Mattias “IA” Eklundh: “I’ve been having a groovy time every time I wake up”
Mattias “IA” Eklundh, vocalist and guitarist for the Swedish trio Freak Kitchen, is a unique guy. In every sense of the word. As a solo artist, his albums are a tour de force of styles, sounds, and tempos. As avant-garde as the day is long. As part of one of the most original bands Sweden has ever produced, he has carved out a musical niche that’s wholly unique. Freak Kitchen sounds like no other band. Now, nearly 15 years (and six albums) on, Freak Kitchen is one of the most anticipated bands to take the ProgPowerUSA stage. I called IA at his home in the “Swedish woods.” I hadn’t a clue what I was getting myself into with this interview…
BM: Hello, is this IA?
IA: Yes, that’s correct.
BM: Hi, this is Bill Murphy. How are you doing?
IA: How are you doing? I’m tiptop. You ok?
BM: Good. Doing well.
IA: It’s pretty early for you now.
BM: Well, I’d be up and about anyway right about now. [Our interview was scheduled for 7 a.m. on a weekday.]
IA: Ok, cool. [laughs] All right.
BM: How are you doing there today?
IA: It’s tiptop. It’s semi-cloudy and that’s how I like it. Rain and hard wind and stuff like that.
BM: [laughs]
IA: It’s tiptop summer kind of weather.
BM: You like it cloudy?
IA: Well I like, actually, lots of rain and hard wind. It makes me peaceful inside, so to speak. Yeah, but sun is good too.
BM: [laughs]
IA: Things are okey-dokey.
BM: Well, you just got done touring with Freak Kitchen, didn’t you?
IA: There are a million things happening all the time. Also, I’ve been on the road with this art metal trio, with Jonas Hellborg on bass guitar also. So it’s been many, many, many things, and many things are coming up as well. We do Spain in a couple of weeks, a festival in Barcelona, and we do some French festivals and India and China and Russia, [laughs] and England. Ten gigs in England, so it’s a lot of traveling, a lot of touring, but it’s good stuff. One shouldn’t complain.
BM: No. [laughs]
IA: [laughs]
BM: You know, I love reading your bio. [Pause] We have kind of a bad connection over here on my end. I can hear a lot of echo. Do you hear that?
IA: You’re kind of, you know, cracking up also, breaking up every once in a while. Should you try to call back again?
BM: Let me call you right back, how’s that sound?
IA: Ok.
[Re-dial and reconnect with IA.]
IA: Hello?
BM: Hey, it’s me again.
IA: Yeah, well sounds like you got it, doesn’t it?
BM: Yeah, this sounds much better.
IA: Cool. Not really hi-fi, but it works.
BM: [laughs]
IA: All right. Goody goody.
BM: Great.
IA: Ok, cool.
BM: I really appreciate your time today. It’s a pleasure to talk to you.
IA: Oh, the same. The pleasure’s mine.
BM: I’m a major guitar fan, and you’re one of the best I’ve ever heard.
IA: [laughs] Ooooh. Thank you, thank you.
BM: You know, you were talking about all the places you’ve traveled and intend to yet this year. Did you ever think that in your wildest dreams when you’re picking up the guitar at age 13, that suddenly you’re going to be a top guitarist traveling the world? Was that ever in your dreams?
IA: I’ve been having a groovy time every time I wake up, actually. I just do what I actually feel like doing and it’s great. I have my house in the Swedish woods and I have my studio in the basement, and I’ve got wonderful three fireplaces and little river I can go swim in and all that stuff. I got a signature model, I get paid for it. I got the Steve Vai support and all that stuff. And you know, make okey-dokey money from bending string and playing the occasional gig. So things are really good. I’ve been doing the same thing for a number of years. I’ve been living on my guitar playing since I was 19, so that’s eons of time ago. So I’m very grateful. I don’t really take it for granted and everything, but I work hard and people finally get what the freaky stuff is all about, so I’m very grateful. It’s cool. I’m a lucky guy.
BM: Well, you’re a talented guy, I’ll give you that. [laughs]
IA: [laughs] Thank you.
BM: Did you—I was gonna say, when you started playing guitar—and you said you started playing, or living off your guitar by 19.
IA: Yeah.
