An interview with Mikael Medin:
Please introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Marionette, and how long the band has been together.
My name is Mikael Medin and I'm the bassist and band leader of Marionette. We started out in October of 2005 so it's been three years. Things are going very well, we started by playing a lot of concerts, we will do our first major showcase at PopKomm in Berlin, and then tour Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Czech Republic with Die Apokalyptischen Reiter. So things are moving fast!
Where is the band from and what is the metal scene like there?
We are from Göteborg, Sweden. This is a really band friendly city. It's easy to start up a band and get a few gigs. This, together with our metal rich history, has flooded the city with metal bands. You really have to be creative and come up with something extra to stand out, which I guess is a good thing in some ways, and Marionette has certainly done just that so far.
Is there any story or concept behind your CD title "Spite"?
"Spite" is the red line that ties all the songs together. The main concept of "Spite" is to go your own way, powered only by yourself. In spite of all the social rules you've been brain washed with your whole life and in spite of all the shit you get from not doing what you're expected to. That is "Spite" in a nutshell!
When do you think you guys will cross the ocean to the US and start touring? What do you know and think of Romania?
The US will probably have to wait a while since it's so expensive to go over there. Romania will not have to wait as long. Hopefully we can go there on our next tour in the spring. We can't wait to play for our friends and fans in Romania!
Who did the artwork on the new CD and how much input did you have on it?
Axel, our vocalist, does the artwork for all our cds and almost all other things that need designing too. It's great to have someone in the band to do it since it gives you almost complete freedom to do whatever you want. For the artwork of "Spite" we wanted something clean and stylish, like our visual style. It came out great and we all still enjoy it now, we loved it from the moment we started seeing drafts of it.
Is MySpace the great Satan of the 21st Century?
No, not at all. The internet is the future and full of possibilities, most people just don't know how to use it right. We found our management company, Pivotal Management through MySpace. Pivotal then hooked us up with our current label and booker. If it wasn't for MySpace we would not be where we are today.
Where did you get ideas and inspirations for some of the lyrics on "Spite"?
Axel writes all our lyrics. The inspiration comes from all the confusion, anger and powerlessness you feel while growing up in a society filled with social rules and judgment, the feeling of never being at the right place and never understanding the meaning of things. But it's not a sad album. We don't want people with these feelings to feel sorry for themselves. We want everyone to break free from these rules and say "fuck you" to anyone who wants to control you and tell you how to act.
What are your future plans for Marionette?
We are going to tour through all of the fall and after that we are going to start working on our next album that will be released in 2009. We want to tour all over the world. For me playing live is the most addicting drug in the world and I can never get enough of it. The insane rush you get from getting on stage and becoming one with every single person in the audience is irreplaceable and cannot be duplicated.
What do you think of this year's presidential election? Do you like any of the candidates?
Marionette is not at all a political band and as of yet we have not written a single political song. But we are all interested in the political development in Sweden and the US and have strong personal opinions about it. I don't like the two party system that the US uses. It seems to me that both parties are pretty much the same. I want to see more third parties getting thrown in to the mix and I would personally vote for Ralph Nader from the Green Party. Though he has millions of votes to catch up with the two bigger parties so I don't really care who you vote for as long as you don't vote for McCain, he's insane.
Would you ever want to do an all acoustic show?
I don't think that would work very well for us since we're such an aggressive band that wants to give the listener an adrenaline rush from the first second you put on our CD until the second it's over. But of course I'm always up for experimenting and trying new things, so we will see what the future brings, we aren't ruling it out at this point.
What would you compare your music too, out of the varitey of bands out there?
We get our inspiration from a vast variety of bands. Everything from Japanese rock to movie soundtracks. But I guess I'd say we sound something like a mix of Raised Fist and Strapping Young Lad.
What bands have you toured with? Are there any that you would definitely want to tour with?
We are going on our very first tour in October and November. We are opening for Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, an awesome German band. We are really looking forward to it and we guarantee you that every single show will be like nothing you've ever seen. If I could pick any band to go on tour with it would probably be In Flames or Dir en Grey cause they're two really great and popular bands that I like a lot and hopefully their fans would like us too.
Describe your music to an elderly church lady.
We are everything bad in the world. We are alcohol, sex and breaking the rules. We are a big middle finger to the face of those who want to shape and control people by fear and social boundaries. We are everything you hate. Only we're disguised in nice, classy clothing so your kids can hang our posters on their walls without you ever knowing what horrible messages they're listening to in their headphones. We are fucking Satan, bitch!
When you look back on when Marionette first started out, what do you think of you guys now?
I think it's incredible how much progress we've made. We have gone from being just another melodic death metal band from Göteborg to actually making something that we're proud of and effects peoples lives. And I think it's incredible at what speed we've done it, all thanks to all the wonderful support from our fans. If we keep this up who knows where it'll end.
Any final words of wisdom, thoughts or comments?
Check out our debut album "Spite" and in 10 years you can tell people that you were one of the first to discover us. You haven't heard the last from us. Thanks for the interview and see you in the mosh pit!
http://label.pivotalalliance.com/
http://www.marionette.se/
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