[Interview conducted January 2005]

Character: the word implies quality, distinctiveness, and eccentricity, all terms applicable to Swedish melodic death metal stalwarts Dark Tranquillity.  While several bands from the famed Gothenburg scene have flourished and taken different stylistic tangents, Dark Tranquillity has remained perhaps truest to their original sound without losing the desire to explore and experiment as they see fit.  Unlike other bands, they seem to only get better and heavier with each new album, culminating in this year's landmark release, Character.  An album as focused, fine-tuned and all-encompassing as this is rare indeed and it was clearly time to get in touch with vocalist Mikael Stanne to find out more.

With the vocals on Character, you sound as intense as ever if not more so, with no 'clean' singing at all.  Was that just what you felt the songs demanded or did you go into this record thinking, no clean vocals?
It came from the songs, but also it just didn't feel that interesting any more, at least not for this album.  We could easily do it and it would be alright, but it would be for the wrong reasons I guess.  Compared with Projector, this is much more of an angry album, much for all-out frustration and anger, whereas Projector was much more internal and personal - a totally different set of feelings.  For this one, it was a matter of getting everything out and screaming as much as I can.

You've recorded with Fredrik Nordström again and it sounds killer.
He mixed this album but the rest we did.  We don't really need anyone else.  I think Projector was the last album that Fredrik actually produced, but after that we have pretty much been hiding ourselves in his studio.  So we spent a month there without any interference from anyone, recording everything and making sure that everything we came up with in the rehearsal room ended up on tape.  Then, when everything is finished, we give it to Fredrik and he will mix it in a couple days.  But yeah, it is a great studio and Fredrik really knows our material so he always ends up with a great sounding product.

Was there anything new you tried this time, any new gear or techniques?
Ahhh…  I guess we did, with guitar sounds and stuff, but mostly with keyboard sounds and new ideas there.  But we are pretty set in our ways when it comes to equipment and all that.  It's simple to record ourselves, with Pro Tools and great things like that, so there was not that much experimentation.  Usually all that happens before we enter the studio.  That's why it's so boring in the studio; it's like all the songs end there, they die. (laughs)  We've been working on them for a year, enhancing and tweaking and fixing things every day more or less and then finally just recording them.

Do they take on a new life once you get out and play them live?
Yeah!  The recording is just the necessary evil.  Since this was recorded such a long time ago, we kind of sneaked some of the new songs into our live set over the spring and summer and that felt great.  Just before Christmas, we did some shows and played some new songs and we're just itching to get it out there, so finally it's going to happen in a few days and it feels good.  

The album artwork seems to have become increasingly abstract with the last few albums.  How much time goes into deciding on what to use?  Does Niklas present several ideas or what?
Yeah, he takes care of all that, but everybody in the band has to decide on something that we want for the cover.  It is much harder, especially for Niklas, he does this for a  living and does album covers all the time but it's much easier to work with one person in the band and he will do some different concepts and they will decide and that's it.  But when he creates something for our band, obviously it means more to him and it's harder for him to come up with something that everybody agrees on.  So for this one, we had a lot of discussions about the lyrics and the content of the album and the way it felt.  He came up with like a hundred different sketches and stuff like that.  After a long process of elimination, we ended up with something similar to what ended up on the album and he just tweaked that and made sure it had a great purpose.  I guess it is abstract, much like the lyrics, but that's kind of the point as well - you can read a lot of stuff into it.  I guess it will be clear once you see the final booklet and all the other art in there as well as the lyrics.

I read that you and Niklas did a promo tour just before Christmas - do you enjoy doing that kind of thing or is it more of a distraction?
It was good, it was really interesting.  It was good to go out and meet people, even though it can be exhausting and you end up answering all the wrong questions. (laughs)  But it was cool and we got such great response from all the different countries that we went to.  It's a different thing than sitting at home doing interviews like I am today, a good variation.  Even though I prefer to be at home, it was a good thing to do and proved to be very successful I guess when it came to cover stories and magazine reviews and all that

What is the current status of The Gallery and Mind's I reissues?
I really don't know.  I hear that it is being pressed right now, but I haven't heard anything about a release date yet.  They physically exist right now anyway.  They're great, there's all kinds of extra songs on there and some other artwork and newly mastered as well.  I'm just hoping that it will be released in time for the upcoming tours, so that they will be out there.  People shouldn't have to resort to mail-order or import, it should be available and that is finally happening.

