Surprise! Another Swedeish band has made it’s way to the top of my tier! If shit keeps going this way I just may have to change the name of this blog to The Great Southern Swedefart. Anyways, Sweden seems to be having an invasion of sorts with all of the amazing bands they are turning out and the newest of the pack is Saturn. With their own brand of NWOBHM inspired Heavy Metal Space Rock, Saturn’s debut album Ascending (Live From Space) has without a doubt quickly become a favorite mainstay of mine.
I felt honored to be one of the first American interviews guitarist/songwriter Robin Tidebrink and he was a really cool, funny cat We talked about who just who the hell Saturn is, where they’re coming from, and where he hopes to see Saturn go in the future. It’s always excitingly awkward interviewing a new band with very little history to them but Robin made this a really fun chat and has me looking forward to watching this band forge a history all their own. Enjoy getting to know Robin Tidebrink and his awesome band Saturn!
Robin, thanks so much for taking the time out to talk to me today. How are you?
Thank you Don. I’m doing well but it’s really hot here in Sweden and I’m sweating like a pig [laughs].
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It’s hotter than hell here in Atlanta so if you ever make it here you’ll feel right at home then.
[Laughs] I love going to the States. I visited for about a month last year with my girlfriend and some friends.
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Robin, has this been a busy press day for you today?
Yes, kind of [laughs]. I have done two American interviews today and one with Australia.
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Well I’m proud to say that I’m your third US interview!
[Laughs] Congratulations!
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Robin, the minute I heard the Saturn album I was hooked and blown away. Ascending is such a fantastic album and I really love it.
Well thank you very much, Don. We really appreciate your kind words.
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I’m very new to Saturn and I have no idea who you guys are or what you’re about. Give me a little background on the band. How long have you been going at this?
We have been doing this for about three years. It all started with me and Oscar (Bo Valentine Pehrson – Bass/Lead Vocals/Organ). We are old friends since we were 14 or 15 years old so we have always been jamming and playing together but Saturn started in 2011.
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If you had to describe Saturn’s music to someone who had never heard you, how would you describe it?
Four words: Heavy Metal Space Rock [laughs].
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It’s no secret that Sweden seems to be invading the US right now with some amazing bands. While bands like Blues Pills and Graveyard seem to be more rooted in the blues, Saturn seems to be more of a NWOBHM band.
Absolutely. I think we are more influenced by classic heavy metal from the 70’s and early 80’s and Linkan (Lindgren – Guitar/Vocals) is very obsessed with thrash metal like Slayer and Anthrax. Whereas Blues Pills and Graveyard tend to go more to the late 60’s and early 70’s with a kind of psychedelic blues rock kind of sound, we are more going for the NWOBHM sound indeed. I don’t think you can really compare us to bands like Graveyard and Horisont because we are more a metal band than those bands are.
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What is it about Saturn that seems to have you sticking out a bit from the pack as opposed to being just lumped in with the rest of them?
Oh man, that’s a very tough question [laughs]. Maybe it’s the mix of me, Oscar, and Linkan that has us making a unique sound. Linkan comes up with all these thrash riff and Oscar is the more true progressive kind of guy who tends lean towards Rush and that kind of music. I tend to bring out the more classic rock and metal like early Judas Priest era kind of sound. We’re not trying to fit into a genre. We’re just trying to play the kind of music that we would like to listen to ourselves.
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Well whatever you’re doing just keep doing it because you’re doing it right. The album itself sounds fantastic and I love all the dynamics in the arrangements as well as the production.
[Laughs] Well thank you, Don. We just really want the songs to have their own life. We don’t want them to be compressed and peeking in decibels. We want them to be dynamic and constantly changing. We recorded everything ourselves. It was completely self-done.
How does the writing process work in this band? Like, who is responsible for making these badass songs?
[Laughs] Thanks, Don. Well, a good example is like with the song “So You Have Chosen Death.” I came up with that little riff in there and then I took it to the rehearsal room. Everybody has their own ideas and but we all collectively create an entire song from just one little riff.
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“So You Have Chosen Death” has been the breakout song that is getting played a good bit to preview the album. In your own opinion, what song would you love people to hear first?
