Amaranthe
Restart Electroheart

04.12.2013

Sweden’s Amaranthe have been causing a stir in the metal community since their inception. The band put together by Olof Morck (guitar) and Jake E (vocals), both firmly rooted in power metal with their bands Dragonland and Dreamland respectively, incorporated a wide range of influences: traditional metal, modern metal, industrial overtones, pop music, you name it and it’s there. On top of that, the band added a full-on triple vocal attack, with Jake rubbing shoulders with screamer Andy Solvestrom (screams) and the beautiful Elize Ryd. This combination was found irresistible by a huge number of metalheads, which became especially obvious when their video for the title track of their second album “The Nexus” scored two million views on YouTube in just a month. In Russia their success manifested itself in the band returning to perform in Moscow and St. Petersburg just seven month after their previous visit. In the run up to the Moscow show, which is due on December 7, we caught up with Olof via phone in order to find out what the causes are for Amaranthe’s triumph and what the fans should expect from the band’s swift, but welcome return to the Russian capital.

You played in Russia for the first time in April this year. What were your impressions? How did you like the country and the crowd?

To begin with, I have to say that it was an amazing show. It might sound like something that you say all the time about every show, but I think when it comes to headline shows, it was one of the biggest that we’ve done so far. I think we had like 1,200 people, and it’s a great thing. The venue, Moskva-Hall was great, too. Apart from that, I just had an amazing time. It was my first time in Russia ever, and I had really wanted to go there for a long time, so to see Moscow and St. Petersburg was mind-blowing, lots of great architecture and cool food. We got to try some “borsh” - I think you pronounce it like that – and vodka, so we had a chance to sample all the Russian delights.

You will play in Moscow and St. Petersburg again in December. How will this show be different from the previous one? Shall we expect any surprises?

It wouldn’t be a surprise if I tell you, right? (everybody laughs) Basically we’re still touring off the same album, so the setlist is gonna be similar, but we’re gonna play a few songs that we didn’t do the last time. I know that some of those songs are some of the more popular songs that we have written, so that is gonna be a bit different. In every sense of the word, every show is different, no show is exactly the same. The people that came the last time are definitely gonna experience something new.

The latest news from Amaranthe was of course the replacement of one of the singers. Andy Solvestrom left the band, and Henrik Englund Wilhemsson stepped in. How did you get to know Henrik and why did you choose him for the position?

Me and Jake met him at a local award show in Stockholm - he’s living in Stockholm, and we’re living in Gothenburg. We met this guy and just became friends. I knew that he was growling in a band called Scarpoint, and we checked him out growling there and in some other projects. When it came to the point when Andy couldn’t do the European tour in the beginning of this year, we had an idea that maybe we should ask him. We have had different guys replacing Andy for a long time, and Richard (Sjunnesson) from Sonic Syndicate wasn’t available this time, so we had to try somebody new. We asked Henrik and it became clear to us that he was a really good guy at singing the growling thing, but he also had a huge passion for touring. He then did a U.S. tour with us this summer. When it came to Andy’s departure, Henrik had already played about 45 shows with the band, we had already tried him. It can be a little bit risky sometimes when you’re announcing a new member, and maybe this new member doesn’t work out in a long run or on the tour. But we were quite certain that Henrik was gonna do the job well.

Do you happen to know what Andy will do in the future? He said that he wanted to try some other opportunities in life – does it mean that he’s quitting music, or is he starting a new project?

Andy has always been a little bit different that the rest of us in the sense that he’s always been doing full-time work, and it’s hard to do full-time work when you’re touring so much. All the rest of the guys are pretty much living off music, but Andy is sort of like a family man, he wants to have a pretty normal life, he’s not overly fond of touring a lot. Of course, he loves writing and recording music, and I’m sure that he’ll do some projects. You never know what will happen in the future, maybe he will be a guest at some show or something like that, because we’re really good friends. Even if it’s very sad that he’s no longer in the band, I think it’s cool for him that he finally gets the opportunity to relax and be a dad and a family man.

