Mattias IA Eklundh: Indian Encounters

This year Frankfurt MusikMesse had a special feature — lectures and workshops programme called “Guitar and Drum College”. These meetings with talented guitarists were inspiring and educational at the same time. But if you are lucky to encounter the Swedish God of heavy metal — the one and only Mattias IA Eklundh, your music brain weren’t ever be the same.

You can believe me, it wasn’t my first Mattias’s workshop and I came to the Guitar College all 3 days I was at the MusikMesse. Each time you feel musically hyperventilated after that and it goes in a form of an open dialogue, you can ask any questions. So we sneak in the class where the workshop is already going…

Many people say that there is nothing new in music anymore, what do you think?
Oh, I know those people who always tell you Hendrix had already played that and so on, haha…I think, musically we are just on top of the iceberg. I don’t like recycling someone else’s music, I like to explore and find my own. For me India has helped me a lot and screwed me out quite a bit. I’m always willing to share what I got from there, but we should lock the doors first and don’t try to run away… Oh, no, I’m joking! (laughing)… My life, personally and musically, has been divided into “before” and “after” my first trip to India. My Mom was listening to some raga records, but in my teenage years, I didn’t understand that, I was more into Kiss, Frank Zappa and Mahavishnu Orchestra, and so on. I wasn’t completely new to playing music in 17/18, but not until I came to India I started to feel it. It was a giant leap forward and now there’s no way back. When I do clinics in different places, there are always drummers who think they know it all, but they just play licks and when you take the licks away from there, there’s nothing left.So what I try to push them out of their comfort zone and make them dig deep and find who you are to grow your own mustache and so on.

What was so life-changing for you in India?
When it comes to Indian music I use something called “konnakol”, which is a rhythm language. If you think of a bigger picture, we have rhythm everywhere — not just when we sing and play, but when we walk, talk, breathe, do our everyday stuff. It all ends in “one” and one is “DA”, in konnakol, and daa is a meaning of life, it all ends with daa, it is the conclusion. Two is “TAKA” and three is “TAKI TE”. So you can now clap it and feel the music: “TAKI TE TAKI TE DA”. It doesn’t matter how do you pronounce it “TAA” or “DAA”, there is no official spelling. All people who wrote about this are western people, the Indians have it in there blood and it’s all in your claps. So like this you divide any music intervals to equal parts! You can build your triplets and put them into 4 quarters of a note, dividing them up to the rhythm you follow. You keep the beat and clap 3/16 without doing crazy counting and mathematics each time. Four is “taka timi” and the other four you call — taka juna. So you can go like: “TAKA DI MI TAKA JU NA TA”. Then to play 5/16. You need 5, which is “DA DI GI NA DUM” or same as “TA KA TA KI TA”, are you still there?! …(everybody laughing).There is more to it, you can look up a little video “The Gateway to rhythm” by John McLaughlin and Selvaganesh Vinayakram or read about konnakol in the Internet or go to India. It’s all about feeling the rhythm, regardless to counting each beat. There are people who are analysing stuff and they know about my playing much more than I do, you know, I don’t think, I just feel it and play.

Did you got all the konnakol from scratch being in India or it took a lot?
You know, when I am in India, sometimes I sit and play with the Indian children. They don’t care where I’ve been or that I know the guys in Meshuggah or Steve Vai is my record label boss, when I play with the kids, they tell: “Oh, Mattias, you suck, you don’t follow well go to Sweden and then come back!” And it’s very refreshing to get your ass kicked, to go through your failures, cause it’s the only way to grow! So I’m happy to get my Viking metal god ass kicked by Indian children. Then you think and think about it and you try, till the moment when you understand how it is constructed. Take your favourite song and try singing it in konnakol…That’s a very good thing to practice while you are walking, because you naturally keep the pulse and play without calculating and you grab the “DA” on the conclusion. All the Indian people can find the “DA” in any rhythm and it’s another step of humiliation when an old lady in front of the stage can dance to 23/16 like easy, because for her it’s natural to see (5/16 x 4) + 3/16. Now 4/4 just starts to seem boring to you. I don’t see the point of limiting yourself to that or playing 190 bpm/sec. without having the root or the beat you follow. The speed of your playing is irrelevant, it’s not music, it’s sports. But to follow the flow of the complicated rhythm, that is really exciting!

