In Flames Interview!

Soilwork Interview, June 26th 2003

After scouring the entire venue for the tour manager, we finally gave up and started hunting down the band. We ended up dragging Daniel off to their tourbus for a pretty awesome interview, by Rob (with me occasionally butting in) and had a little guest appearance by Jesper too!

Tina: First off, were you guys nervous at all, not recording with Devin?

Is there anything that you guys used - you saw him use in the studio - like in the songwriting...

Well, we've been pretty much influenced by Devin Townsend's music all the time and you know, we worship all he does... and it was such a great experience, he was there like a big source of inspiration in the studio and as I said, he gave us a lot of confidence in what we're doing. And we're pretty open-minded when we're writing to music. We're not only listening to metal and hard rock which you probably can hear in our music, and that's probably what's making our sound a bit unique.

So what's the other stuff you listen to?

I mean it's very hard to put your finger on exactly... but you know, we're very open-minded and good music is always good music, no matter what style.

Okay.. on the last tour you had some really heavy bands, like Hypocrisy, Scar Culture... and on this one you guys have Chimaira and Unearth, who are a lot more hardcore. How did you come up with that, was it your choice? ...or the label?

Uh no, we've always wanted to do a tour with In Flames in the States... and I guess there's a lot of metalcore kids looking over the Atlantic Sea to discover bands like Soilwork and In Flames... and then there's a lot of kids who listen to nu-metal and they kinda discovered that there's more than just nu-metal. I think it's a good thing that they can discover bands like In Flames and Soilwork, and you know.. the Swedish style.

Yeah I noticed that compared to last year's tour, this year the crowd is *really* a lot more mixed up... like there's a lot more kids who you usually find listening to hardcore or nu-metal...
Yeah, I know, that's good... I mean it's great!

So you guys are playing Hellfest this year right?
Yeah!
Yeah and again, that's mostly hardcore and I was really surprised to hear that you guys and In Flames are gonna play that show... I was like "that's so cool!"
Yeah that's very cool. There's a lot of bands mixing hardcore with melodic Swedish metal as well.. like... you know, Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall and all that stuff, you know... I think those guys are great!. I think we're gonna get a very good crowd at Hellfest.

Compared to last year, touring with In Flames has put you guys a lot more into the spotlight this year... so hypothetically, would you guys ever consdier signing with a major label? ...like how Cradle of Filth signed with Sony... what do you think about that?

I mean... that's hard to say. We are high priority on Nuclear Blast... I'm not sure if it's a good thing to sign with a big label because maybe we'd drown in all the- you know.... We're a fucking piss and denial... compared to many of the other bands on those major labels so I'm very glad for the work that they're doing for Soilwork at Nuclear Blast. I don't think it would sell out to sign with a bigger label but maybe you know... they know how to promote metal, you know, Nuclear Blast. They know how to promote it, but I'm not sure if a major label... if they can promote it in the same way. I'm not sure actually...

So do you think metal should stay underground?

No, no... everybody wants to sell records, that's for sure. And I think we deserve a lot of promotion
and good distribution... but still, I'm not sure that it's better to sign with a bigger label.

I've got a couple of Opeth-related questions now...
Okay!
You guys have more keyboards on the new album and I've heard that Sven is 70s influenced a bit...
Yeah... [coughs] SARS!
Rob: [laughs] Hey at least you can joke about it!
So what are you thoughts on Damnation?
Opeth's Damnation, yeah... It's umm it's a very good album... and we've given Sven free hands to do whatever he wanted to do with the keyboards and we used like analog and synthesizers and so on. I think that makes music a bit more fresh and interesting. And the thing that Opeth has done, you know, realeasing two albums, one pretty death metal oriented album and one more acoustic, I think that's pretty cool. ...But it's hard to say if Soilwork can do something like that, but we'll see in the future. I mean we're very open-minded and I think that most of the Swedish bands are...
When I interviewed Mike, he was telling me about how they're actually better known here than back home in Sweden. Is that the same with you guys?
Well, that's hard to say... we've been showing the new videos a LOT! But in the past we've had some problems with the Swedish audience and -
What kinds of problems?
Well... not problems, but we've haven't been that hyped and it's been hard to reach the Swedish audience and I think that we've got a very big fanbase in the States. It's growing a lot with this new album.
Yeah, because here it's like everyone is saying "YEAH! there's all these really cool bands coming out of Sweden!" and then you guys say it's really not all that great back there...
Yeah...

