Martin Henriksson (Dark Tranquillity)
March 2007
First of all, let me congratulate on the new album, which I think is one of the best DT discs ever.
Ah, great. Thank you. So far the media seems to like it. The response is very good, but I'm not surprised because we used to get mostly good reviews with every albums. For this new one so far we got only positive reactions and that's good.
Does the fact that you have success with your albums put any pressure on you when it comes to writing a new one?
No. The only pressure we feel is the pressure from ourselves, because we constantly want to improve ourselves and make better music. Every time we make a song we want to make it than the one before. That's the only pressure we feel. We don't have any pressure at all from the record company or the management or anything. It's just the pressure we put on ourselves.
How long did it take to write "Fiction"? When did you start?
I guess we started writing right after we finished touring for " Character". Usually we take a really long time to write an album from 6 to 12 months. Maybe we were a little bit faster this time, but still it took a long time for us.
Did you approach the songwriting the same way you used to in the past?
Well, there's no formula that we have to follow, but with years go by of course we kind of learned what way it works for us and usually it works pretty much the same way the whole time. I write most of our music, but I've always had help from the others and in the end it's always a product that we put together ourselves. It might be that I write 50 percent of the songs and then we go to the rehearsal place and we put it together with some of Anders' melodies or Niklas'. So, in the end it's a product of all the six of us.
And when you start thinking about writing new songs, do you have a clear idea in mind of what their direction will be?
No, we never really decide anything before. I just sit down and play my guitar and see what happens. We've done this for so many years and I know what I like and I know what we like, so it's pretty easy. I play and if I notice something that is good I record that or just keep it in mind. You don't sit that with having in mind that "Now I'm gonna write something like this or that." It just happens. And the important thing is that you have to be alert and notice if something actually sounds good.
When you go to the studio, do you record only songs that make the album or you also record some extra tracks?
This time around we recorded a few more songs. One if going to be on the Japanese version of the album and we have to more songs for different releases. There's always more releases of an album. I think we're also going to release a single for the next video, which is "Misery's Crown", so maybe that single will have one of the unreleased songs on it. I'm not sure about this though but usually we record one or two songs more than on the regular album.
Do you think these bonus songs are as good as the album tracks or they don't match their quality?
Well, the fact that we chose to leave them out from the album shows that they weren't the best tracks we've written for the album. Personally I don't like all these bonus songs at all. I'd just rather make one album and that's it. But this is how the market works right now and we can't really do anything about it. But on the other hand, we decided to record these leftovers and I'm still proud of them.
As far as I know there's gonna be a bonus DVD along with the limited edition of the new album. What's gonna be on it?
That is actually not happening. It was just something that we were talking about with the record company two months ago, but in the end it didn't work out so we decided not to do that. Instead of this bonus DVD the limited edition of the album will contain the " Focus Shift" video and some extra footage from the rehearsals. And the album's cover and the whole packaging will be different.
I think "Fiction" is more melodic and more accessible than " Character" was. How do you see that?
I'm not really sure why but that's the way it turned out. The only thing we talked about before writing this album was that we wanted the songs to be different from each other, because I think on "Character" the songs were too similar. We tried to be straight forward and more aggressive on "Character" and maybe we just went a bit too far, so this time around we wanted to have the songs more different. We still have some of the really really aggressive songs but on the other hand we slowed down and made some really heavy songs as well and I think for the whole album that works out really well.
Btw, did the fans like "Character"? Did you get positive feedback on that record?
Yeah, they seemed to like it. We're a band that always get good response. I mean we're not the best selling band in the world but our fans are very loyal and they like us a lot. Maybe that kind of narrows it down a bit, but those people that are into Dark Tranquillity like us a lot. It shows on tours that the people are into that 100 percent.
Where would you put "Fiction" in the Dark Tranquillity catalogue? Which is the closest album to this?
That's obviously "Character". Everything is on the same timeline. We progress as a band, we develop each year and the next song we're going to write will probably more similar to "Fiction" than any other albums. But at the same time we try to make different stuff as well. So, I would say it's more similar to " Character" but people will obviously have their own opinion about this. I mean since we have the clean vocals back they might start comparing it to "Projector", but that's fine with me because I'm proud of all our albums.
Speaking of the clean vocals, how come? Did you just have songs that required that?
Thank you very much for saying that. You are the first one. (Laughs) Yeah, it's as simple as that. We had the songs and we realised that it would go very well with clean vocals so of course we used it. It's just the case with the last three albums that we didn't have any songs that needed clean vocals, but now we had those two songs, so of course we used that.
"The Mundane and the Magic" has a female singer. Who is she?
