Katatonia News

Melloboat

Anders — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:46:45 +0000

Katatonia will perform on the 21st Anniversary Schizoid Boat 8-9 March 2008 in honour of Mellotronen’s birthday, and it would be nice if you could join for this event, as it’s shaping up to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The party will take place over 40 hours on the largest ferry on the Baltic Sea, the Silja Symphony, a 204m luxury cruiser equipped with sauna and swimming pool facilities, cabins complete with showers, a shopping galleria, 8-10 bars and restaurants, and apart from the fantastic lineup of bands, there will also be an international music convention in the conference area, which is over 1000 square meters. The ferry will be leaving at 17:00 on Saturday 8th March, and will be returning to Stockholm 09:30 on Monday 10th March, with a 7 and a half hour stop in Helsinki, during which a mini film festival will be held on the boat by Klubb Super 8 (for those wishing to remain onboard).

The age restriction for the cruise is 18, which is a special concession as the age limit for weekend cruises is normally 23. Any questions in English regarding the cruise and price lists for cabins can be directed to info@mellotronen. com, and if Swedish is your poison, contact callcenterkalix@tallinksilja.com or jenny.havela@tallinksilja.com

The ship is equipped with 3 stages, and the band schedule is as follows:

Saturday the 8th of March
19:00 - 20:00 Anekdoten
20:30 - 21:30 The Colins of Paradise
22:00 - 23:00 Opeth
23:30 - 00:30 Trettioåriga Kriget
01:00 - 02:00 Qoph
02:30 - 03:30 Mats Morgan All Star Team feat. Gustaf Hielm, Fredrik Thordendal (Meshuggah) Ia Eklundh (Freak Kitchen) Lasse Hollmer (Samla Mammas Manna)

Sunday the 9th of March
18:00 - 19:00 Bo Hansson feat. Eric Malmberg Niklas Korssell
19:30 – 20:30 Promise and the Monster
21:00 – 22:00 Comus
22:30 – 23:30 Plankton
00:00 – 01:00 Katatonia
01:30 – 02:30 Leaf Hound

The 13th Floor Sky Bar
Emma Nordenstam, Cecilia Klingspor, PIU, Emika Klasdotter, Martin Axenrot Nathalie Lorichs + DJs (rotating schedule)

For booking and info: www.myspace.com/melloboat or info@mellotronen.com

Phone: + 46 - 8 - 20 00 12 or + 46 - 733 - 870 950 or +46 - 8- 666 33 33

2007 HAS BEEN A GOOD YEAR…

Anders — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:15:36 +0000

…for Katatonia as we spent most of the time on the road continuing to promote our last album The Great Cold Distance and our Live Consteranation dvd. We also had the honor of making a few visits to countries we previously never played like Portugal, Mexico and Romania which were all incredible experiences and a good reason to return in the future. Thanks to all our fans for coming out and sharing the atmosphere.
We’re currently spending some time off with our families for the christmas holidays, before we go back in full focus on the writing again for what shall become our 8th album. Studio time has been booked at various recording and mixing facilities in the late months of spring and a release date has been set for mid autumn.
As for live activities, we’ll be playing an Italian festival in february and a Spanish festival as well as the Swedish Melloboat in march just before we lock us up in the studio. We’re also expecting to announce a few summer festival appearances and then we’ll set out on a new European headlining tour to follow the album release. More news on exact dates will come and stay tuned for more in-depth details on the recording process and the new music.
So, as the year is closing in on us we say goodbye to what was 2007 and we wish all our fans, friends and associates a merry christmas and a happy new year!

LIMITED VINYLS OF TD & LFDGD AVAILABLE NOW

Anders — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:17:09 +0000

Tonight’s Decision is a double gatefold 180 gram heavy weight vinyl edition, limited to 1500 numbered copies. ‘Tonight’s Decision’, Katatonia’s debut release for Peaceville Records, was the band’s fourth album and found the band further developing the more song-orientated style explored on their previous album ‘Discouraged Ones’. Immediately heralded as a classic by fans, ‘Tonight’s Decision’ stylistically builds on the refined ’shoe-gazing’ qualities of their previous album, while simultaneously exploring the more extreme sonic possibilities of the Katatonia sound. Jonas’s growing interest in singer/songwriters is reflected in the album’s sound, and wonderfully exemplified by the thoughtful and moving rendition of Jeff Buckley’s ‘Nightmares By The Sea’. The brilliant combination of Anders’s haunting guitar work and Jonas’s potent lyrics evokes images of urban decay and emotional turmoil in a way unique to this always searching band. Buy the vinyl now.