BM: How long—when did you realize, when you first picked up the guitar, did you say, “Damn, I’m actually really good at this!” [laughs]
IA: [laughs] I usually say I really suck, actually. I can’t play guitar some days. It’s like, “What the hell?” You know, I have to kill everybody around me, because they see I’m a fake guitar player, and fake singer, and basically a drummer that I just realized by the age of 13, that it’s kind of hard to write songs on the drums. And I did a groovy drum solo in front of a lot of people, and I came off stage and nobody knew who I was, which was very upsetting to my teenage ego, kind of. I had to get way up front on stage and play guitar and write tunes. And so, well, I just do what I do.
BM: [laughs]
IA: But I think over the years, when you look back and see that, “Ok, I do get better at certain things.” And maybe it’s—it sounds pretentious—but it’s basically life. You know, you take in as much, whatever, experiences and influences and blah blah blah, and you try to puke out your own voice, so to speak. So I always say that I like to grow my own mustache, instead of growing everybody else’s, and copy and stuff like that.
BM: [laughs]
IA: So if I find something that is obviously ripped off, or copied from someone else, I say, “Nope, you have to find your own voice and walk the road less traveled,” so to speak.
BM: That’s a great album, by the way. I really like it. [IA’s solo album The Road Less Traveled.]
IA: Thank you very much. Thank you.
BM: I was gonna say, you remember the movie Spinal Tap, right?
IA: [laughs] Of course, yes.
BM: You know, when I look at your website, at the Freak Guitar site, and you have that page of nothing but scales—
IA: Yes. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] I always think of Nigel Tufnel at the piano saying, “D Minor is the saddest key of all.” [laughs]
IA: Yes. “Lick My Love Pump, in D Minor.” [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Do you have a favorite sort of scale or tone?
IA: Yes I do, yes I do.
BM: What would that be?
IA: My current favorite scale is an Indian scale or an Indian mode called [word unknown, but sounds like Raga Sharad], which is very, very harsh. But very beautiful. And the thing that is making it cool to play on guitar is usually many of the Indian instruments, they can’t really play chords, they are single string instruments and stuff like that. So the cool thing is to build really strange chords from the scales. At the moment, I’m very influenced by South Indian music. Deduction and stuff, you add and take away notes and it’s really tricky. I’ve been in India a couple times now.
BM: Oh really? That’s great.
IA: It’s fabulous. We toured two and a half weeks last November, then we were there in February. And it’s cool, you play stadiums of 25,000 people, when you walk on stage.
BM: Really?
IA: Yeah. It’s great.
BM: I didn’t know Indians were that into metal music of sorts.
IA: They really are. They go absolutely insane. We played a festival called the Great Indian Rock Festival, and it’s wild. It’s really, really wild. It’s insanely hot there, so people lose their minds, of course, generally. We help.
BM: [laughs]
IA: [laughs]
BM: This would be a good time to ask you about different countries. What is your—I don’t know about favorite country—but they must be different audiences in different countries. They react differently. What do you notice about the various countries?
IA: We do our thing, and usually we—I’d say that the Freak Kitchen audience, it’s a very nice audience. Even if we play whatever, a festival, which basically consists of death metal whatever, people usually laugh and have a good time and dance or bang their heads or whatever. And every once in a while there’s, whatever, a fight may break out. We stop it and say, “You can’t do this when we play. Go outside, kill each other on the parking lot. I don’t give a damn, you know. But you don’t do that as we play. I’m dead serious here.”
BM: That’s really good. That’s a very responsible way to do that.
IA: That happens all the time, and someone is passing out, and whatever. So you still gotta do that. You have an excellent view of the venue from the stage, so you see a lot of things happening. But usually, it’s really cool, I have to say. In Japan, they don’t really have a clue what I’m saying in between songs, but it’s a lot of bullshit anyway, so it doesn’t matter, you know.
BM: [laughs]
IA: They just freak out and we have a groovy time. So really looking forward to play at ProgPower. It’s gonna be wonderful, I hope so.
BM: Yeah, I was gonna ask you about that. A couple of things. First of all, you are in an all-star performance lineup with Jorn and a bunch of other people. Are you looking forward to that? And what are you guys—do you have any idea what you’ll play yet?
IA: What is it? I think I forgot, sorry. Glenn sent me an email, I can’t remember. I have to look it through. The thing is, he sent me a link to some video or tune or something. I can’t remember. Anyway, the thing is, I live in the Swedish woods, and nobody can sell broadband here, so it’s still dialup connection. Everybody is cross-eyed and plays the banjo and all that stuff.
BM: [laughs]
IA: [laughs] So I haven’t really been able to check it out yet. But sure, I look forward. Jorn is a great guy and fabulous singer. I mean, he’s got the voice of doom. So it’s cool, I’m just gonna do my thing as usual and make some loose noise.
