Richard Sjunnesson

---

 

Q&A XXVII:
Send your questions to: [email protected].

Q: What, where and how did you get such a frostilicious necklace Master Richard? O:
A: Ella bough it for me during the Getaway Rock Festival last summer. She got one for herself as well, but due to not being able to handle herself whilst being under the influence, she lost it…



Dark Funeral neck

Q: Hey Richard... Please I'll love can listen to a complete song of "THE UNGUIEDED". I'm a huge fan of your work... Please if you can send me one song :P!
A: Such a brief composition of words, yet drenched in this preposterousness substance. First off (as always), it’s Master Richard for you! And if you are such a huge fan (which you claim you are) why don’t you purchase and support our hard work, instead of begging like a homeless person?

Q: Are The Unguided going to come to the UK anytime soon?
A: No plans as of now.

Q: Just got myself a question when I scouted YouTube for some awesome tunes: Have you guys made any more of the Fallen Angels instrumental Maestitia? I recall you were going to make proper lyrics and redo the melody a bit far back in your blog. I love the melody in the song, and hope to hear from it soon with awesome lyrics, and just as awesome as BOTC and ITE!
A: I touched this matter last Q&A and it’s still the plan to make something out of Maestitia for a future album. I love the melody and atmosphere of that instrumental as well!


Maestitia

Q: Where can I get a hoodie like that? :D I'd give you 20 dollars for it?
A: As stated before in the blog, it’s a Crusty Demon’s hoddie called “Smoldering”. Here’s one place you can get it. I’m not selling my favorite hoddie for 20 bucks. It might buy you some dust under my bed if that’s interesting. Maybe you can tailor a pair of socks out from it?


Smoldering

Q: I was flicking through my Windows Media Player Library, then I noticed that 'Sin For The Fallen' was in the 'Composer' section of one of the Fallen Angel’s songs, as shown in the attached picture. I'm really curious; do you know what this means/stands for? Did you or someone else purposely put it there, or what? XD
A: Noticed that as well the other day, my iTunes library was all messy because of it. I have no clue what the fuck is going on. But I know for sure we don’t have anything to do with it.

Q. In Russian Unguided community we just reached 616 people :) Small Russian-Unguided army with you :) Will try to multiply 616 times this number. Also your album costs 135.00 SEK  this is near 616 Rubles (how cool!!!) Hope everything is great. Waiting for your concerts in my country.
A: Здравствуйте! In Soviet Russia, Mordor walks into you? Keep up the good work, motherland 616 division. We’ll be right with you guys! We’re actually working on a Russian gig; hold your thumbs and your Siberian toes that we’ll sort it out.


Go Russia!

Q: Can you go bald for the 2ndTU album (if you'll make another one then ofc) and put in a sentence "I cut myself on a banana" on one of the songs?
A: If I can go bold and put it into a song? To be fair I rather just forget about that incident, it was not in any sense fun. It hurt. And it was yet more proof that anything in my hands can turn into a deadly weapon. But I guess it’s more likely that I’ll go “bald” on the next record than the chance I’ll actually put those words into my lyrics. In defense to myself; the banana piece was fried, and had sharp edges. By a series of critical events I happened (by mistake of course) to cut myself on it; it started to bleed in my mouth. It was very traumatic... sort of.

Q: I just wondered on when we can see you’re music-video? Btw, thank you guys for making my day much easier to get trough! You rock!
A: I don’t know more than the fact that it will be released after the album is out.

Q: Any chance as your singing with Amaranthe of getting The Unguided onto the support for the London show Amaranthe are doing? Would be awesome.
A: No, I wasn’t even working with them during the London show. Andy did that show himself.

Q: Also do hope there is a good quality video/recording of you singing with them.
A: I’m sure YouTube has sorted that out for you just fine.

