OPETH

2010-10-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

Mikael Åkerfeldt - Interview by Rob Laing (12 Oct 2010)

2010-10-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

Back in issue 329 (June 2010) we sat down with Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt to reflect on being 20 years into a successful career with the Swedish progressive metallers. Here in the full transcript he candidly reflects with us on the musical and personal challenges he's faced over the years. But first, let's go right back to the beginning…

When did you first start playing and what was your first guitar?

Mikael Åkerfeldt: "I was pretty young – I must have been seven or eight years old when I started playing. I got a guitar from my grandmother, a Levin classical guitar. That was the first one but I ended up having two of those and both I kind of… smashed later on. I remember being disappointed because I wanted an electric guitar, of course. This just looked like any other – like some Christian vocal group, it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. So I remember painting volume and tone knobs on the top of the guitar!"

Did you come from a musical family?

"Not really. They were interested in listening to music though. My dad was into Elvis and my mother was into Tommy Steele, Cliff Richard and The Shadows. It was my grandmother who gave me the guitar and gave me a few chord books. She would improvise songs when we would go over to hers. She was a painter, a poet… very artistic. She had a guitar too and I'd play it every time I was over there. She was always recording me and I remember her playing those fucking tapes whenever we had a family dinner! I have to say she subconsciously helped me to get started."

Do you remember the first riffs you learned?

"Oh, standards – I was a heavy metal kid pretty early on. But in those days I wasn't only listening to heavy metal; I'd listen to whatever was on the radio like Eurovision Song Contest stuff and Abba – shit like that. I was a big fan of David Bowie too. But the first song I learned was probably Smoke On The Water – on the high E string. Once I'd learned a few chords I learned The House Of The Rising Sun. I got two books on guitar chords and it had anything from church music to Beatles songs. I didn't learn the Christian songs! The Beatles songs were a bit too complicated for me at the time so I think it was just House Of The Rising Sun."

Your first band was Eruption, did you just play covers to begin with?

"I wouldn't say it was a band – it was more me and my friend hanging out when we were 13 or 14; how it is when you're a kid. He had a drum kit in his cellar and I was really into playing guitar. At the time I had a 12-watt Marshall combo, it sounded like an amplified fart through that! I set it up in his cellar and he had an old Gretsch drum kit that basically wasn't really working. But we'd hammer away playing improvised songs and riffs, whatever from other bands that we could play. We only played metal songs but I didn't have a pedal at the time so just had full-on distortion constantly. I wasn't playing [The Beatles'] Yesterday if you know what I mean. It was just trying to be loud."

You were asked to join an early Opeth line-up as a bassist originally, what changed?

"Yes, it wasn't a big deal to be honest. Nobody knew about Eruption – at the end of that time we were a three-piece. I was playing guitar and doing vocals, there was the drummer and a bass player too. The only ones who knew about that band were the three of us – we didn't have any shows, demos… nobody knew who the fuck we were except for this one guy [David Isberg] who knew I was playing in a band and we went to school together. He had a band called Opeth. We were skateboarders at the time and listening to thrash. He thought I was a pretty good guitar player, I believe. He didn't ask me to come and play guitar because he already had two guitar players in his band. He just asked me to come and play bass because the bass player couldn't play at all. That band was just a bunch of friends hanging out at the time. We weren't really friends but that guy had something like a vision, he knew a lot of people and I also liked the name Opeth, I thought it sounded cool. The logo they had at the time was cool too – it was hand drawn with a big inverted cross and gothic font. It was appealing and I wasn't going anywhere with my own band. Even though I didn't want to play bass I thought it was a little bit of a break for me to be auditioning for another band. But the other guys didn't know I was coming to the rehearsal – the original bass player showed up too and said, Who the fuck is this guy? They had a huge argument and he fired them. Well we were kids, so five minutes later they had another band and were continuing as normal. Nothing was a big deal in those days – he told them to fuck off and me and him became Opeth.

Eventually you took over the role as frontman of Opeth. Was that out of necessity to keep momentum going or did you always have ambitions to be a singer too?

"I couldn't really sing back then and didn't get any feedback on my screaming vocals – so I didn't really know if it was good or if it was shit. I was the singer in Eruption so when David, the original singer from Opeth, left in 1991 or 1992 I became the singer because I was the only one who had been singing before. None of the other guys wanted to sing and there was no discussion about it, I just became the singer."

You recorded Opeth's debut Orchid at 19; the album was recorded and mixed in 12 days. How long had you been listening to progressive rock music at that point?

"Not for very long, maybe two or three years. The early nineties are a blur of death metal bands. I wasn't really listening to anything else apart from a few bands. My best friend at the time was a record collector like me – we were collecting whatever – death metal and thrash, Brazilian black metal… obscure stuff because it was cool to have the stuff that nobody else had. So whenever we had some leftover money we went out buying records. He had stuff like Lynyrd Skynyrd. I didn't know who the fuck they were, I don't think I'd even heard Sweet Home Alabama, but they looked cool – they had long hair and bellbottoms. So I started digging around the second hand record stores in Stockholm, and this is when CDs were coming in and everybody was dumping their record collections to buy CDs. So you could pick up anything for like 50p. I could go out into town with the equivalent of £10 and come back home with 20 records. It was so cheap and I picked up anything that looked cool and through that I stumbled on a few bands that I guess were progressive rock. Bands like Yes, you look at their sleeves and you think, I've got to have that – a Roger Dean sleeve looked striking. So I picked up a lot of music like that. I stumbled upon bands so that's how I found a few of those bands."

Orchid has quite a bold sound because of those influences coming through, even at that stage – did it feel like an original move at the time?

"Not really – it felt natural. At the time I'd dropped the whole being tough idea. I wasn't listening to music because I wanted to be cool anymore. I wasn't afraid. The death metal scene at the time was really closed in – you were supposed to be a certain way otherwise you weren't, the word they used at the time was 'true.' Or you were a poseur. And I was a poseur because I wasn't pure; I was into bands like the Scorpions, Judas Priest, Sabbath and Deep Purple. All of which had progressive influences – they were blending styles which I always liked. That's what I wanted to bring into Opeth but I didn't see it as something unique, I just thought it was just pretty good music. That's always been the bottom line – and the reason I want to write music to this day is because I want to write something I think is good."

How important was the UK when Opeth became a touring band? Did you gain a small following here early on?

"It's got more to do with that fact that they were the first overseas shows. Our record labels – we had three or four – always had their base in the UK. Candlelight Records were our first record label and they brought us over to play a few promotional shows. Some of them were in small pubs in High Wycombe! We played a death metal festival at the Astoria, a show at the Borderline… decent shows. It was impressive for me because we didn't really play much at home back then – or anywhere else for that matter. I was impressed by the fact people were there and listening to us at all. Pretty soon we got features in the magazines there and more people started coming to the shows. And even at the small pub in High Wycombe there were five fans watching us – that's something because at home we had nothing. So ever since we first played in the UK we always had a good following, even though it was absolutely tiny – there was somebody there."

Jumping forwards, Still Life and Blackwater Park signalled a significant rise in Opeth's profile in Europe and they are landmark albums in metal. But looking back on those albums, how well prepared were you as the songwriter going into the studio?

"With Still Life there were no rehearsals, we didn't have a rehearsal room and I didn't have an amp. I had to sell my amp to pay the rent. But the songs were pretty much written – I was confident in those days, I wrote it down on a piece of paper: first riff (four bars) / second riff (four bars) / vocals (same riff, four bars)…I just wrote the song down. I came up with the riffs and had to remember them, I had no means to record them and just had to remember how to play them. I remember I was living in a small flat at the time and I just wrote it all down the day before we were going in to record Still Life and I was like, there, done. Actually I had gone to a friend's house to record a few riffs to be honest with you, just trying out a few ideas so there was some type of sound that I had in mind for the album. I never heard the songs though – nobody heard the songs until we had the album. Nobody knew what they were recording. Martin Lopez did a drum take for two riffs and by the time he went into the third riff he had forgotten the first riff! So nobody had the faintest idea of what it would sound like – it was quite exciting in that respect. But it was also risky. If I discovered that I didn't really like a riff… like when the song is finished and it's all on tape and I'm doing lead guitar on it or whatever and I'm thinking, this isn't a very good riff you know. I'd just put shit loads of stuff on there – disguising the shit riff underneath with lots of Ebows, effects and vocals. It was all about being inventive with whatever you had – you had to develop whatever you had. In those days it was a good way for me to write songs because I was always progressing, moving forwards."

How did that compare to the pressure of back to back recording of the Deliverance and Damnation albums?

"I wrote a lot for those albums – I had lots of riffs and short arrangements written back home. I had a little portable digital eight-track. If you had music on all eight channels it was enough for like five minutes on a disc. So I couldn't put an entire song on there even if I wanted to. Besides, I had to program a drum machine manually for every riff and then piece everything together so it was almost like mathematics. So I could only be bothered writing short arrangements – two riffs, piece them together with drum beats. I could never really finish anything off so I left it open for the studio. Looking back at Still Life and Blackwater Park, there was a lot of improvisation going on in the studio so I thought, yeah let's do it like that again. Only this time we're going to record two albums. It was taking on a little bit more than I could handle. I thought I could do it so I ended up working my ass off through the night but during the first week it went pretty good. Then I started to lose interest and get sloppy because I was so tired – all of a sudden I was writing music just to have something to record the next day. I wasn't really paying attention to whether it was good or shit, basically. The band was in a terrible state anyways so with some of those arrangements I couldn't even save them with the layering I was talking about before. I couldn't even make some of it sound decent but I'm still quite surprised that we managed to make those albums. Especially Damnation, I think it's a fine record and parts of Deliverance have become classic Opeth. But it was hell."

So if there was anything you could change from the last 20 years, would the making of Deliverance be the candidate?

"Well I don't believe in changing things so even though there are parts of that record that make me cringe when I listen to them, I do that with some of the older stuff as well. I remember I was superhappy with it at the time. I can't go back and change the past and that's one of the reasons that if I have leftover material from an album, I never bring it when I start to write for the next album. I want to write completely new material. So even though some music didn't end up on a record, it still belongs to that record. I want to start with a clean slate, so to speak."

Damnation was a very brave move for a metal band, people didn't seem too surprised that you'd made an all mellow album at the time though did they?

"I thought it was going to have a bigger impact. People were kind of shrugging, Yeah? Whatever – cool. It didn't have an impact at all it seemed at the time! I was expecting people to either hate it or say, Fucking hell there's this death metal band doing an album like that! With doing Deliverance at the same time I thought people were going to be impressed. I was also aching for some kind of recognition because of what I went through with the recording. I wanted some approval. But what happened was people started downloading the album before it was released and then started slagging it off. So I was like, fuck off you fucking insects!"

That's like shoplifting a Mars bar then going back to the shop to complain you don't like the way it tastes…

"Yes, so I was really upset. But now a few years later people are coming out of the woodwork saying, That album changed my life or that album is what I'll have playing at my funeral. Or I wouldn't have met my wife if it wasn't for that album…"

And it's a good entry point to get into the band too…

"Yes and a lot of people hold that record pretty close to their hearts – all sorts of people from metal people to general music fans. So now I'm getting a little credit for that record."

The acoustic folk-influenced fingerpicking side to your playing is equally as important to Opeth's sound as the metal elements. Is it true that you worked in an acoustic guitar shop and developed that side of your technique there?

"Yes that's true. I was working at a small guitar shop in Stockholm and I was basically doing repairs – I don't know how I got employed there because I didn't know how to repair guitars! But the owner taught me things like how to make a bone nut from scratch, fixing cracks… But I was quite disappointed when I first went in there because there were no electric guitars. It was only acoustics – but at least it was still guitars, plus at the end of the day it was a job and I didn't expect to sit around playing all day. But that's what happened; we didn't have many customers because we sold Martin guitars and they're quite expensive. People weren't coming in and buying them for their kids. If you went into that store you were buying a guitar for £3,000. So I ended up playing a lot and there weren't any guitars but steel string, 12-string and nylon string. So I was playing a lot and writing a lot for our second album [Morningrise] and developing my technique as an acoustic guitar player. And that's something that made a lot of difference to me as a songwriter, guitar player and musician overall. The years in that store helped me to develop our sound."

Do you usually write on an acoustic guitar these days?

"I write a lot on acoustic but now my situation is a little bit different because I have a home studio. So I can just plug in my electric guitar and off I go. But I always have an acoustic close at hand if I just want to play – and to be honest it's easier for me to come up with something on an acoustic guitar. Everytime you pick it up you'll come up with something and think, oh that's nice. But when you plug in an electric guitar you end up playing some shitty blues!"

But talking of electric guitar, you must be incredibly proud to have a PRS Signature now…

"I'm not proud at all! [laughs] No, I love it, I can't even say it's like a childhood dream because I didn't even think there was a chance in hell that anyone would even give me a guitar, let alone get a signature model with my name on it. It's amazing. I'm pretty fucking proud."

Opeth has a stable line up now but how much of a personal toll has some of Opeth's line up changes taken on you over the years?

"Obviously I can't say I like them but every line-up change has made us into a better band. But people relate to when their favourite album of ours was made by a specific line-up – they think that line-up is better. For me, from the inside, [changes] always made us progress and ultimately turned us into a better band. But, line-up changes, what can I say? I hate them. I wish – to a certain extent – that we were the same guys who played together in 1989. Ultimately you lose touch with these people who were once really good friends and it's tough. Mostly from the friendship point of view I have to say. Peter leaving [Lindgren, guitar 1991 – 2007] was fucking rough for me. [Martin] Lopez [drums 1997-2006] wasn't really rough, we were friends of course but we weren't really hanging out. He was asked to join the band as a drummer and I'd never seen the guy in my life before he came to meet us. But Peter and I had been friends before we played together. So with some of these guys it's been very difficult, almost to the point that I didn't know whether I wanted to go on anymore. Like when the first drummer [Anders Nordin 1990-1997] who played on the first two records, left. When he left I was like, okay, that's it for me."

So there were points where you nearly gave up on Opeth?

"Well that was one definitely. But then I just realised that I'm still a musician. They can leave and go work at Ericson or whatever but I still love this. Once I realised that, the friendship type of thing took a little bit of a back seat. Not that I became ruthless and didn't want to be friends with my band members, not at all. But whatever happens won't change my interest and my goals. But it's rough, not fun."

Peter's replacement, Fredrik Åkesson is held in high esteem by other metal players, but he has a reputation as a technical shredder. Do you think Opeth's given him the chance to show a more soulful side and will we see more of that?

"He is a shredder. He's a typical shred player in that's what he loves. He loves learning licks by shredder guys, he buys all the magazines. When he's got Guitarist magazine he goes straight to the techniques section which I'm completely uninterested in! But he loves it. But one of the reasons he's in the band is that he has another side to his playing – he's very musical and has this great tone. Fantastic tone. I didn't get him into the band because of his shredding. To be honest I'm not a big fan of shredding for the sake of playing fast. He can definitely do that but I'm holding him back a little in the shredding department. I want a guitar solo to be, wow – it has to serve the best interest of the song. So even though it's his solo spot it's also part of the song and I can't have a really fast shredding solo that I hate. That would just bring the song down so it has to be very musical. And the thing is, he loves that stuff too – once he nails solos that fit the song it's a whole different thing to putting down fast runs. So I'm hoping that people are going to see him as just a great lead guitar player, as opposed to competing with shredders. Because there's always someone who's going to play faster and I heard some of that on the videos that come with the magazines. And I'm like, that fucking sucks. I'm not going to name drop but some of these guys aren't musicians, they can't hear music. It's not interesting at all to me. In fact I get irritated – it's like measuring penises. I hate that stuff."

You pay a lot of attention to drum parts when you're writing, do you think guitarists often overlook that interaction?

"Oh yeah – especially lead guitar players who'll complain that the guitar solo is too low in the mix, turn it up! Maybe I'm wrong and there's a lot of people that aren't like that but it seems like many lead guitar players have a really shitty sense of rhythm and they can't play rhythm guitar and they can't write songs because they're so focused on shredding. I can't shred but I can do some of the other stuff and I can't understand how you can overlook the song. And the song starts for me with, say the drums. That foundation has to be there first before you can shred."

Are you now able to look back through your career with the band and identify songs that were key to what came after them?

"Sometimes you'll do something you consider to be a bit daring – like on the second album we had a ballad called To Bid You Farewell, which was cool but I was anxious to see what people would think. Once people said, I like that stuff, it made it easier for me to write more that blended it up more. It was important for developing that softer side of the band. I guess there's one song per album that makes you go, Hmmm that's a bit odd."

You've mentioned recently that there's a possibility of you making a solo acoustic album – is this still on your mind?

"Yes it is. I'm actually working on a song for it now. I'm working on one Opeth song and a solo song. But I did a vocal line and it was horrible! I'll have to do something better. The thing with this so-called solo album is it might not be released but it's something I want to do for me – to produce an album from scratch in my home studio without any help."

With that in mind, who are you inspirations on the singer / songwriter side of things?

"Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Jackson C. Frank… some of the acoustic guitar players too. I want it to be a good guitar record but the most important thing is I want it to be good songs on there. But it's going to be pretty simple and a bit melancholic sounding I guess. Nick Drake and Joni are in my blood so to speak – both my kids were born when Bryter Layter was playing. And Joni Mitchell, I listen to her and I can cry. I feel safe in her music. It's something that goes beyond a good record. I don't expect anything to be as moving as a second of their music but I just want to do it for me and see if it can be something. I also like some of the newer cats – Tommy Emmanuel is one. I wouldn't say he sounds like Bert Jansch but the mindset is similar."

It's interesting to hear you mention Jackson C. Frank – he's something of a 'lost' folk hero really isn't he and like Nick Drake, his life tells quite a sad story…

"I first heard him about five or six years ago and I didn't know who he was. Then somebody played me a song called I Want To Be Alone. Wow. And then there's a lot of his songs that Nick Drake covered – I think he did half of that first album, the only album. It's on [Nick Drake's] bootleg recordings. I've seen a few interviews with Bert Jansch where he says, that guy started that scene in 1965 or '66. It's beautiful music. I was lucky enough to find a copy of the original vinyl from a seller in the UK. I'm very happy with that but it put me back £250! But I had to have it."

Difficult question but 20 years in, what are your proudest achievements so far?

"That is a difficult question. I don't ever feel particularly proud in the sense of, Look at me I did this and that. I'm happy with every new album."

And it's all without compromise…

"Yes definitely. Musically I don't compromise for anyone. If you ask me to do it a certain way you can just fuck off, if you know what I mean. Once the music and the lyrics are done I can be a bit of a whore if that's what the label wants me to do – I'll do their interviews, I'll do whatever they tell me to do in order to promote the record and work. But when it comes to the music it's sacred to me. I can be like the Antichrist when it comes to people interfering with the music. Not the band, that's not a problem at all but if a record label executive came up to me and said, That riff is not good, I would probably headbutt him: shut the fuck up and sell the record."

Opeth are getting bigger all the time, are the pressures of the business greater on you now personally?

"Yes there's a lot of pressure. Once the album is done it's relentless. I immediately go into four weeks of press trips and another two weeks of 'phoners. Then the tour and interviews everyday on the tour. And a lot of people want to speak to me because I write most of the music and I write the lyrics, I'm the frontman. So I understand but it's fucking tedious so for me personally there's massive pressure on me at all times. But I'm trying to get the other guys involved – especially in the interviews part, helping me out and I think it's important for them because I tend to be such a control freak about the music and it's important for them to have an opinion. I want them to do more interviews – they don't necessarily want to but I want to do less! When Opeth is in the magazine I don't just want it to be me on the cover, I want it to be the band."

Martin Axenrot - Interview by Guido (02 Oct 2010)

2010-10-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

I recently got to do an email interview with non other than Bloodbath, Opeth and Witchery drummer Martin "Axe" Axenrot.
Special thanks go out to Jasper Schuurmans, who helped making this possible. Blast some Bloodbath and read the interview after the jump.

Dose of Metal: You've been playing with Bloodbath since 'Nightmares Made Flesh'. What is the biggest difference between playing with Peter Tägtgren and Mikael Akerfeldt?

Martin "Axe" Axenrot: The biggest difference, I guess, is that I know Mikael a lot better than Peter and we´ve play in the same band together for a while now. We´ve done quite a lot of touring and concerts together, ya know. I have never played live with Peter from what I can remember. Very nice guy though... and good voice too!

DoM: A lot of people call you Legolas, how do you feel about that?

Axe: I like to think that they´re only joking but I take it as a compliment otherwise...hehe. But if you look at Orlando Bloom how he looks normally without Legolias´ long blonde hair, I can´t really see many similarities with him anymore. I guess it´s all in the hair...

DoM: Lord of the Rings is pretty gay, isn't it?

Axe: Is it? I thought it was fairly good. Maybe it depends on who´s watching...

DoM: Bloodbath have played more melodic and more brutal death metal, which style do you personally prefer?

Axe: Not sure if I understood the question. But more of everything is nice. Even though less usually does the trick.

DoM: Do you have groupies? Or let me ask more politely: have you ever fucked a groupie?

Axe: I always give them away to journalists, photographers, crew, etc. They seem to have time for that sort of thing.

DoM: What is the biggest difference between playing for Bloodbath, Witchery and Opeth?

Axe: It´s very different when it comes to the music I would say. When we go out on tour with Opeth, we´d be out for 2 years, and play 200-250 shows a year. That makes it very different to the other bands with which we only do a couple of shows, if even that. I guess Bloodbath and Witchery is a bit more physical than Opeth. At least for me it is.

DoM: Which one of these three bands get the most groupies?

Axe: Obviously the band that is biggest and has most fans gets the most groupies. Still, if your goal is to get a load of groupies, maybe experimental / prog / death metal isn´t the music you should be playing...

DoM: How do you feel about the term "supergroup" in relation to Bloodbath?

Axe: Good, I guess. I personally don´t call it the "supergroup", but if someone wants to call it that, it´s fine with me.

DoM: Have you ever had a supergroup of groupies? Supergroupies?

Axe: Not that Im aware of...

DoM: Bloodbath have done a couple of dates at festivals this year, are there plans to do a full on Bloodbath tour in the future?

Axe: Don´t think so. Everyone is occupied with their main bands, I think. Katatonia tours a lot now, and Opeth are working on a new record. Hopefully there is time for a new BB record at some point...

DoM: How hard is it to get a decent shower during tour?

Axe: It depends on where in the world you are. We dont have shower problems with Opeth that much. I´ve done some Wicked tours in Europe with Satanic Slaughter in the nineties, when we slept in a minivan for 2 weeks. There weren´t even enough seats for everybody to sit in while we drove. One time one of the tires exploded on the German autobahn and we almost crashed. Pretty hard tour. It´s a long way to the top if you wanna rock n roll...hehe

DoM: Which song, of the new album, was the most challenging to record for you?

Axe: I can´t really remember. Felt like the whole album is one long song. Derelict Herds maybe.... Thats a bonus song though...

DoM: Witchery has just released a new album this year, what was it like to work with Erik 'Legion' Hagstedt compared to Witchery's former singer Tony 'Toxine' Kampner?

Axe: I was actually not in the studio while he put down the vocals. Think I was on tour. I think the vocal sounds good on the record, and what Ive heard it all went down very smooth in the studio.

DoM: You've been in Opeth for 4 years now, what was it like to step into Martin Lopez's footsteps?

Axe: Actually my first show was 8th of august 2005. But as a member I guess it has indeed been 4 years. I´ve played a lot of songs from Opeth´s earlier days live, both with Anders and Martin on drums on the records. It´s always a good challenge to make ´em sound as good as possible live.

DoM: Mikael Akerfeldt recently stated that Opeth are currently writing for their upcoming album. How far are you with the songwriting yet?

Axe: I´m not involved with the actual song writing but Mike sent me a demo with a few tracks that he´d written so far and I´m working out the drum part from my own home. Can´t wait to hit the studio and start recording!

DoM: Cowgirl or reverse cowgirl?

Axe: Cowbell for me...

DoM: Which album, you've been on, features your favourite work?

Axe: Watershed.

DoM: You're our second interviewee, do you feel honoured? You should!

Axe: Very!

DoM: Any last words for your readers at doseofmetal.com?

Axe: Either you do it or you don´t.

DoM: Thank you for your time!

Fredrik Åkesson - Interview by Rob Laing (31 Aug 2010)

2010-08-31T16:25:00.000-07:00

Guitarist Extra: We recently caught up with Fredrik Akesson from acclaimed Swedish progressive metallers Opeth for a piece that will appear in the next issue (334) of the magazine. But we couldn't resist dropping in some extra questions for the Guitarist.co.uk during our chat so Fredrik could share playing tips and insight about his career so far with us.

You're at the end of the Summer festival season now, how is the material for the next Opeth album coming along?

"Mikael [Åkerfeldt, Opeth mainman/singer/guitarist] recently showed me a riff that he's working on right now. Very different and very interesting! That's probably going to end up on the new Opeth album. He's working on two tracks for the next one at the moment. Mendez and I are working on material at my house. We'll see what happens, but we'll try and squeeze some material in there – see what the master says! [laughs]

The DVD of Opeth's Albert Hall show is being released soon, but was that your personal favourite gig from the run of anniversary shows last year?

