By Andrew Bansal
Swedish melodic death metal veterans In Flames released their eleventh studio album ‘Siren Charms’ earlier this year, and are currently on the ‘Communion Of Sirens’ North American co-headline tour with their fellow Swedes and longtime friends in Opeth. On this tour, In Flames are presenting a hefty chunk of the new album along with selections from their long career, all encapsulated within a duration of 75 minutes, in an attempt to please not only their own fans but also those of Opeth. The tour came through Los Angeles for a gig at the Hollywood Palladium on December 9th 2014, and a few hours before the show I sat down with In Flames guitarist Björn Gelotte to discuss the tour, their relationship with Opeth over the years, gear and more. Enjoy the conversation below.
How are you doing today, Björn?
Very good, very good. I’m happy to see the sun again (laughs). It’s been dark for a couple of weeks now.
Oh yeah, in comparison to the places you were in during the start of this tour, you must be in heaven right now.
Yeah, this is good for us. This is like prolonging the summer. We’re almost in mid-December and I almost had to buy a new pair of shorts today (laughs). That’s a godo thing.
So, it’s great that you’re touring with your fellow Swedes in Opeth, but it’s surprising to think that it didn’t happen for so long.
The thing is, we’ve been talking about this for years. But schedules have never allowed it, because we’re on different tours all the time, or they are in writing mode when we’re in touring mode. So it just never happened, which is weird. We’ve known each other for many years. I’m very happy it turned out this way for this tour and very happy to have Red Fang here as well.
Right, and it’s a co-headline tour, which is great because that way there’s no weird vibes. Both bands are playing equal sets and there’s no competition in that sense.
Exactly, and that was the whole point from the beginning. There’s no pride issues or anything like that. We just decided to do it this way so we can play the same amount of time. I guess we play three times the number of songs they do (laughs). Their songs are really long. But yeah, it was never an issue and there was never an idea to do anything else over here. I like it.
I think even for their fans coming out to these shows, it’s giving them something different because you are to-the-point with your music, totally opposite to theirs. I’m sure their fans can appreciate that in preparation of the long epic Opeth songs. Assuming you’re playing before them every night.
Yeah, yeah. We do, for practical reasons, to be honest actually. But I think you do get a little bit of everything. You have the Red Fang guys just boosting it up first and then we do what we do, and then you get Opeth out there. I just think it’s a really good combo.
It’s good to combine with a band like Opeth, who have been around for as long as you have. That way you get to play these big rooms instead of clubs and theaters.
Right, I think it would be the same for both of us, and since we both were planning on doing a tour, why not do it together? Competition is only good to an extent.
You’re used to mostly doing headline tours and playing longer sets, so it must also have been a little bit of a challenge, in a good way, to shorten it down to 75 minutes and try to still put on your best set for your fans.
It’s not getting easier. We have eleven albums out now, 140-plus songs (laughs). Trying to do a set list that contains 15-16 songs is not easy. But the thing is, we’re out promoting the new album, so there will be quite a few off of the new one on there, to some people’s dismay (laughs). But some people like it, and that’s what we want to do. We’ve always stuck to our guns when it comes to the music. It’s our band, it’s our music. It’s not yours (laughs). I might be arrogant, but at the same time, that’s the reason we’re still doing it, still having fun doing it and will continue doing it, because we’re in charge of it. It’s not somebody else’s idea or project or business. This is our stuff. So that’s the reason we chose to do it like this. We always do this at the beginning of a tour cycle. You try out what new songs are going to fit in the set, you play them for a couple of tours and then change it up a little bit.
As you said, with eleven albums it’s definitely getting harder for you to find a set which would represent your whole career. I don’t think you’re able to do that as much as you would want to.
No, that’s true. I think a set from us would have to be around four, four-and-a-half hours for us to do it justice. But I’m not prepared to play for that long (laughs). It’s just the way it is. We’re super-fortunate to still be doing this eleven records into our career, twenty years, still having this much fun, not killing each other or anybody else for that matter, and just enjoying it.
