About metalheads having kids, illegal downloads and about the drinking problems within the band

In Flames are great. They will play for the first time in Sofia on March 29! We talk on the phone to their guitarist.

an interview conducted by Vassil Varbanov

WELL, OBVIOUSLY THE REASON TO HAVE YOU WITH US TODAY IS THIS FORTHCOMING CONCERT OF IN FLAMES IN SOFIA IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS. THIS IS YOUR SECOND ONE IN BULGARIA. SO – DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST ONE?
Oh, let me think. It was a festival that we did?

YEAH, YOU PLAYED WITH SLAYER.
Oh yeah. It was actually really, really cool. A lot of people showed up. It was a weird thing, though – wasn’t really a festival because it opened right when we started playing. But there were a lot of people and I remember it to be a really beautiful place.

YOU HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR A HELL LOT OF YEARS NOW AND YOU HAVE NINE ALBUMS IN YOUR DISCOGRAPHY. ESPECIALLY RECENTLY YOU HAVE RECEIVED MORE AWARDS THAN BEFORE. TO WHAT EXTENT DOES THAT GIVE YOU THE MOTIVATION TO DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO?
Awards are not something that you use as a motivation. But what it can do is give you a measurement of what the audience thinks about what you do. I don’t think it has a lot of weight behind it because one day you are popular the next you’re not. We have never really listened to that stuff so I couldn’t care less. But if it is the audience that votes for something then it does mean something.

You can get a sample of everybody’s opinion if you’re doing something right or wrong. It wouldn’t change anything but it is good to know it.

IN A WORLD WHERE RECORD SALES ARE NOT WHAT THEY USED TO BE,В  THE AWARDS GIVEN BY THE AUDIENCE ARE PROBABLY THE MOST TRUSTFUL SOURCE OF FEEDBACK?
Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m trying to say. There’s two ways of measuring nowadays when no one really buys albums anymore. One is by things like this – by voting and having people choose between different bands. The other is attendance at shows. That’s the other reliable way to see people are really into your band.

Йеспер

WELL, WE WERE A BIT STRESSED A FEW WEEKS BACK WHEN WE FOUND OUT THATВ  YOUR FELLOW GUITARIST (JESPER STRГ–MBLAD) WAS THE REASON FOR YOU TO CANCEL SOME SHOWS IN THE UK BECAUSE HE WENT TOВ REHAB. WAS IT THAT BAD?
Well. As with every problem of this kind. It’s not something that you want to tell everybody. It is something that you are sort of embarrassed about, but we’ve been living around this problem now for many many years.

The thing is that with something like this you can’t really force anybody to go to the doctor or to feel better. You have to wait until this person realizes that himself. And what happened is that it got to be too much and he had a breakdown and he realized when his body said – “this is it” he had to go and get medication, get some treatment and lock himself in for a couple of weeks and take it easy and take care of himself.

And this is the only way of waking up I think. I don’t know how it is with other abuses, but with this one – it’s kind of embarrassing. It’s tough for him to realize it, but when he finally did it, now he’s doing something about it. But it takes time to get back. And this is what we are waiting for now.

At the same time Peter (Iwers) is having a baby. So, there’s two members of In Flames that are away. And it is not fair to the band to try and make it sound like In Flames and also not for the people who want to see it.

AS FAR AS I REMEMBER THIS GUY, JESPER IS YOUR BEST FRIEND WITHIN THE BAND. IT WAS THE TWO OF YOU THAT STARTED – HE PLAYED GUITARS AND YOU ACTUALLY JAMMED ON THE DRUMS.
Yeah, that’s how we started. My cousin is an old childhood friend of Jesper’s. Me and my cousin knew each other really well back then, it’s been a couple of years. In Flames were looking for a drummer because Jesper was playing the drums and he probably sucked even more than I do when I play drums. So at that time that was what was offered and I thought it was a cool idea. It was very different for me.

I come from a very rock’n roll, hard rock background and this was DEATH METAL, so it was very interesting for me to see how that worked. And then we all became best friends. We all in the band are very tight. You know how it is – when you live together with some people for 15 years you become family.

But for me and Jesper it is a special relationship. We’ve known each other the longest, we’ve written all the music together. And that is a lot of sharing, so, yes. And this is why it hurts me a lot that I couldn’t do anything about this problem before. Because, as I said, you can’t force anybody to do something about it.

YOU MENTIONED YOU ARE A KIND OF A FAMILY AND THAT PETER HAD A NEWBORN. AND AS FAR AS WE KNOW YOU HAVE TWO KIDS AS WELL…
Yeah, two daughters. It’s going to suck when they get older. They are already very beautiful.

ARE YOU JEALOUS ALREADY?
No, they are still too small. But I will be the kind of dad that sits on the porch with a shotgun in my hand waiting for her to come home. No boyfriends until she is 35 and all of that.

TO WHAT EXTEND HAVING KIDS HAS CHANGED YOUR LIFE? I’M SURE IT DID CHANGE YOUR PERSONAL LIFE DRAMATICALLY IN TERMS OF DAILY SCHEDULES AND STUFF, BECAUSE I DO MYSELF HAVE TWO BOYS AND IT IS A MASSIVE SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM… BUT TO WHAT EXTEND DID IT CHANGE YOUR MINDSET AS A METALHEAD?
Well, musically it didn’t change anything. This is who we are, and who I am, and this is what I do, the only thing I know how to do properly. But it did change  some other stuff. We’re a lot more practical now. Certain periods and certain dates are more important to be off than others.

It was a time when we could play whenever and wherever. But now it is different. You have to plan it a little bit differently. You have someone who is really depending on you and that you are really dependant on in order to function as well.

I try to bring the kids on tour a little bit, do some travelling. It’s fun for her, the oldest one, to see the world. The young one hasn’t seen that much yet. I had Alva, who is the bigger one, in the US, Spain, France, England… in small venues, where she can enjoy life. But is surely is different – you don’t go out drinking every night. But back to Jesper – that is one of the differences for him and why he ended up with that problem – his tour didn’t seem to end.

ARE THE GIRLS ALREADY INTO MUSIC?
Yes, but unfortunately not into metal yet. But there will be a time for that. They are into certain songs because when there are good beats kids get up and start dancing around. But they have not yet found out the more technical side of metal.

YOU STARTED TALKING ABOUT DOWNLOADS AND STUFF. THE LAST FEW MONTHS THE CASE WITH THE PIRATE BAYВ SITEВ WASВ PRETTY FAMOUS UP THERE IN SWEDEN. SO WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON THAT?
It’s a two-sided coin. I don’t approve of illegal downloading of course because that would be like shooting myself in the foot.

But on the other hand, I don’t say illegal downloading is right, but I think the record labels are way too slow in the evolution of the music industry. Because the CD and the whole massive industry of record labels and all that is now obsolete.

People aren’t interested in that anymore. They want easy access to songs, fast and cheap. I don’t know about free. But, I may sound naive now, if you put a fair price on a CD or on a download or whatever, people will buy it. It is a lot of work to download a song now.

Buying a CD is expensive and buying a song off iTunes requires all this account registering and everything. But I think a lot of bands that are our size and our type of music can actually benefit from it. Because there are not many people who go to a record store and look for your CD but if they don’t find it they order it to be delivered to their home.

Most people, if they don’t find it right away they don’t give a shit and they go to the next CD. So with downloads people may find out about us. And hopefully when they go to a show and they like what they hear they might buy a CD later on. So it is bad for the big record labels and big artists who, like Madonna, release only a single. That could probably affect their revenue.

rightsВ Tangra Mega Rock