YesterdazeNews magazine conducted an interview with guitarist Björn Gelotte of Swedish metallers IN FLAMES on June 10 at the Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg, Sweden. You can now watch the chat below. When asked how IN FLAMES came to recruit Bryce Paul to play bass on the current tour following the departure of longtime bassist Peter Iwers, Gelotte said: "Well, so, Håkan [Skoger], a really good friend of ours, came in and did the bass on the U.K. run we did, and then we did a European run after that. But family life didn't work with what we do. We're away a lot, and he wasn't ready for that, or his family took a decision that he couldn't do this. And it sucked, obviously, but that's something that we respect — family goes first, always. So when we were going over to the U.S. for the Rock On The Range and all those festivals, we needed to have somebody from the U.S., because there was no time to get a visa [for the new bassist]. We had our visas, but we needed to have somebody from the U.S. And Joe [Rickard], our new drummer — he's been with us since we recorded [the last IN FLAMES album] 'Battles' — he said he has this friend in Nashville that he's played a lot with and he's awesome, and maybe he should try. He got the songs, he started rehearsing, we met him in Nashville for two days and then we started the tour. So he's here now." Regarding whether Bryce will stay in the band beyond the current tour, Björn said: "I hope so. I mean, nothing is solid yet. But he's a great guy, he fits right in, plays really well. I love the guy, so I hope he wants to [stay in the band]." Iwers quit IN FLAMES in November saying that he was leaving the band "to pursue other endeavors." "Battles", IN FLAMES' twelfth studio album, was released on November 11 via Nuclear Blast in all territories excluding North America and Scandinavia and Eleven Seven Music Group in the U.S.
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