BM: [laughs] What can audiences expect from Freak Kitchen when you play at ProgPower?
IA: I haven’t got a clue. We just hope to convert them to the Freaky, the Grand Church of Freakiness. [laughs] So I dunno. We just do our thing, and hopefully people will like it. Otherwise, I will have to bribe them, so we have no choice. We do our thing and hopefully it’s going down well. I haven’t got a clue. Usually, if you let your guard down and, “Hey, here we are.” Sometimes we suck, sometimes we are ok, you know? But we’re always loud. So it’s, yeah, you just gotta do what you gotta do. We’ll see what happens, though. Yep.
BM: Some of your sounds, your tones in some of your songs remind me a lot—or at least are reminiscent — of Adrian Belew or Robert Fripp of King Crimson.
IA: Oh! Yeah.
BM: Do you ever hear any of that? Are you a fan at all of King Crimson or Adrian Belew?
IA: Yeah, sure. Actually, I’m—forgive me, but I’m kind of more into the new King Crimson. I really like The Power to Believe and all the live albums they did recently, and all that. I really like that. Of course, I’ve heard the classic albums as well, but I dig the new stuff, to be like intellectual heavy metal, kind of. So yes, Adrian Belew is great. I haven’t got a clue if he’s—the thing is they use a shitload of pedals and all kinds of rack stuff like that. But I’m more minimalistic kind of guy. I plug my guitar into the amplifier and that’s it. I may use a little wah wah for the vibrator thing that I use, but that’s pretty much it. But they’ve got some cool sounds going on for sure.
BM: Well, it sounds like you have a great sense of humor. I was gonna say, the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, entry about Freak Kitchen, says your “lyrics contain heavy criticism against society and the band’s distaste for huge record companies and what they believe to be soulless people.”
IA: Yeah. [laughs]
BM: One would get the impression [from reading that] that you guys have a cynical or negative view, but you don’t sound like that.
IA: [laughs] No, well I would say we’re slightly cynical. I mean, I’m 36 years old, how can I not be semi-cynical.
BM: [laughs]
IA: That’s ok. Most of the time, I’m a nice guy, every once in a while. The thing is, I have a hard time singing about dragons and steel and blah blah blah, and stuff like that, which means really nothing to me in my everyday life. When I got the opportunity to use my oral opening, I think, why not do it? And I have a really hard time to go on the road for years and years and sing about the importance of steel and all that stuff. [laughs]
BM: [laughs]
IA: To go up there, I have to sing about stuff that concerns people. Even though some of the topics may be difficult or whatever, or harsh or blah blah blah, I believe there’s a positive act to bring it up and speak about it and share your stuff. If we sing about races and we include ourselves, it’s not like we’re just a lot of pointers and say, “Do this” and “We know better” and stuff. It’s really, it’s way more powerful if you sing like, “How did we become such hateful people” instead of, “How did you become”. It’s a big difference to include the audience and just share stuff that is going on. So I think maybe sometimes it’s cynical, but not that cynical. [laughs] Little doses of cynicism.
BM: [laughs] Well, the music sounds too fun and upbeat and quirky to be real cynical.
IA: Yeah, indeed. Yeah.
BM: Well, you know what, another thing you talk about—I love all your interests. Your website is great, because you list everything from Zappa to Reinhardt to Woody Allen to [TV show] 24. It’s great.
IA: [laughs] I’m messed up.
BM: [laughs] In honor of our interview, I watched [Woody Allen’s movie] Bananas last night, just to remind myself of how nutty that film is. It is, you’re right. It’s crazy.
IA: Yeah, cool.
BM: Tell me about Ace Frehley a second. I can’t imagine two styles most different from each other — yours and his. What was it about him that really turned you on? Just his attitude? Or what was it?
IA: Yeah. He’s got a great, great tone. And very very cool time, and when I was a kid, I was actually, I believe I looked like Gene Simmons, but still I thought the guitar was a way cooler instrument. So Ace is just cool. Really, really cool. He’s got just the way he bends and does vibrato, it’s really, really, I really like it. But again, I have to find my own voice and grow my own mustache. So there are probably elements of my playing that is Ace Frehley. It’s only played at warp speed so you can’t really understand it. [laughs] Like a spaced out version, actually. I listen a lot to Frank Zappa, and I listen a lot to, I’ve been listening to basically everything else. Every other stuff, all the other guitar heroes out there, I’ve been listening to, and blah blah blah. I was into Eddie Van Halen in the beginning, of course, and I had my flying V in between my legs, riffing like crazy. Then Kill Them All by Metallica came out and then I was into Slayer, and then I discovered Miles Davis and Django Reinhardt, which messed me up as well. A completely different direction. [laughs] So I’m a big melting pot and just again, trying to do my own thing, basically.
