Sonic Station – Interview

Sonic Station – Interview

28 Maggio 2014 1 Commento Iacopo Mezzano

versione italiana

MR.it: Welcome Sonic Station! It’s a pleasure for me to interview you for Melodicrock.it website!

The first part of the interview is with Alexander Kronbrink

MR.it: Hello Alexander! How did your passion for the guitar start and what do you remember about your early days as a musician? What about your first music projects?

AK: I tried out my father’s guitar in my very early years and started to take guitar lessons when I was 9 years old. In the beginning I was listening a lot to what kids in the early 90’s listened to: Soundgarden, Nirvana, Guns ‘n Roses and Metallica. Mostly rock music but I was also a huge fan of Michael Jackson.
My first musical project was with Sonic Station keyboard player Jonathan Fritzén. We used to jam in his basement when we were around 13 years old. We played everything from blues to hard rock and even tried out some songs of our own. And when we were a couple of years older we started to listen to jazz-fusion and jazz and really got into improvisation.

MR.it: Which are your biggest influences as a guitarist and as a composer?

AK: I have a lot of influences when it comes to playing the guitar. In my early years I was really into Tom Morello (Rage against the machine) and Kirk Hammet (Metallica) but later I would listen a lot to jazz guitarists like Pat Metheny, Mike Stern and Bill Frisell.
And when I discovered the westcoast and AOR music it was a through a lot of music with Jay Graydon, Lee Ritenour and Larry Carlton. But I would put Michael Landau, Steve Lukather and Dann Huff as my three favorites in the AOR genre. Three quite similar guitar players but with their own personality in sound and style.
As a composer the melody is most important to me. The melody combined with an interesting harmony. I’ve listened a lot to The Beatles and I’m a huge fan of them. Especially the songs by Paul McCartney and George Harrisson. Michael Jackson together with Quincy Jones is also a prolific combination of an inventive songwriter and a skilled producer/arranger.
Jay Graydon and David Foster are two of my favourits when it comes to Westcoast/AOR music. Steve Lukather and the other guys in Toto are of course a big musical influence too.

MR.it: How do your songs usually take shape?

AK: They usually start with a melody in my head or something that comes up when I fool around with the guitar. And then I try to add an interesting harmony to that melody. Sometimes it’s a fast progress and the song is done in a few minutes (like “Hide and Seek” on the new album). And sometimes I have a verse that I like, but I can’t find the right chorus to go with it. For instance I tried a lot of different ideas for the chorus on “Love Clash” on the new album before I was satisfied.

MR.it: Can you quickly tell us how you have started Sonic Station?

AK: I met Marika when we both studied music at the same school in the middle of the 00’s. We found out that we had the same interest in AOR and bands like Toto, and decided to start writing some songs together.

MR.it: On your first album (Sonic Station, 2012) you choose to work with four singers: Tove Lo, Kristoffer Fogelmark, Magnus Backlund, and Marika Willsted. Now, on your last work Next Stop (2014), we find the only survivor Marika singin’ with a new (and only) male lead singer, Johan Boding. Why have you changed the line up? Could we say that this line up is now definitive?

AK: Haha, well… It can be hard to find the right voice for your music and it took me some time to come up with Johan Boding! But this combination of singers feels like the optimal line up. I love the voices of Johan and Marika!

 

Ok, thank you Alexander. We will find time to speak more after. Now I go on speaking with Marika Willsted.

MR.it: Hi Marika, nice to meet you! Can you tell me please how your collaboration with Sonic Station started?

MW: I got to know Alexander Kronbrink in 2004, being a student of jazz and improvisation at Fridhems Folkhögskola in the south of Sweden, and we became good friends. Later on, as we both moved to Stockholm to become students at the Royal collage of music, we found out that we had a great time working together! We therefore started to write music and perform live as a duo and in different bands! At first, we called our own duo-project “Spirit” and we held a couple of concerts and recorded a lot of our own material, but later on (as we found out we had some fans and some people were interested in the project) we changed the name to “Sonic Station” and released the first record.

MR.it: In 2012, when the first Sonic Station album was released, you weren’t well known here in Italy. Can you tell us about your first experiences as a singer?

MW: My mum is a musicteacher so I’ve been singing and performing at home since I was a child. She taught me how to play the piano and guitar and when I was 9, I got a classical teacher and started to learn how to play cello. At the age of 12 I wrote my first song (that I can remember) while playing the guitar, and I had a band with my best friend (we called it “Macrocosm”). I’ve always loved to play music and I wanted to do it professionally – every day of the journey! It was my dream back then and it’s still my dream and my life now. I’m grateful!

MR.it: Which are your biggest influences as a singer and as a composer?

MW: When I write music and lyrics for Sonic Station I get my inspiration from bands I used to listen to when I was younger, for example Toto, Airplay and Chicago – but I also refer to other artists like Bryan Adams and Christopher Cross.

MR.it: Can you see yourself as a melodic rock singer? You are also a composer so.. could we expect that someday you will release a solo album in the rock ’80s style?

