The Heavy Metal Battalion of Starchaser

Starchaser is the creation of Kenneth Jonsson, best known for his guitar artistry within the ranks of Tad Morose and The Citadel.  Joining the auditory adventure would be vocalist Ulrich Carlsson (M.ill.ion), keyboardist Kay Backlund (Lion’s Share), and bassist Örjan Josefsson Kay.  A studio project at the commencement, a support performance with HammerFall launched Starchaser’s desire to perform live into the stratosphere.  And with the unveiling of the latest album Into The Great Beyond on Frontiers Music Srl, Starchaser is primed and ready to hit stages all over the world.

Highwire Daze recently interviewed guitar maestro Kenneth Jonsson to find out more about the creation of Starchaser, the other dynamic musicians within the band, time spent within the ranks of Tad Morose, and a whole lot more!  Read on…

We’re here with Kenneth Jonsson from Starchaser. First of all, let’s talk about the new album right off the bat. Is there any overall story or concept behind the upcoming album Into the Great Unknown?
If you mean concept like Savatage Streets or Operation Mindcrime, it’s not really a concept, but it’s an idea of finding something new and traveling around in the universe. We imagine one day we’re kind of burned out all the resources from the earth, and we need to go out there and look for a new place to live and stuff like that. That’s something that goes from song one to the end of the album. You could call it a concept, but all the song songs are not in the concept.  So, it’s not a complete concept album in that particular way, but it’s something that connects some of the songs, yes.

Let’s talk about a few of the songs that are already out. Battalion Of Heroes; what’s the inspiration behind that song?
I think Battalion of Heroes is… There’s a lot of things, bad things, going on in the world, war and stuff like that. And to see—without mentioning any particular countries—you could see one bigger country go into a smaller country and try to just demolish, destroy, and take over that particular country. And the people who stands up for themselves, and defend themselves, with their heroes: the Battalion of heroes. That’s one inspiration, but it’s about people standing up for themselves, basically.

And then Who Am I? Tell me about that song.
Who Am I? is, pretty much about being deceived. And feelings around that.

Let’s talk about some of the band members starting with you. What do you find in Starchaser that you didn’t necessarily find in Tad Morose?
The thing is, Starchaser is my idea of just starting to write songs. I’ve never been a songwriter. And when I quit Tad Morose, I felt like, well, I’m going to start writing some songs. And then I wrote, I think, 10, 11 songs or something. And that turned out to be the first Starchaser album. So, the songs on that album were my first songs I ever wrote. So, that was the idea: To start writing songs on my own and use my own influences from different types of music styles.  I listen a lot to classical music and classical composers, and I play a lot of piano as well. So, all of the songs on the first album were basically written with the help of my piano.

So, for this 2nd album, I decided to take it a bit further and start writing songs on my guitar because guitar is my main instrument. So, I guess, the reason why I started Starchaser was to get the opportunity to actually start writing songs on my own. I don’t write lyrics. Basically, you can say that the song making, the progress is like, I’m doing all this stuff, all the instrument parts, all the drums and bass and piano, and everything.

I may make the songs in my studio back home and send it to Ulrich, and Ulrich is writing his lyrics and the melodies, and it’s just a click between us. It turns out brilliant, I think. The cooperation with Ulrich is magical.

But that’s the main reason, is basically just to be able to write everything from my heart for myself and then put it out there.

Well, let’s go on to Ulrich. How did Ulrich, from M.ill.ion, become involved with Starchaser, and were you a fan of his work in M.ill.ion?
I was, especially his live works, his live performance with M.ill.ion. I actually played guitar in M.ill.ion for a couple of shows back in, I think, it’s 15 years ago or something.  They needed a guitarist, and I did 2 or 3 gigs with them. And already, then I felt that I need to work with Ulrich, and we connected in a way already back then. And we actually talked about someday doing something together, not M.ill.ion, but doing something musically together. But time moved and I started to play guitar in Swedish 80s group called Torch; old band, true metal kind of stuff.

