THERION Mainman: We'll Never Tour The U.S. Again

David E. Gehlke of Blistering.com recently conducted an interview with Christofer Johnsson of Swedish progressive/experimental metallers THERION. A few excerpts from the chat follow below:

Blistering.com: Anything different in the writing process for "Sitra Ahra"? It seems like with every album something new comes up for you.

Johnsson: I just write. I have no idea where things are headed. This was record was different because I had enough material for three albums, but I woke up one day and decided to save some songs. On occasion we've recorded leftovers from previous albums, which for most bands, is a bonus. This is unique. Take [IRON] MAIDEN — they never would have released the material written around "Powerslave" or "Somewhere In Time" 10 years later. The band had evolved too much by then. For THERION, it's simply a matter of learning about new instruments. For every album, you'll get the typical whines which is classic. Like for "Deggial", I read the forums and it's the new favorite album. "Secret Of The Ruins" sold less than "Vovin" and everyone considered it to be a flop, yet now it's considered to be the best. I've read so many embarrassing pages, so much shit, and positive reviews from people that proves they just don't get it. Some fuck wrote about how we've reunited and "Gothic Kabbalah" was our final album. People think they know me, but they don't know simple music from complex music. Everyone is on their high horses these days.

Blistering.com: Because of the Internet?

Johnsson: Yeah, because of the Internet. It's amazing what people write.

Blistering.com: Indeed. Speaking of which, I read on the Net that you are never touring the United States again. Is that still true?

Johnsson: Oh yeah, we're never going to tour the U.S. again. It would be a miracle for us to do that again, like an offer we couldn't refuse. I knew we'd do OK there, but the tours we did [both in support of "Gothic Kabbalah"] had total shithead booking. It was pretty miserable, never too posh. There were about 150-200 people a show and in this economy, it's tough. Hard to get anywhere with this economy. I'm 40 years old. We do well in Europe, great in Latin America. Some people think the United States is essential, but we're not big in Africa either. [laughs] Not touring there takes away a lot of the legwork, and when you do all of that work to tour the States, it's not worth it. Not when you're 40. I have to cut down because I have a kid at home. We can go anywhere, it's totally possible, but we're doing it when we need to.

Blistering.com: So any chance of doing a one-off festival?

Johnsson: I can see us playing the U.S. only for a festival, yes. Like the ProgPower USA festival, very professional and organized, so we'd do that again. During our second tour there, we went through twice the amount of crap, and half the people. It's like we caught all of the people we could have the first time, and we can't do charity and put baby powder on my ass. It's just a lot of effort, so why bother? Then people complain that we don't come over. Well, it's the lack of enthusiasm. We have die-hard fans, who I appreciate, but the attitude there is too laid-back.

Read the entire interview at Blistering.com.