It doesn’t mean that you don’t like playing fast, but not for speed, right?
Every once in a while, it’s fun to play fast, but I’d go crazy to do just that all the time. Try talking fast without pauses for a certain amount of time, it gives you headache and nothing more. Miles [Davis] was right: «It’s not the notes you play, it’s the notes you don’t play.» It’s the space in between that counts!
I think that’s why the guitar industry is slowly dying, everybody thinks about the speed and the size and the licks, too much “weedly-weedly” too little stimulating music. So you should go to India to change that inside you! I know I would never be Indian, but the stuff I know has helped me a lot! And that is musical freedom! It’s never bad to know stuff, knowledge can never bad! I taught myself everything I know now on the guitar. I quit school at 16 and sat home doing weedley-weedley all the time and I also played drums to help me understand rhythm better. Then I discovered many stimulating music and played and played for many hours. You have to dig yourself out the minor pentatonic scale and try something intriguing. There is always something new in music, just look up for the road less traveled. I have lived on my music for more than 30 years now, which I find extremely….strange! I really find it strange that I can have a comfortable life digging in the dark side of music, but I’m so happy about it.

It’s great you are sharing your Indian experience!
Yeah, I’m so glad I have my Freak Guitar Camp. I don’t wanna sound arrogant, but it is sold out every year and people are flying all over the world! They sit and clap hands and do strange musical exercises for a week, then I have another 40 people doing strange things for another week. I love it!

(Then we had a moment to talk to Mattias in person and discuss the upcoming album).

First of all, thank you so much, it was so inspiring at your class!
Thank you, I always improvise, but I like to talk about stuff that is more important than people know about. The most obvious thing is just to do what you know and to listen to the same music. You have to look for something new! But to go somewhere, to reach it, you have to push it! Oh, I find it very interesting to be alive in the year 2018 and create my music. I feel like I am only scratching the surface of something that is very stimulating. I don’t always know where it’s going, but I let it live, I try to have an open mind. I love so much to be alive to do this! And again, it’s not just me. As many people feel a bit lost today in all the information, they are always searching for something new and cool, to call it the new black, as we say. I see that the stuff I do actually attracts people. I love it! It’s a good fun!

Truly so! What I love about your classes (and your music too) is that you tell the audience to forget about the blocks and the leaks, all the set system, and think free feeling the music with your heart!
Yes, people constantly overanalyze music. They think that there is a new pedal or a new guitar or a tablature book that would fix it all for them. But it doesn’t matter what equipment do you use, you have to dig deep in yourself to really try to find who you are! It’s easier said than done! It takes a lot to refine your playing. But may be some people realize: I don’t have such a good mustache of my own (metaphorically calling your own style like this — K.M.), may be I have to travel, may be I have to read more to get more input or to experience stuff. You cannot live in a cocoon and come up with amazing things, you have to raise it in you. Then the sum of all parts will come out!
Therefore, despite the fact that I’m a grey-beard middle aged man, living my 48th year, I think now is the most stimulating time for me. When I look back just 10 years from now I think: Oh, shit, I didn’t know all that I know now. So now is the most interesting time for me. But a lot of people they stagnate! They have their trademark things that they do, and they do it over and over. Even the audience demands something old from the past, so many bands or solo players cannot go away from that. Their fans quite often say: “Oh, I came to see that leak from 1992” or something like that. Even the gent bands, like Messhuggah, if they start to do something completely different, people would go crazy, they want to see the material the band is famous for. All that for me is a choking experience.

