ARCH ENEMY : SISTER OF DEATH AND BLOOD BROTHERS...

M.A : Yes, I would say so, we have tons of ideas, and the new material is coming along great, there’s no limitations, it’s pouring all the creativity we have in the band, mixing it off, there’s gonna sound like a real killer !

-And will you record it soon ?

-M.A : Yes, we’re gonna record it early next year, and it’ll be out sometimes next year, maybe in the summer, and it’s gonna be great !

-What decided Angela to join Arch Enemy ?

-M.A : She was a metal and extreme metal fan, and I think she saw her interest : we contacted her, she was singing for years in the underground German scene, and she s always had this dream like us to try to do the music thing on a more professional level, and obviously Arch Enemy offered her that opportunity, she grabbed it with both hands, and the rest is history, or history in the making ! ! !

-This year, Spiritual Beggars (one of the Michael Amott’s side projects with Armaggedon) has lost his singer, so now you have two new singers with two bands, and you said it’s sometimes a new and real start for bands to have a new singer : is it the case here ?

-M.A : I don’t know, I mean I’m not Yngwie Malsteem, changing line up with every album : with Spiritual beggars, we had the same singer for eight or nine years, and then decided than he wanted to quit the band. The rest of us decided that they wanted to make another record, so we found some new people to jam with, I don’t find anything strange to that, you can’t force one to stay if they don’t wanna be there. In Arch Enemy’case, we had the same singer for three studio album and one live LP. Arch Enemy was very much kind of an underground flavor, for the first few records, we didn’t really have the X factor that would made us stand out, I think. With Angela, it’s so much more powerful, so much more intense, everybody happy with it !

-I’ve heard that Arch enemy was about to try the double singing : was it just an idea or will this be concretized ?

-M.A : As I said, we’ll have no limitations for what we do for the next album : a classic metal album ! We’re gonna use all the weapons that we have and just try to make the best record possible.

-And on stage ?

-M.A : I don’t know, it’s too early to say. When we’ll enter the studio, it’s just gonna be an explosion of creativity I’m sure, and obviously, we’re gonna take that on the road too.

-Do you intend to realize a DVD with your video and maybe some live stuff ?

-M.A : Yes, we’re always taping stuff on a digital video camera, and it wouldn’t surprise me if something turns off. That would be great to incorporate some of that into the next album release.

-Will we see new videos soon ? Are you interested in videos for the band ?

-M.A : If we had the budget, if we had the money, we would make a video for every song of the record ! Century Media didn’t pay for one video for this record, we made it ourselves, with our own money : 1000 euros for

‘Ravenous’, which is pretty low budget, but the label didn’t mean to pay for that in the end. They said that we don’t need videos, metal videos are really hard to play air played, but we you do your own video, then they use it, everywhere they can ! I guess than the next video you’ll see from Arch Enemy will be from the next album : maybe we’ll have 2000 euros then ! The budget gonna blow out !

-Are you a movie fan yourself?

-M.A : Yes, I think we all do !

-If Arch Enemy were a movie, which one could it be ?

M.A : My girl ? Footlose ? Grease ? Dirty dancing ? Yes, ‘Dirty dancing’ and ‘Cannibal holocaust’, something between them !

-Is the website of the band is it an important tool for you and are you a big Internet user?

-M. A : Yes and yes, absolutely, our website (archenemy.net) it’s a great way for us to reach fans, we try to update it as much as we can from the road, we send messages from the road, new pictures, new stories, new things and we try to keep it a place where fans can come and it’s a way for them to find something new about the band, because there’s always something new, and so we have good traffic on the website, lot of people come back all the time and it means that all is alive and well.

-Would you like to do something especially for the website, live stuff or whatever ?

-M.A : That would be amazing, I would love to do : we’ll probably take the whole Internet thing to the next level with the new record next year, and hopefully we’ll upgrade the whole set up, maybe we’ll record the next album with a webcam there ; it’s funny because a lot of people on line with nothing better to do than just sit and surf around. I’m one of them !

-Some records who changes your life ?

-M.A : Probably kiss’ ‘Destroyer’, the first Metallica album, ‘Kill them all...’, and Slayer’s ‘Rain in blood’ : all originals, and good music too !

-Something to add for the French fans ?

-M.A : Yes, I hope we’ll be back pretty soon, probably next year : last time we were there was three years ago, and it’s too long. We are not gonna slow down, we are gonna keep working hard, and hopefully we’ll be back very soon.

(Interview by Jean Paul Coillard, December 4th 2002, in Paris)