讲述我们的奇幻故事 - 瑞典Power Metal乐队The Storyteller专访

1 day ago22 min read

今天采访到的乐队是来自瑞典的Power Metal乐队The Storyteller，这也是杂志第一次接触到Power Metal风格的乐队，组建于1995年的The Storyteller乐队有一群从小学时期就认识的朋友组建的，虽然组建时期乐队的所有成员都是刚刚接触乐器，但是所有成员由坚定的信念学习乐器和乐理知识，最初成员选择一些自己喜欢的乐队的曲目练习演奏技巧，直到能够完全熟练的演奏这些曲目，不久之后乐队发行了第一张Demo作品“The First Chapter”，虽然这张Demo有一些不足，但是还是可以感受到乐队成员的才华，在1996 - 11998年发行两张Demo之后，乐队在2000年发行了第一张正式专辑“The Storyteller”，这张专辑由瑞典的No Fashion Records厂牌发行，这张专辑发行之后便收到了瑞典本土歌迷和乐评人的好评，真正让更多人认识这支乐队的专辑是他们在2001年发行的专辑“Crossroad”，这张专辑由日本厂牌Soundholic Co. Ltd.发行，与首张专辑相比，这张专辑有了很好的进步，这张唱片中一些较好的音乐包括旋律优美的中速歌曲，人声质感更厚重，主音部分也更多，旋律非常出色，如果你喜欢Hammerfall乐队的话，那么请一定不要错过这张专辑，随后乐队发行了多张高评价的作品，就当乐队如日中天的时候，他们选择在2006年解散乐队，直到2011年才宣布重新组建并且在2013 - 2015年发行了两张好评专辑，今年乐队希腊的The Circle Music厂牌发行了他们的最新专辑“Final Stand”，在新专辑发行之际杂志通过厂牌与The Storyteller乐队的创始人L.G. Persson取得联系进行了一次专访！

（V: 代表笔者 L: 代表L.G. Persson）

Today's interview is with Swedish Power Metal band The Storyteller, this is the first time the magazine has come across a Power Metal style band. Formed in 1995, The Storyteller was formed by a group of friends who had known each other since elementary school, and although all the members of the band were new to playing instruments, they all learned their instruments and music theory with a strong belief in themselves. Although all the members of the band were new to the instrument, all of them had a strong belief in learning the instrument and music theory. Initially, the members chose some of the band's favorites and practiced their playing skills until they were able to play them proficiently, and soon after the band released their first demo, “The First Chapter”, which had some shortcomings, but was not as good as they had expected. After releasing two demos in 1996 - 1998, the band released their first official album “The Storyteller” in 2000, which was released on the Swedish label No Fashion Records. The Storyteller”, released on Sweden's No Fashion Records, was well received by Swedish fans and critics alike, but the album that really brought the band to the forefront was ‘Crossroad’, released in 2001 on the Japanese label Soundholic Co. This album was released on the Japanese label Soundholic Co. Ltd. and was a good step up from their debut, some of the better tracks on this album include melodic mid-tempo songs with heavier vocals, more lead parts and great melodies, if you like Hammerfall then don't miss this album, it was followed by a number of highly acclaimed releases, and just when the band was at the top of their game, they chose to release “Crossroad” in 2006, which was the first time the band was recognized. Just when the band was at the height of their popularity, they chose to disband in 2006, only to announce their reunion in 2011 and released two critically acclaimed albums in 2013 - 2015, and this year the band's Greek label The Circle Music released their newest album “Final Stand”, which was released by The Magazine through a partnership with The Circle Music, in conjunction with the release of the album. On the occasion of the release of the new album, the magazine contacted The Storyteller's founder L.G. Persson through the label for an interview!

(V: for the author L: for L.G. Persson)

采访对象：L.G. Persson（The Storyteller乐队创始人）

采访时间：2025.03.13

V: 你好L.G. Persson很高兴见到你，非常感谢你参加这次采访，我想这是你的乐队第一次接受中国杂志的采访，首先向所有的中国歌迷问好，The Storyteller乐队成立于1995年，是一支历史悠久的乐队，你是如何组建乐队的？还记得当时的情景吗？

Hello L.G. Persson nice to meet you and thank you very much for participating in this interview, I think this is the first time your band has been interviewed by a Chinese magazine, first of all say hello to all the Chinese fans, The Storyteller was formed in 1995, a band with a long history, how did you form the band? Do you remember what it was like back then?