"I think it was New York [at the Terminal 5 venue] because I felt it was maybe a bit better playing-wise. Small details most people wouldn't notice. I always compete with myself to play the perfect gig and that's what makes it fun to play."

What's been the highlight of your time in the band so far?

"Some gigs are magic – playing the Royal Albert Hall with the band was incredible. I saw the DVD and it looks very cool. I was a little unfortunate with the camerman stepping on my power though! I went silent in the last song – the whole rig died. A bit stressful standing in front of all those people."

You and Mikael are using the Fractal Axe-FX Ultra effects and amp modelling processor live now, is that right?

"I only use it in the loop for delays. Mike [Åkerfeldt] uses it as a power amp but I'm still particular about tube amps, a wah is the only effect I have out front. I don't use the amp simulations live but I do in the studio back home. It's very good."

As well as that, you're playing PRS through the Blackstar Series One, but is there anything else about your live rig we don't know about?

"I use a buffer pedal made by a guy who runs a Swedish company called Sound Of Silence www.soundofsilence.se. He analysed my setup and advised me to switch out all my cables. He also advised that the cable that goes from the amp to the wah pedal shouldn't necessarily be a guitar cable because it can colour the sound, it's better to sue a line cable. The buffer pedal boosts the sigal that's lost through the cable length. In A/B testing all this did makes a difference. IF you use EMG active pickups you don't really did it but the buffer pedal can compensate. He also does tricks with wireless packs – puts a little chip in the belt pack that can compensate the sound if you're losing a little low end. It's pretty theory behind it all – I think I'm turning into Eric Johnson!"

Looking back on your journey as a player so far, do you have any advice to others?

"I think it's a good thing to be inspired by many different players but to inevitably find your own tone. When I was younger I listened to a lot of players but now I spend most of my time playing and improvising over chord changes I've recorded. I think that can be very useful. Also, I used to work out solos note for note – that's always a good thing if you want to learn new techniques and add more variation to your own playing."

If you weren't a guitar player what do you think you'd be doing for a living?

"Maybe I'd be a singer! Normal job? I've done a lot of shity jobs. I've been a construction worker, I've cleaned up after dead people… I don't want to go back to anything like that. Maybe I'd be working in a studio – close to music. Actually, I'd be a guitar tech. I've done it once before. One show with Dokken when [Europe guitarist] John Norum was in the band."

You're from the same town in Sweden as John aren't you?

"Yes, Upplands Väsby. I don't live there anymore though. I've written some material on John's solo albums and did some touring with him in the mid nineties. We jammed a lot back in the day. He has a great style, he was influential on me when I was a kid. He has great tone and his new solo album is cool – more seventies-influenced and bluesy."

You're obviously a player that works hard at developing your technique. Can you pinpoint when you've had breakthroughs over the years?

"I practised a lot between the age of 15 and 18 – six to eight hours a day. When I was 15 I dropped out of school to work at a factory to earn the money for my first Marshall amp. I played and Played and at 19 I joined a band called Talisman and learned a lot from them because they were older and had played with guys like Yngwie. Around 1998-2000 I started to mature as a player too, it wasn't just about playing fast. But it's an ongoing process – there's always something new to learn."

When you first joined Opeth, a lot of people may have seen you as a shredder. But there's a lot more to you than that as Mikael has said. Do you think people have realised that now?

"Yes and if you listen to Watershed there isn't that much shredding. It's a couple of runs – I had to squeeze something in! [laughs] But I hope people see that I try to be diverse. On the solos from Burden, for example, it's more of a vintage approach – Gilmour, Knopfler, early Blackmore. I try to play what's right for the song rather than getting in as much shred as possible to impress people. Shredding is fun but you have to be tasteful."

Mikael Åkerfeldt - Interview by Jörgen Hellström (19 May 2010)

2010-05-19T13:34:00.000-07:00

FC: Are you satisfied with the 20th anniversary tour?

M: Extremely satisfied! All of the shows was sold out. I think the Royal Albert Hall had a few minimum seats left but it was advertised as sold out, and I certainly didn’t see any gaps in there. It was packed! Really, that just made this little trek extra memorable. We wanted to celebrate 20 years, the original plan was to have some minor party in a cellar pub or something. But those plans escalated somewhat and next thing we know, we’re going on stage at the Albert Hall.

FC: Besides playing Blackwater Park, how did you choose the songs?

M: Basically we wanted to make chronological set for the 2nd one. And we picked some of the more obscure songs that we hadn’t played in a long time as well as some of the songs we know are popular, like “The moor”. It’s a song that we’ve played here and there but I personally have never been quite happy with out execution, so it’s been shelved over and over again. Now we picked it up and made a real nice new version of it I think. “Advent” felt like it got a rejuvenation with this line up, but “Forest of October” sounded virtually the same as I could remember it sounded in 1992.

FC: Many fans wanted “Black Rose immortal”…how close was it?

M: Close. I listened to the song a couple of times and just felt there were too many loose ends, too many parts I didn’t really like anymore, and it would have felt awkward playing something like that. It had been decided we’re going to play that song actually, but with the above reasons plus the fact that I don’t think a lot of people would have recognized it, or even liked it if we’d played it. We changed our minds. I think it’s a little bit of a gimmick that song. It’s “popular” because it’s our longest track, not because it’s all that great. But, I never say never. I think this line up had a tendency to breathe new life into old shit like that. We’ve done it on several occasions, so maybe it would work for this piece as well. However, “Advent” represented the “Morningrise” record better, and we all loved playing it.

FC: Were there any plans of getting ex-members to play at the anniversary-gigs?

M: Not really. There are reasons some of the past guys aren’t in the band anymore, some of which are quite delicate and it’s not a case of us calling eachother up saying “Hey buddy, haven’t talked to ya in 10 years, fancy playing an old song with us?”. I am on good terms with everyone from the past personally, but I don’t hang out with anyone other than Peter on occasion and have a very sporadic contact with Anders and Lopez. Peter had back problems on the night of the Stockholm show and couldn’t come. We didn’t really talk to any of the other guys and they didn’t call us, but we did put them all up on the guest list in case they’d drop by incognito. Some might have been there but I don’t really know.

FC: You got some critic at Cirkus for the ending…people thought that you were coming out again and waited for some 15 minutes before the lights were turned on. Comments?

M: Haha, I don’t really know. We went to the dressing room and heard everyone cheering. We’re on the verge of coming out again, but someone didn’t want to do it which is fair enough. We’d played close to 3 hours already, encores felt a bit over the top. Normally we always do an encore, but our normal set is just short of 2 hours, so there’s a difference. We didn’t even have a planned song for it as we’re set from the get go that we’d play the set without any extra songs.

FC: When can we expect the DVD to be released?

M: I have no idea. I’m going to the UK to edit the footage in a few days, and we’re already working on some of the artwork. Yet I don’t know when we’ll have it released. I’ve seen a rough cut of the first set and obviously it looks amazing. Anything would look amazing in the Royal Albert hall of course.

FC: How would you describe Opeth development over the past 20 years?

M: I think we’ve stuck to our original guns in a way. I still think you can trace todays Opeth sound right back to the first record and recognize it is the same band. Yet I’d have to say I have personally developed more of an interest in experimentation and is demanding that everyone has a open mind to what we do. That in turn requires a constant intake of new influences and development. Luckily, everyone in the band are absolute music geeks and we listen to music, discuss music, diss music, praise music more than any other band on the planet I believe. We learn from eachother. Opeth started as a band with a couple of guys with similar musical interests and ended, so to speak, with a bunch of guys with completely different musical interests, yet the fusion of our musical ideas and personalities makes it kinda swing sometimes. I mean Per is virtually a blues/rock musician, Axe started as a marching drummer, Mendez went from black metal to tango, Fredrik has been a shredder for 20 years and I’m just a bum.

FC: I´ve heard something about a soloalbum from you. If so, what can we expect and when?

M: Those rumours however true they might be are exaggerated. I said that I “wanted” to do a solo album at some point. I have absolutely no pressure on my shoulders for this and noone should expect anything anytime soon. I’m working on a few projects right now but it’s hard for me to make priorities cause I am super interested in them all. The solo thing is one of them, yes.

FC: How´s the songwriting proceeding for the new album? And when do you think it will be out?

M: It’s going “good”. I’ve written a long piece and one short piece neither of which are ready. The long one sounds good, but I think I will edit a lot of the good stuff out and just leave the amazing stuff in there. It’s getting increasingly more difficult to impress myself and my mind is just in a blur right now. I don’t know what I want it to be. The stuff that’s “keeper” stuff is however quite magnificent if I may say so myself, haha!

FC: How do you manage to keep up the high quality in your songwriting? What are your current influences?

M: By kicking my own ass and deleting, deleting. You kinda know right away whether you love something or not. You might try to fool yourself for some time. Pretending it’s “good enough”. However, “good enough” does not cut it for me. I love music too much to have it being lukewarm. It needs to be steaming hot for me. Can’t say everyone will agree, but I won’t have the Opeth logo on something that is not super-duper foxy!

FC: A Legend just died, Ronnie James Dio. What did he mean to you? Any comments?

M: He died yesterday, and I’m gutted! What can I say? It sucks! He’s been there all my life, ever since I was a child. He’s someone I feel I know much better than I really do. I met him once and it just made me love him more. I’m extremely infatuated with music and some of the people that made me realize that this is my “calling”. As for singers, RJD belonged to that school of rock that is not around anymore. They are a dying breed and I fucking hate it. I cling to them like a leech. Dio was probably one of the most important rock musicians in my life and I am extremely sad. I had to call up all my friends with similar relations to him and just get it out. I still can’t believe it, I will never accept it fully. I’ll pretend he’s still alive, and even though I know he’s gone, there’s no harm in pretending he’s still there doing whatever he’s doing.

FC: You recently closed your much appreciated MySpace-profile and all other incoming channels. Many fans feel concerned...Do we have to be worried?

M: Well, there are no reasons to worry regarding my commitment to the band or to our fans. It just got a bit out of hand and too much work for me. I felt I was spending too much time in front of the computer, taking time away from what i really should be doing which is work on music. There was a few people who just logged on to take the piss and insult me, and they are everywhere, but that's not the reason why I closed it down. It was just too much of a distraction for me. A part of me also want to rebel in small way against how web-based music has become lately. I mean, I have yet to accept the CD as a musical format, I'm still with my vinyls. Downloading and using the internet as your only platform to promote yourself is a necessary evil to me. I'm a progressive musician but very regressive when it comes to how it should be handled. Mainly because it is such an integral part of my life. I want it to be around and with the way things are going I think music as a form of expression will be watered down to shit, eurovision, tv docus and some stupid cellphone signal "hit". People are waving the "metal is bigger than that" card I guess, but metal has also been watered down and become to comfortable. I can't have it and I want to play as little part contributing to the downfall of music as possible. Even though I too am "smart" enough to realize how great of a promotion tool the internet really is. We have a few websites and they display the info needed, like shows and everything, but overall I've lost some interest in promoting the band through that forum. I just want to make sure we deliver the good in terms of the quality of our music and the packaging.

The Fan club thanks Mikael for taking the time to answer the questions and we´re wishing him and the band a great summer!

Mikael Åkerfeldt - Interview by Aleksandr Lézy (03 May 2010)

2010-05-03T20:44:00.000-07:00

Time goes really fast. These guys released Watershed two years ago, and now the band is celebrating its twentieth birthday! On this occasion, Opeth went on a special tour with six dates all around the world and a mandatory stop in the old French capital. At the Bataclan, namely, a few hours before the show, the striking and joyful (side of him we didn't know) Mikael Åkerfeldt talked to us, unfortunately too shortly because of a lack of time, about this anniversary and a career rewarded by great success.

Progressia : What state of mind are you in 30 minutes before the show? Do you or the band have some kind of ritual before going on stage?

Mikael Åkerfeldt : We don't really have a ritual per se. Everybody is doing whatever they want, hang out ... some people tend to sleep. I usually warm up my voice like an hour before the show, singing in some toilet, not for the resonance but so I can be alone. (laughs) I also play guitar and warm my fingers up. We sometimes talk and play funny music to be in a good mood. I wouldn't call it rituals. I feel calm for tonight. I was nervous for the first show, not so much about the performance, but because I wanted to see if everything worked: we have so many new members in the crew working with us, new pedalboards, a show with two sets, a pause and a meet and greet.

Did you change the order of the setlist after the first show in Essen?

No, there are only six shows so we are sticking to a first half with the Blackwater Park record, and a second half which is a chronological show, starting with songs from the first record and ending with songs of the last one.

You seem pretty confident, smiling more than the last time we met, two years ago, for the Watershed promo campaign, why?

I can't remember if there was something on my mind ... (laughs) Maybe I had a toothache because I had to go have my tooth fixed in Brussels for a root canal filling. Most of the time, I'm smiling !

What are the different musical or human evolutions that you, your compositions or the band have been through during the last 20 years?

I always thought there has been changes on every album so far, slight or drastic sometimes like what we did with the Damnation album. My Arms Your Hearse was different from what we had done before. When you hear the second set which is the chronological one, I think you can still tell it's the same band. Dan Swanö, one of our earliest producers [Editor's note: producer of Orchid and Morningrise], came to the show in Essen. He was amazed because the sound was the same and he could still recognize the vibe from the earliest songs, which was still there. He really liked the way we kept the same sound despite 15 years of writing new material. A lot of things evolved like the clean vocals and all the influences that we have taken from outside, music that we listened, and line-up changes. Our music has just grown. I must have learned something during these years. (laughs) I was more shy back in the days.

Do you think it is the best way to get successful after a few releases, when the band is more mature so it helps avoiding some kind of explosion that could occur in the early years?

Possibly, but it's hard to tell. I can't really compare it to anything else because that's all I know. It was probably better on a personal level, that we kept our feet on the ground. We were a small underground band and then we made the Blackwater Park album …

Could we say that Katatonia and Opeth are twin bands, since you have similar evolutions?

We have pretty similar tastes, but we also have many differences when it comes to music. There are some parts of their music I would love on my own records and there are other things I don't like at all, like drum beats. I don't like them at all and I keep telling them. (laughs) We get along very well, we just know each other so well on a personal and on a musical level! When I write a song, I kind of know if Jonas [Editor's note : Renkse, Katatonia's vocalist] will like it or not and it's the same for him.

How do you currently see music in general?

That's a difficult question … I don't think we've looked at what's going on now as much as what happened twenty / thirthy years ago. I tend to find older music more interesting for some reason. Maybe it's because I missed it before...I was too young to hear it when it was released. Literaly, when I put on a new record, it just doesn't do much for me. I try to find new bands that I like, though.

Fredrik Åkesson / Mikael Åkerfeldt - Interview by Kyle Moore (03 May 2010)

2010-05-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to speak briefly with Frederik after Opeth’s 20th anniversary show in New York City. While I was told I’d only be seeing Frederik, Martin was also in the room hanging out, and a couple minutes in, Mikael walked in to answer some questions too!

Kyle Moore: I’m here with Frederik and Martin from Opeth, and I only have a few minutes with them so I’ll keep this quick. What prompted you guys to do this special 20th anniversary tour?

Fredrik Åkesson: Well it was as good idea because, there was talk about doing a Blackwater Park show, and then also Mike said “well it’s 20 years anniversary so we should do something special. Let play these long, a few select shows for the die-hard fans. I don’t think it was meant in this big way from the beginning, but uh, that’s just the way it turned out. Demand, there was huge demand.

Is it really exciting that you guys can fill a 3000 seat theater now, 20 years into your career?

FA: Absolutely. I’ve only been in the band for 3 years ya know, since I joined the band, in a way the popularity has increased even more, in a way. Not because of me, I’m not saying that, but you can see the last time we played here, it was with Dream Theater, we played two days but…dunno, it’s fantastic. Maybe its because we do these few shows, it draws more people of course people travel farther to see these shows.

KM: So ordinarily, you’d be doing slightly smaller venues?

FA: Yeah, I think around a couple thousand here in New York at least.

You guys have kind of reached an artistic and commercial pinnacle you’re your newest album WATERSHED. Now you have this song “The Throat of Winter” which is now on a video game soundtrack. What does this mean for the future of Opeth, now that you have reached this whole other audience of people?

FA: [Looking to Mikael] Maybe you wanna answer that one…It’s cool to be in video game, I think the songs very different than Mike wrote. I mean, of course it makes more people to know about the band, that’s good.

What about the Spanish guitar kind of outro that you…was that you playing, at the end?

FA: Yep.

What inspired that, how did that fit into the song?

FA: Mikaels’ riff inspired it, that’s beneath that solo. It was a Flamenco-ish type of riff, we just goofed around at Mikael’s house a bit with it, it felt cool to play more a bit like Al DeMiola style on it, on that particular part.

I know you mentioned that you’ve got the big new album that you guys are working on. What can we expect to hear, and when can we expect to hear it?

FA: Well I think what you can expect to hear is maybe a bit early, I only heard a little bit that Mikael has recorded back at his house, and it sounded very very cool, I think, very dark.

So would this be a transition away from what you guys were doing with Watershed, or even a deeper movement into that sound.

Mikael Åkerfeldt: Uh, don’t know yet! There’s a…I played a demo version, it’s a 10 minute demo now. He hasn’t heard all of it, by the time he heard it was like…

FA: Seven…

MA: But, there was some kind of traditional metal riffs that were good riffs, I think. But I think we’re gonna take those out, cuz they’re too traditional sounding. I think we wanna do something…different, you know? There was one riff I wrote that kinda set the tone for this song and I think, ultimately for the album, in a way, which was very different from anything we’ve done before. It’s just a riff, I guess, but it was really….something about it that just…feels like THAT’S what we should do, ya know what I mean?

You guys have never really written traditional metal though, so…

MA: You know, like…these riffs were good riffs and we could easily make Opeth songs out of it, but maybe it’s time to just…tweak out sound a little bit and go into new territories somewhat. I can’t say what the end result is gonna be for the whole album but for this song at least, I want it to be…different.

No album you’ve ever done has ever sounded the same…

MA: I don’t think so either, but they’ve been, I dunno...they’ve been…metal records. It’s really hard to explain, ya know it’s just that…this song I have higher aspirations than making it just a good Opeth song. I want it to set the tone, push us forward a little bit, as I said, go into new territories.

Mike, you made a joke at a show I was at some years ago saying something a long the lines of “we can’t shred for crap. If we could, we’d be rich.”

MA: We can now!

That’s what I was gonna say…

MA: [laughs]

Now you have Frederik, who can certainly shred. What else, Frederik, do you thin that you bring to Opeth’s table, not just because you have this very virtuosic, technical guitar ability…you can also sing too! I didn’t know you did backing vocals, but that was really cool…

FA: That’s maybe one thing [laughs] Actually it’s up to the listener to…tell that. I feel that I have a hard time talking about…myself, praise myself in a way. It’s up to the listener.

MA: …I can tell that we can…one of the things is actually his vocals. Now we finally can do, because with Per [Wilberg] singing too we can do some of those intricate vocal arrangements that we’ve done on past records that we’ve never been able to do before. Now we can perform…those types of parts live as well. But Frederik obviously…it’s a lot with his guitar playing that really fits the band. Me and him as a rhythm player are tight to the point like where our engineer, who did the WATERSHED record, he wanted like one of us to record the rhythms, because that’s generally how most metal bands do it these days to make it really tight. But I insisted that both of us play the rhythm parts, and he was…for me it’s just normal, like you have two guitars…two guitar players in the band, are supposed to be able to play the parts tight together, but in the studio that’s how most metal bands do but we just…shared all the guitar duties and it was, I think it added a nice…richer type of sound actually to the guitar playing. But there’s so many things about his guitar playing that…which is the reason why he’s in the band. Great solo, lead guitar playing, he’s a bluesy, nice feel type of player which he’s never been able to showcase in his previous bands I think, as much anyways, ya know? And great vocalist, great songwriter, and he’s very driven, which is nice. Playing with Peter in the last couple years was…he didn’t really contribute that much. To have Frederik come in and just…take charge was…refreshing.

I’ll do one more question and let you guys go, I’m sure y’all are tired. What is next for you guys, not just in terms of the new album? You guys kind of have unparalleled and unprecedented recognition, popularity, artistic…what’s the word I’m looking for…respect! Where else do you want to go? You guys are kind of at the top…

MA: I dunno. We’ve been around 20 years, ya know its…many of our dreams, so to speak, have been fulfilled. Everything for the last 5 years has been a bonus for us, if you know what I mean. But we still are quite excited of what we could do musically. We have a new lineup here that I think is great. With every lineup change that we’ve had we’ve always felt a bit rejuvenated. And that’s certainly the case now. This is the first album with Frederik, first album for Axe [Martin Axenrot.] We can probably do a few more good records and tours until it’s over, I think, but I don’t know what our goals would be so…just have a good time and ROCK!

KM: Rocking sounds good enough for me. Alright guys, thank you so much, I really appreciate your time. I had a wonderful time at your show, and I am looking forward to my 7th’s Opeth concert, whenever that would be!

Fredrik Åkesson - French interview by Gyroscope (28 Mar 2010)

2010-03-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

Opeth s'apprête à célébrer son vingtième anniversaire en beauté au cours d'une tournée évènementielle, l'Evolution XX Tour, qui passera par Paris le 3 avril prochain. A cette occasion, le guitariste Fredrik Akesson est revenu sur les trois dernières années passées au sein du groupe, la tournée en cours,et ce qui se profile pour l'avenir.

Ça te fait quoi quand tu réalises que 20 ans se sont écoulés depuis la formation d’Opeth?

C’est drôle à réaliser parce que, même si je ne suis pas dans le groupe depuis le début, 20 ans ça représente quand même un sacré bout de temps.

Tu as rejoint Opeth en 2007, quel est ton meilleur souvenir sur ces trois ans?

Oh il y en a tellement tu sais, c’est difficile à dire. Probablement un concert, il y en a eu vraiment des fantastiques, mais finalement il y en a tellement qui ont été extra, avec la foule en transe, non c’est vraiment difficile d’en citer un précisément. J’ai vraiment pris mon pied trop souvent en fait. (rires)

Et le pire?

La aussi, beaucoup beaucoup de choses. Même si nous en avons ris sur le coup, je dirais la fois où nous faisions un concert à Miami avec Dream Theater, une scène énorme. Le rideau que nous utilisions pour la mise en scène est tombé, et nous avons perdu Per et Martin de vue, ils étaient sous le rideau, nous de l’autre côté pendant 20 bonnes minutes. Au début on a été surpris, après on en a ri mais nous avons finalement réalisé qu’on aurait pu mourir. Ça peut sembler être une anecdote marrante, mais c’était effrayant.

Tu étais déjà fan d’Opeth avant de les rejoindre, mais aurais-tu imaginé un tel succès pour le groupe?

Non, pas vraiment, je me suis toujours focalisé avant tout sur la musique, comme tous les membres du groupe d’ailleurs. J’espérais que ça marcherait et je savais que ces mecs étaient bons avant même de les rejoindre, mais je ne m’attendais pas à cela non plus.

Peux tu me donner un adjectif qui décrit le mieux ton expérience au sein du groupe?

Un adjectif, je vais plutôt dire deux mots : inspiration et progrès.

Tu penses alors avoir atteint ton meilleur niveau avec Opeth?

Non, pas exactement, mon jeu de guitare a progressé c’est sûr, mais je pensais aussi à la façon d’écrire de Mickael quinterview Opethi est assez unique, ce concentré d’inspiration et cette ambiance qui est très cool.

Parlons maintenant du Evolution XX Tour. Comment avez-vous choisi la setlist pour la tournée?

Au départ on voulait mettre en avant un album, et en un sens c’est ce qu’on finit par faire sur la première moitié du concert, mais nous avons également décidé de jouer des morceaux de tous nos albums, chronologiquement.

Et pourquoi avoir choisi de jouer intégralement Blackwater Park pendant les concerts de votre tournée anniversaire?

Je ne sais pas vraiment, en fait j’ai même l’impression que peu de gens le savent. Enfin disons que cet album représente un tournant dans la carrière d’Opeth, je pense que c’est pour cela que l’idée a pris.

Quel est ton morceau préféré à jouer sur scène avec Opeth?

Ah c’est difficile, des fois j’en préfère un, des fois un autre, ça change tout le temps en fait. En ce moment c’est plutôt les chansons des deux premiers albums, les vieux morceaux. C’est assez intéressant de les rejouer maintenant.

Opeth a joué deux fois en 5 ans au Hellfest -toi une fois il me semble- mais vous êtes plutôt fidèles au festival. Peux-tu me dire ce que tu penses du fest?

Il me semble que j’y ai joué aussi une fois avec Arch Enemy, la première fois et je pense que c’est un festival qui se développe tous les ans, qui devient vraiment un évènement de plus en plus énorme.

D’accord, et vous prévoyez d’y retourner bientôt?

Disons que l’année prochaine on pense surtout s’atteler au nouvel album. On voudrait s’y mettre à la fin de l’année, après toute la tournée. Enfin on va faire un break, commencer à bosser sur du nouveau matériel, laisser Mickael écrire les nouvelles chansons. En fait quand je dis qu’on fait une pause, on ne se déconnecte pas totalement, finalement on reste quand même tous préoccupés par Opeth et ce qui va suivre.