You’ve been around for so long. How have you seen the development of your gear? Have you been changing and adopting to what’s been in the market and do you keep track of that stuff?
Not at all (laughs). The thing is, I’m very conservative and traditional. I’ve played the one guitar I always wanted to play, let’s put it like that. I’ve done the Gibson Les Paul customs for many years now and I play them through a Marshall amp, which I think is the most classic and the best-sounding combination you can get. But then again, new gear is coming up. We’ve also used the Kemper amps a little bit for practical reasons and also when the regular amps break down, which they do. The Kemper amp is a really good solution and substitute for it. But like I said, I’m very conservative. All I really want to have is a Gibson, a wah and a Marshall.
That’s the classic combo and it’s hard to beat.
Exactly, and the less gear you have, the less it can fuck up. So, keeping it simple is always a good thing. It’s a good way to start too.
You mentioned the replacement amps. Are you able to achieve the same sound to your satisfaction in case you need to use them somewhere?
I was very surprised how good it was, actually. May be it’s because I know it’s not an amp like a proper Marshall amp, that might have fucked with my head a little bit. But to be honest, when we started playing and I knew I was using Kemper, I didn’t think about it. They’re doing something really cool. There are small tweaks here and there that you can’t do compared to what you can do with a regular mic’d amp, but I think it’s a great thing for practical reasons when you can’t really fly your rig. But if you’re in a position as we are and have a couple of amps over here, I’d rather use those. But again, Kemper is a great product and I think you’ll hear more from them, actually. I lot of bands are using them already, actively, and having that as their only amp which is a pretty cool thing.
That’s a good tip for people who might be using the same Gibson-Marshall setup as yours.
Well the thing is, it wouldn’t sound the same anyways. I use the same guitar, pickups and amps as Zakk Wylde but I don’t sound like him. I couldn’t.
It depends on how you play, too.
Yeah, yeah. I think it’s in the fingers way more. But at least you can have the foundation of the sound. It will be there and that’s a good thing.
So, for these tours you obviously fly in from Europe. In your case, do you get gear here often or do you fly with everything?
No, when it comes to amps and stuff, since it’s a different power over here, it’s nice to have properly made 110V amps. Using transformers and stuff is another thing that can fuck them up, so I’d rather not do that. The amp that I’m using is a prototype that’s never going to be in line. They’re never going to make an amp line out of it. But, I was fortunate because they made a few and shipped them over here to Doug Aldrich and I got to borrow his amps in the beginning here. That was fantastic. It was very, very nice of him and it helped me very much. Now, I scraped together a couple of my own, so I have a few over here and a few in Europe. That’s all I need.
Doug Aldrich’s amps! That’s killer. Are you a Whitesnake or Dio fan at all?
Both! That’s where I come from, Purple, Sabbath, Whitesnake, Rainbow and Dio. He’s a super cool guy and an inspiration, of course.
And finally, this is a co-headline run but for this new album will there also be another headline tour in the States?
Totally. It’s what we want to do. We always try to dedicate two-and-a-half to three years after we record, to really tour. We’ve been very fortunate to be able to play not only in Europe and Scandinavia but to go through the US and to have people that want to see us. So yeah, we will definitely come back and do a headline run, and may be more than that. We don’t know yet. But the plan is to tour now, do a lot of festivals next summer, and we’ll continue doing that until we feel like doing another record.
Related: Review + Photos: Opeth, In Flames & Red Fang Perform At Hollywood Palladium
In Flames links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram
Remaining Tour Dates:
12/17 – Electric Factory | Philadelphia, PA
12/18 – Terminal 5 | New York, N.Y.
12/19 – Palladium | Worcester, MA
12/20 – Metropolis | Montreal, QC
12/21 – Koolhaus | Toronto, ONT