20-12-2009Artist focus - Marionette

Visual-Kei And everything else behind the new Scandinavian powerhouse...

Rocksnail author Paul Jackson catches up with vocalist Axel Widen of fast rising Swedish starlets Marionette to find out about the band who are making waves across the industry. With a brutally heavy sound and a well crafter oriental inspired visual aesthetic Marionette have just finished up a tour with other fast risers Deathstars to which they treated the UK audience to an enigmatic and highly charged live show and captivated the attention of packed rooms as they powered their way through the live set consisting primarily of songs from their latest album 'Spite' which is a crushing mix of speed, power and dark sophistication.

If you could explain the term 'Visual-kei' to those who have not heard it before, and how it has influence on your music?
"Visual-kei" is a catch-all phrase for a certain visual aesthetic associated with many Japanese rock bands from the 80s and 90s. Traditionally it involves lots of make-up, a very androgynous look, and extravagant clothes and hairstyles. That's the textbook definition. For MARIONETTE specifically, Visual-kei was a natural influence much in the same way as punk, hardcore or metal when we grew up. We saw these Asian bands putting on extreme theatrics in a way that felt exotic and interesting for us, making them stand out among the crowd of bands we listened to. MARIONETTE was always an extremist crossover of all the things we were into, much like any young band, so in retrospect it's not strange that we emulated the bands we thought put on the best show. We loved how these bands took the whole show aspect of the live gig to entirely new levels. In a way I guess the fact that they were Japanese and therefore alien to us actually made us take them more seriously than Alice Cooper or Twisted Sister (who, while highly visual, were OLD to us). This was new and strange and therefore immensely attractive. Musically we're not that much of a Visual-kei band, if you can even talk about such a thing as Visual-kei music. For us it's a visual genre more than anything else, one that has inspired us regarding how we think about showmanship.

How has your native homeland bore its influence on the music of Marionette?
Musically, a lot. The main musical influences of MARIONETTE, I guess, is Swedish hardcore and Swedish metal. Obviously Swedish hardcore and metal was itself influenced by the rest of the West, but you all know what came out of Gothenburg and how unique it was back then, even though it's been copied to Hell and back these days. The Gothenburg sound is one of the four corners of MARIONETTE; we just couldn't help being influenced by our local heroes. Obviously, like any young and cocky band, we assume we're taking it a bit further than anyone's done before. You be the judge.

The start of 2008 saw the release of 'Spite' just how have things moved along or changed since then?
We've toured a lot, first and foremost, which makes any band face their demons. We just punched them in the face and moved on. Maybe learning a thing or two in the process; getting more live experience, getting more MySpace friends, getting more kids interested in us, learning where our
limits go in all sorts of ways. And of course writing new music while wrestling with the violently mutating beast that is the modern music business. I guess right now we're sort of catching our breath after a very hectic debut year, watching the dust settle as we sharpen our knives for the next round. I want to say that we're older and wiser, but in all honesty we're probably younger, hungrier and angrier than ever. MARIONETTE is hard for us to understand and we've given up controlling every aspect of it a long time ago. We just ride the monster. And people are starting to notice.

In terms of touring how have things changed from the earlier shows, to your debut Euro tour in October and then to the support slot for Deathstars?
I believe overcoming the challenges of touring is essential for any band that wants to stick together, and I'm proud to say that we're tighter as a group now than we've ever been in the past. If you survive, touring does that to your band. We're more confident about ourselves live now,
if that's possible. We're also more humble. Go figure. We were fortunate enough to tour with older, wiser bands who nodded knowingly amongst themselves whenever we went out of line and who were cool enough to let us off the hook with some clever remarks rather than kick us off the
tour bus. And we're a better band now. We're always getting better.

The Deathstars tour seemed to go down especialy well, at the show I witnessed you appeared to get a better reception than the headliners, how did you feel the tour went as a whole?
The Deathstars tour was absolutely amazing for us. We loved the Deathstars. And we love the UK. For real. Compared to Sweden, basic human passions, conflicts and subcultures seem to be much closer to the surface over there. To sound horribly cliché, being in the UK makes me feel very alive. Then again that might have been the entire touring experience in itself. Either way we want to come back to you guys as soon as possible.

On your MySpace it states the writing is well underway for the next album, what can we expect from this release?
The new album is angrier and a more progressive than "Spite". Less love, more revolution. It's also a concept album; the artwork, the lyrics and the songs all tell a story about the individual striving to maintain a sense of identity against the unrelenting pressure of mainstream
society. There's a few things to discover if you care about that stuff. If you don't, just headbang away and enjoy the metal.

Do you have a date penned?
Not yet. Sometime after the summer.

Conceptually and theme-wise has the approach changed the more you establish yourself and the more you become immersed in the industry?
Yes and no. The identity of the band and the music itself stands unaffected by our immersion in the industry. But the methods we use to get attention and the way we think about marketing, touring etc. has definitely become more refined. Conceptually and theme-wise, meeting
people after shows and the feeling of the show itself has meant everything to me. The lyrics are definitely inspired by some of the people as well as the general moods I experienced in the UK. MARIONETTE, for me, is about focusing all the alienation, hate and powerlessness we feel against the overwhelming mass of the dumb herd, the tabloids, the soap operas, the watered-down news and the prejudiced mainstream. I guess in a way, our immersion in the industry has only made the spite and the individualism and the primeval "fuck you" at the heart of MARIONETTE so much more important to me.

Is there any guests or people you have lined up to work with on the album, and if you could choose one person to ultimately collaborate with who would it be?
Devin Townsend. I want to know how he'd produce a band like us. Also, he's kind of my hero. We don't have any guests for the album, but we're working with (among others) Pontus of DEAD BY APRIL and Fredrik Nordström. So that's pretty cool.

Where does Marionette sit amongst the alternative industry, do you tailor your approach or is everything just a natural progression?
These days, a little bit of both. We learned quickly that if we want to keep doing this, we need to think as much as we act on impulse. We like to think about the financial stuff, the marketing stuff and the touring stuff. We like to act on impulse about the writing-music-stuff, the playing-live-stuff and the partying stuff.

You guys appear to have a really good relationship with all your fans, is this something you work towards and feel important?
I think it's more important than anything. Fandom is the ultimate gift someone can give a band, and every last one of those who give that gift to us deserve our utmost respect. Of course you need to draw the line somewhere, but to have someone go crazy about what we do and especially
having people singing along with the lyrics live is pretty much the coolest thing I can imagine happening. It's a very raw, powerful sort of communication.

For anyone who hasn't heard Marionette before why should they check you guys out?
Because nothing like this has ever happened before.

Thanks Guys
Thanks Paul, take care and see you on tour! =)

/Axel