Amaranthe indeed has a very tight touring schedule. We remember an interview, which you did some time ago, and when you were asked, “What are you going to do after the tour ends?”, you replied, “Sleep for three weeks!” How demanding it is for the band, and especially for the singers, to do so much touring?

(laughs) It’s funny to hear that quote afterwards, because that’s exactly what I did! I really slept for three weeks at least. Well, it’s both really… Of course, it’s very demanding, but at the same time, I’m not gonna complain. Of course, having a normal job, going to an office for 10 hours every day is demanding, too, that can be really tiresome. The difference with the touring is that you’re away from your family, and sometimes you have very long days that can be a little bit boring. For me, I try to see a lot of things when we’re on tour. For example, when we were in Moscow and St. Petersburg, of course, we went to Red Square and the Winter Palace, we try to go to restaurants, do something, meet people, instead of just sitting at the venue. Even if it’s a little bit hard sometimes, now that I’ve been at home for 1.5 months, I really miss the touring. (laughs) At the end of the day, I really prefer touring to being at home for a very long time.

Amaranthe has a very memorable sound – once you hear the band, it’s easy to recognize it. How and when did you come up with it – was it born in the studio when you were recording the first album with Jacob Hansen, or did you already know how you want the band to sound even before you entered the studio?

I think me and Jake talked about the sound that we wanted to have even before we even sat down and started to write the first songs. Basically, we were talking about the sound that we wanted to have for about 1.5 years while hanging out and doing other projects and things. When we finally sat down and started to write the music, it was sort of obvious where we were going, and I think song number three or four we wrote was the song which is the opening track of our first record, it is called “Leave Everything Behind”, and when we had that song, we knew exactly how we wanted to sound. In 2009, we recorded an EP with “Hunger” and “Leave Everything Behind”, both are songs from the first record, and we mixed it in Studio Fredman. That was obviously happening even before we went into Jacob’s studio, and if you listen to those demos today, you can hear that they sound 100% Amaranthe, even if they sound a bit rougher. Basically what Jacob did was adding his audio production, but the actual sound of music is definitely something that me and Jake came up with.

What about the visual aspect of the band – is there somebody who is suggesting or directing how band members should look on videos or at photo shoots, or does everybody do whatever they want?

Yes, we have that person, she’s called Elize. (laughs) Actually everybody gets to dress up in whatever they want, but we also have a clothing company that we are endorsed by, so we can also go there and pick some clothes, and they are in a certain similar style. For example, when we did the photo shoot for “The Nexus” album cover, we tried to have a little bit futuristic and dark theme. But when it comes to the live element, everybody just… We try to match it, but at the end of the day, everybody has to be comfortable with what they wear.

There are just three players in the band, and it’s obvious that you have to use playback when performing live. Are you comfortable with this situation, or would you like to have more players, a keyboard player, for example, onstage if possible?

I don’t think it would be really possible. Obviously I play the keyboards on the album, but the keyboards are more or less an atmospheric kind of instrument. Sometimes they play lead melodies, but most of the time they are just enhancing the atmosphere. On some songs, like “Leave Everything Behind” that I mentioned before, there are no keyboards at all, and you don’t really think about it. If there was a keyboard solo or some orchestral part where you have a lot of piano, it would feel strange to have it pre-recorded, of course, but since the keyboards are actually programmed rather than played, it would be strange to have somebody playing it live, because it wouldn’t sound the same. What we did on the European tour – actually I don’t think that we did it in Russia last time –on “Amaranthine”, our ballad from the first record, I actually played the keyboards live with a bit of a piano sound until the second verse came in. But we never say never. If we find somebody who is super-mega-tight, and we want to do something extra for a special show, then maybe we can do that, but I don’t think about it at all. It’s more like a background thing, an enhancing thing than a lead instrument.

You recently toured with Stratovarius, and I don’t know about Europe, but in Russia they would mostly have a so-called “old school” crowd. Amaranthe, on the contrary, brings together the elements of traditional metal and modern metal. Is it your intention to appeal to fans of different genres, is it something that you specifically want to achieve?

