Interview With Jaggernaut
Interview By Anders Sandvall
This is an e-mail interview with the guitarist Emil Ilic from the new promising band
Jaggernaut from Gothenburg, Sweden, about the band and their upcoming debut
Welcome
to your world and what the future looks like for the band.
Would you please tell us a little bit about the band?
Jaggernaut is a five piece band-from Gothenburg. The band was formed by Patrik and Alex
2002, with the goal of being one of the leading metal acts.
Have the members in Jaggernaut been involved in other bands before Jaggernaut? If
so, which bands?
Emil, Patrik and Alex played together in the late 80īs with one of Sweden's first
Death metal bands. The band was called Mega Slaughter. We released one album 1990 and after
that the band split up. Patrik joined a metal band called Highlander and after that he
joined HammerFall. He played the drums on their first two albums. After a while, Patrik
quit the band, for various reasons. Niclas was in Highlander (that later on became Lost
Horizon) and he also sings in Stefan Elmgrens side project, Full Strike.
Which town in Sweden are you from? Does everybody in the band live there?
We all live in Gothenburg.
Are you satisfied with the promo sampler? Where was it recorded? In which studio?
We are not satisfied at all - the production really stinks. But we had no money or time
to fix it, so we released it with the hopes that people would listen to the songs and not
the crappy production. As for the studio name, I really don't know. Of course he didn't
have any name on it.
I think the promo is pure power metal. Do you think that there is more room for more
power metal bands like Jaggernaut?
First of all, I don't consider Jaggernaut as a pure power metal band at all. We feel
that we play heavy metal with catchy choruses. And I think that people will hear that
even better when we will record our songs with a different production.
I think that Jaggernaut has some big musical similarities with the biggest
Swedish power metal act HammerFall. How do you comment on that?
I can't hear anything in our music that is sounds like HF, but I think that people
almost expect us to sound like HF. Of course, Patrik is with us.
Is ”Welcome to Your World” the name of the debut, or is it just a working
title?
Itīs just a working name right now, but itīs not impossible that our debut album will
be called, "Welcome to Your World." Weīll see how it ends.
Do you have enough material for the debut?
Yes, right now we are in the studio, recording songs for our debut.
Are there any record companies that are interested in Jaggernaut?
We are in negotiation with several major record labels right now. Hopefully we will
have everything done by the end of this summer.
How did Niclas Johnsson (from Stefan Elmgrens Full Strike) end up on vocals? Is he a
full time member?
We had our eyes on Niclas for a long time, since we think he is one of Sweden's best
singers. After an impressive live act from Niclas, we just felt that we had to have him as
a singer in Jaggernaut. Now Jaggernaut is functioning as if it were planned from the
start.
Who writes the lyrics/music?
Alex writes the most music, and then during rehearsal we make the changes that we feel
are needed. Niclas writes all the lyrics.
Are the lyrics about anything special? What are the lyrics about?
Niclas is really involved in those subjects that his lyrics are about. He tries to
enlighten people about the evil that rules in this world. Where corruption, power abuse,
and greed is in our basic lives. He is very involved in the world political subjects,
human rights, environment the way the media is covering world news and the New World
Order. Where the illuminates and the freemasons manipulate and infiltrate themselves into
larger power positions in the world's political places. And how the global, top
politicians are planning to build one supernation, one world government, where all nations
will be colonies. This is a dissociation that goes on - behind our backs, in their secret
groups. And some subjects are about the manipulated picture that we learn, already as kids
in school, and also the picture that we are given through media, political indoctrination
systems, and propaganda. It is pure evil. If we look how the rich and wealthy are making
profit on the poor and defenseless people, It really sucks that the search of market
shares, and more money, is in the cost of environment, and human lives. It is a world
tyranny that goes on. Where vice presidents and politicians (MAKTMISSBRUK) in Swedish means
"power abuse" try to make the rest of us to tame and lame slaves. And the media
is helping them by serving us the truth that they are told to give us. So everything that
we read or see on the television isn't the only truth: Itīs a choice that every one of us
can make: Either you can swallow the bait that the politicians are giving us, and close
your eyes to the reality, or you can take a stand and start to involve yourself and how
the true reality looks. This kind of thinking is often taken as a joke or as paranoia, but
if everybody just took some time to really look behind the curtains and saw that thing
aren't always what they look like. As it looks like now, this world is marching towards a
total disaster if people don't open their eyes before it is to late. Niclas is not trying
to be some kind of messiah who will give people salvation, but he(we) have our view of
life and world order. These kinds of lyrics are not for, entertaining people; that is
already taken care of by many bands. It is time for a REVOLUTION, and itīs time that the
truth is brought up so that everyone can see how brutal reality really is. Hopefully,
people will stop and have a thought after reading our lyrics.
Where do you find the inspiration to the music/lyrics?
All the things that go around our daily lives.
Have you done any live gigs? In that case, how did it go?
Yes, our debut gig was in Musikens Hus in Gothenburg. The gig was great, and the
response was also great. But now during this summer, all our focus is on recording our
debut, so the gigs have to wait until we are finished with the recordings.
Does the name Jaggernaut mean anything special? Why did you choose that name?
For us it means - "A force that will destroy all evil and injustice in the
world."
How does the future look for Jaggernaut? What is going to happen?
First of all, we are hoping to finish all the label negotiation, and second is to
release our debut album.
Is there anything you would like to say to the readers of Metal-Rules.com?
Check us out.....You wont regret it!
Thanks for the time to answer my questions.
Thank you Anders.
Band Website: www.jaggernaut.net