Well Don, I would like meet you first and see you and see what you are about and then I could say, “Oh, ‘Leadership’ is for you” or “’Last Man’ is for you.” The songs are all so different. If was going to introduce a friend to our band who has never heard us, maybe he likes more slow grooves. If so than “Tower of Terror” or “Over the Influence” but if I meet a friend who I know loves NWOBHM, I’ll play him “Rokktori.” It all depends on the person.
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I did want to ask you about the song “Moonstone.” I love this song and I love that you closed the album out with such a mellow track. Why did you decide to do this?
I actually wrote Moonstone on an acoustic guitar in a really weird tuning. All the strings were tuned to “C” and “F” on all the strings and it kind of gives you this kind of Zeppelin feel to it. We just wanted to close out the album with something nice and calm and relaxing. Something to just close out the album. It’s something you can listen to when you’re completely wasted and you want to go to sleep [laughs].
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When a band signs with a record label, this can sometimes mean that a band loses a certain amount of creative freedom. Did you guys experience that with signing with Rise Above Records or has it been a great experience?
I have nothing bad to say whatsoever about Rise Above Records. It was Lee (Dorian; label owner) who contacted me saying he was interested in pressing and distributing Ascending. He wanted to sign it as a finished product and didn’t want to alter anything. We had complete freedom to do whatever it was we wanted to do as far as how the mastering would go or how the artwork would go. We had 100% control which was really good. I believe that if you are on a really good label, they won’t want to change you that much.
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With the album close to being released, are there any plans to do a video of any kind?
No plans for now. We are just so pumped for the release that we haven’t really been thinking much about the next step. We just really want to get the album out and see how it does. We have discussed this last week that we have two old songs that we’d like to record and release a 7” single for them.
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Now that you’ve had time to sit the album a while, is there anything you wish you had done differently?
We recorded the album last year and that is how it’s supposed to sound. There are a few things that I would like to change but those things were just in the moment. They don’t annoy me and I think it’s a good album. I’d say maybe a re-take of a song or two but only because I’m very self-critical. I hear myself missing a few notes on the guitar here and there but that’s minor but it’s authentic. I would probably do that in a live show and if it’s on the record, it’s just real. Music is not always perfect or fault free. I like the kind of feeling that people will say, “Ok, so this is what I’ll get when I go see them live.” I have seen so many bands that I love on record but when you go to the live show it sounds horrible. I don’t want that. I want us to sound the same on the recordings as we do live.
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Are there any plans for Saturn to tour behind Ascending, maybe even come to the States?
I’m really hoping that we’ll tour in both Europe and the States. We don’t have any tours planned for now unfortunately. I’m thinking that when the album is released and all the reviews are out the gates will open.
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So what would be an ideal tour for Saturn?
Deep Purple Mach 2 but that is not possible unfortunately [laughs]. Maybe Graveyard or Horisont. Another Swedish band who is touring a lot [laughs].
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I would just love for all you Swedes to hop on a plane and come over here and just invade America. You guys, Graveyard, Blues Pills, Horisont, man what a massive tour that would be.
[Laughs] Be careful what you wish for, Don. It may come true! Saturn will be coming to Atlanta some day and then you are going to drink beer with me for sure.
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That’s awesome. You’re buying right?
[laughs] Of course!
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Robin, what are your hopes and goals for Saturn?
Right now I’m just really excited and stoked to get out our first release. As for the future, it would just be really nice to quit my daytime job and have the music and the band be my daytime job. I don’t expect to be a huge rock star and earn millions of dollars but if I could just get by playing music I would love to have that be my job.
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Robin, thanks so much for talking to me today. I really enjoyed getting to know you and I really have a lot of high hopes and wishes for Saturn. You guys are a great band and I wish you nothing but success.
Thank you so much, Don. This was the best interview I did today. You are a really nice guy and I can see myself drinking beer with you and listening to music! The Amber beer, not that Budweiser stuff [laughs].
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Robin, that made my day brother and you better believe we will hang out and drink beer!
[Laughs] Thank you, Don. Keep in touch with me and take care. Cheers!
For more on Saturn, head over to https://www.facebook.com/SaturnSweden
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