IN FLAMES Clayman Re-recorded 2020

[Jester Slave]

There was an interview that I think was posted on here a little while back where Anders was talking with some hyperactive guy about Clayman and particularly OFTW, and Anders seemed so bored answering any questions about both subjects. It sounded like he'd rather be talking about anything else. I was sitting there thinking you chose to rerelease this album with huge fanfare, so surely you should have expected that people were going to be asking questions about it? At least try to sound interested and passionate about it, even if you don't really feel that way, because if you sound bored talking about it then it isn't exactly going to entice people who haven't listened to the album before to go and check it out.

Yes, I linked that, but I don't think it's a Clayman thing. He is never elevated. It's not like if you ask him about STYE he is like oh fuck, I love this and that songs so much, wooo. Even when he is discussing their latest albums, he is giving the generic "every song is the best song, but fans will probably dig this and that, quite catchy" answer.

 

[DE4life]

Yes, I linked that, but I don't think it's a Clayman thing. He is never elevated. It's not like if you ask him about STYE he is like oh fuck, I love this and that songs so much, wooo. Even when he is discussing their latest albums, he is giving the generic "every song is the best song, but fans will probably dig this and that, quite catchy" answer.

Maybe he's just a boring/downbeat person in general, I don't know. But if you're going to do these kinds of interviews you should at least pretend to be interested and passionate about your work.

 

[drawntoblack]

Clayman is an interesting dichotomy for sure. You can without a doubt tell that Anders doesn't like it that much. I don't think he is that frail of a person that those songs are associating him with bad time to that extreme degree, I would rather guess that he is either dissatisfied with his performance, his lyrics or overall music. I could understand the vocals being an issue - I personally love them but I can see all the flaws and faults and I can understand how someone could be unhappy about the end product. And while he was never a lyricist extraordinaire, Clayman was his peak, by a landslide. The album sounds mature, it's well arranged, well written, so it's pretty baffling as to why would he feel that way.

I also understand that more than half of that album doesn't really work well live. Satellites is too slow, Suburban Me has that weird whispering in the verses that you can't neither scream nor sing clean, Square Nothing has that two minute long build up before it actually kicks off. A lot of those songs you also need to play a little bit faster live for them to make sense so I can understand how the audience maybe didn't react to well to it over the years when they would dare to add them into the setlist.

Especially if you take into accounts how difficult writing and recording albums that preceded it was. TJR recorded in two weeks - twice. Whoracle being a spastic mess during the studio sessions. Bjorn said that entire Clayman was actually written and arranged within a month, straight after they have returned from a long tour in the US nonetheless. So everything that surrounded the actual creation of the record went as smooth as possible.

 

[DE4life]

It probably boils down to Anders not being as involved in the creative process as he was in future albums. We already know the band didn't want to do the dual-guitar stuff way before Clayman was released, and whilst Anders' vocals and lyrics do add positively to the album it's the guitarwork that gets most of the praise. Creatively he probably feels more connected to the post-Jesper stuff and maybe he gets annoyed that the albums he had a bigger creative hand in don't get anywhere near the same praise or interest.

 

[eochaid]

To be fair, I have never seen Anders in an interview sounding passionate about anything. Even in the asop documentary he's not that excited in ay moment. So it must be his personality.

 

[Pallbearer]

From what I've heard and gathered Clayman especially was written at a time when Anders was incredibly unhappy with his personal life, something to do with a break-up was involved I believe, and we know his wife came in with R2R and helped him with lyrics. I've heard he really didn't enjoy the Clayman sessions also, so it doesn't surprise me that he doesn't particularly enjoy looking back on a time that was painful for him, and often it is through emotions that the best art is made. Clayman is a dark album, a lot of introspective lyrics about feeling inferior to others, reflecting on past mistakes, not knowing what sort of person to be, thoughts of suicide etc

As much as he can be dismissive at the past moreso than other bands, I give him a pass when talking about Clayman specifically.

Yeah he talked about those things in, for example, this interview: https://www.revolvermag.com/music/flames-track-record

I've heard a friend of the band also shot himself around that time, and "Bullet Ride" was written about him.

