{"id":68735,"date":"2020-11-18T19:42:34","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T00:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=68735"},"modified":"2022-02-20T10:44:39","modified_gmt":"2022-02-20T15:44:39","slug":"interview-with-erik-martensson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2020\/interview-with-erik-martensson\/","title":{"rendered":"Erik M\u00e5rtensson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Alexandra Mrozowska
\u2014 Senior Columnist \u2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Live albums have a special place in each band\u2019s discography \u2013 more of a complementation than just an addition to a string of studio EPs and full-length albums. For some bands, KISS being probably the first that comes to mind, releasing a live album was actually a long-awaited career breakthrough after a handful of not-so-successful LPs. For others, carefully planned and selected recordings of their live shows \u2013 which were, more often than not, enhanced in the studio afterwards \u2013 cemented their star status in the music industry. But what if the live album wasn\u2019t planned at all, and everything happened just by coincidence…? That\u2019s exactly what the story behind the double live album Viva La VicTOURia <\/em>released this November by Eclipse was. Accidental or not, it\u2019s nevertheless a very special release for the fans of the Swedish four-piece. Not only is it the first live album in their discography. It\u2019s also a sort of a substitute for a live show for those who haven\u2019t managed to see the band on tour yet and a souvenir for those who have. Hardrock Haven caught up with the band\u2019s mastermind and also one of the most prolific songwriters of the European Hard Rock scene, Erik M\u00e5rtensson, to get all the details behind the release. But as coincidence would have it (again), we happened to talk on the release day of the new single and videoclip by a supergroup W.E.T (including M\u00e5rtensson alongside Jeff Scott Soto, Robert S\u00e4ll and Eclipse bandmates Magnus Henriksson and Robban B\u00e4ck). That\u2019s why we had to mention W.E.T\u2019s upcoming album \u2013 as well as other projects Erik\u2019s involved in…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hardrock Haven: It\u2019s more than two decades into Eclipse\u2019s history and almost as much since the first studio record, but your first live album Viva La VicTOURia<\/em> saw the light of day just yet. How long have you been considering releasing such an album?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: We discussed releasing an album like that \u2013 a live album \u2013 not because we really wanted to do a live album, as we play live all the time. But I know fans have been asking us for years and years to do something like this… We always wanted to do it in the right circumstances though. And there wasn\u2019t supposed to be a live album this time, either. It was just that some friends of us were just filming one of the concerts we did in Sweden, and at the same time we recorded the whole show. When the pandemic hit, it was like, \u201cWhat are we gonna do now?\u201d And then we started looking at the video that\u2019s been shot from the gig and listening to what we had recorded, and we were like, \u201cThis is a really good gig \u2013 it sounds great, we play live, the crowd is great,\u201d so we started working on the material. It happened by accident almost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And do you think it\u2019s possible at all \u2013 in case of Eclipse, but not only \u2013 to capture the band\u2019s energy during a live performance on recording?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: That\u2019s always hard, because being at a live concert is fifty percent the music and… well, maybe forty percent is music, forty percent is seeing everything around and then twenty percent is just being annoyed that people standing next to you are screaming too much and jumping up and down (laughs). So it\u2019s hard. But we kept everything live here \u2013 the vocals for this whole live gig are completely authentic and they haven\u2019t been redone in the studio at all… We wanted to keep it as real as possible. We left even the mistakes. If it\u2019s bad singing or bad playing, we left it because that\u2019s how it is like. No one\u2019s perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: With such an approach to authenticity on Eclipse\u2019s live album, what\u2019s your general opinion about many live albums by other artists being secretly enhanced in the studio afterwards?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: Well, if the original recording doesn\u2019t cut it, if it doesn\u2019t sound good enough, I don\u2019t think anyone will be happy listening to a poor performance or bad sound. So if people enhance it to make it sound good, I have nothing against it. Do whatever you want. But for us, as the whole performance was so good and the energy was there, there was no use in making it better than it actually was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Even though Viva La VicTOURia <\/em>is a live album, it also contains some acoustic studio recordings…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: We\u2019ve done them because we always had these acoustic versions for the Japanese market, and I kind of like it because it\u2019s fun to have these bonus tracks on separate territories. But at the same time the rest of the world\u2019s not able to hear them, so for the first time we released them so that everyone gets them on CD or on Spotify or wherever you\u2019re listening. It\u2019s a fun thing to do, and I think a lot of songs that are great as Rock songs also work very well on acoustic guitars. Not all the time, but usually if it\u2019s a great song, it usually works great