Civil War - There is life after Sabaton for Daniel Mayhr!!!

Joe catches up with Daniel Myhr to discuss Civil war's new a

Joe Denby chats to Daniel Myhr formally of Sabaton about his new project Civil War and the fact he wants to start a Sabaton tribute band.

Music Trespass: How are you today?

Daniel: Doing great, did some stuff today. Did my tax declaration, some shopping. Organizing some things.

Music Trespass: Civil war is a fairly new project. Can you tell me the history and your influences?

Daniel: The whole thing with Civil War thing started soon after we left Sabaton. We wanted something on more a hobby level , we have to keep on playing. we were actually thinking of starting a Sabaton tribute band... I don't know why! Then we found out from a friend of a friend that Nils Patrik Johansson was interested in doing something together with us. So we had a meeting,started talking and the band was founded. It's a short story everything happened pretty fast. As soon as we decided the name we started writing music.

Music Trespass: Obviously as time goes by your going to get your own independent fan base but with the Sabaton connection there's going to be that link at the beginning. What would you say Sabaton fans approaching your band? What would be the main difference?

Daniel: Well, the main difference itself would be that we a different singer that sounds way different to what Joakim does and it will still be touching the subject of war. We have different subjects. More events of today. Musically we are trying to differ a little bit from the Sabaton sound but of course people who would have heard for example'I rule the Universe' they will hear we are still in touch with the Sabaton sound but are trying to break out of that.

Music Trespass: You have your debut album coming out soon 'The Killer Angels' can you tell us a bit about that?

Daniel: For starters the sound on the album and the songs are more thought out then the EP we put out last year. Those songs were put together in a short time span, with the album we had more time. I think you'll hear it. The line between them. Their similar but you will see we evolved. I don't know what expectations I have for it. When we wrote the songs we just went with it, the reactions we've had so far have been really positive.

Music Trespass: What is your take on the current state of the music industry?

Daniel: The whole download thing is both good and bad. People can discover new bands through downloading. Therefore they discover a band then go to a concert and by a t-shirt and support the band that way. But on the other hand although a band could be very popular a venue won't let them play there because they have only sold 500 albums the booking agent won't believe the band will fill the place. Nowadays a band is happy if they sell 3000 copies of their album when it used to be tens of thousands.

Music Trespass: What advice would you give to aspiring musicians?

Daniel: Well first of all when you write songs if you don't feel comfortable or you don't like it you should try something else. It's surprising how many bands put out everything they have instead of shooting out the bad songs. Also you can't sit back and wait for it to happen put some work into it. Spend a couple of hours each day working on it and get some connections.

Music Trespass: What else does Civil War have in the pipeline for 2013?

Daniel: We have a couple of festivals in Sweden and will do a few little things abroad. We're keeping a low profile at the moment. Some of us have become fathers or will become parents. For next year we will tour a little bit more, get out to Europe.

Music Trespass: Name your top five desert island albums?

Daniel: Porcupine Tree 'Fear of a blank Planet', Moon Safari - 'Lovers End', Stratovarius 'Dreamspace', Strapping young Lad - SYL and Helloween - The keeper of the seven keys albums.

Music Trespass: Iron Maiden or Judas Priest?

Daniel: Iron Maiden

Music Trespass: Favorite album?

Daniel: The first one!!!

Music Trespass: Really? Great choice! me too, I always say as much as I love Bruce Dickinson the first two albums had a certain edge that the later albums didn't.

Daniel: Yeah those albums were a little more dirty, more Punky. For some reason I like them a little bit more then when they developed the typical Iron Maiden sound.