The album features the single “Again” and was produced by Howard Benson (Voivod, Pretty Boy Floyd). On working with the band Benson said,

“For me, I like bands that have something they believe in, regardless of what it is, and the fact that they believe in something so strongly is fairly attractive to me”.

Guitarist Sameer beams about Memento Mori saying,

“We’ve grown a lot as musicians and songwriters…we’ve done a lot of growing up in the last few years, and I think a lot of that comes out in our songs and lyrics. A lot of real life experiences, honesty, and hope”.

Rhythm guitarist/backup vocalist Jared Hartmann was kind enough to answer a few questions for MetalMartyr.com about the band, the new album and performing for the troops in Afghanistan. Check it out below!

Metal Martyr: Hi, Jared! Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions. First, could you introduce yourself and the band? What does each member uniquely contribute to Flyleaf?

Jared: Flyleaf consists of Lacey, Pat, James, Sameer and myself(Jared) everyone contributes to the songwriting in their own unique way.  For me I mostly just write guitar parts and I also do the bands Twitter.  Lacey, Sameer and Pat are the main songwriters they come to the band with ideas, melodies, and full songs which we all contribute too. James is the backbone of all the songs and he can fix anything.

Metal Martyr: The band hosted several listening parties for the new album a couple months ago… how did those go?

Jared: The listening parties were alot of fun and we got to interact with the fans like we did when we were in a van.  The venues were all pretty small so we got to talk to most of the people that came which is hard to do when we play at bigger shows.

Metal Martyr: Do you have any cool stories from the road that you’d like to share?

Jared: We were playing in San Antonio a couple years ago and it was a sold out show.  The opening bands has all played and there had been thunderstorms off and on all day.  Well we had our guitars on and were walking to the stage when a lighting bolt hit right outside the venue.  I think I had just stepped on stage and all the power went out so the crowd booed and waited.  After 30 min the power wasn’t coming back so we took a couple acoustic guitars and Lacey sang acapella.  It was really cool because the crowd sang so loud we couldn’t hear what we were playing.

Metal Martyr: There has been some debate over whether to call Flyleaf a Christian band, how important is your faith in regards to your music?

Jared: Everyone in Flyleaf is a Christian and we can’t separate our faith from our lives so of course its going to come out in the music in some way.

Metal Martyr: Being a former U.S. soldier myself, I’d like to personally thank you for performing in Afghanistan for the troops over there. How was that experience?

Jared: Performing for the troops in Afghanistan was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.  We were there for 2 weeks and got a little taste of how much they sacrifice for us so it made really proud and grateful for everyone in the military. Also they let us shoot alot cool guns including the second biggest one the army has the howitzer 777.

Metal Martyr: How is Memento Mori different from your self titled album?

Jared: I think the biggest difference between Momento Mori and the self titled album is that besides maturing alot I think its alot more personal.  Not only in the song content but in the art as well which Pat created for us.

Metal Martyr: What can we expect to see from Flyleaf in the future?

Jared: You can expect us to be touring alot next year and we will be traveling overseas as well.

Metal Martyr: Any last words for your current and soon-to-be fans?

Jared: I would like to thank everyone who has supported us over the years and we appreciate all your encouragement and hope to see you at a show soon.

Thanks Jared!

Check out a video recap of The Road to Memento Mori below, then watch their video for “Again” here!

Buy your copy of Memento Mori via Amazon now!

[images: Total Assault]

Post from: Metal Martyr

Discussing the title track, Cantrell tells Hetfield and Ulrich,

“It’s a really intense song, and a really open-hearted song to Layne and the experience that we went through. Facing up to all of that stuff, and owning all the good, and owning all the bad, and moving forward together. It was a lot of big steps… things were pretty black for us. It’s pretty literal to that, and things are starting to get a little lighter.”

Keep checking back in the coming weeks for parts 2 and 3 of this classic interview.

Check out part one here!

[image: Total Assault]

Post from: Metal Martyr

In Prong related news, the band will be touring with Soulfly, Cattle Decapitation and Mutiny Within starting at the end of September. Check out a full schedule here.