both with a full Rock band and just acoustic guitars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: The new live album also features highlights of Live From The Quarantine<\/em> [a pay-per-view live concert recorded in HD and streamed by the band in Studio Gr\u00f6ndahl, Stockholm, Sweden on April the 1st, 2020]. How did the idea for it started and what was your initial attitude towards it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: At the beginning [of the lockdown period] everyone was just sitting down with acoustic guitars and their phones, recording at home, and we got fed up with it pretty early on as there were so many of them… It seemed like every person with an acoustic guitar was sitting there and singing live on Facebook or Instagram (laughs). I couldn\u2019t stand it anymore. So if we were going to do it, let it be proper rock\u2019n\u2019roll \u2013 let\u2019s try to do it with a full band and to make it look good, to make it more interesting and something different than that phone and an acoustic guitar which we were pretty much fed up with. And I think we pulled it off, but if you want to have it [this way], it takes personnel to do everything and prepare the studio. That\u2019s why we had to have this pay-per-view. Everyone in the crew had to get paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Perfectly understandable. And what kind of experience was Live From The Quarantine<\/em> in comparison to the regular Eclipse gig and what was the feedback?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: It was like we were rehearsing in a rehearsal room. We knew that people were watching, but we couldn\u2019t see them or interact with them in any way (laughs). It was kind of a strange situation, so that\u2019s why we stood like in a ring, facing each other, rather than trying to make it look like a concert. That\u2019d be a nonsense… So we played to each other and for each other and tried to enjoy it as much as possible. We didn\u2019t take it too seriously, we just rocked out and had a good time. I think it turned out pretty well. And we were just overwhelmed with the feedback… After the gig we went out and had a couple of beers and we started looking at reactions from people… It was especially evident in countries that had real, hard lockdowns \u2013 people were almost crying and it was so special to them… You know, in Sweden we never had real lockdowns, but in place like Italy early on they had serious lockdowns and then it went all over the world. People there really needed something to be excited about and to see there\u2019s an outside world. That had nothing to do with the pandemic, it was just music and good times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Do you think that one day, for whatever reason, performances in this format may replace normal concerts entirely?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: No! Not at all. It\u2019s boring for the fans and it\u2019s boring for the band (laughs). I\u2019m dying to get on the tour bus, go out, see places, meet people, shake their hands… you know, go back to as it was before. I\u2019m tired of social distancing (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: I can imagine (laughs). Speaking about Live From The Quarantine<\/em>, during it you also unveiled your new song \u201cDriving One Of Your Cars\u201d, which is a cover version of Lisa Miskovsky\u2019s 2001 song. Why did you decide to put your stamp on it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Erik M\u00e5rtensson: I really liked this song when it came out and I think one of my bandmates heard it on the radio or something like that, and he told me, \u201cThat\u2019s a great song. We should do a cover of it.\u201d And I went on, \u201cYeah, that\u2019s a great idea.\u201d Because a lot of good songs has been an influence on us in some sense. So I sit down and did a quick recording \u2013 a demo version \u2013 of the song. And I was like, \u201cIt sounds almost like Eclipse.\u201d So we went on and did it. Nothing serious, just doing a cover song to see what happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: In another interview you said you\u2019d love to see an upcoming band re-recording some older Eclipse tunes. Would you like it to be a band from your genre, or an act that\u2019s entirely different stylistics?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: Oh yeah. [I\u2019d prefer it to be] completely different. Maybe from a Rock band or a singer-songwriter… but something very different. That would be awesome to see how something can translate from one thing to another, like we tried to re-do Lisa Miskovsky\u2019s song to sound like Eclipse. It\u2019s not a huge difference, but still there is a difference. It would be fun to see what happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Do you think that Viva La VicTOURia<\/em> may be a good starting point for someone who hasn\u2019t heard about Eclipse before?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: Sure, absolutely! It\u2019s a great collection of songs. If it was supposed to be the big live album that we planned, maybe we should\u2019ve make the setlist a bit more diverse. This was just in the middle of the tour for the new Paradigm <\/em>album, so the whole set was really focused on the new album. That\u2019s why there\u2019s so many new songs on the live album. We always try to play as many new songs as possible, because we don\u2019t wanna turn into a \u201cgreatest hits\u201d kind of band… But if it we were about to do a planned live album, for real, maybe we would add some other songs. That\u2019s how it went down, however.