Metalscript.Net: First question – what was the problem with the border?

Joakim Broden: Hahaha. Basically, we had all visas and everything was fine… Except us. Let you say we didn’t have a passenger list. But we do not need that.

M: And it took such a long time – about six or seven hours?

JB: Yeah, seven hours.

M: It’s Horrible.

JB: The thing is if you rent a bus you need a passenger list. If it’s arrended by a company. But this is our bus. We own it. So according to Swedish or European Union laws we do not need a passenger list for it’s a private bus and we’re the owners, we’re traveling in it.

M: What places have you visited during your tour which you want to write about?

JB: In a few days we will be visiting Auschwitz there off in Poland and we probably gonna be seeing in Austria the Eagle’s Nest where Hitler have had his mountain retreat.

M: In one of your interviews you said that, maybe it was a joke, that you are the most not true band… un-true band.

JB: Yes.

M: Do you really feel like un-true? You’re so sincere at the stage and in real life.

JB: Yeah, in a sense that we are singing about death and people dying and all of a sudden we’re smiling and having a fun with audience.

M: Yeah, it’s such a contradiction, but you ARE sincere, why do you feel untrue?

JB: I don’t know, just many people find it a paradox. That we smile and let’s say we sing a song “Price of a Mile” and almost half a million men died. Yet I cannot keep myself from smiling at the stop when it gets the audience to clap along with us – come on, clap along. Ant then… I can’t help myself from smiling. We all love to be on stage.

M: What about military service in your country?

JB: Haha! It used to be mandatory when our parents were…

M: Now it’s not compulsory?

JB: No. Daniel – keyboarder – he was a flightsmith mechanic and Oscar was an infantry man. Guitarist was an infantry man.

M: Once you’ve told a story about some problems with management – I think it was in London. You were just throwed out from scene. Your bass player was dragged out. Twas horrible. Don’t you feel anything like this here – no pressure from management?

JB: No. We have no management.

M: I mean stage management, locals.

JB: No. Now we set the fucking rules. No support band carried out of stage. We’ve been there, we’ve been through the shit and we will not let it happen with anyone on our tours.

M: What should a Belarusian group do to go on tour with you? Is it possible at all?

JB: Yes. I mean nothing is impossible. We would never say no to any band because of the country, but to tour… They would have had a tour in Europe before. You know what I mean.

M: To gain some popularity…

JB: Exactly. But not everywhere. It depends on given situation. Let us say that there is a band from Belarus and they are popular where we are not so big like here in Belarus or in Baltic states, maybe in Russia, they’ve done many shows there and they can pull an extra people.

M: What does “Sabaton” mean?

JB: It’s actually a… Have you seen our logo? There’s something sticking out the “S”. It’s a knight’s shoe. You know old medieval Knight. What they put on the shoe it was kind of scale armor.

M: Khaki camouflage – is it only for stage or in the real life you also wear it.

JB: On tour I usually like it because it has many pockets. Fit my snooze, tobacco, get my phone, keys, everything in there. At home? Maybe yes, sometimes, but not so much. I prefer jeans.

Yama-no-Tori