L: 大家好。很荣幸能采访到你们--你们赢得了第一个来自中国的采访机会，我也很高兴能与中国的朋友们分享这次采访。乐队是由一群怀揣着演奏快速、旋律优美的金属乐梦想的朋友组建的。我们都来自同一个地区，在小学时代就认识了，所以彼此都很熟悉，听的音乐/乐队也很相似。当我们决定一起组建乐队时，我们都是各自乐器的初学者，但我们用坚定的纪律和共同的愿景弥补了知识上的不足。我们从自己喜欢的乐队（包括 Helloween、Iron Maiden 和 Manowar）中选取歌曲，不断练习，直到能够演奏为止。由于当时还很年轻，我们有机会花很多时间在排练室里，头两年我们每周7天中有5天在排练室里，每次至少练习3个小时。随着我们作为个人音乐家和乐队的发展，我也开始成为一名作曲家。我从十几岁就开始创作音乐，但早期的歌曲还没有完全成熟，而这正是音乐创作的真谛所在--音乐创作需要经过长期的 “试验和错误”，直到你开始找到自己的 “标志”。1995年我录制了第一盘Demo磁带，找到了我的 “目标”，也是 “讲故事的人 ”的“目标”。当时录制了四首歌曲，分别是原声和人声。正是在录制过程中，我产生了一个想法，我想写的音乐既可以在户外的篝火旁以原声演奏，也可以作为金属乐队在大型舞台上表演。从那时起，这种音乐创作方式就成了我创作 The Storyteller 的 “指南针”。

Hi everyone. Its an honor having this interview with you – you have won the spot for being the first interview done from China, and im glad to get to share this to the fellowship in China. The band was formed by a group of friends with a dream of playing fast and melodic metal. We all came from the same area and met during our elementary school years, so we knew eachother well and listened to similar music/bands. When we decided to start a band together, we were all beginners on our respective instruments, but what we lacked in knowledge we made up for with unwavering discipline and a shared vision. We chose songs from our favorite bands including Helloween, Iron Maiden, Manowar and practiced until we could perform them. Being so young at the time, we had the opportunity to spend a lot of time in our rehearsal room, and for the first two years we spent 5 out of 7 days a week in the rehearsal room, practicing at least 3 hours each time. As we developed as individual musicians and as a band, I began to develop as a songwriter. I started writing music as a teenager but the earlier songs were not fully developed and that’s really how it should be – writing music is something that develops over time and through “trials and errors” until you start to find what becomes your “trademark”. I found what would become my trademark and also would become the trademark of The Storyteller sometime in 1995 when a first demo tape was recorded. There were four songs that were performed acoustically and with vocals.

It was during that recording process that I had a vision that I wanted to write music that could be performed acoustically outside at a campfire and also as a metal band on big stages. That way of writing music has since been my “compass” in the writing process for The Storyteller.

V: 现在乐队只有你一个成员，The Storyteller已经更换了很多乐队成员，为什么他们都退出了乐队？有没有想过找新的成员加入乐队？

You're the only member of the band right now, The Storyteller has replaced a lot of band members, becoming why did they all quit the band? Have you thought about finding new members to join the band?

L: 是的，如今乐队的创始成员确实只剩下我一个人了，而且这些年来，乐队走过了一段换了很多成员的历程。在我看来，这是几个因素共同作用的结果。最重要的是，要能够平衡作为音乐家、艺术家、乐队以及作为个人、家庭、孩子等方面的承诺。作为一名音乐家，要保持巅峰状态需要花费大量的时间，而对有些人来说，保持巅峰状态已成为一项过于艰巨的任务，这就意味着他们不得不将自己的位置留给别人。有些人找到了自己的“目标”离开了乐队，更专注于自己的音乐之路，我非常理解并鼓励他们这样做，尽管这对The Storyteller来说当然是一种损失。最后也有一些成员并没有全身心地投入到一个成熟乐队的工作中，他们对需要完成的工作只投入了50%，这种情况在一段时间后会变得难以为继。要么你加入进来，像其他人一样付出 100%的努力，要么你就得把自己的位置留给别人。我想告诉大家，我和其他创始成员之间没有分歧。我们中的许多人仍然保持着良好的联系并时不时地见面，就像好朋友一样。目前我的计划是组建一个由音乐家组成的现场演出阵容，他们就像一块拼图，不同的拼图有不同的位置，他们有机会在自己的音乐角色和现场乐队中大放异彩。我的目标是让未来的观众在观看The Storyteller的现场演出时获得震撼的体验，这种现场表演与即将发行的专辑“The Final Stand”所带来的震撼音乐相得益彰。