Arch Enemy y rejoue cette année, as-tu toujours des contacts avec les membres du groupe?

Oui, oui, on discute parfois, j’ai parlé avec Mickael il y a quelques semaines.

As-tu facilement réussi à faire évoluer ton jeu entre Arch Enemy et Opeth?

Arch Enemy est un bon groupe, j’aimais particulièrement les trois premiers albums, et Doomsday Machine. Après au niveau du jeu de guitare, on est plus dans une musique thrash et métallique avec Arch Enemy. Opeth est plus varié dans les accords, le picking, tout ce qui est technique en général.

Le 3 avril Opeth va jouer à Paris dans le cadre du Evolution XX Tour, et le concert est complet. Penses-tu que les fans français sont fidèles au groupe?

Oui, absolument, les Français sont de vrais inconditionnels, ils aiment la musique et la soutiennent bien, j’aime la France pour ça.

Donc tu aimes jouer chez nous?

Complètement, j’ai joué très souvent à Paris, d’ailleurs je crois que c’est là-bas que j’ai fait un de mes premiers concerts. Sinon je suis allé dans deux-trois villes de provinces avec Opeth, Lille je crois, mais dernièrement c’était plutôt Paris. Et puis concernant le Evolution XX Tour, nous allons vraiment faire des énormes shows dans des grandes salles, dans le genre du Cirkus, à Stockholm, je ne sais pas si tu connais.

Non, je n’y suis jamais allée encore. Dernière question maintenant : Per Wiberg, le claviériste d’Opeth, joue aussi dans les Spiritual Beggars, j’ai entendu dire qu’ils comptaient s’atteler à un nouvel album, tu sais quelque chose?

Ah oui, il joue avec eux, et un nouvel album est prévu, je crois même qu’ils sont en train de l’enregistrer en ce moment. J’aime beaucoup ce qu’ils font d’ailleurs.

Moi aussi. Veux-tu ajouter un dernier mot pour conclure?

Et bien, j’espère que vous allez apprécier le concert à Paris, et après cela les nouveaux morceaux. A très bientôt!

Mikael Åkerfeldt talk about recording the song "The Throat Of Winter" (30 Jan 2010)

2010-01-30T15:16:00.000-08:00

"I just finished and approved the mastering of a new song I wrote called ‘The throat of Winter’. I wrote it for that game, ‘God of war’ that we're supposed to be included in, or however that works. Is it a digital album? I don't know how that shit works, but it's done anyways. Hell, I'm still with my turntables (got 3 of them) and right now I'm playing a Aussie original of ‘High voltage’ by AC/DC.

"Song is very odd, it's good I think, or for my taste it is, but even I can understand it's very....odd! Produced and recorded it from scratch and I'm happy with the sound if I may say so myself. Fred laid down a killer acoustic solo and Per laid down an amazing twiddly tweet moog solo. It's not a very metal song, I'm saving up for that..later.....yet it's got a metal ‘mentality’, or what I remember metal used to do to me. I can feel it, even though it's not a ‘metal’ song per definition. Anyways, if you hear it I hope you like it.

"Me and Fred went to Namm for a few days and it was fun fun FUN! Did some signing session and a Q&A for PRS guitars. My signature guitar looked and felt amazing! Loved the neck of it! It was only a prototype so some adjustments will be made, but overall I'm fucking blown away by it. Fred liked it too very much and it seemed to attrack a lot of interest! The PRS people were real nice to us as always and I got to meet some nice people I hadn't met before. We might have had a few drinks too many but we had to do something to cope with the jetlag which was overwhelming. Looks like we might be going to the Frankfurt Musikmesse as well, right before those anniversary shows we're doing in March/April.

"OK, people...I'm off again. Even though we're off the road I feel busier than ever. I'm hyper and I've got a billion projects in the air it feels like.... Hope you're all good."

Mikael Åkerfeldt talk about "Watershed" world tour (07 Dec 2009)

2009-12-07T13:52:00.000-08:00

"Sexual goat licker! Isn't that one of the ‘best’ stage names ever? I think the band is called Pagan rites and they're (obviously) from Sweden. Why do I tell you this? No reason....we just happened to talk about this band in the cab back from the airport. "That's it folks!! The Watershed world tour is now officially OVER! We finished off with 2 shows in Greece. One in Thessaloniki and one in Athens. Both were great and a worthy finale for a tour that's lasted over 19 months and I'd guess far beyond 200 shows. All over the world. We've played in territories we've never been before. Like Russia & the Middle east. Made a lot of friends, met a lot of psychos, seen some crazy stuff, done some crazy stuff too!
"Endless hours in airports, to the point that we've made friends with bartenders all over the world. ‘Hey, you guys again??’. Endless hours in shuttles, hotels, backstage rooms, backstage (funky) toilets, bars, coffee shops (not me), taxi cabs, buses, bunks, in the gutter!
"I feel....weird! I think I feel good, but I feel shit too! My daughters were waking me up this morning crawling over me, kissing me and hugging me. ‘Daddy's home!’. Melinda asked if I'd stay ‘all the time until Christmas?’. She thinks having me home for 20 days or so is like an eternity. Sad really. Well, I'm setting things straight with a ridicilous amount of presents. I don't know what I'm going to do now. Maybe rest for a week or so and just hang out.
"PRS guitars are going to bring me and Fred over for the Namm fair where I'll introduce my very own signature guitar. Amazing! I have kept my mouth shut on this cause I wasn't sure how things were progressing, but now it seems like the prototype is finished and it's ‘killer’ I hear! Haven't tried it out yet but it's gonna be fucking nice!
"Opeth have the 20th anniversary shows coming up + I think we might do 2 festivals. Bloodbath are doing 5 festivals next Summer. Not really busy at all to be honest in terms of shows. I'll be writing music though...lots of it!
"Anyways, I'm gonna....drink some coffee, so fuck off! Nah, love ya! Thanks for your support guys! We can't thank you enough..."

Fredrik Åkesson - Interview by Spiritech (13 Nov 2009)

2009-11-13T22:55:00.000-08:00

Swedish progressive metallers Opeth are one unique entity. Having transcended the metal genre, the band draws from a variety of musical inspirations and as a result, now boasts a fan base that covers pockets of almost the entire spectrum of popular music. Following the release of last year's Watershed, the band return to Australia yet again this month for a select series of shows. PyroMusic caught up with guitarist Fredrik Akesson (also known for his stints in Arch Enemy from 2005-2007 and Krux) to discuss the band's incredible success, progressive rock and frontman Mikael Akerfeldt's sense of humour.

Spiritech: Hey Fredrik, how are you doing?

Frederik Akesson: Pretty good. I woke up half an hour ago, enjoying some coffee (laughs).

Spiritech: I understand the band just came off a pretty hefty European tour.

Frederik Akesson: Yeah, we did the tour with Dream Theater, the Progressive Nation tour and then a few days back we played a headline show in Tel Aviv.

Spiritech: Wow - how was the Tel Aviv show?

Frederik Akesson: That was really good actually. There was about 1700 people and that was fun. We basically just flew in and out of the country. The show went fine I think. It actually seemed to be very calm there, but still, we have a lot of crew people and I guess there was more people about people wanting to get home to their families, because we're always touring and you want to spend as much of those off days back home as possible.

Spiritech: You've been touring on Watershed for more than a year now. Are those songs still fresh and exciting to play live?

Frederik Akesson: Yeah, they are actually. And now we've recently started playing some songs that we haven't played before. So we try to change things and mix it up all the time, because then it becomes more fun, you know? And more challenging as well.

Spiritech: What have been some of the highlights of the Watershed tour thus far?

Frederik Akesson: Definitely Australia last time was really, really good. And also the South American tour we did, when we played in Chile, Santiago and those places, that was great, having something like 4500 people on a headlining show, which is the biggest headline show I think Opeth has ever done. They were singing along with the guitar melodies like it was an Iron Maiden show and stuff like that! That was really cool. There's been a lot of fun shows actually. One in Germany when we played, it was really bad weather, just mud everywhere and thunderstorms, but the crowd just went crazy and took their shirts off and jumped around and threw mud at each other. It was pretty far out.

Spiritech: Impressive. Was Swedish progressive-metal ever supposed to become this huge?

Frederik Akesson: I don't know! (laughs) I guess you just do the best you can. But it's really cool, a lot of younger people and also older people like it, instead of what's popular in the charts.

Spiritech: Indeed. Now, Watershed was your first studio album with Opeth. How much songwriting input did you have on this record?

Frederik Akesson: I mean, Mikael Akerfeldt writes most of the stuff, as he's always done. But one song, 'Porcelain Heart', the first video track, that was a track that we co-wrote. I came up with this heavy intro riff and a bit of the verse parts and we kind of collaborated on that for a while and then Mikael arranged the song and came up with the other parts. So that was really cool to at least be on one track. But otherwise, I did the guitar solos and small stuff here and there. And of course I played rhythm guitar on the album.

Spiritech: Do you think you'll have more songwriting input on the next album then?

Frederik Akesson: It entirely depends on how good the songs are. I've already recorded some stuff... it's more of a democratic decision I guess and we're going to listen to everything. In the end a lot of it (is) Mikael calling the shots, but we'll see what happens. It's a bit too early to know yet, but I will definitely try. (I don't have) any lyrics or anything, I don't do that, I will leave that to Mikael. But there are some parts are there, they're not complete songs, but some song sections. We'll see what happens.

Spiritech: Mike is obviously a huge progressive rock fan, especially from the 70s era. Are you of a similar musical mindset?

Frederik Akesson: Yeah, absolutely, but I don't have the same knowledge as him about it. So he got me into some bands. I was a big fan of Rush and listened to King Crimson, you know, Deep Purple and all that stuff, but that's maybe not really progressive rock. And I always liked Cactus. But he got me into Camel for instance and Nick Drake and stuff like that, stuff that I now listen to. He has a great knowledge of music.

Spiritech: Does it happen often that he stumbles on to some rare 70s prog album and then brings it along and introduces it to the rest of the band?

Frederik Akesson: Yeah, we definitely sit around on the tour bus listening to shuffled iPods. Many times he'll be like, "yeah, you've gotta listen to this". Everybody in the band are big music freaks and buy a lot of music. Mikael always collects vinyl on tour, he's a huge vinyl record collector.

Spiritech: You mention being on the tour bus with Mike and on-stage, he presents a very dry sense of humour. Is he like that off-stage as well, such as in the studio?

Frederik Akesson: Absolutely, off-stage too! (laughs) He's very disciplined in a way though and very focused when we work. But I think everybody's very focused when we work, it's not an issue. Still, when we're recording he comes up with some funny thing and Mike can be very, very dry (laughs).

Spiritech: How does he go about telling you something like, "that take wasn't as good as it could have been" or "I didn't like that riff?"

Frederik Akesson: Actually, when I did the guitars for Watershed, Mikael wasn't in the studio at that time. It was very, very smooth and that was cool for me, because I guess he had a lot of confidence that I would pull if off, so to speak, and that everybody knew their parts. At rehearsals and stuff he can be... it's pretty hard stuff, but it's fun, he gets it all back! (laughs)

Spiritech: Great stuff. While Opeth aren't renowned for covers there's a great version of Alice In Chains' 'Would' on the special edition of Watershed. It's a great song but perhaps not one many would expect Opeth to choose over someone like say, King Crimson or Pink Floyd. Why did you go with this track and can we expect more covers in the near future?

Frederik Akesson: I think Mikael thought we should take songs that weren't progressive, like a song from King Crimson or something, (something) that was different from Opeth stuff. So I guess that was one of the reasons and also everybody liked that song. The decisions were made in the studio, right at the end of the recording we rehearsed the songs in the studio. But I remember I wanted to do 'Diary Of A Madman' by Ozzy Osbourne, but that's more of a progressive song. We don't have any other cover versions yet though.

Spiritech: Interesting. What was it like for yourself making the transition from one successful Swedish band in Arch Enemy to another successful act in Opeth?

Frederik Akesson: In a way, it was a bit of a similar situation, but in a way it was not a very similar situation. 'Cause in Opeth I joined for the writing process of Watershed and I was at Mikael's house laying down the guitars and jamming and stuff all the time. But in Arch Enemy I only did touring, I never played on any album. But in this case, I got to play on the album and then do the touring. And therefore you feel like much more a part of it. Also, difference wise it was the music; to learn the style of Mikael's guitar playing and also work on like my acoustic playing and stuff like that. That was a challenge and that was really fun as well.

Spiritech: Since you've moved on from Arch Enemy have you kept in any kind of regular contact with them?

Frederik Akesson: Yeah, absolutely, we have contact. It was kind of funny actually, because the first tour we did on Watershed was the Defenders of the Faith tour, which 'Metal Hammer' did in the UK. That was us and Arch Enemy. We talk sometimes.

Spiritech: Good to hear! Changing topics, the band are making yet another trek to Australia this month. What is it about Australia that just seems to "get" Opeth?

Frederik Akesson: I don't know, but the thing is we're really happy about that. I've played in Australia twice with Arch Enemy also and it's always been the best crowds, the craziest crowds I think. With Opeth, it's amazing that we play bigger and bigger places each time. Opeth music is a bit hard to digest maybe I thought, but it's really cool that people are into it.

Spiritech: That's the incredible thing about Opeth - your music is very melodic, but not easily digestible. Yet you're signed to a huge label and play to huge crowds worldwide and being a metal band that has transcended genres and has fans of all different types of music. What is it about Opeth that has enabled this to happen?

Frederik Akesson: Well, I used to be a big fan of Opeth before I was in the band. I always appreciated it and thought the sound was very original and that the songs were very original. Maybe it has to do with the calm parts versus the aggressive parts I suppose. It's difficult to do long songs that still have... that still connect in a good way, not like it could be many songs glued together, they're not just meant as separate sections. It's difficult to do long songs with a flow within the song. It's hard to explain to this, but maybe you know what I mean (laughs). Maybe it's the variations within the song; that you never really know what's going to happen within the song when you listen to it for the first time.

Spiritech: With such lengthy and complex songs and a reputation for often varying the set list within a tour, is it pretty challenging for you even after a few years in the band to replicate all of them as accurately as possible, especially with such an extensive catalogue to choose from?

Frederik Akesson: Well, we go through the songs before we play a couple of times. I practice the songs a lot so you feel comfortable playing them live. But sometimes it's been like, I have to learn the song like within the day or something, so it can be a bit stressful. But it's just a matter of practicing the songs I think. Plus it's also fun to change the songs around, it's more interesting.

Spiritech: What can Australian fans expect set list wise on the upcoming tour?

Frederik Akesson: A few songs that we never played in Australia before; a very different set list from the last time we were there. We're playing some songs from Ghost Reveries we've never played like 'Harlequin Forest'. Also I think we're playing 'April Ethereal' from the My Arms, Your Hearse record and some good old stuff too as well as some songs from Watershed that we haven't played.

Spiritech: You mentioned that you'd been a long-time fan before joining Opeth. What's your favourite Opeth album and why?

Frederik Akesson: (Laughs) That's a difficult one, but lately I've been listening a lot to Still Life. It's probably the one I had the hardest time to get into from the beginning, but now I listen to it quite a lot. That's probably my favourite right now, but it varies. Ghost Reveries was my favourite for a while; I can't say Watershed because I played on it I guess! (laughs) But in the beginning when I got into Opeth, it was Blackwater Park. That was the first time when I heard Opeth and then I listened to the others.

Spiritech: Nice choice there. Final question - do you have any last words for PyroMusic.net readers?

Frederik Akesson: We are real excited to come over to Australia to play again and it's going to be really cool.

Mikael Åkerfeldt / Mike Portnoy - French interview by Rémy Turpault (02 Nov 2009)

2009-11-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

Réunir les grands patrons du metal progressif n'était pas chose aisée. C'est donc avec un plaisir tout particulier que nous nous sommes entretenus avec deux monstres sacrés qui, avec leurs formations respectives, font vibrer nos tympans depuis tant d'années.

Progressia : En cette journée peu commune où Paris accueille le Progressive Nation, comment définiriez-vous le rock ou le metal progressif? Quel serait votre définition en quelques mots?

Mike Portnoy : Je dirais que le terme « progressif » se réfère à des groupes qui osent prendre des risques, créer des ponts ou combiner différents styles et influences.

Tu proposes ici une définition très élargie du genre avec des groupes très variés...

Mike : Lorsque l'on pense « progressif », les premiers groupes qui viennent en tête sont ELP ou Genesis. Maintenant, il suffit de regarder les groupes de cette tournée : Opeth, Big Elf, Unexpect. Pour moi, ils ne se ressemblent pas du tout, ils proposent des choses vraiment très différentes et toutes progressives à leur manière. Je pense que c'est la définition précise du terme.

J'imagine que vous avez souvent l'occasion de discuter de vos opinions et influences communes en musique. Quel serait le pont entre vos deux groupes par exemple?

Mikael Åkerfeldt : Mike et moi discutons souvent des groupes que nous aimons et nos goûts communs vont du metal jusqu'à la pop psychédélique des années soixante...
Mike : Le point commun entre Opeth et Dream Theater est l'utilisation de metal et de progressif. C'est d'ailleurs le terme « metal progressif » qui est couramment employé. Dream Theater a toujours eu deux penchants, l'un tourné vers Yes ou Pink Floyd, et l'autre orienté vers Metallica ou Iron Maiden. A l'écoute d'Opeth, j'entends également du son heavy, du psychédélique, et du prog' mélodique. C'est une des ressemblances bien que nos musiques restent extrêmement différentes. Même avec nos influences communes que sont la musique des sixties, des seventies, le metal et le thrash, nos musiques ont pris des directions bien distinctes.
Mikael : Tout dépend de la manière dont tu emploies ces influences. Nous les avons exploité différemment, même si j'ai plus d'affinité avec Dream Theater qu'avec le reste de la scène metal car ce sont des musiciens ouverts d'esprit.

Aujourd'hui, vous êtes deux des plus importants groupes du genre sur l'un des plus gros labels indépendants de metal. Pensez vous que cet univers musical connu pour être un brin conservateur évolue dans le sens où il accepte davantage des éléments progressifs?

Mike : La signature de Dream Theater, Opeth, et maintenant Porcupine Tree avec Roadrunner Records prouve que ce genre possède bel et bien un public. Comparé aux artistes les plus populaires du moment, nous restons bien entendu underground. Nous avons toutefois prouvé qu'il existe une importante audience pour notre musique.
Mikael : J'ai pensé à la signature du contrat que le label le faisait pour gagner en crédibilité, après avoir été accusé de produire des artistes hyper mainstream. Ensuite Dream Theater et Porcupine Tree nous ont rejoints... puis Lynyrd Skynyrd ou Kiss qui ne sont pas vraiment des groupes progressifs, mais c'est cool de voir un tel label prendre ce genre de risques.
Mike : Même les groupes les plus metal de leur catalogue tels que Megadeth, Machine Head ou Trivium sont composés de bons musiciens qui cherchent toujours à se dépasser et à écrire de longs morceaux.
Mikael : Certains d'entre eux, oui. Selon moi, Roadrunner Records a toujours été un excellent label. D'ailleurs leur division européenne possède depuis ses débuts un panel de groupes fantastiques comme Mercyful Fate ou Obituary.

Mikael, quel est pour toi le meilleur morceau de Dream Theater?

Mikael : Quand j'ai découvert le groupe, j'ai été stupéfait par la richesse de leur musique qui me rappelait Genesis, Yes et King Crimson que j'écoutais depuis peu à l'époque. Je ne m'intéressais pas vraiment aux groupes comme Watchtower ou Fates Warning, mais quand Dream Theater est arrivé avec son deuxième album, et le single « Pull Me Under », je les ai trouvés formidables. C'étaient des musiciens contemporains qui s'inspiraient de la musique des années soixante-dix. Le premier titre que j'ai dû entendre sur Images & Words était « Under the Glass Moon » dont j'adore le premier riff! (qu'il chantonne)
Mike : On tentait de jouer du Deep Purple en plus heavy avec ce gros son d'orgue Hammond...
Mikael : Et il y a ce solo! Quand je l'ai écouté pour la première fois, je me suis dit « euh... ouais, il est plutôt bon! » (rires). Je connais les albums suivants sur le bout des doigts, notamment Awake. Je suis également amoureux de « Peruvian Skies » avec ce superbe son de Rhodes...
Mike : Un morceau qui mélange bien nos influences Pink Floyd et Metallica...
Mikael : J'ai toujours suivi leur carrière. Ils sont devenus l'un de mes groupes préférés et le sont toujours aujourd'hui.

Et Mike, quel est ton morceau préféré d'Opeth?

Mike : J'ai souvent dit que mon morceau favori était « The Baying of the Hounds ». Je pense même que c'est mon morceau de la décennie. Si je ne devais écouter qu'un morceau d'Opeth, celui-là a tous les éléments distinctifs du groupe : l'orgue puissant, le son des années soixante-dix, des riffs death metal et quelques passages progressifs très mélodiques. Beaucoup de leurs morceaux contiennent des tas d'idées différentes, mais celui-là est particulièrement excellent.
Mikael : Mike me demande sans arrêt de la jouer. (rires)
Mike : C'était dans le contrat s'il voulait faire la première tournée du Progressive Nation! (rires)

Comment définiriez vous votre rôle en tant que leader dans vos groupes respectifs?

Mikael : Question difficile. Je pense que je suis entêté et ça découle forcément sur le groupe de manière positive ou négative. Je veux juste passer un bon moment et faire de la bonne musique, c'est aussi simple que cela. J'ai néanmoins toujours le dernier mot et je décide de ce qui est bon ou pas pour Opeth. Il doit bien y avoir quelqu'un pour faire face à toute la dimension business et tous ces éléments dont on se fiche pas mal et qui n'ont pas grand chose à voir avec la musique. Il y a aussi des gens qui travaillent pour toi et qui dépendent de toi, ce qui rend tout ça bien merdique parfois. Dans tous les cas, nous sommes juste cinq gars qui faisons de la musique et c'est bien ce qui compte.

J'imagine que c'est la même chose pour toi, Mike?

Mike : C'est un peu différent car je ne suis pas l'unique compositeur. Dans Opeth, Mikael écrit tout de A à Z. Dans Dream Theater, même si je dirige le groupe, nous élaborons la musique tous ensemble même si James est un peu en retrait. Il existe donc une notion de partage, un processus créatif entre nous quatre. Je produis ensuite l'album avec John Petrucci. Une fois le disque terminé, je m'occupe de tout. Du merchandising à l'artwork, en passant par les premières parties de nos tournées, les official bootlegs, les fan clubs, etc. A priori, les autres sont heureux que je m'occupe de tout ce bordel parce ça fait partie de ma personnalité. Ils sont plus passifs et se foutent de la setlist ou de l'ordre des morceaux sur les disques, ils ont confiance en mes décisions qui ne concernent pas directement notre écriture en commun. J'ai ce tatouage qui signifie « c'est bon d'être roi, et ça craint d'être roi ». (sous l'oeil amusé de Mikael, il relève sa manche et montre un tatouage représentant deux visages d'un roi sur une carte à jouer : l'un porte des lunettes de soleil et arbore un sourire satisfait, l'autre pleure) C'est génial d'être celui dont on reconnait le travail, mais tu es aussi celui qui se prend tous les reproches.
Mikael : Si quelqu'un qui part du groupe, c'est de ta faute.
Mike : Tu n'imagines pas combien de fois on m'a reproché que John Myung n'ait plus écrit de paroles en quinze ans, alors que je n'y suis pour rien! Lorsqu'un problème est lié à l'une de mes décisions, j'en prends l'entière responsabilité. En revanche, tu deviens naturellement la cible pour tout ce qui arrive.

Quels sont vos priorités lorsque vous composez un morceau?

Mikael : Je n'en ai pas vraiment, je veux juste être bon dans ce que je fais. Je veux y prendre du plaisir et je ne me soucie pas de m'imposer quoi que ce soit ou de contenter les fans.

Mike, à propos de certains disques, tu as déclaré avoir une idée prédéfinie de la direction musicale avant même de commencer l'écriture... Est-ce habituel de procéder ainsi pour Dream Theater?

Mike : Tout dépend des albums. Parfois, le groupe ou moi-même avions décidé à l'avance du propos. Par exemple, pour Train of Thought, nous voulions proposer une musique franchement heavy. Scenes From a Memory était un concept album donc nous savions clairement le chemin que nous empruntions. Parfois, comme pour les deux derniers albums, nous avons surtout laissé les choses se faire d'elles-mêmes. On donnera toujours la priorité aux parties instrumentales. Au début de la composition d'un disque, on écrit sans se soucier du reste. Et lorsque l'on a deux ou trois morceaux, on essaie de voir ce qui manque à l'album dans son ensemble en trouvant un point d'équilibre.

Le succès a-t-il changé votre façon d'appréhender ou de concevoir votre musique?

Mikael : Peut-être effectivement. Si tu suis toutefois juste ton instinct, et que ce que tu composes te plait, il y a une chance que ça parle aussi à quelqu'un d'autre. Difficile de ne pas subir la pression extérieure car il est inévitable que les gens parlent de ton travail et attendent ton prochain album.

Quel est le meilleur souvenir de votre carrière?