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Do you prefer to discover bands through studio or live albums? And what\u2019s your favorite live album ever and why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: Studio albums. I guess I listened much more to studio records than live records. When I was a kid, I listened a lot to AC\/DC live albums, and of course Deep Purple and these older classic KISS live albums. But the eighty percent of what I listened to, that\u2019s studio records. My favorite\u2019s got to be If You Want Blood You\u2019ve Got It <\/em>by AC\/DC. I\u2019ve listened to that album a million times. Or better yet, Let There Be Rock <\/em>also by AC\/DC, recorded in Paris in 1979. I bought it on a VHS cassette when I was a kid and when I watched it, the gig was electrifying. Even today, when I watch it, I get goosebumps \u2018cause it\u2019s so extremely good. It\u2019s so rock\u2019n\u2019roll, uncontrolled and the energy is amazing. And great songs of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: It\u2019s AC\/DC after all! And if you could go back in time to record and release yet another Eclipse show that was special for you for whatever reason, is there any that comes to your mind?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: There\u2019s been a lot of great gigs in the past. I think it\u2019s probably a 2016 gig we did in Stockholm. We played this venue I\u2019ve been in many times watching other bands. I love the venue and I\u2019ve seen really big bands there, so I was like, \u201cOne day it will be awesome to play there.\u201d And in 2016, it was sold out by Eclipse. When we went onstage, the place was packed. It was unbelievable, almost unreal that it could happen. And we asked ourselves, \u201cAre we a big band now…?\u201d We couldn\u2019t believe that there were so many people there, like hundreds and hundreds of people standing and screaming to Eclipse songs. So I\u2019d probably pick that one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: As you\u2019ve already mentioned, Viva La VicTOURia<\/em> captures what\u2019s best on your most recent studio album Paradigm<\/em>. Do you think this particular album was, as many reviewers have already suggested, an opus magnum of your entire career so far?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: Yeah, I think so. Even though it\u2019s been more than a year now since it was released, I still think it\u2019s really good. It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t listen to the record all the time (laughs). I don\u2019t listen to it much to be honest (laughs). But I\u2019m really proud of that record, also because we have taken some steps in developing our sound. We always try to develop the sound for every album and try to find something new to incorporate into our music. We don\u2019t wanna be… you know, I\u2019ve spoken so well about AC\/DC and it\u2019s my favorite band, but we don\u2019t wanna be AC\/DC that do the same album over and over again. \u2018Cause eventually you\u2019ll end up doing just worse and worse records. And we always try to move our positions to different places all the time so we don\u2019t fall in that crap. And I think we did a big step on Paradigm <\/em>to develop the sound but still sound like Eclipse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Which of the songs off Paradigm <\/em>works best in the live setting, and why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: \u201cViva La Victoria\u201d, without a doubt. That\u2019s a song made for the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: While writing songs, do you do it with their future potential in a live setting in mind?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: No, not really. It\u2019s just songs that we enjoy listening to ourselves. And sometimes they\u2019re perfect live and sometimes not. But usually the songs we really enjoy recording for the album are quite simple \u2013 we always try to make as simple songs as possible \u2013 and I think simple songs are the best live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And as we\u2019re speaking about concerts, what is the status of the seated Eclipse concert under the \u201cSit Down And Shout\u201d moniker that was announced to be held in December in Stockholm?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: It\u2019s still on, but things has become way worse in Europe, Sweden included. So they\u2019re talking about the second wave [of COVID] hitting us. They imposed a lot of restrictions, and if they continue with them, we\u2019ll have to postpone this concert. Fingers crossed we will do the gig, but looking at what happened during the last weeks, the chances are very slim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Unfortunately so… And in general, what\u2019s your approach towards the way organizers tried to re-introduce live concerts \u2013 with social distancing, masks, seated audience… Does it make sense at all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: Well, it\u2019s what needs to be done. It\u2019s a bad year, bad for quite some time, and there are no other possibilities to do it. So we have to do it like this and it\u2019s better to do something like this than do nothing at all. But sometimes it\u2019s also better to wait until this whole thing settles and we can go back to having proper concerts. Because a concert is about standing close to each other, in a crowd, with a beer in your hand, screaming and singing along to the band after all. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Exactly. But moving on to another topic, just an hour before our interview we\u2019ve seen the videoclip to the new single \u201cBig Boys Don\u2019t Cry\u201d by W.E.T. Obviously, there was always an uplifting vibe to the band\u2019s songs like \u201cRise Up\u201d or \u201cStill Unbroken\u201d… But do you think that \u2013 especially in the current worldwide situation \u2013 this positive message behind the new single is twice as important as normally?