We thought it was the right time to go for it. We’ve been doing a lot of supporting act tours and we felt that with this new album we wanted to make the statement that we are able to headline. We also had the proof too in terms of sales, it wasn’t like we just said ,”Ok we’re gonna be headliners now, fuck it let’s go!” The sales [for Stabbing The Drama] were pretty good and we felt that it was a good time to try it out and it has worked out fine. Now this particular tour has been pretty decent. I didn’t expect a lot of people on this tour because it has been a year and a half since we released the album. There’s a lot of bands also from Ozzfest out there touring now picking up the fans and they’re hard to compete with. We’re not exactly “in the hype” right now, we’re not that “hot” right now because the album is fairly old and there’s bands touring now that have new releases out. But I think that the main purpose of this tour is to show that we’re still alive and still rockin’! With everything that’s happened with Peter’s departure we really think that this tour is a good thing to do before we go into the song writing process.

We started writing some songs already and we [Ola Flink and Bjorn] have been a part of this band for almost ten years now. I don’t think we should be underestimating ourselves as being songwriters even though Peter was taking care most of it. We’ve already done the melodies for the vocals for example, Peter never did those, and I think that it’s just a matter of getting it up here. We have the know how, we know what Soilwork is and how we’re going to write songs. We have the same vision it’s just a matter of taking it from here (points to head) and getting it here (mimics playing guitar). When we first started writing songs I was a little bit nervous in the beginning but they sound really really cool. They sound like Soilwork, they sound great. I think we are going to make a real kick ass album.

In a way I would say so, yeah. We’re not going to change totally just because Peter isn’t in the band anymore. Like I said, we have the know how and share the same vision as a band even though Peter was taking care of sixty, seventy percent of the songwriting. We feel that we have so much more to give, we still have the urge to go on. We don’t have to force ourselves and there’s a lot of bands out there now that do that just to make money. This was really essential to us. Do we really feel like going on? Do we still have that love for the music and the band? Yes we do. I don’t think we should be too dramatic about [Peter’s departure] this type of thing happens all the time. I’m not saying that Peter was not a big part of the band because he was. We started this band together, me and him.

It’s just such a huge country and there’s plenty of space for different kinds of music. I guess that sometimes it looks like European bands are focusing in on America but it really works different in Europe than America. You have to tour a lot more frequently in America. In Europe you can do two tours on each album and you’re fine, if you do a third tour it doesn’t make a difference. There’s so many bands out there touring the United States all the time; you really have to do that here.

Oh yea, most definitely. Especially in the beginning of a tour gong from one world to another, there is always a kind of culture shock. You just have to get used to that and adapt. About a week into a tour you’ll start to do fine even if you might miss home.

I’m sure that it will show on the next album, that’s what a lot of the bands tell us. Most bands think like, “ Ozzfest is the real thing and we’re going to see results right away.” Then you do a tour two months later and think that there’s going to be so much more people at the shows and there’s not. Then you see it on the next album, that’s where it pays off. I’m sure we broadened our fan base a lot but it’s going to pick up moreso on the next album, that’s what I feel.

It depends on what label you’re on. Our label, we negotiated with and half of those $75 000 are recoupable. We take half and the label takes the other half.

No, not really. It’s been hard sometimes but nothing ever like that.

It was through our guitar tech at the time who was a very good friend of Thomen. That guitar tech was touring with Blind Guardian as well and told me that the drummer of Blind Guardian was interested in doing a side project with me because he loved my vocals. I though this sounded pretty interesting because Thomens been playing for many years and in a different genre. The album itself is really mixed, there’s so many different sounds in it. It was really interesting even if it was chaotic a bit at times. I really like everybody, it was cool hanging out with them and I consider them good friends of mine now. I do think the album could have turned out a little better in some ways as far as planning what we wanted to do. I just got some demos I didn’t write the music I just did the vocals and lyrics. It was a challenge though and I love challenges, that’s what I live for. It is really important to me that I get challenged all the time as a singer. As far as with the next record I don’t think I will have time to do any other projects like that. It has been a really hard year like last year when I was doing all these projects on the side. Soilwork is what I’ve been focused on one hundred percent this whole time.

No not ever. I see myself as a session musician / vocalist. I don’t see myself as a member of those bands. Well I’m in the band as far as making the album but not as a touring person.

Again, that has to do with challenge. I felt a little bit stuck, I mean I love the screaming vocals but I wanted to add something more to them. We had actually start experimenting with clean vocals as early on as The Chainheart Machine album when we did Shadowchild as the Japanese bonus track. That was when I first started doing clean vocals and it turned out pretty cool. That gave me a lot of inspiration too when it worked, so I decided to take it a step further. It felt natural to me and I thought that continuing to use them was the right thing and I am comfortable with that. I’m never going to skip the screaming vocals because they’re a big part of our sound and I enjoy doing them as well.

Just him being there was very inspirational in the first place. He really brought out the best, a lot of things that I didn’t think I could do with my voice. He helped me to sing on a higher level of singing than I thought I could achieve at the time. Hearing the result I was like, “Wow is that my voice?” Devin is really focused . There is something about him that makes you listen and really everything you have, he is a very inspirational person and a great singer.

Yes I do. We have been touring with three different guitarists and they’re the last ones. We’ll make our pick from those three after this tour is done. Because we have been touring with these guitarists and getting to know them I know that when we do pick one it will be the right one. It will feel really solid and a good unit. Dirk is now a permanent member of the band but when he came in it was just to record the drum parts to Stabbing The Drama so he couldn’t really put a personal stamp to the songs. I’m sure now that he is so much into the songwriting process that he’s gonna really show what he can do and prove that he’s amazing, although he already did that with Stabbing The Drama.

That is number one. You don’t have to get along all the time but you have to be able to open up yourself and find solutions, talk with each other. I know people in bands that walk around like shells. You have to tell people what you feel, what you’re thinking, communicate with each other. It’s really hard sometimes although it is important to have otherwise you won’t last long.

Even though it’s a little bit annoying sometimes I don’t want to sound bitter. There’s actually a few bands that really pull it off and make something of their own. They have the influences but don’t just copy the sound outright. But then there’s a ton of bands that just … (trails off and kind of rolls eyes) It is an honor that bands do get influenced by you but it’s like, “C’mon guys do something personal. Where’s the creativity?” It’s just riffs placed on top of other riffs.

That’s really hard. I can pick three songs that really identify Soilwork’s music and they would be: Chainheart Machine, As We Speak, and Blind Eye Halo. We have kind of everything there in those songs. They’re different from each other but there’s a key Soilwork trademark in each song.

The chorus for Stabbing The Drama is really strong for channeling feelings through. It makes a strong statement.

The album should be out in August or September. I think this new album will be more technical and bring back some more guitar melodies. It’s going to be very intense. I know this sounds like a cliché because its been said thousands of times before by people but really, to me the next release sounds like a summary of all the albums we’ve done. Each member is involved in the songwriting and I think the result will be really cool, a mirror of all the band members.