Johannes Eckerström on exploring the shadow side, finding freedom in creativity and losing yourself in the chaos of a live show.
Wilderness, creativity and a damn good time – Avatar’s Don’t Go In The Forest, the Swedish band’s tenth studio album, feels like an invitation, or a dare, to test your limits and venture into the shadow.
With their captivating performances and wild, roaring sound, a sore neck is worth it to witness the sheer expression of metal music, a genre that calls us to enter the forest at its darkest part and traverse our inner terrain.
Avatar’s Australian tour
- 26 August: Adelaide, Lion Arts Factory (all ages)
- 28 August: Melbourne, Northcote Theatre
- 29 August: Sydney, Manning Bar
- 30 August: Brisbane, Princess Theatre
- 1 September: Auckland, Powerstation
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Enigmatic frontman Johannes Eckerström says that after making an album, he wants the band to have progressed musically, creating things they haven’t done before. Metal helps us face the world’s darkness, and through his own writing process he can “explore inner taboos by removing the filter and confronting yourself.” Metal can speak to more than political issues and world events, because “it explores the inner journey, the spiritual stuff, the psychological things.”
Eckerström says the creative process for Don’t Go In The Forest was intuitive and spiritual from its inception. Ideas happen whenever, wherever – notes, little recording on the phone, using an unfamiliar instrument, or jamming things out in a group, which can be pretty chaotic.
“Because I look for something new and variety, the process isn’t always super bound to be done in a specific place or a specific way.”
The opening track, Tonight We Must Be Warriors, however, was written specifically for the political left.
“Tonight we, – plural- must, against our will and out of necessity, be warriors. For people who are not warriors, stepping up and doing what needs to be done. But as a group.”
While discussing musicians’ role in helping the culture confront shadow and contemporary politics, Eckerström says music isn’t inherently one way or another, beyond being music – you fill it with your intent. The catalogue and progression of Avatar as a band across years of theatrics and musical exploration shows just that: an intent to grow and share as a band.
The jester in his clown makeup sets the scene, and the audience is taken on a spectacular ride. Metal is mosh pits, crowd surfing and making your head hurt – but also participating in something bigger than yourself, the togetherness of a show, Eckerström says.
“I look for a couple of different things in performing, on the ground level, the most important part is playing some kick-arse tunes and making sure people have a good time and execute music well.”
The most special moments are where he and the band sink into a profound, connected awareness with the crowd.
“This happens for maybe minutes or seconds, and not every show, that complete openness between you and the audience or at least a sense of that, when you get to live inside the songs.”
“In that whole soup of awareness, in that room, completely in that moment, you lose yourself in it, that’s always where our shows or shows I attend become the most magical, and I want that to be a shared experience between us and the audience.”
After experiencing a mainstream Rock Airplay Billboard number one, and opening for Metallica on their world tour, Eckerström’s advice for creatives wanting to realise their artistic dreams is to “learn to enjoy every part of it,” as the “we made it moments’ are fleeting.”
“I think one way of succeeding maybe not just in a career but in life at large, is to do something where you can find some enjoyment in the grind.”
“The roadmap isn’t always clear, but what you can do, take whatever show you can play –even if no one shows up, one thing leads to another only when you are there to seize the opportunity.”
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