Yes, it is true that today I am the only remaining of the founding members and that it has been a journey with many member changes over the years. As I see it, it is a result of several factors that have played a role. Above all, it is about being able to balance the commitments as a musician, artist, band and as a private person, family, children, etc. It takes a lot of time to stay at the top as a musician and for some it became too difficult a task to maintain, which unfortunately meant that they had to leave their place to someone else. Some has found their own “trademark” and left their place in the band to be able to focus more on their own musical journey, which is something that I understand very well and encourage even though it has of course been a loss for The Storyteller. Lastly, there have also been situations with members who have not been so committed to the whole work involving being in an established band, only giving 50% of their commitment to the work that needs to be done, which becomes unsustainable after a while. Either you join in and give 100% like the others or you have to leave your place to someone else. I would like to share that there is no disagreement between me and the other founding members. Many of us still have good contact and meet up from time to time like good old friends. Currently, my plan is to put together a live line up of musicians who are like a puzzle with different pieces whose fit fits perfectly in their specific place, given the position where they have the opportunity to shine in their musical role and as a live band. My goal is to give future audiences a powerful experience of seeing The Storyteller live, a live show that matches the powerful music delivered with the upcoming album – The Final Stand.

V: 乐队中只有你一个人，我想这让歌曲创作变得更容易，因为你可以按照自己的想法写歌，你能描述一下你的创作过程吗？你们即将发行一张新专辑，这张专辑的创作过程顺利吗？

You're the only one in the band, I think that makes it easier when it comes to songwriting because you can write the songs the way you want them to be, can you describe your songwriting process? You're about to release a new album, is the writing process for this album going well?

L: 制作这张新专辑的整个过程有一个新的、非常重要的因素，它带来了巨大的不同。这个因素就是Cedrick Forsberg。我和Blazon Stone乐队的Cedrick Forsberg合作录制了这张录音室新专辑。Cedrick Forsberg是一位出色的音乐家和作曲家，他的创造力是我以前从未遇到过的。当Cedrick联系我并问我是否有计划推出一张新的The Storyteller辑时，事实是我已经很久没有写过新的音乐素材了，也没有在近期推出新专辑的真正计划。他的问题激起了我的灵感，于是我们决定开始合作，目标是创作一张The Storyteller的新专辑。Cedrick Forsberg不仅能从我的样带录音中捕捉到我的想法，还能从歌词的角度倾听我的想法，然后将其转化为音乐。这张专辑是讲故事的人迄今为止最出色的专辑。这张专辑的制作堪称完美。在这张专辑中，音乐反映了我在The Storyteller之旅开始时的愿景，但当时我们还无法达到那个水平。这一次我们第一次感觉一切都达到了顶峰。

The whole process of making this new album has a new and very important ingredient which made a huge different. That ingredient comes with the name of Cedrick Forsberg. The collaboration between me and Cedrick Forsberg from ”Blazon Stone” resulted in this new studio album being recorded. Cedrick is a fantastic musician and songwriter with a creativity I have not encountered before. When Cedrick contacted me and asked if there were any plans for a new The Storyteller album, the truth was that I had not written any new material in a long time and had no real plan for a new album in the near future. His question sparked something in me and we decided to start a collaboration with the goal of creating a new The Storyteller album. Not only does Cedrick have an incredible ability to pick up my visions from my demo recordings, but he also listens to my ideas from a lyrical perspective which he then transformed into music. This has resulted in an album that stands out as the strongest album to date in The Storyteller’s career by far. This is the production that managed to reach all the way. In this production, the music reflects the vision i had right from the start of journey of The Storyteller, but back then we couldn’t quite reach that level. This time, for the first time it feels that everything is at the top of the game.