Mikael : Notre meilleure mélodie? [NdlR : Mikael a compris « melody » au lieu de « memory »]
Mike : Non, ton meilleur souvenir. Mais pour la mélodie, c'est sans doute celle-ci! (il chantonne le début de « The Lotus Eater »)
Mikael : Et pour Dream Theater, ça doit ressembler à ça. (il imite une partie de shred - rires généraux)
Mike : Cette partie que tu chantes au début de « The Lotus Eater » me fait toujours penser à ce vieux standard : (il chantonne) « Feelings, Nothing More But Feelings... ».
Mikael : Je l'ai en fait empruntée à un vieux disque de folk. Bref, revenons en aux meilleurs souvenirs...
Mike : Je donne toujours la même réponse parce que c'est la vérité : lorsque nous avons joué au Radio City Music Hall pour notre vingtième anniversaire avec un orchestre [NdlR : ce concert est documenté sur le DVD Score]. C'était une soirée spéciale à tous les niveaux.
Mikael : Pour nous, c'était pendant cette tournée lorsque nous avons joué à Stockholm au Hovet, là où j'ai vu tous ces groupes mythiques comme Judas Priest ou Iron Maiden. Nous étions tout tellement excités à l'idée d'y jouer. Pourtant, lorsque tu arrives sur les planches, tu te dis « Ouais, bon, c'est juste une scène comme les autres ». (rires)

Et votre moment le plus embarrassant sur scène?

Mikael : C'est assez facile. Nous en avons eu beaucoup, le premier qui me vient toutefois à l'esprit a eu lieu pendant le Progressive Nation à Miami, durant notre interprétation de « The Baying of the Hounds ». J'ai vu des gens qui commençaient à se marrer. J'ai commencé à me demander ce qui se passait, à me dire que j'avais peut-être la bite à l'air (rires). Lorsque je me suis retourné, je me suis rendu compte qu'un rideau immense était tombé. Du coup Per [NdlR : Wiberg, claviers] et Axe [NdlR : Martin Axenrot, batterie] étaient derrière et on ne voyait que leurs pieds!
Mike : Je crois qu'on peut voir ça sur YouTube!
Mikael : On a eu une pause de vingt ou vingt cinq minutes, le temps de réparer tout ça. On nous a annoncé que le set ne serait pas raccourci pour autant, et pendant que nous attendions dans l'aile, on se disait que les gens nous attendaient et qu'on reviendrait de manière glorieuse. En remontant sur scène, la foule avait l'air de dire « Oh, encore eux? ». (rires)
Mike : Pendant le dernier concert de la tournée, alors qu'ils jouaient « The Drapery Falls » je me suis amusé à monter et baisser le rideau pendant leur set pour les embêter. (rires)

Et toi Mike, quel est ton moment le plus embarrassant?

Mike : Tout ce que tu as pu voir dans Spinal Tap est vrai, ça arrive forcément un moment ou un autre. J'ai été bloqué dans le bus de tournée, je suis tombé de quelques scènes... Le pire qui a pu nous arriver selon moi - et j'en fais encore des cauchemars - était dans une salle au Texas, nous étions encore dans les loges et ne savions pas que la musique d'introduction pour « A Change of Seasons » venait d'être lancée. Elle s'est terminée alors que nous étions en train de courir en panique vers la scène!
Mikael : Ca m'est arrivé une fois alors que j'étais en train de chier : « Tiens, je reconnais cette musique... » (rires).

Quel est votre avis sur l'évolution du marché de la musique, avec d'une part l'essor du téléchargement légal, et de l'autre le retour du vinyl et la mode des éditions spéciales?

Mikael : Je ne télécharge pas, je ne sais même pas comment faire et je fais partie de ces gens qui aiment posséder l'objet physique. Je pense que ça a eu de bonnes comme de mauvaises conséquences. On fait avec, ce n'est pas comme si on pouvait y faire quelque chose ou arrêter de jouer parce que les gens téléchargent. D'une certaine manière, je pense que c'est bénéfique pour les groupes qui souhaitent tourner, d'ailleurs, il y a de plus en plus de concerts. Je ne peux pas dire pour autant que je soutiens le téléchargement. J'adore ce come back du vinyle et les éditions collectors si c'est concret évidemment, pas uniquement une nouvelle couleur du CD. J'aime avoir des bonus, des démos, des photos, des vidéos...

Vous êtes tous deux de grands collectionneurs. Quel est le disque de votre collection qui a pour vous la plus grande valeur sentimentale?

Mikael : La première chose qui me vient à l'esprit est le premier Bathory, avec un bouc sur la pochette. Juste un bouc! (Mike se marre). Sur la première édition, le bouc était jaune, c'est super dur à trouver. Je l'ai acheté pour une bouchée de pain, j'aurais pu le revendre une fortune, mais je l'adore et le conserve bien précieusement.
Mike : Je ne suis plus un grand collectionneur de vinyles comme l'est Mikael. Ma vinylothèque est constituée d'albums procurés pendant les années soixante et soixante-dix quand j'étais enfant.
Mikael : Tu es plus intéressé par la musique, c'est ça? (rires)
Mike : Quand j'étais gamin, je possédais une grosse collection avec des centaines d'albums, mais à l'adolescence, ma maison a été infestée par des termites, et toute ma collection de K à P a été mangée. Désormais, ma collection va seulement de A à K et de P à Z. Du coup, il me manque tous mes Kiss, Metallica et Led Zeppelin ! Si je devais ressortir un seul album de ma discothèque qui me rappelle des souvenirs, ce serait « Satanic Majesty's Request » des Rolling Stones, avec sa pochette originale en 3D. Les gens détestent cet album, mais c'était mon préféré des Stones, et ça l'est toujours sûrement aujourd'hui.

Pour finir, avez-vous des questions à vous poser l'un à l'autre?

Mike : Je voulais savoir si vous pouviez nous jouer « The Baying of the Hounds » ou « Burden » aujourd'hui, s'il te plait?
Mikael : Non, pas aujourd'hui. (rires)

Mikael Åkerfeldt - Interview by C.B. Liddell (26 Oct 2009)

2009-10-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

In late 2009, I conducted a telephone interview with Mikael Akerfeldt, the leader of Opeth. He was in Italy and I was in Saitama. The entire interview lasted about twenty-five minutes. Here are the first twenty minutes or so, with an exceptionally high “y’know count” both by the interviewee (65) and the interviewer (11). I guess we really hit it off.

MA: Yes.

CBL: Hello.

MA: Hello.

CBL: Is that Mikael Akerfeldt?

MA: Yes.

CBL: Hello. This is Colin Liddell.

MA: OK.

CBL: I’m phoning from Japan.

MA: Yes.

CBL: From the International Herald Tribune Asahi Shimbun.

MA: I know, but weren’t you supposed to call 12:30?

CBL: Well, yeh, but there was a problem, eh, with, eh, with giving me your number. I didn’t get your number until about an hour ago then since then I’ve been phoning a few times and there’s been no answer, so there’s been a bit of a mix up somewhere.

MA: Yeh.

CBL: Is it OK to speak now?

MA: How long is it going to take, d’you think?

CBL: Probably about fifteen twenty minutes.

MA: OK, that’s cool. Hold on a second. Thank you.

[pause]

MA: OK, I’m sorry. I was sleeping. We had a rough night.

CBL: I see, so, eh, right now are you, eh, going around touring?

MA: Yeh, we’re out on a tour called Progressive Nation with Dream Theater.

CBL: Yeh.

MA: Big Elf and a band called Unexpect, which is basically an initiative from Mike Portnoy, the drummer from Dream Theater put this together. So we’re just basically winding down. We only have another – let’s see – three shows before we’re finished.

CBL: Right, where are you at the moment?

MA: Right now we’re in Bologna in Italy.

CBL: Aha, so… where did you just play?

MA: Ah, we played Rome last night.

CBL: So, how was that? Did anything interesting happen?

MA: Ah, we’ve been to Italy many times and it’s always been pretty good for us here, and especially Rome, eh, which for some reason we’ve neglected – many times we come to Italy we haven’t had shows there for some reason, but it’s always great. And yesterday’s show, I think, was one of the best of the tour for me personally.

CBL: So, what went right?

MA: Ah, it’s just y’know I think it’s more in your head to be honest y’know like the way you play. We’re so picky these days that if there’s one mistake that I hear the show is more or less ruined, y’know what I mean?

CBL: Yeh.

MA: Which is horrible, but it’s also, yeh, the interaction with the crowd when everything just clicks and you feel like. y’know. it’s like a... I don’t know... some, y’know, magic. It’s always good and it’s always good fun to play the shows but sometimes it’s not as fun as other times, y’know.

CBL: The article I’m doing about you is to prepare, eh, for your coming to Japan.

MA: Yeh.

CBL: And I’m wondering, em, how often you’ve been to Japan and what are your impressions eh so far?

MA: We haven’t been that many times. We’ve only been twice. We played the Loud Park festival in 2006 and went to 3 or 4 shows last year and it was amazing, y’know. I’ve been hearing so much about playing in Japan and just being there as a tourist y’know It’s been [garbled] and myself and when we finally made it over it was fantastic, y’know. So well arranged, everything so professional and they take really good care of you once you’re there y’know, and the fans are really nice and respectful, the food is awesome, and y’know, its y’know, I think Tokyo and Osaka are y’know it felt a bit like it’s on a different planet if y’know what I mean. It’s so different from Stockholm but I loved it, y’know, I loved it.

CBL: Yeh, eh any problems coming to Japan cos I mean, eh, a lot of, eh, you’ve got tattoos and a lot of the band members have got tattoos and like in certain establishments people with, eh, tataoos, eh, can scare or freak people out?

MA: Ah we didn’t see anything of that, y’know, I’m sure, y’know, like most metal and rock bands today get tattoos. I think, I don’t think that represents that much of a problem. We certainly didn’t hear anything about that. They they took great care of us to be honest and obviously some nights we got really drunk and obnoxious but and it was, y’know, they didn’t seem to be that irritated with us, y’know.

CBL: Do you remember what sort of places you were going to, eh, for drinking?

MA: Well, we went to a couple of different restaurants and also in, ah, in, ah, we went to – what’s it called? – the Rock Rock, the Rock Rock bar in, ah, is it Osaka, Nagoya? I can’t remember, but I was just there I had a few beers, y’know, and it’s just one of those places that apparently you’re supposed to go to, eh, but otherwise we sat in the cafe in the hotel and had a couple of beers.

CBL: Right. Now you you’ve obviously got quite a long career and, y’know, in that time there’s been quite a lot of line up changes and is this sort of something that, eh, gets associated with, eh a lot of hard rock or heavy metal bands – these continuous line up changes – em, so could you maybe tell me a little bit about that? What’s been going on with all the line up changes and, eh, how about the line up now? Ha, have you finally settled on a, y’know, very solid line up?

MA: Well, I like to think we have, y’know, but since we’ve had many line up changes I don’t take anything for granted, but as for the five guys who are in the band now, we’re, we’re, y’know, get along great we play great. It sounds better than ever. And it just no denying, y’know, it’s just so much better sounding when we play live to be honest. And in the past, y’know, I think most of the line up changes have, y’know, been happening because people change, y’know. People don’t want to do this anymore because they get new ideas they, y’know, it’s a risky type of business, I mean, y’know, for many years we didn’t make a penny, which obviously presents a problem if you’ve got bills to pay and rent and shit like that and food of course, y’know. Um, so, I think some of the group members who have been in the band simply didn’t have it in them to be musicians on this level...

CBL: Yeh, um, I was looking at the DVD that’s, eh, connected to the Watershed, uh, LP, and I got the impression that you, you’re a relatively kind of normal creative guy and you’ve surrounded yourself with these very kind of intensely focused musicians now, like, you’ve got a very good drummer, eh, the keyboardist is very good at what he does – everybody’s sort of very technically proficient and very, very focused and almost autisticly so, and you’re in the middle of all that.

MA: Yeh, I know but that’s, y’know, that’s… It’s basically what I’ve been looking for. [garbled] me both as a player and a songwriter have developed during the years and some of the guys have been in the band but they didn’t develop, if you know what I mean. They didn’t push themselves to the next level.

CBL: You mean they didn’t develop as musicians or creatively?

MA: Both. Well, mostly as musicians, y’know, because I want all the guys in the band – even though I write most of the songs, y’know, almost everything – I want the guys to take their positions, to take charge of their positions and do it, y’know, as if, y’know, it’s position, if you know what I mean. I don’t interfere, y’know, It’s what they know much better than me. That’s always what I’ve been looking for. I just want to present the songs and obviously some of the songs are quite advanced to play I guess but, y’know, em, I think I’ve always wanted to surround myself with great musicians, but people that are better than me if you know what I mean.

CBL: Yeh, in terms of technical proficiency.

MA: Yeh, so I can just relax and concentrate on the thing, y’know, more or less. And it just feels so safe playing with a drummer like Axe and with Mendez and Frederick and Per. It’s just never... I can always kind of just lean back and enjoy the ride if you know what I mean, when we play live; when in the past, there’s always been ups and downs. You’re not sure where the one is and, y’know, everything’s a bit more chaotic, y’know, and now it’s just, y’know, everybody’s in charge of their own position in the band I think.

CBL: Yeh. This is, this is something that a lot of people who don’t really know about heavy metal are actually quite surprised at that, y’know, you have to be very, very precise about what you’re doing and there’s very little room for mistakes or... And there’s almost... Like when you’re performing there’s very... there’s almost no improvisation, yeh?

MA: No, we don’t improvise much, and if we are improvisation, its specific that we have made like ‘OK this minute or two in this song, we improvise a little bit, y’know, in the key of whatever.’ But, generally, we try to play the songs as close to the album versions if you know what I mean, and we’ve become very, very picky, as I’ve said. We record all the performances and listen back to them after the show and the difference between what we think is a good show and a bad show is so small that you can barely hear it, you know what I mean?

CBL: Yeh. Yeh...

MA: Which is strange, I guess.

CBL: Yeh, maybe, you notice it a lot more than the audiences, I guess.

MA: Yeh, we all have like – especially on this tour – we all have some like the in-ear monitors if you know what that is. Basically we have a little like a thing in your ear and that’s your monitor. That’s what you hear and everything’s so close and dry, and if somebody plays a bum note it really, y’know, shines through if you know what I mean.

CBL: Yeh.

MA: Eh, right now we’re extremely picky. It’s just a... if you want to play a more or less flawless show.

CBL: Yeh, but isn’t that kind of... doesn’t that work against the basic ethos of rock, which is supposed to be this kind of rebellious, eh, wild experience for a lot of people, and you’re completely the opposite of that because you’re so focused, so precise – mistakes are just not allowed, y’know what I mean? It’s just a... There’s a paradox there, isn’t there?

MA: There is, and we’re completely ‘unrock’ in that sense, but it’s not like mistakes are not allowed. It’s just that they really, y’know, affect you in a negative way when you hear them so clearly.

CBL: Mmh…

MA: If you know what I mean. And it affects your self-confidence, like if I sing a bum note, and ‘oh my god, the next vocal line I’ll have to concentrate more’ and you become like more nervous and less relaxed if you know what I mean.

CBL: Yeh. So it affects the whole feeling that you generate and emit?

MA: I think if you were to put an ear monitor on a band like – I don’t know – to make an extreme example like the Sex Pistols. They would go fucking hell, we have to shape up, y’know.

CBL: Yaha, so it’s a lack of awareness?

MA: Yeh, I think it is because we thought we were good before and we were just talking about this the other night, eh, me and my bass player. We’re like why don’t we ever like – so rarely these days – why don’t we ever go offstage and like... The band would absolutely kill us. And I said well it’s because every night [garbled] and in the past we were so shit in comparison to what we are now, but if we made a halfway decent gig it sounds so awful if you know what I mean, but now the level of our performance is so high that it’s… I don’t know... It’s been evened out into… I don’t know, something that doesn’t, y’know, you never feel like you did really perfect a perfect show.

CBL: Yes, this… So you’ll never be perfect?

MA: Yeh.

CBL: Yeh, now, um, I noticed that, yeh, one of the songs on, on Watershed, the song Burden, eh, I think near the end you kinda like detune the guitars, and so you’re kinda like purposely introducing a kinda element of, eh, bad playing in a sense, aren’t you?

MA: Yeh, but that was like just a little production feature [garbled] and that’s like, even though I’m telling you that we’re perfectionists on stage – and that’s probably the case – but that’s not something we want to. We really kinda lose people. I’m not… Like, I don’t yell at anyone if they play bad or anything, and I still think, um, y’know, we still have it in us, y’know. It’s not like we are a slick band in that sense, y’know – still love the ugly when it comes to music, and the chaotic, I still love it, if you know what I mean, but y’know in its place. I don’t want it like going on all the time. I want to [static] and that’s just an example of that, that we have this beautiful slick sentimental ballad and basically I just felt like we should destroy it a little bit by doing that detuning of the guitar at the end.

CBL: Yeh, so it’s sort of controlled chaos?

MA: Yeh, Yeh exactly.

CBL: Yes, cos this is, ah, something I get a sense of from your music is y’know, y’ y’do have em… The music has a lot of amplitude, y’know, you do have very quiet acoustic and melodic bits and you have this, the kinda growly, eh, singing and the kind of, em, really heavy thrash style juxtaposed with each other, and that kind of creates a feeling of chaos in the audience, but from your side it’s very controlled isn’t it?

MA: It is, y’know, and that’s basically I think for, for a person who’s never heard us before , never heard…I don’t know if I can really mention any bands…Like if you see us for the first time – you never heard the band, I’m sure it could be a pretty, em, odd experience, y’know, and you’re like, ‘What the fuck is this? What’s going on?’ But that’s just the result of our influences and we’re… We started out being a metal band and during the years we just picked up all these different influences from other styles of music, and today basically the metal that we write is generated by inspiration that we got from non-metal music.

CBL: So who’s been a big influence on you in sort of changing your course in that way?

MA: Well personally I… Obviously all those metal bands that I’ve [garbled] me to play the guitar and all that stuff but when I write I rarely listen to metal. It’s mostly… I listen to…um, um, I’m really much into psychedelic music like Sixties.

CBL: So, so, what’re you listening to recently, or the last few days?

MA: Well the last few days, well, I don’t know, I’ve been listening to all sorts of things like, like, now, what’s playing before I fell asleep was a girl called Sheila McDonald, from… I think she was Irish, like a singer-songwriter from Ireland.

CBL: Or Scottish, yeh.

MA: Yeh, might be Scottish. I listen a lot to Miles. I listen a lot to the Zombies, they’re one of my favourite bands.

CBL: Sorry?

MA: The Zombies.

CBL: Oh yeh.

MA: And, y’know, like the progressive rock from the 70s as well, and, y’know, everything, like Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen, and Tim Buckley’s an idol of mine, Joni Mitchell, and just very much into…

CBL: It’s just sort of shocking to hear these names, really, y’know, really…

MA: Oh yeh!

CBL: Like Nick Drake and so on, yeh, and the, y’know, obviously, you start the last album Watershed with a very kind of, em, low-key, gentle number as well, and then the, y’know, that just… People probably think they’ve bought the wrong album, y’know, what I mean?

MA: Yes, but, y’know, that’s what I like about it. We’ve been going for 20 years now and I don’t want people to feel like they know where they have us, if you know what I mean. They can never have us in their pocket like…they buy an album and it’s a hundred percent safe that they’re gonna love it, if you know what I mean. I wanna, I want it to be unpredictable, not unreliable when it comes to the quality of the music, but unpredictable if you know what I mean.

CBL: Yeh.

MA: And I think we have a good chance of being a band like that because of the fact that we have so much of that rare influence.

CBL: Yeh, eh, but also there is a lot of aggression and energy and anger in, in, ah, heavy metal, and I’m sure that when you were a lot younger you probably felt like that. How about now? Do you still have that kind of, that kind of rage feeling inside?

MA: No I don’t and maybe it’s, y’know, maybe the music is my outlet that I’m not so very, y’know, like a eclectic pretentious person who would say that’s certainly the case but, em, I don’t get like [garbled] or anything or like… I’m a very calm person, and it might be because I have the music as an out for all the negative emotions, but, y’know, I put positive emotions into the music too, y’know, and, um, I wouldn’t say like I was … if it wasn’t for the music that I’d be killing people, y’know…

CBL: Yeh, but there’s this kinda, y’know, often people think that Swedish people are quite gentle, nice people, but obviously there is also a kind of dark side as well isn’t there?

MA: Yeh, I guess so. We have one of the highest suicide rates and that kind of stuff, but I really wouldn’t know. Sweden for me has always been a regular, like the most normal country on the planet if you know what I mean. There’s nothing really abnormal about Sweden as a whole. It’s just, y’know, everything’s working, everybody’s minding their own business, y’know, and that kind of stuff but…

CBL: It sounds boring.

MA: Yeh, a little bit.

CBL: That can irritate people too, can’t it?

MA: Probably, y’know, and that’s the thing that a lot of people who move abroad… It’s something we call the “Jantelagen,” which basically means that you shouldn’t be happy with your job.

CBL: So, what’s that expression again?

MA: “Jantelagen.”

CBL: “Yank de large?”

MA: “Jantelagen” is what we say. I don’t really know where it comes from, but basically you shouldn’t think your something if you know what I mean.

CBL: Yeh, so you shouldn’t think you’re something. You shouldn’t be too full of yourself, like that?

MA: Exactly. They hate that. Swedish people hate that, y’know, It really – how do you say – sticks like it burns, like for people to see… For Swedish people to see, like, a Swedish person going abroad and making a great success with music or something you love to do it, it’s lots of jealousy. You’re supposed to be working your ass off in the factory and you’re gonna be grumpy and you’re gonna be drunk on the weekend, y’know, and...

CBL: Very similar to my native Scotland I have to say, yeh.

MA: Well, I would guess, y’know.

Fredrik Åkesson - Interview by Chris Cope (22 Oct 2009)

2009-10-22T17:58:00.000-07:00

With Swedish metallers Opeth recently touring with prog overlords Dream Theater, Chris Cope caught up with axeman Fredrik Akesson to talk about his role in the band and why Scandinavia creates so many big, bad metalheads.
It’s nearly show-time at the final UK show of the tour, and we’re enlisted with the task of taking the burly, hairy man out of his cosy dressing room for a chat. Thankfully Fredrik doesn’t mind standing about in the cold wasteland of boxes and gear behind the stage. It’s extremely dark. Hope he doesn’t bite…

Hello Fredrik. Are you happy to be a part of the 2009 Progressive Nation European tour?

Yeah absolutely, it’s going really good. This is the last show in the UK and the reception has been really good. We’re playing bigger crowds than we usually do – we’ve never done an arena tour before in Europe.

Do you prefer playing these bigger shows or the smaller, intimate ones?

I like the 1000 people, smaller club shows as well. You have a better connection with the crowd, but I like festivals too. Bit of a different world, but you can’t live without either of them.

Do you feel pressured playing before frenetic fretboarders Dream Theater?

Not really, because our music styles are very different. Every band on the bill sounds very different. We don’t have as many solos, even though I like to play stuff like that. We have solos but it’s not that type of shreddy playing. I was a bit nervous before the first show we played in America with them as we hadn’t done a tour with them before, but now you know the guys it’s different. You were like, “Oh shit, it’s Dream Theater. Those guys can play really well, I’d better play well tonight too.” It’s inspiring in a way as well to hear John Petrucci playing backstage. It makes you want to practice even more.

Is he a bit of a role model to you at all?

I wouldn’t say that. I’ve grown up with other guitar players but I’ve always admired his skills. I listened a bit to the first two Dream Theater records when I was younger but I’ve never really studied his style or learnt whole Dream Theater songs but I have watched some clips of his guitar instructional video.

And as a guitar player are you more into speed playing?

I try and have a diverse style. If I want to play something fast and more metal then I’ll pull that off, but there’s also more spacey stuff like Dave Gilmour and Mark Knopfler, slower stuff, more feel based. The most important thing to me when it comes to solos is that it suits the song well. I try to make solos that are within the song rather than making make solos to show off. When I was a kid I always practised playing fast, when I was 16/17, and then I got into looser players. It’s important to know a bit of the old school style of playing, not just the ‘woo woo’ playing [he proceeds to play air guitar].

Do you think bands like Dream Theater are a bit too showy offy?

No, absolutely not. It’s progressive rock and they do what they do and it’s their thing. I like it. It’s fun, and it’s a lot of solos but it’s a cool part of the show. With other bands you might get bored of the solos but here it’s always interesting to check them out.

Are you settling in well as the newest member of Opeth?

I’ve been in the band more than two and a half years, so I feel like I’ve grown into the band very well.

Did you feel the pressure to begin with?

Yeah, absolutely. Opeth fans are quite picky as well. It is also challenging music to play, the songs are very long and contain a more finger style of playing. I had played a bit of that before but not to that extent. Mikael [Akerfeldt] has a bit of his own technique with his finger style so I had to learn a lot about his way of playing guitar. That was really good though cause I feel that it has broadened my guitar playing.

Do you and Mikael Akerfeldt complement each other well?

I think so. We listened to a couple of the live shows from this tour and it sounded really tight together. Our sounds are different as well, so I guess you get a fatter sound too.

I read that you were friends with Opeth before you joined?

