Cool! Thanks for the interview and that rad panaramic photo. BTW, I went ahead and threw the interview into Google's language translator, I do this at work sometimes when our Asian customers send non-English emails... The Swedish to English is WAY better than Traditional Chinese to English:
Apart At The Gates reunification, few things have been long awaited among Swedish hard rock in the years to uncover the Opeth new disc, Watershed. The Metaltown-current Stockholm has an ever-growing crowd of supporters and it shows, not least during the skivsignering band implements at RockHouse in Gothenburg a few days after the albumsläppet.
The first thing that strikes one is what the fans have respect for the guys in the band. Not on where the burden fjortissättet hysterical, but rather so that it shows how much this moment means for the guys and girls brought up for signature. The band happily shakes hand with all those who want to, sign and talking to fans who barely seems to believe that it is for real, that just DE actually meet and talk with Mikael Åkerfeldt (vocals / guitar) and c / o. In the end, a guy dare to question whether he can sneak behind signeringsbordet and be photographed with the band want of course everyone else will do it and the four-fifths of the band that is in place willing pose for the fans until the store closes.
-- But where are the Martin Mendez? wonders one guy. Well, basisten find themselves on this day in Barcelona with his Spanish girlfriend when the couple's first child is estimated to arrive during the week (which also took place, little Noak was born on the morning of June 14 and is said to already practicing basgångar and father's patented side-by-side headbanging) .
-- I'm so used to having him with. It feels strange, but Mendez, empty, "said Mikael and says that he has done its best to reassure the nervous friend before giving birth.
Since the band already has the same weekend a festivalspelning in Austria says Per (Wiberg, keyboards) that Mendez repat in five songs with basisten Johan Niemann (ex Therion), which temporarily take his place, but that of course he is back behind the base after the weekend.
We are following with the band and tour operators Jesper from Roadrunner Records to Gothenburg's main train station in which to settle down with Michael and Martin Axenrot (drums) for a snack and a chat. The restaurant is packed with people waiting for the match between Sweden and Greece in the Football Championship and the question of course is linked in the air, how interested are you?
-- Njaaäääe, I think it's fun when it's European Championships or World Cup, says Martin and Mikael nodding agreement and develop.
-- But Peter (Lindgren, guitarist Opeth 1991-2007), he was really hard on it and had an eye on all players in all teams in all leagues and spelartransfers. He used to sit and play it there datorspelet, Football Manager. Totally sick. He had with him a notebook that was completely full of figures and statistics of players and more. None of us are well superintresserade like that. Mendez and Per check well quite a lot, I look good if it happens to be in but do not need to see clearly a match. If there is ice hockey World Cup and Sweden have just lost a match, then I can be really angry in five minutes.
Is hockey more fun then?
-- Yes, yes, it is a bit more fun to watch, I think.
-- In ice hockey have higher expectations as well, Sweden is worse in football so it's not as fun, Martin fills in.
-- I mean, after all reasonably Sweden will never be world champion in football, but in hockey, they are in any case the chance.
Despite Zlatan?
-- Haha, his style of play looks as if he is lucky all the time. As if he has a broken leg, which swings to and may, with the ball in any way, a little like "Oops…."
But Henke then?
-- I get mad at him. Every time I see him, he is totally innocent, but when I do not look, it is always afterwards that he "was fantastic". So it was with tennis also, when Stefan Edberg played in the 80's, every time I checked, he lost, when I checked, so he won. Although baseball is fun. And tjejtennis, though not by the sexist reasons but because it tends to be good balls. Not so much "serve and then it is clear".
-- In France, I checked on the boule, "says Martin. Something really championships, it was also impressed when they managed to reach the small ball.
-- Even though it is really old man, and you know what they have done outside our house? It is a playground where that is not rustats up late early 70s with lethal klätterställningar and recently began the build on there and I thought 'Fan, now we get a good playground! ". But oh no. Boule. For the old man. Skitlång gravel fields, nothing happened to the playground.
Officials now it was not sport, we would talk. Are you reviews of Watershed?
