Mårten Hagström - Meshuggah (28/10/2014)
Meshuggah don't really need an introduction, and if they do, then you have failed at music. These Swedish legends have been kicking ass and destroying ears for over a quarter of a century now and thankfully, they don't seem to be stopping anytime soon. They're heavy, they're tight, they tune low, and they have a new live DVD out! The 59th Sound recently had a late night chat with the bands longtime rhythm guitarist, Mårten Hagström, about their second DVD, The Ophidian Trek.
"I don't really get too tied up about it, but this live DVD was what we wanted to put out. It was a chance for us to deliver the vibe we have live, with the visuals and everything, and to have a more fairer representation of what we wanna out out there as far as a live band. So I'm pretty excited about that. It is both more nerve-wrecking and also more rewarding to put out an album though".
The last DVD, Alive, had a massive set list and The Ophidian Trek, while not as long, is just as solid. So if you've never seen the band live before, you now would have two really good references to go off. Our interviewee could only agree. "I think so. Even though the Alive DVD was a fair representation of what we were like up to that point, with obZen. After that tour, we sat down and said 'Okay, it's time for us to take care of something we've been talking and discussing about for a long time now'. And that was incorporating in a show. Not just five guys hammering away at their instruments but to actually implement some atmospheric moments as well. Like how we setup and how we ran the stage. The way we do it is real simple. Nothing fancy or anything. It's the sum of the style that we're playing, the way we sound together with how we got a really good crew with the care to put this together. That was the entire reason for putting this DVD out - to show what we want our live set to be about".
As Mårten explained, the sets they captured represented the best the band had to offer over the last few years. "The actual DVD was filmed on the Koloss tour. So it leads off that and obZen, the most recent albums, and those are the ones that seem to be doing the best. That's why it was refreshing to do that tour last summer. That was the proper 25 year representation of the band, and then we went back and did a lot of the older shit. That was quite a contrast to what we did with the DVD set. The way we modelled everything around The Ophidian Trek was not so much a representation of our whole career, but more about what we had learned about what we wanted to be".
On the subject of their live show, Mårten pondered as to whether he thought part of the bands success could be attributed to their live presence. "I don't really know, maybe that's why we've been able to keep going so long, and why people come to see our shows. From our point of view, the reason we're still doing this is solely because of the creative process. That's why we started out doing what we do. It's kinda been the red thread through it all. When we come together as a group of individuals, we share kind of the same vision on what we are as a band. But we always try to make it a new experience, make every album an imprint of what we are about for a period of two to three years. In the musical way, we're kinda writing our own history. You can hear the state of mind we were in when we wrote Chaossphere. Maybe not to other people, but to ourselves. I think that being on this creative journey has been what's made us not quit."
Playing in a band for so long means you travel and experience a lot of cool places, but also a lot of different venues. Mårten shared with us his favourite kind of venue. "The absolutely best set up is a packed house between 1,500 and 4,000 people, kind of like a theatre set up. Were you bring a lot of people closer, so you've got a floor, a balcony, or whatever. So from a physical stand point, if you're in a band and you walk up on in front of 40,000 people at a massive festival, and the crowd is awesome, the stage is big, it's not gonna feel that same way in the band. Just most of the time, you've got security, and a couple of metres before the barrier starts so then you see the first thousand people. But in a theatre packing 2,000 people and the crowds close to the stage, it's gonna become a way better experience. Not just for us, as it resonates with the band, and the crowd will feel it too".
The topic of touring can only take up so much time and space, so we got more into the nitty-gritty stuff of this new release, namely about what's more costly: a full-length album or a live DVD? "As fas as production wise, some of the leg work has already been done when you turn something into a live DVD. What you need to do is have it recorded the proper way. What we've been doing the last couple tours we've done, we run all of our gear like a recording setup anyway. We recorded pretty much every show we played. That doesn't cost anything, causer hats integrated is our in-ear systems and how we set up with Front of House. So every time we go up on stage, we have a live recording afterwards, as fas as audio goes. We already had that in place so we just needed to bring the cameras in, but on the other hand we have our own studio. And we always record there so that's also always set up in place for us. So for us, not for any other band, it's pretty much equal".
