Bröötalisk - After doing some research, I noticed that tonight's show is going to feature some of your more mellow, softer songs. Why did you decide to sacrifice your more popular stuff to play some of your lesser known material? Åkerfeldt - Well it's not like a mellow set. There's some, I would say, more intense bits in the set then mellow sets. But there aren't any of the type of songs. Basically we've been, for the last ten or so tours, focusing on the more heavier songs. And this new is obviously special in the discography. We decided to pick songs that fit together with these new songs. We're promoting this new now, not the old stuff. So I wouldn't mind to play only the new record, if you know what I mean. I like to show clearly that this is what we like now as opposed to have a new album out that just plays the old shit because it makes people happy. We've done that so many times. So I'm hoping people realize it's a special type of tour. Once this album settles in the discography and becomes just a record, as opposed to the new album that we're promoting, we're probably gonna mix it up more, but right now we're picking songs from the old records that fit together with these songs. It also saves my voice because I'm in a whole different way now on this new album than I have in the past. Even if I had clean vocals in the past these types of vocals on the new record are more...belting it out sometimes, and the screaming vocals just takes a toll on my clean vocals. Bröötalisk - How do you feel that you are the last surviving original member of ? Is it more difficult to work with newer faces as opposed to more experienced people? Åkerfeldt - No. I like it. Every new addition or every time the lineup changes, even if I don't like them, it always brought something new to the band. Which is a cliché but it's also something that everybody will understand because in any type of environment, if you're in a relationship and you find a new girl and you love this girl, you're not gonna be thinking about the old girl too much. Any type of job, there's always new people coming and going. It always adds something. And now people are complaining about Anders leaving the band in '96 because then we had Lopez and now we have Axenrot and the same goes for Peter and Fredrik. For me being in the band people can say what they want and I understand lineups and how people view a band and they have their favorite era of the band, they're favorite lineup. It doesn't matter. Nothing's gonna change that. That's to them. But for me, who has played with all these guys, I know for a fact that we're a stronger band musically then we've ever been. But people have this whole perception about when Peter or Lopez was in the band that was their favorite lineup because that's when their favorite album came out. But for me we've always escalated and reached levels that we've never been able to reach before every time we had a new guy come in. I mean, I never pushed anyone out. And I'm very loyal and I want the whole team type of situation with this band. For me it's been really interesting. I don't ever regret or wish it was like how it was before. Never had those types of feelings, and it's because I'm on the inside. Bröötalisk - I'm a huge fan of both you and , which makes me very excited over the news about . Care to shed light on this mysterious project? Perhaps an album date, what we can expect, etc? Åkerfeldt - It's one of those projects where you have to head it to understand what it is. You can talk about certain things and say what it's like musically and stuff like that but it really doesn't give much of a clear picture of what it is. We've been thinking about working together for such a long time and this is the result finally happening. We recorded 6 songs I think and they're different from anything I've ever been involved in. Some of those songs are some of the most beautiful type of music that I've ever been involved in. And it's a big relief. I'm happy it happened. It's great. *laughs* What can I say? I love it. But if you're a diehard metal fan, you might have problems with it. That is, if you're not open minded. If you just listen to metal music then it's not for you. Bröötalisk - It sounds like you and Wilson are really, really good friends? Åkerfeldt - Yeah. We've become really good friends lately. When he started working with us we clicked almost immediately even if we're very different people with different backgrounds. We're very, very different, but we get along great. So I count him as one of my best friends these days. Bröötalisk - I've always been curious as to how the friendship between you two started? Åkerfeldt - He emailed me. I actually just set up my first computer and my email, and I had an email address but I never really got any emails. One day however I got an email from him. He said he liked the new album, which at the time was Still Life. And I was already a big fan by then. And all I could think was "Wow". I viewed him as an idol and as one of the very few guys that was doing music at the time and still is today that was relevant and that meant something to me, because I was only listening to old music. So we started emailing a bit back and forth. Just talking shit basically. I went to see him in London and asked him if he wanted to produce the next album which was . So that's how it happened. Just had dinner. *laughs* Bröötalisk - While on the topic of side projects, I haven't heard any news about in a while. Are you guys doing any work with Bloodbath, or is that lower on the priority list? Åkerfeldt - Not from me, but I'm not constant in that band. I'm kinda come and go. I kind of leave and come as I please, in a way, and I have no problem if they wanted to record with another singer, or tour, for that matter. I'm doing it for fun, and unless I feel it's fun I don't want to do it. But it's