The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Sabaton is “Through the gates of hell as we make our way to heaven. Through the Nazi lines. Primo victoria!” but that’s not all that members of Sabaton have to say, as we can prove with the following interview with their singer Joakim Brodén.
Make the jump to read about beer, killing Germans and questions by an uninformed Dose of Metal writer.
Dose of Metal: First off, thank you for agreeing to do this interview. How have these latest tours been for you? You’re going to tour the States next, is this your first time touring in America?
Joakim Brodén: Yes, it’s our first proper tour in the US, but we’ve been over there a few times playing festivals and single shows. But now we’re looking forward to actually seeing a bit of america except the airports!
DoM: You recently signed to Nuclear Blast Records and re-released the albums ‘Primo Victoria,’ ‘Attero Dominatus,’ ‘Metalizer’ and ‘The Art of War’. Why did you chose to re-release these album in ‘Re-Armed editions’ and why didn’t you re-release ‘Fist for Fight’?
JB: Fist for Fight is included for free with the “Metalizer” release, so why would we release it on it’s own and charge people for something they can get for free? 😉
DoM: Your lyrical content shifted drastically from fictional fantasy inspired lyrics to lyrics about the history of real wars, all around the world. How did that come about?
JB: When we were writing the lyrics for the song “Primo Victoria” we basically found out that it was so much more interesting and engaging for us to write the lyrics when they were about historical events rather than fantasy themed, so when it turned out that our fans liked it too we decided to stick with it.
Sabaton - Uprising
DoM: Lots of your lyrics also deal with World War II, yet you are very popular among German metalheads. On your tours, did you notice any kind of difference in reaction between audiences whose history is sung about in your lyrics and audiences who aren’t topic to your lyrics?
JB: Some times people misunderstand our lyrics, but most of the time people get the message and the german crowd seems fine with the fact that we’re singing about killing germans in over 50% of our material, so why stop? haha 😉
DoM: Two of your songs, ‘Metal Machine’ and ‘Metal Crüe,’ deal with the topic of Heavy Metal. These two songs are crowd favorites, are you planing to write a similar kind of song in the future?
JB: Yes, there is one similarly themed song on the “Coat of Arms” album that is called “Metal Ripper”, but on our future plans I really can’t say since these things change all the time and I don’t wanna make any promises I can’t keep
DoM: A new Sabaton album is supposedly in the works. Can you tell us a bit more about that?
JB: Yes, sure… It’s gonna be an album with drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals. And sound kind of metal… i think.
DoM: When you’re writing a song, what do you write first; the lyrics or the music?
JB: Music comes first 90% of the times, and sometimes lyrics jump into my head at the same time as I’m writing the music.
DoM: You’ve been touring heavily these past couple of years. What was the funniest thing to happen to you on tour?
JB: Well, there’s too many to mention and too many who would be offended about what we regard as funny.
Sabaton - Attero Dominatus (live at Wacken)
DoM: Are any of the members of Sabaton married or are you guys enjoying yourselves with 20 females after each show?
JB: 20 Females? are you kidding??? … if there’s less than 40 hot chicks in the dressing room we cancel the show!… No seriously, we all have different family situations ranging from single (me) to married (Rikard)
DoM: What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the following things:
…Power Metal?
JB: Why not?
…Swedish Death Metal?
JB: Maybe.
…Noch ein Bier (One more Beer)?
JB: Definitely
Noch ein Bier!
…The scariest men in history of mankind?
JB: Adolf, Stalin, Saddam, Simon Cowell?
…Michael Jackson?
JB: Beat it!
…Justin Bieber?
JB: Who?
JB: Hell yes!
…Sabaton?
JB: Who?
DoM: That’s all the questions I’ve got. Any last words for your readers at doseofmetal.com?
JB: Noch ein grosses Bier bitte!
DoM: Thank you for your time!