 

[plintus]

...I leave for a few days and youse guys are still talking about the band that used to be In Flames.

Trve fans.

 

[TheJestersDoor]

To be fair, I have never seen Anders in an interview sounding passionate about anything. Even in the asop documentary he's not that excited in ay moment. So it must be his personality.

Yeah like without trying to fanboy defend him too much, Anders in almost every interview about anything is fairly reserved and not very animated, hes just a quiet, chill guy is the impression I get. He was like that when I met him as well so I can believe it's just how he is, I mean scandinavians aren't exactly always know for being a flamboyant bunch, just look at Kimi Raikkonen

 

[DE4life]

For me there is a big difference between an interview you see with Anders and one you see with Bjorn - or Peter who also did a few when he was still in the band. Bjorn and Peter were both very chill as well but always came across as interested and happy to talk about the past as well as the present. I don't get that feeling from Anders at all. It feels like he doesn't want to talk about it - which is fine, for the record, but kind of weird when you listen to an interview about an upcoming album and feel less enthused afterwards.

 

[eochaid]

But, as I said, he seems to be always like that. If you see the documentary from a sense of purpose he's not... He looks all of the time very calm and quiet. I never have the impression of him being an enthusiastic person.

 

[TheJestersDoor]

yeah, for better or worse he just seems to be outwardly quiet and distant.

 

[Pallbearer]

Anders has stated several times he's an introvert. He originally didn't even intend to become a singer. A long time ago he was at the rehearsal room with his "first band" (Dark Tranq?) and the designated vocalist failed to show up, so Anders thought he could give growling a try "for this one time". Apparently either the designated vocalist later cancelled on them completely, or the band liked Anders's vocals so much they told the other guy he was not needed anymore, I don't know.

 

[DE4life]

https://www.revolvermag.com/music/flames-track-record

I just found this interview from 2008 which is actually pretty interesting. A summary of interesting tidbits...

Lunar Strain wasn't initially intended for any kind of record deal, but Dark Tranquillity made Jesper aware they had been signed by Wrong Again records and suggested he give them a call. Jesper called the label drunk from his parents kitchen and lied about having songs completed to get a record deal

The Jester Race - Johan Larsson was in the military and came back on weekends to record the bass. Anders says that this album and Whoracle are the only concept albums he'll ever do - although I believe ITM was described as a concept album as well.

Whoracle - Glenn Ljungstrom and Johan Larsson were losing interest in the band as they didn't like to travel. Ljungstorm saw no money in the band and Larsson met a girl on the internet and gave up bass as a result

Colony - finding Daniel was important because they found a great drummer and Anders says a big improvement on Bjorn who could "keep a beat but only play, like, one fill". Anders also says "I decided to leave behind all the made-up stories in my lyrics and write about my own mishaps and relationship problems" - which seems like more of a description of Clayman's lyrics than Colony.

Clayman - Anders claims Nordstrom was tired of producing at this point and wasn't that interested in the record, which is strange as Nordstrom has implied the opposite.

Tokyo Showdown sounds like shit and Anders regrets releasing it.

Reroute to Remain - Anders doesn't think the music changed much but that Daniel Bergstrand had a different vision for the band, calls it a "weird time". He calls the response to the album "mass hysteria" and says it was the hardest album for him to record, as Nordstrom let him do whatever he wanted with his vocals, whereas Bergstrand made him do multiple takes to get things right.

STYE - The band were apparently starting to feel divided at this point, which to be honest is news to me. Anders says the band were "surprised" when they started to mix it and felt there were too many keyboards, and not enough melodies or guitar solos. He says he still think STYE sounds good but that there was a lot of arguing and the band needed a break from each other.

Come Clarity was recorded after an Ozzfest tour where the band apparently fought a lot with each other. This resulted in Daniel recording drums on his own, Bjorn/Peter/Jesper recording their instruments together and Anders doing vocals completely separate from all of them. Anders says he likes that there's more guitar than keyboards on Come Clarity but that he feels communication had broken down between the band members. He says he mixed the vocals in without consulting any of the other band members, and just sent them everything when it was done "hoping they would like them."

