the albums that Black Sabbath made with Dio, the band Dio, Manowar and things like this, so it was really a very natural thing. I think that the first album is very much Black Sabbath influenced, but then again, if you listen to that album now, of course it sounds different, but the music is not really that different. I don’t know, I think we’ve just been very honest and always done that type of music that excites us the most at the specific point of time.

Now  a couple of questions about specific songs. One of my favorite songs is “Silver Into Steel”, and I know the lyrics but the meaning of the title is still quite unclear for me. What does it mean?

I’m glad you liked it, it’s one of my favorite songs as well. But normally I never explain the meaning of lyrics or song titles because I feel that it’s a part of the whole thing. If you write poetry, for example, you want to project something - a feeling or emotion, whatever. But it doesn’t help if I say what it’s about because it’s your interpretation that is the most important. Even if I have certain specific ideas, it’s better for the listener to find it out. Do you understand what I mean?

Yeah, I understand. Thanks for such an intelligent answer! And another song which differs a lot from the other stuff is “Son Of The Last Breath”. It sounds more like Falconer than Grand Magus. What inspired you to write this song? And one more thing – the song has two parts named in Sweden. Can you translate these words to English?

Yeah, absolutely. The first part, “Nattfödd”, means “born at night”. And the second part is called “Vedergällning”, which means “revenge” or “retaliation”.

Oh, now it’s getting clearer.

Yeah, and the inspiration… I mean, there are songs on many of our albums that have a very strong Swedish folk music inspiration, ‘cause this is something that me and the bass player grew up with in the north of Sweden. So it’s always been a part of our musical identity somehow. “Son Of The Last Breath” was a kind of extension of the idea that was very influenced by folk music, the Scandinavian folk music. And we wanted to do something that was started in one end and ended up in another end.

Thank you for the interview and it’s really a dream come true for me because I’ve always wanted to make Grand Magus more popular in Russia. Please say some words to your fans over here!

Well…I can only say that it’s about time that Grand Magus could come and deliver some Swedish steel to the Russian brothers and sisters. If you know someone who works in that music industry over there, please, tell them to get in touch with our management and we will come. I’ve always dreamed of coming to Russia.

Grand Magus on the Internet: http://www.grandmagus.com

Special thanks to Maxim Bylkin (Soyuz Music) for arranging this interview

Pavel Vlasov
December 4, 2013
© HeadBanger.ru