BLOODBATH Bassist: 'I Could Never Ever Drop KATATONIA For BLOODBATH'

Swedish death metallers BLOODBATH are featured on the cover of the December 2008 issue of Metal Maniacs. In an interview, bassist Jonas Renkse discusses how BLOODBATH relates to his main outfit, KATATONIA. Excerpts follow below.

Metal Maniacs: Do you feel that BLOODBATH has a "stand-alone" identity now? That you can now simply mention the name BLOODBATH and not BLOODBATH featuring the guys from OPETH and KATATONIA?

Jonas Renkse: It has an identity now. Our aim was always to make a unique sound of our own within the larger death metal framework. With that aim in mind we've worked hard on each release. We approach it from the point of view that BLOODBATH is a band. It's not a project now, or a way of filling in time, or any of those labels that we may have picked up in the beginning. It's a band, and we work on it and for it as a band.

Metal Maniacs: Could you see BLOODBATH rising to the point of becoming your priority band?

Jonas Renkse: No, that will not happen. BLOODBATH is about death metal, the music I grew up with, and it's always in my heart. KATATONIA is the band that has been in my life since 1991, it is less about a band, and more about a philosophy, and it's a lifestyle for me. I wouldn't want to trade success with BLOODBATH for KATATONIA. I could easily drop BLOODBATH, no matter how successful it was, if it got in the way of my work with KATATONIA. But the opposite does not apply; I could never ever drop KATATONIA for BLOODBATH. That would not happen.

Metal Maniacs: Can you describe how the metal philosophy works for you?

Jonas Renkse: I think it manifests itself in the time and effort I've put into KATATONIA because it was my first major band. I was in high school when we started this band. I was determined that this was going to be my life. I was always going to devote my life to this band, and I still have never had a proper job. For years I lived in a really small flat and just worked on the band and paid the bills with whatever money I could borrow from my parents to keep me going. Now, it's paying off, and that is the metal lifestyle for me. It is about believing it, not just doing what other people say.

The December 2008 issue of Metal Maniacs is on sale Tuesday, November 25. For more info, visit www.metalmaniacs.com.

Fan-filmed video footage of BLOODBATH's performance at the Party.San Open Air festival, which took place August 7-9, 2008 in Bad Berka, Germany, can be viewed below (clip uploaded by YouTube user "sparkdee").