Mattias IA Eklundh (Interview): "It's liberating not to give a fuck!"

Mattias IA Eklundh is not only an internationally cherished guitar virtuoso, composer, and the creator of Freak Guitar Camp (which I've been to three times since our first interview), but also, for some time now, the head of his own guitar company, Freak Guitar Lab.

His signature guitar, the ULV, is now available as a 6- and 7-string version in addition to the 8-string model — even though Eklundh himself has been playing exclusively eight-strings for years. More recently, it’s also offered in a sleek black finish alongside the original, Viking-esque natural wood look.

Eklundh's instruments are built entirely in Sweden, designed precisely to his vision. On top of that, he is releasing a new album, “Resist the Erosion,” together with B.C. Manjunath, Lior Ozeri, and Yogev Gabay, under the project name Freak Audio Lab.

I met with Mattias at Guitar Summit 2025. We talked about all things ULV and the new record — for a deep dive into Mattias’ career (including his love for Konnakol and other things), I recommend checking out our previous long-form interview, which you can find here.

IA, what made you take the leap and start your own guitar brand after being with Caparison for many years?

I would never have left Caparison guitars if it hadn’t been for this new opportunity. I was perfectly happy with Caparison. Just last week I met Itaru Kanno, their main designer in Tokyo — we hugged, exchanged gifts, and everything was great. There’s no bad blood.

From the stages in both Osaka and Tokyo, I said multiple times that Japan has a fantastic guitar brand. I would never have left if it weren’t for the chance to have my own guitar made by Swedish people who actually love guitars. No child labor, no shady business [to clarify: he didn’t mean Caparison Guitars here, but cheap production guitars – Markus]. Because, honestly, the guitar business is just like any other industry. Everyone wants cheap guitars, but if a guitar is cheap and made in Indonesia, somebody is paying the price. And then people still sell it for a lot of money.

For me, it’s not about profit. Sure, the profit margin on my guitars is great — but that’s not why I do it. The real joy is being involved. I love True Temperament, I love their necks. The factory is just an hour’s drive from my home, so I can go there anytime. I always bring donuts, cookies, and cakes for the team and just hang out — “How’s it going? Oh, nice body! Great piece of wood!”

True Temperament build the instruments for me, and I love the guys. They are brilliant. I was good friends with Anders Thidell, the inventor of the True Temperament system. He passed away a few years ago. He even came to the camp once. A wonderful man.

I still don’t know everything about guitars, but I know what I like — and what I don’t like. I think we’ve found a wonderful balance with this guitar. It plays beautifully, sounds amazing with the Lundgren pickups, and it’s perfectly balanced. I play for 90 minutes every gig, and you don’t want a guitar that’s neck-heavy or body-heavy. You want one that hangs just right when you talk to the audience.

We worked really hard to achieve that balance. It’s a fantastic instrument — and without any shady or “dirty” business behind it. At my age, I don’t want to be part of that anymore. If something’s cheap, someone’s paying for it — whether it’s furniture, or whatever. You know, people say, “I shop on Wish!” Well, fine — that’s why you glow in the dark. It’s cheap for a reason.

Having your own guitar brand now, what’s your impression of the business? 

Overall, it hasn’t been as hard as people warned me. The guys at Caparison said, “Welcome to the ups and downs of selling guitars. Get ready for migraines every day.” People love to complain — there’s a scratch here, a spot there — but so far it’s been fine. I think it helps that I genuinely care. I stay in touch with everyone, smooth things out. My main concern is always that customers are happy. 

So the ULV can be seen as the Mattias IA Eklundh signature guitar, tailored exactly to your needs and expectations and preferences.

Yes, exactly.  I get these typical questions like, “Why don’t you have a split for this?” “Why don’t you have a tone control?” "Well, I don’t use it! This is my guitar. There are plenty of guitars next door you can get, you know?

People love to complain — but there has been a lot of love for it. When you play it, you realize it’s a fantastic instrument, really well balanced, it sounds great and all that. I think you have to make it subjective. You have to ask yourself, “What would I play?” That’s it. Otherwise it doesn’t mean anything.

I see a lot of guitars that look like spaceships, or they’re super tiny, or headless, or this or that. And I just go, “Oh, I wouldn’t play that.” I usually go back to thinking, “What would Angus Young play? What would James Hetfield go on stage with?”

Even here at Guitar Summit — there are some beautiful guitars, and there are some really ugly ones. Holy shit! There’s also a lot of that vintage thing going on, which does nothing for me. It’s like an endless Telecaster variation. But so many people are into that — they don’t want change. Progress is spooky.

Eklundh doing a workshop at Guitar Summit 2025

Also, guitar players often are a very conservative folk when it comes to their instruments.

It’s the same with music. I come up with new things, I try to think in an unorthodox way but still keep the music together. It’s the most ungrateful thing you can do — nobody likes progress, nobody likes new things. It’s like new taste. People want to have their meatballs at IKEA the way they’ve always been. Don’t change the thing!

