(ENG) HERO OF TODAY: ALEXANDER KRONBRINK (SONIC STATION)

SONIC STATION ARE BACK WITH A BRAND NEW AND ALSO GOOD ALBUM: NEXT STOP, HERE I'M HAVING A LITTLE TALK WITH ALEX, GUITARIST, COMPOSER AND PRODUCER OF THE PROJECT, TO BETTER KNOW THE NEW ALBUM

Hi Alexander and welcome on The Bible of Metal! Two years have passed since your self-titled debut album, how do you feel about releasing your second one, Next Stop?
I’m very happy about this new album. I think the songwriting is more mature compared to our first record, and the unified sound and the musicians really make this album come alive. Of course I’m very proud of the first record as well, but it took 7 years to make on and off. This one took 1,5 years from writing the first note to the final mastering. And of course you live and learn and I learned A LOT by making the first album. You find out what to do and what not to do, what works and what does not work so good. Of course now I am even more prepared for a third record…

The first single from Next Stop was already available since April 2014, Amelia, could you tell us more about the song and the video you've made for it?
It’s one of my favorites on the album. I thought it was perfect as a single because it has a lot of the elements that attract the fans of this genre. An entrancing up-tempo Toto or Journey kind of song, with a lot of harmonic changes and a strong melody.

The video was recorded by our drummer Thorleif Robertsson who is also a professional photographer. Moving pictures have a more penetrating power than the written word these days, through social media as Facebook and Twitter, so it felt important to create some kind of videos for the fans out there, and it was really fun to do. We also put up two “making of Next Stop” videos with shots from us working in the studio.

Could you tell us more about Catch Me if You Can and its amazing guitar solo?
There is actually a funny contradiction about that song according to what the AOR fans think about grunge music! When I was around 13-14 years old and really got into the guitar playing one of the most popular bands was Soundgarden. I’m still a huge Soundgarden fan and “Catch me if you can” is my homage to them. It has that typical drop D guitar riff around the pentatonic scale. And I AM AWARE that grunge is a big No No in the AOR world – But I stand tall. And personally I don’t see Soundgarden really fitting in to grunge label.

I wanted a “live feeling” to the guitar solos so I only delivered a few takes. As the perfectionist I am, of course there are a few notes that I could have played different, but I am pleased with the general feeling in my playing, the expression and the sound of the guitar is exactly as I wanted it to be.

Do you have any ideas for Sonic Station next chapter or will you focus on promoting Next Stop?
Now focus is on promoting the album, but I have already started to write some songs for a possible third album. We’ll see what it leads to!

Would you like to leave a message to the readers?
We are really happy with the result of this album and I hope you’ll all enjoy it as much as we do!