Arch Enemy
Evil Rooted

24.11.2009

The new album by Arch Enemy is a perfect reason to look at the path this band has covered over nearly 15 years of its existence. Out of promising newcomers, doing melodic, but fairly traditional Swedish death metal, they have grown into one of the top names of today’s global extreme metal scene, selling thousands of records and doing tours all over the world with all the big names you can think of. Why this band decided to stop and take a look back at “The Root Of All Evil”, re-recording songs which are more than 10 years old – that’s what we tried to find out from guitarist Michael Amott and bassist Sharlee D’Angelo, whom we caught shortly before Arch Enemy hit the stage for their second gig in Moscow…

It’s your second time in Russia with Arch Enemy. How do you like the country and the Russian audience? Do you have any special memories about this country?

Sharlee: Probably not. We haven’t really spent much time here sadly enough. Last time we were here I got to see the Red Square, we had to pass it really quickly, and that was about it. The schedule’s a bit tight. It’s now my second time here, and for Michael it’s his third time, but he’s probably seen less than I have. (laughs)

Michael: We have very tight schedules – it’s like in and out. But we’ve seen this place. (waves his hand around)

Sharlee: Yeah, I know this place inside and out! (everybody laughs)

Michael: It’s a very classic venue, this one.

Over the past few years you’ve been playing a ton of concerts all over the world. Is there any show that you can call the most memorable?

Sharlee: There’s been quite a few. We’ve been very lucky to have many memorable shows.

Michael: I always walk offstage thinking, “That was a really cool show, great fans!” But because you do so many shows, you tend to forget about individual shows.

Sharlee: In the beginning, six or seven years ago, I could easily answer that question, but now there’s been so many good shows – we get to play new places all the time, meet new people…

Michael: The last show we played was really amazing, the one in Turkey.

Sharlee: Yeah, it was our first time. Usually when you go to a place for the first time, it’s working out fine. The same happened when we played Moscow the first time last year.

Michael: Yeah, there was a great atmosphere. There’s always a special feeling when you come somewhere for the first time.

You have a new album out called “The Root Of All Evil”, and it contains new versions of old songs originally recorded with singer Johan Liiva. Why did you decide that this is the right point in time for such a project? And how was it like to go back to the material which was created more than 10 years ago?

Michael: We got the initial idea about three or four years ago, it came from fans really, who started asking us, “Why don’t you play more old songs live?” or “Maybe you could re-do some songs in the studio with Angela?” We said, “It’s a good idea, let’s see whether we get round to doing that.” Then we did the “Rise Of The Tyrant” album in 2007, and when we found ourselves with some time off in January-February this year, we said, “Maybe it’s the right time to get into the studio and finish this project. There might just be no other time, because we tour so much.” As an artist, you’re always more excited about the new material, we’re always writing new music, and that’s our main focus – to have new music out there and also to play live. This was a cool idea, but we never really found time to do it… and finally we did!

I don’t know if the timing is so great or not… (laughs) We’re scanning the reaction and see that the album did really well, pre-sales are very good, and the response is generally what we expected. Some people are negative, they say, “Why are they doing this? It’s unnecessary.” But most of the people are kind of excited. We made this album for the newer fans - our fanbase has expanded so much since Angela joined, every album has been bigger and bigger, and the old albums are becoming more and more obscure. This is also a way of bringing back some of our favorite songs, and we’ll play some of them tonight.

Originally you composed and recorded this old material very quickly. How long did it take to record it the second time?

Michael: We probably spent a bit more time - we’re slower now, we’re older. (everybody laughs)

Sharlee: Drums were done first, and then there was more and more touring, so we said, “Maybe we can do the rest next month!” Then something else came, more and more offers, so we stayed on the road all the time. We were trying to do bits and pieces here and there…

Michael: We had more time, we have our own recording equipment, and we also have a studio in which we’re sort of involved, so we have cheap studio time locally. But I think it was still done pretty quickly. Recording was cool and fun, it’s nice when you recall some of the things that went through your head 12 years ago…

How much did you change the songs, or did you try to stick to the original versions?

Michael: It’s interesting that in the studio we went back to the originals. Over the years when we played these songs live, they changed a little bit to fit more to our live sound. But this time we went back to the originals, we wanted to capture the soul and the spirit of the originals, but we wanted them to sound like Arch Enemy 2009. We didn’t use the same equipment that we did originally, we weren’t trying to be old school, we wanted to be Arch Enemy 2009 playing the older songs.

As a bonus track, you recorded a cover version of “Wings Of Tomorrow”, and it’s the second song by Europe which you are doing. Was Europe a big influence on you in your early days?

Michael: They were all around in the 80s, they were like a household name when I grew up. Their guitar player, John Norum, was an early influence. Actually I heard him before I heard Gary Moore. They were on TV… It’s almost like growing in Russia, I guess – you had those Russian guitar heroes, and he was like the Swedish one. There was Yngwie Malmsteen and another one was John Norum.