Part 1:

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Part 2:

Post from: Metal Martyr

While you’re here, check out Drowning Pool performing “Bodies” at Crue Fest 2 on 7/30/09!

Post from: Metal Martyr

Eric: Hey Chris, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions. First, could you tell us about The Flood? What’s the meaning behind the band’s name?

Chris: We’re a four piece band.  Ajay Marshall on guitar, Jeff Eason on bass, Nate Minick on drums and me, Chris Johnson on vocals.  We are four like-minded musicians, playing with the intent to bring timeless music to those who appreciate emotional music.  There’s a reason bands like Floyd and Zeppelin stood the test of time; they were masters of creating feeling.  There’s never a reason to write a bad song when human emotion is an unlimited resource.  We strive for this level of mastery with every song we write and we hold ourselves accountable to do just that.  As far as our name goes; I wanted to find a name that best represented how I felt about the music.

Eric: What are some of the strengths that each member of the band brings to the table?

Chris: Ajay is our newest member and has been a very important addition to the band.  Not only does he come with a fantastic attitude, he has only complimented our music.  Our bassist, Jeff, is a true professional.  He’s got a flashy style and is a real showman. To date he is the best bass player I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.  Nate is our drummer and has been a part of The Flood since the beginning.  His unique style and patience allows him to be a cohesive machine.  When I am creating music, I like to immerse myself into a topic that I feel strongly about revealing all the truths and possibilities no matter how ugly or how shocking it may seem.

Eric: How did you all meet?

Chris: Nate is the brother of my original guitar player Jessie Minick.  I’ve known him for about ten years and have been playing with him for around six years.  Jeff on the other hand was a replacement for our original bassist and he came to us through a friend about two years ago.  As I said, Ajay is our newest member. After listening to hundreds of demos and over thirty auditions we finally found Ajay. He was the perfect fit and real bad ass.

Eric: So who are some of your major influences?

Chris: Jeff Buckley, Pink Floyd, Tool, System of a down, Led Zeppelin, Sex Pistols, Fugazi, Slayer, Pattsy Clyne, Johnny Cash, just to name a few.

Eric: You just wrapped up your tour dates at SnoCore. How was touring with Static-X?

Chris: Their fans totally kicked ass.  The crew was awesome and Static’s members made us feel welcome.  Night after night, their consistency was amazing and gave us something to strive for during our first major tour.

Eric: Could you tell us one story that really sticks out in your mind from the tour?

Chris: Right before the first show on SnoCore, our bus broke down. I was able to diagnose the problem and find a place nearby to fix it.  Once we found out our coach would be fixed in time for us to make our first show, our manager, Darrick Jones, got so excited that he accidentally punched me in the face, loosening my two front teeth. I drank through a straw for the first two weeks of the tour. Of course all was soon forgiven with the excitement of the tour.

Eric: I’ve never been so excited that I punched a friend in a face, I think I’m gonna try that sometime. Do you have any more shows or tours lined up for the near future?

Chris: Yes. Something big soon. I look forward to making the announcement.

Eric: I look forward to writing about the big announcement! You have been compared to bands such as Korn, Tool and the Deftones. How do you feel about these comparisons?

Chris: To be compared to those bands is a real compliment, but I believe we have a unique style, one that sets us apart.

Eric: What is it like to be recording your debut with Sylvia Massy? Can you briefly describe the music-making process in the studio?

Chris: Working with Sylvia is amazing.  I know when we work with her we are in good hands and her studio/theatre is incredible both acoustically and visually!  I was really impressed with the history of some of the equipment.  Led Zeppelin’s song Remains the Same was mixed on the Neve console and the SVT bass amp that Jeff used, belonged to the Rolling Stones during one of their first tours.  As far as the process goes, we do the pre-production at our studio in Redmond, WA.  This means we get the platform ironed out before heading to Radiostar Studios.  Once in the studio, we play the songs for Sylvia.  She gives us a yea or ney and then we begin tracking.  When the instruments and vocals are tracked in studio A, we move to studio B and mix everything down.  When everyone’s happy with the end product, we come back home and master our tracks at RFI CD masters.