On the subject of music piracy, Mårten shared his thoughts on whether illegally downloading the DVD had the same effect if one of the bands records was illegally downloaded instead. "I think it's pretty much the same thing. The way to evaluate piracy is if you see it as theft or as the inevitable that's used as a promotional tool. If you view it as theft, it doesn't matter what it is, it's the same problem, DVD or cd. If you see it as a free-for-all, then nothing really matters as it's all there for everyone. It really comes into the same ballpark which ever way you view it".
After playing for so long, you'd have plenty of great memories and great shows, but Mårten even shared with us his nightmare experience at one show in particular, albeit with laughter in his tone of voice. "We've played a lot of horrible shows, though sometimes it's just circumstance. Some people playing injured or when they're sick, stuff like that is not pleasurable. Like when your set to do an encore and your drummer has to go throw up and you have to wait for him to get back on. It's not that glamorous. We did this one show back in 2002, it was with System Of A Down and Down and then us opening up. We'd been in the studio writing and recording for like six months. Then we went straight into press for a couple weeks and then we had this big blow out party before we hoped on the plane to go to the States. We actually hadn't rehearsed a single note together as a band for like two years or something at that point. So that night was just horrendous, and we played horrendous, and the feeling we had was worse. That was probably one of the worst 45 minute experiences of my entire life!"
Those bad experiences haven't swayed the guitarist however. "The first few years or the first few shows you play when you're a kid, that's more fear than nervousness. That's like honest to god fucking fear. It's a threshold that I'm glad I got over when I was a kid, because I don't think I could be that brave if I had to do it now. I'm never really nervous though, but I do get some kind of tension, some form of adrenaline when I get on stage. The day you lose something like that is when you should stop playing live cause it won't make a difference. There's gotta be some kind of nervousness there to make it good."
Sharing in Meshuggah's shcedule, Mårten gave us the run down on what the band will be doing next year. "Well after December, the whole of 2015 is just writing and at the end of the year, we'll look at maybe recording some stuff. It'll just be album mode, and with a Meshuggah album, we just stay at home. But in saying that, I know we'll be doing some select European festivals".
Finally, we just had to ask - will this new album be heavy? Mårten just laughed and said "Well, with a little bit of luck...you never know".
Alexander Sievers
"I don't really get too tied up about it, but this live DVD was what we wanted to put out. It was a chance for us to deliver the vibe we have live, with the visuals and everything, and to have a more fairer representation of what we wanna out out there as far as a live band. So I'm pretty excited about that. It is both more nerve-wrecking and also more rewarding to put out an album though".
The last DVD, Alive, had a massive set list and The Ophidian Trek, while not as long, is just as solid. So if you've never seen the band live before, you now would have two really good references to go off. Our interviewee could only agree. "I think so. Even though the Alive DVD was a fair representation of what we were like up to that point, with obZen. After that tour, we sat down and said 'Okay, it's time for us to take care of something we've been talking and discussing about for a long time now'. And that was incorporating in a show. Not just five guys hammering away at their instruments but to actually implement some atmospheric moments as well. Like how we setup and how we ran the stage. The way we do it is real simple. Nothing fancy or anything. It's the sum of the style that we're playing, the way we sound together with how we got a really good crew with the care to put this together. That was the entire reason for putting this DVD out - to show what we want our live set to be about".
As Mårten explained, the sets they captured represented the best the band had to offer over the last few years. "The actual DVD was filmed on the Koloss tour. So it leads off that and obZen, the most recent albums, and those are the ones that seem to be doing the best. That's why it was refreshing to do that tour last summer. That was the proper 25 year representation of the band, and then we went back and did a lot of the older shit. That was quite a contrast to what we did with the DVD set. The way we modelled everything around The Ophidian Trek was not so much a representation of our whole career, but more about what we had learned about what we wanted to be".
