About the new album, record labels and friends

IN FLAMES return toВ Bulgaria for a show at Sofia's Hristo Botev hall on September 30.

It's part of the European tour in support of the brand new studio album 'Sounds of a Playground Fading'.

Two weeks before the gig, we talk to vocalist ANDERS FRIDEN.В 

an interview conducted by Vassil Vabanov

HEY ANDERS, HOW ARE YOU?
I'm good, I can barely hear you, you sound like you're at the end of the world.

WELL, WE ARE! ANYWAY, THE SUMMER'S ALMOST GONE. HOW HAS IT BEEN FOR IN FLAMES SO FAR?
We've been pretty busy, touring and so on. It's been a good Summer. Pretty much like every Summer for the last 10-15 years, but we know what we're doing, we're in good shape and we're happy, we're looking forward to next week's gig.

OBVIOUSLY THE IDEA TO HAVE YOU WITH US AGAIN HERE AT TANGRA MEGA ROCK IS TO TALK ABOUT THE FORTHCOMING IN FLAMES CONCERT IN SOFIA, ON SEPTEMBER 30. I THINK THIS WILL BE YOUR THIRD TIME IN BULGARIA - YOU'VE PLAYED SOFIA ONCE BEFORE AND ALSO IN KAVARNA, ON THE BLACK SEA COAST, WITH SLAYER. AM I RIGHT?
Haha, you're asking a musician! I don't know, but yeah, probably. It's been really good over there so far, looking forward to it.

YOUR NEW RECORD, "SOUNDS OF A PLAYGROUND FADING", CAME OUT IN EARLY SUMMER. INTERESTING THAT IT'S YOUR FIRST ONE WITHOUT JESPER STROMBLAD. HAVE YOU GOT ANY IDEA WHAT HE'S UP TO AT THE MOMENT?
Yeah, he's working with another band, but I don't know how things are going. As far as I know they've only got one song so far. But I think he's working on himself and trying to get back on his feet. I talk to him once in a while.

THIS IS YOUR TENTH STUDIO ALBUM. WE'VE BEEN FOLLOWING IN FLAMES FROM THE EARLY DAYS AND EVEN TODAY WE'RE STILL PLAYING SOME OF THE EARLY STUFF LIKE YOUR COVER OF DEPECHE MODE'S "EVERYTHING COUNTS". LOOKING AT THE NEW ALBUM'S TRACKLISTING, THERE ARE OBVIOUSLY NO COVERS, BUT IS THERE ANY SONG THAT YOU'D BE PARTICULARLY FOND OF DOING, BUT NEVER GOT THE TIME OR CHANCE TO DO?
No, no.Otherwise it would be on an album. We rarely do any covers. If we do one, it's just what we feel like at that moment in our career. We're mainly focused on our own material and writing new stuff. There's nothing other than that. We try to play a lot of our old material as well, you know, to bring it back here and there at shows, but we have so much stuff out now and only an hour and a half onstage. On the albums we want to focus on the original material we've written. But, who knows, there might be some stuff in the future, it's a spur-of-the-moment thing I guess.

TALKING ABOUT YOUR OLD MATERIAL, WITH LOTS OF BANDS, WHEN THEY RELEASE AN ALBUM, THERE ARE ALWAYS SOME SONGS LEFT OVER FROM THE SESSIONS. DO YOU HAVE ANY SUCH MATERIAL THAT YOU'VE LEFT IN THE CUPBOARD FOR THE NEXT RECORD? OR PERHAPS SOME NEW MATERIAL WRITTEN AFTER YOU COMPLETED THE NEW ALBUM?
We haven't been writing anything after "Sounds of a Playground Fading". We've been really busy with everything around it. But we do have one song that was done for "A Sense of Purpose" that wasn't released, but we don't know what to do with it. Usually we only write for the album, the songs have to be good enough to appear on the album. We never write thirty songs and then pick twelve. We write what is necessary for the album, so we don't usually have any leftovers, but like I said, there's one song that we haven't released yet. We'll see where it ends up, on an album somewhere, I don't think it'll be on a new album, it might end up as a B-side or on a compilation, or we'll just release it as a straight download to our fans or something, we'll see what happens.

THIS IS YOUR FIRST ALBUM WITH CENTURY MEDIA, AFTER SO MANY ALBUMS FOR MARKUS STAIGER'S NUCLEAR BLAST. HOW DO THE TWO COMPARE? THEY'RE BOTH GERMAN LABELS, BUT WITH STRONG USA BRANCHES. AND OF COURSE, IN FLAMES HAVE BEEN VERY SUCCESSFUL IN THE STATES. IS THAT THE REASON FOR CHANGING LABELS?
No, there was no focus on the American market whatsoever. It's just that we were done with our deal and we'd worked with Nuclear Blast for so many albums, it was time for a change to shake things up, you know. And I know some of the staff at Century Media from this other band I''ve been in called Passenger. We released an album on Century Media and obviously we've met and know a lot of Century Media people from being on the road and touring with other Century Media acts.

They seem like a good company, with really nice, cool people and we just felt it was time for a change. We never focused on a certain market. We're a band that has constantly been touring the world. I don't think it's a good thing when you just focus on one market, because if for some reason that market disappears on you, then you have to start all over again somewhere else. We're a band that's been working a little bit here and there and hopefully we've got a strong fanbase all over the world.

THIS PAST SPRING OUR RADIO DID THE FIRST EVER DARK TRANQUILITY SHOW IN BULGARIA. WHO DO IN FLAMES CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BEST FRIENDS WITHIN THE SWEDISH METAL SCENE?
Haha, we don't have any "best friends". I'm friends with a lot of people, from Opeth, Amon Amarth, Dark Tranquility, HammerFall, Evergrey, Arch Enemy...we've been doing this for so long now and we have friends from all over. Obviously my childhood friends are the guys from Dark Tranquility, I've known them from a very young age, we come from the same neighbourhood, we were neighbours and I've known those guys for a very long time.

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