I’ve played with them before when I was in Arch Enemy. We did a tour together in America, on the Gigantour with Megadeth, but I knew Mikael a little bit before that, we had hung out at festivals and stuff and I knew he liked my guitar playing. Six or seven years ago we’d talked about jamming together but it never really happened.

Were you a fan of the band then?

Yes, huge fan.

How much of a challenge was it to step in and play the songs?

Yeah, though you just had to practice. I went over a lot to Mikael’s house and sat down and played guitar together. It was important to get all the details down – I’m very picky with details and stuff. Now I’m really anxious to do a new record, although we’re gonna have a bit of a break after this.

Did you have much input on Watershed?

It was fun because I joined the band in the beginning of the writing process. I’ve written some guitar parts here and there but we co-wrote one song together, ‘Porcelain Heart’, which was the first single, so that was flattering to have a part in a song. We’ll see what happens next time.

What do you feel that you bring to Opeth?

It’s hard for me to say. If I’m happy and the guys in the band are happy with what I do then that’s my first goal. I have problems judging myself or praising myself. I would like to contribute something, but I like to have respect of the old songs too and play them the way it was.

How do you think the Opeth of 2009 compares to the Opeth of say 5-10 years ago? Is the band hitting a peak?

Yeah, that’s what the other guys are saying at least. I feel that the band is developing still after each record. There’s a development from Ghost Reveries to Watershed, and it’s important that every album has their own little theme or style – doesn’t feel like any other album, although we like to still maintain the old more black elements. I don’t think we’ll step away from that more, although maybe some people thought we did on Watershed. But we’re definitely not going in a softer direction, it’s just the way the songs came out.

So you’re definitely not going more melodic?

I don’t think so. There have always been melodies in Opeth, from the first album. There’s calm acoustic parts, more foresty parts. Every heavy Opeth song I suppose has a calmer moment as well, which I guess is a very important part of Opeth’s songs and dynamics.

Do you think your heavier moments go down well with this sort of prog rock crowd?

Yeah I think so. A lot of Dream Theater fans might not like it, especially the growl vocals. In America they were a bit more restricted when we toured with them, but now even Dream Theater use a bit of growl in some songs. Mike Portnoy is like [makes a sound like a tiger and pulls an odd-looking face].

Do you like Dream Theater?

Yeah I think they’re really great musicians, all of them.

And do you like their songs?

I used to listen to them when I was younger, but I’ve listened to the new album and the first song was cool – the other stuff I need to listen to more. Maybe I’m not into the softer stuff, but they’re doing with own thing and I really respect that. It’s cool that their music can draw almost arena crowds. Touring with them has been a cool collab…collaboration. I’m Swedish [he says, before making another funny noise and gesturing about language difficulties].

One last question. Why do you think Scandinavia is such fertile ground for metal bands?

I guess it’s so dark there all year, you have the summer with three months with sunshine but that’s about it. You just sit at home and play, or at least that was it for me I guess. Also, when I was there, young bands got support from some organisations for rehearsal rooms and they could borrow vocal PAs and amps. I don’t know how it works today but there was some governmental organisations were pretty good on that, which was important.

We’ve got to go as the whispered excitement of the opening band’s arrival lingers in the air. Fredrik well wishes, but it’s only then that Thrash Hits realises we forgot to ask him just how he gets his hair so voluminous. Maybe next time.

Mikael Åkerfeldt - Interview by Christopher Porter (27 May 2009)

2009-05-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

AFTER BEING AROUND for nearly 20 years, Opeth can still claim to have never heard a statement like this: "Uh, guys, mmmmmm yeaaaah, I don't know if that funky chromatic keyboard solo in the middle of the otherwise death-a-licious 'Lotus Eater' tune really fits."
"Never said anything like that," laughed Mikael Akerfeldt, the main man behind the Opeth mind meld of prog-rock, folk music and Swedish death metal. "We never even had a record label executive tell us, 'Guys, we don't hear a single.' ... I think record label people, as personal lovers of music, they're as jaded with the metal scene as many other fans are. They're likely to get excited by a funky part in the middle of 10-minute death-metal song. ... When Roadrunner heard ['The Lotus Eater'] they said, "That's really cool." But the label never advised us. ... Besides, we've been around for almost 20 years now, so why should we take advice now?"
Opeth shouldn't, which is why they're able to create labyrinthine songs such as "The Lotus Eater" from 2008's all-over-the-map headtrip "Watershed." It's a stunningly diverse album, almost to the point of distraction, but give it enough spins and the CD's intense and immense artistry becomes the focus of your ears' attention, not its restless changes. Akerfeldt spoke to Express about the influence of Dream Theater on Opeth, concept records, whether a "Metalocalypse" character is based on him and the suicide of an ex-girlfriend who inspired three of the bleaker tracks on "Watershed."

» EXPRESS: Last time you played D.C. you were opening for Dream Theater. Were they ever an influence on Opeth?

» AKERFELDT: We started with death metal and moved on to a hybrid of everything else; there were never as into extreme music, so we come from completely different backgrounds. But they were very influential to me in the early days of this band. Basically, I was looking for a new and contemporary band playing something more intricate, and in the early days there weren't many of those bands around. I was mostly listening to older bands like Yes and Genesis and King Crimson and those types of bands, and once I discovered Dream Theater it was a bit of a revelation for me because they were mixing metal with influences from the '70s. So, it's fair to say they were a pretty big influence in the early days.

» EXPRESS: I've heard you say "Watershed" isn't a concept record, but had I never heard you say that, I would be convinced it is one.

» AKERFELDT: It has the flow of a concept record — and in a way it's not a concept record but in another way it is. They lyrics are about my own experiences this time around and how I've changed since I became a dad. It just changed me completely, like I got a new set of eyes. But it's not a fictional story like a generic concept record; it's not about a character. Before you become a dad, you never figure how it's going to change you, but it does; it's the same with everyone I talk to who has kids. This new chamber of emotions opens up that you didn't really know existed before — and all of the sudden you're sitting in front of the television crying because of the things going on in the world. [Laughs]

» EXPRESS: Some of the songs that mention children are quite dark. Is this you expressing fear for them?

» AKERFELDT: In a way they are, but some of those songs you're referring to — like "Hessian Peel" [and] "Hex Omega" — they were inspired by a [former] girlfriend who committed suicide while I was in the studio. ... She had a son who was the same age as my oldest daughter, so it was a pretty big source of inspiration to me to write about that; I ended up writing three songs.

» EXPRESS: Does her family know you wrote these songs about her?

» AKERFELDT: I never really talked about it, to be honest. I haven't mentioned it at all in interviews. We weren't in touch anymore. We were together for a couple of months, and I always kept track of what she was doing and that she became a mother. But when we were together, she always had really deep problems. I think she was on Lithium and she was very depressed; she was always like that. I always heard what was happening with her because my mother and her mother were friends — they worked at the same place. ... And there was never any good news, but when I heard she had her kid I was really happy about that and hoping that she'd pull together, if not for herself then for her kid. Next thing you know she was dead. She was a very complex person.

» EXPRESS: How much of "Watershed" was written while you were in the studio?

» AKERFELDT: We've done a few albums [2002's "Deliverance" and "Damnation"] where we basically just went into the studio with nothing and wrote everything in the studio. But it got to the point where it was a little bit too much work for me, and I became mentally and physically ill doing it that way. ... Those two albums almost killed off the band, to be honest, but luckily we had a few cool songs come out of it. ... I thought it was a very cool idea before we started on [two records at once], but afterward I was like, "Never again." ... So, for the last two albums [including 2005's "Ghost Reveries"], I did most of the writing in my house. ... Strangely enough, my idea for the next album is to do a Mastodon-type of project. A totally blown-out-of-proportion triple-album [laughs]. I dunno why. An epic album.

» EXPRESS: But you haven't started writing it yet?

» AKERFELDT: I'm one of those guys who can't really write on the road, and we've been on tour for a year now and we'll be touring until early next year and then we'll go on a break and I'll start writing. But I'm feeling the itch to write now. ... If I get an idea, I'll record it onto my cell phone, but generally I don't have the inspiration on tour. It's a completely uncreative way of life.

» EXPRESS: Finally, have you seen "Metalocalypse" yet and can you confirm that the character Toki Wartooth is based on you?

» AKERFELDT: I've seen it. I don't think he looks anything like me, but that's what a lot of bands are telling me. I didn't know the cartoon or the band or anything, then all the sudden I get this MySpace message from somebody called Toki Wartooth, and it looked like an official type of thing. But he was writing in a very weird language, like a cross between English and a Germanic language, but all switched around. And I kept thinking, "What the fuck's wrong with this guy?" I kept asking, "Who is this?" And he kept saying, "It's Toki! It's Toki!" So, I never knew who it was e-mailing me; he just pretended to be this character all the time. Eventually I asked him, "I hear you're me, basically." And that guy said, "Yes." I can't say for sure, but that's what the guy told me. I've seen it now; I got the DVD from a fan. But I don't think he looks like me; his mustache doesn't look like mine. ... I thought it was quite funny, though I haven't watched the whole thing. But if the guy is based on me, I'm quite honored.

Mikael Åkerfeldt - Interview by Kate Heath (16 May 2009)

2009-05-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

In the battle between the gods of heavy metal, Opeth’s frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt stands undefeated. After taking the once heavily-rooted death metal Scandinavian band on a musical journey that would rival the river Styx for bordering the lines between this world and the next with their transcendent sound, Opeth has hit shore once more with Watershed—arguably their most challenging work to date. Since the 2008 departures of drummer Martin Lopez and guitarist Peter Lindgren, Opeth has found a fit with Martin Axenrot and ex-Arch Enemy guitarist Fredrik Åkesson, respectively. Below, myMag had the privilege of speaking to Mikael Åkerfeldt about new beginnings and old ties…

You’re on your third tour in support of Watershed. How’s the road treating you so far?

It’s been pretty good. All the shows we have done so far, let’s see, eight shows so far, they’ve all been pretty good.

How have you liked touring with Enslaved?

Well, I’ve known about them. We were on the same label like one hundred years ago. I’ve always known about them and I’ve always liked their music. It felt like a good fit for this tour to have them with us. They’re good people.

Do you guys hang out after the show?

Generally, when they finish their set they go to the local bar and have beers or whatever. When we’re finished, they’re too drunk to hang out with.

So what does your band usually do after the show then?

We don’t party that much. We generally take a shower and then go to the bus and have a beer. It’s not very happening, touring life. When you’re our age, you know…I’m 35-years-old and my party days are behind me. I just want to work.

Watershed is the first studio album with Martin and Fredrik. Do you feel like their addition to the band has helped you push you in a new direction with Watershed?

Not maybe so much in a new direction, but they adapted really fast to our style. Their background is pretty far off from what we’ve been doing musically, so it was good to see them adapting so fast to our style. It really contributes to the songs. I wouldn’t say that they changed the musical direction that much. It was more like me trying to milk their capabilities. It just really worked.

How has it been to perform with them live?

The first show we did with Fredrik was weird - not to have Peter there of course, after 17 odd years or whatever. But it really didn’t take long until I felt like it is business as usual. I think we sound better now than we ever did.

Watershed is your ninth studio album. You guys have come a long way between different band members and different music explorations. What experiences over the band’s career do you feel like have shaped you the most?

I think I learned a little bit of everything. I learned a little bit about songwriting after having written music for nine albums. Like the actual recording process, I learned loads about that. Also touring life, it’s a little bit kind of shallow looking. You go on stage and have a couple of beers. That’s basically what you do. There’s a lot of things that I’m not particularly interested in, you know, on the business side. You’re pushed; you’re kind of forced into becoming interested in it. It’s a day’s work. You know, I’m doing this to support my family as well.

Like your other albums before, Travis Smith designed the cover art for Watershed. What is it about his work that speaks to you personally and helps communicate the feeling of your music?

It’s one of those collaborations that has just worked for 10 years now. He really understands what I’m saying. We’re on the same wavelength. I give him some ideas of what I want and he kind of nails it. I get lots of offers from other art people. From what I’ve seen, he’s the best for us.

The song "Hessian Peel" contains a backwards recorded verse - "My sweet Satan..."Were you paying homage to Led Zeppelin their verse in “Stairway To Heaven”?

It’s the Led Zeppelin reference. It’s leftover from the demo recordings I did. I was working with the song in my home studio; I wanted something for that part. I sang that line “My sweet Satan” off the top of my head. I didn’t really think about it, then reversed it and voila! It’s like, that’s what I wanted. I figured that once we went into the studio to write everything for real, I’d just write a good lyric and we would use that instead. We tried a different one, but it didn’t sound good in reverse. It didn’t have the musical kind of ring that I wanted, so we used that one on the demo, which is an obvious reference to Led Zeppelin. It really was not like a nod to them or anything. It was just like that’s what came out. It might as well been like, “I’m driving my Volvo.” So it didn’t really matter what I said. When I hear it, when it comes out in reverse, that’s what matters.

I think you should put “driving my Volvo” on the next album…

(Laughs) Yeah, I should…

When you’re writing a song, are there certain elements that you go in with that you know you want to shape the song around, or are these messages and references that are so key to your style something that you weave in later?

It depends really. I’ve worked in all sorts of different ways in the past. In many ways it comes down to the demo stages, like the early stages of writing a song and what type of equipment I’m using. Some of the recording stuff I’ve had in the past has been so f*cking shitty that it’s impossible for me to finish a song. So I end up with bits and pieces that I have to piece together in the end. For the last album I bought like a Pro Tools, which made it so much easier for me to start working on a song and finish for the day and continue the next day. While in the past, if I was going to continue what I worked on the day before, I had to work from scratch. Now it’s just easier for me, it was quicker too. Once I start writing, I’m very disciplined. The song kind of tends to write itself in a way, so I work fast. In the end it comes down to the help I have, what type of equipment I have. So for this last album I just started from the beginning of the song and built from there.

With such an eclectic music taste such as yours, I’d love to know some of the music you’ve listened to while out on tour.

On tour, I tend to feel very lonely on tour. So I want to listen to stuff that reminds me of home.

Martin Mendez - Interview by Richard G. (05 Jan 2009)

2009-01-05T13:51:00.000-08:00

The triumphant victory ride through metal land just does not seem to end for the mighty Opeth. Ever since their international breakthrough in 2001 via the brilliant ‘Blackwater Park’ album, the star of these Swedish progmetal giants has been on the rise, culminating in their latest creative highlight earlier this year, ‘Watershed’. When the band visits our country at the end of November for a sold out show and when the opportunity arises to talk with bassist Martin Mendez, who is in the band longest apart from main man Akerfeldt, yours truly does not have to think long what to do. Filled with enthusiasm and a long list of questions (much too long for the allotted twenty minutes), I take place across a Mendez who has just woken up and who is far from sharp and talkative. With some effort I manage to distil the interview below from the sleepy brain of the bassist.

How is the tour going so far? What was the best show? For you personally, what makes a show a good show?

Good! We have had some good shows in the UK. And the London show was especially good. We played Shepherd Bush, the same venue that we recorded our first DVD Lamentations, so it was nice to see all those people again. And it was there that we used the big projection screens for the first time as well. Unfortunately we will not have them up tonight, since the stage is too small.

Ok, that’s too bad! So for you personally, what constitutes a good show?

I guess the most important thing is that we play well. I mean, we don’t do much onstage besides playing, so obviously that has to go well. We have never been the kind of band that goes running all over the stage. That requires a totally different vibe from what we are offering on stage, I think.

And how does it feel to have a legendary band like Cynic warming up the crowds for you guys? Have you seen them perform? How did you like it?

Yeah, that’s great! They are really cool guys. And all of us have of course been fans for a long time, so that’s cool. Every night I see bits and pieces of their show, but unfortunately not much.

For the people who have seen Opeth dozens of times already, are there any set list surprises on this tour? How many of the new tracks are you playing? Which of the new tracks do you enjoy performing live most?

Well, we are playing more or less the same songs, since we did not have much time to prepare for this tour. We have rehearsed enough material for two hours, but mostly we play for just an hour and a half. So we have to make some choices, as always. We are playing two songs off of the latest album ‘Watershed’: ‘The Lotus Eater’ and ‘Heir Apparent’.

Earlier this year you also toured with Dream Theater, how was that? Did you feel overwhelmed at any time by their skills? And did you pick up some new tricks from John Myung?

Yeah, that tour was a lot of fun. The Dream Theater guys were really cool guys, we did not meet that much, but they were alright. But no, we were not scared at all, hehe, it is a totally different style of music that they play, so that’s ok. With respect to Myung, it was really hard to get in touch with him. I just met him once during the entire tour, the rest of the time he was on his own or playing behind stage, I don’t know. So there was actually not that much contact, but they were really cool guys nevertheless.

I noticed that for the biggest part of 2008, no actually for the biggest part of probably each year, you guys are on the road, touring all over the place. What kind of strain does that put on your life? Is it harder for you now that you have become a family man this year?

Well you know, of course it is difficult. It is a really strange kind of life, but at the same time this is what we want to do. So we really want to enjoy the moment while it lasts. I knew that becoming a father would make it a bit harder, obviously I’m missing my son a lot, but at the end of the day it is worth it I guess. And at the end of the tours my family can usually join us, you know.

At the moment you are apart form Mikael the member who has been part of Opeth longest. Since the ‘My Arms Your Hearse’ album. Obviously the sound of the band has progressed and evolved quite a bit since then. How has your bass playing sound and style grown since then?

Well I guess it has obviously grown better; I have been learning a lot playing with Mikael all those years. It is hard to give an example of anything specific that I have learnt. I just feel that my skills have been improving over the years, but I do not know exactly what, where how and why.

Do you ever wonder how on earth Opeth managed to achieve the status it has, despite the experimental non-standard music that you play?

I don’t know, I guess it is just good music that we produce! People were probably getting tired of hearing the same kind of three-minute songs all of the time, so they start searching for something different. Which we have to offer for them.

Earlier this year you guys of course released your ninth studio album ‘Watershed’. Almost half a year later, how do you look back on the album? How do you feel about the material now?

Well, I don’t listen to it as much as I did before, but I am still very happy with the album. I think it is one of our best, by far. Everyone in the band is playing at the best level they have ever been playing, the compositions are better, the sound is better. Everything together is better!

You have done two videos for ‘Watershed’: ‘Burden’ and ‘Porcelain Heart’, which are two tracks that probably are the least metal. Why these two tracks? What do you think of the videos?

Yeah, they are the least metal tracks, but they are also the shortest songs. So that is the main reason. And we had to go out and edit any song we would do anyway, so these songs would have to be edited the least. If we were to take a long song, it was going to be a disaster. Of course there are still fans who are a bit angry because we edited the songs, but for us it is the only way to do it. If We want our video to be played, we have to do it like this. No one is going to play a ten minute video on television, so there would then be no point in doing it at all, actually.

And how important do you actually think that the medium of a video clip is for a band like Opeth?

It is not the most important aspect of the band at all. It is of course a good way to reach out to new people, but we have never been the video-type band.

For the biggest part of your career, you have played together with Martin Lopez. It’s been two and a half years since his departure. How do you look back on the period in Opeth without him? How is he doing by the way?

Well, in the first place, everybody is of course very happy with Axe (Martin Axenrot, the new drummer, RG). He is a different, but awesome drummer who is as good as Lopez was, I think. His drumming style is simply very different from Lopez’s. At the moment Lopez is actually doing really good, his health is a lot better.

According to you, how has the Opeth sound gained from the addition of Axenrot?

I think it is very difficult to explain it, but on the ‘Watershed’ album Axenrot has really shown that he is capable of playing a lot of different styles, and that’s just great. And his blast beats are, of course, a new element within the sound of the band which we did not have before.

In a few words, what is the best thing about playing together with Axenrot?

He is just really, really tight, but he still has a lot of groove while being tight, so that is excellent. People think he is a robot, so that probably says enough.

And about playing with Per Wiberg, Fredrik Akesson and finally Mikael Akerfeldt?

Per just really knows how to play keyboards in a metal band, you know. He is a really good musician and it really is an honour to play with him. Plus I really like the extra touch to Opeth’s sound that his playing has been giving ever since he was added. I think the older songs, from the albums before he was with us, now sound really better live. As for Fredrik, he is one of the best guitar players I have ever seen. He has good technique and can play really, really fast but at the same time he does it with good taste as well. There is still a lot of feeling in it as well, so he simply is the best! And Mikael, it has now been eleven years that I have been playing with him and it really is such an honour to play with such a great composer and guitarist. I am just happy to be playing with al of these guys, you know!

I saw that he sometimes teases you on stage with the fact that you cut your hair. I would like to end this interview with you giving the chance to say something nasty about him for a change.

Nah, I don’t really care about him doing that. And that’s also not the reason that I am growing my hair again, hehe. I just had to cut it back then, because I was tired of it and it had gotten really dirty from all the touring.

Ok, I see the RoadRunner lady giving me my signal, so thanks a lot for your time and to end this interview. Do you perhaps have any last words for our readers?

I would just like to thank everyone for their support. And especially the Dutch crowds, of course, because this was the first show in the tour that sold out! Thanks again and see you soon!

Martin Mendez - Interview by Jeff/FreakyMarge (01 Jan 2009)

2009-01-01T20:04:00.000-08:00

Marge : - Hello Martin ! We were at Hellfest and Milano this summer what did you do since that day?

Martin: Well we've been in a lot of festivals this summer and we've been in Australia, Japan and United States. We toured a lot…

Jeff: - How it's going on so far?

Really good!

Jeff: - And you met a lot of people I suppose…

Ho yeah a lot!

Marge: - When you started to record Watershed, what did you feel? What did you feel at the beginning of the recording?

Well the recordings are always stressful, this not the best part in a career I think. But this time we had time to rehearse and play the new songs. We had like a month between the recording to rehearse with the whole band and try different things and learn the songs. So this time it was more easy in some way to record this one.

Marge: - Did you have a precise image of the final product when you started it?

No not really… Well this one was more clear maybe because Mike makes demos before and we knew what to do before that we start the recording. We usually go to the studio when the songs are not finished but this time it was ready before so…

Marge: - During your whole career, what surprised you most and what didn't you expect?

Hoo it's hard to say! [laughs] But you know, we're just here and we play in front of a lot of people, that's probably the most surprising thing for me...

Marge: - And what represents the fact on being on stage for you?

Hoo that's the best part I think. Because on stage you forget everything else, you really enjoy being there. The rest is just pain in the ass… Well you know that's why we are here!

Marge: - And what do you think of the audience? Do you think that we all have something in common in all the countries?

Hum, that's pretty all the same everywhere and that's good thing I think! Maybe that it was stronger in some countries before, but now it's like heaven everywhere, that's good sign really.

Marge: - What is the biggest price you need to pay to be a musician?

Well the biggest price… Well we all have families you know, with children and that's probably the worst to be far away of them. You miss your family, your home and you don't have a lot of time with them…

Jeff: - Well Leo of Pain Of Salvation…

Ho yeah the drummer, I know him!

Jeff: - Well he told us the other day that it's not easy to live outside of his home country without old friends etc…

Hoo yeah this is not the best change... It's a different country, a different language a different culture it's not easy definitely... It takes time and you have to be strong. I was pretty close a lot of time to say "fuck this thing, I will come back to my country" but you know, you have to believe and love in what you do and with time it just comes. But Sweden is really different especially for someone like me who comes from South America...

Jeff: - Do you go there a lot?

Well something like 3 times a year... I try to go there as much as I can but it's a long trip...

Marge: - What do you think of the Metal scene nowadays? Do you feel close of some bands or far from most of them?

Well I met a lot of bands during touring and festivals and it's pretty cool! But for the music I'm not so interested by the new scene because I think that there are not so many good bands like in the past... But still, people are cool and try to do good music so it's cool...

Marge: - Give us the best qualities of the musicians of your band!

Hoo of our band? Well you know they're all good musicians and they love music. I think that many bands have lost "friendship" because of star system but we're not really like that. I really like these guys and their music and they're all becoming better and better. I'm really proud to play with these guys.

Jeff: - I think that Opeth is more and more Progressive if I can use this word to describe your music. Do you all wish to follow this way and something even more complex in the future?

Well I don't think that we see music in that way. We don't try to think about it, it's just like that. We don't want to be more extreme or Progressive we just want every time to do something different. And now that's sound good for us! We're not a band who wants to show something. But we try to be different yes.

Jeff: - Do you already have maybe some future songs in your mind?

No not really yet...

Jeff: - So you're just touring and focusing on that?

Yes absolutely. And we will see what will happen later.

Jeff: - And so, how does Mikael works? Can he write songs on tour too or just at home then?

Yes he just works at home. You know it's a kind of stressful life on tour. So it's not easy for him…

Jeff: - But what about you? Because we all know that he writes the songs but what about you? Don't you have ideas, riffs etc?

Well no, Mikael is the one who write the music and it does it alone. Of course when we rehearse we can all come with ideas but it comes to write the songs that's his business!

Jeff: - Wouldn't you write your own songs one day and have your own project?

Well why not of course! But about Mikael we all have a lot of respect toward him because he created the band. But you know Fred came with some melodies for Watershed… If one day I find something great I will bring it to the band of course but for now I'm just in the band and keep my place.

Jeff: - About your label, what are the differences to work with a giant like Roadrunner Records?

They're doing a good job with the promotion but that's the only thing they do. For other things we work with our manager. But it's a big and good label which does good work really so it helps a lot the band.

