Tobias of KATANA talks new album, spandex and traditional metal.

Katana is everything that drew you to heavy metal in the first place, and more. After hearing their premier album Heads Will Roll I just had to track down one of the members to get the inside story on what makes this true-to-traditional metal band tick.

I got to speak with guitarist and songwriter Tobias Karlsson about Katana’s history, influences, and a fully detailed description of a live Katana event. 

Your current bio says Katana’s been in its current line-up since 2008. Can you tell us more about how Katana got started?

Tobias Karlsson: Katana has been around quite some time! The original band dates back as early as 2003, but there are not many members left from that time.

The idea was to create a band that would honor all the different styles of metal and hard rock from the 80s, but over the years we wrote more and more songs and we realized that we couldn’t keep it together if one song sounded Journey, one Judas Priest and one Mötley Crüe.

As time went by, the classic traditional heavy metal was the sound we decided to go for, and when new members were to join the band, traditional heavy metal heads were what we were looking for! 

We have always been very thorough in everything we do, and have never wanted to rush things! We have always played live very much, at least in and around Gothenburg, but we haven’t released more than two demos over the last 7 years. We recorded an album in 2007 but decided that it didn’t sound like we were ready, so we scrapped the entire recording. We wanted to make sure that we had what it takes before unleashing ourselves upon the world!

In early 2009, when we had the current line up all set, we decided that we were indeed ready. About a year later, the album was just finished when we entered into the Wacken Metal Battle in Sweden and won! That was a fantastic experience that really gave us the opportunity and the publicity that the newly recorded album needed. We were contacted by Markus Tagaris, one of the leading metal record label owners in Sweden, and he released our album in Sweden, as well as helped us get the deal with Listenable, as well as Marquee/Avalon in Japan. So everything is going very good at the moment!

Heads Will Roll is a prime example of classic, traditional metal. What’s the draw for you to this kind of metal?

Tobias: Anything and everything I guess. Musically I have always loved the high wailing vocals and twin guitars and big drums, and the classic old school dirty sound production. But it’s so much more than that, the whole lifestyle is wonderful.

There’s no macho bullshit or pretentiousness in classic heavy metal, you do what you do and even though you only know three chords and some pentatonics you can still deliver some really good music! That attitude and the music of course, feel like it’s dying out at the moment. Everything in music today is a contest of who can come up with the most original idea, the weirdest use of sounds, the most meaningful lyrics. Well, we say it was fucking fine the way it was 30 years ago, so have a listen to it and you’ll know what we are talking about!

My personal favorite track is “Heart of Tokyo”. Which is your favorite track off the album?

Tobias: My personal favorites are probably “Phoenix On Fire” and “Quest For Hades”. They are two pretty different songs so I think it’s hard to pick just either of them.

“Phoenix On Fire” has the great chorus and really cool, dirty riffs, and of course Patrik’s insanely fitting guitar solo! “Quest For Hades” is just crazy, a really wild ride both music- and lyrics wise. An awesome song.

How long have these been kicking around, or are they new ones just for the album?

Tobias: The oldest songs on this album have been around more or less from the beginning. "Rebel Ride” was originally entitled “Girl Gone Wild” and sounded way sleazier. So I rewrote those lyrics a bit. And “Blade of Katana” we kept just the lyrics from, and rewrote the music, but those two pieces are from 2004.

I’d say about half of the songs were written just prior to the recording sessions, and half are the best of what we’ve accumulated over the years. Some stuff, mostly lyrics, were written and rewritten in the studio. So I dare say it’s a diverse album!

Will there be any videos for any of the songs from Heads Will Roll? What could we expect to see in a Katana video?

Tobias: We haven’t really decided whether or not we’ll be able to record a video yet, but we definitely want to! If we make one, it will be a good one! We don’t do anything half-assed, so if we record a video it will be true to our visions. I imagine a lot of cool heavy metal clichés, but with some new twists to them!

Can you describe what a live Katana show is like? Are there any fancy special effects, or costumes, or is it just a group of like-minded metal heads doing what they love?

Tobias: If you want to play real heavy metal, I think you have to go all the way! I think it was Yngwie J. Malmsteen who said “Who the fuck wants to pay money to go see some guys playing music on stage in the same clothes you’re wearing yourself?!”. He makes a good point!

We try to incorporate as much as possible from the early 80s, spandex, sweat bands, a KATANA sword microphone stand. If we could only ever play in a venue that would let us, there will be fire and explosions as well! And of course, a lot of energy. We don’t stand still on stage. Ever.

What schemes does Katana have planned for 2011?

Tobias: To promote our album, to play live as much as humanly possible both in Sweden and in Europe, and hopefully to record a sequel album to Heads Will Roll! We have already started writing new material, and have maybe 5 or 6 songs ready. So there will be more Katana soon, I promise!

Any my final question [I’ve always wondered this], is everyone in the Swiss army actually given a Swiss Army Knife as part of their personal equipment, or is that just misinformation generated by the Swiss Army Knife company?

Tobias: Haha, not easy to know everything when you’re from down under! You would probably have to ask someone from Switzerland about that, but when I was in the Swedish army we had “mora knives” from the Swedish town of Mora, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Swiss guys get Swiss army knives!

Thanks for taking the time to chat with Voltage Media. I can’t stop listening to Heads Will Roll, and am eagerly awaiting the next chapter of Katana’s odyssey!!!

Tobias: Thank you very much, I have read your review of the album and it was a fantastic read! All the best!