Interview by Jason Williams
Swedish melodic death metal stalwarts Dark Tranquillity toured North America in 2010 to promote the release of their ninth studio album ‘We Are The Void’, and after making their fans in the continent wait nearly four years, they are finally back on a full headline run with opening acts Omnium Gatherum and Exmortus, and the latest album ‘Construct’ their main item of focus this time. To coincide with this tour, they’re also selling a limited edition 7-inch single called ‘The Memory Construct’. The tour paid a visit to the House Of Blues Sunset Strip in West Hollywood on February 22nd, and a few hours before Dark Tranquillity tore up the stage, our man Jason Williams sat down with vocalist Mikael Stanne for an interview to discuss the tour, ‘Construct’, future plans, beers and more. Enjoy the conversation below.
How are you doing today, Mikael?
I am good! I’m somewhat hungover. We were in Vegas last night, and as you can imagine, things got pretty wild. But it was awesome and haven’t slept, but it’s fine and it’s cool to be in LA.
You guys made it here, so, you didn’t get that messed up in Vegas then.
(Laughs) No no no. We were good, but we got to bed I think at, 6? Or something like that?
Not bad. It’s been a while since you were last here, about four years! I know ‘We Are the Void’ came out at that time and you have the follow-up album ‘Construct’ out now. Do you guys generally like to come to the US when you have a new album or was it just other plans and other things that made you take such a long time to come back?
Yeah, obviously I think it makes sense to have new music to offer when you can tour like that. We’ve been trying to set together tours for a while and it’s been, like, difficult financially to put together, but now, finally it happens and we’re super excited. This has been fantastic so far. We only have a week left, or something like that? But it’s been really, really good! I wish we could come back more often, and we’re definitely doing another tour here this year as well.
Will that be a headlining or support tour?
We can’t tell you yet (laughs).
Very well, I appreciate that. And speaking of the tour, this is Omnium Gatherum’s first time in the US and lot of people are very excited to see both of you. How did this happen? Did you approach them?
We’ve known them for years, we’ve toured together many times. Like in Finland, and in England and stuff like that. They’re really good friends of ours so we just figured, “It would be great to have them with us.” We love hanging out, love their music, so we just checked out if they were interested in coming and they definitely were. And it’s their first time in America. So they’re wide-eyed, thirsty and you know, I kind of like living precariously through them. (laughs)
A lot of times bands on their first time in the US really try to prove something to new fans, so they play even harder with a lot of passion. What are the fans responses to Omnium Gatherum?
It’s been amazing! Really, really good. They’re loving it. It’s fantastic for them.
That’s great. So, ‘Construct’ came out about eight months or so. And I read previously that this was kind of a difficult album to make, in terms of just the things that were going on. It’s a darker album, like the beginning of “None Becoming”, it’s a little different, not straying from your sound but a different approach. What came to making this kind of a different thing to what you’ve normally have done?
I guess part of it was, we were just feeling tired of our own sound. You know, we just felt like, “Where do we go after ‘We Are the Void’?” That was a big struggle to put together and it came out fine but part of us was like, “We could go further in some direction. We should do more.” I guess we’re always like that. Our self-esteem is horrible. I guess it’s a Scandinavian thing, I don’t know. But, whenever we go into a writing process, its like “Can we even do this anymore?” You just start doubting yourself and like, “Hey! It has to be new!” It has to be special, it has to be. This is our tenth album, so we ask ourselves questions like “Why should we make ten albums? Why should we be here? Why should people listen to us?” We have to prove that we’re still a viable band. We’re approaching our forties, so you need to prove something. And I think that became some kind of mental block. It was really, really tough to get going. Just because we felt like we don’t want to repeat ourselves and it has to be new and it has to be different. And, so what we did, we started out in a different way. The three of us went into the studio and gathered all the material we’ve been writing for the last two-three years. And it started, kind of putting songs together, simple verses of songs just to see what kind of direction we can go in. Because the material is the material. It’s melodies and rhythms and chords. It could be anything. It could be, grindcore, pop, or anything. Then we took the material and eventually things kind of went into place like these building and Lego blocks to be something that we were getting excited about. And all of a sudden, hey, we have some fantastic songs here. It was super exciting. All of a sudden, we were back into that creative mode again. It happens. Yeah, there were a lot of personalization issues in the band, in part, and for me on a personal level. I dealt with a lot of things that (pauses), I really needed to write about as well. So, the album is about trust and how to deal with things taking a totally different direction.
And it shows because the album reached #171 on the Billboard Charts in the US. That’s always something to be proud of about.
Oh yeah, of course! It’s awesome we feel, really strongly about it. Just that feeling we had when we first heard the final mix of the album in the studio. We really were immensely proud of the fact that we paved through and made it.
And I find it interesting what you said about your ‘self-esteem’. I was going to mention that out of the ‘Big 3’ of the Swedish melodic death metal: In Flames, At the Gates and you, In Flames have done their own thing in a more mainstream way and I wish them the best. And with At the Gates and their reunion, also kind of doing their thing as well; you guys have always been that train that keeps going and going. You’re not in the spotlight, you don’t really care about. You can argue that you guys are the most consistent of the Big 3. Without you guys, we wouldn’t have anything that the modern bands play today and that’s a fact.
