Off the Record with Nicke Karvonen and Andreas “Gordon” Gerdin of Machinae Supremacy

This interview was originally done in 2022 as an IGTV video interview in collaboration with Tuonela Magazine; the transcript has been added to the Off the Record archives

First of all, it’s nice to see you guys out and about, with all the restrictions just lifted. What have you been up to for the last couple of years?

Gordon: Just staying inside and having our shots.

Nicke: We have been working on some music, a new album.

Gordon: So hopefully we can release a new album… soon [laughs] but of course you will hear about that before it happens. I hope.

No special reveals tonight for new albums then?

Gordon: No, the reveal now is just that we are starting to play again. We have missed this so much and the last couple of years have been so strange. Of course, it’s still strange, it’s just different things that happen.

Nicke: Really looking forward to it.

You guys have a show coming up in a couple hours—the first one in quite a while, I guess. How are you feeling?

Nicke: It’s a bit… you feel that it has been a while.

Gordon: There’s anticipation. You hope there’s going to be people there, that’s one of the things. It’s been 2 years, so you always want to hope the fans come. Also, it’s a bit nerve-wracking also, because you’re trying to figure out your routines. You don’t have any routines anymore. It’s been 2 years since we’ve played live and we’re like, okay, what did we use last time? What are the settings on this thing? I don’t know.

One other thing I wanted to ask about before we talk about the music, is that you guys had your anniversary online hangout, MaSuCon, during the pandemic. How was that?

Nicke: I think it was okay, but we would have preferred to do it in person. I think that a lot of people are a bit tired now of these online events, because it’s not really the same. It’s better than nothing, but it’s still a poor substitute, I would say. Maybe we can celebrate it again, now that the restrictions are lifted.

What would you have done, ideally, if you had been able to do whatever you wanted?

Nicke: Well, we had a show planned for that.

Gordon: Yeah, we had a live show.

Nicke: That got canceled, so I think that a nice show in a nice venue, maybe bring some special guests, those kind of things. Maybe reveal things, who knows. Teasers? There’s a million things we could do.

You guys also had the reveal of the fan-made documentary during the event.

Nicke: Yeah, that was awesome!

Gordon: Yeah, that was really, really cool. It’s always nice to interact with fans and get questions online and those kinds of things. It was fun.

Nicke: It was fun.

Gordon: It gave us an opportunity to meet each other, band-wise, because we don’t get that many options now. It feels like life gets in the way all the time. You have to make room for everything.

You managed to release three songs in the last few years. The first one, “Empire of Steel,” is actually a cover. How’d you come across it and how’d you pick it to cover?

Gordon: I think it was Robert and Jonas were talking about doing that song and we wanted to make it… when you listen to it, even in the original version, it has a nice feeling to it and you can really hear that it would be a really good Machinae Supremacy song. But Robert and Jonas were the first ones and we just said, “okay.”

The next song was “Pendulum.” I’ve been hearing so much praise for the song online, that it’s an anthem for [insert any marginalized person]. What has the reaction been like for you guys?

Gordon: We thought that it was a really good song, but when you hear that from the fans, it gets even better, because then you can feel that it touches a lot of people. We felt already that this is a really good song, so we are really proud of that one.

Who was the first one to get inspired with the idea that led to that song?

Gordon: I don’t know where the first embryo of that came from, but probably… some kind of collaboration, but usually Robert is involved, of course, and Jonas and Tomi is involved, or maybe… because usually when you’ve done something, you know that you’ve done something, so since you don’t say that, it’s probably one of those guys. [laughter]

Nicke: No, I was not one of them.

The last one is “We Are the Ones Who Will Change the World,” if I got that right.

Gordon: Yeah, that short title.

That seems like another… I don’t want to say a fan anthem, but one of those songs that fans unite over. It seems there’s been a really good response to this one as well.

Gordon: Yeah, it has. It’s of course a bit different from “Pendulum.” “Pendulum” has a different sound to this one. This is the other side of Machiane Supremacy that we have, a little more upbeat, but still the “go out and make a difference” feeling. But it’s also been nicely received and we hope that we can make… we told our fans that they should send their videos in to us so we can make a video for that song, so hopefully we can present that video in the near future.

Have you got many submissions for the video?

Gordon: Yes! We have gotten a lot of submissions. But it’s always hard when you sit down and try to make something out of it, because a lot of the footage is maybe short clips of a person and then you have to get everything together, but we’ve had a lot of submissions. Of course, since everything that’s happening in the world, the song “We Are the Ones Who Will Change the World” fits even better, because it feels like a lot of people want to change the world for the better and what’s happening now, is you see that people aren’t really doing that and you want to go out on the fences and make a difference. Hopefully we can get some late footage from people who feel encouraged to be a part of that video.

You guys have done [a fan-filmed video] before, so it’s been a while!

Gordon: Yeah, it was like 2011 or 2012.

That’s great, because you have such an active fanbase, that they get to participate.

Nicke: I think the previous one we did is one of the best videos that we have. It’s so fun to watch. Looking forward to this one as well!

Since you don’t have any albums to talk about, do you guys have anything else planned for this year? Any more shows or anything that you’d like to tease?

Gordon: We are just starting up again. Of course, we have a lot of songs lined up for the new album and we will, of course, try to finish all of those and also see if we can get any more shows, but we wanted to do this show tonight just to get started again, to get the feel for it, see do we have to do any big changes or those kinds of things, just to get up and running again.

Nicke: There are also discussions about other gigs and now, since the whole world is opening up, we’re hoping that there will be a big need for more shows from people.

Gordon: Exactly.

Nicke: Rebooting this whole live audience thing.

Gordon: It’s a bit worrying though, exactly with the restrictions for corona. Then you have the war in the Ukraine and those things. You start to think that maybe… you just hope that the world doesn’t shut down again and of course that everything works out for the best.

That’s it for my questions. Do you have anything else you’d like to say?

Gordon: When do you air this? If it’s before the show, “Come to the show!” If it’s after the show… “Well, you missed something.” [laughter]

“You missed a great show!” Come on, have a little more confidence! [laughter]

Gordon: Oh, you missed the best show we’re ever done! [laughter]

We look forward to seeing you out there! Have a great show!

Both: Thanks! See you!