Have you had any problems at all coordinating that with your old label?
Not personally, but I guess the record company had some problems.  I heard there was a communication problem, but I guess it is sorted out now.  Osmose really wants to keep those albums and Century Media really wants to buy them so that they'll have the rights [to them] - I don't know what's happening.  As long as they are out there, I'm happy. (laughs)  They'll be distributed by Century Media no matter what so that means the distribution will be good and that's what's been lacking all these years.

Last year, you released a two-disc set with all your early demos and EPs.  I always appreciate it when bands do that kind of thing for the fans.
Yeah, I just hope people won't misinterpret it is as some rip-off thing, us trying to cash in or something by releasing old material like that.  As long as people realize it is just for the people who already have everything else, to complete the collection.  It feels good to have everything out there - no more secrets, no more extra tracks anywhere.  Everything we ever recorded in the studio is now released, so it feels very good.

You guys always get compared with the other Swedish bands like In Flames and Soilwork even though your sound is quite different.  It's kind of like with the early thrash bands that all got lumped together - if you listen to them now, they don't sound anything alike.
I remember thinking like that, too, about the Bay Area thrash scene.  I thought, 'Well, it must be an area full of musicians everywhere creating great music and everything kind of sounds the same.'  And [the same] with all the death metal bands recording at Morrissound and stuff like that.  Just these fantasy ideals of what you thought that was like and now people think the same about Gothenburg or Stockholm and it's weird to me.  It does make sense, but it is kind of hard to wrap my head around it.

A lot of the classic metal and thrash bands have gotten back together in recent years and others have been together throughout.  Do you foresee DT being a life-long endeavor for you?
I don't know.  As long as it feels good, as long as we still find it interesting and fun, then that is as long as we will continue.  Right now, it feels better than ever.  We are more excited about this album than any album I think and with the timing being really right for the release and the whole year pretty much lined up with touring, it feels great.  If we can keep that for the next album as well and after that, then we will continue.  I guess as soon as we feel that we don't have anything to write about anymore or we run out of inspiration or ambition to do it, it would be silly - we don't want to go on touring or making albums for the wrong reasons.  If we're not satisfied then to hell with it.

"Lost to Apathy" appears on the Alone in the Dark movie soundtrack.  Were you pleased with that?
Yeah, I guess so.  It's one of those things that we just read on the Internet, actually, and were like, 'Alright, cool.'  "Music from and inspired by a movie."  Yeah, very, very inspired.  (laughs)  But it seems to be a great collection of songs, so it will probably be a really good party album, even though it has nothing to do with the movie.  It's going to be a great double-CD.  I saw the track listing and it looks amazing, tons of great bands, so it should be good.  But you don't have to go to the movie to hear the songs because the songs won't be there.

Would you like to do more soundtrack appearances in the future?
I guess if you're giving us a song for a specific movie perhaps, or if it's something we can actually be in control of, then it would be cool.  I don't really like albums with music inspired by a movie.  I like movie soundtracks, the actual score; I love those and buy them all the time.  And if it is songs actually taken from the movie, then that is cool too, but when it is just a mix tape with the name of the movie on it, then I don't know.

It is kind of strange; I don't know how that trend got started.
Yeah, me neither.  I mean - why?  (laughs)  But sometimes it's good, there are some great albums like that out and I think that if you're into metal, this is going to be one of the best ones and should be worth getting if you don't have all the individual albums already I guess.

[For more of this interview, check out issue #29 of Outburn magazine]

http://www.darktranquillity.com

DARK TRANQUILLITY is:
Mikael Stanne - Vocals
Niklas Sundin - Guitars
Michael Niklasson - Guitars
Martin Henriksson - Bass
Martin Brändström - Keyboards
Anders Jivarp - Drums