So, I did 2 years with them. And after that, I moved on to Tad Morose, and I stayed in Tad Morose for 7 or 8 years, I think, 3 albums. And so, there wasn’t never any chance of getting together with Ulrich again, because I had my stuff and he had his stuff with M.ill.ion back then.

And when I started writing my own songs, I felt that because I’m a fucking terrible singer myself, so I needed to have a good singer who had potential of writing good lyrics and good vocal lines. And especially his voice. I love Ulrich’s voice. He has a core in his voice that I fell in love with back then, 15 years ago. So, I thought, well, I called him up and he was yes, now’s the time. And so, that’s basically the way it went.

Johan Kullberg, he’s been in Therion, Wolf, HammerFall, and House of Lords. How did Johan become involved?
Actually, Johan wasn’t number 1 on my list because I had another guy named Magnus Ulfstedt from Eclipse. And he’s done a lot of stuff with a lot of bands, but I met Magnus Ulfstedt when I played in Torch. And so, Magnus was originally the was the drummer for Starchaser for a month or so, but he had so many things, other things he needed to do as well.

So, he tipped me about Johan Kullberg because they knew each other very well. So, I actually gave Johan a phone call and sent him some songs me and Ulrich had been doing, some demos, and he basically said yes right away. And he liked the songs and that’s the way he got into the band.

And he’s done a terrific job. I just send him the songs and he records his drums back in his place and send it back and he plays like a fucking God, I think. He gets the song and gets the ideas and everything. So, that’s how he ended up in Starchaser.  Fantastic guy as well.

And then let’s talk about Kay Backlund and Örjan Josefsson. How did they become involved and what’s their background?
This is a funny story actually because I was looking for a keyboard player. Although I play all the instruments on my demos, I felt that I needed proper musicians who were exceptionally good at their instruments. And I was looking for a keyboard player that could play all this stuff live and even on the record. So, I talked to some friends, Nils Patrik Johansson from Lion’s Share, actually, and Astral Doors. So, I spoke to him and asked him about, if you knew any good keyboard players and he said, “Well, you got the world’s best keyboard player in your own hometown.” And I said, “What? Really? Who?” And he said, “Kay Backlund” “What, Kay? I never heard of him.” Well, he’s been on all the Lion’s Share’s album and he’s done a lot of things, and he lived just, like 30 minutes away from me and I didn’t know about it.

So, I called him up and I said, “Hey I’m almost your neighbor.” Because in Sweden, where we live, it’s woods between us, and we live like… It’s not like living in a big city, but so we call it pretty much we’re neighbors; 30 minutes away from each other. We had a laugh and we talked for a long time, and I also sent him in songs and he listened to the songs and he liked it, so he said yes, I do it. Now we’re doing the 2nd album. So, things have turned out very good with all the members.  So, that’s how Kay came in.

Örjan is a long-time friend. I’ve played together with him in some function band things. We’re doing some cover stuff together, and I always knew when I played in Tad Morose, I knew about Örjan because he was from the same town as Tad Morose. They’re from Bollnäs in Sweden. So, I knew about him and started to play with him for fun, and it hit me that he’s a solid bass player – he’s very talented. Musically wise, he adds a lot to my songs. So, I really wanted him to be a part of Starchaser. So, I asked him and he jumped on board, and yes, he’s just the perfect match in the band. He adds a lot to the overall sound with his style.

Has Starchaser ever played live or is that something you would like to do in support of this album?
First of all, I was kind of fed up with live performances. When I quit Tad Morose, I was in a time of my life where I felt that, oh man, this is hard, I don’t want to do this. I was sitting in a hotel room in Greece, in Athens, actually after a smaller tour with Tad Morose.  And I felt like I missed my kids. I’ve got 3 kids back home and I wanted to go home, basically. I was fed up with the music industry and everything all around it.

