In Flames : High on Fire

-‘Sense of purpose’ comes after a ‘Come Clarity’ more guitar based than before, with no ballads such ‘Evil in a closet’: but what do you think are the main differences with ‘Come Clarity’?

-B: For us, it’s always difficult to see a difference, because we’re writing our albums always in the same way. But, what changes each times, are the arrangements and the way we approach the different subjects. This time, too, everybody is implicated in the process, not only Anders and me, and everything is much better like that. Plus, we’re working now in our own studio, which makes things much easier and make the atmosphere more relax, because it’s situated not far from our places. We can go home each night, which is wonderful!

-You said you considered ‘Come Clarity’ a kind of best of of the band: how would you define this one?

-B: I don’t want to categorize this album, first because people tend too much to do it themselves! Let’s say that this is like a sampler of what we are at this precise moment, now, humanly and musically. We toured a lot, and we learned hugely in the process, which is what have a really big influence on the writing and the arrangements of our songs, feed with our experiences.

-Last year, you toured with Slayer, for the Unholy Alliance tour: how was it for you?

-B: We are big Slayer fans, basically since their beginning, and of course we jumped on this opportunity to share the stage with such a great band composed by great and really cool guys. It’s something you can’t refuse! We toured already with them, and we’ll do it again if it’s any proposal.

-You were surely exhausted after that! And now, you’re ready to follow Megadeth on the Gigantour!

-B: yes, and we’ve been very happy to sign, because we love Megadeth, mainly myself, being a guitarist. I’m friend with Marty Friedman for a long time, and, even if he’s not in the band anymore, we still like what they’re doing. It’s a group of musicians, not a singer with a backing band. I think that, with the Gigantour, Dave Mustaine want to create a sort of alternative to the Ozzfest, which monopolise a bit the general attention. And, as it will be less bands, we’ll be able to play longer, which is rarely the case in festivals.

-You are separated from your families during long periods: could the production of other bands be a solution for you in the future, to spend more time with them?

-B: Yes, maybe, one day, indeed. I love to be in studio. I worked on the production of an album of Degraded, and I was implicated in all levels. I really love that, but I hope In Flames will last as long as possible, even if not for another fifteen years!

-Jasper and yourself have played in All Ends, and Anders had his own side project, Passenger. He said it made him more confident about his singing. Do you feel the same?

-B: All Ends was a side-project build only for the fun of it, but you need to have time to take care of it seriously! In fact, I mostly wrote for them, with some production stuff, but I didn’t really play. What was interesting was to see a different way of working. But In Flames stays our number one priority: we, all of us, have only twenty four hours a day!

-Derek Hess signed the art cover and the booklet of ‘Come Clarity’: this time, it is Alex Pardee, who brilliantly worked with, amongst other, The Used. What do you appreciate in his work?

-B: What I really like, behind his drawings, is his facility to depict anything he want, but also translate the music of a band through his drawings, which is not that evident. We can argue about the fact that the cover for « Sense of Purpose » is not really ‘metal’, but we don’t care, we like it like that, I think its very fun and she’s very beautiful.

-Anders said that the majority of the members are fathers, but also that In Flames is like another baby, whom you have to take care of as well: which one of those babies are the most jealous, when it feels it’s neglected?

-B: It’s a very big problem: we are musicians, and we have to leave them to go playing all over the world. It’s always a question of time, and how to share it. Life on the road is very hard: we are waiting a lot, we travel and spend time in tour bus, in airplanes, we are waiting again backstage, but the counterpart is when we’re jumping on stage. That’s magic, and you forget all the rest. That’s why we do what we do.

-Did you again produce this album yourselves?

-B: Yes, with the help of Toby Wright, who mixed it. We perfectly know what we want ourselves, considering the production, but we called him to see how an American could make us sound. Not to sound Americans, but because he knew how to bring a certain acoustic atmosphere to our songs, and it worked very well. Then again, Daniel Bergstrand came to give us a little help to record drums and vocals.

-The lyrics, this time, seem a bit more positive, through songs such as ‘I’m the highway’ or ‘The chosen pessimist’, for example.

-B: I wouldn’t say they are so positive, but rather, as you said, encouraging. They are more

cynical than positive, things are not said in a charming way. But the interest is to encourage people to act and react in what we could call the good sense, to take care of themselves, for example, and not swallow everything you can hear everywhere.

-What do you think of the reformation of At The Gates and Carcass?

-B: I’m less crazy about Carcass than about At the Gates. Those ones are old friends, and they hugely influenced us when we started. I think that « Slaughter of the Souls » is the best album which came from the so called Gothenburg scene. It’s a perfect mix, for the level of the recording as well as the quality of the songs. Even in that form of extreme, they succeed in finding a certain melodic sense, which is great. I really can’t wait to see them this summer. I’ve heard they could tour longer later.

-"Come clarity” came with a bonus DVD : will it be the same this time, as you didn’t look so happy with the previous one?

-B: What happen is, at first, it was only intended for the journalists, to give them something more and make them see how much fun it was to be in studio and play. Later, the label, without really consulting us, decided to incorporate this DVD in bonus with the record, and people misunderstood the quality of the result which, originally, wasn’t due to be diffused. We will probably put a bonus DVD with this new album, but it will be done in that perspective, so no more misunderstandings!

-15 years after you started In Flames, how do you judge the evolution of your career?

-B: I’m very satisfied with everything that happens to us and with everything we’ve done, even if, of course, we had some hard times, like everybody else. That’s the best job you could dream of ! Look: yesterday, I was in London, today I’m in Paris, tomorrow in England, there’s a nice weather, and in two days, I’ll back home with my family and my friends. I feel very lucky. Plus, we grew gradually, which kept us to get a too much big head! I really enjoyed all those years, and I keep on doing it!

Interview made on February 12^th 2008 in Paris.

Thanks to Valérie and Nuclear Blast