Well I took a minute or two out of my busy day(ha!) to translate an interview with Mikael Akerfeldt that was printed in the Japanese release of BWP. Just a reminder that the words have been translated in and out of Japanese, so they are not his exact words. Hope you enjoy!
After the release of your previous album 'Still Life,' what kind of acitvities did you do?
After that album come out, we basically didn't do anything major. A few concerts in Europe is about all. In Poland there was a mini-tour, and a few festivals, nothing beyond that level. So nothing really major. We were pretty upset about not doing a tour. So from the reocording of 'Still Life' to when we got back, as it was, we just felt like we wanted to concentrate on making the next album. From the start of wrinting 'Blackwater Park' until now that's pretty much been how we felt. Because fo the dangers of not touring, we basically are planning to tour for this album.
Was there any reason why you didn't tour?
We don't really know ourselves. In short, there wasn't much or a chance for us to take part in a tour. We don't have an agent, and I'm not really the type of guy to go around making telephone calls begging to do a concert. I just sit quietly at home. (laughs)
It's not like we had a whole bunch of offers either. So we didn't really take part in any tours. If we had wanted to tour, we wouldn't have been able to do it without an agent. At that, even though we thought about touring, we didn't feel like it was for us.
What was the response of press and fans to 'Still Life'?
It was great. THe response from the fans and the press is always great. It's always awesome and 'Still Life ' was no exception. In fact, we got a wonderful response. It was nice to be able to see that effect. At the time we'd just changed our label to Peaceville, because we could see the promotion would be done a lot better than before. That's probably why the response was so good.
In the credits for 'Blackwater Park' you say it was 'painfully conceived at Fredman Studios during the months of August to October 2000.' Was the recording acutally painful?
Recording is always a painful thing. But it's not like we cried or anything. (laughs) Recording an album is a big deal. You have a mountain of things to do. I'm the kind of guy who can't do that in just one year. For me, 10 months of the year are at home, and the other 2 months are spent in the sudio. In those two months, I get pretty worn out. (laughs) For everyone involved it's a pretty hasrsh job, but even though it says 'painfully conceived' it's not like we were suffering the whole time, but it's still somthing athat had to be said. (laughs) It's not like we're working in the coal mining industry or something. Really, it's a cool job, but on the one hand you still have the miserable and terrible parts too.
In the credits for production, engineering, mixing and additional musicians(voc/g/piano) is the name Steven Wilson. What was it that made you want to work with him?
We weren't really out looking for a producer. It felt more like he wanted us to give him a chance. So it was acutally Steven who contacted us, through email. He said when he got 'Still Life' and heard it, he was totally moved. 'A splendid album.' But even though it was him that made contact, I've always respected his ability at production, so asked if he wouldn't produce for us. You know, just to try and see. He said 'of course' and it happened. It wasn't exactly like we went out looking and picked him. We don't think the producer must me a regular metal producer, we know metal well enough ourselves. The albums before 'Blackwater Park' we produced on our own. So without the experience of poducing a metal album before, Steven had a different point of view than ohers. We thought it would be more interesting to use a producer who didn't have experience making metal albums.
Most heavy metal fans aren't really aquainted with Steven Wilson. Can you tell us a bit about him?
He became known in the mid 80's through his activity with the band Porcupine Tree. They put out 7 studio albums and 1 live album, but there were a lot of rare single releases too. On the side, he has also produced fro a bunch of different bands. Some of the biggest bands he's worked with are Marillion and Phish, basically at the centre of the symphonic progressive rock scene. There he is like an icon. (laughs)
On what points did he make the biggest contributions?
He was the way we faced out sound problems. Somethings we don't know, like the technical side of recording, he really has down pat. We're not really interested in the technical side of things, but we always want to experiment with vocal or guitar sounds. This time, using Steven, we could do those experiments. Until now we wanted to do it, but couldn't. He made really cool suggestion on this and that point for all the things we thought of trying but didn't know how, so this time we knew how to get the right sound.
Could you give us a brief explanation of the music and lyrics from all the albums?