Sharlee: There weren’t many Swedish bands that had record deals, there might be one or two...

Michael: So in 1982 or 1983 when they put the first record out, we were very young teenagers, 12-14 years old, just hearing this stuff, so John Norum was an obvious influence, just like Gary Moore, Michael Schenker and Ritchie Blackmore. I just thought he was amazing, and I really like their first couple of records. I like their new stuff too. It’s just a fun band to cover!

Sharlee: Most bands playing so-called extreme metal wouldn’t even touch anything like that. But it’s more fun to do that.

Michael: I was listening to the “Wings Of Tomorrow” album a couple of years ago, and I thought that this song could really work for Arch Enemy.

More about cover versions – for the recent Century Media compilation you covered “The Book Of Heavy Metal” by Dream Evil. (everybody laughs) We know that their guitarist Gus G. played in Arch Enemy for a while, but apart from that, what was the reason for such an unusual choice?

Sharlee: The thing is that Fredrick Nordstrom, our producer, plays guitar in Dream Evil…

Michael: We were in the studio recording “Rise Of The Tyrant”, and our record company Century Media kept asking us, “Can you do a cover of a Century Media artist for this compilation we’re planning for next year?” We were like, “Eh, not really, we don’t have time, we’re in the studio recording drums…” And then Fredrick said, “Why don’t you cover Dream Evil, so then Dream Evil can cover Arch Enemy?” It was just a silly idea, there was nothing serious… (everybody laughs)

And how did you like Dream Evil’s version of your song (“Let The Killing Begin”)?

Michael: I heard it once, I didn’t like it, I don’t think it’s very good.

Sharlee: Our version of their song is better. (laughs)

Michael, you are an endorser of Dean guitars. Why Dean, and in what way does your endorsement deal help you?

Michael: How it helps me? I don’t know… I was with that Japanese guitar company for almost nine years, and then I wanted to work with an American company, because I wanted somebody who’s more proactive with the promotion. I just wanted something different, I guess. I’d never played a Dean guitar before, and they’d been interested in me for a while, so they flew me over to Florida where they do their guitars, I liked the guitars and the people, and we established a good connection. They developed a new guitar for me, a new signature model, and it’s doing very well. How it helps me? It helps me to play well!

We think a lot of guitarists want to ask you this question: how many hours a day do you practice normally?

Michael: Actually more and more again. Probably two or three hours a day. But it’s more random - I sit at my laptop, answer a few e-mails, then I practice for 20 minutes, and I answer some more e-mails. (laughs) That’s basically my day, it’s more broken up! I play a lot more now, for many years I didn’t really play much anymore, I just kind of warmed up before the shows and played. But now I’m playing more and more, it’s become fun again. I’ve been playing guitar for 25 years, so it goes up and down.

Guitarist Christopher Amott rejoined the band in 2007, which was quite a surprise for us, because Angela said an interviews after his departure that he was very tired of touring and wasn’t really into extreme metal. What brought him back to the band? Did he rediscover a passion for touring?

Michael: I think he got very bored at home. On a superficial level, he was tired of the whole thing, of this whole grind you’re exposed to on the road. At that time we did a lot of long tours, it was like two months in the U.S., home for four days, and then out for a month in Europe. We had a very crushing campaign for that album, and it just broke him down a bit on a mental level. (laughs) He was interested in pursuing a few other things, for instance, going back to school, there were some other ideas he had, but there was never time to do that because of Arch Enemy’s schedule. I think he needed a time out. Then he discovered he got bored being at home. Once this is in your blood – the music, the excitement of the fans… once it gets inside your system, it’s hard to just switch it off.

Sometimes I also dream like, “What if I just quit now and do something totally different?” But I don’t think I’d like it. It’s very exciting doing what we do, it’s a very exciting life. I’m sure many musicians have told you that – the traveling part is not so much fun, but the shows are almost always great, the energy and the passion can’t be compared to anything.

Sharlee: It’s just a bit drooling sometimes getting from Point A to Point B, it’s quite boring to travel, but being in places is cool.

It’s well known that Angela is a vegetarian, but what about the rest of the band?

Michael: I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 14, it’s a long time. Chris and Daniel have also stopped eating meat, though more recently. There’s just Sharlee left…

Sharlee (laughs): I’ve known for being slower… I’m not really eating too much meat, but I’m reluctant to stop completely.

What are the reasons behind your choice?

Michael: I was very much into punk and hardcore music those days, and this is just a part of that lifestyle. I got into anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, vegetarianism, etc. at a very young age. It takes so much more energy to produce meat than it does to produce vegetables. All this stuff is very popular right now, maybe it wasn’t that popular 25 years ago, but I just got into it and stuck with it.