Eric: What has been your biggest challenge as a band? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

Chris: Finding chemistry in the people you play with and finding the right management and other people to help along the way.  We have over time assembled an awesome team and that helps us to overcome all obstacles.

Eric: What advice do you have for people who want to form their own bands, or be noticed by a label?

Chris: Don’t allow anything to get in the way of what you dream to be.  Life is one great lesson.  When you learn, you grow and with that you become a better you.

Eric: Well said. Is there anyone you’d like to thank for offering support on the way up?

Chris: My mom for living her dream and my father for showing me how to be my best.

Eric: Any final words?

Chris: I kind of feel like my journey is just beginning and I am just excited about the path The Flood is on.

Eric: I also think that you’ve only just begun. The Flood is set to explode on the scene, and I for one am looking forward to hearing much more from the band. Thanks again, Chris, for your time and great answers.

Follow The Flood on Twitter. While you’re at it, follow me on Twitter!

Post from: Metal Martyr

Check it out here:

It’s a good read, decent interview (I promise, the audio does get better), and if you’ve never been over to her site, it’s worth bookmarking.

This has reminded me that I need to get a good camera before I head to the Decimation of the Nation Tour here in Austin on August 22nd.

Post from: Metal Martyr

Suffocation isn’t new to the Death Metal scene. Having been around for nearly 20 years, they’re one of the bands that pioneered and helped blaze the trail with countless other bands to help create the scene of today. Even after releasing amazing album after amazing album, they just never seemed to get their big break like some other death metal bands. They’re still big and they still have a huge, mainly underground following but they just don’t get the attention they deserve. Perhaps their next release, Blood Oath will change all that.

On St. Patrick’s day I had a chance to sit down with frontman Frank Mullen for about 15 minutes and run a few questions his way.

MM: Last time you guys were here you almost started the place on fire.

FM: Yeah, we had a little fan accident there, so…

MM: I thought it was just the speed of Mike [Smith's] blast-beats that ignited it.

FM: [laughing] Yeah it was crazy.

(when they toured with Carcass last year there was a lot of electrical conversion going on with the gear on tour. During Suffocation’s set, the motor in a small fan that was behind the drum kit burned up halfway through a song. Frank smelled it and stopped the song. I don’t think he wanted another Station nightclub incident)

MM: You guys just signed to Nuclear Blast records a little less than a year ago, what kind of opportunities has that maybe afforded you that you may not have had in the past?

FM: You know, I don’t think it really changes anything as far as opportunities go. Pretty much every label we’ve been on have been good labels with Roadrunner and Relapse. We signed a two year deal with Relapse and we just  wanted to see how things worked out. After we were done with Relapse we figured we’d start looking around for a new label and Nuclear Blast has been around forever and they’ve wanted to talk to us in the past about coming aboard and we talked to them and they came up with a nice package and it’s pretty much like a one album deal and we’ll take it from there and see how it goes.

MM: You a Yankees or a Mets fan?

(As a Yankees fan, this is where I was going to ask him what he thought about the whole Clemens/A-Rod performance enhancing drugs thing. Not a metal question, but sometimes it’s nice to ask about other things besides the music.)

FM: Ahhh, I don’t like baseball.

MM: What’s this game concept that we’ve heard about?

FM: Yeah, someone came up with the concept of doing like a first person shooter perspective type game and it’s in the works and stuff and you know it’s supposed to be comin’ out soon, you know. I think it’s just going to be a pc based game. That will be coming out, I’m not exactly sure when but they’re working on it now. You know, it’s just something that’s going to revolve around all the different albums and concepts.

MM: You guys toured with Carcass last year and have a couple more dates this year, right?

FM: We toured with Carcass before, a long time ago. It was a nice opportunity, the shows were great, really great and packed out.

MM: Any particular bands that you’d like to tour with in the future?

FM: I don’t know, I’d like to get on something kind of big, you know, like um, Slipknot, Slayer, Mudvayne, Lamb Of God, you know something like that or whatever. I’d like  to try to get on something bigger where we’d be playing something like arenas, halls, whatever. That’s something that we’ve never had the chance to do, so I think that would be really cool.

