Video interview Mikael

[Mr Samsara]

I take great pride in what I create, perhaps to the point of appearing arrogant by some, and being dissed like that in public is offensive to me. Of course, not everybody thinks that way, thank god.

I must add that it's more a defensive reaction than a superiority complex. Just like C said above, dissing my creations is just like calling me ugly, so I would take that to heart. I dunno about everyone else.

Well... some could say that just makes you dlusional, and out of touch with reality. I don't even know how to play guitar. But suppose I REALLY take pride on how creative I can be in my random strumming, and asked my brother, who has a band that he puts his life into, to add some of my random strumming on his next record. Is the brother supposed to put it in so as not to offend the "random strummer"? Is the brother supposed to lie? If told the truth, is the "random strummer" brother justified in being offended because his bro "dissed his creations" that he "takes pride in"? A bit of an extreme example to make a point... but I think it more clearly illustrates the point of view you are pushing, and with which I disagree.

I think like most situations in life, there are many facets to the situation... and through another fantastic "FaceCulture" interview, we are exposed to some of the deeper layers in the onion.

Unfortunately, most people just can't handle the truth.

 

[soundave]

Best interview yet. Mike has a tough job, being Opeth's quality control. Sometimes, it's REALLY hard to work with good friends. I've done it, and I wouldn't want to do it again.

 

[Crepuscularia]

^I think the point we're trying to make is that there's a BIG difference between privately telling someone their music isn't good enough and PUBLICLY saying it isn't good enough.

 

[Crepuscularia]

Oops should have been ^^

 

[soundave]

Well, yeah. But what then is the explanation for why Peter hadn't written anything for a number of albums? That he was out of ideas or that Mike was simply taking sole creative control? Mike feels bad about it and admits he handled it badly. And he's already spoken with Peter about it. Furthermore, I feel like people are missing the point, which is this: Mike writes shitloads of material and "slaughters" a great deal of it. Peter had a tape with about 2 minutes of material, and all of it was bad. The point isn't that he contributed bad stuff. The point is, after working with Mike on the first 2 albums, the extent of his writing contributions afterwards was only 2 minutes of riffs.

 

[Crepuscularia]

Soundave, I see your point. It's not as if Peter gave Mike sixteen hours worth of riffs over a ten year period and all of it got rejected. But part of me still says "dissing someone's creative output publicly is not acceptable in proportion to the amount of the output". Who knows, maybe Peter is such a perfectionist that he'd been working on those two minutes for the past ten years? Yeah, probably unlikely, but you never know.

 

[Mantraschism]

Be that as it may, I don't see the need to explain it at all - more than they already had, that is. How many of us could have known that Peter hadn't contributed ANYTHING since 1998 or so, honestly? From watching the videos, I had thought that Peter was giving his own ideas, too. And what difference should it make to us, anyway? I think it's natural that one person is going to do the main songwriting, so I never figured anything was amiss. 'Pete ran out of steam and wanted to do something else' is plenty of explanation for any of us, I think. After all, we're not personal friends with these guys (for the most part), so we don't need to know the personal details. It's frankly not our business, interesting though we undoubtedly find it.

 

[Metalstrm]

Well... some could say that just makes you dlusional, and out of touch with reality. I don't even know how to play guitar. But suppose I REALLY take pride on how creative I can be in my random strumming, and asked my brother, who has a band that he puts his life into, to add some of my random strumming on his next record. Is the brother supposed to put it in so as not to offend the "random strummer"? Is the brother supposed to lie? If told the truth, is the "random strummer" brother justified in being offended because his bro "dissed his creations" that he "takes pride in"? A bit of an extreme example to make a point... but I think it more clearly illustrates the point of view you are pushing, and with which I disagree.

I think like most situations in life, there are many facets to the situation... and through another fantastic "FaceCulture" interview, we are exposed to some of the deeper layers in the onion.

Unfortunately, most people just can't handle the truth.

I think you got me wrong. There's nothing wrong with Peter's stuff not being accepted by Mike, if the majority agrees Mike's stuff is better (as undoubtedly happened). The problem is with spreading it around the whole wide world. My band has a bassist who's a great friend and a decent technical musician. He doesn't create our stuff and we privately joke about it with him. But we wouldn't be saying that in public, ESPECIALLY if we were half-famous. Even though he doesn't create any stuff, we still welcome him on board, cause really, we have enough creative input as it is.

Edit: Basically the two guys above me beat me to it again

Edit2: And thanks for calling me 'delusional' and 'out of touch with reality' and 'incapable of handling the truth', Mr. Moderator. In the case of your avid strummer, I would simply tell him quietly when he's alone that his stuff is not what I expected. Which is really the way the situation should be handled.

