SABATON's PÄR SUNDSTRÖM: 'We Are A Do-It-Yourself Band A Lot'

In a new interview with Raul Amador of Bass Musician Magazine, bassist Pär Sundström of of Swedish metallers SABATON spoke about why he and his bandmates continue to exist as a self-managed entity — a rarity among groups operating at their level. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "As the band eventually got a little bit better at doing what we did, then I think that I realized the potential in it and started to treat it not just like a little thing, but actually treat it like this could actually be something, without knowing much about what was going on, to be honest. But it was just learning by doing anything. So the first thing is learning to play a song, but once you know that, you have to be able to play it in front of people. So then you have to figure out how to call an organizer of an event or a club or whatever, and convince them that they need to have us performing there. And then need to do a poster. So then I need to learn graphical design and then I needed to do next thing. And eventually it increases with learning, learning, learning, learning, learning, learning more and more and more and more, and various little skills, from accounting to legal things, and eventually it grew and grew. And today SABATON is a quite big thing. I'm still holding on to the management. I don't think that it was intentional from the beginning, but I do find it interesting."

Sundström continued: "I'm happy how SABATON is as a band. I mean, we are a do-it-yourself band a lot, where we've come up with solutions for most stuff by ourselves. And we didn't have anybody consulting us, teaching us, learning us how to do things; we just did how we thought it's gonna be. Over the years, the band expanded into so many more things until where we are today. And we have our own festival, our own cruise, our own radio station, our own magazine. And we totally control our own merchandise. So we've done a lot of stuff, and we're also deciding shows and running a lot of the marketing and these kind of things. So, yeah, we do a lot."

After Amador noted that it has taken SABATON a long time to get to this point, having put a lot of dedication and hard work into building the brand, Pär concurred. "Yeah. I'm happy," he said. "I mean, SABATON has slowly, slowly grown. There's a lot of people who still discover SABATON and thinking like, 'Oh, you are a young band.' And some people [think], 'Oh my God, it must have happened so fast.' But it's been slowly and steady. And we played almost any kind of venue, from the smallest one with five people to where we stand now. And I mean, the next show we're gonna do is a sold-out 17-and-a-half-thousand[-capacity] arena, and that's the start of our tour, and then it's gonna continue like that all over Europe. But in the same town, we did play 20 years ago for, yeah [laughs], a handful of people. And then we played next-step venue, next-step venue, next-step venue, next-step venue, and all the way up there. So it's a long journey, and we learned a lot along the ride. And I'm very happy the way that the band has become, because we don't have so many others to thank for what we are. We built it ourselves. We didn't get big awards or big radio hits, and we didn't get these kind of things, so it's all by slowly hard touring and constant working. And that makes me very proud of what we have achieved and where we are. And every night when I look out to the crowd, I feel like, 'Yeah, wow.' It was a long journey, but I don't regret any of it. I'm super happy about it, and I wish for anybody to have a similar [experience], even though some people might be happy that it goes a little bit faster than 25 years. It took a long time before we could pay our bills and stuff like that. So it was tough, of course, [at] times, but I think it's all part of the journey that has made us, and makes us, proud of what we are today."

Back in April 2022, SABATON vocalist Joakim Brodén spoke about the band's self-managed status during an appearance on "The Back Lounge" podcast. He said at the time: "We tried twice to involve people for very short amounts of time, but it never worked out, really. In the beginning, it's not by choice; it's by necessity. We wanted a manager who had some connections who could get us where we wanted to be faster, I guess, back in the days. But right now, no, we're happy where we are. Nobody's gonna care as much about SABATON as we are gonna do. But it would be unfair to say that it's only us in the band doing it. We sort of built an organization which would be partly doing the management. So we have people, of course, helping us out and advising us."