You love to be musically free more than anything else, right?
I do exactly what I wanna do. We don’t have people on a payroll, we don’t have any big management that would tell us what to do. If it becomes too big, it makes you too rigid and start to consume you from the inside dictating what to do. I don’t wanna be pushed by someone else, I conduct my business how I want it. The songs they can be about anything, there is no limitation whatsoever. I am taking Freak Kitchen and my solo career to where it is myself. It’s a hard job, but our freedom is priceless. Bjorn and Chris are quite eager to get bigger, telling me that there are a few years left for us on stage, may be let’s do the best we can, hire a company to promote us more,etc. But I tell them there is a backside to everything. Yeah, the big companies give you a shit load of money, but then you have to tattoo their logo on your forehead, and I’m not going to do that. We are the Freak brothers and we love one another, but we have a slightly different philosophy on how to approach stuff. For me freedom of music comes first! Yes, we could be bigger, but you see why that would make me miserable, so I’ve come to some peaceful term that where I am now is very good! It’s really a blessing to have global following and be able to live on your music doing what you really like to do. Oh, I’m getting all deep here…..

That’s good, that’s what interviews are all about!
Yeah, where are the questions about what strings do you use or what picks…. (Laughing ironically.)

Hahaha… People created Google and Wikipedia for that. I’m not of that kind, you know it…
I know, hahaha, neither am I, I don’t care that much about the strings or picks. I don’t even know what kind of wood my guitar is made of and it’s my signature model, and it’s black, black wood… (Laughs.)

How is the new album going?
Almost done! (We talked in April 2018 — K.M.) The album is called “Confusion To The Enemy”, it has 11 songs. So wait till September 21! The title track is 8 minutes and quite beefy. It’s not very Freak Kitchen as you used to hear it, but that’s the point, because every record has something!
We have a song called “Auto” where all the percussion parts are played on my Volvo car. I overdubbed the steering wheels 16 or 17 times, because it’s a great indian percussion sound and I drum my strange rhythms when I drive. So I thought why not to slap a microphone here in the car, then I have lots of beats of doors, passengers’ seats, etc….dooon, fhhhrrrr, tuuuun, and stuff like that. Volvo actually proposed to give us a new car for a video! I said if you use my car, that’s ok, but with the new one, I would feel like that’s an advertisement.

At first, I thought: yeah, we should have a new car! And then: Nooo! Then Volvo will own us! They would say, because of that new car, we want you to do this and that here and there. There’s always a flip-side! Nothing is for free! I mean, even here, at MusikMesse, there are a lot of greedy musicians who go from one booth to the other and just want stuff, they sign off with anything if they offer them a good deal! And in the end, when you go to bed in the evening, all you have…is your name, in a way! It does matter how that name smells or what does it ring! Some people lose a lot of credibility by doing stupid things, because they are desperately in need of some quick attention. If you are happy of doing these things, go on. But I’m not. I’m a loyal guy, I stick to the companies I like, they are good to me and we are friends, and so on. But loyalty is a virtue in this business, very rare one now.

It’s all about people! Speaking about that, it’s so sad Laney is not here in Frankfurt this year…
Yeah, they are wonderful people. But they see no point coming to Frankfurt anymore, all is happening at NAMM show in Anaheim or in Shanghai now. I’ve been playing there too. This is a kindergarten compared to all that crazy insane noise there. All is happening at once, you don’t really hear anything and there are lots of people everywhere. But I like it here too! Serious german people, and it’s so well organised and relaxed! And the vegetarian food is good here in Frankfurt!

Going back to the album, how is it special? Do you bring more of your personal solo stuff to the Freak Kitchen, which is reasonable, ‘cause it’s you here and there too!
Hahahaaa, yeah! I think some of the songs will sound like Freak Kitchen as you know it, some of the songs are not complex at all! But since I’m playing the 8-string guitar, it all becomes a bit heavier. In a cool way, because I don’t play over distorted guitar. It really sounds like AC/DC tuned down to 8-string guitar. I can say I’m quite happy with it! There are great songs that you can sing along to. There are lyrics that mean something to me too. The first song on the album is called “Morons” and I sing: “Why do we let morons rule the world, why do we let them do the damage that they do, because I’m a moron too and so are you”. Our drummer was a little upset and disagreed when he read the lyrics. But I thought how much do I actually do making something good for the Planet or fighting, I don’t know, Nazzi propaganda or doing something valuable for the environment. I donate little money every month to GreenPeace, Amnesty International or UNICEF. But I feel like it’s nothing and I’m a hypocrite like everybody else. What I mean is until I’m not so passive, I’m a moron too, being responsible for everything that happens, for our choices!
After that, we have a song called “Alone With My Phone”. The chorus is like The Beatles pastiche of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, so we have: “I just wanna hold my phone, no, I don’t wanna join your band, I just wanna be alone with my phone”. And in the ending, at first there is a little bridge that says: “Oh, it’s kind of lonely here, I don’t wanna hold my phone, I would like to join your band, I wanna hold your hand!” (laughing). So that is a catchy song, almost AC/DC, but with 8-string beefy guitar.