Hmm. Basically I don't really think much about writing the songs beforehand. I didn't stand around drafting a big plan for success when writing any of the albums. I pretty much just hug the guitar and play. When soloing, most of the time I end up playing the blues, and an idea will come to mind. I just get a few riffs together, lay them down and record it. When it gets to be at the level of a song, the next time I go to my friends house we make a demo. But you couldn't say we planned any of the albums right from the start. We just go with whatever come into our minds. We don't really think about what we're doing. Really we just make music we think we'd like ourselves.
And what about the lyrics?
It's the same. I don't really think about them. Before this we've done 2 concept albums, and those were thought out a little, but this time we limited it to thinking about writing there and then, as it happened. So I didn't write the lyrics until were in the studio. Actually I didn't write them until 10 days before I was scheduled to lay down the vocal tracks. Basically the lyrics this time are more personal in content. At the centre, they confront my aversion to humanity, with a bit of spice. Somewhere along those lines.
So the respective songs by themselves don't really have a meaning or theme. If any of the songs share the same ideas, what are they about?
Yeah. That's just the way I write lyrics. Even though it's not a concept album, it feels like a new chapter in the same story. I can't really explain it well, though. We've already done 2 concept albums, so even though I wanted to try a different form, I've kind of gotten used to writing along the form of a concept. So unintentionally it go to have the feel of a concept.
Not including the 2 minute short instrumental 'Patterns in The Ivy,' the next shortest song is 6 mins. The longest being 12 mins, it seems that most are longer songs. Is that intentional when you are writing the songs? Or do you just naturally write the songs that way?
It's been that way since the first album, for all 5 albums. I'm totally accustomed to this style of songwriting. When I'm writing I don't really think ' hey, let's write a really long song,' but they always end up being long. It's the same as the stuff that I'm into. I like long songs. The music I like to listen to myself has to have an adventurous feel to it. I haven't ever thought about writing a hit singlw. That's not my style. Since I formed the band, the songs have been long, and it's been the same feeling since.
Can you give a message to the Japanese fans?
If you can, check out the album. I don't know when it will be out in Japan, but I'd like the fans to check it out at any rate. I don't konw about he availability of our previous releases in Japan, but if possible give them a listen too. If we can, we want to go do a concert in Japan. We hear only good things from our friends in In Flames and Dark Tranquility. They say it's a great place, so we're thinking we want to go to Japan.
After the release of your previous album 'Still Life,' what kind of acitvities did you do?
After that album come out, we basically didn't do anything major. A few concerts in Europe is about all. In Poland there was a mini-tour, and a few festivals, nothing beyond that level. So nothing really major. We were pretty upset about not doing a tour. So from the reocording of 'Still Life' to when we got back, as it was, we just felt like we wanted to concentrate on making the next album. From the start of wrinting 'Blackwater Park' until now that's pretty much been how we felt. Because fo the dangers of not touring, we basically are planning to tour for this album.
Was there any reason why you didn't tour?
We don't really know ourselves. In short, there wasn't much or a chance for us to take part in a tour. We don't have an agent, and I'm not really the type of guy to go around making telephone calls begging to do a concert. I just sit quietly at home. (laughs)
It's not like we had a whole bunch of offers either. So we didn't really take part in any tours. If we had wanted to tour, we wouldn't have been able to do it without an agent. At that, even though we thought about touring, we didn't feel like it was for us.
What was the response of press and fans to 'Still Life'?
It was great. THe response from the fans and the press is always great. It's always awesome and 'Still Life ' was no exception. In fact, we got a wonderful response. It was nice to be able to see that effect. At the time we'd just changed our label to Peaceville, because we could see the promotion would be done a lot better than before. That's probably why the response was so good.
In the credits for 'Blackwater Park' you say it was 'painfully conceived at Fredman Studios during the months of August to October 2000.' Was the recording acutally painful?
Recording is always a painful thing. But it's not like we cried or anything. (laughs) Recording an album is a big deal. You have a mountain of things to do. I'm the kind of guy who can't do that in just one year. For me, 10 months of the year are at home, and the other 2 months are spent in the sudio. In those two months, I get pretty worn out. (laughs) For everyone involved it's a pretty hasrsh job, but even though it says 'painfully conceived' it's not like we were suffering the whole time, but it's still somthing athat had to be said. (laughs) It's not like we're working in the coal mining industry or something. Really, it's a cool job, but on the one hand you still have the miserable and terrible parts too.