We are open-minded people, and we want our music to appeal to open-minded people. If somebody is 100 percent into pop, into metalcore, or death metal, or traditional heavy metal, and if they like our music, too, that’s super-cool. We’re not specifically trying to appeal to any specific audience. Since we have such a vast combination of different genres, and such a vast array of different influences, I think that I bring in some traditional Gothenburg melodic death metal influences, and Jake E. brings in some classical metal influences, and Elize brings in something totally different. And we want everything to be here in the mix, we want to have all those different elements in our music, because that’s what makes the Amaranthe sound unique. Probably there’s gonna be a lot of people who can hear that influence, maybe they can hear Jake’s classical metal influence, and they’ll go like, “Wow, I really dig this”. And the pop person goes like, “Yeah, I really like Elize’s vocal lines”. It’s not something that is super-intentional, but it’s not something that we try to avoid either. Basically I think it’s more of a natural thing.

What does the album title “The Nexus” mean? As far as we understand, “nexus” means something like “a bond”, and the song is actually about breaking this bond, so what meaning is the album title supposed to convey?

Basically, as you say, you can describe “nexus” as a bond, but you can also describe this as a center of a network, as a junction or something like that. But the basic idea is that it’s a metaphor for the band itself. Since we have a combination of many different genres, and our band members come from different backgrounds, “the nexus” is a sort of representation of where it comes together. It’s like a meeting point. What we also wanted from the title was to sound kind of mysterious and futuristic, since it’s a very futuristic album. “The Nexus” is sort of like “The Matrix”, meaning to have that feeling. I came up with it for a lot of different reasons.

The video for “The Nexus” is also a bit mysterious, or rather open-ended. Do you have any plans to continue this concept in future videos – to show what happens with the band members after you wake up and break out?

Absolutely! Our first plan was to continue that directly, but then Patrick Ullaeus had a really cool idea for the “Burn With Me” video, and we went with that. When we set to film the video for “Invincible”, we said, “Hmm, maybe we should have something totally different here”. I’m not gonna say too much about that video, I can say that it’s gonna come out this month. We didn’t follow up that concept, but we have already been talking that if we could possibly follow up that line on the next album. It may not be obvious, but “The Nexus” is like a continuation of the “Hunger” video, the characters are kind of the same, but it’s set in the future instead. Maybe on the third album we will continue with the third part of that story. I guess we will see.

It’s interesting that the band members do a lot of acting in the videos, while if you look at other bands’ videos, usually they only play instruments or sing, and there are outside actors who present the storyline. Was it the band’s desire to be so actively involved in the storyline, or was it the idea of Patrick Ullaeus?

Basically the boss in the band when it comes to videos is definitely Jake, while I’m more into the musical side of the whole thing. I know that Jake has always wanted to be an actor (laughs), the same is with Johan (Andreassen, bass), he actually studied acting at school, and Elize had a drama class when she went to a musical conservatory. It’s something that came naturally to at least half of the band, and the rest of us just went with ideas when they said, “This is gonna be a really fun thing”. Just like you pointed out, it’s a very different way of making a video, because usually bands bring in outside actors. Yeah, it’s something that has become a trademark of the band, and it’s probably something that we’re gonna continue doing. I’ve mentioned the “Invincible” video that is coming out this month – it’s definitely like that. And it’s definitely our coolest and the most expensive video so far. I hope you will like that.

When you are making videos, is it fun, or is it more like hard work? Can you share with us any interesting stories from the video shooting?

Usually it’s a lot of fun, but just like I said, it’s very long days – you try to fit in everything in three days or something. For example, when we were shooting “Hunger”, it was the first time I was participating in a really big production, and I had never walked out of an explosion before. We had to film it in one take, and it was really really cold, my feet were almost hurting - it was January in Sweden, you’ve got it in Russia, you know what that’s like. And it was also very slippery, so I was very close to slipping a lot of times when we were walking away from that explosion. I’m really glad I didn’t slip because we only had one shot for that explosion.

