Kamchatka - Get in the groove with Joe Denby!!!

February 13th 2014

Interview

Joe Denby manages to have a chat with Kamchaka mainman Thomas 'Juneor' Andersson about the band's history, their upcoming album and touring with Clutch.

Music Trespass: How are you today?

Thomas: I'm very fine thank you. It's a lot of interviews and preparing for tours so...it's on the move so to speak!, laugh's!!!

Music Trespass: Can you tell me a bit about the history of the band?

Thomas: Yeah, We started me and Tobias (Drums) started the band back in the year 2000 and in 2001 we did a Jimi Hendrix tribute concert then we teamed up with Rodger (Original Bassist). We had such a good time at the Jimi Hendrix concert we said lets put some music together and see what go with that.

We started to play more and more and one thing led to the other and we released our first album in 2005 on a small independent label in New York called Grooveyard Records and then we started to get noticed a little bit here and a little bit there, then we released another album in 2007 and a third in 2009 with that album we switched to a Swedish label. We toured quite a bit every year, We toured with Clutch. We released 'Bury your Roots' in 2011 then Rodger left the band in 2012 because he is a guitar player at heart.

Music Trespass: Tell us about your new album 'The search goes on'.

Thomas: Well when we started to record we didn't have a bass player, we replace Rodger but things with that guy didn't work out. Me and Tobias were quite eager to get things going with the recording because the material was good. We had a producer Per Wiberg who you might know from the Spiritual Beggars among other things. We had a side project many years ago and anyway he ended up playing on the album! so that's cool! After that we asked him If he would like to be a full time member of the band and he said yes as well. So that's Kamchatka in 2014!

Music Trespass: All your albums have great artwork can you tell us a bit about that?

Thomas: Well all the man who does the artwork is also Par Wiberg. That's why it made sense he joined, he has always been part of the band.

Music Trespass: There's a big 70's feel to your music and there seems to be a lot of that coming from Sweden can you elaborate on that?

Thomas: Yes I think you are right because there are some groups that get more attention and they are inspired by the 70's you can tell. There's something going on with that.

Music Trespass: The 70's were a very organic time for music.

Thomas: It's not really something I have thought a lot about, when we formed we never set out to sound like this and that. The way we make songs is the combination of the three of us. When we play it's just how we sound, it's not thought out. We don't look back in time and try to sound a certain way, we just want to do our take on our music and make it sound like now (2014), and I hope that's what we have done.

Music Trespass: One thing that springs to mind while listening to your album is that it sounds very "Live"!!!

Thomas: Yes, well that is one area where we have grown in reputation, especially touring with Clutch.

Music Trespass: Well opening for Clutch is a challenge for anyone you have to play well alongside those guys

Thomas: Laughs!!! Of course! They work Great, We are the type of musicians who grew up with live music so it's natural to us. That's where the magic is, we are always eager to get on stage.

Music Trespass: What music have you been listening to lately?

Thomas: I listen to a lot of Jazz and Folk music. The latest album I heard recently was actually the new album by Spiritual Beggars, I really liked that one.

Music Trespass: Or some of your favorite music?

Thomas: The most inspirational album for me. From day one was John Mayall's Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton. I got that album when I was eight years old. That is what made me want to learn the guitar. I've played Blues all my life until I started with Kamchatka.

Music Trespass: What does the future hold for Kamchatka in 2014?

Thomas: We start on Saturday actually in The Netherlands with two shows down there and then we will do three weeks in Germany and Austria. There's been talk about some UK shows and some in Russia. We want to play as much as we can off the back of this album and hopefully grow and get on with a bigger booking agency. If we could decide we would play three hundred and sixty five days of the year!

Interview and Questions by Joe Denby