Q: I don't know if anyone (possibly everyone) noticed this but at Hell Frost cover are some changes....Those demons having horns now right??? So what might be the meaning behind this or is it just for look?..and this guy(hell frost),is he Green Eyed Demon? it confused me 'cause he has green eyes :|
A: Really? I must look at it again… Oh yeah, you’re right! Hehe, what happened was that Kuang had a little mishap and released the artwork on his DeviantART profile weeks before the album art was officially out through The Unguided. He was very sorry for this and wanted to do some tweaks to it, so there was in fact some differences from the already “leaked” illustration. The following details were changed:

Nightmareland side:
# Added horns on the wraiths
# Re-colored all the wraith’s eyes to green
# Added an extra finger/toe to the wraiths
Hell Frost side:
# Re-colored the demons eyes to green
# Re-made the blade of the sword
And it’s a green-eyed demon, yes. But it’s not the green-eyed demon, which is sung about in the song. That’s a female entity.


Hell Frost and Hell Frost

Q: Hi sorry to bother you with a pointless question that a master mind behind The Unguided would even care about but I would like my curiosity to be fed... How tall and how much does all of you weigh... Thnx and one last request if you can send me a notification that you answered this question... Thanks for your time oh and can't wait for Hell Frost I pre-ordered it on iTunes take care and laters dude!!!
A: That is really a pointless question, which has been answered before oddly. Well, the length question has. Regarding our weight I have no idea. I don’t even own a scale. I just look at myself in the mirror and utter:
-"Mirror, Mirror on the wall; Am I the fattest of them all?”
If the answer is “NO”, I continue to eat delicious tacos. In case of an inconvenient “YES” reply; I go out and run, fast as hell (frost). About the notification, sure! Do you want me to clean your fucking room as well? Obviously I won’t send you a notification. I probably got hundreds of mails since yours. You have to stay watchful yourself.

Q: Guess I'll ask the first question that came to my mind when I read you're going on tour with Amaranthe, don’t know if I'm the first one to ask though. Does this mean there is any chance you will appear on an Amaranthe song?
A: It means nothing more than the fact I’m stepping in for Andy on a few live shows, its super temporary and of course I won’t participate in any studio recording. Which I guess was what you really were asking about?

Q: Hey Richard have you ever played any other fighting games Like Tekken, Street Fighter, Virtua fighter, Soul calibur, Marvel Vs Capcom etc? If so who are some of your favorite characters from any game & why? BTW I prefer Tekken at the most. Have a Nice day! BTW Check out my channel/videos & let me know what you
think. Subscribe if you like.
A: Bro, I played them all! Who do you take me for? My favorite Tekken characters are Kazuya and Yoshimitsu. I like Kazuya because he has a nice haircut and a big manly scar on his torso. And Yoshimitsu because… well he’s a samurai-ninja which can teleport, does that really need any further explanation!? In Soul Calibur, I like the characters; Hwang, Siegfried, Taki, and Cervantes. Hwang was simply fun to play. Siegfried was a brutal knight in shining armor with a humongous sword, huge enjoyment factor on that! Taki, because she was like Raphael from TMNT but with female properties (good properties) and Cervantes for being just himself; a badass pirate with evil intensions.

 

Taki

Q: So Rich, since you're engaged an all, any plans for the future except for The Unguided? Will we see mini-Rich in the future? ;3
A: Answered as of last blog. My genes are too good to not be preserved in future generations.

Q: I know it's very unlikely that you plan to do a big tour with the release of Hell Frost, but would the unguided do a festival tour like what you have done so far in Sweden? If so it would be awesome if you came to Download, and rock for your UK 616 army :)
A: Would love to come to Download again, but the chance of us getting booked there is probably very small, hehe. We hardly have any press coverage in the UK yet and festival bookings are directly dependent on that, kind of.

Q: Do you appreciate fan art? Or do you think to yourself "Oh pewpewz, not another one I haz to pretend to like :( "?
A: I love fan art. As I used to draw a lot myself years ago, I always appreciate the creativity in that. Keep them coming!


