In 2023 some of the leading heavy metal magazines around the world declared that theatrical metal outfit Avatar were the greatest band in the world to see live. The reviews of their live shows certainly seemed to support that with comparissions coming thick and fast – as dark as Marilyn Manson, the flair and theatrics of Alice Cooper and the charisma of vocal ability of Freddie Mercury and Bruce Dickinson.
And then came the Instagram post that suddenly had the whole heavy music scene suddenly knowing who Avatar were – Metallica praising the band and saying that they ‘lifted the bar’ for while opening for them on their M72 World Tour.
Now Avatar are returning to Australia for a tour off the back of their successful tenth album – Don’t Go In The Forest and they couldn’t be happier. This week I sat down with frontman Johannes Eckerstrom to find out what they have in store for Australia this time around.
I began by asking what was the secret to them delivering the amazing live shows that have the whole world talking at the moment.
Of course it’s multi-factors,” he says smiling. “You don’t get away from the hard work… the hard work is part of it, but then the hard work together with the right mindset. So you have to work smart and hard and really want to do it and find ways where you enjoy it the most. And therefore you have a chance to convey that…that’s the basics for any band. It’s like you need to play your stuff well first, right? You need to know your parts and make good music out there to do what you came to do first and foremost.”
“But on top of that it’s all about that connection of expression of trying to visualize,” he continues to explain. “So what you see is what you hear in terms of what we are trying to convey emotionally. And there’s a lot of little things that go into that. I’m very interested in the craft of reading a room.”
As he mentions that kind of craft he and I begin to talk about how musicians can learn more about that.
“I’ve learned a lot from pro wrestling,” Johannes admits. “There are so many different art forms because performing arts is pretty wide. But within the more classical forms, there’s a need for it to be in a specific way every time. Ballet, opera, classic theatre, you know. And then you have the performing art genres that is, I don’t know, Close-up magic or rock and roll shows or stand-up comedy or professional wrestling, where it’s a give and take, where it’s a response and to be on your toes a bit. And it’s an ongoing communication where you can change things on the fly. We have a plan, you know, going to play the songs and what not. But with little things you can nudge people in the direction where you need to take them. How do I address them? What do we talk about? And all that. So it’s a whole… It’s a whole complex little web of factors that place in.”
“And I think the big thing in summary would be we care a lot about doing that,” he continues. “I think that’s one of the big things. So being super excited about it, being super into having creative ideas, solving little problems, all that. Putting in the work, but then also be really happy to be there and feeling very lucky to get to do this. It’s a huge part of it, simple as that.”
That leads the two of us to talk a little bit more about that enjoyment – what is it that he loves about being able to perform live.
“The answer to that has kind of matured and morphed and mutated over the years,” he says laughing. There’s a part of… Again, at the foundation is the love for the music. We write songs we want to hear, we write songs we want to play, and we get to play them. It’s simple. You have that pure joy, pure passion, I should say, for the music itself. And when that is in place, what it grows into, and what I have in my head more than anything nowadays, is the sense of connection, and sometimes a sense of deep connection with the audience as a whole or individuals in the audience, and when there’s a feeling of resonance in the room, where, because it’s, again, back to the two-way street thing, and there’s fleeting moments that can feel really transcendent, and that, for me, is the ultimate. I don’t know if the ultimate high is not even the right word for it, although, or maybe it is but there’s also something more deeper and valuable there than the rush. But yeah, that deep-seated sense of connection with people and the fact that I get to travel from where we are, literally the outer side of the planet, and make those deep connections through music and through the musical expressions. Yeah, I like that.”
Of course fans of the band have loved the band’s current set list so how hard has it been for the band to bring the new tracks from Don’t Go Into The Forest into it.
“Well, yeah, difficult, but it’s also an interesting task. It’s a puzzle, and it’s also, at this point, you accept it for what it is so one thing we do is we keep the list of must-plays as short as we can,” he says. “We discriminate very hard those, you know, yeah, we have our most popular songs, as every band does, and we just have a kind of short cutoff with what it means to be on that list. So, we dedicate maybe a third, those kind of songs are guaranteed a third of the setlist, more or less.”
“ And then as long as we keep feeling about our new music the way we feel, which is just as excited as ever, and it feels just as important as ever to make new music, then that needs a third too,” he explains. “And then finally, then you have the stuff you play around with. And there, because we have that third of deep cuts or, you know, oh, I know that one person audience I’ve been waiting for this their whole life. We have that space to play around with. Then I’m okay that, okay, sorry, I have to wait another five years for that song, but it is coming. Just keep buying your tickets. You’re going to get lucky. So that kind of solves it.”
Australia prepare to pledge your allegiance – the reckoning has arrived. Step into the woods and let The Clown paint your face with fire. Do not go in alone… because once you enter, you never truly leave.