In the video for “Hunger” you are playing violin. In real life, what instruments do you play apart from guitar and keyboards?

The reason why I’m playing the violin in that video is just to show a little bit of personality of the band members, their interests and stuff like that. For me, I’m still an amateur, comparatively speaking, but I’ve been playing violin for like 17-18 years, it’s definitely a passion of mine.

A couple of songs on “The Nexus” have obvious dancefloor potential. Have you considered doing electro or industrial remixes of “Razorblade” or “Electroheart”? They might work very well in a dance club, don’t you think so?

(laughs) Actually we did this kind of remix for “1,000,000 Light Years” as a B-side to a single, I think you can find it on Spotify. Obviously there are dance influences when it comes to that, but we haven’t considered that for those particular songs. “Electroheart” would obviously make a perfect dancefloor remix, but we really like it the way it is, because this is what makes it unique – it is naturally dancefloor-inspired, but some parts of “Electroheart” are very very heavy, some of the heaviest parts of the album. It’s this combination that makes it exciting. If we make it only metal or only dance, it would probably not be as exciting as we find it.

By the way, how do you see the future development of the band’s sound? Is there anything you want to add to it on the next record?

Oh yes, absolutely! We were sort of stressed, we had a lot of pressure when we were writing “The Nexus” album. It’s not that we had to compromise on songwriting or anything like that, but we only had limited opportunities to experiment. That’s kind of the way we wanted as well, we wanted “The Nexus” to be a logical sequel to the first record. But now that we’re gonna start to work on the third record, there is definitely gonna be a lot of experimenting with new sounds, new concepts, new ideas, new lyrical themes and stuff like that. Without pointing out any specific changes at this point, which is a little bit difficult, I would just say that the difference between records number two and three is gonna be more pronounced than the difference between records number one and two. It’s really exciting to consider what kind of opportunities we have for record number three.

With the current success and the amount of things to do with Amaranthe, what is going to happen with your other band, Dragonland?

Right now, maybe three or four weeks ago, we started to write a new record. Dragonland, since we started 13 years ago, has been more of a studio, composing thing. We’re gonna try to play some shows, and we have actually announced a show in Belgium in May next year. But it’s probably not gonna be more than a handful of shows per year. I kind of see it as my free time… even when composing for Amaranthe, it’s kind of free time, if you know what I mean, even if it can be viewed as work, since it’s my profession, but it’s still so much fun that I consider it free time. The same thing is with composing for Dragonland, that’s what I’m doing when I’m not out touring or doing administration things. Obviously I’m not going to let in stand in the way of Amaranthe – I had another band called Nightrage, but they had the ambition to be a touring band, so I was forced to quit that band, because I couldn’t commit to the touring aspects of that. But Dragonland is definitely gonna stick around.

We heard that Jake E is currently busy with a side project. Could you tell us what kind of project is this?

Right now he’s joined our support band Cobra And The Lotus on tour, he’s helping them out, because he’s an experienced guy when it comes to touring, so he’s actually acting as a tour manager for them – just as a break, taking some time off. He’s probably gonna work on the next Dreamland album soon.

More about side projects – two years ago you recorded a guitar solo for the “Day Of Reckoning” album by Destruction. How did this collaboration come about?

Oh, it was a very cool thing. It was very spontaneous - both bands were in the same studio, we were recording the first Amaranthe record. I’ve been a fan of thrash metal since the 1980s, and Destruction are definitely one of those bands that I’ve been listening to, together with Coroner, Slayer, Metallica and stuff like that, and I’ve played a lot of thrash metal solos. I think they heard me recording and thought, “Ah, seems like he can play the guitar! We have an open solo here, the dude who was supposed to record the solo hasn’t come back to us yet”. I was super-excited, I did that in just two takes, and I did it very Slayer-like, very 1980s. That was a lot of fun.

