Interview with Maha Sohona

For the Greek version of the interview, click HERE

They were born in 2012 in Umea, Sweden. Despite a large hiatus, the came back strong with Endless Searcher in 2021 and with Made of Stone Recordings discovering them, Maha Sohona are about to start their first ever tour with five stops around Greece! One day before their first live at Rover Bar in Thessaloniki, Swedish fuzz rockers talk to Depart through their songwriter/lyricist, Johan Bernhardtson, on how they got inspired for their name, praise Made of Stone and its owner, Christos Papanantsidis, and send a message of hope for their musical future!

Hi Maha and thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! So, first things first, let’s hit the ground running with you telling us about your inspiration for the band’s name. I have to say, it was quite impressive -scary even- to find out what Maha Sohona is. How did you decide on that name?

Hello!

Correct, Maha Sohona is Sinhalese folk lore, the great graveyard demon. I've been to Sri Lanka a couple of times mainly for surfing, I've gotten to know some local people and spent time with them. They are very superstitious, there's a lot of different demons and gods that they believe in. Maha Sohona is probably the most feared one of the demons so I thought it would be a nice fit for a band name. Another Sri Lankan reference is Peak of Ella from our first demo/EP. Ella's rock or Ella's peak is a high rock formation up in the mountains with a tremendous view.

You identify yourselves as a “Fuzz Rock” band. What are your main influences? Who did you listen to and said “We’re gonna make a fuzz rock band and get out there for people to listen to us”?

I've always been a huge Alice in chains fan so that's probably my main influence, but to name a few other bands I've listened to extensively over the years: Down, Tool, Kyuss, Los Natas, Colour Haze, Sleep and Elder. Me and Andreas (previous drummer) started jamming together around 2012, he's also a big fan of Kyuss and Los Natas. I can't quite remember but I think we had those two in mind when we started out.

Your journey started in 2012 with your first EP, “Sol”. Fast forward to 2021 and Endless Searcher comes out, with more concise sound and “stonier”. There was a 6-7 year hiatus at some point. How did that affect you as a band and what can we expect in the future?

Yeah there was a long hiatus... life got in between in different ways. The songs on Endless Searcher are written sporadically over a couple of years. There's quite a bit of difference in sound between Scavengers and Leaves for example, and also probably 3 years in between writing them. Now that we have the possibility to rehearse frequently we are able to do things and progress songwriting much faster so hopefully there won't be 7 years again until you get to hear something new!

I am pretty sure you expected this, but nevertheless, I am going to ask, since what matters the most is the voice of people affected: how did the Covid-19 pandemic affect you, as a band and as individuals?

Since we didn't play live shows or toured I think for us as a band it only did good. All of us where home in Umeå and we had lots of time for practice and rehearsal. As individuals, speaking for myself, it brought both good and bad. Good being that I got to stay home instead of travelling for work all the time, I realized that was something I really needed. But working from home and being really isolated during a long cold winter was not the best.

Made of Stone Recordings is part of your return after the aforementioned hiatus. How are you enjoying the partnership and what made you choose them to resume your music journey?

So far it's been really good! Christos who runs Made of stone is an all around great guy and has helped us a lot. Vinyls, CD, tapes, merch and tours coming up! We didn't have a Facebook or Instagram up until a year ago. But after recording Endless Searcher i created both and posted about a new recording. Then Christos got in contact with us, he was a huge fan of our previous record and was interested in releasing the new one and it sounded like a sweet deal to us.

“Time is all of my concerns/ And yet it stands still as we flow”. I have to say, this is one hell of a lyric. What are the things that inspire you to write lyrics and create music? Is there an underlying “message” you want to communicate?

Thank you! Usually I come up with music/riffs when I'm in a good state of mind. Sitting at home with my acoustic guitar. So I guess feeling all round good is what inspires me the most. Lyrics usually comes later when the music is finished, sometimes there's a melody that I have in my head earlier on that I then put words to at a later stage. I wouldn't say there's an underlying message, maybe sometimes. My lyrics are usually about personal feelings or stuff that I'm going through at that time of writing.

Now, it’s time for Greece, with FIVE shows within five days, alongside Nellcotes, Dendrites, I See Ruins, and The Noise Figures. What are your thoughts as you are preparing to go around the country and perform?

YES!! This is our first tour ever and we are super excited, honored and humbled that we get to come to Greece and play for you together with these other great bands. It still feels unreal and I can't quite believe this is happening, but it's happening tomorrow! I did not expect that I would ever be going on a tour, nor did Thomas or David, but we are all really looking forward to this!

Thank you so much for taking time to answer our questions and we are looking forward to seeing you live! The epilogue is yours, for anything more you wish to share.

Thank you! Looking forward to see you all soon and hope you'll enjoy the shows. I'm going to start packing up our stuff now and get ready for the flight tomorrow!