Interview with Peter Iwers of In Flames
By Robin Steeley
Through fifteen years of changes and challenges, Sweden’s In Flames have managed to survive, and not only continue in a volatile industry but have provided fans with eight studio albums. Having just released a live set on double-DVD/double-CD, entitled "Used And Abused…In Live We Trust", the band is also poised to drop their latest effort, entitled “Come Clarity” in February of 2006. We catch them traveling with Ozzfest as a main stage act, and branching off over to Columbia Meadows for a brief Off Date before the tour continues, spreading across America the unique sound often described as melodic death metal. Peter is thoughtful, extremely nice, and appears to be incredibly intelligent. Our conversation ran the gamut from the tour, to the new album, and to living with no regrets.
Crave: How has Ozzfest been so far? There are four Swedish bands this year!
IF: Yeah, its been great we have had a lot of fun, its something new for us and hopefully we get new people to see us perform and its a lot of fun having so many Swedish bands, there are three other ones and of course we all hang out, its like a big touring festival, like a high school reunion or something, with all of us hanging out and being on the road.
Crave: Did all of you know each other before the tour?
IF: The Swedish bands, yes, as well as some of the other bands. I mean we tour so much and we do so many festivals so we get to know a lot of bands.
Crave: Do you have a favorite band on the bill?
IF: Iron Maiden, definitely.
Crave: How are things going with Nuclear Blast?
IF: They are good, It’s a good label. It’s been fun making the record and putting it out with them.
Crave: How do you feel about touring with Motorhead this coming year?
IF: We are excited about it, it’s just in the UK I think its 18 or 19 shows, something like that. Should be a lot of fun, they have been playing a lot over there and we haven’t, so it should be good for us. It’s gonna be as fun as this tour, just hanging out and playing music together. We are really looking forward to it.
Crave: What are the major differences between American metal scene and Sweden’s?
IF: I think it is easier in America because it takes such a shorter amount of time for a band to…blossom..over here. Most of these Swedish bands playing have been around for many, many years. I wouldn’t says that there is huge differences, musically Sweden is more about melody and aggression when it comes to the bands, and American bands they have more of the hardcore element to their music.
Crave: How has the In Flames sound changed over the years? Was it a natural progression, or due to the frequent line up changes?
IF: No, I think it is definitely natural progression. I mean, we haven’t changed so much as just moved on from certain things. We don’t want to be the band where each record everyone knows what to expect, we want to be unpredictable. We want to write something new. There’s no real recipe for our music. We just want to keep on making it interesting for us, and everybody else. That’s what it’s really all about. We like our music, we make it until we are satisfied, and then we hope people will like it. We will never make the same record twice. We will never change certain elements, we always have the same type of sound, but there always must be new steps forward, changes, and different things added in as we have grown.
Crave: Do you think today’s line up is the final one?
IF: Yeah, absolutely yeah. It’s been awhile since we have had any changes. Since 1998.
Crave: Tell me about “Come Clarity”, what was the recording like and who is producing it?
IF: We recorded the vocals and the drums in Dug Out Studios where we recorded “Reroute To Remain” as well and guitars and bass we recorded back in Gothenburg and we had everything else done in Sweden at a place called Tonteknik where we mixed and produced and put everything together. It’s an awesome record. It won’t be out until February 2006.
Crave: With 8 studio albums, is it hard to determine your set list?
IF: It’s really really hard, especially on Ozzfest where we’ve got like 20 minute sets. We just finally decide on one set. I mean, everybody has different opinions of course but we have to try to decide a set that is most representative of us right now, and when do longer sets like tonight when we get to headline stuff we try to play as much as possible. It’s really hard so we just kind of have to shuffle our set list as much as possible. It’s always hard to choose and we just try to go with whatever feels good for the time being.
Crave: Tell me about recording the Used and Abused DVD
IF: It started with one show in Gothenburg where we played an entire set and then we did sort of a best of thing with all the hits or whatever, and we did a soundtrack for it and we did two sets, the first the soundtrack and the second the best of thing. We also did some stuff in LA and New York and then we went to Japan recorded all the shows there, we went to Australia and we recorded all the stuff in between and then we did some stuff during the Judas Priest tour that we did. We wanted to make something that was really really special, something extra, not just like any DVD. It comes out here September 20th I think.
Crave: If you could sit down and have a drink with any dead rockstar who would it be?
IF: Elvis Presley I think would be pretty interesting.
Crave: What do you guys do in your down time, when you don’t have a show?
IF: It all depends. Yesterday we had a day off to drive basically. We play a lot of cards, and video games. We watch a lot of movies and just try to hang out. If we are parked somewhere I guess we would just go out and do a lot of shopping, maybe go eat at a nice restaurant. When we’re on tour anyway, we just try to relax and enjoy ourselves as much as we can.
Crave: If you were at home, what would be your perfect day off?
IF: : If I were at home, I would be in my garden or making dinner, having an enjoyable time. Not working.
Crave: After all the touring; over the years has it gotten any easier being on the road all the time?
IF: Yeah I think so. Over the years, I have just become accustomed to it, and my family and the rest of us, after awhile it’s just a way of life.
Crave: What is the writing process like; does the band write together?
IF: We do it something like this, the guitar players sit down and come up with some of the songs, and they show it to us, and we can arrange stuff together for our parts and then our singer does all the vocal arrangements by himself basically.
Crave: What’s your favorite city to play in?
IF: Gothenburg most definitely. That’s home you know. Our last show in Gothenburg was for like 57,000 people, with Iron Maiden just before we left so I have to say Gothenburg. It was so cool.
Crave: After fifteen years of metal, do you have any advice for the new bands?
IF: Keep on going, you’re going to hit a lot of stuff that is going to be against you and you have to keep on going no matter what, keep on touring, keep on practicing and rehearsing and playing shows. Don’t let anybody tell you what to do, do what you feel is the right thing. Eventually you will get where you want to be.
Crave: So tell me what’s going to happen after Ozzfest?
IF: We have the Motorhead tour and then we will come back to America in December or January and do a headlining tour. Then we will release the record in February and do something in Europe before the summer festivals. Touring, and more touring.
Crave: If you could choose how you die, how would you want to go?
IF: Not to go at all. Actually, I would get my nuts bit off by a Laplander.
Crave: A What? Okay…good enough. That might kill you. I would know if I knew what it was! So it’s been fifteen years, do you have any regrets or things you would want to do over again?
IF: No. Whatever has happened there is no point in regretting it, you learn along the way and we just have fun while were doing it. If something is wrong then we tried to do it differently the next time we got a chance. No regrets whatsoever.
