Still Life?

[RavenousDaemon]

Well the characters are inanimate after they die. There may be a portrait described in the lyrics? Then again no, that's not relevant.

 

[Nico]

Well, you never know.

 

[FUBAR]

Thanks for clearing that up Demoke

 

[Demoke]

I have to quote a bigger chunk of the interview to clarify the dictionary definition of still life... sorry for not having done it yesterday...

Question: Cool! I figure we should talk about the new album, Still Life. There's controversy about where you ripped the name from. The first thing people think of, but everyone hopes you didn't get it from, was the FATES WARNING live album last year.

Mikael: I saw that. I got a mailing list from Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles and it had Fates Warning Still Life on it and I said 'Fuck!' I've never been into FATES WARNING. On the other hand there are so many albums out there called Still Life, and so many tracks too. We're just another one. They have it on an IRON MAIDEN album, the VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR, there was even a band called STILL LIFE in the 70s that released a self titled album. I really like the title though. It's a classic one.

Question: The IRON MAIDEN song...

Mikael: I can't say I wasn't influenced by that. I have that track in my head constantly! I've had that record for ages now. It wasn't like when I came up with the title that I thought nobody had ever used that name before.

Question: Everybody thought they were onto something when somebody pulled out the VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR lyrics and they could have fit. That's it!

Mikael: I have that album. It's no big deal. It's so common. Still Life is not hyper original. I might have gotten from there. The reason I picked that title is when I sent the lyrics to Travis Smith to do the cover art, I got the picture back from him and was looking at it on my computer and I thought 'Still Life. That's it!' It was the first thing I thought of. I was messing things up coming up with more complicated titles, but Still Life was what felt right.

Question: I understand there were issues with the artwork with Travis Smith?

Mikael: There were no problems or anything. The cover picture was the first picture I saw from him. We instantly decided on that one. Then there were discussions about colors. He did 20, 30 pictures for this album. We used 3, and altered all the pictures, I had some input there. We've been working lots with the cover. I got the record yesterday. It came out really good. Very close to what I planned.

Question: It is a lot busier than previous artwork.

Mikael: Yes. We shot the cover for My Arms ourselves. Morningrise was a picture we found in the subway. On Orchid, we fucking imported a flower from Holland to have a photographer shoot it, because you can't get orchids in Sweden. It was very good for me this time because I didn't have time to work on the cover myself. It was really good to have an artistic eye like Travis take care of it.

This interview and some others (really good ones, by the way) were done by "Lamentations of the Flame Princess" (the guy has got a forum here, too); just in case you want to google.

 

[Ermz]

Nice, Demoke.

 

[[KOTNO]Narrot]

that is why you fail.

i dont fail!

 

[Korlich]

Moonlapse, I think you should add the information about Still life to he faq. Also the information that Opeth was inspired by a psychedellic german progband called Blackwater Park, and the fact that it resulted in the album of the same name should be added as well.

 

[Rocky Raccoon]

Its an Iron Maiden song..

 

[NFU]

Moonlapse, I think you should add the information about Still life to he faq. Also the information that Opeth was inspired by a psychedellic german progband called Blackwater Park, and the fact that it resulted in the album of the same name should be added as well.

if you were to include in the forum FAQ, all the progressive rock song names/album titles/lyrics/melodies and whatnot that mikael has taken referance to and or included in the Opeth material, then youd have an FAQ 2 pages long just for that.

 

[cyanopsis]

Mikael: Yes. We shot the cover for My Arms ourselves. Morningrise was a picture we found in the subway. On Orchid, we fucking imported a flower from Holland to have a photographer shoot it, because you can't get orchids in Sweden. It was very good for me this time because I didn't have time to work on the cover myself. It was really good to have an artistic eye like Travis take care of it.

I guess Mike never been to a flower shop then!

 

[ChrisEmerson]

i think the album that was supposed to repeat itself was MAYH.. hence the last work of each song being the title of the next, and the unsung lyrics to the last song going back to the first one... im sure mike has said something about this before.

 

[dorian gray]

I guess Mike never been to a flower shop then!

hahaha! good call cyanopsis!

 

[RavenousDaemon]

Ring-ring-ring-ring-ring-ring-ring-ring-ring Banana Phone!

 

[NFU]

Ring-ring-ring-ring-ring-ring-ring-ring-ring Banana Phone!

It comes in bunches, i have my hunches. Its the best, beats the rest!
cellular
modular
interactive-odular!

 

[dorian gray]

sometimes when im drinking jack daniels, i will use ice cubes. i wonder if it dilutes the taste and i dont realize it. i worry about this.

 

[Nico]

It does. I do the same with Jim Beam. I find it sweeter on the rocks though, and it goes down nicer. Dilution is a small price to pay for pure bliss.

 

[dorian gray]

decadent, you made me feel better about this. i will continue to drink jack with ice cubes. it DOES make it go down smoother.....i dunno about the "sweeter" part though.