Do you have any special Swedish culture connotations on the album?
Not exactly, we have our first song in Swedish: “Så Kan Det Gå När Inte Haspen är På”. It’s a saying and it’s about the hasp, the latch that you use to close the old doors of the loo or a barn. It can be translated like: If you don’t put the hasp on, that’s how it goes…So you have to hasp it or you are in trouble. And it’s about Sweden today. I love Sweden, it’s a great country, but I don’t like the Swedes, they have lost a lot of soul, I think.
Besides there is a song called “Troll”, which is about the Swedish painter John Bauer, who is famous for his troll art. His is drawing beautiful trolls and it’s really the essence of Swedish art. He lived in the woods with his family and died 100 years ago. I’ve been to the exhibition of his artwork and I thought that I have to write a song about him and his trolls, because he believed that his trolls existed, he was sure about that!

What about the title track?
“Confusion To The Enemy” is about the video game called “Portal 2”, which I adore! I think that game is a work of art! It’s now an old one, from 2011. In the studio we have 2 very good gaming computers and we play with my son. Sometimes the Dad plays alone, but not the bad games. I like to play Doom, for instance, but I don’t let my son play it, though he can build maps for me there with demons and ammunition!

Are there ballads on the album or just seriously heavy stuff?
As I said, Chris [Örtefors] has two songs. One is called “Push Through”, which is a Freak Kitchen battlecry to sing, when things are really tough, we are in hell in the other side of the Planet and we never gonna get home, so little by little we push through. He is singing another song called “By The Weeping Willow” — a sad ballad it is.
I have a ballad too — “We Will Not Stand Down” — it is about the state of the Planet, terrorism and stuff like that. No matter how afraid we are, we cannot stand down, we cannot cave it, we have to push forward, there is no other option.
And then we have “The Era Of Anxiety” — that is what I think we live in — times of anxiety, fire and fury. I’ve already told you about the song called “Auto”, then goes “Only a Dream” — a song I wrote for an animated movie. It’s an independent thing that would take years and years. Animation is complicated: 1 million dollars for a finished minute, so they are constantly searching for money. It’s made by a hundred animators, and there’s a guy, good friend of Pixar, who is the director and he wrote the script. I’m writing the music for it, so this title track is also a Freak Kitchen song. I think, when the whole thing is ready, it would be very interesting!

Cool, anticipating! Thank you for such a detailed track-by-track review! Do you think talking, singing about the other, not so bright side of life, help people live a more conscious life?
May be, for me every day counts in what I do. As a parent as well, I think about stuff like that, where we are now and what would I leave behind. There’s also a lot of good stuff happening on Earth, but it doesn’t get reported that much. Actually, I have just finished reading a Dan Brown book. I know it’s a very easy reading, but I like to read it. The last one — “Inferno” — was very gloomy, about overpopulation. But the new one is great: it’s about embracing the new technique, philosophy and meditation. How all the new technologies are taking over our life, now everybody is fucked up! It is already incorporated in our culture, some people already have chip.
I would never do that! I don’t even check-in on Facebook every time I go somewhere and I always have some cash in my pocket, who knows what could happen. But if we can handle all the new technologies, balance it, we would do good, we would do incredible things! We haven’t yet figured out the way how to do it, everything’s happening so fast. Even if we stop to develop today: no new software, apps, devices, etc, we will still have a lifetime to explore what we already have, it’s already enough! So I write about stuff that I think about. Good things and lots of bad things too. Some of it are the world problems, some — are just mambo-jumbo like “Portal 2”. But what can I do, I just love this game. It’s provoking my brain, so I create a vibe that is meaningful for me and share it. That’s how it is!