[Phil was goofing around with the tape-recorder� this is a sample of the weirdness that goes on during our show�] - Interview with Metalfreak Tina, Part I� SSo are you excited about tonight's events with Opeth? - Yeah. Ohmygod! - And that was the words from� Tina! After the show, we hung out backstage for a bit, waiting to get into the dressing room to interview Opeth. Martin Lopez walked over to us and chatted for a bit. He disappeared and Martin Mendez showed up and hung out a while before we headed down to the dressing room. He promptly collapsed on a couch and went into this trance-like state. - So right now we're in the lounge, where tthe hell are we anyways?! - We're backstage. - Oh yeah, we're backstage, there ya go, juust chilling� - [to Martin M.] Say hi! Mendez: Hey! - So we're just hanging out, feel bad aboutt bothering all these nice people, gonna ask them some questions� smells good in here, there's some pizza� your show was awesome! [We talked to Mendez for a while, off the record though, because he was too tired to do a real interview since he was quasi-passed-out on the couch. After a while he called Peter over�] - Well this is the first time we're really doing an interview, so we're just gonna relax�I don't feel like bothering you, asking you specific questions about the band because you probably hear that all day long. Do you have any stories from the tour that you would like to share with us? Like something interesting that happened in Canada or The States or whatever? Peter: So far on this tour everything has run really smoothly, you know� and nothing has actually happened, we were stopped at the border� they took us out.. .they took us out and that was it� we don't even have any border stories, oooh they didn't have to bring out the dogs or anything. Not quite with Paradise Lost because they're nice guys� [grins at PL guys over to the side] - So what exactly happened to Lacuna Coil? What happened to that, why didn't they - Peter: I've just heard a story that they were getting their visas, but they didn't get it on time� everything was delayed. I don't know�we were having a problem too, because we had to rush it all. The last couple of days - we just got it the day before we left actually, and it was probably the same for them� it's hard coming to the US and Canada after September 11. - Why is it that from Sweden and from countries around there, why is the metal scene so� interesting? I mean, you look at the US and Canada, it's always the same kinda bands, you know Metallica and it kinda sounds the same� why do you have In Flames, Soilwork, all these great bands from that region - what's the secret there? Peter: Well� I don't really know� I think Sweden is one of those countries that is really influenced by� well, we get everything, on television, read everything on newspaper, from the US, from Europe� but I think really we just get a lot of different bands�. US bands or European bands, whatever, you know. And since Sweden is really a wealthy country, so I think most of the people can afford to try to have a band. Also you know, it might also be because there's a lot of metal bands coming out of Sweden nowadays� It's been like that for like 20 years or so and it could something to do with the darkness, because Sweden is a dark country in the winter� - Oh really? - Yeah, remember I told you? I heard this theory that some people get depressed when it's dark all the time, when there's not enough sunlight� Peter: Yeah that's a rumour about Swedish people killing themselves, you know, committing suicide� I don't know if it's true, I don't feel depressed or anything - but then again the sun sets really early at the winter time, especially up North like Sweden, it might have something to do with it�. I think it's just that we're pretty open-minded about music in general, and you know, most people want to do something about it. - So I guess something else that's kinda unnique about your band, like why are some of your songs so heavy and then before that you've got some really mellow, really soft songs� why the contrast there? Peter: I mean, for us it's all about� we're influenced by different kinds of music. We started out as a death metal band, but after a while it's like� you know, you want to have the - you know, we're influenced by seventies progressive rock, whatever, and we wanted to incorporate that into our music. So we just decided that we wanted to make 50 million songs and to try to put it as much as possible into that. It's always about the influences and what we wanna put into the music I guess� - So something I was talking to Tina about before, is a lot of bands, they try play some softer songs, and you've got some really heavy death metal bands, they play a couple of softer songs. But you guys, you seem natural at it - you play a soft song and it's like "Oh my God, these guys you know, they're not a death metal band, they could just be like playing that kind of music." - Like on the new CD� Peter: What's that? - Like on the new CD, it's going to be all mellow acoustic stuff� Peter: Yeah all softer stuff� but then again I think like on Orchid, we have a little - that was the first album we released like 8 years ago - we had like 50 million songs with mellow parts and heavy parts, but then the album after that we made a 10 minute ballad song which was strictly written for death fan club, ballads significantly, so I think we tried to break - you know, near� around a bit in our new album and explore different areas of music. So for us, putting out a mellow album with no death metal vocals or double kick drums is a pretty daring thing, but it's not as daring as you would expect, because we've done ballads and more softer songs� it's just the thing that we wanted to do now is to write other tunes and lyrics - Is that why you guys split the two cds, Damnation and Deliverance? Peter: Because yeah with this one here, Damnation is totally different from Deliverance. If we're gonna release them as a double CD, well you know, it's like putting milk and oranges together, it doesn't fit. [laughs] But still, I think you can hear that they are from the same band. But if you separate the milk and oranges� because we also want to promote first Deliverance and then we can look forward to Damnation, it's easier to just separate the two. Also you know, the early 70's bands like KISS put out albums like