MM: Coming up in the NYC death metal scene it didn’t break out as much as let’s say the Florida Death Metal scene with the exception of Cannibal Corpse, who came out of Buffalo and I don’t mean to compare you guys to them but do you think if you guys came out of the Florida scene, do you think you’d be bigger than what you are today, not saying that you guys aren’t big, you have a huge following and I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t a fan.

FM: I don’t think so. I think what made it unique about coming out of the NY scene was that we had a different sound and approach to the music. I think that’s what made us unique. I think what hurt us at the beginning was, you know, I was newly married and had a child and I couldn’t tour the way that those bands could. Death metal at that point didn’t make any money. You went out on tour and you might only make like $2000 on tour for an entire month, so it’s like, and I had good job at home and you just can’t do that when you have a family to support. I think that more or less what hurt us as far as going to the next level like the bands coming out of Florida, because you know, they had the opportunity to tour like crazy and it really blew up in the scene.

MM: Are you kind of surprised that um, well I’m sure it was the same way for you, back when I was in high school, metal wasn’t cool. You wouldn’t see too many kids wearing metal shirts and these days it has exploded and it’s a lot bigger, maybe with more scene kids…

FM: Yeah, metal, different forms of metal will always be around around. I can remember when I was in high school it was Slayer and Ozzy and things like that. That was the real heavy stuff, Celtic Frost, Destruction. I just think people will always be looking for something heavy no matter what generation and how it passes down and translates through death metal or extreme music, kids are always looking for it. I think the only thing you’ll never really see again is the hair metal or glam metal, I don’t think that’s going to come back where you see guys teasing their hair and wearing the spandex. That’s not going to happen…

MM: That’s not a bad thing. They try, they really try…

FM: no, no, no…they’re always going to have their old fans, their old school fans but they’re not going to get new fans. Kids aren’t in to that…

MM: No, even with new albums. Motley Crue made a good effort with their new album, but I thought it was garbage. The older fans ate it up and love it.

FM: I didn’t hear the album, so I don’t know, but it’s just a different mind-set. The kids aren’t in to that anymore. So you know, your old fans will buy it and they come out and see you and you can continue to play music but you aren’t really going to get any new fans.

MM: Do you think nu-metal might have brought the metal scene to a more mainstream level during it’s run?

FM: Yeah, in a way. They were able to play songs on the radio and play bigger venues and stuff like that and basically give it an opportunity to grow, where as like death metal and extreme metal was just too crazy for the radio and the mainstream.

MM: What are some of your guilty pleasures, music that people wouldn’t expect to find Frank Mullen listening too?

FM: [Laughing] I don’t know, I mean I listen to a little bit of everything, I’m a big fan of like Stevie Ray Vaughan, old hard rock, The Who, The Doors, Zeppelin. You know.

(I was hoping Frank would open the floodgates and just unload some of the most unexpected bands, because this is always a fun question. Unfortunately Frank didn’t want to tell me about his huge Abba collection. Not that he really has one, but sometimes you find that some people are fans of music that you would never expect them to listen to.)

MM: Blood Oath. There’s a lot of buzz about that. We’re hearing that it’s going to be a bit different than past albums. What’s going to be different about it?

FM: I wouldn’t categorize it as different. The production on it’s going to be very good, best production we had so far and I think the last album came out really, really good but I think this album, production wise, you’ll be happy with it. As far as different, not anything has really changed differently. It still has the basic structure and formula that Suffocation has always used.

MM: Some say from album to album they can see a progression of slowing down, is that true?

FM: No, no, no. There’s speed on it and its pretty much the same. I wouldn’t look at is necessarily as slowing down.

MM: I was listening to the old three album on the way here and you know, they have fast parts and then it slows to a chugging breakdown and then it speeds right back up. Then I listened to the self titled and it’s the same way, just cleaner. After Effigy and Breeding and then Pierced From Within there was a big difference after breeding, Pierced From Within was much better as far as production. I don’t know where I’m going with this, I guess I’m just sayin…

FM: Yeah, definitely there was a progression of just recording and technology, you know.