I guess we’re really proud of the fact we really never had to compromise. You know, outside of the band, this is what we do. This is music that we love making and it consists of all of our influences; from pop to metal to synth to whatever. And try to come up with something that makes us feel something, makes us feel passionate about music and has some emotional weight, musically and lyrically. It’s something that matters to us and of course, no matter how far we kind of stray outside of our own sound, everything still passes through our filters and what comes out is something that still sounds like us.
How do you feel about the two other bands, because of the different things musically they’ve done, being more ‘accessible’ to a larger audience? Do you care? I mean, you obviously want your music to be heard, but while you continue to do your own thing how far would you like to go and what kind of status would you be happy with?
(Pauses) We never really think about our music in terms of commercial success. We make the songs that we feel are super strong and that’s it. That never even comes into question. We never even talk about it. Like, “Oh, this would work better if it’s a little shorter and catchier.” It’s all about the songs and that’s it. I don’t know, sure, we could feel that a song is really catchy or simple or accessible or something like that. For me, at least, I don’t think about it. It’s about the song and that’s it.
It always is. 
You guys just released an EP, a special 7-inch with a couple of side tracks off of Construct. Is there a reason why those didn’t make the album? Or was it just something spontaneous?
No, we recorded 14 songs on the album and 10 ended up on it. And you know, some songs were reserved for Japanese releases and all that stuff. It was kind of frustrating to leave something out. We want everything on the album. And at the same time, we said like, “Let’s make a strong 10-song album.” Then we just used the other songs for other additions. And the song, “Sorrow’s Architect”, on the 7-inch is last one of those songs that hasn’t been heard yet. It’s only available on vinyl, only for the diehard fans. And it’s a really cool song but it’s a really hard process to choose which songs make the album and which ones don’t. But after lot of emails back and forth, a lot of playlists examined and compared, we finally ended up with the ten songs that made it on the album.
Is that something that you have more of a say in terms of what songs make it? Or is it the record label?
No, it’s all us.
After this tour, will you guys be doing any festivals in Europe? Will there be any European tours or anything else in the world?
After this we do China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Turkey, Israel, and then it’s the European festivals. And then we’re coming back here and then go back out in Europe again. So it’s going to be a long year!
Really busy. So with all of that touring, we can say that there probably won’t be any new material in the works?
Not this year, I don’t think so. It would be nice but we won’t have any time.
There’s no ideas, no songs or anything?
No, we have stuff. And we’re excited, since, the writing of this album eventually turned out so well and it was challenging and fun, so we definitely want to come back to it, but, we have to circle the globe a couple of times first.
Considering the things you told me about what was going on during the writing process for the Construct album with the writer’s mental block and how you overcame that, do you guys have that itch to really make another album with that that new kind of passion?
Yeah, for sure. That’s how we felt when we finished the album. “We should do this soon again.” Normally, you’re just exhausted and drained after an album, but this was kind of like, “This is awesome!” Hopefully we’ll be able to get started in the beginning of next year.
And, we’re in 2014, and for the fans who don’t know, you guys technically started in 1989 as Septic Broiler. A lot of people may not know that but the band is now about 23-25 years old. That’s a very large accomplishment. Again, not really changing your sound for anything aside from tweaking it here and there, as normal musicians would, but what can you say about this? Any big highlights throughout your career? Any particular album or tour or anything that really stood out that made you guys say, “I think we made it!”
I think anytime we head out on a tour that’s successful, and as I said, when the album was done, we were like, “Holy shit, this is our tenth album and we’re still pretty excited about writing music!” That in itself is fantastic. Some of the shows on this tour have been incredible, and the dedication of our fans is fantastic. We feel so energized by that. So, it doesn’t feel like 25 years (laughs). I can remember those good old days when we started the band like it was yesterday, so I try not to think about it, but of course, since this has been such a huge part of our lives since we were 14, I cannot even imagine a life without this. This is what we do. It’s been grained in our system, to scream and be loud and play and tour and travel and all that. I don’t know how to do anything else.
One last thing I like to say and do something a little different, because we were talking a little bit off camera about beers. Any last thing you like to say to the fans for this tour? And, can you recommend any good beers to anyone out there?
Wow (laughs). Yeah, I’ve been having a good time ‘sampling’ some micro brews on this tour and have had some fantastic stuff, holy shit. Koper’s from Oregon, I think? It’s been one of my favorites so far. We got tons of beers from Three Floyds, loved it. And of course, Sierra Nevada, that was my gateway drug (laughs). It got me into this whole thing. But it’s been really cool and we’re really, really excited that we can do this. People coming out and showing support for our music and we’re enjoying the hell out of it. Thanks for the support and love you all.
Related – Gig Review: Dark Tranquillity Play Unforgettable Show At House Of Blues Sunset Strip
Visit Dark Tranquillity on the web:
DarkTranquillity.com
facebook/com/DTofficial
twitter.com/DTofficial
youtube.com/DTofficial
Remaining US Tour Dates:
02/25 – Dallas, TX – Trees
02/26 – Houston, TX – Scout Bar
02/28 – Louisville, KY – Diamond Pub and Billiards
03/01 – Pittsburgh, PA – Altar Bar
03/02 – Philadelphia, PA – The Trocader