19eager to make it.”Perhaps people now see music as a
way to live an extravagant lifestyle?
“I think with artists today that they’re
treating music as a way to become famous,
as opposed to having this genuine love for
music in general, and treat it as a way of
becoming famous. Which is fine, I suppose.
“But me too, when I was a child I had
these dreams of becoming successful, but
there was also a genuine love for music.
And I can’t speak for everyone today but,
I don’t know what it is, there’s something
lacking for me.”Do you have a process for writing
your lyrics?
“I have different methods, depending on
where I was at the time. The first couple
of records I just wrote nice stuff that
looked good on paper and I didn’t really
understand what it meant, and I still do
that from time to time.
“But I wrote a few concept records to get
away from that and because I kind of felt
embarrassed by being asked that question,
because I didn’t know what it was about
and I was like, ‘fuck, I have to sort it out!’
“So I wrote a few concept records. And
even then I was confused myself about
what it meant because it’s so heat of the
moment and I forget what it meant. It’s not
like a riff that you just don’t forget how to
play and you can always pick it up.
“But with a lyric you have to explain
them and to explain them is so much
harder for me. And I’m not out to blow
anyone’s mind with a clever lyric, and I’m
not a good writer with lyrics, sometimes I
get lucky and I write something that I think
is good. But I don’t have any high opinions
about myself when it comes to lyrics.
“But I wrote a few concept records and
then ended up writing about more personal
stuff, from the Watershed record onwards,
perhaps a little bit before that too, which
actually resulted in me getting more
criticism about writing shit lyrics. When
they actually meant something to me! So
it’s ironic, I guess.”Maybe it’s easier for people to
critique something if it’s a concept
because they can look at it from
start to finish. Whereas, if it’s more
personal they have to delve deeper...
“That is true. And we also had more fans
back then.
“Criticism is not going to change me and
make me take lessons, or anything, I just
happened to become the lyricist in this
band without really wanting to, just as I
became vocalist in this band without really
wanting to become that guy.”When the shout was made for a
lyricist and vocalist everyone else
stepped backwards as you stood in
the same place...
“Yeah! That’s really how it was in my
first band, it was like, ‘who’s gonna be the
vocalist? I don’t wanna be the vocalist, I
can’t sing!’ And we were just a three-piece
then and I always thought it looked silly
when the drummer was singing.”Not everyone can be the Eagles!
“Yeah! But even Don Henley, though he’s
got the greatest voice, it still looks unusual.
So the bass player at the time didn’t want to
sing and I was just stuck with it!”How did you write Black Rose
Immortal?
“That was supposed to be on the first
album, Orchid, but we hadn’t finished it in
time for the recording.
“I wrote most of the stuff, in those days
it was me and Peter (Lindgren). Peter and
I played guitar and we would meet up and
just played. So I had a melody and he came
up with a counter melody, because that was
really important that he played something
different to what I played, and then we had
to make it sound good. We never really
played stuff in unison.
“That song ended up being a 20-minute
song by the time we were due in the studio
and the rest was finished afterwards. We
had no means to record demos in those
days, I didn’t even own an amplifier and
we didn’t have a rehearsal room - we were
sitting around in my mum’s house, in my
boy room, playing and writing.
“So we had a song that sounds like a
shitty Ace Frehley riff, four bars, and in the
end that song probably ended up pages and
pages of riffs and we just had to remember
it - I didn’t even have a cassette player that
we could record it on.
“I continued working like that, writing
like that up until Blackwater Park. Then
eventually some of my friends got Cubase
and I was like ‘can I come over and try a
few things?!’”Still Life was the album for us...
“That again was written in the same way,
the same shitty Ace Frehley riffs. I look
back now and I just think ‘how the fuck
did I remember that?’ Because some of it is
quite complicated!”INTERVIEW: DAMIEN GIRLINGOpeth’s 12th studio album, Sorceress, is out
now. To find out more head to opeth.comINTERVIEW: MIKAEL ÅKERFELDT
I had the knowledge that I had today and
then time-travelled back to the 70s. I think
that’s basically what I meant by saying that.
“I think the music then was more
interesting, but I think that if you grew up
with it you’d find it just as piss poor as I
find contemporary music today.”
Are there any contemporary artists
that you find interesting?
“I mean there’s bands that I respect. But
that doesn’t mean that I consume their
music. But Steve Wilson (Porcupine Tree),
of course, everything he does I’m interested
in and I love most of it. Other than that,
I’m not sure!
“But I have so many records back home
that I don’t feel that I have the time to go
digging around for new music and every
time that I’ve tried I’ve been so utterly
disappointed, you know, it’s nothing for
me. It’s almost like a thing that when I
listen to a new band I start listening for
the reference, like, ‘oh they have taken that
from there.’
“So I don’t really hear that much that’s
interesting. But I’m not saying that it’s bad,
just that it’s me that is fucked up! And I find
so much more from back in the day that I
instantly feel is interesting - I thoroughly
believe that there was a more open mind to
music back then. I think people are more