MM: That about covers everything. I know you have family in town, so I don’t want to waste anymore of your time. I appreciate your time and I’ll see you guys tonight.

Frank was a great interview, even though I’m a lousy interviewer. The show was great. I think the Veil Of Maya and Whitechapel fans that stuck around for Suffocation have a new found respect for the band and hopefully it will spur their interest in to the bands that made it all possible for the Deathcore bands to do what they do today.

All Images © MetalMartyr.com

Post from: Metal Martyr

So…want to ask Greg Tribbett a question? Enter your question in the comment section and I’ll pick a few of the questions to ask him on the 17th.

Image Source: Newscom.com

Post from: Metal Martyr

MM: It’s been almost 5 months since you announced LTC’s disbanding. What have you been doing since then?

Ben: Well, I personally started attending UC Berkeley in August, so I’m busy with that.  I also have an awesome job at Pirates Press, who do all the vinyl manufacturing for all major metal and punk labels.  Other than that, jamming on some new music and enjoying life! Laura is bartending and most likely going back to school next year.  Jon, Ryan and Brian are all just working and looking for another project.

MM: Are you still in touch with the other members of Light This City and is there still a friendship factor there? Do you still work with Laura at all?

Ben: I won’t go into details, but MOST of us are on good terms. There was a bit of drama after Laura and my decision to break up the band, understandably.  There were some emotional times for a while, but for the most part things are great now.   As for Laura and I, we are working together on a new project that won’t be uber-professional and full-time,  so yeah Laura and I will still team up on something new, but I don’t want to divulge too much about that yet…

MM: You announced the disbanding on your myspace back in June. A lot of people were disappointed to see this happen so early in to your success. You kind of touched base on why you guys chose to go this route due to how touring full time had taken it’s toll on you, but it was still kind of vague to most. Would you care to elaborate on any of that?

Ben: Again, let me clarify it wasn’t everyone’s decision, just Laura and mine. In that sense we feel bad that we had to cut this career short for the other guys, we definitely do, but they are incredible musicians and they will bounce back soon.   In terms of the decision being early in our success, I am sure we could have gotten much bigger and sold many more records, but I had been doing this band since I was 14, so it was 6 years. We did 4 full length records and it was just enough for Laura and I. We were burnt out on the touring lifestyle, massively in debt, and not so excited about playing that style of music every night.  I guess it happens if you are exposed to it so often, but the band lost its fun and innocence that we really lived for in previous years.  We wanted to end it on a high note with “Stormchaser”, and we always promised ourselves we wouldn’t keep doing it if our hearts weren’t in it anymore.  We also had goals we wanted to accomplish before it got too late, and touring full time with the band wouldn’t allow those to be achieved.   We never wanted to do this band half-assed or 50%, so we decided to stop it altogether. So between all of those factors, we decided it was the best decision for us personally.

MM: Was that one of the toughest decisions that you’ve had to make? To bring to an end something that you put so much time in to?

Ben: It was definitely the hardest decision we’ve EVER had to make, but it suddenly became so clear to us.  It was a gut instinct, and we always follow those.  I don’t regret it, although there are aspects of the band we will always cherish and miss.

MM: The new Album comes out on the 11th. Obviously a lot of work went in to writing and recording this album. After the disbanding do you ever feel like all that work was in vain or is it more or less just another stepping stone in your career?

Ben: No, not at all. None of it was in vain. For me, metal and music in general has always been about the record, the songs, the listening experience. Sure, live shows are great, but sitting there with your headphones and really connecting to the music is what meant everything to me.  The new album is truly amazing, and undoubtedly our best work ever, and I feel honored that our fans will buy it and love it. What matters most to me is that our fans are able to pick up the album and appreciate it, which I am sure they will.  The absence of live shows they can live without I’m sure, but I am happy to leave them with this last record, which really does rule.

MM: You guys worked with Chuck Billy of Testament on the track “Firehaven“. Did you guys work directly with him or was the track finished and he recorded the vocals elsewhere?What was it like working with a legend in thrash metal?

