James caught up with Marionette for a short interview about how the band came together their current tour and plans for the future.

Can you first please give us a brief history of your band; how you got together, came up with the name?
Mikael: The way we got together was me, the bass player, Aron and our other guitarist at the time had a punk band together, and I think our drummer at the time was in that band as well. We kind of just wanted to start a side-project to you know, do something a bit more experimental. I was very inspired by Japanese music at the time but then when I brought all my friends in, the sound was completely different and much more awesome than I was planning. And so no one really liked our Punk band but a lot of people really liked this new band that we weren’t taking very seriously. I mean we were taking the music and stuff seriously, but yeah, that’s kind of how that happened.

Aron: We just had our heads in the wrong place. We though the Punk band was the band that would make it but apparently this was not the case! Ha-ha!

Where did the name Marionette come from?
Aron: I don’t even remember. I know that when we first formed the band we had some other ideas for a band name like “A Lucid Dream” we thought that was pretty rubbish though. We named our first demo “A Lucid Dream” actually, but that one’s pretty hard to come by these days.

Jimmie: I think the idea behind the name Marionette can mean so many different things to different people, so it’s kind of up to them. I have my own personal view about what it means, but I don’t even know if the other guys in the band agree.

Mikael: Short and sexy. It’s catchy, sexy and easy to remember it. If you Google it we come top so it works haha

You’re currently on tour with Dead By April and One Without. How have the shows been so far?
Aron: They’ve been really, really good. Yesterday was a bit smaller than we would have expected but it was still a great show. We’ve had a little bit of technical difficulties up to this point with our keyboards and stuff, but we’re working on it. Hopefully tonight it should be sorted.

Mikael: I think the first show probably the best, everything went so smoothly, ever since then nothing has really gone smoothly, but it’s always worked out in the end.

Alex: I think it was pretty close to perfect.

Aron: I’m looking forward to the London show tomorrow because it always seems to have a good turn-out for that show and there’s a lot of people we know who are coming. Actually, I’m supposed to be meeting a friend today from work, who works as a Pilot for...

Mikael: British Airways?

Aron: British Airline... No, it was Ryan Air!

Mikael: Yeah Ryan Air, The really shit one!

Can we expect to see Marionette at any summer festivals?
Aron: We’re planning every festival that there is! The question is if anyone wants us there, but no, hopefully yes! Especially now that we have a brand new album out maybe we can do some festivals, but we have nothing confirmed yet.

You’re about to release your third studio album ‘Nerve’. How did you find the writing and recording process this time around?
Aron: I think the recording process was the pretty much the same, I mean they’re both... the last album recording was not that hectic either, but the first album ‘Spite’ was super-duper hectic, but I mean we had all the time in the world and it took a long time to record because we were recording in different places. But otherwise it was just like any other album. You spend a couple of months in the studio.

Alex: It was really good to have the time.

One last random question that we ask every band, if you could be an animal out of a zebra or Giraffe which one would you be and why?
Aron: I would be a zebra

Mikael: I would also be a zebra because I hear that tigers have a hard time seeing zebras because their stripes confuse their eyes.

Aron: Plus they look awesome they’re way sexier than giraffes, yeah giraffes are taller but they’re sissy’s.

Mikael: Plus you can get neck pain when playing every night so a giraffe would be screwed!

Thanks for your time, is there a message for your fans reading the interview?
Mikael: Move to Sweden!

Aron: Go to the shows! Ha-ha. You don’t go to the shows enough! We need more people coming to our shows – and bring your friends! Also stay sharp!

Mikael: And move to Gothenburg! Stay sharp’s a good way to end though.

Interview by James Webb