SIDE A

1. FOR MY DEMONS (5.47)
2. I AM NOTHING (4.37)
3. IN DEATH, A SONG (4.51)

SIDE B

4. HAD TO (LEAVE) (6.03)
5. THIS PUNISHMENT (2.46)
6. RIGHT INTO THE BLISS (5.04)

SIDE C

7. NO GOOD CAN COME OF THIS (4.24)
8. STRAINED (4.15)
9. A DARKNESS COMING (5.01)

SIDE D

10. NIGHTMARES BY THE SEA (4.15)
11. BLACK SESSION (7.01)
12. NO DEVOTION* (4.48)
13. FRACTURED * (5.52)

* Bonus tracks

Last Fair Deal Gone Down is a double gatefold 180 gram heavy weight vinyl edition, limited to 1500 numbered copies.
Originally released in 2001, ‘Last Fair Deal Gone Down’ saw Katatonia ambitiously expanding their sound to create one of the most celebrated Metal albums of the year. Containing 11 tracks of high-emotion and searing social commentary, including the singles ‘Teargas’ and ‘Tonight’s Music’, the album resonates with Katatonia’s unique brand of Gothic Metal. Following on from ‘Tonight’s Decision’, the album displays a new found maturity and accessibility only hinted at on their previous albums. The mournful vocals of Jonas are, as ever, ably backed by the inventive guitar work of Anders to create a potent and absorbing atmosphere. Buy the vinyl now.

“Sweden’s Katatonia have just made the ultimate late night metal chill out album.” - Kerrang!

“LFDGD is all the more delicious if you stop & reflect on how wonderful it is that those of us who listen to some of the most difficult & obscure music should have access to one of the best bands currently working in any rock genre.” - Terrorizer

“Thank the lords of chaos for a band such as Katatonia, a crew who absorb all the usual influences and spit out something tasteful, mournful and yet full of energy & guts.” - Metal Hammer

SIDE A

1. DISPOSSESSION (5.37)
2. CHROME (5.14)
3. WE MUST BURY YOU (2.56)
4. TEARGAS (3.23)

SIDE B

5. I TRANSPIRE (5.56)
6. TONIGHT’S MUSIC (4.20)
7. CLEAN TODAY (4.23)
8. THE FUTURE OF SPEECH (5.40)

SIDE C

9. PASSING BIRD (3.38)
10. SWEET NURSE (3.57)
11. DON’T TELL A SOUL (5.44)

SIDE D

12. SULFUR * (6.23)
13. MARCH 4 * (3.53)
14. HELP ME DISAPPEAR * (5.44)

* Bonus track

ROMANIAN SHOW CONFIRMED

Anders — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 14:16:37 +0000

30th November sees Katatonia visit Bucharest and Romania for the first time ever. See you there!!!

KATATONIA ON FACEBOOK

Jesse — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 20:23:09 +0000

Katatonia now has an official page on Facebook using their new “Page” service, where you can watch videos, view pictures, listen to music, meet other fans of the band and much more. If you have a Facebook account, check it out and click ‘Add to My Music’ to add them to your profile and start shooting the shit with others.

ROUGH SHIT - ITS THAT TIME OF THE YEAR

Anders — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:52:18 +0000

The members of Katatonia have now since about two weeks been struggling with everything from the flu, ear infections, pneumonia and sinusitis. Two of the members are still on penicillin antibiotics to get well. It’s safe to say that Katatonia never want or intend to cancel our own gigs, and it’s never been a common situation in our past. Unfortunately, this time the Burgdorfer gig in Switzerland got suffering and had to be canceled in the last minute. Why so late some might rightfully ask? Well, it’s easily explained - because we still intended to play it til the last minute! Eventually it just was not possible. The band was both adviced and uncapable of flying or playing - doctors orders. If we would look for replacements for the sick members, it would be a entirely new band playing and we’re sure none wants to go see that, with that said, we’ll do our best to struggle our way through the Norwegian gig in Oslo on Saturday and hope for your understanding if we’re not in top shape yet.

