Katatonia pour l'album "The Great Cold Distance"

1. You're about to release in march, your seventh album "The Great Cold Distance" and I remarked that the promotion began very early and is more intensive. How big has become the band and how has evolve your popularity these last years?

I think Peaceville should answer why the promotion began so early and what the grand plan is, because I really don’t know. In aspects of increased popularity, yes I’ve felt a change through the last years. We’ve built up our fan base very accurately but slowly. We’re not a over night sensation band, so we have a lot of ground to stand on whereas the one hit wonders falls to the depths of hell when their 17 minutes of fame is over. I think Katatonia could become a million times bigger than we are now, so it’s all out in the open.


2. I wasn't able to hear the new album yet but I'm very impatient to. What can you tell us about it compared to your previous releases?

Our mission was to create and deliver a very heavy and aggressive album layered on susurrus depth of atmosphere. We carried on tons of dark and cold visions and with our minds set on that, we felt obliged to transform the vibe with razor-sharp precision into music. We didn't have to walk a great cold distance to get there; we were already there as the gap was between us and the rest of the world.


3. What do you like in this new album?

I love the dynamics and professional edge of the production.


4. The artwork of the new album and the new pictures of the band (that we can see on katatonia.com) are darker than before. I was also very surprised to see that you didn't put the Katatonia logo on the cover. Is "The Great Cold Distance" a new start for the band?

I wouldn’t say it’s a new start, we could have just likely have put the logo on there, but it didn’t seem fit and by doing the small font we only increased the coldness of the album. Everything on this album was about the coldness.


5. A videoclip has been shot for "My Twin". What can you tell us about it? Are you satisfied with it?

Yeah, it was directed by Charlie Granberg and I’m really happy with it. It has a story line that worked and it’s very professional looking.


6. Is there already a tour planed to promote the new album and with which bands? When will you come to France?

I think we’re gonna do at least two European tours in support of this album. One shorter in late spring, then some summer festivals and one off’s and eventually one longer and more complete tour in autumn. Potentially, both tours will be headliner tours and France will definitely be included in one or both of the tours. We wanna give all the people a true Katatonic revenge since we missed your country on our last tour back in 2003.


7. Dan Swanö has re-open the famous Unisound studios. Do you project to record there one day, like before?

Not with Katatonia, but very likely with Bloodbath or another project.


8. Some of our readers and team members (and me) are worrying about the other project of the members of Katatonia (October Tide, Diabolical Masquerade ...). Is there any news about them? Is there a chance that the "Rain without End" of October Tide will be re-release one day?

Both October Tide and Diabolical Masquerade are dissolved projects. Renkse and Norrman never expressed any interest to resurrect their project and you shouldn’t hold your breath for it to happen any time in the future either. I on the other hand, might resurrect Diabolical Masquerade if the time and passion is there. The reason why I stopped in the first place was because all my ambition was below freezing point. We shall see…


9. The famous "Brave Murder Day" will celebrate its 10 years birthday this year. What do you think about this album today?

Oh dear, I can’t believe it’s been 10 years already… I still love it and I think we re-invented our entire sound with this album. It also proved to be a groundbreaking influence for many bands to emerge thereafter, so I’m proud for what it was and what it achieved.


10. what are your favorite Katatonia album(s) except the last one, those you less prefer and why?

Tricky question indeed. The album I like the least has to be ‘Dance of December Souls’ because of the playing on that album. It’s really sloppy and bad and ruined what musically is a really nice album for the doom genre.


11. Katatonia, it's very sad. But how are you in the everyday life and on tour?

Well, it might appear that we’re a whiny miserable bunch of bastards, but just because Katatonia is a dark and negative band, it doesn’t mean the members go around 24/7 being miserable. We are not striving to be depressed at all; we’re striving to be as happy as you possibly can. (Un)fortunately that side has nothing to do with Katatonia and you won’t see any of it, but then again, there are other bands doing that very well.


12. Do you see the Opeth crew sometimes?

Oh yes as much as I can. I support those guys 100% because of the brilliant band they are and also being closest friends.


13. What are you listening to nowadays? Any good albums to share?

Current top #5 of the month:
FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM - 'Mourning Sun' 2005
JORN LANDE - 'The Duke' 2006
MADDER MORTEM - 'Desiderata' 2006
DAYLIGHT DIES - 'Dismantling Devotion' 2006
JOHN 5 - 'Songs for Sanity' 2005


14. To conclure, what is your position about downloading?

The Internet scene has proven it has its own course, it can’t be controlled by the labels nor the band, what’s leaked is leaked and it spreads like a wildfire. Labels could stop sending out promo cd’s prior to the release, but then they wouldn’t get any generalized feedback and no hype built up before hand and that would collapse the whole promotionalcampaign.
When an album is leaked one month prior to release, that’s pretty much what we have to live with, it can even add to the hype, people start talking about it, the buzz is on, but it would be nothing short of devastating for a band if it was already available six months or even up to a year in advance. That’s 100% unacceptable. When the album has been out for such a long amount of time, it’s already old news and will fall flat like a dead fish upon its release date cuz people have since then moved on, being excited about the current leaked releases and have forgotten about the release “I downed 6 months ago” since it’s already back catalogue priority.
Personally, I would wanna view internet (including the p2p tools) as a big radio station with your own freedom of choice to download songs and listen to them and if you like it, then you go buy the album (for the artwork, the real deal format and to show support to a band you love), and once you did that you probably wanna go to shows and buy a t-shirt too, so it’s all
intertwined and one thing leads to another. anyways, p2p illegal file sharing shall never ever replace an official final product, and what the final product is, should be in the hands of the copyright owner to decide… be it a digital download or a jewel case cd.


15. Thank you very much for the interview and I hope to see you soon in France! The last words are yours!

Thanks for your support. Buy our new album and come to one of our concerts and we’ll give you a Katatonia for life! Cheerz!