PapaDrayich sings songs of joy
Who is PapaDrayich?
Drayich shot to fame as the head of the all-Swedish SK-Gaming back in Wc3 DotA, where he lead legendary players such as Jonathan 'Loda' Berg and Joakim 'Akke' Akterhall to become one of the most important teams during the early days of Dota. Later on he went through mousesports during their glory days before moving on to Heroes of Newerth. After retiring from professional gaming he made his return to e-sports last year as part of the Swedish television casting crew for The International and ASUS RoG DreamLeague along with friend and fellow former SK-Gaming player Erik 'Bogdan' Olsson and have since worked alongsides TV6 and DreamHack to provide the Swedish audience with professional insight into all of our favourite game.
The interview
You just released a song about Dendi, the fourth one you've done about a Dota personality. What's your process for deciding who you're going to write a song for like?
"Sometimes I just decide on a player and then find a suitable song. This was how it was now. I saw the free2play movie, and I thought this guy really deserve a song. But then I need to find some kind of inspiration, and I did when I got back from Stockholm last time. Then I just sat down with my wife, and practiced some while writing the lyrics."
You're well known for being a big family man. Has your family played a part in the recording of the previous songs as well?
"Yeah, I can't do anything without my family either in my mind or next to me. My kids help out even, and that's just how it works. Usually my daughter sings the song before it's done because she practices with me. It's a part of the fun. Music is a big part of my family's life."
How did the first of your tribute songs come to be? What makes a man sit down and decide to write a song for a friend and colleague?
"The joy, without a doubt. But the first song was more random, I just had an idea and went for it. I never expected it to be so big, honestly. The songs afterwards though I might have put more time into. I don't know why I think it's fun. But it sure is. I always loved music, but I'm really not a future in music. I'm not good enough, and I guess with Dota 2 I'm able to sing a bit and combine it with my interest in writing. But it's about joy, and sharing that joy mostly."
Have you ever included or been tempted to include some references in a song that only the subject of the song might pick up on?
"I did in the Loda song actually. I don't think many people understood the text about "a Saturday night some years ago you came to me and put up a show" for example. But the main thing is to make references so everyone can understand."
So what was Lodas show like? ;)
"It was great. He and Bogdan performed a really fun song at my wedding."
How awesome! Speaking of which, if you were to put together a band of Dota players, who would be in it and what would they play?
"LOL that's a good question. Maelk on the trumpet I think. Chuan playing the bongodrums. Dendi could probably do the synth. Loda and Bogdan probably both singing and dancing."
That sounds like a very interesting lineup. Any thoughts on what kind of music you'd play?
"Jazz. :))"
It would certainly have to be something as free form as that!
Switching gears, you and Bogdan have come out of retirement to become the knowledge duo for the Swedish speaking audience as Dota continues its expansion over there. How do you feel your work is being received by your countrymen?
"To be honest I was worried in the beginning. I know how to speak my language, but would I know how to speak Swedish when it comes to DotA? Would it sound corky? Would people turn away from the stream because of this? But as we started out and admitted that some words are hard to translate (eg. creeps or pushing) I think the viewers started to accepting it more. But we still have a ways to go before people really accept it all the way i think. But many people have said that they went from English casting to Swedish because they felt we did equally good work. So that's cool."
And how has the partnership with TV6 and DreamHack been? Is Sweden really the mecca of e-sports that it looks to be from the outside looking in?
"TV6 and DreamHack are dream partners for me. I feel like I'm around social people with really good knowledge. So even if the level of seriousness is high we still have fun, and for me it's just perfect. I think its hard being in "the mecca" and saying whether you are there or not. But this e-sport production combined with DreamHack event is, at least for me, as good as it gets. It could always grow bigger, but the quality is just great."
Do you think the audience exists elsewhere as well, but just isn't being explored? Should there perhaps be a channel in the Ukraine dedicated to showing Na`Vi matches on the TV?
"I think the audience is all over the world. But the key thing is finding ways of attracting these people. And it's gonna take time to make it really good everywhere, but we are going towards that goal. Ukraine might already be happy enough with SLTV, I don't know, but I think having broadcasts with various languages definitely is an important part of making e-sport grow. I thought about it during the Olympics this year, I couldn't even imagine watching that in any other language then Swedish. And that's because I'm used to it."
Do you think that as we grow and there is more of a demand for country specific content like that, that it's going to hurt the feeling of being an international community? Or is that even really true right now, with major communities like the Russians and the Chinese separated from English speaking fans?
"I don't think the risk is worth considering. I mean it might happen, but it might also happen without language as the problem. We all unite around Dota. But some of us wants to watch e-sport and others might prefer just playing pubs. It's OK."
That's a very uplifting message so I think we'll end it there. Any shoutouts?
"Shoutout to my mentor in life, my wife and life companion Marit. And I wouldn't mind if you guys sent some positive (or negative) feedback @dotadrayich
Thanks for the interview."