Jeff: - And I suppose that they help a lot to "conquer" the US market right?

Yeah true! And that's really good! Of course the label helps us there in some way. But we had the chance to be "strong" there since the first day that we came to play in USA. It seems that a lot of people there were interested by our music. The band has a good fanbase there since the beginning.

Jeff: - And so what are the differences now? You probably sell more CDs...

Yeah probably but about the label beside helping us to do good promotion, and it works because we're on a lot of printed magazines there, they don't do a lot of other things.

Marge: - When you play the new songs, do you feel something different than when you play the old ones?

Not really because if you wanna play old songs you have to rehearse and if you don't have time to do that it's always hard to play it. It's the same than with new songs. Now it's coming because we played them a lot but you have to work. Though the new stuff are hard to play because they're more technical but I think that when it becomes like a routine it just means that you get it and you don't feel shaky anymore!

Marge: - To finish, do you have a question that you would like us to ask you? Or maybe a question that you don't want to hear?

(It was really noisy and Martin didn't hear correctly the question)

What person I would like to hear? Michael Jackson!!! [laughs]

Marge: - No [laughs] Not a person but a question... But that's a good question too... [laughs]

Jeff: - With what artists would you want to play?

Marge: - Well probably Michael Jackson [laughs]

Yes! Michael Jackson is a perfect answer [laughs].

Marge: - But so, what about the question?

I don't know... maybe something about the symbolic of the music for me... but hey you did a good job anyway! [laughs].

Jeff & Marge: - Thx for your answers Martin and have fun tonight!

Thanks guys! It will be great for sure!

Mikael Åkerfeldt - German interview by hitparade.ch (25 Dec 2008)

2008-12-25T20:45:00.000-08:00

Ja, es gibt sie noch, echte Ausnahmen. In einer Metalszene voll von Traditionalisten und Trendsettern gehen Opeth seit 15 Jahren unbeirrt ihren eigenen, ganz besonderen Weg, fernab jeglicher "Heavy Metal Laws" und Modeströmungen. Seit ihrem fulminanten Debüt "Orchid", das schon damals Komplexität mit Kreativität und Atmosphäre verband, hat es diese Gruppe mit jedem weiteren Album geschafft, epische und kunstvolle Musik neu zu definieren. Ihr neun Alben zählender Back-Katalog ist eine Perlenkette an beeindruckenden Offenbarungen, die das vereinigen, was bis zur Bandgründung in der Metalszene wohl wenige für vereinbar hielten. Im Kontext des Death Metals entwarfen Opeth mit den wundervollsten Elementen aus Gothic, Seventies- und Prog-Rock, Folk, Jazz und Klassik einen Klangkosmos, der seit jeher das höchste der Gefühle in der Metalwelt darstellt.
Hitparade traf Sänger, Gitarrist und Kopf der Band, Mikael Åkerfeldt.

hitparade.ch: Der Musikstil von Opeth ist ziemlich schwer zu kategorisieren. Wie würdest du deine Musik selbst beschreiben?

Åkerfeldt: Unsere Wurzeln sind ganz klar im Death Metal Genre. In all den Jahren kamen dann Einflüsse diverser Musikrichtungen dazu. Ich denke nicht, dass man Opeth einer einzigen Musikrichtung zuschreiben kann. Viele sagen es sei eine Art Progressiv Metal, aber auch einige kategorisieren uns immer noch im Death Metal Bereich. Mir ist das nicht so wichtig. Und wenn man unsere Musik als Pop bezeichnen will, soll mir recht sein. *grinst*

hitparade.ch: Seit der Bandgründung gab es zahlreiche Musikerwechsel. Inwiefern haben die verschiedenen Gitarristen/Drummer oder Bassisten Opeths Sound beeinflusst?

Åkerfeldt: Eigentlich überhaupt nicht. Ich denke nicht, dass die Musik der Band sich den einzelnen Musikern anpasste, sondern eher die Musiker an den Stil von Opeth. Vor allem seit die Band einen gewissen Bekanntheitsgrad bekommen hat, haben sich die jeweiligen Musiker mit dem Konzept Opeth auseinandergesetzt und sich auf die Musik eingestellt. Deswegen gab es intern auch nie Probleme, dass wir, was den Sound anbelangt, uns nicht einig waren. Es sind und waren immer tolle Musiker bei Opeth. Um bei dieser Band mitzuwirken, muss man einfach offen sein für etwas, dass über die klassische Heavy Metal Stilrichtung hinausgeht. Wenn ich mit einer neuen, komischen Idee ankomme, müssen die anderen offen sein und sich meine Sachen erstmal anhören, um sie verstehen zu können, oder zumindest versuchen sie zu verstehen. Was sich nun speziell geändert hat ist die Tatsache, dass Frederik Åkesson ein Leadgitarrist ist. Opeth hatte nie zuvor einen Leadgitarristen. Das hat die Spannweite von Opeth ein bisschen erweitert und Frederik und ich wechseln uns mit der Leadgitarre ab. Es gibt einfach gewisse Sachen, die ich gerne in einem Song hätte, aber schlichtweg nicht spielen kann und er kann das nun übernehmen. Das ist toll. Auch unser Drummer Martin Axenrot ist ein fantastischer Musiker. Er ist extrem musikbegeistert in jeglicher Form und sehr offen für Experimente. Es ist gut, wie er immer versucht, die Musik in der Gesamtheit zu betrachten. Vor allem Gitarristen machen immer wieder den Fehler, dass sie sich bloß auf die Gitarrenparts in einem Song konzentrieren und dabei den Überblick verlieren. Mit den jetzigen Bandmitgliedern bin ich jedoch völlig glücklich.

hitparade.ch: Wie ist das denn nun heutzutage. Bist du immer noch der Kopf der Band und inwiefern haben die anderen Bandmitglieder ein Mitspracherecht, beim Schreiben eines neuen Songs?

Åkerfeldt: Die haben immer Mitspracherecht und können jederzeit selbst Ideen einbringen. Es ist schon so, dass ich derjenige bin, der schlussendlich sagt, was wir definitiv verwenden werden und was nicht, aber als Diktator der Band sehe ich mich keinesfalls. Die meiste Zeit ist das ein sehr demokratischer Prozess. Oft beginne ich mit meinen Ideen und die anderen übernehmen es, oder interpretieren es ein wenig anders. Natürlich schreibe ich die meisten Stücke, aber grundsätzlich machen die anderen schon ihr eigenes Ding. Ich freue mich immer, wenn sie selbst auch mit Ideen kommen.

hitparade.ch: Wie kann man sich die Entstehung eines neuen Songs vorstellen? Setzt du dich in dein Studio mit dem Plan, nun einen neuen Song zu schreiben? Oder bist du allenfalls mit deiner kleinen Tochter am Spielen und hast plötzlich einen Einfall?

Åkerfeldt: Das ist ganz unterschiedlich. Aber lustig, dass du das Beispiel mit meiner Tochter genannt hast. Ich habe sehr viele Songs auf ihrer Gitarre komponiert. Ich habe ihr eine kleine Kindergitarre gekauft, auf der man ein bisschen spielen kann. Auf diesem kleinen Spielzeug habe ich mehrere Riffs gespielt. Ziemlich dunkle, böse Sachen. Wir saßen in ihrem Zimmer und haben zusammen musiziert *grinst* Meistens arbeite ich aber schon in meinem Studio und gehe oft spazieren und hör mir während dessen, die Sachen an, die ich neu aufgenommen habe. Ich habe dauernd Ideen. Es ist ziemlich verrückt, aber ich kann nicht wirklich sagen, woher sie kommen. Plötzlich sind sie einfach da.

hitparade.ch: Hast du so etwas wie eine Muse?

Åkerfeldt: Nicht wirklich, nein. In irgendeiner Weise inspirieren mich alle Menschen um mich herum. Aber meistens kommt die Inspiration urplötzlich und ich kann gar nicht mehr aufhören, an einem neuen Track zu arbeiten.

hitparade.ch: Lässt du dich auch von Musik und Musikern inspirieren?

Åkerfeldt: Durchaus. Hauptsächlich aber nicht im Heavy Metal Bereich. Ich höre privat sehr oft ältere Sachen. Ich sammle alle möglichen Platten. Es ist manchmal unfassbar, wie viel Musik ich besitze. Ich höre ununterbrochen Musik. Wenn ich am arbeiten bin, beim Spazieren, beim Arbeiten im Büro, beim Lesen, einfach immer.

hitparade.ch: Was hörst du zurzeit?

Åkerfeldt: Ich hab mir vor kurzer Zeit eine ABBA Kollektion gekauft. ABBA habe ich als Kind immer gehört und es ist erstaunlich, wie sich die Musik von ihnen jetzt für mich anhört. Es sind alles kleine Meisterwerke. Wie auch die alten Sachen von Queen. So interessant komponiert, so fröhlich und überwältigend. Wenn ich ehrlich bin, berühren mich die meisten neuen Metal-Sachen überhaupt nicht. Natürlich ist es tolle Musik, aber verglichen zu den alten Sachen fühle ich meistens gar nichts. Die meisten neuen Sachen sind dumme, brutale Songs. Natürlich ist das cool, aber verglichen zu anderem, einfach nicht der Rede wert.

hitparade.ch: Hast du eine Art Ritual, bevor du dich ans Komponieren von neuen Songs machst?

Åkerfeldt: Rituale habe ich nicht. Wenn ich das Gefühl habe, dass ich wieder mal ein wenig Disziplin benötige, stehe ich morgens ziemlich früh auf, bringe die Kinder in den Kindergarten, setze mich danach kurz mit der Zeitung in die Küche und trinke einen Kaffee. Danach gehe ich ins Studio, schalte den Computer an und schließe die Gitarre, das Keyboard etc an und beginne zu arbeiten. Ich wechsle dann zwischen diversen Instrumenten, bis ich eine Idee habe, die es wert ist, weiterverfolgt zu werden. Ich habe also wirklich keine besonderen Rituale oder Besonderheiten beim Arbeiten. Wie die meisten, beginne auch ich mit einer Tasse Kaffee und warte, wohin mich der Tag bringt.

hitparade.ch: Welche Emotionen willst du mit der Musik von Opeth bei den Zuhörern wecken?

Åkerfeldt: Ich kann nicht sagen, dass ich bestimmte Emotionen wecken will. Das ist sowieso sehr individuell. Ich weiß, welche Gefühle bei mir geweckt werden. Ich sehe meistens ganz wirre Bilder, die beim zuhören vor meinem geistigen Auge erscheinen. Jeder kann die Musik von Opeth für sich selbst interpretieren. Mir ist es eigentlich auch egal, welche Gefühle unsere Musik weckt, solange sie irgendetwas in einem weckt.

hitparade.ch: Wie siehst du Opeths Zukunft? Wann können die Fans ein neues Album erwarten?

Åkerfeldt: Das kann ich nicht genau sagen. Allenfalls 2010. Ich brauche nach dem Touren wiedermal eine Pause, um mit meiner Familie Zeit zu verbringen. Ich hoffe aber, dass wir in zwei Jahren wieder frische Ideen haben und etwas Neues einspielen.

hitparade.ch: Du hast es eben angesprochen, Du bist verheiratet und hast zwei Kinder. Ist es für dich nicht hart so lang zu touren und deine Familie für längere Zeit nicht in deiner Nähe zu haben?

Åkerfeldt: Ja, das ist hart. Ich rede aber täglich mit ihnen via Computer, über Skype mit Videoübertragung. Speziell meine jüngste Tochter fremdelt immer, wenn ich lange nicht zu Hause war. Durch den täglichen Onlinekontakt, hat sich das aber ein wenig gelegt. Aber es ist ganz schön hart. Wenn meine Frau gestresst ist und mir die Ohren voll heult, weil die Kinder krank sind, oder was im Haus kaputt ist und ich irgendwo in einem Backstage hocke, ein Bier in der Hand halte und mich in einer total anderen Welt bewege. Ich habe dabei immer unendlich große Schuldgefühle, weil ich meinen Traum lebe. Andererseits bin ich auch derjenige, der damit das Geld für die ganze Familie verdient. Das Touren ist meine Arbeit. Ich bin überhaupt nicht gerne auf Tour. Während des Konzerts, auf der Bühne, genieße ich es total, aber das ganze drum herum mag ich gar nicht. Wenn ich mich zwischen den einzelnen Konzerten nach Hause beamen könnte, würde ich das jederzeit tun. Ich liebe es Konzerte zu spielen. Alles andere hasse ich.

Mikael Åkerfeldt - German interview by Nils Herzog (12 Dec 2008)

2008-12-12T13:25:00.000-08:00

Vor dem ausverkauften Konzert am 12.12.2008 in der Markthalle in Hamburg nimmt sich OPETH-Chef Mikael Åkerfeldt Zeit für einen Plausch und philosophiert mit uns über Erfolg, Kunst und Ironie im Metal.

Hallo Mikael! "Watershed" ist das erste Opeth-Album, das du mit Fredrik Åkesson und Martin "Axe" Axenrot aufgenommen hast. Inwiefern hat dieser Line-Up-Wechsel die Aufnahmen beeinflusst? Was ist anders als vorher?

Es ist schon anders. Ich denke, Fredrik und Martin sind bessere, zuverlässigere Spieler. Sie sind noch hungrig. Peter (Lopez) liebte es ebenfalls zu spielen, aber seine Rolle in der Band verlor an Bedeutung, weil er nicht besonders viel zu den Songs beitrug und nicht wirklich die Rolle eines Lead-Gitarristen übernahm. Und Martin Lopez war ein „Gefühls-Drummer“, manchmal liebte er es zu spielen, manchmal hasste er es. Mit Fredrik und Martin ist alles viel einfacher geworden.

Erzähl doch mal ein wenig über den Bonustrack „Den Standiga Resan“, der sich auf der Special-Edition von „Watershed“ befindet.

„Den Standiga Resan“ ist ein Song von Marie Fredriksson, der Sängerin von ROXETTE. Sie hat einige Solo-Alben herausgebracht und dieser Song stammt von einem dieser Alben. Ich liebte diesen Song, seit ich ihn das erste Mal vor sechzehn Jahren gehört habe. Ich wollte diesen Song schon immer aufnehmen, aber es fühlte sich lange nicht richtig an für mich, dieses Stück zu singen, auf Schwedisch zu singen.

Wie viel steckt in dir von einem analytischen Komponisten, wie viel von einem Freak, der von seinen Ideen mitgerissen wird?

Oh, keine Ahnung. Vielleicht steckt in mir zur Hälfte das eine und zur Hälfte das andere. Manchmal fallen mir ein paar clevere Arrangements ein (lacht) und manchmal ist es einfach eine blöde Idee, die ich weiterspinne. Aber ich liebe es, zu experimentieren und neue Dinge auszuprobieren. Wir sind ja mittlerweile in einer Position, in der wir tun können, was wir wollen - und wir nutzen diese Freiheit gerne aus. Wir hatten vor 14 Jahren genauso einen eigenen Stil wie heute, aber in dieser Zeit wurden wir von unterschiedlicher Musik beeinflusst, was man auch heraushört.

Wie erklärst du dir euren Erfolg in den USA? Liegt das an der Marktmacht und den Möglichkeiten, die ein Label wie Roadrunner bietet oder liegt es eher an der Mund-zu-Mund-Propaganda von kleinen Webzine-Schreiberlingen?

Wir hatten nie wirklich Erfolg in den USA, bis wir anfingen, dort auf Tour zu gehen. Als wir dort auf Tour gingen, hatten wir bereits ungefähr fünf Alben veröffentlicht und es gab bereits eine Art von „Underground-Kult“ um uns. Und als wir schließlich in den USA zu touren begannen, hatten bereits eine Menge Leute von uns gehört. Außerdem hatten wir auch einen gewissen Exoten-Bonus, weil wir aus Skandinavien kommen. Und seit wir das erste Mal in den USA waren, wurden wir immer wieder eingeladen, dort zu spielen. Es ist ja auch nicht so, dass die USA eine märchenhafte Erfolgsgeschichte für uns waren, denn andere Länder waren am Anfang auch nicht leicht für uns zu knacken. Genauso war es in Deutschland. Es hat einige Alben gebraucht, bis eine Tour so gut lief wie in diesem Jahr. Ich glaube, dass wir den größten Sprung, was Erfolg angeht, in Europa gemacht haben.

Erinnerst du dich noch an den Hamburg-Gig im Jahre 2001 im Logo? Du warst krank und konntest nicht singen. Wenn ich mich richtig erinnere, habt ihr ein Instrumentalset gespielt. Jonas Renske von Katatonia hat ein, zwei Stücke gesungen und sogar Leute aus dem Publikum. Sind das Momente, an die man sich noch lange danach erinnert? Sind das gute oder schlechte Erinnerungen für dich?

Oh ja, ich erinnere mich! Das war ein cooles Konzert, aber auch eher ein kleiner Gimmick. Die Show am Tag zuvor hatte ich noch durchgezogen – ich war aber schon erkältet, habe getrunken und konnte nicht wirklich singen. Es ging also darum, die Show durchzuziehen oder ganz abzusagen. Also haben wir den Leuten die Möglichkeit gegeben, die Show dennoch anzusehen oder ihnen das Geld für die Tickets zurückzugeben, was letztlich aber niemand wollte. Wir haben also instrumental gespielt, obwohl das Ganze natürlich keine echte OPETH-Show war. Eine ganze Tour dieser Art würde ich natürlich nicht spielen (lacht). Es hat Spaß gemacht und das Feedback war auch gut.

Glaubst du, dass heutzutage noch progressive Musik geschaffen werden kann? Oder wurde in der Vergangenheit bereits so viel experimentiert, dass wir gar nicht mehr anders können, als auf die eine oder andere Weise zu reproduzieren?

Zum Großteil ist es sicherlich nur Reproduzieren, woran ja auch nichts verwerflich ist. Ich mag Fortschritt und Entwicklung, vor allem mit meiner eigenen Band. Aber alles muss zu seiner Zeit passieren, da kann man nichts erzwingen. Es geht mir halt darum, einen guten Song zu schreiben und nicht einen progressiven. Ich höre es aber sehr gern, wenn Songs von uns als neuartig aufgenommen werden und ich hasse es zu hören, wir würden bloß denselben Song wieder und wieder aufnehmen. Bei OPETH ist es eine zweischneidige Angelegenheit: Einerseits bleiben wir einem Stil treu, andererseits entwickeln wir uns weiter und viele Menschen folgen unserer Entwicklung gern.

Es gibt aber einige Leute, die ausschließlich eure alten Alben schätzen, während andere nur auf eure aktuellen Werke abfahren…

Ja, das stimmt natürlich auch. Wir verändern uns, aber die Menschen verändern sich ebenfalls. Einige kommen dann plötzlich zu dem Schluss, dass diese Band nicht mehr gut sei, obwohl man es auch so sehen kann, dass sie einfach kein Interesse mehr an der Band haben. Es gibt auch Bands, die ich sehr schätzte und die mir heutzutage einfach nichts mehr geben.

Glaubst du, dass OPETH Kunst produzieren? Was ist Kunst für dich?

Es hört sich etwas abgehoben an, so etwas von der eigenen Musik zu sagen. Aber ich weiß schon, dass es auf eine gewisse Art Kunst ist.

Warum glaubst du das?

Musik machen ist halt eine Kunstform. So wie Gemälde gezeichnet und Filme produziert werden. Es ist also einfach eine Art und Weise, sich selbst auszudrücken, was gemeinhin dann als Kunst bezeichnet wird.

Wo ist aber dann der Unterschied zwischen Kunst und reiner Unterhaltung? Gibt es da überhaupt Unterschiede?

Das ist eine gute Frage (zögert). Reine Unterhaltung muss halt einfach und leicht konsumierbar sein, eine Form von „visual candy“ oder „ear candy“ eben. Wenn ich mir unsere Musik anhöre, denke ich nicht wirklich, dass es reine Unterhaltung ist. Da ist auch eine persönliche Komponente, man findet etwas von sich selbst in der Musik wieder, das man reflektiert.

Wenn man dich auf der Bühne stehen sieht, denkt man, dieser Kerl liebt Metal über alles. Gleichzeitig scheinst du auch stets einen ironischen Blick auf die Metal-Szene zu werfen. Siehst du das auch so?

Ja, auf jeden Fall.

War das immer so?

Nein, ich bin irgendwann aus einer Art von Koma erwacht. Ich war immer voll auf Metal fixiert und konnte nichts anderes mehr sehen. Etwas konnte nur interessant sein, wenn „Metal“ drauf stand. Ich bin jetzt einfach ein Musiker und nicht zwangsweise ein Metal-Musiker. Aber ich liebe und respektiere Metal immer noch. Ich glaube, ich liebe Metal mehr als alles andere. Ich glaube auch, dass einige Bands manches einfach viel zu ernst nehmen.

Vor allem Bands, die all ihre Energie darauf verwenden, möglichst „evil“ zu sein…

Ja, vor allem auch diese Bands. Jeder weiß, dass das nur ein Witz ist.

Unterhaltsam ist das manchmal schon.

Ja, natürlich ist das unterhaltsam. Es ist halt nur eine Form von Unterhaltung, was einigen einmal klar werden sollte. Das alles ist nichts als ein Image, nichts als eine Spielerei. Viele neigen dazu, das alles zu ernst zu nehmen und ich möchte etwas diese „Pissigkeit“ aus dem Metal nehmen. Nicht, weil ich diese Attitüde nicht respektiere, sondern einfach deshalb, weil ich mittlerweile einen gewissen Abstand zu diesem ganzen „Lifestyle“ gewonnen habe.

Wieso, glaubst du, hast du diese Entwicklung durchgemacht?

Es liegt wohl daran, dass ich aktuellen Metal nicht sonderlich mag. Das liegt nicht an der Metal-Szene, sondern ganz einfach an mir. Ich höre aber immer noch beinahe täglich Metal-Alben meiner Kindheit und Jugend. Ich bin immer noch ein Metalhead, aber ich stecke immer noch in den 70ern und 80ern, vielleicht auch noch etwas in den 90ern fest.

Heute Abend wird CYNIC für euch eröffnen. Diese Band hat einen legendären Ruf, obwohl sie in 15 Jahren grad mal zwei Alben herausgebracht hat. Waren CYNIC auch für dich eine Inspirationsquelle?

Ich habe damals ihr Debüt „Focus“ gehört und ich mochte es. Ich fuhr damals aber zu hundert Prozent auf Death Metal ab und war der totale MORBID ANGEL-Fan. Es war aber interessant, eine Band zu sehen, die von der ganzen Extrem-Metal-Szene umarmt wurde, aber selbst nicht extrem war. Obwohl sie auf eine ganz andere Art und Weise natürlich doch extrem waren. Ich mochte „Focus“, aber es war nicht so, dass ich nach dem Hören von „Focus“ Songs schreiben wollte, die nach CYNIC klangen. Aber diese Band hat mir sicher geholfen, zu sehen, dass Musik nicht immer so sein muss, wie man es erwartet.

Einer unserer Schreiber wollte unbedingt, dass ich dir diese Frage stelle: Ist da irgendeine Chance, dass dein Steel-Debüt "Heavy Metal Machine" auf CD neu erscheint? Gibt es da mittlerweile eine größere Nachfrage?

(Lacht) Gibt’s das nicht schon auf CD? Auf jeden Fall wurde „Heavy Metal Machine“ auf Vinyl veröffentlicht. Ich kann mir ein Re-Release ehrlich gesagt schwer vorstellen. Wer wollte das schon veröffentlichen? Das Ganze war ja nur als Scherz gedacht. Witzigerweise erschien „Heavy Metal Machine“ bevor das große Heavy-Metal-Revival mit HAMMERFALL begann. Wir haben das nur als Scherz gemacht und plötzlich tauchten all diese Bands auf, die genau dasselbe taten wie wir.

Ich habe dich noch nie so singen gehört, wie auf "Burden". Dein Gesang klingt dort regelrecht extrovertiert, exaltiert und ganz anders, als die Clean-Passagen, die du sonst gesungen hast. Kam das zufällig so heraus oder hast du mit anderen Gesangstechniken experimentiert?

Als wir diesen Song aufnahmen, wusste ich, dass er etwas mehr von mir verlangen würde, weil dieses Stück mit schüchternem Gesang einfach nicht funktionieren würde. Dabei habe ich herausgefunden, dass ich über einen gewissen Rock-Vibe verfüge, wenn ich meine Stimme etwas mehr nach vorn pushe.

Empfiehl uns doch mal ein paar Bands, die niemand kennt, aber jeder kennen sollte.

Oh, da gibt es Millionen. Es gibt da eine britische Blues-Jazz-Rock-Band, die sich COLISEUM nennt, die ein Album gemacht hat, das „Daughter Of Time“ heißt und auf dem einer meiner Lieblingssänger, Chris Farlowe, singt. Eine großartige Scheibe. Zu empfehlen ist noch die italienische Band CIRCUS 2000, die in den 70ern aktiv war. Die italienische Progressive-Szene war oft ein wenig „artsy“, aber gleichzeitig auch sehr viel dunkler und düsterer als ein Großteil vergleichbarer Bands anderer Länder. Bei CIRCUS 2000 stand eine Frau am Mikrofon, die nicht so herumgeträllert hat, wie es viele Frauen im Metal heutzutage tun, sondern eine echte Rock-Stimme hatte. Sehr cool.