V: 你的所有专辑在录音方面都有非常明显的进步，这当然与时代的变化有很大关系，因为现在的技术更加先进了。你的专辑是由哪位制作人制作的？新专辑的录制过程顺利吗？

All of your albums have been a very noticeable improvement in terms of recording, which of course has a lot to do with the changing times as the technology is much more sophisticated nowadays, what studio did you record the albums in? Which producer produced your albums? Did the recording process for the new album go well?

L: 在录制第1、2和3张专辑之初，我们去了哥德堡著名的Fredman录音室。该工作室由Fredrik Nordström设计，他曾为Hammerfall、Dream Evil、In Flames、Dimmu Borgir、At The Gates等乐队制作过专辑。第4张专辑在地下工作室（Västerås）录制。2006年至2011年的间歇期过后，录音过程开始发生变化。以前我们在专业录音室录制专辑，但随着“家庭录音室”技术的发展，我们选择在家庭录音室制作大部分音乐。只有鼓的录音是在专业录音室完成的。在录制第6张专辑时，我们选择了同时使用专业录音室和家庭录音室，因为我们需要足够的空间来进行鼓的录音和为这次活动雇用的10人合唱团的录音。在录制第7张专辑 (在录制第 7 张专辑（The Final Stand）时，我们使用了Cedrikś的家庭录音室，用于录制吉他、贝司和额外的键盘。在录制人声时，Cedrikś把他的笔记本电脑带到了Blazing Stone的排练室，录制完人声后，Cedrikś把笔记本电脑带回了家并把人声录音转到了他的台式电脑上。鼓的录制在Henrik Olsson的家中工作室进行，他也是这张唱片中所有鼓的演奏者。回顾这些年的录音过程，我非常感谢在专业录音室录音的经历，在一栋楼里住了三个星期，从第一声鼓点到最后一个吉他和弦，我都专注于专辑的录制。这种经历是我永远也换不来的。同时，家庭录音室的发展也让乐队/艺术家有更多时间创作音乐，而不必担心超出录音预算。我们能够花费必要的时间，让参与"The Final Stand"制作的每个人都发挥出最佳水平。我非常看重这一点--让歌迷从The Storyteller中得到最好的东西。

At the very beginning when recording album nr 1, 2 & 3 we went to the famous Studio Fredman in Gothenburg. It was engineered by Fredrik Nordström who produced albums with bands like Hammerfall, Dream Evil, In Flames, Dimmu Borgir, At The Gates and many more great bands. Album nr.4 were recorded at Studio Underground (Västerås) After the break between 2006 – 2011 the recording process started to change. Before we recorded our albums in a professional recording studio, but with the development in the "home studio" technology we chose to produce most parts of the music in a home studio. Only the drum recording was done in a professional recording studio. During the recording of album no. 6, we chose to use both a professional recording studio and a home studio because we needed the space for both the drum recording and the recording of the 10-member choir that we hired for the occasion. With the recording of album nr.7 (The Final Stand) we used Cedrikś home studio for the recording of guitars, bass and additional keys. When doing the vocals Cedrick brought his laptop to the rehersal room of Blazing Stone and after recording the vocals Cedrick brought the laptop back home and transfered the vocal recordings to his desktop computer. Drum recording took place at the home studio of Henrik Olsson, who is also playing all drums on this record. Looking back on the recording process over the years, I am very grateful for the experience of recording in a professional recording studio, living in a building for three weeks and just focusing on recording the album from the first drum beat to the last guitar chord. It is an experience I would never trade. At the same time, the development of home studios has allowed bands/artists to take more time to create their music without the fear of exceeding the recording budget. We have been able to take the time needed to get the very best out of everyone who participated in the production of The Final Stand. That is something I value highly - that the fans get the very best from The Storyteller.

V: Fantasy, History是你的音乐主题，你为什么选择这个音乐主题，你想通过这个音乐主题表达什么？歌词也是你写的，这些歌词的灵感来源是什么？

Fantasy, History is your musical theme, why did you choose this musical theme and what do you want to express through this musical theme? You also write the lyrics, what inspired those lyrics?