So going back to the video, is it like you guys are making fun of how people keep comparing Soilwork and In Flames?

Yeah that was our main purpose with those two videos, and yeah we wanted to make fun of the whole thing and the fact that we are always getting compared. Like there's a big rivalry going on and you know, in real life.... and I guess we also wanted to make fun of the whole metal thing. Metal videos are always supposed to be about five angry guys with metal chains hanging all over the place, so I guess we wanted to do something different. And I think we succeeded, very cool videos...
Rob: Yeah I must comment, I loved both those videos, they both made me laugh... Anders coming on your show and writing 'Soilwork sucks' on the wall... and then you guys are like "Yo! Look at those guys, they're fags!"
Yeah! Oi! That's a lot of fun man!
Rob: Yeah, I must say I enjoyed that.
Tina: So, that's cool that you guys still take it pretty lightly, but from a business perspective they're still your competition, in a way...
Yeah in a way... but, we're very good friends and we're in the same genre... but I think In Flames has their own sound and so does Soilwork, even though we're getting compared all the time. Yeah I think there's a pretty big difference...

So getting back to the album, you guys have been moving away from the traditional melodic death sound... was that intentional, did you guys go into the studio saying "we're gonna make it sound different" or did it just kinda evolve that way?

One last question... why are you guys doing the little switch thing with Chimaira on this tour? I mean, I was kinda surprised when I heard that!
Rob: I was kinda scared! I must say...
Yeah really?
Rob: I like Chimaira, I saw them with Slayer about two years ago, but I'd rather see you guys right before In Flames.
Yeah, but it's all about the sales. I think that Chimaira's selling more than In Flames.
Rob: Like with Soulfly and In Flames' last tour, Soulfly who had like.. three albums out were after In Flames who have seven! I'm like 'what the hell is this!?"
But it's... unfortunately it's all about the sales, you know?

I've got a question for you, before she wraps it up... With the break of Swedish rock, like The Hives and Hellacopters, do you think there's gonna be a bigger break for the more Gothenburg style, like for you and In Flames to break into the mainstream?
I really hope so, because you know.. there's been a lot of garage rock thing going on. I mean, Hellacopters is a great band. I don't like The Hives that much, I think they're very good live... their singer is fucking amazing live, he's such a cool guy! But I really hope you know, as I said, kids start looking over the Atlantic Sea to discover bands like Soilwork and In Flames and... I think there's a hype growing there.

Cool, well that pretty much wraps up our interview with Speed, from Soilwork! Thanks and have fun on the rest of the tour!

I don't think we intended to make very different music, I think we just went with the flow and we got very inspired by the Natural Born Chaos album and the reactions and so on... so yeah, pretty much inspired by ourselves and being in the studio and... just came up with some very great songs and as long as we find inspiration and have the time, there's no need to slow down. I mean, you know, we released this album in like... a year. Yeah that was really fast! But I don't think you can expect a new album in a year because, there's been *so* many tours, it's ridiculous! [Laughs]

So how'd you guys get the new album out so fast? I mean you guys were just touring to support Natural Born Chaos last spring!
It's very hard to say... I mean, somewhere in between those tours we managed to write material for the new album, and we felt really confident and we came up with songs very fast... and we kinda sat down and listened to the songs and everybody felt a hundred percent happy about the songs so why not record?

Speed: Well, there's been a lot of rumours on the Internet, like very stupid rumours... like Devin has done all the harmonies on the vocals on Natural Born Chaos for example. Or he's done some riffs even, and of course that's bullshit. I mean, I think you know, it was a great experience to record with Devin Townsend, it gave us a lot of confidence. So I think it gave us a lot of confidence to record on our own, even though we had help from Fredrik Nordstrom from Fredrik Nordstrom Studios. And I think it's a very good thing that we show those people who spread those rumours that we can do it ourselves.