BM: Well, you’re right. I can hear an awful lot of different styles. I love the, what is it, Minor…?
IA: “Minor Swing,” yeah.
BM: Yeah, that’s it. Django. That was great to hear that ramped up to sort of a metal sound. [laughs] That was very cool.
IA: Yeah, yeah. Why not.
BM: I love it. [laughs] Yeah, why not. You know, you wrote something [on your website] about Robert Johnson that I found interesting, when you said, “I remember the day when I first heard Robert Johnson. I had to turn it off, since it affected me.”
IA: Yeah.
BM: You know, when I heard Robert Johnson the first time, it almost scared me, sounded spooky and depressing. [laughs]
IA: Yeah, yeah. It was the same deal with me. It really was. It took me a good while before I actually could—I don’t know—when I was old enough and could digest it or relate to it or whatever. And it almost sounds like a cliché, “Yeah, yeah, you know, blah blah blah Robert Johnson. There’s a lot of other blues that is real and all that stuff.” But it really felt weird. I didn’t know why, and it’s just that, hoo, this goes straight into the heart. It was weird. But I love it, I really do.
BM: Tell me about the ProgPower thing. How did you get the invitation? Did Glenn just give you a call or send you an email one day?
IA: Yeah, basically there was just an email saying, “Are you available?” I said, “Yes.” “Ok, good deal.”
BM: [laughs]
IA: So that’s it. And we haven’t been exchanging that many emails. It’s just basic stuff and cool, ok. We’d be happy to come.
BM: Were you guys familiar with ProgPower USA?
IA: Yeah, I’ve heard about it. Sure, I’ve heard about it. I’m a good friend of Tom Englund of Evergrey, so I knew they had played there. So yeah, I knew about it. And I didn’t know anyone really who’s been there, but then again, we are a little isolated in the Swedish woods.
BM: The Swedish woods.
IA: I’m not a good information kind of guy.
BM: [laughs] But you know, you chose to live there, right? I mean, you love where you live. You could live anywhere you want, but you like the woods. What is it you like about where you live?
IA: It’s a really good place to charge your batteries. And you come back and nobody will find it. I have like big fence, a guard dog, and three crazy cats that will keep people away. [laughs] So I mean, it’s not that isolated, of course you can find it. You can find it on a map. But it’s not a place that you, “Oh, let’s see who lives here”, you know. You just drive by. And every time I have a FedEx or UPS delivery, I have to chase them like crazy, and run. “Stop, it’s here. Stop!” [laughs]
BM: [laughs]
IA: So it’s really nice. I like working on our house and investing money in it. And it’s just a great place to be, and I think I have a great job. I like, travel plant earth, and I go back to my groovy place and just relax and hang out with good friends and have an occasional glass of wine in the rocking chair in front of the fireplace and go swimming and whatever. It’s just cool. Because if you’re on the road and you wanna give your very all every night and all that stuff—and I always walk out talking to people after the show and sign and hang out and all that stuff—then you, although it’s a groovy thing and all that stuff, you blow actually, you lose a lot of energy. And you know, lack of sleep and all that trapping and and all that stuff. So I go back with a good bag of money and a suitcase filled with good wine or cognac or whatever. I don’t drink on the road, really, but I’ll toast with a beer. So it’s cool, I love it. It’s really nice.
BM: What would you say—all your different styles you seem to be able to play just about anything. You’re all across the map, almost seeming, to my ears anyway, you can master a lot of different styles. Are there any guitarists out there whose stuff you find difficult to play?
IA: I’d say most of it, actually. The thing is, I can fake stuff here and there, but I have to do it my way. If you would just throw your favorite lick, whatever, my way, I would probably really, really be truly bad at playing it. Then I would say, “Oh, how about if I do this to it?” And I’d find another way to do it which may sound familiar, but then again, it would be my kind of playing. You know, I have this Freak Guitar camp. It’s a three week annual camp, again in the Swedish woods—it’s not far from here—where I fly in 30 players every year from all over the planet and I teach for six days and I do these backing tracks and I write everything down and all that stuff. And that’s a piece of cake for me, to invent new things. But I would never attempt something like the Freak Guitar camp by myself, because I would have a truly hard time learning a lot of stuff. So I take it, and I do my own thing basically. So it sounds like a lot of different styles, and maybe it is, but then again it’s my own cheesy version of it. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Tell me about Sweden, Gothenburg in particular. What is it about that area that keeps producing all these bands?
