Daniel Liljekvist leaves Katatonia to "get a normal job that gets the bills payed"

DrumEatDrum

Platinum Member
It's getting hard and harder to be a fan of modern bands, as so few of them can support themselves doing music anymore.

http://katatonia.com/2014/04/daniel-liljekvist-leaves-katatonia/
Dear friends and fans,

I’ve been thinking about this for the last couple of months and I’ve come to the sad conclusion that I have to leave the band. .....I just cannot combine job, family and commit 100% to Katatonia. Times for musicians are rough and i’ve decided to concentrate on my family and get a normal job that gets the bills payed.

We are sad and hollow to see Daniel leave our ranks, but yet his decision has our sincere understanding. Nothing lasts forever and all good things must come to an end sooner or later. Yet it makes it so much more frustrating when it happens for the wrong reasons or before reaching our terminus. Particularly, we can’t pretend the current climate has nothing to do with it, in fact this is undeniably yet another outcome of musicians struggling at the crossroads of today’s “scene/industry”. Tragically, this situation forces a member, brother – and our fans favourite long-time drummer – to resign from a band he sacrificed a decade and a half to build.

Which is pretty similar to why Cristiano 'Criz' Mozzati recently left Lacuna Coil
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/la...-migliore-and-drummer-cristiano-criz-mozzati/
"It is with a heavy heart that we share this news with you today: Our two brothers Cris 'Pizza' Migliore [guitar] and Cristiano 'CriZ' Mozzati [drums] have decided to retire from LACUNA COIL. Both Pizza and CriZ have had big changes impact their lives recently. We know how stressful and difficult it can be to balance both real life and the life of a professional touring musician, and we have nothing but total respect for their decisions to focus on their families and lives at home.

If it wasn't for the internet, I might never have head of Katatonia, and never started listening to then, and never have BOUGHT their last 5 albums, several t-shirts and numerous concert tickets. Yet, even as they got more and more popular in American, money is hard to come by as more and more people opt to not buy full albums.
 
Yet, even as they got more and more popular in American, money is hard to come by as more and more people opt to not buy full albums.

That's one part of it but, the majority of it at this point is expenses. Gas to pinpoint it exactly.
Gas on a whole is 3 times higher than it was 10 years ago. Gas goes up and guarantees go down from over exposure of bands trying to tour.

Gas being higher in turn makes everything else higher.

Hell, this last months gas hike of .25 took my normal lunch at penera from 5.95 to 6.79
Taco bell was also a full dollar higher than it was last month I drove through.
The same box of rice I used to buy at .89 10 years ago is now 2.89

Yes, CD downloads play a part (depending on who you ask....most musicians will tell you they never made anything off or record sales anyway...even when they sold)

But, it's the expense of everything else that's making it impossible at the moment.

D
 
That's one part of it but, the majority of it at this point is expenses. Gas to pinpoint it exactly.
Gas on a whole is 3 times higher than it was 10 years ago. Gas goes up and guarantees go down from over exposure of bands trying to tour.

Gas being higher in turn makes everything else higher.

Ah yes, valid point, as always Derek!

I saw Katatonia at least 3 times in the past year alone, and Los Angeles is a long way from Sweeden. 3 US tours is a lot of airplane tickets (jet fuel) and bus fuel.

And just being that far away from home all the time has to be hard.
 
I feel bad when someone needs to sacrifice something they love for the priorities of life. While it doesn't always work out, there is usually a good balance between music and real life responsibilities... if that person really understands how and why it often has to be that way. That is, someone who thinks that if they can't play music for 100% of their income, they'll just give it up... they clearly don't have enough passion. I don't really have the right words for them, except that maybe that's the best decdision - leave something for the guys that really want it.

As I said, it's not always possible to balance music and real life events like family and a job. I don't know what Daniel's situation at home is, so I can't say if he does or doesn't have time for music, and if his decision isn't a little premature.

I've pointed out my former situation here several times, about balancing a day job - heck, a full-time career - with music, which included local bands and touring and recording with Weird Al. This went on for 14 years, the last 6 of which I was also married. Now, granted, it occupied my entire life, there really weren't any vacations or too many evenings or weekends off. And, I had a very special relationship with the company and was able to come and go as needed, and there's no guarantee a company would accommodate their employees that way today. But I managed/balanced my two 'careers' by doing the best job I could at each. i never, ever treated my day job as a"day job", and I was just as attentive to each of my bands when rehearsing or gigging with them.

And most importantly, I wanted to play drums. Nothing got in the way of that. But I also wanted to eat and have a place to live and keep gas in the truck, and I didn't let my pursuit of music keep those from happening, either.

Anyway, it is definitely possible to do both - I've done it, and I would do it again if necessary. And I don't know Daniel's or anyone else's particulars, so I won't guarantee the same results I had. But, the person has to have the right mindset, or they will self-defeat.

My mindset has always been: I want to play drums, and I won't starve for my art. I've been able to achieve both, and there's no reason others shouldn't try.

Bermuda
 
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It's too bad to see all these dudes getting out.