"WTFRW" Fan art

Q: Which do you prefer for an album? Jakebox or Jewel Case? Personally, I prefer jewel case, since it seems more "classic".
A: I prefer the classic jewelcase the most, since that fits well in my CD storage furniture and I’m traditional like that. But I think special editions are cool as well, and like to put them out as souvenirs in my apartment. Both the Nightmareland and Hell Frost jakebox look amazing!

Q: Besides being musicians, do Roger and Roland have other external professions, like you being an electrician?
A: Roger is an electrician as well. I’m not entirely sure what Roland’s profession is, but I know he has a key function in the company somehow. Roland! What is your profession? WAR!?

Q: What's your personal favorite song from Hell Frost? Since that may be a dumb question, do you at least have a favorite intro of any song?

A: My favorite songs of the album at the moment are: Where the Frost Rose Withers, Collapse my Dream and My Own Death. But I kind of have a special place for all the songs! I really like how Betrayer of The Code and Inherit the Earth came out. You can hardly tell they are hundred years old anymore. My favorite intros are probably for Phoenix Down, Serenade of Guilt and Iceheart Fragment.


"My Own Death" fan art

Q: Come to Trinidad and Tobago for your honeymoon! It's a great place before you get bored of it. I can get you the best hotel, recommend the best tourist hotspots, and, above all, meet you and kiss your ass.
A: I like the idea of that. I will instigate domestic negotiations in the matter.

Q: Suggestions for merch: The Unguided guitar picks, The Unguided switchblade knives, The Unguided underwear, The Unguided wallets, The Unguided mousepads, The Unguided blankets, The Unguided blowtorches, The Unguided caps, The Unguided wrist bands, The Unguided rings, The Unguided girly stickers, The Unguided thermometers, and a new The Unguided album ASAP.
A: I choose The Unguided wrist bands! Hehe.

Q: Are you ever going to write an autobiography? Your life seems extremely fast paced and interesting. Not many people can say their band was one of the three to win a recording contact out of 1500 bands through a contest. You were sent on the fast lane to awesome, and you still broke the speed limit. Also, if you don't write an autobiography, have someone else do it! And make it in English too! And make a cool cover! And put pictures! And make the cover leather and make it colorful! and.. and...and. But really. Do it.
A: Actually, that competition was “rigged”. Well, it wasn’t but they didn’t find any band that was good enough to take home the victory. We came in after the competition was supposed to be over and they liked us so much that they reallocated the budget for the competition to our label debut there instead. And yeah, announced us as the winners. All we had to do was to lie about it in countless of interviews, hehe. I’d love to write an autobiography when I’m old. I’m sure life has a few more surprises coming my way before that though, which would be sad to leave out.

Q: On a side note, how many members of the Unguided speak English
A: The whole class

Q: I so long for the record to release! I know it’s released on iTunes, but when can I buy it in record stores?
A: Right about now would be a good guess.

Q: Hey Richard I was just curious just a thought for you and the band to keep in your minds lol. Maybe down the line like a long time from now when you guys decide to have more little shows and footage you want to shoot maybe possibly making it into a DVD? Like how you guys did on Sonic's DVD's showing all of you guys goofing off and doing random things lol and making music and recording it in your studio. It would be pretty funny to see how you guys are behind the scenes. Like footage of you on your Taco day lol also show how the bass player is behind the scenes. I don’t know much about him or how he is that’s why I ask. I just thought i would ask because people miss The Unguided TV so I was like i wonder if they would be interested in making a The Unguided DVD for fans in the future I would pay for it in a heartbeat lol Thanks for reading.
A: I’d love to put out more video footage. But it’s simply just hard to get the sufficient temporal lengths for it to happen (read: spare time.) Fact is; gathering quality footage and video editing is an extraordinary time consuming matter. I know I used to do a lot of it in Sonic, seeing that I edited both DVD’s and made all the SonicTV episodes. But then again, I didn’t take care of all the rest of the band business back then. Besides, I made most of them on tour or in the studio during off hours. Off hours are completely shaved out of my life as of now. We merely do hit and run sessions in the studio and we’re not really touring at all anymore. I didn’t have the blog back then either, which is another very time consuming element. I’m trying to find ways around the problem but I think I’ll just need to hand away this matter to a person and dedicate that individual to just that, once we have the economy to hire such personnel. Unfortunately, there are a few other occupation slots that are higher prioritized as of now. The vision, however, is to get a monthly flow at least of TheUnguidedTV. I’ve even been thinking about turning this blog into a video one to save me time, but then again I like writing, so we’ll see about that. Maybe do the Q&A’s as YouTube visuals in the future or something, who knows?