IA: It’s cool. Gothenburg is a nice place to live. It’s the second biggest city of Sweden, which doesn’t really mean anything because nobody lives in Sweden.
BM: [laughs]
IA: There are only 9 million people in total and for being Europe, it’s a fairly big country. But the thing is, we got nothing to do here but practice on our instruments and come up with new stuff and new music. But many many people who have visited Gothenburg to check out the so-called Gothenburg Scene, they get kind of disappointed because it’s a beautiful city, but we really don’t play here. We do maybe one gig every second year. And it’s more likely that you will see the people of whatever, In Flames or Hammerfall or blah blah blah hanging out at cafes or clubs, more than that there’s a Gothenburg scene, gig every day. It’s a place where we actually live, then we go outside on earth and play. And then we go back and again charge our batteries and go there. So it’s a good place to live. Again, there’s nothing to do in Sweden but to practice your instrument. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Tell me about Freak Kitchen. First of all, where did the name come from?
IA: Ooh, that is such a stupid name. I realized after coming up with it. Especially with the two k’s, FreaK-K-K Kitchen. [laughs] People usually say, they call the venue and say, “Freak Kitchen tonight? Is that free food?” And they call us freak chicken and blah blah blah. But the thing is, you can call your band anything. We just cook our music in our freak kitchen, like bad soup. So it means nothing. [laughs] Nothing at all. It’s just, I didn’t know of any band name, it is probably from Frank Zappa with “The Dangerous Kitchen.” But I didn’t know of any band name with the word kitchen in it, and either actually freak, at the time. What the hell. You can call your band whatever, Lick My Love Pump, [laughs] or anything. It’s ok. It’s just a name.
BM: [laughs] You know, I’ve talked to a few musicians over the years, and they kinda say the same thing. Let’s say, Symphony X or Edguy. Those guys are kicking themselves in the head now, saying “What the hell were we thinking?”
IA: Yeah yeah yeah. [laughs] Edguy. What the hell.
BM: What was the hardest Freak Kitchen album for you to record? What was the most difficult?
IA: I’d say actually the third one [self titled Freak Kitchen], because I went through hell. It’s really, we set out to do, almost like live in the studio kind of album, but when we were done I listened back to it, without the vocals, we just laid down the basic tracks, one guitar and bass and drums. Together we just rented a very strange, big hole, basically and recorded it. And I thought, “Not in a million years is this good enough.” It was a cool attitude but it wasn’t just finished. So then I, the first two albums were just basic heavy metal or freaky style, but then again, just guitars and all that stuff. But this one I said, “Ok, let’s do something different.” And I was just finding my way, what to do, where to go, how to dress up this tune? And whatever. I’m not a super duper mandolin or banjo player, but I took out all these instruments and just jerk around with it and try to, “Ok, now it’s cool.” And I worked I think four and half months with it, which is a very long time for me. And then–shut up, neighbor dog! Ok, anyway. [laughs] So I, when it came to mixing, I was really, really energy drained. I was completely exhausted. And we mixed it for, I think we took a week off in Denmark and just mixed. And I came back and I was so frustrated and so disappointed. I was like, “Damn it.” So I did a mix of my own, which the first mix was really polished and the second mix was very punky and none of them–I knew it was a good recording, I knew it was well produced and all that stuff, but I needed some help because I was really really tired. And then I found our sidekick, a guy called Roberto Lagni, which has mixed a lot of things, and my god, he, I could just sit in the producer chair, and yell basically, and say, “No, no, no, more kick drum!” and blah blah blah, and he’d take care of the packaging of the sound. So after that, that was really really tired. So I said, “If you don’t remix this one or do it right, we will stop Freak Kitchen,” basically. Because it will not get released if we don’t do it right. So it’s always like that. So nowadays it’s kind of cool, actually. Since I record at home and I never have to worry about studio time and it’s cool when you record when you really feel like recording, which is a good thing to get good vibes on the CD. It’s a piece of cake. It’s great.
BM: Can you listen to that third album now and think fondly of it?