L: 我想，选择写幻想主题和民间传说的歌词是很自然的，因为我从小就对民间传说很着迷，幻想主题与古老的民间传说有很多相似之处。我一直把民间传说、童话和传说视为人类旅程中的瑰宝。傍晚时分，人们聚集在篝火旁、露天壁炉边。年轻人怀着紧张的心情坐在那里，聆听长者讲述这些童话和传说。它将年轻人和老年人联系在一起，它创造了一个如此宝贵的社区--尤其是在当今社会。

I think the choice to write lyrics that follow the fantasy theme and folk lore came naturally as I was fascinated by folk lore already as a young boy, and the fantasy theme has many similarities with old folk lore. I have always seen folk lore, fairy tales and legends as treasures that are part of the human journey. That at the campfire, the open fireplace, people gather in the evening. The young people who sit with tense anticipation while they listen to the elders who tell these fairy tales and legends. It ties young and old together, it creates a community that is so valuable – especially in today’s society.

V: 你曾与Black Lodge Records、No Fashion Records. The Circle Music等厂牌发行了专辑。你是如何与这些唱片公司取得联系并进行合作的？你对这些厂牌的工作满意吗？

You've collaborated with labels like Black Lodge Records, No Fashion Records. The Circle Music etc. How did you get in touch with these labels to collaborate? Are you satisfied with the work of these labels?

L: The Storyteller与唱片公司的第一次接触是通过我用传真机发送的书面新闻稿。当我开始向我能找到的所有音乐行业的地址发送这份新闻稿时，我们甚至还没有录制Demo。后来我们收到了一家唱片公司的回复，希望我们提供一盘Demo，事情很快就变得严肃起来。事实上我们没想到会在几周内收到唱片公司的回复，现在我们必须尽快录制一盘Demo。我们设法录制了五首歌曲的Demo，然后寄给了唱片公司。几周后我们签下了第一份唱片合约。当时的唱片公司是No Fashion Records，后来更名为Black Lodge Records。

The first contact The Storyteller made with a record label was through a written press release that I sent around by a fax-machine. We hadn't even recorded a demo when I started sending this press release to all the addresses I could find who worked in the music industry.

When we then got a response from a record company wanting a demo cassette, it got serious really fast. We actually hadn't expected to get a response from a record company within a few weeks and now we had to try to create a demo cassette as soon as possible. We managed to record a demo with five songs which was then sent to the record company. A few weeks later we signed our first record deal. The company was No Fashion Records which later changed its name to Black Lodge Records.

V: 2006年乐队选择解散，解散的原因是什么，是什么促使你们在2011年重新组建乐队？

The band chose to break up in 2006, what was the reason for disbanding the band and what led you to re-form the band in 2011?

L: 我们之所以在2006年选择解散，是因为我们觉得自己没有得到继续前进所需的支持，无法在Power Metal类型的大乐队中立足。我们厌倦了在没有任何支持的情况下独自承担一切，这在乐队内部造成了一种负面情绪，我们不再认为成为讲故事的人是一件有趣的事。我们原本无意录制第四张专辑，但当时的唱片公司说服我们再做一次尝试，录制一张能够获得应有关注的专辑。我们决定到地下工作室（Västerås）录制专辑"Underworld"。不幸的是承诺的支持没有兑现，市场营销失败，专辑的发行与之前的专辑重复。这是乐队共同决定解散的决定性因素。我并不后悔录制"Underworld"的决定，因为我认为它是乐队目录中最好的专辑之一。这张专辑理应得到更多的关注，所以我觉得它是我们职业生涯的一个完美结局。重新组建乐队的愿望源于对音乐的热爱。不幸的是，有些成员并不完全相信他们想要重新组建乐队，但又无法表达出来，这导致我们宣布重组后不久，其中一位创始成员选择了离开。情感压力变得太大了。在接下来的几年里，我们经历了挫折、成员变动以及关于The Storyteller音乐风格方向的分歧。但在此期间，我们还是录制了两张专辑：“Dark Legacy”和“Sacred Fire”。作为主要的歌曲作者，我觉得音乐的发展不再遵循使The Storyteller在Power Metal界声名鹊起的标志，对我来说，它也不再是The Storyteller了。因此，我选择离开乐队。随着我的决定，其余成员也选择了解散乐队。之后我决定继续保留The Storyteller乐队，但休眠.....。直到有一天Cedrick Forsberg联系了我--从此，新的篇章开始了。

