Avatar’s Johannes Eckerstrom Celebrates 10th Full-Length Album

“I’m mentally prepared for this strange thing that is to release an album, because release also means to let go.”

Johannes Eckerström joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday (Oct. 30) to dive into Avatar’s 10th studio album, Don’t Go In the Forest. Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

“You write things, it’s deeply personal every time,” Eckerström shared with host Chuck Armstrong.

“Even when it’s not personal, it’s personal … This is meant to be shared, this is meant for interaction, this is meant for interpretation.”

The Weight of Avatar’s 10th Album

Eckerström admitted he hadn’t thought much about the significance of this new album being Avatar’s 10th, but on the eve of its release, it was clear it was settling in.

“It’s such a huge part of how we write,” Eckerström explained.

“No other album exists before it and, more importantly, there’s no album after it. It’s the last album. Every album has been the last album — if you had one more album to record, what do you really want to do now?”

As deeply connected as Eckerström and his bandmates are to each and every record they’ve created, the frontman said it always feels good to get to the point of giving the albums to the fans.

“The word ‘release’ as an album release, it has that meaning of also letting go,” he said.

“Starting to talk about it, making it real — the fact that people who aren’t in our bubble have heard it and say, ‘I like this song’…there’s absolutely something to it.”

Johannes Eckerström Is Looking Forward to Being Bored

With Don’t Go In the Forest in the hands of fans, Eckerström will be busy as Avatar tour the country. Even so, he told the Loudwire Nights audience that he’s looking forward to relaxing a bit — at least when it comes to writing.

“As far as the songwriting goes, I look forward to be a bit bored with what we did,” he said with a smile on his face.

“[It] sounds weird, but it’s like with Dance Devil Dance … Because I was pleased with it, here comes the letting go part and that’s, ‘Okay, I’m bored. Next.’ I imagine if I would have felt that we failed to some degree in achieving what we set out to do, I don’t think I would get to be bored with it.”

Fortunately, Eckerström isn’t worried about feeling like Avatar failed on Don’t Go In the Forest.

READ MORE: 5 Songs That Scared Avatar’s Johannes Eckerstrom as a Kid

“I feel like, once again, with this album, we achieved something,” he said.

“Every time, you need to be able to answer the question, ‘Why is it important? Why do we make another album?’ … It has to be something that could only be made now.”

What Else Did Avatar’s Johannes Eckerström Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• What it was like touring with Iron Maiden this past summer: “It was a good ride. It’s a special challenge, being the opening band in general really puts a band to the test if you’re going to make the most out of it to begin with.”
• How Avatar approach writing new music: “I feel like it’s important to do whatever in the beginning, just the chaos, the chaotic side of creation and inspiration. See where your own tentacles go before we come together and see which parts of what I did goes with what you did, which parts of what I did makes you want to make something out of that and vice versa.”
• What remains on his bucket list for Avatar: “We are the only Swedish band who hasn’t played Japan it seems. I don’t know a single colleague of mine who hasn’t been to Japan. That’s on a bucket list for sure … The big one that I always thought about that I want to figure out the way to make it feasible would be to do some kind of proper African tour.”

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Johannes Eckerström joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday, Oct. 30; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.