IA: Yes. Yeah, because I found a way out of it, which made me happy. I just work until I turn blue in the face, and say, “It’s ok, I’m gonna do this. I’m gonna survive the experience.” So yeah, it was cool, but it was very frustrating at the time. But yeah, I can listen. The thing is, all albums have their faults and mistakes and blah blah blah, things you would do different now, but at the time we did our very best, and that’s cool because then you can actually listen back to it and feel, “Yeah, cool.” I know I sound like an idiot, whatever, very slight on the first album. I tried to be someone I’m not, but at the time it was right. So what can you do?
BM: Well, the third album, the one that’s just titled Freak Kitchen, it’s got the kind of cow face on it or whatever. [laughs] How involved are you in choosing artwork for your covers?
IA: [laughs] I’m very involved, actually. Yeah, we do a lot of things basically artwork and everything from videos and stuff like that, ourselves. So friends of ours take photos and my fiancée does the layout, and Chris [Christer Ortefors], our bass player is doing a lot of CD stuff, and I do an occasional poster or t-shirts, just because we like it and we have this very tight freak circle kind of and we let very few people in. So it’s, yeah, I’m involved. The cow symbol is a good symbol, because it’s not really, not typical metal but people do recognize it. We have a lot of kids who have tattooed their, everything from bellies to arms to backs and painted their cars and living rooms and all kinds of stuff. We get all this cow whatever stuff, so it works. It’s really the Freak Kitchen symbol.
BM: Does that kind of freak you out now, to think you created a symbol that people are wearing?
IA: Yeah, it is. It’s weird. I always, the last time I was in some Virgin Megastore in, I think it was Paris or somewhere in France, and this girl walked up and showed me her belly, and it was just this black cow Freak Kitchen head all over…But of course, in a way it’s flattering, but my goodness, I don’t even have a tattoo. Chris, our bass player’s got plenty of tattoos, but I’m such a wimpy guy.
BM: [laughs] Well, do you have a favorite Freak Kitchen song you like to play, one that just charges you up every time?
IA: It’s different all the time. It’s like your kids almost, so it’s different. I haven’t got a clue which one is the, right now I think it’s the tune called the “Right to You,” from Organic, the second CD. But it’s different. We never make up our set list until five minutes before we go on stage, and find some used or unused toilet paper and write it down on that.
BM: [laughs]
IA: And just, we change it while on stage as well.
BM: Really?
IA: If some people yell a tune, we will just play it, even if we can’t play it, we will try and make fools of ourselves, which is ok.
BM: Is there a fair amount of improv then, in what you do? It would seem like there is.
IA: Yeah, there is.
BM: Ok, yeah.
IA: Yeah, I never, for solos and stuff like that, I never play the same and it’s, because it has to be that way for me, because I would find it very boring. We like to play without a net, so to speak. It’s not like it’s just losing focus or stuff, it’s more actually to kick our own butts, to see if, ok, today we play ten songs we haven’t played before, and we just try to reherse it during sound check. And there might be a certain edge to that stuff instead of doing the same set list and blah blah blah, and oh, here comes the explosion on three, one, two, pow. It doesn’t work that way, so not for me at least.
BM: Well, a lot of bands like King Crimson rely heavily on improv and they kind of claim it keeps them fresh and sharp as musicians.
IA: Yep. Yeah. It’s very true, very true.
BM: How about the most difficult solo? What’s the most difficult song you ever created for yourself to play?
IA: [laughs] Well, one of them was probably Frank Zappa’s “The Black Page” on the first Freak Guitar album, but I really didn’t write that one, but it was a tricky one to record. It’s hard to say, I don’t know. If I write it myself, it’s not–well, “Smoke on the Water,” actually. [laugh] The lead part on that one is really bitchin’ to play. It’s very very hard to find a way to play with natural harmonics and no effects whatever. And people say, “Oh play Smoke on the Water” and they don’t realize I sat on my ass for three days to work out the fingerings and you know, the slightest movement will screw it up on your whatever, so it’s tricky. But it just had to be done.
BM: Did you develop a greater appreciation for Ritchie Blackmore doing that?
IA: [laughs] Well, I’m not even a super duper Deep Purple fan, it’s just I’ve heard my share of Deep Purple like everybody else. When my neighbor’s kid played it really really loud one day I just realized, “oh man, it is a good riff.” You know, you’ve heard it so many times, but you don’t listen to it. And I was like, “Shit, can you imagine when this one came out, as the riff?” So I decided I would do it, not like a comic joke person, just an updated, 21st century version.
BM: And then you like double- or triple-timed it though.
IA: Yeah, well. The personal mustache.
BM: [laughs] Yeah.
IA: [laughs]
BM: Tell me about touring with the band. You sound like–the band comes across to me as a bunch of guys having a great time.
