Ytsejam.com - Tommy Hash Interviews Lars Eric Mattsson

Lars Eric Mattsson is a musical renaissance man, being well known for heading up his label Lion Music, which he started as an avenue to express his own musical endeavors along with exposing the many different bands he has signed over the years. But as a guitarist he has put out several albums, composed many songs, and produced many records; his two latest records ‘War’ with Mattsson and ‘Earthbound’ as solo are two different musical journeys that showcase Mattsson’s ability as one of metal’s most versatile guitarists.

With ‘War,’ Mattsson feels that he has reached another level as a composer, for which the album entails a rock-opera/neo-classical vibe to it; a highly elaborate project unto itself, separating itself outright for his other musical projects, “opposed to previous albums which have been a collections of separate songs on “War” these songs all belong together. There is a clear link between the message of the lyrics and the music. It’s my most complex piece of work and I am very proud of the result,” Begins Mattson, who now explains the albums true to life concept which hits home for many of us, “A few weeks before the war in Iraq started this feeling hit me that very bad things were about to happen and the lyrical theme of “War” album is mostly based on this war as well as the never-ending conflict between Israel and Palestine. I guess the concept is pretty complex and dark and there are no simple answers to the questions that may appear. I don’t like to preach to people, I just want to tell people to think for themselves and stay critical to the “truth” that’s offered in what many times is nothing but a propaganda war.”

The record itself took some time to complete and brought Mattson on an extended period of writing time, recording, and overall preparation to prepare the final version that we hear as ‘War,’ “It took a long time to compose the music,” says Mattson, “the actual recordings of the backing tracks were quite demanding singe there are a lot of time changes and the rhythms are very complex. Initially I made a very rough “road map” that included all the different songs and then I started with the first song, figured out all the various parts and how they would be glued together, then we recorded drums and rhythm guitar, then we did the same thing with the second song and so on until they were all recorded. After this I started figuring out all the other parts and finally the vocal melodies.”

“The first step was to record the basic rhythm tracks with drums, guitar and then bass and from there on parts were added like pieces of a puzzle except for “War Suite Concerto” which was recorded as 8 separate pieces and then put together at the mixing stage. Some of these pieces are very complex and took a long time to nail down the way I wanted them. The Strings and the acapella vocals were the first things we recorded. After all the basic banking tracks were completed we shipped the tracks to USA where Vitalij Kuprij’s keyboard parts were recorded and at the same time Irene Janssen’s vocals were recorded in Arjen Lucassen’s studio in Netherlands, Lance King and Mark Boals recorded their vocals in USA, Andre Vuurboom(Sun Caged) recorded his vocals in the studio of Joost van den Berg and so on. Then we recorded some additional vocals and backing choirs here in Finland before mixing the album.”

Like the Ayreon projects, Mattson used several different vocalists on the record to bring different characters to the story, rather than being just a narrative, bringing ‘War’s’ concept to life. “I wanted do work with some good singers that would all have their own distinctive voice and the singers that are on the album were chosen because I like their vocal abilities but also because these guys are great to work with and I knew that the would deliver,” explains Mattson, who now speaks of the experience of working with others, “When you work with guys this good you just let them do their thing and the result will be great so you don’t need to (or shouldn’t) worry about keeping control. The musicians are a bunch of guys I have worked with in the past with great joy. I don’t like to work with people who are difficult personalities, I’ve done that in the past but I don’t want to do it again.”

Besides ‘War,’ he has a solo guitar album out titled ‘Earthbound,’ which is a 360-degree turn musically, but yet its still incorporates the heaviness and musical prowess that Mattson expresses in his music. Having taken a month off from recording after ‘War,’ Mattsson went right back into the studio to record the Earthbound’ record, for which he says that the inspiration had come in the middle of making ‘War.’

“‘Earthbound’ was composed and recorded really fast and musically it’s not as complex as “War” and the production and arrangements are also a lot simpler,” says Mattsson, “After doing such a complex album as “War” it felt very good to do something quite different and I must say that I enjoyed finishing the album a lot! I am playing everything except for the drums and the songs just seemed like of write themselves so it was a very simple process.”

Inspirations behind Mattsson’s music are pretty obvious, but still, they are guitar based in many respects saying “I believe that I have been influences by a lot of guys and bands such as Uli Jon Roth, Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple etc but I have listened to so much stuff over the years and worked on so many projects that I think everything has become one huge melting pot and it might be hard to find traces of my early influences in what I am doing today. I was also influenced by classical music a lot, even though I don’t listen to that these days. Actually I don’t listen to much music at all except for what I am working on.”

Having been through all types of stuff that other record labels have put him through, Mattson began Lion Music, a label that has a roster that includes several progressive metal and melodic metal acts, as well as many guitar based/musician based artists on it’s roster. The label is quickly becoming well known everywhere, releasing albums by Mind’s Eye, Locomotive Breath, Iron Mask, Metal Majesty, and etc. Besides running the label and playing guitar, Mattson is well versed as a producer and has many plans in the future for his label as well as working directly with other artists on numerous projects.

“(Future plans) will include production of at least one new, yet unnamed project,” concludes Mattsson, “I did guest on several albums this year: Locomotive Breath, Centinex, Lalu and I will be on the next album by the Greek keyboard virtuoso Bob Katsionis to name a few…I am going to finish an album with “Book of Reflections” next before starting work on the sequel to “War” unless something else comes up.”

With his label and musicianship, Lars Eric Mattson is helping lead the way for many sub genres of metal these days, and ‘War’ and ‘Earthbound’ are two different ways that he is expressing metal’s melodic stance in the world of music.
-Tommy 'Hashman' Hash

For more information, please visit www.lionmusic.com and www.larsericmattsson.com