If you’re a modern day Melodic Rock fan then it doesn’t get much better than W.E.T. the band that combines the talents of Eclipse’s Erik Martensson (Nordic Union, Ammunition), vocalist Jeff Scott Soto (Sons of Apollo, TSO, Talisman) and guitarist Robert Säll (Work of Art). If you’ve followed the band then you’ll know what to expect, but put that fond memory aside for the moment as album number three is the big leap forward – ‘Earthrage’ indeed puts everything so far in the shade. Why? We got to ask Erik Martensson that very question as well as delving into his love of AC/DC…
Mark: Hey, Erik its Mark from The Rockpit, how are you?
Erik: I’m good, how are you?
Mark: Very well. Thank you for talking to us today. 23rd of March is a big day, the new W.E.T. album is coming out; “Earthrage” you must be pretty excited in the run up to the release?
Erik: Yeah, it’s always exciting, especially with the reviews. When you do a new album, you do the best you can, you think its good yourself, otherwise you wouldn’t release it, but I am one man and there’s a whole world of rock critics that’s going to slash it to pieces if it’s not good!!
Mark: There are already some good reviews out there, and we’ve just written ours, and I think it’s your greatest so far, and that’s saying a lot because of the previous albums! What’s the feeling from you, and Jeff (Scott Soto) and the guys?
Erik: Personally, I think it’s absolutely the best record we’ve done so far, one good song doesn’t make a record and every single song should be good and you should never get that feeling that you want to skip a song! And I think we’ve really achieved it on this one, every song has a right to be on the album, for me there are no “fillers” on this record, every song has a purpose. The hardest part of making a record is not just making one good song, or four, it’s making eleven or twelve good songs.
Mark: I think you’re right. Had you actually chosen, or recorded any videos yet from the album.
Erik: Yeah, one for “Watch the Fire”, and we’re also going to do one for “Kings on Thunder Road”.
Mark: So, the opening track, and possibly my favourite, “Kings on Thunder Road”, which were the most fun tracks to play on?
Erik: The songs I really enjoyed recording, were “Urgent”, “Watch the Fire” of course was a really fun song to record, and “Dangerous”, I really like that one as well. The songs were really easy to write, and really easy to record, and that’s usually a very good sign that it’s going to be a really good record, because when you struggle with something, it’s usually because something’s not as good as it should be, and you want it to be better than it actually is. It’s like it doesn’t matter how much paint you put on an old car, it’s still going to be an old car!!
Mark: True! You produced, recorded, mixed and mastered the album yourself, as well as putting out a new album by Ammunition as well! You’ve also got Magnus and Robban, from Eclipse on this new album as well; does it feel like sometimes the two bands are influencing each other? You are obviously a big part of each band; you are writing songs for both projects, do you ever think is this an Eclipse or a W.E.T. song?
Erik: It does happen, but usually when I’m writing for Eclipse, it’s Magnus, the guitarist from Eclipse, and me, we write together and are the main writers for Eclipse, and we focus on Eclipse songs, but Magnus is not involved in writing for W.E.T. at all, that’s just myself doing all the creative work, together with 04.58, of course, I’m not doing everything myself. When I’m doing a W.E.T. album, my focus and my goal is writing W.E.T. songs. I focus on one thing at a time, so that’s why it sounds like W.E.T. when it’s W.E.T., and sounds like Eclipse when it’s Eclipse! And of course with Jeff singing, that really makes the songs, if I were singing then it would sound like Eclipse.
Mark: I also liked the recent Ammunition album, it was wonderful! You must feel like you’re in the best writing form of your life at the moment, do things feel pretty good?
Erik: It feels good! I still think it’s so much fun writing songs, every day I sit down and write new songs, I don’t feel tired, some days you don’t have as much inspiration, but usually I love writing new songs, it’s the best part of the music for me, you are creating something out of nothing. When I’m writing with Age, the singer with Ammunition, I write completely differently to when I write with Magnus, I think you are affected differently by having different people in the room with you.
Mark: It must be constantly inspirational to bounce different ideas off different people. What are the chances of seeing W.E.T. on the road this year, apart from I guess, The Frontiers Rock Festival?
Erik: We are not playing Frontiers, at all, as we are playing with Eclipse in Japan, the same week. But, at the moment I think the chances are pretty slim, as Jeff is out with his new stuff with his band Sons of Apollo, and we are playing a lot with Eclipse as well, so a lot of people and a lot of promoters are asking for it, but we are saying no to everything at the moment, that doesn’t mean we are never going to play live, but at the moment we are too busy.
Mark: Any chance of seeing any of your bands in Australia again?
Erik: I would love to, it’s one of my favourite countries I’ve ever been to, I loved it, what was it? Two years ago?
Mark: Yes, two years ago now, it was great that you got to play Melbourne with Eclipse.
Erik: Yes, we were there for a week, and I loved it! I’d say it’s my favourite country I’ve visited so far, it’s better than Sweden I guess!!
Mark: Tell us a little bit about the album title, “Earthrage”. Where does that come from? Although it’s obvious from some of the lyrics on the album where it comes from, but what’s your take on it?