Joakim also talked about the fact that SABATON runs its own merchandising operation, which is also extremely unusual for a band of its size. He said: "I do understand why other bands don't do it, 'cause it's a shit-ton of work [laughs], but at the same time, we tried to have other people at a certain point, but we weren't happy with the results. We had sort of the same thing as the management thing there; we weren't happy with what we were getting, sort of, so we had to build our own infrastructure and get things going on that part as well. Which now, in hindsight, is really good…"

He continued: "That's the luck of having somebody like Pär in the band [laughs], who… I remember a couple of years ago — I think this is probably quite a few years ago — he called me and he said, 'Dude, we've gotta do something. Can I book a show somewhere?' Because we were [in the middle of] a songwriting period. So I had my hands full because I usually deal with most of the musical side and he deals with most of the business stuff. And he called me and said, 'I'm understimulated. I need to do something. Can we book a show? Can we do something?' And I [was], like, 'Yeah. We can do something. I'm coming along quite nice with the songwriting.' And then I asked him, 'So what have you been doing today?' 'Oh, I went up at seven. I had breakfast, watched the news. Then I worked. Then I had lunch in town, then I went back to work, and now it's five o'clock and I've got nothing to do.' And I'm, like, 'You basically described a nine-hour working day and you're understimulated. What the fuck is wrong with you?' [Laughs]"

In September 2021, Sundström addressed SABATON's decision to work without an outside manager during an interview with Music Connection. He said: "You start a band because you love to play. That's how you start a band — you want to play your instrument in a band. And there was no difference for me. And that's the first thing you do as a band — you get together, you get into a rehearsal room and you start playing some songs. After that, you need to expand, you need to grow, you need to do something. You need to call somebody to have a gig, and somebody in the band has to pick up the phone and call that somebody to get a gig. And then somebody has to do a poster. And then somebody has to arrange that somehow we get there or that there's technical things there. So somebody has to do that. And I can't just stand and watch while things are not happening. So I just jump on directly and do all that stuff. So no matter if it became designing a tour poster, album artwork or it came to arrange a recording session… And eventually, these things evolve, and suddenly you are dealing with economy, you are dealing with logistics, you are dealing with legal aspects. So I started to pick up that. I have no training whatsoever, but suddenly I needed to know how to market myself, I needed to know how to present something in a good way, I needed to know how to sell it, how to charge for it, how to account for it and how to get the show on the road. And along the years, I think I've been doing pretty much everything, no matter if it was fixing the tour bus or repairing it from damages to being a guitar tech. I am also a licensed pyrotechnician. I've been hanging lights in the roof. I built my own festival and a cruise, and promoting tours, festivals, shows, other bands, marketing that. And it's all because I have an interest in learning things, and I don't want to sit and watch nothing happen; I can't do that. I just have to make things happen. And that's why I just jump on to things, and eventually it grows and grows and grows."

He continued: "I think I'm quite demanding. And I love this band so much that I don't want too much other… I don't mind other people to come in and help — of course not — but it would be difficult for another manager to come in and do this in a better way than I would do it. The other way we have done it is that the SABATON team has been growing. So everything we're doing in-house. Today we run the label business inside. We do the management completely by ourselves. We do all the logistics for tours. We book it all. We book whatever it may be — from a hundred crew members, 10 trucks and whatever we need, we have it in-house. We have huge warehouses. We own so much stuff that it's crazy. I was actually going through it two days ago in our main warehouse for one of the projects, and I was just looking at costumes. And I realized that we can outfit entire armies of Vikings, crusaders, Spartans, Greek warriors, World War I troops from France or from Belgium or World War II soldiers from the United States, modern armies… We have pile after pile after pile, or crates after crates with clothes, just because of different projects. And we always think that we take control over things. We don't rent it, we don't outsource it — we control it, we own it, and we put it on and we do it ourselves. Same with a lot of photo sessions, music videos — we produce them, we direct them, we are involved in the whole production of it. The albums, we are the main producers of our albums. We do things our way. And it's demanding, but we have a big team. And we are constantly growing. And even during the pandemic, we did pretty well. Even though we couldn't tour, and we have a lot of people that are depending on touring, but we still did well. We run our own mailorder; it has several people. We also developed that further. We [do it] completely by ourselves. We don't use any merch company. We develop the stuff ourselves. We design it, we source it, we market it and we have it in our own mailorder."