Dann danke ich dir für deine Zeit und wünsche dir viel Spaß und Erfolg mit dem Gig heute Abend!

Mikael Åkerfeldt - Interview by Steven Rosen (10 Dec 2008)

2008-12-10T18:07:00.000-08:00

Opeth guitarist Michael Akerfeldt spent some of his youth working in an acoustic guitar shop. The clientele wasn’t exactly flocking into the store so he had a lot of time to knock around on the various instruments that lined the walls. It was here he began to develop a unique fingerpicking style that would later come into play when he formed his symphonic metal band.
The image that comes to mind is that montage of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Conan the Barbarian movie. Arnold/Conan is forced to push that huge grinding wheel around and around and as time lapses, this scrawny waif is transformed into a bulked up and muscular warrior. A similar picture plays out - this little Swedish boy picking up guitar after guitar, practicing and practicing, until he is unleashed on the world as Michael Akerfeldt.
And nowhere are those unique fingerstyle and flatpicking styles more beautifully demonstrated than on Opeth’s ninth album titled Watershed. Akerfeldt is part Robert Fripp, part Ritchie Blackmore, and part Greg Lake. His playing spans decades to bring in the qualities of these classic players (and singer) and at the same time invites comparisons to no one.
Many bands claim to be marrying disparate elements like orchestral and metal but they rarely achieve true symbiosis. Typically the frills of classical elements simply act as auxiliary components; that is, the various pieces are sort of stacked on top of each other rather than flowing into each other. In Opeth’s music, on the Watershed album, the songs are completely self-sufficient as vehicles for guitars/vocals/drums - they don’t need the embroideries of strings and keys to stand as wonderfully composed songs. But the addition of these other textures only adds to the dynamics of the various tracks.
There is none of the pompousness that tends to adulterate this type of music. When Akerfeldt tells you he digs King Crimson and was influenced by them, you can truly hear Fripp being channeled through his playing. And it is all honest and not thrown in your face through sheer repetition. Michael was just a few minutes away from a live gig. Through the phone, you could hear pre-concert activity going on around him - things being moved around; voices in pitched tones; and people in motion. He ignored all of that and tried to explain who he was and why he did the things he did.

UG: There is definitely the sense that you, as a guitarist and songwriter, is actively seeking out modern elements and textures in arrangements and tones. But there is also a very classic rock sound to the band that suggests Pink Floyd, King Crimson, and others. That’s not an accidental thing, is it?

Michael Akerfeldt: No, I listened a lot to that kind of music, I guess. Generally when I was growing up it was only metal music for me but once I started my band in the early 90s, I got interested in some of the, I guess, progressive rock bands and some of the symphonic rock bands of the 70s and even some psychedelic music. I guess that found its way into our own music.

So, you were a fan of King Crimson specifically? A lot of progressive bands will cite Crimson as an influence but you can never hear it in their music.

Of course; I’m a big fan of them. I haven’t listened so much to their 80s records but from the first album up until that trio with John Wetton, I really dig (Akerfeldt is referring to the Red period with Wetton, Robert Fripp, and Bill Bruford).

In your vocals, there is a distinct …

Greg Lake?

Yeah, absolutely.

A lot of people said that which is a compliment of course.

Oh, definitely. Has singing always been part of your makeup as a musician?

No, not really; I was a guitar player when I started playing. I just wanted to play guitar; I never figured I would be a singer or anything. But you know how it is when you’re young; with my first band there was nobody else who wanted to sing. So I became the singer kindof.

That was Eruption?

Yeah, that was Eruption. And since then I just got interested in singing and I think the singing, actually, me becoming a singer, actually helped me to concentrate on songwriting as opposed to guitar solos and that kind of stuff. So now I’ve become more interested in the actual songwriting than the performance itself if you know what I mean.

On the Watershed CD, there is a bit of copy that reveals the Opeth philosophy. And here’s it’s paraphrased: “Piecing random notes and/or chords together.” Listening to the music and even in just speaking with you for a few minutes here, one has the feeling that not a single note ends up on an Opeth album that you haven’t scrutinized and examined.

(Much laughter) Yeah; I just put something like that on the album, I thought it sounded funny. But obviously I spend a lot of time with the songwriting and I look into every detail. I’m very, very picky with the songwriting, I guess; not so picky with my own performance but the songwriting I want it to be what I consider perfect for the songs.

In the philosophy according to Akerfelt that we just talked about, there is a certain amount of randomness on the Watershed album. But that randomness is obviously very carefully constructed. In fact, there are moments where an electric part will break down into an acoustic section and you almost have the feeling that you’re taking an ironic look at the metal style of music. Almost like a Zappa piece where he is poking fun at the very style he’s playing. Does that make sense whatsoever?

It’s not like I’m trying to take the piss out of the metal scene or anything; I love heavy metal and that’s what I grew up with. But I think it’s absolutely necessary for any metal band, in a way, and especially for us to go and listen to outside influences in order to try to get inspiration throughout our own stuff. Otherwise you just end up, I guess, if you only listen to Iron Maiden, I think you’re going to sound like Iron Maiden. So I listen to, well we all do, we listen to all sorts of music. And we just figured like we created this band on our own; we got signed based on what we had done; so we don’t have any outside interference on what we gonna do musically. It just felt obvious for us, we just gonna play music that we enjoy to play and that for us is blending a lot of styles in; there’s no rules if you know what I mean.

A huge part of Opeth’s style is based on your acoustic guitar playing, and even more specifically, nylon string. Have you always had those acoustic chops?

Not always; I always liked like acoustic interludes and stuff like that on the metal albums I grew up listening to. I always liked the ballads but I was into heavy metal mostly so I wanted to play like heavy guitar. After school, I got a job in a guitar store and we only sold acoustic guitars and we barely had any customers so I basically sat around all day playing and I guess I developed a little bit of my fingerpicking playing in that store. And my love for the acoustic guitar, I guess I got from there. And now it’s become an important part of our sound, I guess, as (much as) the electric guitar. And basically I write most of the stuff on the acoustic guitar; even the heavy riffs I write on the acoustic guitar.

Does the acoustic technique get transferred to the electric? A lot of your electric parts combine pick and fingers and some of the riffs are plucked and that type of thing.

Yeah, I guess to some extent, I do. I guess I would have to say I’m somewhat of an unorthodox metal guitar player in that sense. Because it’s like when my colleagues, if they use an acoustic guitar, it’s like a little effect, you know or something. But for us, it’s as much of an important part of the music as anything else. And I guess it changed my approach to the electric guitar, too, and it also changed my approach to writing songs. Once I learned how to play the acoustic guitar a little bit better, I saw that you can do different things.

“Burden,” off the Watershed album, is a brilliant combination of all these elements we’ve been talking about: The Greg Lake/King Crimson vibem the ballad feel that you dig, and the acoustic guitars. It truly is really different type of sound for a metal band to record. And the rhythm section is really remarkable. I know I’ve tossed out a lot of ideas here so, let’s talk about the feel of the rhythm track. It is so non-metal-like.

Yeah, I do have an input into pretty much everything because I demo the songs back home; I have a simple Pro Tools rig set up at my house. So I demo all the songs and I finish all the songs and actually have them sequenced in the same order as I want it to be on the album. So we’re listening to the album before we record it really, if you know what I mean. I record it with like a drum machine and it sounds good but obviously it’s a drum machine. I’m very interested in drums; as far as I’m concerned drumming in Opeth is one of the most important parts; if the drums are nailed, I can just listen to the drum tracks and I know it’s gonna be a good song if you know what I mean. Martin (Axenrot, drummer) and Martin (Mendez, bassist) have a different approach to what they’re doing than many other metal bands. Because some of them, like the more extreme metal bands, they just play as fast as they can; they don’t take into consideration that you should play with the bass drum and with the snare and with the feel and that kind of stuff. And that’s something that basically has always been there for Opeth, I guess. We have a really strong rhythm section; I certainly agree. “Burden” was actually a little bit of a gimmick song for me; I really like the song but it’s pretty far from the most original song I’ve written. I got the idea when I listened to the Scorpions, the In Trance album it was. There was a song on there called “Living and Dying” and I’ve always been a big fan of those big mid-70s metal type of ballads. I just thought like, “Fuck, I want to write a song like that.” I just wrote that song and I wanted it to sound like a mid-70s.

Now that you’ve described it, you can trace the influence. But there’s still something very different and original about it.

Oh, that’s cool, I really like that. But I think it’s not really fashionable or has been fashionable to do songs like that for 30 years. I guess we’re bringing it back and we’re also mixing it up, our metal influences, with some of the darker, like progressive rocks bands like King Crimson and Van der Graaf Generator. And we use a lot of Mellotron on there which also gives you the vibe of King Crimson because they used it a lot, you know.

Definitely. When I found out that you had a song called “Mellotron Heart” I knew this had to be a very unique-thinking band. You use the Mellotron wonderfully and your keyboard player, Per Wiberg, has a real sense of how to integrate those vintage keyboards with all the new synths.

Yeah, he’s like a blues player; he comes from mostly like a rock/blues background. He’s been playing blues for many years and his idols when it comes to keyboards is guys like Vincent Crane from Atomic Rooster and Ken Hensley from Uriah Heep and obviously Jon Lord and those types of guys.

On “Burden” he’s actually playing that Purple type of Hammond B3 solo, isn’t he?

Yeah, exactly.

Your solo on “Burden” was astonishing. It combined the blues and progressive techniques but there was the sense that you had so much more to offer. The problem with most metal guitarists is they display their entire musical vocabulary on any one single solo. In other words, you hear one solo, you’ve heard them all. With your playing, there is that great feeling of anticipation of “What is he going to play next?”

The soloes in “Burden” is a tradeoff between me and Fredrik (Akesson). I don’t like guitar soloes unless they serve a purpose, unless they make the song better. We’d never throw in a solo because it’s supposed to have a guitar solo in a song. But this one was just a buildup for the ending part of that song; it was just perfect that we tradeoff a few soloes and then go into a harmonic type of lead together. I don’t know, as far as I’m concerned, the classic way to do it. I don’t like guitar players that overplay; I like one note better than a 100 notes if you know what I mean.

At the end of “Burden,” the nylon string guitar goes out of tune and you turn it into a total performance moment. It’s very cool.

I didn’t have an ending for the song; there was a few options to end a nice song like that. Either you end on a high note with a nice chord or a fade out or something. But I just came up with the idea that we should end it in a freaky way and I’m just basically playing this ending lick on the nylon string guitar and I told Fredrik to de-tune the guitar in real time as I was playing. So obviously it sounds very ugly but that was the whole purpose. We didn’t know if it would work or not but it did.

Fredrik has seamlessly worked his way into Opeth even though this is just his first album with the band. So, a couple questions: What qualities were you seeking in a second guitarist? And why did you feel you needed a backup guitar to flesh out the sound of Opeth?

Yeah, basically we like the rhythms we have; they’re quite intricate at times and they’re written for two guitars. Which is the main reason we need two guitar players and also I want someone who can take the role of lead guitar player. Because I’m singing and playing lead and sometimes it’s difficult for me. Besides I’m not anywhere near as accomplished as a guitar player as Fredrik is; he’s basically from the shred type of background. Like an Yngwie Malmsteen and those types of guys but he’s also a great feel guitar player, if you know what I mean. He hasn’t been able to show (that) in his previous bands but now, I think, in Opeth, if you’re going to be a guitar player you have to be somewhat versatile, I guess. And he was one of my favorite lead guitar players out of Sweden; and he’s very tight with rhythms, too. Usually it’s either or but he’s very good with both. He also listens to the music. He loves to shred; if I would tell him to shred for 10 minutes, he would and love it. But he also understands the sensitive side of songwriting; that sometimes you can’t just go for the throat all the time. He understands dynamics which is something very important for us; so he was perfect.

And there are a lot of dynamics in “Hex Omega,” another one of the tracks from Watershed. Your guitar part during the verse is so musical by itself that you almost don’t even need a vocal on top of it.

Yeah; I had the first riff which was more of a metal riff but it set the standard for the rest of the song because it had some middle Eastern type of vibe going on. I just got the idea for the verse and from the verse going into the heavier kind of mid-section of the song. I don’t know; it just felt right. I let the vocal melody guide the song in a way; there’s simple rhythms behind it. But I can certainly understand what you’re saying. It’s a very simple lick kind of verse but it’s also kind of evocative sounding and you feel kind of calm listening to it in a way. It just came out that way, I guess.

“Hessian Peel” is another track featuring nylon acoustic along with the electrics. Is that an electric guitar in the intro?

The intro is Hammond organ low E note and I play steel string guitar; it’s just something to create a vibe and go into the next part which was somewhat influenced by the band Camel which I listened a lot to. I listened a lot to Camel when I was younger, I guess, and that little lead in the beginning was influenced by them. And then I just went into this verse or whatever you call it; it’s almost like a chromatic chord progression. You can do some really interesting things with chromatic chord progressions if it changes from major to minor chords or the other way around. It’s a well-used trick for any songwriter but it really worked for this one.

You play that lick and then you hit that Eb and it’s really striking. It’s totally unexpected and that’s such a rare quality in music these days.

Yeah; I thought it sounded good. It creates a nice vibe for the song and you kind of get sucked into the song by that intro, I think.

You’re playing Paul Reed Smith guitars on Watershed?

Yeah; I played Paul Reed Smith guitars now for around six, seven years now, I think. And I love 'em; they endorse us or we endorse them or whatever you say. They’re versatile and they have everything I need. I love the feel of playing Stratocasters and I love the sound from a Gibson and in a way you can get both of those guitars in a PRS; and a little bit more than that. They stay in tune; they’re kind of solid in that sense that they don’t break which is good if you’re touring a lot like we do. And they’re beautiful; I don’t know, they have everything. The first time I played a PRS, I think the first chord I picked was like an Emaj4 and I was like, “Wow, I can actually hear every single string ring in this chord yet it sounds like a full chord.” And that was something I never experienced with any guitar.

And you run Laney amps?

I’m endorsed by Laney, yeah.

Was that a throwback to Tony Iommi at all?

Well, of course, once they approached me it was like, “Yeah, Tony Iommi plays Laneys so they have to be good enough for me.” But they’ve just really supportive of me and given me basically all the support I need. I like guitars and I love the look of guitars but amplifiers I’m not interested in. If somebody said, “This is a good amplifier; play it,” I’d say, “Yeah, sure.” Laney is everything I needed; I play a model called GH100L which is basically a normal 100-watt head. It’s basically the same as Tony Iommi uses but he’s got a signature model; I’ve just got the simple stock model.

Your style is so different than that of the other metal players. As you mentioned before, every note you play has definition and there’s so much depth to the sound.

As I said, I never practiced scales up and down that much or anything really to be honest. I think if you’ve got a good tone and a good sense of rhythm, that’s all I need for being a songwriter and somewhat of a guitar player too. What I listened to when I was growing up, some of those guitar players I thought was better than the other guys and I guess that kind of molded me in a way. Guys like Ritchie Blackmore and Andy Latimer from Camel and Jerry Donahue, I really like. Basically it was those types of guys; (David) Gilmour of course. I love (Robert) Fripp (laughs).

In a way, you are to Opeth as Fripp is to King Crimson. That is, the sort of mainstay, the constant presence while other musicians sometimes come and go.

Lineups I see as a negative thing but they do push you forward. Once you get new guys in the band obviously there’s something that happens with your sound and you just have to pick up really like and what you haven’t heard before in your sound and kind of spinoff on that, if you know what I mean. And that’s what we’ve done with all lineup changes; every lineup changes we had, I always hated them as they happened. But they always made us into a better band.

When Opeth releases a new record, it essentially is a Michael Akerfeldt solo record. Would a true solo record be a logical step for you?

For me, I can feel like it’s a solo record; I don’t really feel the need to have projects on the side because I can put everything I want to into Opeth. I virtually write everything that we do and I don’t have a big interest in reggae or hip-hop; but if I had, I’m sure I could bring it into Opeth too. But it’s still very much a band situation; I rely heavily on the other guys to make this vision or whatever you call it, turn into reality. And they come up things I would never come up with. When we finally put down the real tracks for the bass guitar, Mendez comes up with this amazing stuff I would never in my wildest dreams come up with. Even though I write the songs, they contribute so much that I feel right now I could never manage without them.

Then you are more than open to taking suggestions from the other members?

Oh, sure, yeah; me and Fredrik actually co-wrote one song on the album called “Porcelain Heart.” He came with the first riff and I just took care of the rest; and me and Per wrote the song that’s not on the album but is on the special edition called “Derelict Herds.” Yeah, I welcome the input but I feel I have the last say because I’m the only original guy since the beginning and I’ve always taken care of the songwriting. So if there’s something I think is not as good, I just tell them; I also expect them to tell me.

So, if Fredrik says to you, “Michael, that guitar part is not working, let’s try something else,” you’ll take that to heart?

Yes, of course - but it hasn’t happened yet!

Besides writing and arranging all the songs and playing guitars, you produced Watershed. Was there ever a point where you thought you may have bitten off more than you could chew?

Uh, I don’t; the way I see it, writing songs and arranging them as I do in my home, the way I do it they are so done by the time we enter the studio, that it’s a pre-production that I’ve been so involved in. I think writing songs and having your finger in every pie when it comes to the songwriting, you become a producer if you know what I mean. But when it comes to how to achieve the sounds that we’re looking for, I don’t know shit! I just basically tell our engineer, “We want good guitar sounds” and he’s like, “OK.” We fool around with a few amps and I tell him that’s good-sounding or sometimes I say, “That doesn’t sound good” and he says, “Well, it will sound good later.” So, I really don’t have much of a say when I’m working with engineers. But in the end, I’m always happy.

Did you have any sense that Opeth would be headed here musically on their ninth album? Orchid was the first album and now eight records later you create Watershed - was there any part of you that could have imagined this is where you’d be as a songwriter and guitarist and bandleader?

No; I was 19 when I did the first one. I was just like a kid and we were in a small 16-track studio and recorded and mixed in 12 days and it was just exciting to be in the studio at the time. So I didn’t really think forward at all. But if I thought about the future, I probably thought we were gonna be massive (laughs). Penthouse suites; that was the whole vision of rock stardom from when I was growing up. That’s the way I thought it works; once you have a record deal, you’re set. Obviously it was nothing like that.

Not yet anyway.

No, not yet!

And play all the right notes tonight.

Now I’ll fuck up a lot!

Mikael Åkerfeldt - French interview by Virginie (03 Dec 2008)

2008-12-03T20:25:00.000-08:00

Radio Metal : « Watershed » a un son très « seventies » et psychédélique. Comment l’expliques-tu?

Mikael Åkerfeldt (chant/guitare) : Je pense que j’ai été inspiré par ce que j’écoutais en composant. J’ai complètement adopté cet esprit en découvrant THE ZOMBIES. Vous connaissez? Leurs albums sont très psychédéliques. J’ai également beaucoup écouté les BEATLES, notamment des albums comme « Revolver » ou le « White Album ». Je suis tombé sur ces albums par hasard, et je les ai adorés. Je les ai écoutés tous les jours pendant deux mois, et j’ai été très inspiré par l’utilisation d’effets qui transformaient de simples chansons pop en ?uvres extrêmement particulières. J’ai donc tenté d’adapter ça à notre propre style.

Si tu pouvais renaître à une autre période de l’histoire, laquelle choisirais-tu?

Je trouve que je suis né dans la bonne décennie – les années 70. Mais en fait, j’aurais aimé vivre dans les années 70, et ce pour des raisons complètement idiotes et très égoïstes. Vois-tu, je collectionne les disques. Si j’avais eu l’âge que j’ai maintenant dans les années 70, si j’avais eu 34 ans à cette époque, j’aurais pu acheter plein de disques pour trois fois rien! J’aurais également pu voir tous mes groupes préférés en concert. Mais je ne regrette pas d’être né dans les années 70. Même si j’en avais la possibilité, je ne changerais rien.

Quelle est pour toi la différence entre cette période et celle où nous vivons?

Aujourd’hui, tout est basé sur la technologie. Nos émotions ne sont pas aussi naturelles, particulièrement en ce qui concerne la musique. De nombreux groupes s’aident de la technologie pour pondre quelque chose de correct. Je ne peux pas dire que la musique était infiniment meilleure dans les années 70, mais personnellement, je suis beaucoup plus intéressé par la musique de cette époque. C’est ce que j’écoute le plus. Cette musique me semble plus « vraie » que celle d’aujourd’hui.

Tu as déclaré que les paroles de « Watershed » étaient très personnelles, et que c’était la raison pour laquelle elles n’apparaissaient pas dans le livret. Te sens-tu exposé, mis à nu, lorsque tu chantes ces chansons sur scène?

Les paroles sont dans le livret, mais elles sont codées. Je ne peux pas dire que je me sente exposé ; en revanche, je ne peux pas m’empêcher de me demander si les gens qui chantent avec moi comprennent réellement les paroles. En toute honnêteté, je n’ai jamais rencontré qui que ce soit qui comprenne le sujet de mes chansons. Je ne me sens pas mis à nu et je ne voulais pas que les paroles apparaissent dans le livret car je ne souhaite pas qu’on m’interroge là-dessus. Si on me pose des questions sur les paroles, je réponds que je ne peux rien dire…

Vos pochettes d’albums sont toujours superbes et expriment une certaine mélancolie. La pochette de « Watershed » est une invitation à un voyage. Penses-tu que le dessin, une autre forme d’art, puisse exprimer mieux ou d’une façon différente ce que tu essaies de dire dans ta musique?

Je n’en sais rien. Je cherche à ce que nos pochettes représentent la musique de l’album, que les deux aillent ensemble. Les pochettes représentent la façon dont je visualise la musique. Je ne suis pas un artiste moi-même, mais j’ai un avis, comme tout le monde. Ces pochettes sont idéales pour OPETH. Je me suis toujours beaucoup investi dans la création des livrets. Nous travaillons avec Travis Smith (NDLR : célèbre illustrateur ayant collaboré avec Riverside, Devin Townsend etc.) depuis près de dix ans. Nous avons développé une relation très forte avec cet homme, nous l’adorons. Personne ne peut vous forcer à aimer une personne ; soit vous l’appréciez, soit vous ne l’appréciez pas. C’est la même chose avec l’art : tout est une question de goût. Vous pouvez ressentir quelque chose de particulier, certains éléments peuvent vous toucher plus particulièrement, même si vous êtes complètement déconnecté du style de vie de l’artiste. Tout dépend de la façon dont le public fonctionne. Mais j’en suis ravi. Je pense que notre musique est plus profonde que celles d’autres groupes de metal.

Tu as avoué dans une interview que, malgré le succès grandissant de OPETH, tu avais été « sans-abri » pendant plusieurs années. Comment es-tu parvenu à croire en toi malgré cela?

Je n’étais pas sans-abri dans le sens où je dormais dans la rue. J’avais des amis pour m’héberger, mais effectivement, je n’avais pas de maison à moi. Quand j’y repense, ces moment-là ont compté parmi les meilleurs de ma vie! J’ai passé six ou sept mois sur le canapé d’un ami. Un jour, il a emprunté 10€ à sa mère, et nous sommes allés acheter des spaghettis et de la viande pour le déjeuner. Pour moi, c’était une époque formidable. La vie était dure, bien sûr, mais je ne voyais pas les choses sous cet angle. J’étais heureux, tout simplement. Je ne me suis jamais demandé si ces épreuves allaient me détruire au niveau mental. En tant que musicien, on est préparé à ce genre de situation. Quand j’ai décidé de me lancer dans la musique, je ne m’attendais pas à ce que tout arrive en claquant des doigts. Nous avons mis des années avant d’arriver à quelque chose. Nous ne donnions pas de concerts, personne ne s’intéressait à nous… Tout ce que nous faisions, c’était sortir des albums et attendre que le téléphone sonne – ce qu’il ne faisait jamais. Nous avons mis six ou sept ans avant de réellement commencer à travailler. J’ai vécu chez ma mère pendant un temps fou, jusqu’à mes 23 ans. Et puis les choses se sont améliorées. Aujourd’hui, c’est un métier, et un métier que nous adorons.

La carrière d’OPETH et ton propre statut sont-ils donc une victoire, pour toi ? Tu avais une revanche à prendre?

Pas vraiment. Bien sûr, au début, personne ne croyait en moi ou au potentiel du groupe. Ma propre mère m’a même dit : « C’est très bien que tu aies un hobby, mais ça ne doit pas être une priorité. Il faut que tu gagnes ta vie. Et si tu faisais des études? » Je n’en avais aucune envie. La musique, c’était tout ce que je voulais faire. On peut penser que vouloir faire carrière dans la musique est un choix stupide, surtout lorsqu’on veut créer ses propres chansons, comme nous. Pour ma part, je pense que ce qui est stupide, c’est de passer sa vie à faire quelque chose qu’on déteste. Je voulais vraiment faire ce que j’aimais, et c’était le cas de tous les membres du groupe. Personne ne voulait faire carrière dans quelque chose qui ne l’intéresse pas. Une fois qu’on a compris ça, c’est limpide.

