Opeth interview is now available

[Pellaz]

Yep, finally

This is an audio interview we conducted with Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth before their Atlanta show at the Roxy Theater.

Topics include:

• The correct way to pronounce his last name
• Upcoming tour in February
• How his life has changed since his daughter Melinda's birth
• Future metal project with Stephen Wilson of Porcupine Tree (and Mike Portnoy (!))
• Future direction of Opeth (harder/softer etc.)
• "Black Rose Immortal?" "Never!"
• Origin of the band-name
• American beer
• New bandmembers named Martin, and nothing else but Martin
• Swedish coffee (and coffee's critical importance to Skandinavia)
• "Hi, do you have any Opeth in stock?" "Well, actually...."
• Bands Mikael recommends
• His 'harder' influences
• The death of "Demon of the Fall"
• Song complexity, the 'organic' nature of the band, and older albums

The interview was aired in three parts during our WREKage broadcast this past early-Saturday morning, and will be included in the show archive until next week (when it gets overlaid).

To get to the interview, go to http://www.wrekage.org and click on "Listen to WREKage." An m3u playlist is returned, so if you open it, it will load into your mp3 player of choice as a bunch of half-hour segments. Part I of the interview is at -20:00 during the 02:30 segment, following the Black Sabbath song. Part II follows a Dillinger Escape Plan song at roughly -3:00 during the 03:00 segment, bridging into the 3:30 segment, and Part III follows a Death Angel song at about -2:00 during the same 03:30 segment.

The playlist for the show is at http://www.wrekage.org/playlists.php so you can see where the segments fit in during the broadcast. I took the week off for the first time since ProgPower, so you won't see too many PP'ish bands. I'm in the interview, though.

The interview should also be posted to the WREKage website as a podcast, making it lots easier to access, but I'm not sure when.

 

[Kenneth R.]

Yep, finally

This is an audio interview we conducted with Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth before their Atlanta show at the Roxy Theater.

Topics include:

• Upcoming tour in February
• Future metal project with Stephen Wilson of Porcupine Tree (and Mike Portnoy (!))
• New bandmembers named Martin, and nothing else but Martin

Very interesting.

 

[Lietuvis]

Cool interview...

Thank you very much!

 

[batmura]

So what does Mike say about his project with Wilson and Portnoy?

 

[Petethedrummer]

Maybe you should listen to the interview...=P

 

[Pellaz]

Heh, I'll encapsulate it, since the interview still isn't posted as a podcast (dark look at my lazy fellow WREKage deejays).

Basically Mikael said that he thinks the project with Stephen will happen and that it will be a metal project. A fan outside before the show had told me about the swirling Mike Portnoy rumours and I was going to ask Mikael about that, but he mentioned Portnoy as possibly being involved first. He also mentioned that they're trying to get someone else for it, someone pretty big (judging from his comments and his expression), but who Mikael would not name.

It was a lot of fun to do the interview, and it was cool of Opeth's tour manager to let it run a bit long. Peter Lindgren had also been slated to join us, but was sick that day...Mikael described his symptoms in unwonted detail on the stage later. He also did give us lessons in growling and in Swedish, as we anticipated in the interview.

 

[Benighted Joe]

Cool interview! Good one.

Still I didn't catch that underrated band's name which Mike recommended...
"Marly Martin" something. Please don't laugh. I couldn't make it out, please,
does anyone know?

Thanx for the interview man!

 

[Wounded Land]

Still I didn't catch that underrated band's name which Mike recommended..."Marly Martin" something.

Madder Mortem.

Good interview, man. I have an unhealthy man-love for Mike Akerfeldt. He's just so damn into the music. Zero pretense.

NP: Meshuggah "Destroy Erase Improve"

 

[Weakness]

Fuck shit man.. Someone please post this whole interview somewhere
else as a whole.. I wasted 30 mins of scanning though lousy music!

 

[Pellaz]

--Which is why I posted the start times, as well as the playlist page so you can navigate through all the lousy (to you) music.

The whole thing should be posted separately as a podcast when Mike (of WREKage) gets around to it. I'd host it myself, but bandwidth issues make me think it would be better if Georgia Tech paid the bill.

 

[BABS]

I enjoyed the interview, thanks! I never tire of listening to Akerfeldt talk, love his voice even when he's growling...