SABATON kicked off its "The Legendary Tour" on November 14, 2025 at Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany. The band teased the 20-city European trek as "a huge celebration of SABATON's music, storytelling and the incredible bond they share with their fans", featuring "The Legendary Orchestra and other surprises," resulting in "something unprecedented." "The Legendary Tour" was SABATON's first headlining tour in support of the band's eleventh studio album, "Legends", which arrived on October 17, 2025 via Better Noise Music.

SABATON recently announced a massive 31-date North American tour set for early 2026. Kicking off February 9 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the tour will hit venues across the U.S. and Canada, including major stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston before wrapping April 20 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Support on the trek will come from POP EVIL and WINGS OF STEEL.

Throughout the aptly titled "Legends", which blends rock and history for fans of all ages, SABATON delves into some of history's greatest and most loved characters such as Jeanne D'arc (also known as Joan Of Arc),Napoleon Bonaparte, Julius Caesar and the legendary swordmaster Miyamoto Musashi.

"Legends" is available across various different physical formats and retailer exclusives, including CD, 2CD digibook, 2CD earbook (both including the exclusive Storyteller Edition),11 unique vinyl editions (including a special vinyl color and exclusive artwork each),additional exclusive vinyl colors and a limited box set (including another exclusive vinyl color, the 2CD earbook, and a colored cassette as an exclusive format).

Among 11 unique vinyl editions, each one portraying one legendary figure, "Legends" is available as the "Hannibal Edition" and the "Miyamoto Musashi Edition", which are linked to the song releases for "Lightning At The Gates" (Hannibal) and "The Duelist" (Miyamoto Musashi).

"Legends" is a rock odyssey that transcends time and borders, with melodic guitar riffs, goosebump-inducing choirs, and epic choruses. It marks a bold evolution in storytelling, plunging headfirst into the heart of history's most formidable and enigmatic figures. These are not just rock songs, they are battle hymns carved from the blood and legacy of warriors, kings, strategists, and revolutionaries.

SABATON have always had a signature focus on writing songs about historical battles, wars, and acts of heroism that have solidified their impact with their loyal and longtime fans. They've collaborated closely with its network of specialists, developed over the years since the launch of the Sabaton History Channel on YouTube, to make sure this new album is once again as close to reality as possible.

SABATON continues to work with graphic artist Peter Sallai to create the striking album artwork, and producer Jonas Kjellgren is once again behind the boards from his Swedish Black Lounge Studios to create the classic SABATON sound the band is now known for.

In the more than two decades since the band's launch, SABATON has headlined major festivals, sold-out arena concerts worldwide, and gained a legion of loyal fans by carving out a reputation for being one of the hardest working bands in the business. Since their 2005 debut album, they've earned gold, platinum, and multi-platinum certifications in territories around the world with their 10 studio albums. Eight of their albums scored Top 10 international chart status, and six claimed the Top 5. SABATON has earned eight Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards nominations, taking home the award for "Breakthrough Artist" in 2011 and "Best Live Band" in three different years, and a Grammis nomination (Swedish equivalent to the U.S. Grammy Award) as "Best Heavy Metal" band. They've accumulated more than three billion streams across all streaming platforms and two billion views on YouTube.

Guitarist Thobbe Englund originally joined SABATON in April 2012 and amicably parted ways with the band in July 2016 to focus on his personal life and expand his creativity. He rejoined SABATON in February 2024.

Englund recorded two studio albums with SABATON, namely "Heroes" (2014) and "The Last Stand" (2016),and assisted with the songwriting of some very popular songs including "Shiroyama" and "Fields Of Verdun", among others.

Photo credit: Steve Bright