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Tommy: What kind of impressions and reactions
have you recieved regarding your last album? What new angles/developments
have taken place since that one - if any?
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Niklas: First of all, we've had the chance
to tour and play in many places where we previously haven't been (Greece,
Mexico, Turkey etc), so we've certainly experienced lots of new things
and met a lot of interesting people. Apart from that, I don't really
know if something revolutionary has happened; we have pretty different
musical tastes in the band, and all of us have probably discovered
new bands or artists since the last recording, and to some extent
it might reflect in our own music.
Tommy: We can on D.T's website read:
"the next album will see the band crossing new paths, taking their
sound into creative areas previously explored, and as things look now
it will be a very diverse offering featuring musical traces from all stages
of our 12 year career as well as a host of new influences".
What does that mean in reality? What can we expect to hear on the forthcoming
album, because to me it sounds like we are in for some surprises here.....
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Niklas: It's hard to describe the sound more
in depth than that before the album is recorded, since there are lots
of things that can turn out a bit differently than planned in the
studio. I think it'll turn out like a continuation of "Haven",
but with more flashbacks from our earlier albums. Not that it'll be
a "back to the roots" album by any means, but the general
atmosphere sometimes reminds me of the older albums - we'll see how
it turns out. We started recording the album last week and just finished
the rhythm guitars after some really intense days with huge amounts
of coffee and almost no sleep. It'll be interesting to see how it
all will sound in the end.
Tommy: How does it at the moment look in
the area of commitments on the side among the bandmembers? Sideprojects
- is there time for such things? And in that case - any albums scheduled?
Studio/producerjobs or equal?
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Niklas: As far as I know, there are no side
project at the moment.Me and our vocalist Mikael were in Hammerfall
for the first 2-3 years, but apart from that we've never been overly
active outside of D.T. It's hard finding time for doing something
else. I don't think any of us is qualified enough to work as a producer
or studio engineer (I know for sure that I'm not, ha ha!).
Tommy: It's my personal opinion that you
have succeded - but do you feel that it's getting harder and harder for
each release to maintain the quality and inspiration, and keep the material
fresh and appealing? Is there/has it been any periods of lack of ideas
or ideadroughts, or are such moments not familiar to the band?
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Niklas: I think that every band has its ups
and downs, and we're no different. Things usually work pretty slow
when we begin writing songs for a new album, but once the first 3-4
tracks are made, the general direction is outlined, and it's way easier
to continue. One advantage we have is that all six members write music
for D.T. and contribute to the songwriting, so there are always ideas
and material to work with. Even if half the band is seriously low
on inspiration, the rest of the guys are bound to have some creative
output. It might be harder for bands that have one main songwriter
and is depending on him/her to get the ball rolling.
Tommy: How does the festivalsummer look
for Dark Tranquillity? Any dates/locations planned so far? And how will
it look after the next album? If you take a look at your tourplan the
past 5 years you have a hard time finding any dates in Sweden, but instead
mostly gigs in mideurope - will we be able see D.T on the swedish roads
a bit more in the future? If not - what is the reason for that?
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Niklas: It's usually very hard getting gigs
in Sweden. The touring company we work with mainly work with european
promotors, and it doesn't happen very often that we get offers for
single gigs or festivals here. Also, we're not a band that can take
every show that's offered because of work or family commitments -
but perhaps there will be more live activity in Sweden this year.
Tommy: And finally - any words of wisdom
or funny facts about the nearest future
you want to share with the readers?
That was all I had for now, Niklas - the staff at metalcovenant.com
wish you all the very best for the future, and we sincerely want to thank
you for keeping the spirit of Metal alive!
Links of interest:
www.darktranquillity.com
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