IA: Yeah.
BM: Do you have, do you like play jokes on each other or other bands you play with? Or are you practical jokers?
IA: Maybe more to ourselves, basically. We are kind of as I said very very tight Freak circle, so it’s like we usually tour alone and you know, some nights we play big halls so in France, we tour for three weeks in France alone and sometimes it’s small venues and clubs and stuff like that, but usually we travel the road less traveled. So yeah, but Bjorn [Fryklund, drummer] and Chris are quite insane. I’m more the boring guy that has to take care of business and I have my own hotel room and go back while they, we call them the Glimmer Twins, they never stop, like nuclear factory, so quite radioactive, those guys. Yeah.
BM: Do you have a favorite road story? Anything that’s ever happened to you out on the road or–
IA: Oh my goodness. Many strange things happen all the time actually. And with the old Freak Kitchen, Freak Kitchen Mark II, it was insane. It was just based on having a good time no matter what happens to the band, and eventually, the band self destructed anyway because we couldn’t really take ourselves seriously. It was just insane, it was just about farting and shit and blah blah blah all the time. The drummer used to shit himself in his hand and throw it at my head, and it was insane, all kinds of nasty stuff. You would feel something really warm on your leg while you’re standing talking and you realized he was pissing on you. There were all these nasty things happening all the time. He recorded 90 minutes of his greatest farts, which we used to play in the tour bus. Everything from diarrhea…I should not go into more details. It was insane. It was all about having a good laugh, and music was almost like second. We didn’t even have cases to our instruments, we just dragged stuff around. Toured Germany for three and a half weeks with no guitar or bass case. It was insane. So yeah.
BM: I’m surprised you guys survived all that. [laughs]
IA: [laughs] Yeah. The band had to break up, you know, I had to find another drummer and bass player eventually. But it lasted for 8 years, Freak Kitchen Mark II and Mark I. And we’re really good friends still. Again, when we meet it’s all about laughing and, “Hey, you remember this? and blah blah blah and remember when I was taking a dump in the woods and the promoter came and I blah blah blah.” [laughs] So it’s all about really really having a good time no matter what. But after a while it was just very exhausting, but lots of fun.
BM: [laughs] Let me ask you about [film score composer] Howard Shore. You have an appreciation and a fascination for his compositions. Have you ever been approached for a film score, or do you ever want to do something like that?
IA: I’d love to do it. I’d love to do anything like that, just take some time off and write stuff in my basement. And there has been some, there was one TV series, I can’t remember the name, but nothing really has come through so far. I’m not super interested in making commercial blah blah blah, stuff like jingles, but I would really love to do something for a movie because they are completely different ballgame. It’s not just writing about a tune, you have to, and I think Howard Shore’s really the master. He’s really really beyond good. I listen to his stuff a lot and even the guitar stuff, which, the soundtrack to Crash with the five guitars and harps and stuff, that’s beautiful stuff and I’d love to be involved in something like that.
BM: So if Howard ever called you up and said, “Hey, would you like to–”
IA: Yeah, I’d be there. I’d be there. I’d cancel everything, yes.
BM: [laughs]
IA: Howard, give me a call. My number is…[laughs]
BM: [laughs] I’ll just ask you a couple more things and I’ll let you get back, ‘cause I know you’re a busy guy.
IA: [laughs] Sure. [laughs] Poor man, you can’t print half of what I said. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Just to tell ya, I love your version of “Detroit Rock City.”
IA: Oh yeah?
BM: That’s so cool.
IA: Cool.
BM: See, I grew up with KISS too. My first concert of all time was KISS in 1975.
IA: Cool.
BM: When you talked about how you were as a little kid just freaking out, that’s how I was. I was 15, and KISS was the first band, and there they are, right before KISS Alive came out. I just lost my mind.
IA: Yeah, Jesus, that was something. I saw KISS for the first time in 1980, and I was 10 at the time. And it was a religious experience, really. And to this very day I get kind of excited, although it’s really not KISS anymore and blah blah blah, they got a new Ace Frehley and a new Peter Criss, but it’s still, I don’t care. I just love it, it’s magic stuff to me. Yeah.
BM: See, that’s one of the things I like about your music and the things you write about, you seem to have an appreciation for that emotional, magical aspect of music. Where did that come from? Is that just part of your personality? Or is it a Swedish woods thing, or what?
