Dark Tranquillity : old darkness and new haven

The great " Projector " could already be considered a turning point in Dark Tranquillity's discography and a move away from their death metal (" Mind's I ") /neo-goth past ; today, " Haven " presents one more change, with a much tighter sound and a come back to energetic vocals, despite the importance of keyboards and one more collaboration with Fredrik Nordström, who records and mixes. Meeting before their first American tour with vocalist Mikael Stanne...Black suede choose...

-We are here to discuss about your new album : " Haven ", a strange title if we consider his rather energetic content ? MS : To me, " Haven " is where we've written this album, how it came, what was the origin of the album : we write our music underground in our basements, with big steel doors that nobody else knows about, nobody else get to us ; no mobile phone can work there, no kind of connection to anything else, so we are very safe, we love this place, where we can focus on doing music and nothing else. And also, when I write the lyrics, I go to my appartment, I close the doors, I unplug the phone, TV, computer, and just focus. To me, it's an important thing in our lives, our security, our kind of seclusion from anything else, no influences from anything, that's " haven " : we're safe, it's our safest place -The last time we met, for " Projector ", you said that your voice had been fucked up with singing death metal for so long time ; so, how's your voice today ? Recovered ? -MS : Oh yeah ! But it wasn't for a long time, and anyway I tried to change and do something different for " Projector " ; I was overworked, but I'm much much better now, I know where are the limits, how to control myself, so it's not a problem. I was a bit fucked up after doing some covers versions, but today it's ok ! -This time, Fredrik Nordström not only engineer the Lp, but also produced it. Why ? MS : Not really, actually : he didn't do much for the production, we did the production and everything else, but he mixed it, this time ; we used two studios in the same studio, the smaller one where we did everything ourselves, having good time and making sure everything was right and the way we wanted it, because we made several demos before in our reharseal room to try new stuff so we knew exactly what to do and the album was ready for the making ;     so Fredrik came for the mix and the recording. -The artwork is once again signed by Niklas Sundin : is it important for you to have a continuity with those beautiful cover arts and to form a kind of family with him, as for Fredrik ? MS : Niklas and Fredrik loves the artistic and Niklas loves the whole visual of the band, that's what he takes care of : the photos, the band images, the home page and of course the record covers ; for us, it's very important to have a visual side of the musical side as well as the lyrical side, we try to make it the best as possible, they are the different aspects of the band, so we're fortuned enough to have Niklas in the band, who really works well and loves doing it ; we have a very close relationship with him, he senses everything, as soon as we have an idea for the cover or the music, he does it, it's always perfect and it's a very nice way to work ! -You have a new bass player now, Michael, due to replacement of your previous guitarist by your previous bass player. Does the band get a new stable foundation now ? MS : Oh yes, it feels very very good, Michael was an old friend of ours and a good fan of the band for many many years, so it have been very natural to have it in the band : he left his job and all the projects he has to join us, and everything is very very easy with him : the band is very stable now... -After the big success of " Projector ", you must have been under a lot of pressure? MS : It's hard to kind of think like that, as you have to live up to certains standards, certains values : I just try to make the best albums possible according to the standards that we keep. They changes all the time, between albums and overs the years. " Projector " was recorded like 2 and a half years ago or more, and after that started up writing new material We wanted it to be more direct : some songs were six minutes long at the beginning, and we rewrote it, cut it, keep it some, to keep only the basis of the songs and make them better. For the material of this album, we've never worked like that before, and it's very interesting and very challenging for us : to have the time to build the songs piece by piece to make sure everything was right, everybody was involved in the process of making this album, that's why it took a lot of time, because six people very individual in a band which is very democratic takes very long rehearsals ! -" Mind's I " and " Projector " were very different, and this one is also different in other ways : is it a desire to follow an evolution all the time ? MS : Yes, definitely : when an album is out, that sounds good, you go on tour, promotion, etc, and when you're done with that, the last thing you want to do is make the same kind of music, you just want to keep on going, keep it fresh and kind of reinvent yourself and wonder what can we do different now ? We still have our sound, or our ways of playing or defining melody and rythm, we always keep that but we do it in different kind of ways, for us it's the most important thing : we don't want to stagnate, we're not too old, yet ! -You're still on Century Media records ; what do you think of labels like Moonfog or Nocturnal art in Norway and are you not tempted to have a good record label in your own country ? MS : Never thought about that ! There's no good enough records labels in Sweden, but us it's not a big problem : we have very close contacts with Century Media, which is doing a great job, they are very cool and they work excellently, they let us do everything we want all the time, and beside they have great suggestions about our things, so I've never thought about a better company for us ! -Soon you're gonna start a big american tour, your first one : how do you feel about it ? MS : Very excited ! We leave for Mexico first for a week, then we come back and after we go to USA, it's gonna be nice ! I wanna see if it's as bad as I think it is. And I wanna see all that stupid fat people walking along the street ! Eat junk food, drink cheap beer, have a great time, we're really looking for it ! -You have a very nice site : are you interested in the multimedia as a double source of creation and contact with the fans ? MS : Oh yes, and, you know, it always have been part of it, when you make music, the art, lyrics, the internet is a great way of communication, as music and lyrics are, so it's another side of it. With the internet, we have a way to communicate directly with people, we chat, we get responses to questions, and exchange opinions. We do it every day and it's very important for us, we have all the time forums where we discuss some issues about the band, I think it's absolutely great. -Will you consider, as several bands do, to issue a DVD of your videos ? MS : We don't have that much, and I don't think they are good enough, but I'm a great fan of this format. But besides, I would like to have some collection of live material and home videos and great tv's, but I'm not sure I want to sell it, I would have it at home ! Anyway, at the moment, we don't have enough material to fill a DVD, so... - How do you see the MP3 trial in USA ? MS : I think that sites like Napster are great for people looking for single songs or new albums to take only some selected stuff they like, it's more easier than going to record store. But, when we've got promo cd's of the albums, people got it on the net, like one month before it's released, and that sucks : I would like to have it on the net and in stores the same day. But for bands like us, with a limited size, it's a good promotion, if you download a couple of songs, eventually you will buy the album... -At the end, is Dark Tranquility a kind of haven for you ? MS : Absolutely : you know, I can lose myself in the music when we rehearse,  I can feel like shit for the whole day, you say : " Oh ! a rehearsal ! " You think that you can't. And as soon as the first song starts, yeah ! finally, we get into it and everything else is unimportant, like these days, doing nothing, walking around, some days are horrible, you have nothing to do, just feel like shit, you're tired as if you haven't slept and then, finally, you go on stage, and YES ! ! ! And the adrenaline is just popping and nothing else matters : it's definitively a haven ! (interview in Paris on Septembre 27th 2OOO, at the Locomotive by JP Coillard and Mr X ; photos : Christophe Valette) Our first interview of the band

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