In the credits for production, engineering, mixing and additional musicians(voc/g/piano) is the name Steven Wilson. What was it that made you want to work with him?
We weren't really out looking for a producer. It felt more like he wanted us to give him a chance. So it was acutally Steven who contacted us, through email. He said when he got 'Still Life' and heard it, he was totally moved. 'A splendid album.' But even though it was him that made contact, I've always respected his ability at production, so asked if he wouldn't produce for us. You know, just to try and see. He said 'of course' and it happened. It wasn't exactly like we went out looking and picked him. We don't think the producer must me a regular metal producer, we know metal well enough ourselves. The albums before 'Blackwater Park' we produced on our own. So without the experience of poducing a metal album before, Steven had a different point of view than ohers. We thought it would be more interesting to use a producer who didn't have experience making metal albums.
Most heavy metal fans aren't really aquainted with Steven Wilson. Can you tell us a bit about him?
He became known in the mid 80's through his activity with the band Porcupine Tree. They put out 7 studio albums and 1 live album, but there were a lot of rare single releases too. On the side, he has also produced fro a bunch of different bands. Some of the biggest bands he's worked with are Marillion and Phish, basically at the centre of the symphonic progressive rock scene. There he is like an icon. (laughs)
On what points did he make the biggest contributions?
He was the way we faced out sound problems. Somethings we don't know, like the technical side of recording, he really has down pat. We're not really interested in the technical side of things, but we always want to experiment with vocal or guitar sounds. This time, using Steven, we could do those experiments. Until now we wanted to do it, but couldn't. He made really cool suggestion on this and that point for all the things we thought of trying but didn't know how, so this time we knew how to get the right sound.
Could you give us a brief explanation of the music and lyrics from all the albums?
Hmm. Basically I don't really think much about writing the songs beforehand. I didn't stand around drafting a big plan for success when writing any of the albums. I pretty much just hug the guitar and play. When soloing, most of the time I end up playing the blues, and an idea will come to mind. I just get a few riffs together, lay them down and record it. When it gets to be at the level of a song, the next time I go to my friends house we make a demo. But you couldn't say we planned any of the albums right from the start. We just go with whatever come into our minds. We don't really think about what we're doing. Really we just make music we think we'd like ourselves.
And what about the lyrics?
It's the same. I don't really think about them. Before this we've done 2 concept albums, and those were thought out a little, but this time we limited it to thinking about writing there and then, as it happened. So I didn't write the lyrics until were in the studio. Actually I didn't write them until 10 days before I was scheduled to lay down the vocal tracks. Basically the lyrics this time are more personal in content. At the centre, they confront my aversion to humanity, with a bit of spice. Somewhere along those lines.
So the respective songs by themselves don't really have a meaning or theme. If any of the songs share the same ideas, what are they about?
Yeah. That's just the way I write lyrics. Even though it's not a concept album, it feels like a new chapter in the same story. I can't really explain it well, though. We've already done 2 concept albums, so even though I wanted to try a different form, I've kind of gotten used to writing along the form of a concept. So unintentionally it go to have the feel of a concept.
Not including the 2 minute short instrumental 'Patterns in The Ivy,' the next shortest song is 6 mins. The longest being 12 mins, it seems that most are longer songs. Is that intentional when you are writing the songs? Or do you just naturally write the songs that way?
It's been that way since the first album, for all 5 albums. I'm totally accustomed to this style of songwriting. When I'm writing I don't really think ' hey, let's write a really long song,' but they always end up being long. It's the same as the stuff that I'm into. I like long songs. The music I like to listen to myself has to have an adventurous feel to it. I haven't ever thought about writing a hit singlw. That's not my style. Since I formed the band, the songs have been long, and it's been the same feeling since.
Can you give a message to the Japanese fans?
If you can, check out the album. I don't know when it will be out in Japan, but I'd like the fans to check it out at any rate. I don't konw about he availability of our previous releases in Japan, but if possible give them a listen too. If we can, we want to go do a concert in Japan. We hear only good things from our friends in In Flames and Dark Tranquility. They say it's a great place, so we're thinking we want to go to Japan.
