By Michael Menegakis

Daniel, first of all Congratulations for your wedding! How is the experience being married and in a busy band as Pain of Salvation at the same time?

Well, it is great to be a married man! Of course it is hard to do anything on the side of Pain of Salvation, but I think that my studies are much harder to balance with music than my marriage to Johanna is. Much because my studies take my energy while Johanna gives me energy. However, I am aware that it is hard to live with a musician, and I have a lot of paying back to do in the future. *smile*

When I listen to Pain of Salvation, I get a "Genesis meets Fates Warning meets Sepultura(!)" feeling. That's obviously confusing trying to figure out from where all that came from. So, which bands from the list of your influences do you think played the main role for the development of the unique POS sound?

This is one of the really tough questions. I always have difficulties describing our influences. To start with, I have not been influenced by any of the three bands you mention. 
Most reviewers and interviewers actually have this problem with defining our music, pinning down our sound, and I take that as a very positive sign, since it indicates that we have a wide enough hole to fill in today's music scene. 

Some of my own favourite artists would be Faith No More, Simon & Garfunkel, Chess (the musical), Dive, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Beatles. Of course I have been listening to Queensryche, and I liked Dream Theater a lot for about two years. I loved Kiss when I grew up (and to some extent I still do) and I have had my periods with Dio, King Diamond and what have you. Some of the current artists that have managed to surprise and enjoy me would be Tori Amos, Dalbello and The Gathering, to name a few.

In "One hour by the concrete lake", politics and feeling are perfectly balanced. Do you think that this is the best way of expression, or that in another occasion there should a borderline between logic and feeling?

Interesting question. Of course every situation demands its own balance to be rightfully considered and dealt with, but in general I think that we should always seek to maintain an as-even-as-possible balance between logic and feeling. However, as mentioned, some occasions may need more logic, often in a situation where you risk getting emotionally very subjective. For example, if X would hurt someone close to me, I would not be the right person to decide the future of X. On the other hand, that is deriving much from the imbalance between logic and emotion that this situation would create in me, so I guess that in a way we are back to square one again, that there should be balance between the two. One problem with a lot of scientific literature, for me, is that it has no balance. One way to put it might be that logic and feeling are not each others opposites - our so called logic is a way of measuring advantages and disadvantages, and of course those considerations are not free from cultural context or conventions. And at the same time our emotions could not be simply ruled out as being illogical or expressions of sheer subjectivity. It is simply a semantic separation comfortable enough for us to be able to deal with these complex questions.

In your last album there's hard criticism against your own country. How would you describe the source of the problem?

Well, we do not mainly direct our criticism towards our own country, even if we do have those problems here with weapon export and distribution of assets and resources. Most of the criticism in chapter two, for example, is directed towards USA and Canada, and their way of dealing with Indians and nuclear mining and waste on Indian ground. Most of all it is a global problem, something that is a "human trademark" and especially for the industrialised world, or to be more specific, those countries who experienced industrialisation in the 19th century and the beginning of this century. Sweden is part of that world, no doubt. But we want to emphasise that this is global and goes beyond national borders or cultures. 

The source of the problem is partly that we are all very ethnocentric in our ways of living, and we impose our cultural codes upon other cultures. Furthermore, we are now accepting that we are so small as individuals, that our actions do not count. "If I don't do it, someone else will" What great intellectual mind work does not hide behind that cynic expression... we have all heard it I suppose. 
But most of all, we turn to short-time solutions. When I studied Industrial Design we had a lecture dealing with the superiority of aluminium (you know that it is 100% recyclable, as opposed to other metals). Now, I criticised the use of aluminium, since Bauxite is needed for the making of it (4 kilos of Bauxite for 1 kilo of aluminium) and this can only be mined in the equator territories (read: rain forests). His answer was, that some of the companies planted new forest when they left (which is not the same as a rain forest for God's sake) and that keeping this pace of mining we would still have aluminium for a long period of time, so it was thus a long-term solution. Aluminium, mined at today's rate, will last for 200 years. He actually considered this to be a long-term solution. In Sweden we are world champions in recycling aluminium cans. 99% of all cans are recycled. That still leaves more than 1,000,000 cans out there every year. A 50-centilitre can takes about 25 centilitres of oil to produce, apart from the depleting of rain forest for the bauxite. This way of wasting natural resources just won't do. If you cannot do it forever, if it is not a valid solution for the future of our children, it is not worth doing at all. That is my point. And I can add that I am not perfect myself, but At least I am trying and I have the will to change.