Q: Will you have a small tour of Hell Frost or will it stay as only special appearances?
A: We’ll see what we can come up with and what our schedules allow. Hopefully we can book a short tour. Like two weeks or something, but mostly we’ll just be doing weekend gigs and festivals, I believe.

Q: So, Inherith the Earth is the album debut single. Does that mean that Phoenix Down will be the second? Or will the video be released without a single? I really just wanted to know of Phoenix Down will come with some single artwork, because I can already imagine how immensely awesome it would be.
A: We are looking into doing single artwork for Phoenix Down. I’ve already contacted José about it and I’ll see if he’s available for the job. I’m confident it will turn out amazing, as everything else he has done!

Q: How long do you think it will take before The Unguided starts working on the follow up? Will it again be and EP, then an album, or? Any ideas what so ever?
A: We’ve already began the work of the successor to Hell Frost, kind of. I have a lot of rough ideas for it and can’t wait to dedicate more time for the purpose. The plan now, is that it will initially be an EP release followed by an album, again.


Sequel

Q: Now that Henric and John are officially a part of The Unguided, will that in any way effect Cipher System (don't know if I wrote that right) or Sonic Syndicate?
A: There’s not much affecting Sonic at the time being at all, seeing that it is in hibernation. And I’m sure Henric can multitask just fine without having any of his other two bands suffering from it.

Q: Now since you guys basically transferred the good of Sonic Syndicate to The Unguided, how do you think the future of Sonic Syndicate looks? Do you think they will continue or disband?
A: I don’t think the future for any of us looking good. Humanity is fucking stupid. Besides 2012 is approaching alarmingly fast…


2012...

Q: You mentioned in an earlier blog that "Curse of a Gift" would not be made into an Unguided song... why is that? What is stopping you from making it even better? I personally think it's a pretty cool song, and it would have been a shame to not use it.
A: Roger’s final verdict: -“The song can’t be saved”. I’d love to see it happen though, but he begs to differ. It would be the most effective using it on Hell Frost, since it was Eden Fire that reused our old demos previously. It makes more sense in my head. So now after that’s released, there’s little point I suppose. To be fair you have to ask Roger about it really [email protected].

Q: First of all, and not offensive in any way but isn't it kind of cheap that you release the demo first then the single then a single again and that they are all included in the debut album??
second of all, I don't get your guys system, I believe I’m a pretty huge fan, I have the special package of: Nightmareland, BOTC and Hell Frost incoming and have the unguided crest tattooed at my arm (I find myself pretty dedicated though) but since every one that orders a special package once would that make me like some super mega uber contra power agent of the 616 army???=/ and last of all (I believe) with your blog here in the other internet tab, may i ask you, why don't you like that crappy stuff like asking Alexandria and Attack, Attack but still went to that BMTH concert and found it great and stuff if u don't like the same exact music style/sort something?
A: No one is forcing you to purchase anything. As with everything; you are free to spend your money in any way you see fit the most. We released Nightmareland and BOTC. They are different versions than what appears on the album. We could have waited with releasing them and let no one hear our work until the release of the album. But I’d imagine your patience would have expired long before that. We could have excluded the songs from the album, but as you can see the growth of the band is increasing rapidly by the day, meaning; new fans would miss out on three awesome songs, and we considered that unfair as well. Also, if we were to sit down and write another set of three unique tracks for the album, we wouldn’t have been looking at a 2011 release at all.

