Christofer Johnsson

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Christofer Johnsson
Petter Karlsson and Christofer Johnsson during a signature event in 2005.
Background information
Born	August 10, 1972
Origin	Sweden
Genre(s)	symphonic metal death metal
Occupation(s)	musician, singer, songwriter, producer
Instrument(s)	mainly: guitar also: keyboard instruments
Years active	1987—present
Associated acts	Therion Carbonized Liers in Wait Messiah Demonoid

Christofer Johnsson (born August 10, 1972 in Stockholm's suburb) is a Swedish musician. He is a founding member and the guitar player for Therion and used to be in Carbonized, Liers in Wait, Messiah and Demonoid. He is a member of the magical order Dragon Rouge and founder of the defunct Dark Age Music label. On March 21, 2006, he announced he will no longer sing for Therion, though he will continue playing guitar for the group.

[edit] Inspiration and influences

In his childhood Christofer enjoyed listening to classical music, and gradually became more interested in his father's 50's and 60's rock music. Popular music played on the radio in this era generally had a lot of strings in it, and even though much of it didn't fall in his taste, it still managed to influence him. As a 7-year-old he heard his first progressive rock as a theme in a norwegian children TV-program. As 9-year old, he started to listen to The Beatles, who also used brass and strings in songs like "Penny Lane". At an age of 11, his taste for music took a turn as he started to listen to hard rock bands like Accept, Judas Priest, W.A.S.P., Iron Maiden, Saxon, Motörhead, Venom, Manowar, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, and Uriah Heep. Many of these bands had orchestral elements in some of their songs. When he was 14, he started to listen to more raw heavy metal bands like Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax. One of his friends played the B-side of a Scorpions album for him, and Christofer instantly fell in love with Scorpion's older albums. Ulrich Roth, who played guitar on these albums, had broken up with Scorpions and formed the band Beyond Astral Skies. Christofer managed to find a copy of one of their albums after a long search, and was disappointed at first. After a period of time, he gave it more of a chance, and ended up becoming insanely obsessed with the music. He mentions Ulrich Roth as one of his greatest influences in the symphonic Therion albums.

[edit] Music equipment

Guitars

• 2 Gibson Les Paul Custom
• Gibson Les Paul Standard
• Gibson Les Paul Studio (formerly used as a backup guitar only)

Amps

• Mesa Boogie Triaxis preamp
• Mesa Boogie 2:90 poweramp

Speakers

• Marshall 4x12" cabinet

Effects

• TC Electronics G-Major Multi-FX

Others

• Sennheiser wireless
• Sennheiser in-ear monitor system
• Behringer FCB1010 midiswitcher
• Boss Noise Suppressor
• Ernie Ball strings: 010s and 011s

[edit] References

• Interview with Christofer Johnsson in Metal Express magazine is a dead link; use the Internet Archive link instead
• Band members - The Official Therion Website. Retrieved on 2006-11-24.

Therion
Christofer Johnsson | Kristian Niemann | Johan Niemann | Petter Karlsson
List of Therion members
Discography
Albums: Of Darkness... | Beyond Sanctorum | Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas | Lepaca Kliffoth | Theli | A'arab Zaraq - Lucid Dreaming | Vovin | Crowning of Atlantis | Deggial | Secret of the Runes | Live in Midgård | Sirius B | Lemuria | Gothic Kabbalah
Compilations and box-sets: Bells of Doom | The Early Chapters of Revelation | Atlantis Lucid Dreaming | Celebrators of Becoming
Singles: "The Beauty in Black" | "The Siren of the Woods" | "Eye of Shiva"
Demos: Paroxysmal Holocaust | Beyond the Darkest Veils of Inner Wickedness | Time Shall Tell
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