---- I do, "says frontmannen. We must always good reviews but I'm never satisfied unless we have the highest grades. If there are nine out of ten so I am thinking 'Why could you not give it a tia? "And then, it is always so many discs that may nines and then our record only" as good "as new what-it-than-is .
And Watershed is of course much better?
-- Yes, it is, of course, laughs Martin and Mikael without shame at all.
But is it something that confounded by the reviews you read, where it was felt that the author has totally misunderstood you?
-- So far, I have only read good reviews, so when I read them I am thinking, 'This is full pot! "And then you come to the end and it says eight of ten or something something. But I know how it works well, I am not going to mention any names but a journalist that I had done an interview with, a good friend, said "I will give this disc a tia, but I do not know if it goes for it is not certain that I may give the highest rating for the newspaper. "For him personally, we would have ten, but in the newspaper, it was nine. A new disc seems only to have a TIA on Monday stuck to it somewhere around the first impression. Or, after a lot of years.
-- I think you look a nia as a TIA, adds Martin. The parts, after all, never shared the highest grade. If you get an eight wonder why, but nine is the highest rate in the award anyway.
How have the fans receive the new plate?
-- Great! There have been disqualified, well, almost everywhere, "said Michael cheerfully. I have checked on our MySpace page, where fans have made consistently good criticism, yes except one or two then said they are disappointed and wonder what has happened and say things like "Where's Peter?" And "Bring Lopez back! "But it is always. It is easier to see such things on the web now, you get a little more direct feedback, but on my own MySpace page, it is only good criticism and the people we met say they like it.
Queritor seems most come from old fans who can not accept any form of development?
-- There must be ignored, if we do not change as we get shit for it, but a good or bad review has never steered our focus.
-- And it would have been sad if it became a Ghost Reveries 2, says Martin.
-- Yes, rather it says that "this is too different" than to state that it is the same shit again, "says Mikael dry.
With a brand new flat in your luggage, you can imagine that the guys are sugna to play the new material live, but since Opeth not keep them from so many songs during their 40-50 minute long festival-set, what can we really expect?
-- We have not directly repat in any of them really, but we can play all the songs. The fact is that we only have a repat time ago we played in the disc and that we filmed and released as bonus material on the special edition release of the Watershed. If we play 40 minutes, it feels a bit much to run two new songs, so there will be a new song. But when we go out on headline-tour themselves in the autumn / winter, we will run two to three songs from Watershed. Two that we are always running and a third inrepeterad that we can vary the rest of the set.
During the spring, Opeth played first, in England, together with Arch Enemy and partly in North America who committed to the Dream Theater in turnénamnet Progressive Nation.
-- In the U.S. we played in many theatres before a seated audience, "says Mikael. Dream Theater had sold VIP tickets to their fans who sat through the five-ten first lines. It felt a little strange when you stand there in scenkanten at the front and want to skate a bit with the audience, but there are only older Dream Theater fans in batiktröjor and staring at one and think that "death is just noise." But we came good with people, sometimes, it was probably 50/50, which had come for our sake and interest to us was just to play for their fans, otherwise we do not supportspelningar.
Dream Theaters drummer Mike portnoy and Mikael have been friends for a couple of years and during Opeth last evening at Progressive Nation took the friendship a great deal of interesting expressions.
-- He la babypuder on my drums, the first virvelslaget became just as a big white cloud and it became a halt to the entire scene. Trumpinnarna glided out of the hands and feet slant on the pedals, "says Martin. Mikael continues.
-- On Mike threw me bread and vindruveklasar who was caught in the hair, then he sat up porrbilder on my monitorhögtalare and pulled down the curtain when we played "The Drapery Falls", in order to obtain a just saw our shoes.
This may of course, of course not go unpunished.
-- We played golf balls, stood at scenkanten and shot in to them when they played. We met the singer James LaBrie in the head and he became acidic, for real. Then we set a course in portnoy mikrofonstativ so when he would sing sat there a banana instead of a microphone.
-- And the cake in trumstolen, "said Martin cheerfully. When he stood up and played so we quickly pulled into a cake as he sat in.
