Choosing to develop a sound that crosses aspects of modern melodic metal that take influence from various European and North American acts, Swedish band Days of Jupiter have established themselves through four previous album releases. Although this latest album The World Was Never Enough probably will be the first wide spread promotional push across USA/Canada, do not discount the band’s knack for killer songwriting that keeps the focus solidly on memorable hooks, choruses, and arrangements. We reached out to drummer Magnus Larsson to give us the scoop on some of the history of the group, the fortunate band member proximity that shapes the songwriting, special video memories, favorite albums and shows, thoughts on the flooded music scene, a little bit of Will Ferrell and hockey talk, as well as future plans.
Dead Rhetoric: The origins of Days of Jupiter started in 2010 where you wanted to create a modern metal style with powerful melodies and meaningful lyrics. What do you remember about those early days and how you developed the trademarks that make the band’s sound?
Magnus Larsson: Yeah, we were a couple of guys that had been in a band and mostly played covers of other bands’ songs. And then we tried to write our own material, and we felt immediately the modern, yet melodic touch was the way for us. It’s not that common in Sweden, this kind of genre that we are playing. It’s always been that way since the genesis, we love that kind of music. We have a lot of different influences in the band. For example, I listen to a lot of traditional heavy metal, we have one member of the band who loves death metal, and some rap too. When we write songs together, it all boils down into a Days of Jupiter sound. We found that with our first album, we found our sound pretty much immediately.
Dead Rhetoric: The World Was Never Enough is the fifth studio album for the band. How did the songwriting and recording sessions go for this set of material – and where do you see the differences in this effort compared to some of your previous discography?
Larsson: This album is our most thorough album to date. We spent a lot of time writing the songs first. We all live in the same city, the whole band – so we have this luxury of meeting each other and actually playing the songs together in our rehearsal room. That is one of the things that is a big win for us, to be able to arrange the songs together and be able to play them, develop them together. We spent a lot of time writing, and the biggest change since our last album is that we recorded this album in our hometown. We had a lot of time doing it. When we recorded our previous albums, it was done in a limited time, a studio miles away from our hometown so we would get two to two and a half weeks to record the album. This time, we spent a lot of time on each song, and made each song as good as it possibly could get. That’s the biggest difference, I think.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you end up bringing in pieces of songs to work on alone and then develop that material together, or do you think there was some material that worked out better in person, face to face?
Larsson: It works both ways with songwriting. Some songs write themselves. They take an hour and wow; you have a song. Some songs you spend a lot of time with, some songs you think are good songs, but you are never going to play them live. It’s a bit tricky with the writing of it. Janne (Hilli), our singer, he writes the majority of our songs, so he writes on his side. Marcus (Lindman), the guitarist, also writes some songs and they are a bit different. When we bring them to the rehearsal space they become Days of Jupiter.
Dead Rhetoric: You’ve released numerous singles from the record, but the latest video “Parazite” takes on an interesting duality between the narrative storyline and performance aspects to give the viewer (and listener) a multi-sensory experience. What can you tell us regarding the video shoot and how the process developed – what were some of the more memorable sequences of the shoot?
Larsson: (laughs). Yeah, it was a fun shoot. When the video producer came up with the idea, we in the band thought ‘wait a minute – are we going to get killed in the video?’. And that was kind of a crazy experience, playing dead on camera. I think it worked out pretty well. It was an interesting song, and the theme of the song somehow goes with the story as well. It was fun, a bit crazy. One of the band members got all bloody and then sat in the car to drive home – we hoped to God that no cops would stop him (laughs).
Dead Rhetoric: What’s it like being a part of the Reigning Phoenix Music roster after your time with Metalville? Do you believe the staff and team of people they’ve assembled have the proper understanding to push Days of Jupiter to greater heights of popularity across Europe, North America, and the rest of the globe?
Larsson: Yeah, that’s what we hope, of course. We felt with Metalville, it’s an okay label, but they are pretty small and limited in that sense. With Reigning Phoenix Music, first of all we have Nils Wasko, who signed us and really believes in the band. We have his loyalty; he wants Days of Jupiter to expand and grow so that feels real nice. The staff, a lot of people are doing a lot of good things. I hope that the band can take the next step up with Reigning Phoenix Music. America for us is a great music market. Our music should and would be popular in the USA. That’s what we hope for.
Dead Rhetoric: How would you describe Days Of Jupiter live compared to what people experience on the records? And what have been some of the special, most important shows or tours the band has done to date?
Larsson: Days of Jupiter on albums, there are a lot of bling-bling sounds and atmospheric stuff. Now we haven’t played our new songs live yet, but when we played before, everything is live. There is no playback. What you hear is what you get. When we play live, it’s a much rawer feeling. More raw and honest.