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: Absolutely! The album is much more positive in general. It\u2019s much like an uptempo Rock party album, more than ever before. It\u2019s not serious \u2013 not that we were ever that serious, but it\u2019s more tongue-in-cheek than before. If that\u2019s possible of course (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Any details of the songwriting or the recording process of the new W.E.T album that you can reveal that early?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: Well, I did a lot of stuff myself as we couldn\u2019t hook up as we usually did. Usually I\u2019ve been writing with a guy called Miqael, and Robert [S\u00e4ll, of Work Of Art] of course, and Jeff [Scott Soto] as well. But this time there was no chance to hook up and write together. So a lot of the stuff has been written by myself, with some lyrics written with Jeff. Most of the recordings has been done here, in my studio in Sweden, except of Jeff\u2019s parts [recorded] in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And what about your other projects? Is Ammunition put on hold because of Wig Wam reunion, or are there plans to go on with it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: Yeah, it\u2019s been on hold for quite some time now. I don\u2019t know… \u00c5ge [Sten Nilsen] has been releasing a lot of solo records and he\u2019s been all over the place. I think [Ammunition] is on hold until sometime in the future… To be honest, I have no idea about when and if. I think time will tell. The band hasn\u2019t split up or anything, it\u2019s just that we did the last gig and we said goodbye and then everyone went into their own direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: With Pretty Maids\u2019 Ronnie Atkins\u2019 decision to keep working in the face of his health condition, are there any plans concerning Nordic Union too?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: Not really. We\u2019ve been discussing it of course, and I contacted him a few times on a more personal level, asking how\u2019s everything is with him and stuff. Let\u2019s see what happens, but there are no strict plans of putting a new Nordic Union. Let\u2019s see how his health develops. It\u2019s the most important thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Absolutely. Fingers crossed for him. So, as we speak about W.E.T., Ammunition and Nordic Union, these are all supergroups by definiton. And the general assumption is that they usually don\u2019t work out \u2018cause of the ego clash and personal issues. So as W.E.T. for example continues for so long now, what do you think is the key to success of these three projects?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: It\u2019s that there\u2019s no big egos at all in any of these groups and no one has any big ego at all. That\u2019s the secret. Everyone involved, everyone I play with in all these bands \u2013 they\u2019re just here because they love music. That\u2019s the main reason we\u2019re all in this business. We play Hard Rock and Melodic Hard Rock, and these are not genres where you make a lot of money… People are in this genre because they love this music, and I think that really binds us together. And I don\u2019t actually know if these are supergroups (laughs) We are no big stars, anyone of us. We\u2019re just guys who love music and we really like working together. I think it\u2019s simple as that. Good songs are good songs and no one cares who wrote it, it\u2019s just for us to enjoy it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And is there anything else you were up to artistically during these last months?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: Well, I\u2019ve been mixing a lot \u2013 records for Jaded Heart and Therion and several others. I\u2019ve been also doing some records with Alien who were big in the \u201880s… who else? I\u2019ve been doing a lot in my studio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: So, do you feel more comfortable working in a studio or playing gigs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: Probably I\u2019m more relaxed in the studio… Because before every single gig I\u2019m always nervous. I\u2019m nervous every single time and it\u2019s like I always have this feeling I\u2019m gonna fuck it up completely (laughs). Somehow we make it to the end of course, but… Especially as a singer, they always have these troubles with the voice… especially when you\u2019re on tour and it\u2019s like how many nights it\u2019s going to last before the problems occur… We\u2019ve been doing this for quite some time, but that\u2019s how it works just every time. But I think that being nervous before the gig is also a good thing. It means that we care \u2013 that I care. I really care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: No doubt… Any last words?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik M\u00e5rtensson: Just thanks for having me and writing about our music. That\u2019s fantastic. Thank you so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit Erik M\u00e5rtensson @ Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo credits: Edko Fuzz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska\u2014 Senior Columnist \u2014 Live albums have a special place in each band\u2019s discography \u2013 more of a complementation than just an addition to a string of studio EPs and full-length albums. For […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":68737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[10533,2960,10535,203,11946,15168],"class_list":{"0":"post-68735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-interviews-recent","8":"tag-ammunition","9":"tag-eclipse","10":"tag-erik-martensson","11":"tag-interview","12":"tag-nordic-union","13":"tag-w-e-t-2"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}