Peter Wichers
Silent Waters Run Deep

17.10.2007

Peter Wichers is mostly known to the metal audience as a founding member of Swedish .melodic death metal band Soilwork, but he quit this band in late 2005 having gotten tired of touring life. Not very many people known him as a producer and sound engineer, but it seems that the situation will change with the release of “Nuclear Blast All Stars – Out of the Dark”, a special album timed to the 20th anniversary of this label’s establishment. It was Wichers who supervised this extremely interesting project, and it was he who wrote all the songs that were sang by Anders Friden, Bjorn “Speed” Strid, Peter Tagtgren, John Bush and other prominent metal performers…

When and how did you come to the point to leave Soilwork and concentrate on working as a producer? Many musicians combine playing in a band and producing other bands. Wasn’t it possible for you?

I personally got “burned out” from all the touring and I really felt like I wanted to try and work on music from home so that I could be home with my family more and even sleep in my own bed every night. I think that songwriting is really my passion but the producer side is something I really feel strongly about as well.

How did the guys of Soilwork accept your decision to part ways? As long as Bjorn ‘Speed’ Strid lately participated in the recording of “Out of the Dark”, can you say that you are still friends?

Absolutely! I have known some of the Soilwork guys for a very long time and I consider them friends for life. The decision to part with the guys in Soilwork was not an easy one and it took me around 1.5 years to figure out if it was the right thing to do. I now feel as if it was the right thing to do, but I still miss the guys and the performing side of touring.

Was it your own idea to make “Nuclear Blast All Stars – Out of the Dark” and when did it appear?

It wasn’t my idea to do this project and I was approached by Andy Siry from Nuclear Blast to see what I thought about the idea. This was probably about 18 months ago.

When did you begin to write songs for it? While writing, did you have any idea for whom of the singers every song would be intended? Did you write everything by yourself or did any of other musicians contribute anything?

I started writing for the record when Nuclear Blast approached me. The songwriting took about 5-6 months to complete and I tried to focus more on writing a song for every singer that would fit their style, instead of writing a song that sounded like the band they were from.

Who was responsible for choosing and inviting the singers? Did you manage to contact every vocalist while recording and who of them was the most interesting person to work in the studio with?

The only singer that I choose was Guilluame Bideu from Mnemic, otherwise Nuclear Blast had a list of singers that they wanted me to write for. I did unfortunately not get a chance to work with every singer personally, and I received most performances over the Internet. I did however get a chance to record John Bush (ex-Anthrax) and Mark Osegueda (Death Angel) which was lot of fun. They are both great dudes and we had a good time in the studio.

You did so much for this project – as a songwriter, producer, and engineer. Did you have to fulfill so many duties within one project before?

NO!!! This was definitely the biggest project that I have ever done, and there was times when I thought I was gonna go crazy because of the stress, but in the end I was very happy and proud of how everything came out.

Are you satisfied with the result of “Out of the Dark”?

Well, I am never 100% satisfied with anything I do, but I am pretty close with this one.

How do you like “Nuclear Blast All Stars – Into the Light” (the first part of the anniversary project that mostly covers the label’s classic metal roster – ed.)?

Never heard it, Nuclear Blast stop sending me stuff when I moved to the U.S. (laughs)

Soilwork is a Swedish band, but there were reports that you moved to the U.S. after leaving it. Where do you reside now, and where would you like to reside, if you had the freedom of choice?

Well, I live in Nashville Tennessee with my wife and two dogs, and I can’t think of another place where I would like to live right now. I am very happy and this city has so much studios and music life (NOT ONLY COUNTRY!) so that it makes it easier to work here.

In 2005 you played Ozzfest with Soilwork. What memories do you have of that tour? Would you like to hit the Ozzfest stage once again?

Oh my god! Ozzfest was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done. I mean who likes to get up at 8am and play for 20min when doors open? And the have a day off every other day? And they make you pay to play there????

Ozzfest is on the other hand an opportunity that you can’t turn down if you get offered it, but I think that Ozzfest is something that can either make or break a band. If I ever play Ozzfest again I would have to get paid to play there otherwise I don’t think it’s likely that I’ll get on the stage there again.

Since you’re out of Soilwork, do you play live nowadays, and if yes, with what bands? Are you missing the times you were a touring musician?

There are always things that I miss from touring and I do miss the performing side of it. Touring is a lot more than just the actually show though. You have to consider that touring is 90% of “dead time” and if you don’t have anything to do when you’re not playing then touring can get pretty frustrating. But I did get a chance to go to Europe and play with my friends in Killswitch Engage for three weeks, which was really nice, even though the reason why I was there wasn’t the greatest (during the European tour it turned out that Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Ditkiewicz needed surgery due to pains in his back – ed.). I love those guys and it was lot of fun to perform again live.

Can you tell a bit about your work with the Baltimore metal act Samadhi? How did you get to know them? And in your opinion, what are their chances of becoming huge on the international metal scene?

Hmmm!!!! Well, they contacted me to produce their album, and I thought that they had some potential as a band. Although I have not heard anything from them in a while and I think they are still looking for a record deal.

Could you compare working with such bands as Samadhi, Construcdead and All That Remains? Could you ever produce a band playing, so to say, ‘classic’ heavy metal or is it not your thing?

I would definitely give it a shoot, even though it’s not my cup of tea these days.

Soilwork is going to release their new album “Sworn to a Great Divide” very soon. Have you heard any music from it, and if yes, what’s your opinion of it?

I think it’s a great record and the fans won’t be disappointed.

Many guitar players sooner or later come to record a solo guitar album. What about you? You’re well known as a composer, so you fans may expect a lot of interesting ideas from you…

Well, it’s not impossible that this might happen, but if I do a solo record it probably won’t be what people expect from me.

How often is it possible to see you at home with a guitar in your hands? What’s your favorite equipment, by the way?

(laughs) Well, every day. I usually try to practice every day for at least 30 minutes. I do love my Caparison guitars but I have always loved a standard Fender Strat so I recently got one that I have been playing on lately. I used Mesa Boogie for most of the guitars on the “Out Of The Dark” project but I love to mess around with a lot of different amps in the studio.

What are you up to now? What are your priorities? What releases can we expect from you in the nearest future?

I am currently finishing up a project together with Warrel Dane from Nevermore, which should be done, sometime in late November. I am going to continue mixing, writing songs and producing bands so I can continue working with music.

Can you admit that some day you will be playing in a band again or do you prefer to work as a hired producer/engineer/composer nowadays?

A tough question, I love both things for various reasons. I love the fact of playing in a band so that you can jam and rock out, but thinking that you are gonna make a lot of money by doing it is kind of farfetched, so in order to take care of my family I might have to keep a band as a side-thing and make a living as a hired gun.

Please, add some words from your side for our readers. Thank you very much for your time and best regards from us.

I hope y’all will dig the record as much as I enjoyed making it. Rock on!

Peter Wichers on the Internet: http://www.wichersproductions.com

Special thanks to Irina Ivanova (CD-Maximum) for arranging this interview

Anna Babicheva
October 10, 2007
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