So I’m in this business trying to dig deep, trying to find new ways. And yeah, it’s kind of hopeless if you want lots of views, lots of streams. You know, then you just do covers — recycled to death, like we’ve talked about many times at the Freak Guitar Camp. But I can’t do that. I cannot do it. I have to find new ways, because I get bored to death.

And that’s the beauty of being alive — to discover new things, to build something out of nothing, to find a new taste, a new smell, a sonic smell. I love that. But again, I don’t do it to get super-duper attention. I know I’m way out there, like on the leaf of the weakest branch of the tree. But for me, it still has a purpose.

Even when I release things — like two days ago, I put out the video People Ruin Beautiful Things from the camp. We shot it with Yogev, Manjunath, and Lior. I was up at five in the morning, getting ready to go, and I said, “I just need to get it out.” And then YouTube says, “Your audience is asleep in America. This is a bad time to post.” And I’m like, “Who gives a shit?”

They tell you, “You have to do this to get on a playlist. You have to pitch the song.” I don’t give a shit. For me, the success is already there — I created it with people I really respect and love. I don’t care.

But today everyone says, “You have to learn this! Free masterclass on what hour to post to get more engagement!” Come on — it’s so shallow I could puke on it, you know?

So now I even post intentionally when nobody will see it. Perfect. I’ve told people at the camps before — I actually get happy when I lose followers. Then I know I did something right.

I’m surrounded by all these massive YouTubers — Ben Eller and so on — and they have their thing. But I have my very small, very personal thing that I do, discovering like a mad professor.

Mattias doing a talk with Ben Eller at the Guitar Summit 2025

You have discussed that lot in the Freak Guitar Camps attended and I admire that about you — not many people can truly not give a fuck in such a positive way.

Yes! It’s liberating to not give a fuck. It’s the same when you’re doing  photos here with people and you’re purple in the face like a pig, sweaty, haven’t slept for two weeks — it doesn’t matter. That’s part of who you are.

Failure is part of who you are. That’s it. And honestly, failure is much easier to handle than success. I actually get worried when things start taking off a bit too much — like, “Oh no, maybe now I’ll have to play that one song forever because it got popular.”

I just want to have creative freedom and do whatever I want. For me, releasing and promoting things is a necessary evil. It’s really like — feel free to go completely bonkers.

And when you look at the future of your guitar company — you’ve got the ULV as six and seven string models now, even a second colorway — do you plan to stick with that for a while, or are there new models coming?

We’ll probably make some more. We’ve already built a Japanese version — it’s not the ULV, it’s a completely different guitar. We’re working on that now. I checked out the prototype while I was in Japan, and the main model will have True Temperament frets shipped from Sweden, like a paddle-neck setup. The necks come from Sweden, and then we shape them in Japan exactly how we want.

It’s a lovely guitar — kind of a superstrat. And as an option, you can even have straight frets if you want. We also made the “Puppy Pedal” at Freak Guitar Lab Japan  — it’s great fun. So yeah, I’m just getting warmed up. There’ll definitely be more models in the future. For now, we’re adding new colors and small tweaks, because the Ulv is really, really good as it is. I still love it.

So this Japanese version — how is it different, and who’s building it?

It’s made by Dragonfly Guitars in Japan, by a guy called Harry. He’s an engineer, a very clever guy. I’ve got a Japanese distributor now; they buy the ULV guitars and ship them within Japan. So I’ve been signing a lot of ULVs over there lately.

It’s great — super duper, really. Everything’s a win-win. I don’t need Freak Guitar Lab as a big company or anything like that. But it’s a cool extra thing. It feels like I’ve come full circle — 360 degrees. I have the camp, I have the merch, I have my studio. I’m completely independent and self-sufficient now.

I work with the Japanese, I work with the Swedish True Temperament guys — and that’s enough. It’s exactly how I want it.

You are just about to release a new album under the project name Freak Audio Lab. Can you tell me a bit about it.

Yeah! It’s all freak, freak, freak with me — Freak Guitar Camp, Freak Guitar Lab, and now Freak Audio Lab. Very confusing, almost the same logo for everything, but this one is Freak Audio Lab.

It’s a project together with B.C. Manjunath, Lior Ozeri, and Yogev Gabay. We created ten really strange songs. The idea at first was to use them as material for the camp, but we realized they also worked as proper songs — so now we’re releasing them commercially for the rest of the planet. It’s coming out on October 24.

I’m really honored and happy to work with these guys. I respect them a lot — they’re fantastic human beings and outstanding musicians. I learn so much from them, and maybe they learn a little from me too. We’re in touch every day, there’s so much love between us.

I’m probably the most executive guy they’ve ever met — everything I say I’ll do, I do, and then I overdo it. They keep saying, “Fucking hell, you overdeliver every time!” I’ve already edited all the videos, tweaked everything, fixed every detail.

This record cost me a lot of money — I pay for everything myself: hotels, travel, studios. I’ll never make that money back, but it doesn’t matter. It’s an investment in life, in love, and in music. I adore this project. It’s a total labor of love.

The album is called  „Resist The Erosion“. Check it out.