IA: [laughs] Probably a combination of both. I don’t know. Screwed up personality and the Swedish woods. I don’t know, it’s just, you know, I believe humor is a good thing to kind of get your message through and because I’m not a fan of pointers and stuff like that. But on the other hand, I am serious of what I do. I spend great amount of time working out new things and I record and produce and blah blah blah, so it’s, but again, humor is a good thing for me to blend into your music. But as Frank Zappa said, it’s part of everyday life, so it should be part of music as well. And I get very bored when there is not–it does not have to be whatever, funny music or comedy music, but it has to be some kind of cool, relaxed, whatever, maybe tongue in cheek thing in there for me to like it. When it’s all dark and super pretentious and everything it’s shit shit shit.
BM: [laughs]
IA: Death, scowl, blood and stuff, I get bored. “Oh come on”, you know.
BM: So do I, actually.
IA: Relax. [laughs]
BM: An aspect of Freak Kitchen’s music, you guys to me sound like a cross between Primus and Yngwie or something.
IA: [laughs] Cool. [laughs] We are doing good. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] That’s very cool. Last question, are guitarists with your capabilities, are they born or are they made through blood, sweat and tears over years?
IA: Oh, I haven’t got a clue. I just play, basically. I have people get me some, I get emails from people asking me, “how fast are you on the metronome?” I haven’t got a clue. I’ve got an Estonian metronome which can’t keep time. So I just use my foot and I do my thing and sometimes I play warp speed stuff, sometimes I just go play quiet or acoustical, whatever. I just play and do my own thing. I may not be aware that it’s out or not out, whatever, I just do my own thing.
BM: Well, you get a lot of questions, like on the forum, the new forum on your website, I mean there’s a lot of guys that, it’s like, did you ever see the movie Galaxy Quest?
IA: Yeah, yes, yes. [laughs]
BM: Some of the questions people ask you remind me of that kid on Galaxy Quest with all the technical little questions. Do you get people coming up saying, “Now, on the third track, you played this lick…”
IA: Yeah, it was crazy. “By Grapthar’s Hammer” or whatever. Yeah. [laughs]
BM: Yeah. “Thank Ipthar.” [laughs] But you get that. You get a lot of people talking very technical questions with you. Do you like that, or is it more like–
IA: Yeah, sure. Actually, I spend more time I think editing drums or micing bass guitar than I actually get to play guitar solos, which is more like a reward thing. And there’s nothing wrong with that, but so many people they think of me as a guitar hero, but I would say I spend more time writing lyrics and doing harmony vocals than I, when we record and stuff like that. And it’s fine. I love the guitar aspect of all that stuff, and sometimes I haven’t got a clue what I’m doing. I have to break down and say, “What happened here.” And I would say actually the kids know actually better what I’m doing than I know myself. Although I read and write music, but I don’t really spend a lot of time writing what I do down afterwards. There are many many talented freak guitar campers, and former students and stuff like that that do that. They have the time and they got the energy to do it. But I travel, so I sneak in at the forum every once in a while and say some stupid things that get them all confused, and then they can continue to discuss them. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] See, the next Freak Kitchen album, you hinted that it’s going to be different. How much more different can it be?
IA: [laughs] I think, different for us. Well, I got some ideas really, I want to take some time to work on an album that goes places we haven’t been before, and you got some plan in your head when you start, “Ok, this is how we’re gonna do it”, but it’s always gonna sound completely different. So I haven’t got a clue. I just got the basic tunes ready, and then I’ll see. But I want to dress it up in a different way. A very different way. We just don’t want to “Ok we’ll start with drums to click track blah blah blah, and then we start with guitar.” I wanna do little pieces and bits and we will see. But it’s gonna be different. Very different.
BM: [laughs] Good.
IA: Still Freak Kitchen, you know. You will recognize the sound.
BM: Well, I really appreciate your time today. It’s a pleasure talking to you.
IA: Oh, the pleasure is mine.
BM: I’m looking forward to seeing you guys this fall. I’ll stop by backstage and say Hi or something.
IA: Definitely. Yeah. Cool. Well, see you in September. Take care, man.
BM: Take care, IA.
IA: Ok, bye bye.
BM: Bye.
Wow. What can I say? One of the most interactive and unique interviews I’ve ever conducted. IA is one cool guy.
You can connect with Freak Kitchen at their official site, which is www.freakkitchen.com. Or check out IA’s more guitar-oriented site at www.freakguitar.com. Either way, you’re in for a mind-blowing treat.
Freak Kitchen CDs are available on Amazon. But I got mine from Ken Golden at www.lasercd.com. If it’s prog/power metal, Ken’s got it.