MW: 🙂 I don’t know, let’s see what the future brings! I love to sing with Sonic Station!

MR.it: I really appreciate your way of singin’, most of all when you scratch a little your voice, like on the song ‘Brighter After Dark’ of your last album. Is this something that you have trained in the years, or it goes out naturally?

MW: Thank you! 🙂 All my singing comes naturally and by feeling. I’ve taken some lessons, but I guess I got more inspiration out of it than learning about vocal technique. I’m lazy by nature and it seems I’m more into playing and developing music in different bands and groups than to practice alone at home 🙂

 

Thank you Marika, soon some new questions also for you. But now it’s time for me to talk to the ‘new man’ of the band, Johan Boding.

MR.it: Hey Johan, wow, what an amazing voice you have! You are unknown here in Italy but.. after this album you are already a hero!! Please, tell us how your career has begun?

JB: Thank you very much! I am glad you like my voice and my way of singing. It remains to be see if I will ever be a hero in Italy :-), but of course I like if many people take their time to listen to me and Sonic Station.
About my musical background: My grandmother had me to piano studies when I was six. Then I got into drums at 10, guitar at 13 och finally I got hooked by singing.
I recorded records already as a 15 year old in the band Candy Roxx. From the mid nineties and ten years on I was mostly engaged in musicals. For the last ten years I have toured both in Scandinavia and Engling med different projects with the main theme being the music of Queen.
My latest record “Livet vänder” (“Life turns” in English) was released in late 2012. I continue to write music and record sola albums too, but right now I am totally focused on Sonic Station.

MR.it: Your voice reminds me a little of James LaBrie from the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Do you agree with my comparison? Who are your biggest influences as a singer?

JB: I can agree that our voices have some similarities, but not that we sing in the same way, if you know what I mean. James LaBrie is more metal, Johan boding more AOR. 🙂
I have many role models when it comes to singers, but if I must choose just one it is Freddy Mercury. He simply had…everything!

MR.it: How did your collaboration with Alexander and Sonic Station start?

JB: The common denominator is Marika Willstedt. We met a few years ago while on tour together. I guess she could have mentioned my name when it was time to start recording Sonic Station’s new album. You had better ask Alexander!

MR.it: Which is your favourite track of the album? Why?

JB: “Catch me if you can”. It blew me away already when it was just a demo with its special slow, heavy beat and powerful syncopation. But Broken man Hide and seek come up very close to “Catch me if you can” as favourite tracks.

 

Now back to Alexander first, and then to all the band!

MR.it: Are you already writing new stuff at the moment?

AK: I am always writing music. I have some new ideas for Sonic Station but also a lot of other songs that I hope will come to the right place. For example I have some instrumental songs for another band I have called “Moonlight Sailors” in the pipeline. It’s a project with Jonathan Fritzén (also on “Next stopo”) on keyboards and Henrik Linder and Aron Mellergårdh from “Dirty Loops” on bass and drums. We’ll see if we can get together and do something with that material.

MR.it: Can you explain to us why Sonic Station left the italian label Frontiers Records to sign with the german Avenue of Allies?

AK: It seems as Frontiers are moving towards a harder sound in their bands and I think Sonic Station simply is a little too light for their approach right now. And they also have a lot of major artist in the genre that they focus on.

MR.it: Where do you want to see Sonic Station in ten years? Tell us about your dream of success!

AK: Of course we would like to see Sonic Station become one of the major bands in the genre and as a band that keeps the AOR music alive. We hope to play a lot more live to let a broader audience will discover us!

MW: I’d love to tour the world with Sonic Station and to work more with the lovely band and the talented Alexander Kronbrink and Johan Boding. The new record is, according to me, better than the first one and I’m so proud and happy to be a part of it!

MR.it: Do you think there will be a chance to see Sonic Station on tour in Italy some day?

AK: I hope so! If not a tour at least some stand alone gigs would be wonderful!

MR.it: Before ending this interview, can you tell us what do you think about today’s music business? And what about Internet?

AK: It’s an interesting time for the music business. The physical CD is fading away but I’m optimistic and I think that streaming will take over and lead to people listening more to music than before.

MW: The music business is a hard one; Even though it’s harder to really earn a living nowadays being a musician (than for example in the 90’s), it’s way more easy to spread the word, love and music to people around the world through internet! If you’re lucky there’s a lot to get. And I guess for a project like Sonic Station, being a smaller genre (not as commercial), it’s great to have lot of opportunities to spread the music. A great song is always a great song and I guess it’s all about what you wanna do and how much time you put into the project – the world is as open as you want it to be, all is possible – if you want it to be. We have to use different channels and put a lot of energy into it, such as youtube, our record label, people who distribute our music, instagram, facebook – you name it. I believe in the future and in the success of Sonic Station. Keep on rockin’!

MR.it: Thank you very much for your time. If there is anything else you want to say, please say it!

AK: Thank you for your interest in Sonic Station and making this interview! We are very happy with the new album and hope you will all love it!

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