SABATON – Interview with Daniel Myhr

SABATON in US is not so known as we may want to, but still those guys are earining much more attention and in the nearest future they shall be big also in America. This interview was done for Polish fanclub and the polish version of MetalCentre. All fans from US should read it either! My interview mate was SABATON's keyboard player – Daniel Myrh. Take an eye of it!

You have visited our country just a while ago. You saw north, center and south parts, visited Wizna, met many new people and were awesomely welcomed by press, fans and everyone who was generally interested in your band. That’s a lot of good things, don’t you think? I know that you’re still on the tour, but I would like to ask a few questions if I can. So, can we get started?

It was your 3rd time in Poland and I hope it was not the last one. Tell me, what experiences did you gain as a musician and ordinary person. What really surprised you in Poland, and, do you think is there anything left which could possibly surprise you?

I was very surprised about the reaction and all the attention we got there. When we were in the studio recording the Art of War album I never had the slightest idea of what was waiting for us. I guess it's nothing you really expect when sitting in a studio located far out in the middle of nowhere. My personal impressions and experiences of this trip to Poland were only positive. I can't really point out what affected me the most…… but it was the first time that I actually felt like a public person.

Do you consider our country as exceptional? You know, the whole fuss around your band for me, music journalist and a fan is fully deserved, but on the other hand this whole Saba-mania phenomena kinda hurts me. Know what I mean? You’ve recorded a song, and the result is… just as it is. It is positive, but aren’t you afraid that because of this song (along with the new one about 303 Squadron) you gained very numerous amount of season fans? I really would like to be wrong in this part, but I’m considered it will end up that way.

It might be that way…..but you never know. But I think that somehow we left a lasting impression on people, if that means that Sabaton is gonna be popular forever or just have a temporary up-swing is nothing that I really think about. Poland has been a very special place for me ever since our first visit there with Therion and Grave Digger. The audience is just awesome and the people is very nice and I really like to be there.

Let’s leave the Sabaton phenomena in Poland for a while. For now, I would like to concentrate on your visit in our country. As I said before, you were given the occasion to meet many interesting people, places and also to grasp a bit of our history being in places where it was born. I know that you were exhausted after the gig in Warsaw, but still I’m curious about one thing: was your visit in Wizna something… I don’t know how to call it. Something motivating, inspiring? I don’t know what have you felt while being in other locations you have been invited to, but surely, it must have been intriguing feeling.

It's always very special to visit those places that we have written about. When you come to the place and get to see it with your own eyes you get your head filled with thoughts about the events that have taken place there and how it has affected people. You somehow get a perspective. It's a huge difference between sitting at home, reading and looking at pictures and actually visiting the actual places, feel the atmosphere of the area. Not always an easy thing to deal with but it gives you a good experience for life.

You’ve did a great number of interviews (actually Jocke did, hehe), from which many of your fans acknowledged many things, more or less interesting for them, so now I’ll ask a question which, from the journalist point of view is really thought-provoking. So, during official press conferences there was a lot of journalists, was any question asked really controversial to you, or maybe one of the participants asked about something unusual? If you don’t know or simply don’t remember, you don’t have to answer.

I have never felt offended or provoked by any question really. We are quite aware of that some people might misunderstand what we're writing about. We have been asked many times why we have written about a certain thing because it has been something ”bad”. But when we get to talk to those people and explain our meaning behind it I think no one has ever been disappointed or gotten angry with us. We tell stories and facts. Misinterpretting and misunderstanding will always be a problem, but it's a human thing and it can never be avoided. But we have gotten used to such situations and we are more than happy to explain our meaning to people that ask.

And by the way, do you sometimes get interviewed too? Or maybe rather Par and Jocke are these “public” people in your band? Anyway, when you were standing around Klub Studio, where members of Polish Fanclub tried to talk to you, you were not a really talkative person, you were behaving really shyly 🙂

Haha!! I was shy? I don't know at what point you showed up there but I was standing outside and talking to people several hours before the other band-members showed up. I met many very interesting and nice people. I guess I somehow disappeared in the crowd later on.

I don't think I'm that shy really, but I might not be the most talkative person either. Guess it depends on what's going on in my head at the moment. Haha!

You are freshly after gigs in Poland. Sold out clubs, masses of new people (along with the old fans), people in every age, everyone hungry for Sabaton and heavy metal. Have you expected such big crowds? Because year ago in Loch Ness there was about 100 attendants, recently there was 12 times more of them. It’s amazing how everything evolved in such short time. How do you perceive those concerts from the perspective of time?

It was a big WOW-feeling (not World of Warcraft). It's a bit hard to realise what has happened during this year since we last visited. This time I really got blown away. It's nothing that you really think of while recording the album.You just hope for the best and take things as they come.

You know, your audience is kind of specific, I for example, never imagined the moshpit while on the scene is playing purely heavy metal band, and there you go, 4 bands, 4 awesome pits – 2 biggest ones, by the way, during „40:1”. Whole club literally went crazy, even people on galleries, that was something amazing. And the big one was while you played “Primo Victoria”. Tell me, did anybody ever moshed on your gigs? Just out of curiosity, how did it look before when you know… people got frenzy?

It's a mixture of joy and fear! Haha! When you see all these people get crazy from the music that you play you get this big smile on your face and a huge adrenaline kick.At the same time you get a bit worried that someone might get hurt. But it usually ends in a good way. In Warsaw I met a guy that seemed to have gotten his nose broken. It was all swollen and his face was bloody. But he came up to me and thanked me for the greatest concert he had ever been to. Felt funny that someone that had gotten hurt still felt happy about it.

On a gig you presented your standard setlist, enriched with one additional encore, which I did not expected, but I knew that you are able to play one bonus song. “Nuclear Attack” was… good, really good. It was the the second or third time I’ve heard it performed live by your band, and I hope, that soon it will be included in your usual setlist. I honestly thank you for “Wolfpack” and “Price of a Mile”. The first one is my favorite Sabaton song in general, and during the second one it was my second time (first was at Masters of Rock 2008) when I cried. Im kind of ashamed of that, but this is a beautiful piece and it is not really embarassing to admit to such a reaction.

It's nothing to be ashamed of to cry during a song. People have always been and will always be affected by certain song. You can only hope that the tears comes from something good. Feelings are natural and nothing you can do anything about. Music is a great way to express feelings or dealing with them. As it goes for the songs. We have so many songs that people wants us to play and we try our best to play as many as possible. But in the future we will try to make bigger variations.Some will like it and some won't……but of course there are some songs that we will never be able to leave behind……..I think Primo Victoria is one of them.

After the gig, you came to see fans, and then there was, as we all know, a little afterparty. Do you enjoy parting with Poles? We are great companions when it comes to conversating, fooling around or most of all to drinking… ha ha. Tell me, sometimes you like to drink a bit, right? He,he.

Of course I like drinking. Unfortunately I have to think abit about what I drink when on tour. Because the day after there is another gig that you have to think of. But of course you drink extra when you're around with really nice people. And in Poland there are plenty of nice people. A bit lucky for us that we can get out of there every once in a while……otherwise we would have big health problems. Haha! But I can hardly wait to get back there…….I really like Poland.

Previous question was like a moment of relief. Recently you played in Gdansk. Another sold-out gig, almost 2000 people in hall. Soon, I mean during spring you will visit our country again, this time you will see some new cities. Looks like you really do love Poland, don't you?

I sure do! And somehow Poland seems to like us so it will be very pleasent trip for us.

That would be all for now, friend. Drink lots of beer, have fun, bang your head and stay in touch with us, your fans. Last words in this interview belong to you.

Love y'all! See you in April!