I get it though....I was forced out of my own band in 2006 for the same reason. Haha.


D
 
As I said, it's not always possible to balance music and real life events like family and a job. I don't know what Daniel's situation at home is, so I can't say if he does or doesn't have time for music, and if his decision isn't a little premature.

I know Daniel has kids at home. So that's certainly a different aspect. I believe (his wife) having a new baby is why Cruz left Lacuna Coil.

Katatonia is one of those bands who aren't particularly popular in any one country, but are known enough in enough different countries they can tour the world and make it work, to a point. But that means being on the road internationally more often that not. Which I suspect leaves little time for day jobs, local gigs, session work or family.

A dang, shame. Daniel is a fantastic drummer.
 
It's rough out there. A good friend of mine just landed what I considered to be a great gig. One that had I known the drummer chair was vacant, would have gone after. However last night I found out that their are doing a van tour! Not that I have anything against that, I do van tours all the time (it can't always be nice tour buses or direct flights), but this particular band was a group I felt had left the "Van stage" behind a long time ago. I've seen them in the past playing arenas and large festivals.
Popularity has slipped a little, they don't get radio play anymore and I'm not sure how well album sales have done beyond the 2nd or 3rd release, but still, the fact that this group just packed into a van to hit the road says something about the state of live music.
 
That's awful. He was a fantastic drummer, I love playing along to his stuff. It's deceptively difficult while never working against the music, just helping it flow.

I thought times would be better than ever for Katatonia. My perception was they were more well known now thanks to stuff like the internet, and Jonas' relationship with Mikael Akerfeldt and Steven Wilson, both of whom seem to also be growing more and more popular and respected. Katatonia doesn't even have growls or anything that I'd think would make it tougher to get a larger audience. Hopefully the rest of the band keeps going strong, I can't wait for the next album.
 
What a shame. I thought that band was really taking off in recent years. I moved on after the 'cold distance' album but I did notice what an excellent drummer he was.
 
I feel bad when someone needs to sacrifice something they love for the priorities of life. While it doesn't always work out, there is usually a good balance between music and real life responsibilities...

Anyway, it is definitely possible to do both - I've done it, and I would do it again if necessary. And I don't know Daniel's or anyone else's particulars, so I won't guarantee the same results I had. But, the person has to have the right mindset, or they will self-defeat.

My mindset has always been: I want to play drums, and I won't starve for my art. I've been able to achieve both, and there's no reason others shouldn't try.

Bermuda

Totally agree with Bermuda here. It's about your mindset - balancing the things you want in life.
 
Totally agree with Bermuda here. It's about your mindset - balancing the things you want in life.

Well, it sorta is but, being in a band has a little more complicated mechanisms, than just balancing your own life endeavors.

I tried and tried to balance out my band and my life but, being that I was in a band with 2 other people... and, being that they had no issue with going on tour for 10 months at a time for 7000....makes it kinda hard to balance anything.

Sometimes your own band members are what's holding the band back....and, there is no balancing that.

D
 
I made that choice a long time ago..... never regretted it and never had the will/drive to be famous.. just doing it for fun

More than anything, it's gotta be fun. Don't underestimate the freedom in being able to play what you want, when you want, and only if you want. It's a luxury most pros can't afford. No struggling, no frustration... sounds like a sweet situation!

Bermuda
 
When you listen to something like "Lethian" off of Dead End Kings you can see the loss.

I get the sense that song started off from the drum work...
 
I made that choice a long time ago..... never regretted it and never had the will/drive to be famous.. just doing it for fun

After touring full time in my youth, I looked around and sized up the real competition and decided I wasn't going to "cross the chasm to making it" and became an electrical engineer but always played what I wanted to when I wanted to as a weekend player etc. I know a lot of very in demand drummers who were surgeons, scientists, physicists and engineers who are now
full time musicians in their retired years. All have houses/cars etc and have never starved. I'm in that boat. None of us play as good as we might have if we had been full time but critical listening over a lifetime is also a benefit to playing in later years. The full time players bring something to the table that we part time players will never be able to do, even when becoming
full time in retired years.
 
I'm heartbroken.

Katatonia has become one my favorite bands over the last several years. I really hate to see their live show get reduced to a couple of key members and a host of back up musicians.

But more to my original point, I try not be an old fart who only listens to music from back in the day. American radio lost me a long time ago, but I do keep my ears open for more modern bands that might peak my interest, or at least perhaps bands I may have missed earlier. So when I was turned on to Katatonia, Dead Soul Tribe, and Before the Dawn in 2006 or so, it was like, finally, modern bands I can follow (and yes, I realize by 2006, most of them already had several albums out). Well, Dead Soul Tribe just stopped making records. Then singer/bassist Lars Eikind left Before the Dawn, and that ceased to exist. And now Katatonia keeps having line up changes.

I suppose technically, it's par for the course with bands, as break ups and member changes have always happened in bands since the rock band was invented. But it's bummer when you read people are leaving over things like can't support themselves. And I can only buy so many albums and t-shirts myself.
 
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