Erik: We had a discussion about what to call the album, because we had an idea when we were doing the cover artwork, because the first one had water on the front cover, and the second one had fire, so then we thought we should have Earth, and have the four elements combined. So, we started discussing titles around it, and Magnus came up with Earthrage, it’s a made up word, and we loved it, so thought yeah, that’s the title. So, to be honest I don’t know where he got it from, he has sudden attacks and says what do you think about this title?! I like it!
Mark: it’s a busy year for you with the Eclipse tour taking up a lot of your time. Are we looking at any new music from Eclipse any time soon, maybe next year?
Erik: Yeah, we don’t have an exact release date, but we’re planning on the end of March next year, there’s going to be a new Eclipse record, and Magnus is coming over tomorrow, and we are going to spend the week writing together. I live about 300 kms away from him, so he’ll come over and we’ll spend the week writing new Eclipse stuff, we’ve already got some really good songs!
Mark: That’s great news for fans, and I know you have a lot of fans down here. What’s inspiring you at the moment? Is there any new music out there that you’re listening to? Or do you always go back to your primary influences?
Erik: Well, at the moment I’m not listening to any new music. I’ve been buying vinyl lately, I bought the new Killers album, and there’s a Danish band called D.A.D, the singer Jasper Binzer put out an album called “Dying is Easy”, and I really like that one as well. Sweden is a Spotify country, so I listen to everything, from Folk music, to Classical, to Death metal. I am all over the place when it comes to listening to music! And of course the classic rock stuff, AC/DC is the best band in the world!
Mark: Interestingly I was talking to Angry Anderson from Rose Tattoo the other day, who had been speaking to Angus, and he told him they were writing a new album, with Axl singing. The interview is up on the web site.
Erik: So, the rumour is true! AC/DC are a band that never “sold out”, even if they were the biggest band in the world, they had 100% integrity. But, in one year it all fell apart, Malcolm was sick, and that was one thing, but when Brian Johnson left, the whole thing fell apart, it was devastating!
Mark: I think from what Angry said, it’s because Angus just can’t stop writing! He’s still feeling creative; he still wants to make music, even though as you say most of the band has gone. Angus certainly doesn’t need the money, but he’s still inspired to be creative and write. I’m the same as you, I was very upset when Brian left, but I think Axl has kick- started Angus in to writing again.
Erik: Yeah, with his brother gone and a different singer, maybe he thought I should try something new and a little bit different. I completely understand, one hundred percent, what he wants to do, he’s like seventy, and he’s the youngest one of the bunch, so I understand why he wants to keep doing music. As an AC/DC fan I would love to be proven wrong, hopefully I can eat my own hat, when they produce a new album, and I will be the first one to say it!
Mark: Well I think we’ll certainly find out! As for yourself, creatively, do you feel like you’re in a golden period at the moment? You have produced so much great music over the years, but I think over the last eighteen months you’ve produced some of your best work.
Erik: Maybe, it’s hard to tell! I think the older you get, the better you get at doing it. You don’t try to sound like someone else, you write your own stuff without checking with everyone else, you care, and I think that is the key to sounding better than ever. Personally the best one for me is the latest Eclipse record, the latest W.E.T. is the best, and the latest Ammunition is the best one, so I think it’s all heading in the right direction, and I just hope it keeps on going!
Mark: Exactly, I things are just getting better and better, and I think in Europe especially people are listening again to more rock music. There are big crowds for club gigs, and lots of young people in the audience, do you think rock is taking off again there, as opposed to the US or here in Australia?
Erik: As far as I know, I can’t speak for the States or Australia, but I can speak for the scene in Europe, and it’s big, if I go back fifteen years, there is a huge difference in the crowds, if you go back ten/fifteen years people laughed at you if you played Melodic Rock! Now, people take you one hundred percent serious, and new people are starting to listen to music, even going back five years the audiences were over 40-65, they were people who listened to this sort of music back in the day. Now you can see, it’s a lot of women, and for example in Spain, when we play there, the main audience is people between 18 and 35, up to 40, there are some older as well, it’s a new generation coming to the shows, discovering this music and loving it!
Mark: That’s great to hear. I have a couple of quick closing questions, if you had to choose one single song that summed up all the power and emotion of music, the one song that you hear and every time think this is why I love music, what would it be?
Erik: Well it’s got to be an AC/DC song! They made me want to play guitar, which song to choose? There are so many! It must be a song off “Powerage”, “Down Payment Blues”, I love that song! It’s so hard to boil it down to just one song, but if you go for energy and rock and roll, it’s “Powerage”.
Mark: And finally, can music change the world?
Erik: It cannot change the world, but it can change your world, your personal life can be changed by it, and it can give great meaning to you, I think the world would be a different place without music, and I think it plays a big role in everyone’s life. I think the world would change radically without music!
Mark: Thank you, Erik, for another wonderful album, and thank you for taking the time to talk to The Rockpit, and we can’t wait to get you guys back here to Australia, in whatever form someday soon, take care.
Erik: Thank you for your time, and I would love to come back! Take care, bye.