Après seize ans de bons et loyaux services, Peter a quitté le groupe. Nous n’allons pas évoquer ici les raisons de son départ ou ta possible déception, mais j’aimerais en revanche savoir si tu te remets en question lorsque ce genre de situation se produit…

C’était son choix. Si les gens veulent partir, la décision leur appartient, et ça ne change rien au fait que je continuerai de faire de la musique. Aucun des anciens musiciens d’OPETH n’a poursuivi de carrière dans la musique. Tous ceux qui sont partis ont changé de boulot, plus aucun ne joue. Ils n’étaient peut-être pas sûrs d’avoir choisi la bonne voie. J’ai bien sûr été contrarié lorsque Peter est parti. Après tout, nous étions amis depuis très longtemps, et j’étais inquiet de savoir si l’alchimie allait être aussi bonne avec celui qui prendrait sa place. Mais apparemment, Peter n’est pas un musicien. Moi oui – et c’est la raison pour laquelle nous ne pouvions pas continuer à travailler ensemble. Notre amitié n’entrait pas en jeu. Il a laissé tomber la musique, mais je n’en suis pas fâché, au contraire. Le groupe ne s’en porte que mieux.

Tu blagues beaucoup sur scène. Martin nous a confié que tu étais également comme ça dans la vie, mais tu sembles pourtant avoir énormément de contrôle sur OPETH. Penses-tu que ce soit cet équilibre qui fait ta force?

Je n’en sais rien… Je pense qu’il est bon de toujours avoir du recul. OPETH est souvent perçu comme un groupe très rigide, composé de musiciens qui se prennent très au sérieux. Pour être franc, quand il s’agit de musique, je suis évidemment très sérieux et je ne fais pas les choses à moitié. Mais d’un autre côté, lorsque nous sommes sur scène, c’est pour faire un boulot que nous adorons, et on ne peut pas faire autrement que s’éclater. J’en avais assez de ne pas prendre mon pied à 200 % sur scène. Je voulais donner une certaine image de moi, je faisais les choses de la façon dont je pensais qu’elles devaient être faites… Je ne pourrais jamais me transformer en quelqu’un d’autre, devenir un homme de Néanderthal et faire les cornes du diable à tout va. En revanche, je me suis beaucoup inspiré de DEVIN TOWNSEND, qui passe son temps à se moquer du public, de lui-même et du metal en général. C’est toujours très drôle. Un jour, j’ai tout simplement dit une connerie sur scène, et le public a eu l’air d’apprécier. Aujourd’hui, les membres du staff me rappellent toujours à l’ordre, en me disant de ne pas parler trop longtemps parce qu’il y a un couvre-feu, ou ce genre de trucs. Mais ça fait partie du spectacle, et un soir, si j’en ai envie, je veux avoir la possibilité de ne rien dire du tout. Parfois, au beau milieu du concert, j’entends quelqu’un dire : « Mike, raconte-nous une blague! » Balancer des blagues n’était pas exactement le but que je cherchais à atteindre, mais si j’ai envie de dire une connerie, je la dis.

Per Wiberg - Interview by Didier (03 Dec 2008)

2008-12-03T17:14:00.000-08:00

Hello Per, thanks for giving some of your time to our webzine AuxPortesDuMetal.com.

Hi, nice to meet you.

Few questions on keyboards in Death Metal. Kind of unusual mix?

In the late 80s, a band from Florida called Nocturnus was already using keys in Death Metal. Keyboards was however quite common in Black Metal. Opeth has always drawn influences from all over the place. Psychedelic and Progressive metal from the 60s and the 70s as well as Death Metal and Black Metal.

Do you see a turn to more progressive sounds in Opeth since the last two albums?

Not exactly, I think that if you would have put keyboards in the "Blackwater Park" or "Still Life" albums for example, it would be pretty close to what we are doing now. And of course there was lots of keys in "Damnation" so...

Don't you think it's difficult to please the Death Metal fans as well as the Progressive Metal fans?

That makes us unique and draws some people's attention and it's always been Opeth trademark to have these metal bits in their sound. People who like Opeth are used to that.

Do you participate yourself in song writting?

No, Michael writes the songs.

Opeth song writing is rather dark. Any plans to change this?

Well I cannot say for the future, but I guess it's easier to write from the blues point of view than the happy side. This is true for a lot of musicians, they are more creative when they are not feeling too well.

Speaking about the tour, you guys handle a lot of dates, everyday. Yesterday in Barcelona and tomorrow in Milan, isn't this life style hard to live?

It's definately not for everyone. And I guess that's why people leave bands. In Opeth we are a pretty hard working touring band. We have been out since April now, and next year is going to be more or less the same. But to me, it's stupid to complain about that. If you want to go home, quit and do something else. You know. Noone wants to have people complains.

You could not organise with a lighter agenda?

Yes but that costs a lot of money. That's impossible. We cannot afford that. And also I don't think anyone would be interesting in playing 2 shows and having 2 or 3 days out because once you're out on tour, you are so focused on playing good show, you want to keep it condensed. I prefer.

Do you remember where you have been playing?

Yes. I'm actually pretty good with dates and remembering where we are going and where we have been. I do keep track. There has not been any bad dates on this tour. Everybody is overwhelmed by the fact that so many people come out and see us. It's been a while since we did a proper European Tour and so we feel a good vibe. It's important. If there is s lot of people in the room but noone is into it, it matter that much. You know I'd rather play to 50 people that are into it, so we get some energy.

Any plans to release a DVD of this tour?

No, not for this one. No plans for filming anything for quite a while since the last DVD was released a month ago. Possibly when we start touring again next year, that we are going to start filming bits and pieces. But no date set really.

What's your favourite song in this tour setlist?

I'd say "Demon of the Fall".

A few questions on "Watershed", which received a 19.5/20 on our website. Is there a global theme in this album?

No not really. "Ghost Reveries" was lyrically more tight together, but this one is just independent songs.

Nathalie Lorichs sings with Michael on one of the song, "Coil", and the result is great. How did you got in touch with her?

She is actually the drummer's girlfriend and Axe [that's Martin Axenrot] and her they write a lot of music together, and he plays guitar as well.

On this album again Michael wrote all of the songs?

Yes he records demos of what he wrote then we discuss all together and come up wih proposals. We work as a tema then.

In "Lotus Eater", toward the end there is a jazzy piano break. Did you come up with this?

No it was also Michael.

You mentionned influence from Black Sabbath. This is particularly true with a song like "Heir Apparent", do you agree?

Black Sabbath is a huge influence for eveyone in the band I guess.

What's the idea behind the strange ending of "Burden"?

It was an idea from James, one of our sound engineer. Michael was playing the guitar and Fredrik was tuning it down while he was playing...

What's your favourite song in the album?

I would say "Heir Apparent". It's a classic haevy Opeth track.

There is also a very nice keyboard solo in "Burden", very 70s style. You wanted that sound?

Well yes, the entire song is almost like a tribute to the classic ballads of the 70s or 60s. It could be Deep Purple or Scorpions you know...

We know Sweden for IKEA and Volvo, why is it that we have so many great metal bands from scandinavia and more precisely Sweden?

It's hard to answer that. You know there has always been a lot of music played in Sweden. Not just metal. There has been a lot of Jazz in the 60s, a lot of vocalist too, specially female vocalist. There is also a very strong traditional folk music as part of people's life in scandinavia. Some of which we find in Opeth by the way. It's been an influence too.

But do you have a lot of band because people like metal music or the other way around?

Well heavy metal and hard rock has always been very very popular in Scandinavia or at least Finland, Norway and Sweden. All those bands like Sabbath, Deep Purple, Huriah Heep, Think Lizzy, Status Quo, all those classic rock bands were huge in those countries. And then it continued with the new wave of British heavy metal, with Maiden, Saxon, many even bigger. Compared to other countries in Europe. So lots of the bands from our generation, grew up listening to Venom, Judas Priest or Maiden.

What about the future? Any time off?

No time off. We don't know when this tour will be finished actually. We are counting on doing heavy touring all of next year. We obviously will change the setlist but last time we were out for "Ghost Reveries", we were out for 19 months qnd I don't think this will be any shorter. if people still want to see us...

Do you have any side project?

Lots. So when we have time off with Opeth, I do play gigs with lots of bands. I work and record with other folks. Record my stuff or their stuff.

Any plans for a new album? Do you have time on tour to write new material?

No it's really hard. I have no idea when there will be a new Opeth album. 2 years from now maybe?

As soon as you finish a gig, you jump in the bus and off you go?

Yes, pretty much. We sleep in the bus. It's hard to write new song in a bus.

Do you still play Guitar Hero to relax?

Actually we don't have it anymore on this tour. I'm personaly not into games that much, but golf is now the big thing in the bus. We play a golf game, and Call of Duty.

Do you have the setlist for tonight?

Well I do in my head. So we start with "Heir Apparent", then "Grand Conjuration", then "Godhead's Lament" from "Still Life", then "Lotus Eater", "Hope Leaves" then "Deliverance", "Demon of the Fall" then well, that set is about 1 hour and 20 minutes, then if people want us, we will see [They finished with "Drapery Falls"].

Thanks a lot Per and good luck for tonight.

Thank you.

Peter Lindgren - Interview by Jörgen Hellström (27 Nov 2008)

2008-11-27T13:14:00.000-08:00

””It´s a cold but sunny novemberday when I leave my work and go to the city. I feel a bit nervous but hopeful. I´m going to meet Peter Lindgren. Peter is playing at some of the records that meant most to me in my life, so it´s big to meet him! At 12 a clock sharp he comes in through the doors at Fridhemsplans subway-station where we decided to meet. The Fanclub is going to buy him lunch and he suggests an Indian restaurant nearby. But…when we arrive they are closed. We choose an Italian restaurant nearby instead. I think there are many people that´s wondering what Peter´s up to since he left Opeth.
On the Internet he still figures in discussions, so there´s still an interest in him. Peter says that he sometimes check the Internet to be updated. I ask Peter what he does now. He answers that he works with Information technology and that he likes that. Earlier in his life he got two qualified degrees. He has a Master of Science in physics and a master of philosophy. It´s a well educated guy that sits in front of me! After the last long tour he got a “regular” job in the IT-business. He was going to try that for 6 month. It was the intense touring that made me loose the engagement, Peter says. I felt that I couldn’t give a 100 % and that I didn’t totally appreciate it. Then it’s better to step aside. Opeth is about total commitment all the time, nothing else. The family was the other big reason to quit. It’s impossible to have a decent social life with that schedule we had.
Peter’s married since several years and tells me that it’s not easy to combine a relationship with extensive touring. Peter doesn’t have any children but think it would be even harder if he had. Peter is describing the time in Opeth in a loving way. He does not regret his decision to leave Opeth but he misses that special feeling with the guys. – How would he describe Opeth as a band, I ask him? He says that Opeth strength is the versatility ant that the different band members bring different influences to the music. Mikael is into the seventies, Per brings soe blues, Peter contributed with some pop-influences, like The Cure, and Mendez has his latino-background. But everybody has their love for heavy music in common, says Peter. It´s never boring listening to Opeh, says Peter. There´s so much going on in the music and despite that you´ve heard an Opeth record many times you always discover new things. Mikael´s writing the lyrics/music, but Peter still decribes him as interested in what the others can bring to the songs. Peter says that Opeth is a band with democracy in opposite to other bands that are led by a “dictator”! So…is Peter up to something musically now? – No, nothing at this time, replies Peter. Obviously he plays at home. It´s not impossible that we might hear Peter on records in the future, but right now there are no plans.
Peter remembers that Opeth had the ambition to be the most evil band on earth when they started! He smiles when he thinks back at the great plans in his teens. We discuss the meaning of “evil” in Opeth music and Peter´s explains that is more a way to express a feeling through the music rather than to worship “evil”. A bit like “The Cure”, they are really good at expressing emotions through their music, says Peter. – We are not “evil” guys, laughs Peter! What does Peter listen to nowadays? Peter laughs and answers: - Opeth! And that brings us to the new Opeth record. Peter tells me that it was a weird feeling to get a new Opeth CD in his hands that he hadn’t been a part of! The Previously CD´s he took part in making and those songs he already knew when the CD arrived. But this time it´s different… Peter says that he had trouble following the new songs at first and that it took a while to get into the record, but now when he got into it he calls it “Damn good”! He´s impressed by the professional production and the great sound of the album!
A big reason that Opeth hasn´t hit it “big time” I think, is because of the growling I tell Peter. He agrees, but says at the same time, that if Opeth should leave growling, it would not be Opeth anymore! I agree! Besides listening to Opeth new CD, Peter´s in to some jazz. He tells me that his father’s a jazz musician and that he discovers a lot of good music in his father’s collection, like Miles Davis. But he’s listening to some heavy stuff too…like Emperor! Ever been in a fan club, I ask Peter? -No, he replies. If you had started a fan club, what band would that be, I continue? – Iron maiden or Metallica, Peter replies fast! -Iron maiden was the reason I wanted to become a musician, says Peter. Doesn’t Opeth have a unique position in the world of music, I ask Peter. -Yes, Peter answers. –There is a respect for the band that’s special. –Opeth are very respected among other bands and music journalists, says Peter. Any album that has been extra important for you, I ask him? –“Master of Puppets”, Peter replies! – It´s the album that meant most to me. I was a huge Metallica-fan before, but that album turned my world upside down, Peter continues. Of course an album like “Master of Puppets” might affect a 12-year old more than an experienced 35-year guy. It probably takes more to get “knocked out” now! -The band “Camel” was also important, Peter says. -They opened up the world to the prog-rock in the 70´s and one could say that they are the reason – among others- that Opeth started to sound like we did, Peter reveals. If you could listen to only one artist for the rest of your life, who would that be, I ask peter. – Probably Porcupine Tree, Peter replies. – Maybe for the same reason why some would choose Opeth: They are incredible versatile, the spectrum is very broad and all their material is high quality, thinks Peter. Do you have any favorite guitarist, I ask Peter. –There are of course a number of great guitarists out there, but my “all time-favourite” is Eddie van Halen Peter reveals! Besides being skillfull as few others, he´s also extremely innovative. – He’s the reason to why the metal scene in the 80´s looked like it did. He’s not only a great lead guitarist, he also knows how to riff!
What does peter think of his replacement guitarist in Opeth? –Fredrik is great guitarist, Peter says and it seems that Peter thinks it’s a good choice that the band has made! When we finished eating we head back to the subway. Peter is going back to his job where he has much to do now. I ask him if he gets recognized often? - No, says Peter, not often. -I´m not a public person and I like being a bit anonymous. A couple of minutes later a fan comes up to Peter and talk to him for a while! We laugh at the absurdity of that situation! I thank Peter for the interview and when we say goodbye to each other I feel happy and satisfied. Peter´s very nice person and he seem to be a happy person that laughs a lot and besides that he has been playing in the greatest band on earth! – Yes, Opeth might very well be among the best bands in the world, says Peter.

Fredrik Åkesson - Interview by Patrick Rennick (28 Oct 2008)

2008-10-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

Like Autumn Leaves…

In New England the air has started to get a little cooler. Splashes of yellow and red consume the trees, brilliant infernos of color reminding us of winter’s impending chill. For the past several years the shedding leaves have also foretold the metal community of Opeth’s inevitable return to the Palladium in Worcester Massachusetts. And what a perfect season for the bleak yet inviting music of Sweden’s extreme progressive masters. The days grow gradually shorter as memories surface.

I can still remember making my way down I-290 to that very venue many years ago. It was a point in my life when metal was still a genre I was acquiring a taste for. My friends had been blasting Vital Remains’ Dechristianize and Morbid Angel’s Covenant the whole way to the show and all I heard was a wall of satanic sound. It was perhaps my first real metal show. Moonspell opened that evening. Fernando Ribeiro looked triumphant as he fiercely brandished a skull scepter and belched forth guttural growls. I was hooked. As Opeth took the stage playing what I now know as “April Ethereal,” I knew that I had become a metal head.

Fast forward to 2008 and Opeth have risen from their initial obscurity to one of metal’s most popular acts despite the voluntary departures of two beloved members, drummer Martin Lopez and guitarist Peter Lindgren. The band however, has remained together, recruiting a powerful new lineup including the addition of a keyboard player/backing vocalist, Per Wiberg, drummer Martin Axenrot, and guitarist, Fredrik Åkesson.

I am sitting down with Åkesson in the Palladium’s smoky dressing room. High on Fire’s Matt Pike is gleefully throwing back shots of Jack Daniel’s before sound check with a toothy smile. He seems quite confident in a plan he has devised after observing Opeth to combine all of his band’s cables on stage into one “giant snake cable.” He exchanges a few more words with us and then he is off to implement his experiment. Fredrik, referred to as “Fred” by the band’s tour manager is visibly calm as he casually reclines on a leather sofa. There was a time when he was an outside admirer of Opeth’s music as well.

“Actually, back in 93’ or 94’ I was rehearsing at this rehearsal place in Stockholm,” recalls Åkesson. “And the bass player in Opeth at the time, Johan DeFarfalla the one who played on the early stuff like the first CD [Orchid] was there as well. I remember he played me all the shit on the old record but I didn’t pay much attention to it back then. But I started listening to Opeth when Still Life came out basically. That was 98’, 99’ or something… I really liked the atmosphere of the songs. It was quite different from other bands. I got really hooked on Opeth when I listened to the Blackwater Park record… I think it’s the mixture between the dynamics of the songs to be very dark and aggressive, death metallish and sometimes it’s a bit more forest-like, more moody. I kinda like that mixture and also the fact that you never really know what’s going to happen in the song.”

When long-standing guitarist Peter Lindgren announced his voluntary departure from Opeth in the spring of 2007, the online metal community began clamoring for explanations and speculating on possible replacements. Opeth founder and mastermind Mikael Åkerfeldt’s solution to this dilemma seemed to be as simple as turning to a friend.

“Yeah, actually me and Mike [Åkerfeldt] had been talking about jamming for many years,” recalls Åkesson. “He saw me playing in a pub where I was playing some King Diamond covers, Judas Priest covers and he came up to me and said he liked my playing and he asked me to give him some lessons. And I was like, whoa, you’re embarrassing me dude!

“We’ve known each other for 5-6 years or something like that but not like super friends. We would meet at festivals and he met me at that gig. He knew a bit about the bands I played in previously. But then we talked about this jamming over the years but it never really happened. And then we were on the same tour in 2006. I was playing with Arch Enemy at the time on Gigantour here in America. So it was at that time that I would actually hang out more on the Opeth bus than I would on the Arch Enemy bus. So I guess we bonded a bit that tour. Then in January last year Mikael [Åkerfeldt] asked me over to his house to do some jamming and I didn’t realize but he was sort of secretly auditioning me because he kept asking me, hey could you play this Opeth riff? And I guess I pulled it off. Then I showed him some more technical stuff because he wanted to improve his playing.”

Åkesson seems genuinely pleased to have been recruited and is not shy about expressing his enthusiasm and devotion to Åkerfeldt’s musical vision.

“It was perfect timing because I had been fired from Arch Enemy, or asked to leave, because Chris Amott wanted to come back to the band and they’re brothers and all that. So, for a couple of months there I was like well, I need to do my own band now I guess. Then Mikael called me up and I was like, yeah, hells yeah [sic]! This is a band I can see myself playing with for a long time. It’s always been my goal to focus on one band and with this band I feel like I could grow old in this band. It doesn’t matter who calls tomorrow or what kind of money they offer really, we get along really good in this band really and we have a laugh, which is important if you are going to tour as much as we do.”

Over the past year Åkesson has played nearly one hundred gigs with Opeth. In 2007 he made his live debut playing at the Ilosaarirock festival in Joensuu, Finland in front of 16,000 people.

“Yeah it was a cool way to start,” recalls Åkesson. “Although I didn’t have any fuckups really so I was happy about that. I was lucky enough to have months before the gig to learn the songs. So I couldn’t really complain about not having enough time.”

In addition to his touring duties Åkesson also joined the band as they were in the process of writing their latest album, Watershed. He is not only featured on the album but had some creative input in it as well.

“Well, just one song basically that me and Mike co-wrote, Porcelain Heart,” says Åkesson. “I came up with that first riff and the calm part and he liked it. I recorded a bunch of other riffs that didn’t end up on the album, faster, technical stuff. He really liked this heavier doomier, [Black] Sabbath-esque riff. That was the theme for the song I guess. Apart from that I did guitar solos and stuff like that but Mikael as always wrote most of it.”

Anyone who is familiar with the ongoing Opeth diary found on their official website or the first video the band put together composed of studio footage for the song, “Harvest” may get the impression that Mike runs a tight ship during recordings. Perhaps Åkesson can let us know if there is any truth to this.

“Yeah, he was really cool actually,” he states. “We rehearsed the songs a lot before we entered the studio. I think everybody knew their parts really well. When I did my guitar parts he wasn’t even in the room. He was somewhere else. That made me feel quite comfortable recording, knowing that he relied on my ability… It was quite relaxed, it went smoothly. There were two studios in the same location and that saved us a lot of time.”

This evening Opeth decides to pay their new album homage by opening with, “Heir Apparent.” There isn’t a still body in the room as they pound through this violent return to their death metal roots. As per usual the band is in top form, playing like some terrible natural destructive force. The momentum persists as “The Grand Conjuration” is resurrected from 2005’s Ghost Reveries. The performance seems to have scarcely begun although these two songs combined clock in at nearly 20-minutes.

Åkerfeldt, or Mr. Åkerfeldt as he has been dubbed by fans, engages the crowd with his usual dry, seemingly cannabis influenced, jabs. Approval is heard in the form of a collective cheer as he announces a track from Still Life, “Serenity Painted Death.” Åkesson is right on point even during this older song. His formerly kempt curly long hair is now at the mercy of gravity as he thrashes his neck about in a whirlwind. He plays with the skill of a seasoned guitarist and he certainly is one, beginning his diverse career in his late teens.

“Well, I started out playing when I was 19,” Åkesson recalls before the show. “I got a gig in a band called Talas in which the singer and the bass player used to be on the early records with Yngwie Malmsteem. So I thought it was going to be some sort of basic metal stuff but they were a bit too commercial for me so I didn’t feel comfortable in that band. I got to play a lot of solos and stuff. They were good musicians so in a way it was good for me because I was quite young at that time. But after that I played with Tiamat for a while. They started out as a death metal band but they were more gothic rock which wasn’t really my cup of tea either. And then I played in a doom metal band called Krux, I still play with them. We have done two CDs and one live DVD but it’s more of a hobby band. It has the ex-drummer from Entombed, Peter Stjärnvind and Jörgen Sandström from Grave is in the band, who also used to be in Entombed. The band was started by Leif Edling, the main guy from Candlemass so it’s like epic doom metal. And of course the other band I’ve been involved with has been Arch Enemy but I was mainly touring. I never did any writing with them. So in a way I was basically playing Chris’ [Amott] parts and in the end looking back now it’s quite different from being in Opeth because now I’m actually on the record whereas before I had no real input in the sound of the band or anything. So this time I feel much more involved.”

Mike approaches the front of the stage and begins conversing with the audience. He takes some time to introduce the band to the crowd. When it comes time to introduce Åkesson a glimmer of mischief appears in his eyes. He begins to speak of a stage move he has seen Åkesson perform and kindly requests him to show the audience. Fred chuckles as if questioning the seriousness of Åkerfeldt’s request. It is apparently no joke. After a visible sigh, Åkesson lowers his guitar into a shotgun position facing the crowd and proceeds to slide/skid sideways in a quick motion while rapidly hammering a short burst of notes. The crowd cheers and Åkerfeldt nearly doubles over with laughter.

Opeth continues to pick a diverse range of tracks from their lengthy discography including the melancholy “Hope Leaves” and “Night and the Silent Water,” the aptly titled “Bleak,” Watershed’s “The Lotus Eater”, “Deliverance,” and the essential “Demon of the Fall.” After nearly an hour and a half the band make their way off the stage briefly before making an encore.

“Why do we even leave the stage?” Åkerfeldt jokes before launching into the final song for the evening, “The Drapery Falls.”

Despite an impressively strong chant from the crowd the lights turn on to reveal the sweaty and winded moshers as the roadies begin disassembling the stage. The show is the fourth on Opeth’s most recent American tour. It will extend through October before the band once again makes the trek overseas.

“It’s a bit of a schizophrenic life,” relates Åkesson before the show. “It’s hard to adapt when you get back home after a tour. You’re like, where are my signs? Where am I supposed to go? [Laughter] You’re acting a bit like a retard in a way. It takes a week before you get into a normal life cycle back home. My wife is always like, you’re doing nothing! Get your fucking ass going!”

Even in a band like Opeth where the gigs are aplenty and record sales are good (by metal standards) one wonders what drives these men to continue touring, leaving their families and loved ones behind for many days. Åkesson’s reply is simple and direct, revealing fortunes not made of gold.

“There is a lot of sacrifice doing what we do,” he says. “But this is what I always wanted to do you know. It’s what I’ve been fighting for my whole life. Playing the gigs every night really pays off, that’s what makes it worth doing."

“There’s nothing else I can do really [laughter]. Otherwise I would be a bum or something. This has been my dream since I was 12 years old. I knew this is what I wanted to do. I always said to myself, music is my first priority. That’s something I explained to my wife when I first met her and she still hasn’t left me.”