written by Marko Jakob
Pix666: Hello Tommy. Thanks for your time. How are you doing these days, are you alive and well?
Tommy: Hello There! Yes, I’m fine thank you! All is well and I have alot to look forward to so I shouldn’t complain.
Pix666: Please introduce your band to the readers in a few short sentences. How did you meet as a band and what kind of music do you make?
Tommy: We’re Majestica, a symphonic Power Metal band from north of Sweden. Before Majestica we were called ReinXeed for 17 years. I met Chris when him and Alexander joined the band in 2012, then when Alex had to quit earlier this year we brought in a good fried to the band, Petter Hjärpe to play the guitar. A guy we’ve known for many years.
Pix666: What was the reason for the name change of the band?
Tommy: The reason for the is because we changed the record label from Doolittle Group to Nuclear Blast and that required a name change for many reasons. The main reason was because we wanted a fresh start. Instead of releasing the 7th album from a band not so many people have hear of, we thought it would feel better to release the debut album from a new, powerful Power Metal Trio (since we didn’t have a drummer at that time).
Pix666: I love your new video clip for the song ‘Glory Of Christmas’. Who made these beautiful drawings and how long did it take?
Tommy: It was actually me who made that video. I took up drawing again during the pandemic after 10 years of putting that aside. I drew the images during the USA-tour with Sabaton in days off and in the evenings and then when I came home I put all the pictures together into this video.
It took about a month to make the video from scratch, and then I worked with it every single day, Sometimes from morning until night – it was really fun! It was a fun project and I’m looking forward to really start to master the drawing skills. I’m drawing all the time, every day.
Pix666: In December you are doing a tour through some European countries. Can everything take place as planned? Do you think that only metal fans will attend the concerts, or will there be also some people who have a passion for Christmas?
Tommy: I’m really hoping the tour will go on as planned but if something would happen I won’t be surprised since the world is at is it today. A lot of bands have canceled their tours across Europe this time of year. It would be a miracle if we can do it, so fingers crossed!! I think mostly metal fans will show up but also of course fans of Christmas will attend the shows, I think so. I hope so. I would love that. If you like Christmas and the glory that comes with Christmas I’m sure you will enjoy every show on the Christmas Carol tour.
Pix666: Is there any other merch to buy in your store besides the CD’s, maybe some cool clothes that people could wear on tour?
Tommy: We have plans for Christmas hats, some special made molded wine from Sweden and a Christmas backdrop where you can take photos, like ”I was at the Christmas Carol Tour 2021” and of course ”The Extened version” on vinyl to be purchased during the tour, but all of these items aren’t sure yet because of Corona so a lot of things have been postponed. But either way, we will bring merch that every one who comes will enjoy if they wanna bring home a memory from the tour.
Pix666: I’m a fan of statistics of all kinds. What about you, Tommy? Do you look at the numbers of streams, the views on YouTube, or do you know, for example, in which countries the people who listen to your music live?
Tommy: Yes, absolutely. Especially now when we’re planning to go on tour. It’s important to see what kind of songs are appreciated more in what countries we’re going to. It’s also interesting to see the numbers how people view our videos based on the video, the song and when it’s released. We have learned a lot from that and have helped us when it comes to our next releases.
For example; A very simple music video recorded with a camera with higher quality gets more views than a very well made lyric video. But then, a very well made lyric video gets more views than a real video recorded in not so high quality cameras.
Pix666: As a musician, you surely spend most of your time creating music – but what else do you do in your free time when you want to distract yourself – are there any interesting hobbies you pursue? 😊
Tommy: The only hobbies I’ve got is create music, draw and watch movies. I’ve recently started to work out quite a lot and that is something that I really enjoy. Running in the woods, going to the gym, swimming – that kind of stuff. And also baking, cooking and creating something very good and exciting in the kitchen is also a huge passion of mine. Last year a built a huge model of Titanic that took me 3 weeks to build with at least 4h or building and painting every day. That is something I’m going to continue with in the future.
Pix666: Do you have any other news about Majestica or maybe about Sabaton, that you joined five years ago, that you would like to share with the fans?
Tommy: Well, not so many more news than what is already out in the open, but I can tell you this; 2022 is going to be a very good year for fans of Sabaton and Majestica. New songs will be released, new songs will be recorded and more cool stuff will happen with both these bands so if you’re a fan of Majestica and Sabaton you have A LOT to look forward to. And so do I.
Pix666: Thank you very much for the interesting answers – Have fun on tour and good luck with your album. Stay healthy!
https://www.facebook.com/Majesticametal
photos © by Majestica
