Interviews

MR: I’m here with Anders from The Haunted and that was a great set tonight. How does it feel to have the tour over now?

AB: You feel empty, you know? It’s a lot slower now. The last show is always one of the hardest to do. It was the hardest show tonight.

MR: What’s next for the band?

AB: It’s going to come to European festivals. Then in September is the Scandinavian headlining tour.

MR: That’s great. How has the reaction been to the new album in comparison to the other two albums that The Haunted has done?

AB: It’s been great. It’s sold pretty much worldwide. Wherever we go, it’s appreciated. The fans love it.

MR: On the album I noticed that there was a lot more of a rough production. Was that intentional? Did you guys go in there thinking that you wanted to make a less polished album than “The Haunted Made Me Do It?”

AB: It was kind of intentional. We wanted a more raw approach. Like it sounded in the rehearsal room. I think we succeeded but we had good production anyway, you know? You can hear everything clear and at the same time it’s raw and uncompromised.

MR: Let’s set the record straight. What’s the deal with you and Earache Records?

AB: It’s a good deal. It’s got a lot of options, you know? We’re pretty happy with it. They’ve been great with the latest effort. Right now we are trying to contact them about working on the next album. We get along with them pretty well.

MR: There is a lot of criticism of the way the DVD was handled. Do you want to talk about that real quick?

AB: I think there was a big rush to get it out in conjunction with the new album. We really missed out on using some great material. Like Jensen had lots of storage material and we had many more mini cameras. That never got on the DVD. And the next time we’ll do a better one, you know? Like work more on it.

MR: So how do the American fans measure up to the rest of the world?

AB: I have to say that it has been good everywhere.

MR: Are you going back…

AB: The weird thing about the US is that you have the hardcore metal combination tours and it’s pretty weird from time to time.

MR: Yeah, the band’s fans don’t get along and all that.

AB: It’s almost like gangs, you know, in the audience. It’s definitely weird.

MR: Yeah, by the time you guys went on tonight like half the audience had cleared out.

AB: Oh, that’s wonderful…

MR: How much to people still ask you about At the Gates?

AB: Too Much. (laughs) We have The Haunted now so we don’t even do covers anymore. That was the thing with the first album. We didn’t have enough songs to play live so we had to do covers. That’s the only reason we even made it.

MR: “Blinded by Fear” was on the DVD but it wasn’t on the live album. I’m a big fan. I love the album. I love seeing you guys live. Where do you see The Haunted in 10 years?

AB: Still playing, I hope. Still playing even though we might change personnel, I still want it to keep going.

MR: I have to say that your English is better than most Americans.

AB: Thank you. I mean, that means a lot. In this country it’s weird. In LA, it’s like you have to speak Spanish to order a Big Mac. Yo hablo Español. Un Big Mac por favor! (laughs)

MR: I’m here with Jensen from The Haunted and how do you think the show went tonight?

J: Really, really good. This was an awesome show and was one of the best on the whole American tour. I think in the week of touring, this was the best. New York is always great.

MR: I saw you guys up at New England [Metalfest -ed.] and that was a fantastic show and you had more time tonight, got in a couple more songs. I thought the crowd was good and really into it, you know? Now you back to do festivals? Which festivals?

J: Many festivals. The most important one is probably the Hulsfred festival this Saturday. It goes for three days. We were supposed to play the very next day we come home but we had to switch places with The Donnas. They needed a Thursday. (laughs) So we’re playing on Saturday and in front of 10,000 people and it’s gonna be incredible.

MR: What do you think of the way “One Kill Wonder” is doing?

J: Oh man! I mean each album is … I mean I’m happy yes. And it’s successful, yes. We’re very happy. People seem like the music and we’re very happy about that.

MR: Don’t worry about your English. It’s better than most Americans. Your vocabulary is great. How long have you studied?

J: Well I grew up in Canada.

MR: Oh, ok. And then you moved to Sweden?

J: I was born in Sweden and I moved there [to Canada] when I was four.

MR: How long have you played guitar?

J: Since I was seven.

MR: What’s your favorite equipment?

J: Uhh gear? Les Paul, EMG-81 Pickups, 5150…

MR: Everyone uses 5150…

J: Well you know? It’s a good thing! (laughs). It used to be that everyone used Marshalls. Now it’s 5150’s.

MR: Well you know everyone… All the American bands use Mesa.

J: Yeah, well you know the 5150’s sound better in Europe. It guess it’s something to do with the voltage. 110, 220...

MR: I’m here with Marco from The Haunted and how do you feel after the tour is over now?

MA: Relieved!! (laughs) We’ve been out here forever and I think it’s about time to go home.

MR: It must get boring on the bus. So what do you guys like to do for fun?

MA: We got Playstation 2’s and we got DVDs and everything so we’re cool. We actually had to switch busses but we had another bus with TV monitors in the bunks and that was nice.

MR: Lie back and relax.

MA: Yeah. You could actually switch in between the front lines and the back lines where ever they were playing. You could watch somebody else playing Playstation and laugh at them because they suck.

MR: (laughs) What happened to that bus?

MA: Both generators broke down. So we had to switch buses. But at least we got one with a shower that works.

MR: That’s the most important thing, isn’t it?

MA: Yeah because the clubs in the US do not have showers.

MR: How’s it like touring in the US compared to touring in Europe?

MA: The venues are more or less the same. There’s a little bit more theaters here than in Europe. Otherwise the stench of chlorine that hits you when you walk into the venue and people drinking beer, that’s pretty much universal.

MR: Which is the best show that you guys played on this tour?

MA: There’s so many. It’s just hard to decide in between them because there have been so many good shows. I think New York show is definitely up there fighting with all the rest of them.

MR: I saw you guys up in New England [Metalfest -ed.] and you turned in a hell of a performance there too.

MA: Well we did what we could with what we had.

MR: I know it was a shorter set.

MA: Yeah and we had like 20 minute changeovers like all the other bands. But it was cool though. No sound check, no nothing just go out and do it.

MR: That’s the way metal is supposed to be.

MA: Yeah but sometimes you wanna have like more, a little bit more control over that.

MR: You guys had hardcore bands as support, I mean, how do you feel the audiences were different? I mean you have the metal kids, the hardcore kids and sometimes...

MA: I don’t think there’s that big a difference anymore because almost all the hardcore bands are turning metal now anyway. But there are some controversies in the pit but I don’t think it was any big deal at all. The hardcore kids still stick around to see our set and make their minds up.

MR: Really?! Because it looked like a quarter of the audience cleared out after Shai Hulud tonight.

MA: No a lot of them were still here. It was good.

MR: Thanks a lot for this interview.

MA: My pleasure. Anytime.

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