I'd dare to say that your vocals are beautifully influenced by Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins mainly at the mellow parts. How important were Genesis for you?

Hrm, not at all actually... Some of my favourite singers would be Mike Patton, Stevie Wonder, Skin, Dalbello to mention a few. But Phil Collins is undoubtedly a great singer, even if I have not listened much to Genesis. 

I'm sure there are many ambitious musicians that want to know your way of composing. Can you also give them a guitar tip?

I work with my ideas for months in my head before actually putting a song together. It involves uncountable sleepless nights and tons of frustration. When I present the song to the rest of the band I have usually already finished structures for every instrument, or to be more specific - often we try some of my ideas, and then I keep on working with them in my head for a month or two before going at it again. This derives from our rehearsing quite seldom, since we live hundreds of kilometres from each other. Hopefully this will change in the near future. 
Some songs come up through jam sessions. We usually start a rehearsal with a jam session. These jam sessions take the expression of a one-hour song touching everything from pop and jazz to funk, thrash metal and minimalistic meditation music. *laugh* It is important that a band does not turn into a business - the hunger and joy must still be there.

Guitar - I am not the man to ask because I have thhis annoying advantage of not having to practice. If I stumble on something that I cannot play I just keep my guitar under the bed as usual and one week later I can do it without problem. I don't know what to call it, but fellow musicians usually detest me for this ability. *laugh* One thing: if it is fast as hell but does not come from your heart, then it is worthless.

What are POS up to, now? Which are your plans for the near future?

We will co-headline the ProgPower festival in Tilburg, Holland, on the 14th of November, doing a 70-minute show. We will actually play a completely new song that will be on our next album.
In February or March we will start recording our third album, to be released later that same year. Next year we will probably tour USA and Europé as well, but nothing is settled yet.

Are there any plans for video clips?

We will make one or two videos, but the problem is for them to get broadcast. The number of TV and Radio stations that broadcast this kind of music decreases by the hour.

K: 
We have recorded three music videos in amateur quality. Two of them ("!" and "Pilgrim") are of ordinary music video character (with which we have won two local amateur music video festivals with) and the third one ("The Big Machine") is a collection of clips from our own hand camera from the recording of 'One Hour...'.
It would be great though to make the whole 'One Hour...' album into one single video music video, like 'The Wall' or something :)

As I read from the official web site of Pain of Salvation, you were really happy for your deal with 'Inside Out America' through former Dream Theater
manager Jim Pitulski. Where do you thing this deal will get you apart from the secure feeling of a good deal?

Well, as mentioned, there is already talk about a US tour, and I know that Jim is a true fan of our music. I hope that this, along with our next album, is what it takes for a larger audience to notice us. It does not matter how good you are, people have to see you around. The music industry of today is less and less about music and more and more about image and promotion. But we won't buy into that.

I know you are not listening a lot to other bands' music, but which albums from the past two or three years made to you great impression?

Faith No More: "Album of the Year"
Dalbello: "Whore"
Depeche Mode: "Ultra"
The Gathering: "Nighttime Birds"
Erik Borelius: "Reality Bites"
Eels: "Beautiful Freak"

K:
There are so many albums out there that each one has effected me in different ways.
I seldom get stuck on one album but to mention one I'd say 'Awake' (DT) for making me chose this type of music which turned out to suite me perfect.

Which is that one album of the whole music history that you wish you had created?

It is probably an album I haven't even heard yet, but some really good candidates would be The Beatles' "Abbey Road," Dive's "Where the River Turns to Sea," Faith No More's "Album of the Year" or Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Jesus Christ Superstar." And oh, I just got addicted to Elton John's second, self-named album; it is so brilliantly sad and beautiful...

K:
I have strong feelings for "The Wall" by Pink Floyd but there's great suffering behind it and a life you have had to live I order to make such a production.

Which is your greatest dream as a musician and as a person?

As a musician; to be able to live on my music, to be able to afford buying a house and a lot of instruments. As a person I want to lead a good life and have kids with Johanna, travel a lot, learn a lot and not having to look back and regret all the things I never did (which I will anyway, that is how I am). But it is hard to part the musician from the person... *smile*

K:
That the world will turn out a better place where humans can feel for each other and respect the nature and its needs.

Well, I wish you all the best for the future and an even better third album. Is there anything that'd like to add?

Everybody who are interested in our music can sign up for our NewsLetter (you can find it at our official home page http://fast.to/pos ) and get news about us directly by e-mail. Apart from that, I wish everybody a good life.