Cyhra, featuring former Amaranthe vocalist Jake E, ex-In Flames guitarist Jesper Strömblad, and Kamelot drummer Alex Landenburg, are gearing up for a tour of Japan in January. Jake is featured in a new interview with Roppongi Rocks. An excerpt is available below.

Q: Following two fab Cyhra albums, Letters To Myself (2017) and No Halos In Hell (2019), you will release the band’s third album in 2023. What can fans expect from your forthcoming album? 

Jake: "After we released Letters to Myself, I never thought that I could outdo myself as a songwriter ever again. At the time, I thought that that was the best album that I’d ever been part of. Then we released No Halos In Hell and I thought that, damn, this holds the same kind of standards and we’re finally starting to set the trademark of what the band is all about. With the band’s third album, I’ve realised that we are here to stay! Cyhra as an entry is a phenomenal bunch of people that have been shown to be not only amazing musicians but also amazing friends to be around. I’ve never had so much fun on stage in my whole life and I am so proud of us as an entity. I am extremely excited to see what the fans are going to think about it because it’s Cyhra all over it and you will directly hear that it’s a Cyhra album from the first time you hit the play button. It might be so that this album is a bit more modern. You have great lyrics and great hooky choruses. Any fan out there won’t be disappointed. I think that we’ve created a monster and I can’t wait for the world to hear it."

Q: Guitarist Marcus Sunesson (Engel, ex-The Haunted) has been playing live with Cyhra for the past few years as founding guitarist Jesper Strömblad has not been touring with the band. Is Marcus now a proper band member or is he about to become one? Has he been contributing in the studio as well?

Jake: "Yes, absolutely. Marcus is a full-time member since 2019 and Jesper is still a full-time member as well. It’s just so that Jesper has decided that for the time being, he’s not touring with either Cyhra or The Halo Effect. But Jesper has been a big part of the new album. It’s of course sad that he won’t join us for the Japanese tour dates but he is working on himself and he’s getting better every day. So, when the time comes Jesper and Marcus will be on stage together and that’s going to be fantastic."

Read the complete interview here.

The band's Japan tour schedule is now as follows:

January
19 - Duo Music Exchange - Shibuya City, Tokyo, Japan
20 - Duo Music Exchange - Shibuya City, Tokyo, Japan
21 - Imaike Huck Finn - Nagoya, Japan
22 - Am Hall - Osaka, Japan
24 - Varon - Osaka, Japan
25 - Imaike Huck Finn - Nagoya, Japan
26 - Space Odd - Shibuya City, Tokyo, Japan
27 - Space Odd - Shibuya City, Tokyo, Japan
28 - Koenji High - Suginami City, Tokyo, Japan

Cyhra recently released a new single, "Ready To Rumble". Check out the official video below, stream and purchase the song here.

The song will appear on the band's new studio album, due to be released in 2023.

Photo by Linda Florin