On the subject of their live show, Mårten pondered as to whether he thought part of the bands success could be attributed to their live presence. "I don't really know, maybe that's why we've been able to keep going so long, and why people come to see our shows. From our point of view, the reason we're still doing this is solely because of the creative process. That's why we started out doing what we do. It's kinda been the red thread through it all. When we come together as a group of individuals, we share kind of the same vision on what we are as a band. But we always try to make it a new experience, make every album an imprint of what we are about for a period of two to three years. In the musical way, we're kinda writing our own history. You can hear the state of mind we were in when we wrote Chaossphere. Maybe not to other people, but to ourselves. I think that being on this creative journey has been what's made us not quit."
Playing in a band for so long means you travel and experience a lot of cool places, but also a lot of different venues. Mårten shared with us his favourite kind of venue. "The absolutely best set up is a packed house between 1,500 and 4,000 people, kind of like a theatre set up. Were you bring a lot of people closer, so you've got a floor, a balcony, or whatever. So from a physical stand point, if you're in a band and you walk up on in front of 40,000 people at a massive festival, and the crowd is awesome, the stage is big, it's not gonna feel that same way in the band. Just most of the time, you've got security, and a couple of metres before the barrier starts so then you see the first thousand people. But in a theatre packing 2,000 people and the crowds close to the stage, it's gonna become a way better experience. Not just for us, as it resonates with the band, and the crowd will feel it too".
The topic of touring can only take up so much time and space, so we got more into the nitty-gritty stuff of this new release, namely about what's more costly: a full-length album or a live DVD? "As fas as production wise, some of the leg work has already been done when you turn something into a live DVD. What you need to do is have it recorded the proper way. What we've been doing the last couple tours we've done, we run all of our gear like a recording setup anyway. We recorded pretty much every show we played. That doesn't cost anything, causer hats integrated is our in-ear systems and how we set up with Front of House. So every time we go up on stage, we have a live recording afterwards, as fas as audio goes. We already had that in place so we just needed to bring the cameras in, but on the other hand we have our own studio. And we always record there so that's also always set up in place for us. So for us, not for any other band, it's pretty much equal".
On the subject of music piracy, Mårten shared his thoughts on whether illegally downloading the DVD had the same effect if one of the bands records was illegally downloaded instead. "I think it's pretty much the same thing. The way to evaluate piracy is if you see it as theft or as the inevitable that's used as a promotional tool. If you view it as theft, it doesn't matter what it is, it's the same problem, DVD or cd. If you see it as a free-for-all, then nothing really matters as it's all there for everyone. It really comes into the same ballpark which ever way you view it".
After playing for so long, you'd have plenty of great memories and great shows, but Mårten even shared with us his nightmare experience at one show in particular, albeit with laughter in his tone of voice. "We've played a lot of horrible shows, though sometimes it's just circumstance. Some people playing injured or when they're sick, stuff like that is not pleasurable. Like when your set to do an encore and your drummer has to go throw up and you have to wait for him to get back on. It's not that glamorous. We did this one show back in 2002, it was with System Of A Down and Down and then us opening up. We'd been in the studio writing and recording for like six months. Then we went straight into press for a couple weeks and then we had this big blow out party before we hoped on the plane to go to the States. We actually hadn't rehearsed a single note together as a band for like two years or something at that point. So that night was just horrendous, and we played horrendous, and the feeling we had was worse. That was probably one of the worst 45 minute experiences of my entire life!"
Those bad experiences haven't swayed the guitarist however. "The first few years or the first few shows you play when you're a kid, that's more fear than nervousness. That's like honest to god fucking fear. It's a threshold that I'm glad I got over when I was a kid, because I don't think I could be that brave if I had to do it now. I'm never really nervous though, but I do get some kind of tension, some form of adrenaline when I get on stage. The day you lose something like that is when you should stop playing live cause it won't make a difference. There's gotta be some kind of nervousness there to make it good."
Sharing in Meshuggah's shcedule, Mårten gave us the run down on what the band will be doing next year. "Well after December, the whole of 2015 is just writing and at the end of the year, we'll look at maybe recording some stuff. It'll just be album mode, and with a Meshuggah album, we just stay at home. But in saying that, I know we'll be doing some select European festivals".
Finally, we just had to ask - will this new album be heavy? Mårten just laughed and said "Well, with a little bit of luck...you never know".
Alexander Sievers