The reason we chose to break up in 2006 was because we felt that we did not receive the support needed to continue to move forward and establish ourselves among the larger bands in the power metal genre. We were tired of carrying the whole load ourselves without receiving any support and this created a negative feeling within the band, we no longer thought it was fun to be The Storyteller. We had no intention of recording a 4th album but were convinced by the record company at the time to make another attempt, record ?an album that would get the attention it deserves. We decided to step into Studio Underground (Västerås) and the result was the album "Underworld" Unfortunately, the promised support did not come, the marketing failed and it was a repeat of previous album releases. This was the decisive point that made the band make a joint decision to break up. I don't regret the decision to record Underworld as I consider it one of the best albums in the band's catalogue. It deserved far more attention than it got, so it felt like a fitting end to our career. The desition to re-form the band came from the love of playing music. Unfortunately, it turned out that some of the members were not entirely convinced that they wanted to start the band again but were unable to express this, which led to one of the founding members choosing to leave shortly after we announced our reunion. The emotional pressure became too great. The following years would be marked by setbacks, member changes and disagreements regarding which direction The Storytellerś musical style should go. Still we managed to record two albums during this time: Dark Legacy & Sacred Fire. As the main songwriter, I felt that the musical development no longer followed the hallmark that gave The Storyteller a name in the power metal community, and for me it was no longer The Storyteller. I therefore chose to leave the band. With my decision, the remaining members chose to disband the band. After that I decided to still keep The Storyteller but dormant..... Until the day I was contacted by Cedrick Forsberg - then a new chapter began.

V: 你们乐队的标志非常简单，但这种设计形式是我个人最喜欢的设计形式，因为我很容易就能记住你们乐队的名字，这个标志是谁为你们设计的？你们的专辑封面设计也很精美，是谁为你们设计的？

Your band's logo is very simple, but this form of design is my personal favorite form of design because I can easily remember your band's name, who designed this logo for you? Your album artwork is also beautifully designed, who designed this album artwork for you?

L: 谢谢--我确实喜欢Logo中更简洁的风格。它的设计有多种用途，我个人喜欢它的易读性。Logo是我们的一个朋友设计的。在为我们的专辑封面寻找艺术品时，我们希望它能捕捉到讲故事、故事和传说的主题。我们有幸认识了一位油画艺术家，他为第一和第二张专辑创作了精美的油画作品。第3和第4张专辑是由现在的唱片公司聘请的一位艺术家完成的。我想他是用 Photoshop制作这些作品的。第5和第6张专辑是由一位非常有才华的艺术家通过PAD程序和钢笔创作的。她的作品大多以魔兽世界中的奇幻主题为灵感。至于即将发行的专辑封面，创作者与目前的唱片公司（The Circle Music）合作。

Thanks – i do like the more simple style in the logo. Itś designed to fit for several purposes and I personally like when its easy to read. The logo were designed by a friend of ours. When searching for artwork for our album covers we wanted it to capture the theme of storytelling, stories and legends. We were fortunate enough to know an artist doing beautiful artwork with oil painting and he did the paintings for both album nr1 & 2. Album nr.3 & 4 were done by an artist hired by the current record label. Think he worked through Photoshop creating those artwork. Nr.5 & 6 were done by a very talented artist doing her paintings through pad program and pens. She does mostly fantacy theme inspired from World Of Warcraft. And on the upcoming album artwork the one creating it works with the current record label (The Circle Music)

V: 这张专辑采用了大量中世纪民谣旋律和吉他和声，在节奏较快的曲调中，歌手的高音区听起来嘶哑，而低音区听起来则充满力量和阳刚之气。吉他演奏经过精心计算，独奏非常出色。你对自己的创作有什么想法吗？新专辑与旧专辑相比有什么变化吗？

First of all good luck with the upcoming release of your latest album, which uses a lot of medieval folk melodies and a lot of guitar harmonies, the faster tunes have the singer's high register sounding hoarse and his low register sounding powerful and masculine. The guitar playing is well calculated and the solos are excellent. Do you have any thoughts on your own compositions? Has anything changed on the new album compared to the old one?