really ( for Bloodbath, vocalist for ) and Anders Nyström (guitarist for Bloodbath and Katatonia) and "Sodomizer" (Per Erikkson, guitarist for Bloodbath and Katatonia) who write for Bloodbath, and I just show up sometimes, so I'm not sure if I'm in the band or not, to be honest. Bröötalisk - Speaking of which, I never realized until just recently that Bloodbath consists of only Opeth and Katatonia members. Is there any possibility of a Bloodbath encore at the end of the show? Åkerfeldt - Not this show, but on this tour, yeah. Bröötalisk - Another random question that might be obvious: I've always wondered why bands from Sweden usually sing in English. Is that something that's just implied when forming a band? Åkerfeldt - Well we learn English pretty early on. We probably learn earlier now, but when I was a kid I learned in 3rd grade. But before that I had already started to learn through the music I was listening to which was only musica sung in English. And I developed an interest in languages. That was one of the things in school that I really enjoyed. It's basically to reach out. Singing in Swedish might be exotic to a few people and it might be a little irritating, people won't know what you're singing about. Artists who only sing in Swedish, as I know it, they're limited to a career in Sweden, which is basically nothing. My dream was never to tour Sweden, I wanted to come here when I was a kid. And metal was such a massive thing in the '80s when I grew up and I never even thought about singing in Swedish. Bröötalisk - Besides the two side projects, you've mentioned in the past that you want to record a solo album. Is this something that you're actively working on? Åkerfeldt - Not at the moment, no. I've been busy with our new record and stuff with Steven. I would like to do it, I think, if I come up with something good. But I don't really feel this is the time right now. A lot of people are asking me about it, so there must be some type of interest out there, which might eventually lead me to do something. That's the beauty of Opeth. Even if I don't see it as a solo project, I could pretty much get anything into Opeth, which has been my goal since the start. So anything I write as a solo piece I could probably get it into Opeth. But you never know. It might happen. Bröötalisk - Once you're done with this tour, what are Opeth's plans for the future? Åkerfeldt - Well this is the first tour for this album, so we're going to be touring a lot. We only have four days off after this tour before we go on a European tour, and then one day off before we go to Australia to play. Then we have January off and then it starts again with another U.S. tour I think and South America and Japan, then it's the Summer Festival in Europe then probably another tour. So it's gonna be a lot of touring. Bröötalisk - I know this a little early, but after you're done with all the touring, do you have any idea of what Opeth's plans are? Åkerfeldt - Well, right now it's too soon to say if it's gonna be another album. I like to kind of leave it open, because for me personally I go through the motions and sometimes I don't want to do it at all and I want to allow myself that freedom to just walk away from everything whenever I want to. I would love to do more albums right now, but it's too soon for me to think about it or say anything about it really. Bröötalisk - I've noticed a few people have been saying that your voice, in the earlier stages of Opeth, sounded a lot better than it does now. How do you feel about those types of comments? Åkerfeldt - Well, to a certain extent, it's probably true. I definitely had more stamina when I was younger, but I also had more conviction, because they're talking about the screaming vocals, I would take it. And I was really getting into it, and they're the kind of vocals that require belief, you can't just do it. Same with regular vocals. If you sing without emotion it's gonna sound like shit. But it's also a technical problem that I discovered myself, because I started using the in-ear monitors. Once I was doing that, I noticed that I got sore in my throat from screaming. So it had me changing my technique a little bit. Sometimes I thought, "That sounds a bit strange. Why is that?" And then I stopped using it for a couple of shows and it was back on form. On records it's never really a problem but live it's not as good as it was. But I can probably do it pretty well if I want. Bröötalisk - When released Deconstruction, I noticed that you were featured on one of the tracks. What was it like working with a man like Townsend? Åkerfeldt - Well that was the last screaming vocals I recorded. I just did it back home, so I was never with him. He just sent the files and I recorded it and sent it back. But I love Devin. We're like, maybe not brothers, we rarely see each other, but when we do, he always feels like family to be honest. Bröötalisk - How do you feel about people commenting on how they're disappointed and angry with the lack of deathgrowls and such on Heritage and even Damnation? Åkerfeldt - I think that's their problem. We never played or made music for the fans. It's been a great run for us so far by writing music for ourselves that we wanna hear. And we had a lot of people that also seemed to want to hear that kind of stuff. But we've never been a purist type of band. Not even since the first record. I made the decision to become a musician based on that I wanted freedom. That goes for the type of music that I want to make. I didn't want to be boxed in by anyone. I hate people telling me what to do. What I can say about that is that I'm sorry but there's shitloads of bands out there doing that type of music that they want want to hear so I suggest that they listen to those types of bands instead. And if they want to stick with us they have to have more of an open mind. You can't