Your track “We Will Rise” was featured on the compilation album “Code Red”, which was given away to U.S. marine corps on duty in the Middle East. We know that many of the bands were not even asked for permission to use their tracks on this sampler, what about Arch Enemy?

Michael: It’s the first time I’m hearing about that! (laughs)

And what do you think about such use of your songs?

Michael: We’re not pro- or against war fundamentally. We’re not like those American bands who tend to be supporting their troops, because we’re European. We don’t really get involved, it’s not our war… But such use of our songs is interesting though. (laughs) A few years ago we heard that American troops used Metallica’s music to torture Muslim captives. They should use Arch Enemy, too…

Sharlee: …and tell the prisoners it’s a woman screaming, it’s probably very offensive!

You’ve been with Century Media records for a very long time. Have you ever considered switching to other record labels, or are you completely satisfied with what they do for you?

Michael: Originally we had a standard record deal with them for the first few records. Then four or five years ago we were free agents, we were out of that contract, and we were looking and talking to some other labels. After all, Century Media they came back to us with a good deal, and, as they say, better the devil you know. It’s just been a very successful deal, especially now when we have a different business model. We own our own recordings, we have our own company called Savage Messiah Music, and it licenses these recordings to Century Media, and this license has to be renewed every few years. Then we have different partners around the world, like in Japan, where we have another record company. We have quite a lot of control, we do exactly what we want, we’re self-managed, so we don’t have anybody telling us what to do. We have an agent, we tell him we wanna go there or go there, and he arranges it. We’re grown up adults, we don’t need a third party telling us exactly what to do all the time. We’re in a great position, we can make a living out of playing extreme metal, which is cool.

Michael, you recently toured a lot with Carcass, and I’ve come across all kinds of reactions to your gigs…

Michael (interrupts): Very different? Really?

What are your own impressions about this tour? Are you personally and the rest of the band satisfied with how things went onstage and offstage?

Michael: We started off with festivals last summer, and we weren’t such a great live band, but the enthusiasm was great from everybody. Then as we toured a bit more, we became a better live band. When it comes to the gig in Moscow, we had a great time playing it. What I didn’t like about that show was that there were no barriers, and there were too many stagedivers. It kind of ruined the show, it became more about the stagedivers than the actual band.

Sharlee, did you see any Carcass shows?

Sharlee: I’ve seen two – one last year and one this year. The one last year was in the Czech Republic, at the Brutal Assault festival. As a matter of fact, I’d never seen Carcass, I never saw them back in the day. I thought it was really good as well, they played well, and the audience was thoroughly impressed.

Bill Steer actually said in an interview with a Russian magazine that your Moscow gig may be the last for Carcass, but soon after that the first Carcass show for 2010 was announced. How long to you intend to go with Carcass? Is there a chance that you may be working on some new songs?

Michael: We haven’t worked on any new music so far, so I don’t know. I think there are a couple of shows planned for next year, but I don’t know where. I don’t really control that band, I’m just going with the flow. We did a massive amount of shows in a very short space of time all over the world, and it was very successful. Now we’re slowing down, everybody’s playing here and there, but we’ve enjoyed what we experienced very much. I’d like to sit down with the guys and discuss if we’re gonna do new music as something special for the fans, but we haven’t had this conversation yet.

And what about Spiritual Beggars? Both of you are involved in that band…

Michael: There hasn’t been much time for it lately. We did the last record in 2005 and we haven’t really done much since. The singer’s in a band called Grand Magus, the keyboard player’s in a band called Opeth, we’re doing the Arch Enemy thing, and the drummer is in a couple of other bands. It’s very difficult to get our schedules together. But it’s a lot of fun doing this music, it’s more traditional hard rock, and we might pick it up at some point.

The same question goes for Arch Enemy. When can we expect new material from this band?

Michael: We’re gonna tour until the rest of the year. We fly to Belgium tomorrow and headline some event, then we’re home for a couple of days, then we fly to Japan and start the biggest Asian tour we’ve ever done – China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Korea, Taiwan, India and stuff like that. There will be a lot of places we’ve been to before, but there will be a couple where we’ve never been to before. Then we go on to Australia and New Zealand, then we go home for a week and then we start a European tour. We’re gonna have Destruction and a couple of other bands with us. That brings us up to Christmas, and Christmas and New Year are the days off. Then we start again in America in mid-January, doing a North American tour, visiting the U.S. and Canada. There will be more European dates in April.

Sharlee: Then it’s summer, we’re doing summer festivals in Europe.

Michael: And then we’ll start working on new material, it’s time to do that. We might release a new record in 2011.

Arch Enemy on the Internet: http://www.archenemy.net

Special thanks to Vera Dmitrieva (Spika Concert Agency) for arranging this interview

Interview by Roman “Maniac” Patrashov, Natalie “Snakeheart” Khorina
Photos by Natalie “Snakeheart” Khorina
October 9, 2009
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