L: 首先我想说的是，即将发行的新专辑更加成熟，经过深思熟虑和调整，每个人的表现都达到了极致。在"The Final Stand"的创作过程之前，我就已经决定不让音乐的局限性左右成品，不满足于 “足够好”，而这次我将组建一个星座，让他们能够按照歌曲的构想完成自己的部分。在新的制作中，我们没有在基本构想上打折扣，而是确保加入每一个小细节，让每首歌都有自己独特的故事。对我来说The Final Stand象征着愿景与执行相联系的时刻，代表着 “讲故事的人 ”的声音--“讲故事的人 2.0”。

First thing I would like to say is that the upcoming album is more mature, well thought through and adjusted to bring out the very best in everyone’s performance. Before the writing process of The Final Stand, I had already decided not to let musical limitations dictate the finished product, not to settle for “good enough”, but this time I would put together a constellation that was able to deliver its part as the song vision was written down.

In the new production we have not compromised on the basic vision but have made sure to include every little detail that gives each individual song its unique story. For me, The Final Stand symbolizes the moment when vision and execution are linked and represents The Storyteller as it was ment to sound – “The Storyteller 2.0”

V: The Storyteller作为一支老牌乐队，你们参加过很多音乐节，哪些音乐节给你们留下了深刻印象，能描述一下音乐节的氛围吗？2025年你还准备参加那些音乐节？

The Storyteller as a veteran band you have played a lot of festivals, what festivals have impressed you and can you describe the atmosphere and what other festivals are you planning to play in 2025?

L: 从音乐节的角度来看，瑞典摇滚音乐节Sweden Rock Festival是一个亮点，我们已经去过两次，那里总是气氛热烈，观众热情高涨。让我记忆犹新的音乐节是2002年在我家乡举办多年的音乐节。那是一个户外音乐节，我们有幸在第二张专辑(Crossroad)发行之际担任主唱。当晚的观众人数创下了音乐节的记录，现场气氛非常好，观众们都跟着歌曲一起唱，我们还拍摄了整场音乐会，然后发布在YouTube上。这是迄今为止最棒的音乐节体验。现在我们还没有预订任何音乐节，因为我们的重心都放在"The Final Stand"的发行上，一旦"The Final Stand"在市场上发行，我们就会开始筹划巡演。如果将来能访问中国，那将是一件令人兴奋的事。

A highlight from a festival point of view is the Sweden Rock Festival, which we have visited twice and which always has a wonderful atmosphere with an enthusiastic audience. The festival that is still at the top of my list of memories is the festival back in 2002 that was held in my hometown for many years. It was an outdoor festival that we had the honor of headlining in connection with the release of our second album (Crossroad) There was a record audience for the festival that night, the atmosphere was great, the audience sang along to the songs and we filmed the entire concert which was then posted on YouTube. It was the strongest festival experience so far.Right now there are no festivals booked because the focus is on the release of The Final Stand, but as soon as it is released on the market, the work of planning a tour will begin. It would be exciting to visit China in the future.

V: The Storyteller是一支经典的Power Metal乐队，我会一直支持和关注你们的乐队，也希望通过这次采访能有更多的中国乐迷关注和支持你们的乐队，最后有什么想对中国乐迷说的吗？

The Storyteller is a classic Power Metal band, I will always support and follow your band, and I hope that through this interview, more Chinese fans will pay attention to and support your band, do you have anything you would like to say to your Chinese fans in the end?

L: 非常感谢你能抽出时间接受我的采访，我也希望这次采访能为我们在中国获得更多的粉丝带来机会。还有我们所有的粉丝：欢迎你们加入The Storyteller这个大家庭。相信故事你将成为传奇的一部分。希望未来能在中国见到你们。

/L-G

I thank you so much for you taking the time to make this interview with me, and it is also my hope that this interview will open the opportunity to get more followers in China. And to all our fans: You are all welcome to join the fellowship of The Storyteller. Believe in the stories and you shall be a part of the legend. Hope to see you all in China in the future.

/L-G