Lustigkurrar. Less fun, it was in Miami on May 30 when draperiet suddenly fell down during Opeth played, without portnoy participation. The heavy brandridån landings which was my turn on stage with Michael, Mendez and Fredrik (Åkesson, guitar), above and Per and Axenrot behind. Martin says of the incident.
-- I found it difficult to continue playing where I was sitting behind draperiet to heaven, I laughed so much. Per and I looked at each other and wondered what had happened and saw only the feet of others run around in front of glipan in the fabric.
Mikael continues.
-- First, I noticed there, we were in the middle of dödspartierna in Baying of the Hounds and then I saw all of a sudden that "Shit, it has gone down!" And began to tan and missed a couple of text before we stopped playing altogether.
It took about 20 minutes to get away draperiet again, and it disrupted the course considerably under Mikael.
-- It was quite a bad crowd and it was difficult to continue to play afterwards. Many married couples who sat ten rows back, the woman was and slept a little on the man's shoulder and he sat with a Holk and smoked. Once we went out on stage again as we thought it would be a superb return with the screaming audience but instead it was only a lukewarm "jah, judgement again…" - reaction. It was a pretty sad gig as the only it will be remembered is that draperiet went down.
(a amatörfilm from the gig can be seen here: )
Subject summer festivals, it is under Mikael one that deserves a little extra attention.
-- Metal Rock Fest in Lillehammer. I saw the poster and there are two logos headlines, Opeth and Twisted Sister. During the ties that Hanoi Rocks, White Lion, Trouble and such things. Imagine if you had seen it when you were little boy, wow. Otherwise, it is no special festival, I look forward to, perhaps more to meet people you can feel and see bands as they like.
In addition to Opeth plays to Michael and Martin Axenrot also make two gigs with dödsprojektet bloodbath, the first Party San in Germany and then Pellavarock in Finland. Mikael looks a little troubled because when plays come up.
-- Actually, I do not manage the pace, the week, we finally have a little time off from Opeth coherent and just when are we going to do these two plays and have to scratch. I regret a little that I agreed with them, not because I do not want to play with the bloodbath, but I am so ruddy busy. I will not be able to texts, but will have to be stooping to view them from the paper on scengolvet, just as in Wacken-gig, 2005.
Oops. Will it be able to see it on the brand nysläppta bloodbath - The Wacken Carnage This DVD?
-- It must be done because I had taped up the texts of all twelve songs from left to right in front of my monitorhögtalare on scengolvet. I started to sing on the left and at the end of the set, I am on the right with skitsträckt mikrofonsladd for the not quite enough, and tried to see the text.
-- Tour that it was in the day, what had you done if we played in the evening?, Asking Martin and Mikael looks even more tortured.
Martin says that he recently recorded all the drums for the upcoming full from the bloodbath and Mikael will be in the studio during the summer to add vocals. Something date for a possible release dare not, however, the prophet of the.
In the autumn of waiting in all cases a long tour of Opeth, first in Japan and Australia, the United States in late October and in november / december Europe.
-- We have booked in the U.S. tour so that we go two days after Melinda (Michael's four-year daughter) birthday and returning home two days before Mirjam fills a year. You can not always fit in family life, but if you anyway is at home a happy birthday, so it feels good for me, for my wife and my children.
Here at home in Sweden, we are not so spoiled with real Opeth-plays, but Mikael reveals that in all cases, the two gigs scheduled on december, one in Gothenburg and one at home in Stockholm. Date and spelställen will be published shortly.
The dinner is uppäten and it is time for guys to put themselves on the train home. The day after our meeting was released the first official sales figures for Watershed and Opeth managed the trick of the first week to sell 19 000 copies of the disc in the United States. It is only a little over Rs 1000 fewer than Sweden's largest metalexport, In Flames, did with its A Sense of Purpose recently and Watershed get so in to place 23 on U.S. Billboardlistan.
Incredibly for a complicated, progressive dödsmetallband from Stockholm.
Opeth plays on Peace & Love in Allahabad on June 26 and at Metaltown in Gothenburg on 28 June.