The ITE single release is actually the exact same track as on the album and that came to be the album single representing Hell Frost. The only reason why we released that digitally pre LP release is because some disloyal Russian “fan” saw it meaningful to rip it from Bandit Rock Radio (ITE was exclusively premiere aired on radio) and upload it in a horrible quality version illegally. Since it was already out we just decided to push the button and release a good quality version of it. It was for people to enjoy the full experience instead of that terrible and broken version. You can’t please everyone at all times; sometimes you just have to go with your guts and what you consider will be for the greater good of the band.

All money spent by you on The Unguided special packages or our music in general, is what will buy us through the studio for the next album’s production. If you bought a song two times (or more?), that means you are making a great difference and pushing this very organism a small step forward. And it’s safe to say the diehard fans have already supported us to the extent we’re about to be able to cover that entire expense for another full-length future production. Understand that we gain no personal gains as of yet in this band, we are only looking to invest money we accumulate straight into the band again, thus making you the prime investors of the band’s music, future survival and success. If you now think that’s a bad thing, so be it! But as a fan to a band myself, I’d love to have the knowledge that when I spend my hard-earned cash on their products and records it goes directly to just the band. Not to some bullshit-good-for-nothing-middle-man who has nothing to do with the music nor the creative essence and soul of the musicians at all. We can provide you with that knowledge! I doubt a lot of other bands out there can say the same thing.

As for the agent question, everyone knows the Nightmareland 616 people are the coolest ones, hehe. They have been with us since the verge of the band and they are the heroes that laid the foundation for the recording of Hell Frost. We are eternally grateful! And they will receive special treatment as long as this band persists in time, I can assure you that. We needed urgent help to kick start this engine and the 616 stood up proud, and provided us with that. Their heroism and generosity will be rewarded.

I’m not a fan of BMTH. I have one of their albums and I had a better experience with them live than I had with the rest of the line-up that evening. That’s about it. I have no relation what so ever with Asking Alexandria or Attack, Attack and can’t name one song from either of the bands. But when I listen to music, if there’s something that attracts my attention to song, I just roll with that. I don’t care about genre, band history or other bullshit. It comes down to single songs for me and everyone can make songs. It’s just about making a good one that keeps my mind interested to it. BMTH managed to do that night, which goes for some parts of their latest album as well.

The band Helloween had an album called “Rabbits Don’t Come Easy,”where a magician pulled a rabbit out from a hat on the cover artwork. I have no idea how the album sounds, since I’m more of a Keeper 1 & 2 and Kiske guy, but the mentality behind the title is undeniably pretty clever! Basically, everyone can write a good song. That’s confirmed by the fact of all the “one hit wonder” bands out there, obviously. So really there’s no set formula to write a good song and it comes down to luck more than talented song crafting. Some bands have more luck than others apparently. But the fact stands, it’s hard to write a good song! “Rabbits Don’t Come Easy,” so-to-speak. For example, some bands can write three solid albums in a row and on the fourth one turns out, not so great. An album probably written out with the same formula as the other three but there’s no spark in it and it’s flat in comparison. That’s when you can spot there’s a recession of the soul of the band, which can be either renewed or further broken on the next effort. Nevertheless, something happens! I think people that listen with their hearts instead of their ears are more blessed than skilled musicians. And I think when bands don’t write an album full of “Rabbits,”,the musicians start to write with their brains instead of their hearts. BMTH is a perfect example of an ensemble writing and performing with their hearts, thus I enjoy them. Because it’s majestic to absorb and experience a band which is still unspoiled and not soul shattered by the ravages of time.

Q: Tomorrow I'll be leaving, from the Netherlands, towards Dreamhack Winter 2011 in (Lovely?) Sweden! It'll be my first time there and I'm wondering, are there any typical Swedish foods or (Non-Alcoholic) drinks that one should definitely not want to miss while he's there? I heard that The Unguided at Dreamhack is not going to happen, I was sad to hear that ):
A: Mashed potatoes, meatballs and jolt-cola. Have fun!


Jolt it up!

Q: Will there be guitars tabs released for the new album?
A: Bug Roger about it at [email protected], I’m sure he’ll sort that for you guys eventually!