every six months and now we have the opportunity to want to do that too. [laughs] We release an album every you know - people are aware, they wait - amounts to 5 or 6 months before the next release� - So are you a KISS fan yourself? Peter: Well you know, they're not the greatest band in the world [laughs] but I was very interested in them because they had all the makeup and everything. I don't care about makeup nowadays but at the time it was just really a novelty to have their faces painted� - Oh definitely! So I guess that's about itt� Well, thanks a lot Peter! [At this point we got him to record some station IDs and then headed over to Mikael] - Do you know yet when Bloodbath's gonna bee touring? I know you guys are busy right now� Mike: Yeah well, Bloodbath's just a tongue-in-cheek thing right now� Bouncer: Everyone needs to clear out, everyone think about clearing out now because the boss wants everyone out in 5� 5 minutes! Mike: No, we're not gonna do any touring. - I heard there will be another tour for Damnation later� Mike: Yeah, we're gonna tour for Damnation, for sure. But uh, we're gonna be on tour by the time Damnation comes out, so I'm not exactly sure when that's going to happen. - Yeah, you guys are gonna be in Europe right? Mike: Yeah, we're gonna tour Europe - we have two days off at home, and then six weeks of European tour. - You guys must be tired� do you like doingg this, touring? Mike: Oh yeah, I'm constantly tired on tour, so I'm getting used to� yeah I love doing it, it's just the waiting that's� you know. - Like do you see it as a job or do you see it as hobby? Mike: Both kind of, it's my job, it's the way I make a living� and also it's what I chose to do. So obviously I love it. - So when you go home, do you play guitar for fun or are you just like 'I really have to get away from it!' Mike: Yeah I play guitar everyday pretty much, regardless, whether I'm on tour or not� but obviously I have a girlfriend back home, so by the time I'm back home I'm spending time with her and my cats� - So how do you like the long distance relationship? Like I've done it before, over a year, and it never really worked for me. Do you feel comfortable with that? Like leaving and coming back after a couple of months - is that the lifestyle you like to- Mike: You know, for me it's what I do and my girlfriend, she's a metalhead anyway - we've been together for 5 years and we're getting married� - Congrats! Mike: So it's� you know, she understands� - So she doesn't tour with you? Mike: Well, she'll come� for the US it's a bit hard, tough laws obviously. But for European tours she comes. It's not fun obviously that I'm away from home so much, well at least I hope she thinks that! [laughs] But in a way it keeps the relationship going, because when I do get back home, everything is� you know [laughs] I don't wanna be rude, what's it called? The sex is great! [cracks up] - So if you wanna settle down, have some kids, get married, some dogs, like you said some cats� do you see yourself still doing this even if you get kids, or will you just settle down at some point and not tour as much? Mike: Well I'm in a band that's what I do, so unless I choose another profession, it's gonna be like this. As far as we're successful and we get off on tours and stuff� - But do you see yourself like 20 years from now, still doing this? Mike: It's so hard to say, you know man� 20 years from now, it's a long time. I mean I can't see past the next day really. - If you weren't in a band, what would you be doing? Mike: A record store. - Oh really?! Mike: Yeah, that's my dream. I'm gonna open a record store, regardless. - So I guess maybe we'll also ask you this� why are there so many good Swedish bands, you know in heavy metal. I mean you've got Soilwork, In Flames - and we asked that to Peter before - is it because it's so dark there or� why is there so much creative music coming from there? Mike: Me personally, I don't think Sweden is that good as people think abroad. But we got loads of bands, some quality bands too, but I don't know� it's just that� Sweden was a big country for heavy metal in the 80's, when all of my friends in In Flames and Dr. Qu?? were growing up and so obviously some of those guys are going to end up being in metal bands. - I think it's really funny how you said you don't think it's that great there, cos that's how we think it is here� Mike: Yeah, well for us it's� for me, I don't see the whole deal about Sweden - we've got some good bands, we've got some lousy bands. I think it's the same as in every country. It's just that some Swedish bands have got some amount of success cos they're out touring and people hear about them and they're Swedish, you know� it's like Swedish hype. Not only for metal, we've got bands like The Hives, who are huge and everything. - Is there any particular country you thinkk is good for metal? Like it's got really good metal bands coming out of it, cos you said Sweden is pretty ordinary� Mike: To be quite honest, I think the metal scene is suffering from unoriginal bands. And there's too many record labels that sign whatever band put out a demo or whatever band has a guitar, you know. I think there's loads of bands, it's wealthy� but the quality of the bands, I think, is pretty low. - So how can we fix that, like what's the solution to that? Sign less bands or� ?? Mike: [laughs] No, it's about the scene, that's how it works. It's always been like that, it's always been an underground scene, and some of those bands step out of the underground and become big bands. But it's always gonna be a big scene for, well, whatever music and it's tried in every music scene. - But isn't metal a lot more� not mainstream, but more well known there and like in Finland than it is here? Mike: No, I think it's like, you know, for Opeth, we're bigger here than we are in Sweden. Yeah, and metal overall, I think, gets into the charts and with the whole nu-metal movement� people open their eyes to it - normally they would listen to R&B or whatever� here they might go and listen to metal. It's cool, it's good for bands like us. Bouncer: Everybody please leave. All right, everyone's gotta go! So we recorded some more station ID's and ended the interview before getting kicked out. It was cool hanging out with the guys and getting to know them a little beyond the music. Can't wait to catch their next tour!! |
