interview_nordic

» Ronnie Atkins - Nordic Union

Interview conducted May 20 2022
Interview published June 25 2022

"Basically it's Erik who has written the whole album."

Nordic Union, the collaboration between Danish vocalist Ronnie Atkins and Swedish songwriter/producer/guitarist, etcera, Erik Mårtensson, is putting out its third record Animalistic on August 5th.

Metal Covenant has on separate occasions spoken about the record with the two musicians. With Atkins on May 20th as he was in Stockholm rehearsing for his solo shows and with Mårtensson on June 9th as he was playing at Sweden Rock Festival with his main band Eclipse.

Up first is the Atkins interview. The interview with Mårtensson will be published close to the record's release date.

Tobbe: Animalistic. What made you guys choose that title for the record?

Ronnie: It was just the most interesting title, I think. I mean, we were talking about the title and I still needed to write the lyric for that song. And I just looked at my notes, 'cause I had, like, song titles, you know. If I get to see something, like see a movie or something, whatever, I write it down, 'cause if it's a good line maybe I can use it for a lyric or something.

And I just had that title, so I sent five different titles to Erik. And we had one lyric to complete and Erik was like, "Yeah, I think Animalistic is great." and I'm like, "What the hell am I gonna write about?". [Laughs] But that's why. We just thought that it was a cool title. Instead of Nordic Union 3, right?

Tobbe: Tell me about who contributes to the album, besides you and Erik.

Ronnie: I think… Actually I don't know. I mean, Fredrik Folkare, the guitarist, plays most of the solos. And the drummer actually I don't know [Henrik Eriksson]. I mean, I think some of them are programmed actually, but you got to ask Erik about that, 'cause I haven't much to do with the production, you know.

It's basically people he knows and Fredrik played on older Nordic Union albums. And he plays eight, nine solos or something. And then there's some other guy who plays as well [Thomas Larsson]. But I can't remember.

Tobbe: Well, Erik has his own studio up in the countryside and can pretty much do what he wants to.

Ronnie: He's living in the middle of fucking nowhere. But he's a multi-instrumentalist and it's done easy. And he's a great singer too, you know. He can do everything. And it's easy for him; he's a music machine.

It's like, I mean, "Have you written any songs for the album?", when we decided to do it, and he was like, "Yeah, I think I have two or three. But I'm off next week, so I'll write the rest the week after that.". That's how we roll actually. And he's producing a lot as well, and mixing stuff, and stuff like that.

Tobbe: So I guess it's a very different way of working with Erik in comparison to Chris Laney for your solo stuff and to Ken Hammer for Pretty Maids.

Ronnie: Oh yeah, absolutely. It's three different ways. But I mean, I haven't really been sitting down with Erik and we only met when we did the promo video and stuff like that. We mostly spoke on the phone actually.

With Ken, when I wrote with him, we sat down together with two guitars, you know. It's the way we did that. And Chris: I send my ideas up to him and he does the instrumentation and send it back to me. And Erik: I just got an Mp3 file, and we talk about the direction, arrangement and stuff.

Tobbe: The album has a couple of faster tracks, which was a little bit surprising to me actually. I thought it was gonna be a more mid-tempo album.

Ronnie: But we agreed on that actually, to make some heavier stuff, and a little faster. Basically it's Erik who has written the whole album. I'm just part of two songs. He asked me to write lyrics for the album myself, and that was when I was finishing off our last album [Referring to the second solo album, Make It Count], or it was actually when I recorded the first stuff, and I said, "My head these days. I can't, man. So I'm gonna back out.".

But I ended up writing lyrics for two, and a little of the melodies on a couple of songs. But he's a great songwriter. I never had a bad song from him. He sends me the stuff, and I record it, and just send it back. And I'm free to change the melodies a little bit. Stuff like that. It's the way we're always working. But I like it, because it was fun to do some more heavy stuff, because I haven't been doing that much heavy stuff.

For instance, like the title track, Animalistic, which I was part of, writing the lyrics for it. He sent it to me and he called it The Last In Line, 'cause it was so '80s, you know. But I love that stuff, and so does he. So it was great to do something like that. Really do some heavy stuff, you know, 'cause I felt like I've just been doing two rather commercial [solo] albums compared to what I normally do. Like more radio-oriented kind of songs, you know. I mean, not that I get played on the radio these days, but anyway. You know what I mean. More light stuff.

Tobbe: What are your two songs about on this Nordic Union album?

Ronnie: In Every Waking Hour is just about taking care of someone. "I'll be there for you" kind of lyric, you know. But it could also be a little religious, you know. Animalistic is just about a narcissist. About an asshole that takes advantage of other people. Horny motherfucker. Sometimes it's difficult to explain lyrics, because you are in the zone when you do it, you know.

