Members Taiga, woodmetal from the forest: Jonas Lagander Age: 22 Position in Taiga: Guitarr Mail: Jonas Lagander is the head of Taiga. Nothing happends without his involvment. Not that the rest of Taiga is afraid of him, even though he has a scary face, but he's simply better than the rest of us (his extraordinary guitarrplaying comes in handy)! When he comes with an idea the hole band starts to develop the rest of the song from there. It's very fun and it's definitly thanks to Jonas it's possible to even consider working with songs that way! Background: I was born on the more or less open plains of Kuddby (the village of pillows) on the peninsula of Vikbolandet, a fifteen minutes drive eastwards of Norrköping. As a farmerboy I grew up with alot of different creatures hanging about my home. Bulls, chickens, ducks, pigs, cats and other animals kept me good company as a child. And not to forget: my aunt and her family and my grandparents who lived on a big hill by the forestline right above our house. In the forest, owned by my father, I used to play alot. Often - at least ones a week - I payed visit to Mr. Gnome and Mr. Badger who lived there under the big root of an old pinetree. Mr. Gnome actually claimed it to be just as old as himself. They had grewed up together and become good friends and because of that the old pinetree one day asked Mr. Gnome if he wanted to move in with him (yes, the pinetree was a him). So Mr. Gnome built a little cottage under the big root and settled himself in. Mr. Badger had moved in rather receantly when I met them the first time. Those two old blokes had always alot of funny things going on about them and they were always very nice to me. Somehow - and I was very impressed by that - they always managed to have a kettle boiling with newbrewed juniperberry-tea and honeybread, fresh from the oven, placed on the table every time I came about knocking on their door. Nowadays I belive that Mr. Badger has flown away to be with his ancesters in the big heaven of badgers. A badger don't live that long you know. Mr. Gnome might still be there If not some stupid man has choped down the tree. But it would'nt surprise me if someone has done that.. When I was seven my parentes split up and I moved together with my mother and sister to another place on Vikbolandet called Skenäs. It was a very happy time of my life. Me and my newfound friends, a ceartain "P-H" with family, who also were our neighbours, played alot in the surrounding forests and fields togehter with the various supreme beings and animals roaming about there. Actually we found a deserted cave that probably had been used by trolls sometime long ago. It stank of troll long way and it took a lot of soapcleaning and perfuming with different wellsmelling herbes and deodorants before the cave was even enterable. Skenäs is located on the southern shore somewhere in the middle of Bråviken. A long gulf debouching in the baltic sea. Naturally we spend a lot of time by the water (when we was'nt at home playing 8-bit Nintendo). The fishing was quite bad and it was'nt much of a swimming site either. But it was a good place for exploring nature and to look for snakes. On an enclosed pasture where cows use to graze lay an old castleruin. It was ones the grand home of a swedish queen called Kristina (who later abdicated to become a nun in Rom, stupid bitch!). Sadly enough it was burned down by the Russians sometime in the 18th century and has since then been deserted and haunted by ghosts. One of them, his name was Kent, became a good friend of mine. Kent had been a dedicated punkrocker for many years and enjoyed playing his records to me. He even recorded a couple of tapes that he gave me as gifts. I totally forgot all about Michel Jackson and Madonna of whom I'd been listening to for, by then, quite a while and began listening to only punkrock. Especially tapes with swedish acts like Ebba Grön, Asta Kast, Strebers and Dia Psalma was regerarly put in my taperecorder. Later when I was about thirteen or fourteen a classmate of mine lended me a cd with Metallica (it was Kill'em all), which sounded just like the punkbands I was into, fast drums and so on. But there was one big difference: Metallica had guitarsolos and were a lot heavier than any music I'd ever come across before. I was completely blown away. In school me, P-H and some other guys started a metallicacoverband. A very bad one I must add, but it helped - at least on my part - to manage through the last years of school before the gymnasium (swedish version of highschool). Well, and that's all in all how I got into the guitarplayingbuisness. I learned all of metallicas riffs from tabs that I printed from the internet. Later I got into the true stringbenders and guitarmasturbatiors like Yngwie Malmsteen, Dream Theater, etc. Grabbing hold of everything I could find that dealt with guitarsolos and metal. After going through the basics that every young metalmaniac go through I started to listen to more brutal music like death/blackmetal but also alot of swedish folkmusic. With all my experience from childhood, It was a natural step for me. I became, which I still am today, spellbound by the beautiful melancholy of the swedish traditional folkmusic. It's magical… just like landscape I was raised in. Unfortunally my mother dragged me into Norrköping when I was eleven. I still live there but have never felt at home. I can't wait until I am wellfunded enough to move back again to where I belong! Interests/hobbies: I love being outdoors... exept in cities. I hate cities! But when I'm out roaming the woods I feel great. Can't feel any better ..exept maybe on a good metalconcert. I'm usually together with my brother and sometimes my dad. We always hunt but, as a matter of fact, I'm quite lousy at that. I hope to improve later in my life when I have the money to buy me a rifle on my own and to pay for my own huntingground. Now I just follow along and usually miss the target those very few times when I get the chance to shoot. But when it comes to fishing it's the opposite. I'm good at that. But I was terrible through all my younger years. I was fanatic about fishing back then. So fanatic that it got on the nerves of my friends. And I never catched anything. Sounds a litte contradictional, does'nt it. Well… nowadays that has changed and I often catch a pike or a perch or two when I'm out with my boat. Another of my, maybe more odd, hobbies are beekeeping. I'v been a beekeeper longer than I have played the guitar. I was about thirteen when I started with that. Metal and beekeeping dont go along well with each other thou because the little bastards always get stuck in my hair and then they creep down throuh it to the top of my head where they try to sting me. And when they succed it… HURTS! But exept of being stunged and the sometimes very hard work, beekeeing is very fun and relaxing for the soul (or something like that). Not to mention the extra income it brings. I've heard that Steve Vai is a beekeeper too. I must ask him sometime (if I'll meet him) how he manage to solve the dilemma with the hair I mentioned before. You know those white spacemanhats that beekeepers use to protect themself always tend to turn the hairshape into one big tangle. Needing the help of a scissor to be sorted out. Well…the last of my main interests is to write. If it should'nt work out with the band I hope to have some succes with some of the silly little stories that I use to spend my time writing. I love to write! I even used to work for the local newspaper a couple of years ago. That was'nt much of a hit but I learned a lot from it. Maybe I become a newsreporter if all my hopes and dreams are to be destroyed someday in the future. But I ceartainly hope not! I also like to cook and read a lot. Facts: Personality: Sulky as the devil himself (comes with the genes), but nice too sometimes. Drink: Tea, wine, beer, water with honey if I have a cold. Food: Everything ateble exept liver and other intestrials. Music: Only good music. Authors: Tolkien, Frans G Bengtsson, Jan Guillou, Gustav Fröding, Astrid Lindgren, J.K. Rowlings to mention a few. Movies: I'm not into movies. As a matter of fact I often fall asleep or get agitated when I see a film. But some old disneyclassics like "Aristocats" and "The mousedetective" are alright and the Swedish movie "Ronia the robbers daughter" is a masterpiece. I also enjoyed the Lord of the ring triology. Politics: More red than blue but more green then red. Back