Meshuggah guitarist Mårten Hagström was quoted back in 2018 as apologizing for creating djent, and said the term came from fellow guitarist Fredrik Thordendal being drunk.
"First of all, we're very sorry for creating that genre; we didn't intend to — our bad. No, but it's actually… I think it's a misconception, that djent thing. I think it's kind of hilarious," said Hagström at the time.
"It's our lead guitar player, Fredrik, being drunk back in the day, talking to one of our old-school fans, trying to explain what type of guitar tone we were always trying to get, and he was desperately trying to say, 'We want that 'dj_,' 'dj_,' 'dj_,' 'dj_.' And that guy was, like, 'What's he saying? Is that a Swedish word? Must be. Sounds like dj_, maybe 'djent'? Maybe something like that.' And that's where it comes from. A drunk misunderstanding, as always with Meshuggah."
Hagström has now clarified in an interview with Loudwire that he doesn't actually hate the genre, and takes being an inspiration to many as a compliment. Hagström also said he doesn't listen to any new music when he's writing new Meshuggah.
Some bands have popped up that are getting bigger, that are into us. That's really cool and that's really gratifying. We really love the fact that people cite us as inspiration. I know I've gotten the question, 'You guys hate the djent movement and you guys hate this and that.' It's like, 'No, dude. That's not true at all. The simple fact is that we're old, lazy Swedish dudes who've been doing this stuff for a very long time. So when we do a new album, I don't listen to new music at all."
"Whoever you are and whatever you want to do that has any creative nerve or any creative side to it… don't you want to be a person who inspires others the way you were inspired by something? That's the greatest compliment, regardless of what they sound like."
You can also check out our interview with Meshuggah drummer Tomas Haake where he talked about the band's new record Immutable out today, drumming, and his health condition.
