CHENNAI: Metal heads at IIT Madras were in for a treat as the five piece metal band, Katatonia, from Sweden got ready to perform for the first time in the city. City Express had a quick chat with the band’s bassist Niklas Sandin and second guitarist Roger Ojersson ahead of their performance.
Formed in 1991 by guitarist Anders Nystrom and lead vocalist, Jonas Renkse, as a studio-only project for the duo, Katatonia is considered to be one of the most consistent bands of all time. The band, which is in its 26th year, has gone through a lot of lineup changes over the years but that never stopped them from releasing albums and songs. So what drives them? “I guess it’s the passion for music and the need to write better songs that keeps us together,” says Roger.
The current lineup of the band includes Daniel Moilanen as the drummer. The band’s music has evolved over the years, “It was a long time ago, almost 20 years ago when we slowly progressed from thrashing vocals of doom metal to dark and mellow rock,” says Niklas. The change of direction in the band’s music is said to have happened because of Renkse’s health condition and new influences.
Katatonia’s music has always been about melancholy and despair, the bassist claims that the band is fascinated with dark emotions that humans feel, and dark people. Katatonia has been around for a long time while most bands split and move on. So what’s their secret? “These days we indulge in a little musical quiz with all the metal music in our free time. But mostly I guess it’s good wine and food,” smiles Niklas.
Over the years, the band has toured all over the world, their favourite places are South America and India, says the bassist. “South America was amazing, the crowd there was similar to our own back home and then there is India. We came here in 2010 to IIT Mumbai and though people weren’t really familiar with our work, it was a good crowd.”
Roger claims that their craziest gig so far was in Mexico last year, “It was my first time touring internationally with the band and I didn’t know what to expect. Back home, the crowd is a bit mellow, but in Mexico, it was wild and crazy.”
So what are their future plans? “We’ll be mostly promoting our latest album and maybe even release
some bonus material and EP of the same this year. We haven’t started thinking of another album just yet,” says the bassist.