PPUSA kudos from Christofer Johnsson of Therion

[Pellaz]

I've been in email contact with Christofer since their ProgPower performance, and I offered to post here any comments he had. This was his response:

Playing ProgPower was a challenge, as it is a festival with bands all being great musicians and with an audience that is (from what I've understood) not as easily charmed as a regular metal festival audience. Being late and therefore only having time for a line check instead of a proper sound check we also had a pretty stressy moment just before starting the show (I also didn't have any of my guitar at all in my in ear monitor the first song). But we managed to steer the ship through the stormy sea, disembark safely at the harbour and unload our -- for many of the typical ProgPower visitors -- odd compositions and gained a very good response. We had a great deal of fun on stage and we totally loved the venue and the audience! Hopefully we'll be back again some year! Thanx for being there and being open-minded music lovers!

Take a bow, folks. You deserve it.

Hmmm. Now to convince Christofer to 'break up' the band, then re-form it as, say, Hydra's Wings...and then they can play ProgPower next year.

 

[Purveyor Of Evil]

THERION ruled as I knew they would! I never saw them before and they exceeded my expectations hand over fist. I was in total awe for the entire set. I cannot wait until I can experience this fucking amazing band live again!

 

[Dolamite S. Biffle]

Christofer is kind of pissed at me. I did an interview with him and it was so loud that I misinterpreted some of the words. But it was fricking hard to hear we were in a room that was quiet at first and then like 10 people came in and were eating and talking and shit. Although the corrections have been made.

 

[TBJ]

These guys stole the show at PP, I only hope he keeps the brothers(?) and Mats for future albums, this lineup was awesome!

 

[The Fiddler]

Christofer is kind of pissed at me. I did an interview with him and it was so loud that I misinterpreted some of the words. But it was fricking hard to hear we were in a room that was quiet at first and then like 10 people came in and were eating and talking and shit. Although the corrections have been made.

Were you conducting your interview in a hotel room or the catering room backstage at the venue?

 

[Dolamite S. Biffle]

In the catering room backstage. It was funny because right after I got done, another interview was going to be conducted and they changed rooms.

 

[Rider of Theli]

These guys stole the show at PP, I only hope he keeps the brothers(?) and Mats for future albums, this lineup was awesome!

I couldn't agree more! This is their most solid line-up ever. They kicked my ass and I talked about it for days and days! I hope to see tham again here in the U.S. - be it at a future ProgPower as a headliner (Glenn?) or elsewhere. At this year's festival Therion proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they have what it takes to rule the stage!

 

[The Fiddler]

In the catering room backstage. It was funny because right after I got done, another interview was going to be conducted and they changed rooms.

Yep, the catering room is where you can find people, "eating and drinking and shit". The last thing anyone who is working or playing at the festival wants to be told in that room is to be quiet and talk softly so someone can conduct an interview.

If Christofer did get pissed at you, it's because you chose the worst place backstage to conduct an interview.

Furthermore, the catering was awesome this year and tons of hot food was served well into the evening. I hadn't eaten that well in months, and I'm sure many of the bands on the road didn't either. Throw in a hostess to rival the bartender upstairs, and you can bet that the cafeteria won't be quiet for long.

 

[Dolamite S. Biffle]

Well I didnt choose the place, I was put there by the person that scheduled it. I guess I could have asked to go some place else, but this was my first interview ever, I suppose I made a rookie mistake.

 

[The Fiddler]

Well I didnt choose the place, I was put there by the person that scheduled it. I guess I could have asked to go some place else, but this was my first interview ever, I suppose I made a rookie mistake.

DB,

Actually there are two good, pretty quiet places just to the left of the catering room. Just walk out of the catering room, and take a left. If you go straight, you will enter a big storage room with tons of chairs. If you take a left before going into that room, you will be in another big storage room that leads to the loading dock. They may not be the most chic places for an interview, but they're the quietest places available because nobody congregates there. Security hangs out at both entrances, so there is plenty of light where they are. Better luck next year.

I'm glad you're not the one who told Urban Breed, Ingar Amlien, Arve Heimdal, and myself to be quiet while he interviewed Roy and Tore at the table next to us. Every time we laughed, the guy kept on looking back at us with a scowl on his face like we were in a library and needed to be quiet. I wanted to take Ingar's horns and drive them up the interviewer's ass.

 

[Pellaz]

Furthermore, the catering was awesome this year and tons of hot food was served well into the evening. I hadn't eaten that well in months, and I'm sure many of the bands on the road didn't either.

This was definitely true for Therion; they remarked on the quality of the catering.

 

[Dell Vecc]

I think they stole the show also. They were great!

 

[The Fiddler]

This was definitely true for Therion; they remarked on the quality of the catering.

I laughed when Timo K picked up a big chicken breast and said, "Is this all for one person?". Guess the chickens are pretty small in Finland.

 

[Ruthven]

Someone should have grabbed the chicken breast out of his hand and said, "well...for everyone except you."

 

[Pellaz]

hahahahahahahahahaha

"Sorry, we're saving the big chickens for Tolkki. Can't imagine why...."

 

[lifesadream]

I thought Therion was incredible. I didnt know what to expect before they played but all I know is I cannot wait to see them again. Hopefully they will tour the States in a few years again. I went in starting to become a fan and now I consider myself a fan of the band.