{"id":38657,"date":"2018-03-06T08:15:06","date_gmt":"2018-03-06T13:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=38657"},"modified":"2018-03-06T08:15:11","modified_gmt":"2018-03-06T13:15:11","slug":"on-stage-sabaton-swedish-for-metal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=38657","title":{"rendered":"On Stage: Sabaton, Swedish for metal"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>, Entertainment Editor, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sabaton<\/p><\/div>\n

Music acts from Sweden are either sonically hard and very heavy \u2013 goth metal, death metal, doom and gloom \u2013 or light and very frothy \u2013 Abba, Ace of Base.<\/p>\n

Sabaton, which is headlining a show at the Fillmore Philadelphia (1100 Canal Street, Philadelphia, 215-309-0150, www.thefillmorephilly.com<\/a>) on March 6 is the former.<\/p>\n

Sabaton is a metal band from Falun, Sweden that features lyrical themes based on war and historical battles.<\/p>\n

Sabaton\u2019s themes of war and historical battles are even reflected in the band\u2019s name. A sabaton is a knight\u2019s foot armor.<\/p>\n

The war theme that Sabaton embraces can be heard in the albums \u201cPrimo Victoria,\u201d \u201cThe Art of War,\u201d \u201cAttero Dominatus,\u201d \u201cCoat of Arms,\u201d \u201cCarolus Rex,\u201d \u201cHeroes,\u201d and \u201cThe Last Stand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sabaton was formed in 1999 and still includes two of the founding members — vocalist Joakim Brod\u00e9n and bassist P\u00e4r Sundstr\u00f6m. The other members are Chris R\u00f6rland (guitar), backing vocals; Hannes van Dahl (drums, backing vocals) and Tommy Johansson (guitar, backing vocals).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been really, really busy the last year,\u201d said van Dahl. \u201cWe had a big tour of the states, including a show in Philadelphia. We toured Russia and finished with a headlining show in Japan. Now, here we go again. Time really flew.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Sundstr\u00f6m, \u201cI formed the band at the end of 1999. We had a drummer who was a schoolmate with Joakim. He introduced Joakim as a keyboard player so we brought him into the band. When I heard him sing, I realized how good he was. So, I said \u2013 you\u2019re the singer of the band.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were looking for something to write about. We were both interested in history and wars and realized \u2013 this is interesting, this is real. We don\u2019t want to write about our private lives and we don\u2019t want to make things up. I always liked reality more than fiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not history perfectionists. We\u2019re more interested in it than most people but we\u2019re not experts. We also liked to find a topic people can relate to \u2013 either from movies or from experiencing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It all starts with Brod\u00e9n.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoakim is the main songwriter of the band,\u201d said van Dahl. \u201cEveryonechips in with their ideas and he has the final yes. We all write in our home studios and exchange stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sabaton is still touring in support of its 2017 album \u201cThe Last Stand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next album is coming together,\u201d said van Dahl. \u201cWe\u2019re taking a lot of time off to write as good an album as we possibly can. The last two albums have been spread out a bit — from WWI to the Afghan war.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe music has been getting less dark in a way. But, there is no plan to go in any specific direction. If you have a song with a story, the music has to fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll do a few shows here and there \u2013 but not too many. And, we\u2019ll host our 11th Annual Open Air Festival. It\u2019s held in Falun and draws about 5,000 people. The festival has a nice family vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sabaton is careful when selecting its set list for shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter releasing eight studio albums, you never make everyone in the audience happy,\u201d said van Dahl. \u201cUsually, we do surveys before the tour to see what fans want to hear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also play what we like. It\u2019s quite a balance. We\u2019re going pretty heavy with songs from \u2018The Kast Stand\u2019 because that\u2019s the tour we\u2019re on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Sabaton \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/kPVm-QkWbBQ<\/a><\/p>\n

The show at the Fillmore, which also features Kreator, will start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $27.50.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Vundabar<\/p><\/div>\n

When Vundabar headlines a show on March 6 at PhilaMOCA (531 North 12th Street, Philadelphia, www.philamoca.org<\/a>), the band\u2019s focus will be on its recently-released album \u201cSmell Smoke.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s somewhat of a paradox inherent in Vundabar\u2019s songwriting — a conflicting sense of nostalgia contrasted with the realization that the band couldn\u2019t sound more current. The music Vundabar makes feels like something that should have been heard a long time ago, while simultaneously continuing to forge ahead sonically.<\/p>\n

Vundabar’s high energy live show is the stand out quality of this band and is an art they\u2019ve undoubtedly perfected by touring non-stop around the country.<\/p>\n

On this tour, the band introduces \u201cSmell Smoke,\u201d which is very special album for the Boston-based group.<\/p>\n

Singer Brandon Hagen wrote the band\u2019s third album while tending to a gravely ill loved one.<\/p>\n

When Hagen was 18, he was informed that a loved one in his family was ill. Hagen began the long process of trying to grapple with grief and it seriously affected him. Fortunately, he found an outlet for his emotions in the songs on \u201cSmell Smoke.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe over-arcing theme of the album is processing loss and its intersection with an American identity,\u201d said Hagen, during a phone interview last week from his home in Brighton, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a relative who got very sick and I got involved quite a bit. I tried to avoid it for a long time \u2013 tried to tip-toe around it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made my songwriting vert cathartic. For me, writing songs has always been a way for me to realize how I feel about something.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is this dichotomy \u2013 living in a place with so much abundance but it can\u2019t take care of its own people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vundabar recorded \u201cSmell Smoke\u201d last year at two studios in New England with Keith Abrams as the producer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had known Keith for a while,\u201d said Hagen. \u201cHe\u2019s a member of the band The Pine Barons. I like what he had recorded with them and other artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the album\u2019s recording was done in four days Last February at The Head Room. Then, Keith and I mixed it at the studio at his house in two days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe songs had been written for a while but we didn\u2019t decide on the arrangements. We also wrote some more when we were in the studio. The spontaneity kept it fresh. It was fun to use the studio as an instrument.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this album, there was the intersection of themes and music. The lyrics were more deliberate. The music was more subconscious,\u201d<\/p>\n

Vundabar\u2019s fans will get to hear a lot of the band\u2019s new tunes live for the first time at the show at PhilaMoca.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re playing six songs from the new LP,\u201d said Hagen. \u201cWe had limited time to get things prepped. We\u2019re trying to keep an even spread by just playing half the new record. And stuff from all our albums.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Vundabar \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/oblv7i-ncPw<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show at Philamoca, which also features The Obsessives and Ratboys, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times Music acts from Sweden are either sonically hard and very heavy \u2013 goth metal, death metal, doom and gloom \u2013 or light and very frothy \u2013 Abba, Ace of Base. Sabaton, which is headlining a show at the Fillmore Philadelphia (1100 Canal Street, Philadelphia, 215-309-0150, www.thefillmorephilly.com) on March […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8457],"tags":[7426,9714,10969],"class_list":["post-38657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-d-arts-entertainment","tag-featured","tag-sabaton","tag-vundabar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38657"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38658,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38657\/revisions\/38658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}