Well, this was the same thing as with the clean vocals. Michael had the idea of how to make it sound good and it worked out really well, so of course we used it. The girl is Nell from Theatre of Tragedy.
Is there any meaning behind the album's title "Fiction"?
It's Mikael's idea because he writes all the lyrics. As far as I know he wanted to have something quite simple and still open to a lot of interpretation. That's what he likes anyway. He writes a lot of metaphors in his lyrics, so people have to think about them themselves.
Which is the song that you like the most on the album?
Hmm... that's tough. I would say that it's "Terminus" at this moment. I'm not sure it's the best song on the album but it's very catchy and I know that we're gonna play it live at every show in the next four years or so. We already played it live a few times, so I know that it works really well in live situation and that's also something that you always have to keep in mind. I think that's gonna be a really great live song.
Speaking of the live thingy, did you already make your mind about what songs you'll pick from the new album on this upcoming tour?
Yes, more or less. I mean the album is not even released when we't re going to the States in less then two weeks. It's not gonna be a " Fiction" tour, it's basically still a "Character" tour but we want to present some new material because we know that a lot of people out there already heard the album, but not everyone heard it, so it can't be a 100 percent "Fiction" show. We're gonna play "Terminus" and obviously the video clip song "Focus Shift" and maybe "The Lesser Faith".
And how about the rest of the setlist? You have quite a lot of good songs to choose from.
Yeah, it's impossible to put together a proper list. We played so much in the last years so we kinda know the songs that work out well for us live. Mostly we'll play the songs that we did on the " Character" tours. I mean we did two European tours and two US tours for "Character". It's gonna be based around those songs and we might be bringing back a few older songs as well.
What is the song that the fans seem to enjoy the most?
If there's one to mention that would be an all time favourite and that's "Punish my Heaven", but except for that it seems that our fans are having a hard time to agree on what songs they like the most. Every time we release an album people write a lot about it on the Internet and everyone have different favourites.
You mentioned about this upcoming tour in the US together with The Haunted. Is it gonna be a headliner one for you?
Yes, and also for The Haunted, so it's a co-headlining. We're gonna switch places every night. I think they are a great band to tour together with. They are great guys.
Do you also like Into Eternity, the support band?
I haven't listened to them actually but we've met the guys a few times. We even stayed at their guitarist's home on the last US tour. We had a day off and we met them and they were really nice. And Scar Symmetry is also on the bill as well, so I think it's gonna be a great tour.
You're no new to the US, but it's gonna be your first headlining tour over there. Any expectations?
Yes, we've done four tours in the US in the past but always supporting so we had about 30-40 minutes to play and our fans were always disappointed because they expected us to play longer. This time we're gonna play a lot more songs for them and I think that's gonna make them happy.
And how about a European tour then? Are you planning it?
Of course we are planning. There's gonna be a European tour for sure as we always do one after an album release. Right now it seems that it'll happen around October this year but we have no further details about that yet.
But it's gonna be a headlining tour, right?
We don't know about that either. It depends on if we are getting any good options for a bigger tour. Maybe if there are some great big bands out there at the same time we might just team up with them like with did with the Kreator tour. In case of a support tour it must be a band that plays similar music, so their fans could enjoy us. One of the options we have is to play with Dimmu Borgir. They are obviously a lot bigger than us and that could work out well I think.
You mentioned about the Kreator tour that had a four band package. How did you get along with the other bands?
We got along great. We shared a bus with your countrymen Ektomorf. Even one of the guys was called Zoltán as well if I remember correctly. The other band was Hatesphere from Denmark and they are great guys. We did another tour with them a year later. It was a great tour. We had some of our best shows in many years on that tour.
And how about Kreator? Do you like them?
Yes, of course. I grew up listening to them. I've been a fan all of my love, so that was really nice being on tour together with them. And Mille is a really nice guy. We didn't spend too much time together but when we spoke he was really nice.
Do you have any memories of the Hungarian show?
I remember being in Budapest a few times. Actually Budapest is one of those few cities where actually we took the time to walk around town a bit before the show. For some reason we played at a bigger venue in Hungary than in other countries and that was nice. It's always great to be back in Hungary.
For closing, what kind of music you put on when you're not working on your own stuff?
Well, actually I don't listen to music at all. Period. That might sound strange to you but that's how it is. Of course when I grew up as a kid I listened to music 24 hours a day but as I grew older for some reason it has changed. It's not that I don't like music but I just don't listen to that at all. It might sound strange but that's how it is. (Laughs)
So, you don't even go to concerts of fellow musicians and friends?
Yes, I do, but that's more for socialising and for the party. The last gig I went to was a Swedish rock band called Mustasch.