A Sense of Purpose brought the band back together and they recorded everything in the same studio rather than being separated. Anders says they worked really hard on the sound of the album and everybody had creative input and made an effort to contribute. Which is kind of funny considering CC, the album were they were all apart from each other, turned out way better than ASOP... but whatever.

I have to admit I had no idea the band were so divided during the STYE/CC years.

 

[DE4life]

Oh, and also this quote...

But most of all they laugh when they think about all the modern bands they've inspired over the years, including Shadows Fall, the Black Dahlia Murder, and As I Lay Dying.

I think the guy just worded it badly, as he makes it sound like IF are laughing at the bands themselves rather than the idea that they inspired those bands.

 

[Pallbearer]

I find it a bit strange that Björn said (in a Finnish interview) the band had been having a lot of fun pre-CC, but Anders and Jesper say they fought and were divided.

 

[DE4life]

Perhaps Bjorn was trying to be diplomatic and didn't want to air dirty laudry in public. I get the feeling the main beef was probably between Anders and Jesper.

 

[TheJestersDoor]

Do we have any sort of knowledge about the reasons for the beef or anyone got a brief recap of the Jesper fallout? I know hes done a few drunken social media rants, I saw a couple around the Battles time but I feel I missed most of it due to both age and the time i came into the bands music

 

[DE4life]

Jesper's alcoholism became a problem in the late 2000s and caused him to take some time off from the band. When he left Anders (and Bjorn, I guess) pushed the narrative that Jesper was unreliable due to his drinking, etc, which Jesper strongly disagreed with. Since then Anders hasn't really spoken much about Jesper, but Bjorn has said he is sill in contact with him and they talk every so often. Jesper has had a few pops at Anders specifically on his FB page, at one point shitting on Anders vocal skills and saying "you can't polish the turd", but he's always deleted these comments and apologised afterwards. Recently he's been supportive of IF releases.

 

[eochaid]

I find it a bit strange that Björn said (in a Finnish interview) the band had been having a lot of fun pre-CC, but Anders and Jesper say they fought and were divided.

It's not. Some people just don't like to talk about this kind of problems or simply think they're not that important.

Do we have any sort of knowledge about the reasons for the beef or anyone got a brief recap of the Jesper fallout? I know hes done a few drunken social media rants, I saw a couple around the Battles time but I feel I missed most of it due to both age and the time i came into the bands music

That I remember:

Siren Charms is lame.
Anders cannot make his own vocal melodies. It's all a producer's work.
He's glad he left the sinking ship
In flames should change their name.
He won't talk again about his ex band because everything is taken out of context.
He's going to see his ex band mates live.
House is the best IF song ever.

That mostly summarised his opinions about IF since he left

 

[DE4life]

Some more quotes from our boy Andurzz from a bunch of interviews I read.

I think Dark Tranquillity’s latest album Atoma is the best in there career

Not sure about that. Good album, sure. Better than The Gallery, Damage Done, Character, Fiction? Not for me.

If you weren’t playing metal, what would you be playing?

I’d be doing some electronic music. I’m a huge fan of old synths and electronica and I love collecting synths.

Yep, of course

How has the recording process on [Battles] differed from previous albums?

Well we worked with Howard Benson, a different producer, this time.

The first day he said, “I don’t wanna change you guys, I don’t wanna turn you into something you’re not. I just want you to perform better with your instruments”.

He’d ask us what we want to say with these songs and with our music, and that was cool to be in the position to sort of explain what we wanted to say.

Something went badly wrong here as literally everything that came out of Battles is the opposite of what Anders says here.

It’s not rocket science what we do. We write short songs and we want to get to the point pretty fast, get to the chorus pretty fast.

At least he's honest.

If I want to go back to games, I won’t go a few years, I’ll go way further. I have two big cabinets of old arcade games. I have two pinball machines too. I have every single Nintendo console, Sega, Xboxes, all the Playstations and the ZX Spectrum.

OK, I've changed my mind. Anders is awesome and I want to talk to him about retro gaming.