In general, your list of session appearances is pretty extensive, even geographically – you have done solos for bands from Italy, Russia, and even Australia. What is your motivation in taking part in such collaborations? Do you help out your friends, or are you ready to work with somebody who you do not know if their music is interesting?

Most of the times I don’t know the people super-well, like the guys from Australia, Universum – I didn’t know them personally, but Morten (Lowe, drums) had played with those guys. It’s different in each situation, but number one requirement is that the music should be good. The exciting thing about playing on the Disharmonia Mundi record was that it’s the music that I had been listening to for a very long time, and I had my ideas of how it could sound and how it should sound, so I put a lot of time in making those solos. The important thing is that it’s also supposed to challenge me somehow. If it’s a band that is extremely similar to Dragonland or Amaranthe, it would probably be not that interesting, and if it’s a completely different genre, like the Destruction song, then it’s really exciting, because I get to do something that I don’t do every day.

In general, what music are you listening to when you have free time? Were there any bands that really impressed you lately?

Hmm, well, now that we’re approaching a new composition stage, I’m listening to a lot of music. Usually when you’re touring, writing and recording so much that you don’t get a lot of time for that. It’s been a long while since I heard a new band that blew me away, but we’re touring in Europe next year, and we’re bringing along a band from Sweden called Smash Into Pieces, which, I think, are very impressive. They really blew me away the first time I heard them last year. I urge everybody to check those guys out. There’s another band from Sweden called Deals Death, which we’re also bringing along on that tour - their record they have just released is really great. That was the number one thing for us when we got to choose our own support bands for this tour – we chose bands that we really like ourselves.

I’ve been listening to a lot of other things as well. I’m a huge classical music fan, so I go to a lot of classical music concerts and I listen to a lot of that stuff. Yeah, basically everything that is good – I have a very varied music taste.

We have a news section in our webzine, and in the past three or four years we see an steadily growing number of news about musicians retiring and bands breaking up because they cannot afford going on, as playing music makes them lose money. As an experienced musician, how do you see the future of metal music and the metal scene? Will there still be opportunities for a breakthrough in five years’ time, or will making music become more and more of a hobby thing even for bands signed to big labels?

It’s something that I really notice as well, it’s something that I see on Blabbermouth every day, and everybody is talking about it. A lot of things that they are saying are obviously true, it is always a struggle for musicians. At least the first ten years for almost every musician are very difficult. But what I don’t understand is that I don’t see the difference between now and 10 years ago, and 10 years ago there were much fewer people complaining about the situation. I actually think that 10 years ago there were a lot of downloading sites such as Napster, and there were a lot of illegal things going on. Today you have Spotify, and you have YouTube, and you actually get some money back from that. While it’s not huge, at least it’s something you can show record labels and promoters who are setting up tours. For example, Amaranthe has about 30 million plays on Spotify, and that’s a pretty powerful argument when you’re talking about putting together a tour, for example. I definitely think the market has become a million times better in the last 10 years, but the reason that there are so many more people complaining today as compared to 10 years ago might be that there are too few young bands. Young bands don’t care, they can survive on 1,000 euros a month, and they’re fine with that. The problem is that all the guys who were 25 ten years ago are 35 now. They have families, they might have houses, and they have to have a real job. Ten years ago they could do it for the same money, but their bands might not earn much more 10 years later, if you follow my argument. I think there will always be new bands who can see themselves living on not so much money and still be out touring, but they have to be younger bands. (laughs) At the same time, there are still 50 or maybe 100 metal bands around the world making a shitload of money. I’m not alarmed about the general state of the business, and I think that for a band five years from now the situation will be the same as it was 10 years ago. If you have a huge breakthrough, then you still earn a shitload of money, that’s just how it is.

Amaranthe on the Internet: http://www.amaranthe.se

Special thanks to Oleg Kolenda (Delta Mekong Concerts) for arranging this interview

Roman Patrashov, Natalie “Snakeheart” Patrashova
November 7, 2013
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