Ben: We worked directly with him. He lives in the Bay Area as well so he just drove over to the studio and hung out with us for a day!  It was really awesome, and totally surreal.  He kept asking how we wanted this and that, and we were just like “Dude, you’re Chuck Billy.  You could do anything to this song and we will love it.”  It was a little crazy having to tell Chuck Billy what to do, but he was awesome!! Totally killed it, and the track is probably the heaviest thing we have ever done.

MM: Are you working on any different projects or bands that we might see in the future?

Ben: Jon, Brian and Ryan are already working on new projects, not necessarily together, but they will have new things in the works soon.  Just stay tuned to the LTC myspace site as we will keep people updated. As I said earlier, Laura and I are working on some new music, which won’t be metal, but will definitely be awesome.  I don’t want to talk much about it though being that it won’t come to fruition for a while, but we will let you know when it does..

MM: Is there any chance that Light This City will ever perform again, if not just for a local show or two?

Ben: We are trying to work out a last San Francisco show, but it is slow coming. There are a lot of details to work out, so it may or may not happen. But I will never rule out any reunions or shows years down the line.  Who knows what will happen. All we knew is that for right now we wanted to stop the band, it was what was best for us as people and musicians.

MM: What is your main focus right now as a musician?

Ben: I am actually writing a lot of music on guitar, as I always have, and really enjoying it.  Writing different kinds of music is totally refreshing, and pretty exciting. I am constantly buying new CDs of new bands that people tell me about. So I would say my main focus is honing my songwriting and really delving into what makes a song amazing, and trying to accomplish that in the future.

MM: Your label Creator-Destructor Records has released Mirror Of Dead Faces new cd and Signed Nekrogoblikon this year. Is there any other new acquisitions or are you just focusing on the bands currently on your roster?

Ben: I am also putting out a new EP by the Funeral Pyre, who’s last record was put out by Prosthetic. That is called “December” and should be out in March 09. Other than that, I am just focusing on Mirror of Dead Faces and Nekrogoblikon. The MODF record is out now, and it absolutely crushes.  Make sure you melodic death metal fans out there check it out, it is true quality!

MM: That’s all the questions I have. Is there anything that you’d like to say or add?

Ben: I just want to thank you for this interview and helping get the word out about this new record. A lot of press are understandably not interested in covering a broken up band, but this album is the best thing we have ever done and definitely deserves the attention. Pick up the new and final record, “Stormchaser” on November 11th!!

Image Source: Amazon.com

Post from: Metal Martyr

MM: You have quite a resume as a guitar player with bands such as Arch Enemy, Tiamat, Human Clay, Krux and now Opeth.

FA: I never played in Human Clay, that’s actually wrong. I think I may have played a guitar solo on one of their albums as a guest solo, but I was never in their band.

MM: So obviously you can’t trust everything on Wikipedia?

FA: Exactly. Maybe they put that in there because I may be credited in one of their albums for a solo.

MM: Now that you’re with Opeth, is this a temporary thing or is it a permanent gig?

FA: It’s a permanent gig, it’s been like that for a long time.

MM: You’ve know the band for quite some time?

FA: Yeah, when I played in Arch Enemy we were on Gigantour together, so we hang out a lot. I used to hang out a lot with Ax (Martin Axenrot) and Mikael. I knew Mikael before and I’ve known him for about five years and we’d meet at festivals in   and Stockholm.

MM: Back to Arch Enemy real quick. When you signed on for that gig, was there anything in the back of your mind thinking that Chris (Amott) might be coming back at some time?

FA: Yeah, I did think about that because you have the fact that they’re brothers and Chris was there from the beginning, but when I joined Mike Amott told me that he (Chris) wasn’t coming back, so I was like the permanent member. But he was away from the band for those two years and maybe he realized it wasn’t so fun, maybe he realized that he wanted to be back in the band so. It was cool for me because their brother so I understood. I still have good contact with both of them, Mike and Chris.

MM: How long have you guys been touring the US now on this leg?

FA: we’re right at the end of  a six week US tour.

MM: Was there any time for you to catch the Carcass reunion?