And then after a while you say, "What was that all about? What was I thinking?". I think it's also sometimes up to people, how they receive it. They can have their own impression of it. Sometimes people have a totally different meaning of my lyrics than I actually intended, and I'm just like, "Okay, that's good for you.".

Tobbe: How is it different, emotionally, to sing or lay down your vocals with your own lyrics compared to someone else's lyrics?

Ronnie: I try to put my heart and soul into whatever I do actually, you know. Maybe it doesn't sound that way; I don't know. [Laughs] But that's the intention anyway. But of course, some of my own lyrics, they are more personal, yeah, because of everything that happened in the last couple of years, you know. But I try to put my stamp on it. I try to put as much emotion as I can into it, whatever lyrics that I do, whether it's Avantasia as well, you know.

Tobbe: And you write different kinds of lyrics, considering you write for Pretty Maids, these two Nordic Union songs have two different subjects, and also for your solo stuff.

Ronnie: I like to write kind of personal lyrics. When I do solo albums I only represent myself and my opinions basically, and when I write for Pretty Maids I don't feel, 'cause I represent at least another guy who's a part of the songwriting, or a band, you know. So I don't feel like to be personal in the same way. That's the major difference, you know.

My point is just when being a solo artist you can do whatever you wanna do. I mean, I don't wanna be political in the way that I try to impose anything on people. What they should vote for, or left or right, or whatever. No, no. Just from a normal human being's view.

Tobbe: In your own opinion, whose band, Pretty Maids or Eclipse, will this new Nordic Union record speak to the most?

Ronnie: I think it's kind of a bit of both. I think this is heavy and I think some of the Pretty Maids fans will maybe more appreciate this one than the last one. You can say that the first two albums are maybe more Eclipse oriented, but you know, my voice is there, so. Whatever I do, you know, people always say, "Well, it sounds like Pretty Maids.".

I was the voice of that band for 40 years, you know, so whatever I do… Even though I wanted to do something totally completely different, people would still say, "It sounds like Pretty Maids.". So that's a blessing and a curse, you know. I mean, if Kenny wanna do something completely different, he could find another singer and it'll sound different. But, the voice of the band, you know.

Tobbe: By the time for the second album I asked you how you guys decided to make a second album. You answered me that it probably was Frontiers who made that decision. So now with the third record, has Frontiers been involved in the decision to make a third record, or did you and Erik make the decision yourselves?

Ronnie: They've been asking for it for two or three years, you know. We just couldn't really agree with them on how and when. You know, we had our different schedules and stuff like that. So in the end we got what we wanted, you know. And if we were gonna do it, we got to do it now.

So, he had the time for it and I had the time for it. And for me it was just like singing a lot of songs. And then I wrote some lyrics. That's it, you know. So it wasn't very time-consuming for me.

Tobbe: Something that hasn't been a top priority for Nordic Union is playing live. Could you actually come out and play a couple of times live now with this album? You know, after your solo shows are done, or whatever. I know the situation is difficult of course, but have you guys at least talked about doing it?

Ronnie: Well, we talked about it, but we never materialized it. Because of schedules and I had way enough to do with Pretty Maids and Avantasia last time we talked. But I don't know. I don't know what's gonna happen. But I mean, of course it's a possibility. This Nordic Union project is actually owned by Frontiers Records. It's their trademark, it's their idea. I mean, I came up with the name, but the project between me and Erik was Serafino's idea.

Tobbe: You know, a lot of artists say that they have to tour to survive, so how could this project bring some money in yours and Erik's pockets if you don't follow the record up with a tour?

Ronnie: Well, basically I'm a hired gun in this project, you know. I got, like, a flat fee and a percentage if it sells more than… But it never will. So this is just fun for me to do. It's just a side project. I'm doing it because Erik is writing good music, and I don't have to be personally involved in the same way as when I do my own albums. So I'm basically singing some good music, you know.

First, I was originally meant to do it with another guy actually, back in the day. I had 10 or 11 songs from another singer/ songwriter/ producer, and I said, "This is bullshit. I don't wanna support this. It's not up to standard.". So after that the first two songs I had was Hypocrisy and When Death Is Calling from the first album and I said, "Fuck. That's good. If that's the standard, I'm on.". So that's how it came about actually in the first place.

Tobbe: So what else are you up to in the remainder of 2022? Besides your short solo tour and this Nordic Union album.

Ronnie: Yeah, these five gigs and that album. There'll be a symphonic EP, which is part of the deal with Frontiers. And I'll do some festivals with Avantasia in the summer. And if this little tour works out, vocally and everything, and if my health is good, I'd like to do some more gigs in the fall. More extensive touring. But besides that I have no idea. I'll probably start writing again pretty soon, when I'm done with the festivals.