 

[mexicola]

What the hell? He didn't drag anybody down. He was there when they played live, and contributed to the band in his own way. He spoke in interviews, appeared quite content with the band too. He had this great cool image that complimented Mike's image just perfectly. Maybe he did not contribute creatively, but he did his part.

I can't understand the sudden Peter hate. Especially coming from guys who lamented his loss back when he left like it was the end of the world or something.

Edit: And no, if Pete has an ounce of pride in his creativity, he can't be close friends after that interview.

The world isn't black and white.

 

[Lothlorien]

Well, yeah. But what then is the explanation for why Peter hadn't written anything for a number of albums? That he was out of ideas or that Mike was simply taking sole creative control? Mike feels bad about it and admits he handled it badly. And he's already spoken with Peter about it. Furthermore, I feel like people are missing the point, which is this: Mike writes shitloads of material and "slaughters" a great deal of it. Peter had a tape with about 2 minutes of material, and all of it was bad. The point isn't that he contributed bad stuff. The point is, after working with Mike on the first 2 albums, the extent of his writing contributions afterwards was only 2 minutes of riffs.

agreed. and if peter hounded mikael for ideas and kept coming to mikael with tapes and tapes of guitar work, then maybe i'd feel bad for peter. but i feel mikael said what he HAD to say and feels a deserving amount of relief from it.

 

[Metalstrm]

The world isn't black and white.

No need to tell me that my friend. I've come to that understanding ages ago, and cannot see how my post really even alludes to your interpretation. If anything, I'm taking the middle road.

 

[mexicola]

No need to tell me that my friend. I've come to that understanding ages ago, and cannot see how my post really even alludes to your interpretation. If anything, I'm taking the middle road.

I was referring to when you said you wouldn't be able to stay friends with Mike if you were Peter.

 

[Metalstrm]

That was a bit of an exaggeration I guess, which I cleared up later. I'd be mightily pissed off anyway.

 

[mexicola]

OK, cool.

 

[beast from the east]

That interview was absolutley heart-wrenching. I found myself feeling so bad for both Peter and Mike. At first I was surprised that Mike shared that with everyone, but then I thought that maybe he needed to get rid of it, because as he said numerous times, "I think about it a lot". Maybe he just felt that, in order to have any peace with himself about something that was obviously very painful for him (understandably), he needed to get it all out in the open, and then it could be dealt with and put behind him. It's not our place to judge whether he did the right thing or not, because we're not in his shoes, and everybody's different.

Thanks for opening up to everyone like that, Mike. I hope you and Peter can get past it and continue to be good friends. It would be a shame for the friendship to fail now after working together and sharing so much for so long...

 

[Mantraschism]

It might also be important to remember that Peter wasn't kicked out, he left. It's obviously very difficult for them both, and it's probably true that Mike needed to get it off his chest. But I don't know... I stand by what I said earlier. Mike did seem very tired and not a little troubled during that interview, though, so maybe when the opportunity to talk about it candidly arose, he just did it without even thinking. Or maybe he meant to. But I should definitely stop speculating. ^_^

 

[The Poona of Peshwa]

This is the best interview with Mikael I've seen/read for a few years. He's definately in a different mode. I think the interviewer did a very good job, he's in a different league from the average fanzine hacks.

 

[Mr Samsara]

Edit2: And thanks for calling me 'delusional' and 'out of touch with reality' and 'incapable of handling the truth', Mr. Moderator. In the case of your avid strummer, I would simply tell him quietly when he's alone that his stuff is not what I expected. Which is really the way the situation should be handled.

:sigh:

I didn't call you any of those things. I said some could draw that conclusion from what you said, just as some people are drawing conclusions regarding a situation they know SOME details of.

Fact is it doesn't matter what Mike says, or how much detail he gives, or explanation, or re-hashing of the explanation and details he has already given.... people are going to speculate and draw their own conclusions of what they think or feel happened, and how they think everyone feels, and how they think the situation should be or should have been handled. Everyone knows better than Mike. He's a tyrant, he has a big ego, he takes the band in the wrong direction, he tours them into the ground, he signs them to a label that is shit, he... he... he.....He's in a lose/lose situation with you guys. Much like my explanation here. Most of you probably don't have any idea what I'm talking about. .... Ooops... there I go slipping into my misanthropic moderation style again.

Edit: misplaced comma

 

[soundave]

There's an ocean of sorrow in you, Mr. Sam.... Or at least in your job.

 

[Carta's]

I see him riding in the field of sorrow, yeah