We have had great success when it comes to live performances. In 2017 we did a European tour, we played across Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands. In 2019 to promote the Panoptical album we did a Spanish tour, Finland, and we ended the tour cycle on the album with a great live set supporting Disturbed in Estonia. That was a real highlight for us.
Dead Rhetoric: This deep into the band’s career, what sort of goals or ambitions do you desire to achieve at this stage? What fuels your creative fire so to speak – is it a balancing act between satisfying your own musical desires and what your fans expect from you as a band?
Larsson: Yeah, I think it is. As for us, we want to develop and explore new territories musically. We don’t want to write the same album over and over again. It’s important for us to explore some new twists and turns, absolutely. As you said, it’s a fine line. You need to have the nerve and the feel of the band – you can’t abandon your past. We try to push things as far as we can. We do what we like, and in the end, we hope that Days of Jupiter fans also can like it.
Dead Rhetoric: As you talked about earlier in the conversation, you all have different influences that you bring to the table. Are there a couple of bands you look to as role models for what the band wants to achieve as a success?
Larsson: Career-wise, no. Of course, we want to take this as far as we can take it. We are happy to be making music, recording music, and releasing music. That is just fine with us. We love the feeling that we get when we connect with fans, and they tell us what they think of the songs and how they relate to the songs. In a perfect world, absolutely, we would love to be a household name all over the world, of course.
Dead Rhetoric: What have been some of your favorite fan interaction stories you’ve had over the years relating to the band?
Larsson: The biggest impact with a song is a ballad we had on our first album called “Still Feel You Breathe”. With that song, we had a Canadian gentleman who reached out to us, explaining that his wife passed away. They had been married for fifty or sixty years. He felt that our song gave him the strength to carry on. When you get a comment like that, your music career can end there. We are so proud of that comment.
Dead Rhetoric: What would surprise us to learn about yourselves as people away from your musical endeavors?
Larsson: What can I say? We are typical Swedes. We live in the northern part of Sweden, so this time of year its almost dark 24/7. A lot of snow, and we live in a small town. Nothing much stands out.
Dead Rhetoric: What would you say are three albums that have made the biggest impact on your musical career, plus a favorite show memory you’ve had – and what made that show so special to you?
Larsson: My three favorite albums off the top of my head. Overkill – Horrorscope. King Diamond – Abigail. And I think Helloween is one of my favorite bands – and I like the Andi Deris era. Master of the Rings is up there as well. Live music – I have been attending big shows and big festival gigs, but the ones I remember the most happened in the small venues. Like for instance, in November last year we went to a concert for Ambush – a Swedish traditional heavy metal band. They blew me away; they were so good. I like the fact that it was in a very sweaty, small venue, a lot of people. It was a blast.
Dead Rhetoric: I understand from reading a previous interview you have an appreciation for the acting skills of Will Ferrell, especially his work as Ron Burgundy from Anchorman. What would be a favorite scene or two of his from either of the movies that you most enjoy that continually brings laughter or a smile to your face? Is there another movie or two of his that really resonate with you?
Larsson: I think the Anchorman movies – the perfume scene where it’s time to musk up (laughs). In general, the whole series are goofy movies. The second movie, the scene where he has a family dinner with his new girlfriend, which was a lot of fun as well. I like Will Ferrell; he had a streak with a lot of great movies. Like Talladega Nights, and the basketball movie Semi-Pro. Step Brothers is also a great movie.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you have other hobbies, passions, or interests away from music that you like to engage in?
Larsson: In this small town, we have a great hockey team, Modo hockey. Peter Forsberg, the Sedin twins, Markus Näslund, I follow them in the winters.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you view the state of the current heavy music industry? If you had the ability, power, resources, and finances to change any aspects, what areas would you concentrate on for the greater good of the movement for all?
Larsson: That’s a hard question. Nowadays, everything is so easy. It’s easy to start a band, it’s easy to record, it’s easy to display your music in various streaming platforms. You could start a band today and have official music out in streaming platforms a few days later. There are thousands of bands you have to compete with. That’s the tricky part. Also, the promotional ways – social media has been… I don’t love it specifically. The way it used to be, you made an album, you had a touring cycle, and then you write new music. I like that kind of idea behind it. I don’t think we will ever come back to that, but one can hope.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you end up fighting through that noise of thousands of bands? The release market seems more active than ever…
Larsson: Absolutely. That is the hardest thing for a band. To get the recognition and get through. For us, I don’t know what we can do other than write good music. Hopefully people will enjoy that and discover us that way. People talking with each other face to face, which can be the best way to spread your music.
Dead Rhetoric: What’s on the horizon over the next year or so for Days of Jupiter? Are you hopeful to possibly get some festival or tour dates across North America – even if it’s on a limited basis?
Larsson: That would be a dream of course, to play in the US. Today there are no plans in motion. We are concentrating on the European festival summers. It’s been six years since we released our last album, and we are going a bit under the radar. With this new release, we hope to attain some degree of success and get some gigs.