SWIZZ GIG & SIGNING SESSION PLUS SPANISH FESTIVAL CANCELLED

Anders — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 11:17:46 +0000

Katatonia will unfortunately not be able to make it to the Burgdorfer Rocknight and the signing session and has therefore cancelled the appearances at both events.

Also the Spanish Atarfe Vega rock festival in December has been cancelled due to the flood damages of the recent storms, but might be rescheduled for March.

SWIZZ SIGNING SESSION AND MORE

Anders — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:14:11 +0000

Katatonia will appear for an exlusive autograph session at Switzerland’s biggest metal market, the “Metalborse Zofingen”. It’s an annual event, were all the notable Swiss Rock and Metal sellers group up and offer a market with a lot of stands were you can buy CDs, LPs, Clothing, Accessoires and quite a big amount of rarities. The autograph session with Katatonia will take place from 13.30 to 14.30, the market is in the “Grosser Stadtsaal” Zofingen, right between Bern and Zurich in the middle of Switzerland.

In other news, all titles of the re-issued Katatonia backcatalogue have now been made available. Also the re-issued backcatalogue to Katatonia members related projects are available as well. Finally, The critically acclaimed albums Tonight’s Decision & Last Fair Deal Gone Down will both be available on special Double gatefold, 180g heavy weight vinyl, from November 26th and can be pre-ordered now. These are numbered limited editions to 1500 copies. A note to collectors, this finally makes all Katatonia’s albums to have been released/available on vinyl.

Katatonia are also confirmed to play the Spanish festival Atarfe Vega Rock in December.

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR - OVER AND OUT

Anders — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 23:31:52 +0000

Our first ever North American headline tour has been successfully completed and we’re just back home fighting the jetlag as always. Again, a long but also eventful, surprisingly smooth and easy ride on the road all thanks to our partners in the supportbands and the crew. A big up goes out to all our old and new fans who came to see the shows and hang out with the Katz - thanks for all your support! A special cheerz goes out to the fans in Mexico who gave us a welcome we won’t forget soon, see you next time! There are also a few limited tour shirt leftovers available in the merch section, so if you missed one, here’s your last chance to go grab it. As this tour wraps up the touring the cycle for The Great Cold Distance, the band will now enter writing/pre-production mode and keep busy doing the work for the next album, so the live activity will be kept to a minimum with only a few occasional one-off gigs scheduled until the end of the year.

NEW GUITAR ENDORSEMENT

Anders — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:15:43 +0000

Here’s Tomi from Finland’s Amfisound giving you the news on Fred’s new guitar endorsement. “We are happy to introduce our new player Fred ‘North’ Norrman from the Swedish metal group Katatonia. Fred contacted us in the winter of 2006/07 and wanted us to build an archtop guitar for him. After discussing his ideas, philosophy, and wishes, we put our heads together to devise and set up some special details and customized features. As Katatonia has always been one of my favourite bands, I deeply thank Fred and Katatonia for entrusting us with this project. At Amfisound we build each instrument with innermost passion. So also this guitar represents our ‘one-of-a-kind’ ideology. As we always seek to take all the wishes of the players into account, we usually consider every single possibility in order to get the best results. That is the only way! Fred’s guitar features our archdrop^tm top construction, something which you won’t find anywhere else. It provides better playability and feeling. His guitar has also very distinctive details, such as ‘copper ring’ side dots, wooden pickup rings, unique electronics, and others. Fred said he would need a sustainer system and I recommended him an L.R.Baggs piezo bridge, which he can mix with normal pickups. The bridge pickup is a Lundgren M6 and the sustainer system a Sustainiac Stealth PLUS. The sustainer ‘driver’ works also as a neck pickup. The rest consists of a mahogany body, a selected one-piece maple top, an ebony fingerboard, Planet Waves ‘precision’ locking tuners, special inlays, and multiple bindings with 25,5″ scaled neck. Fred is also endorsed by Skullstrings, the world’s one and only specialized metal string manufacturer for low tunes. For this guitar, we used Skull’s thicker 11-58 set and set the guitar up for C’. Fred himself adds “Finally a guitar that I’m 100% satisfied with. it sounds killer, it feels great and looks fantastic. for me who likes to play les pauls the ‘archdrop’ construction is just perfect”.