INTERVIEW: Chris David from Majestica.

Tommy Johansson is the very talented guitarist in Sabaton, and he has a new venture for fans of power metal to wrap their ears around via Majestica.

The outfit has kinda been around a while, originally called Reinxeed, Johansson felt that a new brand was needed for their debut for Nuclear Blast, the epic Above The Sky.

One of those musicians who survived the transition is bassist Chris David, a Musicians Institute trained professional whose performance across Above The Sky is one of those guitar hero worthy bass performances that are all too rare in heavy metal.

David said that Johansson wanted to make a clean break from the past with Majestica even though Reinxeed had an enviable body of work available to the public.

“In 2013 we ended up taking a break with Reinxeed because a lot of the issues that were happening around and inside the band,” he said.

“We had a lot of negative things going on, and we decided to take a little break and when we got back we felt like let’s do a fresh start because Reinxeed had released six albums already and we really wanted to make a, you know, as I said, there were so many negative things going on.

“When we started, we said like, let’s have fun, don’t bring that kind of old school shit in here again, let’s make it fresh.”

A notable aspect of the Above The Sky has already been mentioned, that is David’s astounding bass playing.

Emulating the maestro Billy Sheehan with generous servings of finger tapping and with a tone as audible as one of extreme metal’s greatest bass performers, former Chuck Schuldiner muse Steve DiGiorgio, David has laid a very serious challenge to the budding bass guitarist to study his licks and attempt to play along to his light speed chops.

David has an interesting story to share with the reader regarding how he ended up with a favored bass guitar that has been used to produce so many of the fantastic bass lines heard across Above The Sky, and he said the story that follows hadn’t been shared before.

“I need to tell this ‘cause I never told it to anyone, I bought a Music Man bass in LA at Sam Ash, it was a 25th-anniversary edition,” he said.

“It was super expensive, it was this crazy thing with tons of knobs and pickups and all this stuff, then I bought it, and I got home, and before I bought the bass, I tried another bass which was broken… that was my Lākland.

For those unfamiliar, Leo Fender created the Music Man bass for the discerning performer who needed a nimbler instrument than his famous original creation, the Fender Precision Bass.

Lākland has forged a reputation for creating first-class instruments, and in the process, they endeared themselves to performers as diverse as Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath) and soul artist and one-time Cee-Lo Green collaborator, Alissia Benveniste.

David said that he knew he had to switch instruments when he got back home to Sweden.

“When I got home, I played the Music Man for a little bit, and I was like, Nah, you know, I want that broken fucking bass,” he said

“So, I brought back my Music Man bass, and I bought the broken bass, and I fixed it, I’ve been playing that one since that day, and I think it’s the best thing ever played.”

Above The Sky is available June 7, 2019. 

iTunes pre-sale link: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/above-the-sky/1457606046