just be into death metal. At this point we've been around for 21 years, we've had quite a few records. So they should know that we're not gonna give them exactly what they want all the time. The problem is not mine, it's theirs to find other bands to listen to. Bröötalisk - That's what I really respect about you guys. You don't really give a shit what other people think, you just care about what you guys want to make. Åkerfeldt - Yeah, we are a commercial product as well. Obviously I want everyone to buy and love the record, but not at the expense of our integrity and the way I write music. I'm more afraid of losing my integrity and writing shit that I don't like but I know it's gonna please some fans and go there and people saying I love the new album and I'm just feeling I don't like it. That would be more horrible for me than to lose the entire fanbase to be honest. I'm not afraid of that stuff anymore. I've had a good run. If it ends tomorrow I'm not gonna be too happy. I mean I'm still a musician, regardless of what anyone says. Bröötalisk - So I know you do the majority of the songwriting for Opeth. I've always been curious as to how much of an influence the other band members have on the songwriting. Åkerfeldt - Well, they don't have too much influence, apart from, for example, if I play them a song that I've written and they say they don't like the song, I would probably scratch it, and I want everybody to feel like it's their band even if I'm coming up with the material. I write for all the instruments too. I want them to feel like they can relate to it. And that's actually what happened with the new album. I wrote some metal sounding songs, two songs, I played it to Mendez and he didn't like it. He had been wanting, wishing for a record like Heritage, so he got disappointed with me sticking to some safer type of path, if you know what I mean. And I scrapped those songs. Deleted them. Same with Axe (drummer Martin Axenrot). More or less we have a need to move on every now and then. You find a sound that you like for a record or two or three, and then you're done with that type of sound and you move on. And that's what happened with Heritage. That's why I can't say what's happening in the future. I've heard people say it's "The Mike Akerfeldt Solo!", which is not more of a solo record than any of the other records that we've done. I've always been writing most of the material, if not all of the material, and all the guys just clicked with it, and liked it so far. And if they don't they tell me. I'm not gonna go, "Fuck you, I'm the boss", because I hate to be playing songs live and looking over knowing that Mendez hates this song. That's not gonna happen. But we have been together for a long time and we share a lot of music together, listen to a lot of music together, and turn each other onto new or old artists. Everybody comes together through their playing as well, even if they're not writing. They make the albums and songs their songs through their playing and through their performance. It's something I can't do. I can't play bass like Mendez, or play keyboards like Joakim or drums or lead . I depend on good musicians to realize my writing. So I'm in a good spot like that. I've surrounded myself with great musicians who are also very open minded and that's how it is. Bröötalisk - Who or what band out there right now are currently your favorite? Åkerfeldt - I wouldn't know, because I'm too stuck in old music. There's probably shitloads of great bands out there. I think the scene is saturated, especially the metal scene. So much fucking shit out there. It seems fashionable to try to turn me on to music by saying, "You'll like this guy, he sounds exactly like you!". So why the hell should I listen to it then? I'm not interested in hearing something that sounds like what I did, if you know what I mean. I want to hear new music that's "new" music so to speak, and I tend to find that mostly in old music, which is kind of ironic in a way. I'm a record collector, so I stumble upon several artists all the time that presents music that I never really heard before or that's forgotten. So I don't feel desperate searching for new music because there's so much stuff that I've missed out on that I'm still discovering. So I can't say what's hot today. There's people that are raving about Ghost, and stuff like that from Sweden, which I think is cool, but they sounds like Mercyful Fate to me, and it's very gimmicky with the masks and I feel like I'm not ten years old anymore. So it's hard for me to like music that has so much other shit surrounding it that's cool. I want it to be pure, and you don't have to be cool to be playing music if you know what I mean. I don't get Third Wave of Retro, whatever, I don't get too much turn on to that even if I like music a bit more than some of the more generic radio friendly metal music or whatever. So yeah, I'm listening to old music most of the time. Bröötalisk - I have to ask, what is currently your favorite album out there right now, new or old? Åkerfeldt - That's a difficult question. There's never one record. I listen to a lot of . Gonna have to say that. That album. I love the production of that record. I love the songs. That's my metal, so to speak. my iPod back home, so I haven't been listening to much music this tour. I bought a few records but it's stuff I already have. Like some stuff. I've heard it a billion of times. But I can hear it again of course. And there's always no issues so I have to buy that. But yeah I'm missing my iPod, so I go to bed and I don't listen to music much on this tour, while usually I listen to shitloads of music during a tour, but not this one. Bröötalisk - That's terrible. Åkerfeldt - *laughs* I know. It's terrible. I was looking for it. I was like, where the fuck did I drop it? I called home and of course it's right there.