Interview with Benny Jansson ( www.lionmusic.com   ) by Johnny C of www.loudmetal.com 

Please talk a little bit about  your new album Save the World...

The main difference between Save the world and my earlier albums, is that on Save The World I’ve made 4 songs which includes vocal. I also used more guest musician this time, Jens Johansson, Göran Edman, Daniel Flores Mathias Garnås, Rolf Pilotti, Johan Öijen och Nasim Al Fakir. I gave all of them freespace to use their own fantasy and improvise which increase the mystic and quality. Jens with his genius choice of tones and his special sound is really” the cream on the cake”. Göran Edman has a really wide spectrum as a vocalist, which he shows on “Save The World” he goes from blues to soul or velvet smooth voice easily. Daniel is one of the best drummer I have ever played with. His incredible ability to “read music”makes him very fast in the Studio, and he’s a rock live as well. Daniel who’s also a great songwriter has really been a source of support and a great asset for me.Mathias Garnås who was a completely new name for me, turned out to be one of the best bass-player I have ever heard in Sweden. He has a great melodic sense and amazing beat.

 I had the opportunity with 3 more musicians: Rolf Pilotti’s beautiful solo on “Winter Night” gave a great touch to the song. Johan Öijen guitar-player from the Jazz group “Sub5”, shows his skill on “Hard Jazz”. Nasim Al Fakir’s percussion made a positive touch on the songs, Nasim is a well known Studio musician in Sweden. I’m satisfied with the choice to mix vocal and instrumental songs on this record, it gives the listeners some perspective

Am I the only one who thinks of Sept 11th when I look at the artwork and think about the album title?

When I designed the cover for the CD, I did not have the 11^th September in mind at all, my intension was to create an image for the Title song “Save The World” But I do understand that anyone who look at the cover easily connect it to 11^th September. Then again, it was not my intension.

Which guys would you consider to be your main influences?

Frank Marino, Uli Roth, Yngwie Malmsteen, Allan Holdsworth. The first influence I tried to copy was Frank Marino, there was a time when I almost sound like Frank himself J Then Uli Roth became my main influence for many years , (as an odd qualification I learned Yngwie Malmsteen how to play the solo on Scorpions ”The Sails Of Charon J  )

The first time I meet Yngwie was in our rehearsal studio, it was before Yngwie played with the band “Steeler”, I asked if he could try my guitar, which of course was OK for me. When he took the quitar and started to play, I could not belive my eyes he was amazing and played incredible good like no one I have ever seen before, which he also showed the world J

 The first time I heard Allan Holdsworth (Road Games) I was completely knocked-out. He played exactly like I always wanted to be able to play. Legato tones like running water. Allan is a huge inspiration for me and my music. I see myself as a Hardrock guitar-player and I don’t think I’ll ever be “all Jazz” type of guy.

How would you describe your music to someone who is not familiar with it?

I have a hard time putting a label on my music, I think it’s a mix between Progressive Fusion, Metal and AOR.

How did you develop your own style of playing, did you take any lessons?

I have never take any lessons, music school or whatever. I have learned all I can by listen to other guitar-players as a inspiration. If I would record an album in about 10 years, I sure hope that I have developed enough to be on a different level, so that I wouldn’t sound like I do today. I think that too many guitar heroes somehow stop the ongoing progress and sounds the same and do the same licks over and over again. They seems to be satisfied with the way they sound like and accomplished which I have a hard time imagine that I would. I always try to reach a different level, I also get sick and tired on myself if I don’t hear any progress.

What is the most important, feeling or technique? can you survive with only one of them?

To me feeling and technique is just as significant, but if someone told me I have to make a choice I would choose feelings. Technique gets boredom when it’s exaggerated. I use and  practise technique mostly to be able to perform the ideas I have when I create songs. Sure you could play only with feeling and sale a lot of records, but it gets more fascinating when combining the two elements.

What kind of equipment are you using live or in the studio?

Equipment that I use live and in the studio: 1^st Marshall top JCM 800 + 4x12, 1^st Marshall 30w kombo, 1^st Marshall 8008 Valvestate amp, BossGX-700 git-preamp, POD 2.0 git- preamp, Coron compressor floor pedal, modifierad Ibanez 550 with scalup on the whole lower part of the neck. 

How was the album recorded?

Vocal, drums, percussion, flute, bass and some of the guitars were recorded at Sheepvalley studio. The main Guitar and most of the keyboards were recorded at Zinkens Studio. We recorded Drums, bass, percussion, flute and some guitar tracks on a 16 channel tape recorder. Daniel Flores thought it gave more warmth and better stereo spread on that. The vocal tracks   was recorded directly to a computer with Logic. When everything was recorded we transferred all that was on the 16 track to CD-R and then put it all on computer in Zinkens Studio to do a last mix and mastering. Jens recorded his keyboards tracks in USA, like this: I made a mix on the songs and save that as Wave-files I transferred the files to his FTP-Server. He made his solos and mailed those back to me. Then I downloaded the files to my computer-program. Thank god for Internet J

Which musicians would you like to play with some day?

I think it would be an great honour to work with musicians like Allan Holdsworth, Chad Wackerman, Jimmy Johnson to name but a few.

What kind of music do you like the least?

I don’t think there is a really bad music style. A good song is always a good song no matter what music style. Just because I am a musician it doesn’t mean that I understand all type of music, that is one of the reasons that I wouldn’t judge a music style that I didn’t gave enough time or even trying to understand.

Do you ever listen to music that is very different from what you do, if so what?

I consider myself open minded about music, I can listen to folk music to punk rock, but mostly I listen to different types of Hardrock or Metal ex: Metalica, Pantera, King`s X, Journey, Toto, Giant, Van Hallen, City Boy. From time to time it happens that I choose some classical albums as well: Back, Vivaldi, Paganini etc.. I use music as a source of inspiration and therefore try to be as open minded as I can.

Are there any plans to tour?

There are no tour plans at this date L

What other plans do you have for the near future?

I recently started a band with Daniel Flores, Göran Edman, Mathias Garnås, Mathias Norberg and Benny Jansson, The band is named “XSAVIOR”, music wise it’s a mix or influence of bands like Kansas, Saga, Queen, City Boy… There will be a lot of vocal harmonies and stuff like that. We have just started to record some drum and bass tracks so hopefully it will be finished in a couple of month.

How is the musical climate for your kind of music in Sweden?

There is no market for the type of music I play here in Sweden. I believe many listeners find fusion very complex and hard to listen too. Most Radio stations play mainstream commercial music like Hip-Hop and POP. I think we only have one station that play Jazz and Fusion.

What are your feelings about the world we live in and how do you look upon yourself in 15 years from now?

One would think that we would learn from history but even if we’ve past year 2000 the main struggles continue like Injustice, War, Starving and Violence? :/   My goal has always been , to one day be able to support my family with the income from my music. So my dream would be that in 15 years from now I would have a bigger audience J

Thanks for taking interest in my music

Best Regards

Benny