FA: yeah last summer we played a bunch of European festivals together and we actually played a couple of gigs with Carcass, so we actually went out in the crowd and watched them, in Greece actually. It was really good.

MM: What’s the major difference between playing with Opeth and playing in Arch Enemy?

FA: Playing in Arch Enemy was good for me because there’s a lot of thrashy, faster type of riffing. It was more…high adrenaline all the time in the live sets. And the Opeth song are more complex, longer songs and more diverse type of guitar playing. In Arch Enemy its more of a metal thing. A lot of solos in Arch Enemy. I don’t play as much solos in Opeth but I do play some

MM: Do you play any of the melodic acoustic parts?

FA: Oh yeah, I play like melody solos and acoustic parts and everything. That’s another difference with Arch Enemy because the Opeth type of rhythm guitar playing that Mikael does, the way he puts his riffs together is very odd, if you say?

MM: So he has his own unique style.

FA: Yeah, I think and it makes the gig even more fun to play and also there are a lot of acoustic parts with finger style picking that I put a lot of time in to. So it’s very cool and very different. It took me a couple of months to adjust to the sound but I was a big Opeth fan before so it made it east because I got to play with one of my favorite bands.

MM: was it difficult to learn some of the back catalog?

FA: Yeah, not so hard but more challenging but I like challenges which hopefully drives me to better guitar playing. In the beginning I was like ‘Oh shit, there’s so much material I have to learn’ but I took one riff at a time, one song at a time and Mikael showed me the riffs so that made it easier too.

MM: Any plans in the future for Krux?

FA: Yeah, I still play with Krux. It’s the only band I play with apart from Opeth, which is my main priority. Leif  who is the founder of Krux, Leif Edling (Krux Bass player) from Candlemass, he’s quite busy with Candlemass and the other guys have families. They used to be in Entombed, the drummer (Peter Stjärnvind) , the rhythm guitar player used to play bass in Entombed…

MM: Jorgen

FA: Yeah, Jorgen Sanstrom

MM: he used to also play in Grave

FA: Exactly, he used to sing in Grave.

MM: I liked Grave better when he was singing, but that’s just my personal preference.

FA: He’s cool, he has some other bands now and Peter, the drummer has Nifelheim. So everyone in Krux is busy with other bands but we will do a new record, it’s planned for the end of next year.

MM: How many tours have you been through North America?

FA: This is the fifth. Three times with Arch Enemy and this is the second time with Opeth.

MM: What’s the best thing about touring North America.

FA: I like it. I like also being on the bus and not having to go in to hotels with your bags and stuff all the time. It’s cool to always have a place to stay. It’s different, it’s a cool variation going to the east coast and the west coast…

MM: You catch it at the right time you get all four seasons. Does that ever become a problem going from hot to cold and maybe getting sick with different climates?

FA: I got a cold for about a week but it’s bound to happen with everyone on a  tour bus. It kind of gets passed around.

MM: What’s maybe the worse thing about touring North America?

FA: Some venues don’t have showers, but we can deal with that and sometimes you’re just dirty for a few days.  Another problem is that you really don’t get to see that much. I never got to see the grand canyon and you miss out on a lot of stuff. It’s not like being a tourist.

MM: Are you still playing ESP guitars?

FA: I played ESP when I was with Arch Enemy, but I went over to PRS after I joined Opeth. I still have a couple of ESP’s that I might play on the road but now I mainly play a single cut PRS guitar. They’re really good sounding guitars and they stay in tune.

MM: What are some of your favored guitars?

FA: I used to play a Les Paul custom but I don’t bring that out on the road anymore. In the late 90’s I played some Floyd Rose style guitars…

MM: something with a nice fast neck?

FA: I always like to fast guitar but I also like a guitar that makes you fight for the tone a little bit

MM: That’s all I have for you. What time do you guys go on?

FA: 10:00 I think. It’s like a two hour set.

MM: Wow. Well thanks again and I’ll see you out there.

FA: Thanks. Take care.

So there you have it. I also kind of tried to get some inside info on the reason Nachmystium got booted from the tour, but Fredrik is a professional dude and didn’t think he should talk about that and he said they’re a good bunch of guys and wishes them well.

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