So, when I got home and I started, my first intention was to make big songs, great songs and get them out, and start learning to compose. And I didn’t want to play live at all because I was fed up with it, but we did one live show with Starchaser together with HammerFall, and we felt shit, we rehearsed like 3 hours, and everything was just there. We felt we didn’t even need to rehearse anymore, it was just a couple of hours and it sounded brilliant. And we had a lot of laughs all the way and we played that show, and we thought, well, fuck, we need to go out with this.

So, this album, I’m going to try to get Starchaser out for some festivals, if it’s possible, and I’m pretty much open for doing this live as well now. So, I’ve changed my mind a bit, and I think that’s because we really enjoy being together as a band and friends as well. So, no hard feelings to other bands I’ve played with, but it just feels like we’re on the same spot here. And it’s so fun to be with all the guys in Starchaser. And people seems to like the songs. So, yes, I would really love to bring Starchaser out for some live shows, but it needs to be cool shows as well. I don’t want to do those punk tour stuff. I’m too old. So, it needs to be well prepared shows and stuff like that.

The Starchaser debut album came out in 2022. How influenced was that first album by the pandemic, if at all?
I quit Tad Morose just before the pandemic. So, I think the pandemic had no impact on Starchaser. I was sitting back home anyway and doing the songs. So, we weren’t affected in the same way that, like touring bands were. And the financial stuff, and we didn’t feel anything regarding that. So, the pandemic was not really a problem for Starchaser.

When you look back on the 3 albums you did with Tad Morose, what do you think of them now in retrospect?
Well, I still love them. It’s 3 very good solid albums, and I learned a lot through that process as well. And I’m particularly proud of the Chapter X album. In my opinion, it’s a high ranked album for me. I love that album, and I love Tad Morose. So, there’s no hard feelings whatever towards me and the band. It was just that, but I think Chapter X is a brilliant album. Absolutely.

I remember seeing Ronny Hemlin out here in Los Angeles, when he brought his band Steel Attack out here.
Yes, actually I met with Ronny 2 days ago. I play in a function band, so I’m out playing pretty much every weekend now. And Ronny came to one of the shows, so we had a laugh and drank some beers. And I think he’s one of the best singers I’ve ever worked with, even though Ulrich is a fucking king as well, but I rank Ronny very high. He’s a very cool guy and a very good friend as well.

Do you still keep in touch with any of the other members of Tad Morose?
Not really. Yes. I think me and the bass player, Tommi Karppanen, we used to send old-man humor stuff on M,essenger to each other and stuff like that. And that’s pretty much it. We just keep in contact over the internet. I haven’t spoken to Krunt in a couple of years.  And Peter Morén, I haven’t spoke to Peter since I left the band, but I guess, that’s what happens when you quit a band like I did, and they continue, and they have a new guitarist.  I think they had 3 or 4 guitarists after me. They do their stuff and I’m doing mine, but I still love the band and, yes, no hard feelings. So, I guess we’re going to see each other maybe out there on the road or something. And we’re probably going to have a beer and have fun as we had back then.

Are you still working with The Citadel at all?
No, not really. I do speak to Jonas, the singer from time to time. And we actually spoke about maybe doing Citadel again in the future.  But he has Loch Vostok now and I have the Starchaser, so, yes, it’s a matter of time basically.

Have any of your bands ever played here in the States or have you played in the States at all?
I haven’t. I know Tad Morose were over there a couple of times, but that was before my time. And that’s like a box unchecked in my book. I would love to go to the States. That’s one thing, an achievement for me, but I’ve never been in the States, but if I get a proposal over there, I would probably do it if it’s a good thing.

Do you have any messages for U.S. fans who are reading this right now?
I can start by saying I’ve had several emails from the States from people that like our music. And I just want to say thank you for that and keep supporting. The more support I get, the more songs I will write. So, I’m really grateful and feel privileged to have the opportunity to actually do this, so thanks!

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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