Хорошие вопросы, про Скотта повеселило.
Чувака слева помню, был на концерте в Берлине, левее от нас, в майке металингусов.
Интервью
The album seems to have a strong theme, the songs flow really well together. Was this the idea from the start or how did this roll out?
Mark: We put the songs together and it just took this shape, especially when Myles finished all the lyrics and had taken it to the dark land.
Myles: It’s all arranged in such a short time compared to our other records and this album really is a snapshot of a certain period in life, it just really has a certain flow.
• Do you think the album would have been very different if you would have had more time?
Myles: definitely, but it’s hard to say if it would have been any better or worse.
Mark: It would have been better and worse…
• Does writing and singing songs like on this album work as some sort of personal therapy to you?
Myles: It certainly can, sometimes it’s a bit like a journal and writing and singing songs can really have some sort of healing potential.
• Have you ever thought about making a real concept album (like Dream Theatre or Porcupine Tree) with the music flowing through from song to song?
Mark: I don’t think we’ve ever gone into writing with a certain idea or goal in mind, not I the sense of writing a certain kind of song or concept album.
Myles: It would be a huge challenge though; it’s a totally different style of writing and a huge undertaking. Especially writing a concept album that really tells a complete story would be a huge challenge.
• Which songs of ABIII took most time and energy to put together and which ones have taken least effort to compose?
Mark: I think Ghost of Days Gone Bye was one of the most difficult ones. That one really took a lot of time to reshape and to get it into its current form. It used to be a lot longer and more complicated than it currently is. We simplified it a little bit as it would probably have been too confusing.
Myles: There are actually quite a lot of songs that took a long time from start to finish. Slip To The Void took really quite long, Wonderful Life even took several years, it just really depends. Some songs just happen and roll out pretty quick.
Mark: Yeah the first couple of songs we did were done within a week or so. Make It Right was one of those and actually All Hope Is Gone was a song that went through a lot of changes during the writing process, that was a hard one to get done.
• All Hope Is Gone really sounds like a song with various different influences. There’s been a bit of discussion about the song being piraty / medieval, how do you see that yourself?
Mark: I am of the opinion that it’s medieval, but my neighbor here does not agree…
Myles: No it certainly has more like a pirate song to me (starts swinging with his arm like during a pirates drinking song) don’t you think?
Mark: Yeah sometimes you actually see people in the crowd do that, they must be on Myles’ side then I guess.
• Of all the songs that you have written/recorded, which one makes you most proud or is closest to your hearts?
Myles: I think we all agree that Blackbird is the best song we have ever made.
Mark: Personally, for me In Loving Memory is the song that speaks to me the most, logically.
Myles: Blackbird is definitely the one we are all very proud of, and Wonderful Life is the song that is the most meaningful one for me, it’s the kind of song that just has the most personal background.
• How did you come up with the whole wings and birds thing? Where does that come from?
Myles: We like to fly!
Mark: Well Myles, you can just tell the story about Blackbird.
Myles: Oh yeah, I got the inspiration for Blackbird via a friend of mine. He is a huge Beatles fan and he really got me into the theme for some reason. It’s funny that you bring this up as someone tweeted me about the birds thing and I thought: that’s so true! There is so much about wings and birds. Blackbird, Words Darker Than Their Wings, all our album art, wow.
Mark: It works for Judas Priest…
Myles: I think for the next record, instead of about birds and wings, it’s all gonna be about things that can’t fly. Like snakes…
Mark: Or what about flippers? Flying flippers!
Myles: Flying flippers?!
• Fish maybe?
Myles: Yeah, good one!
Mark: Oh yeah, about Words Darker Than Their Wings. I came across that line when reading a book and really thought it would be a great title for a song or even an album. It was a perfect follow-up to Blackbird in a way. And it actually fits to this album really well, because of the dark atmosphere.
• It was just interesting and funny to see that after the Blackbird album the first new single that comes up has a cover showing wings of a bat.
Myles: Yeah, everyone is probably like: These guys need to come up with some new stuff.
Mark: The next album is going to be all about race cars!
• So yeah, there is no underlying reason behind the wings and birds theme then it seems?
Mark: Well, music makes you feel like you can fly…
• So does alcohol, in a way…
Myles: Yeah, just ask our drummer.
• You have played quite a few songs only once or twice during this tour, is there any reason behind this sort of experimenting or do you just want to keep things flexible?
Mark: The only complaint we have gotten in the past is that people want to hear songs that they don’t expect. We want to make sure that when people come to a show, they might get surprised. It’s possible by just putting a new song on the setlist or have a guest appear on stage, basically just something that people don’t expect.
• Like with Slash in Stockholm?
Myles: Yeah! Actually that was a surprise to all of us, we did not have a clue that that was going to happen. We finished Open Your Eyes, which was the last song of our set, and I walked off the stage and went like: who’s that? That’s not Slash, is it? Yes it is! I knew he was coming to Stockholm for some press, but he had just arrived so I surely didn’t expect him to come to our show. We then just asked him if he wanted to play along on Rise Today and that’s how it went… it was a great night!
• So do you have any surprises planned for tonight?
Myles: We’re all going to show up in spandex outfits!
• How do you usually create your setlists, does it depend a lot on the country/ city you perform in?
Mark: We usually try to think about the previous show, if there is some songs that just don’t get such a good reaction from the crowd then we might think about replacing it. During the sound check we usually try out a new song and see if we can fit it in the setlist for that night. (To Myles: ) We can actually try to song we spoke about earlier today…
Myles: Uhh… oh sure!
Mark: Like Coeur d’Alene, we played that the first time during the previous show.
• Are you planning to have that one in the setlist for tonight as well?
Myles: Do you want it?
• Definitely!
Myles: Then we’ll do it. Just for you!
Mark: It’s either that or Still Remains, kinda fifty-fifty for us.
• (To my colleagues Any preference guys? Coeur d’Alene for me!
Matti: Still Remains!
Myles: uh oh! Do you want to arm wrestle for it?
• Let’s keep it on Coeur d’Alene!
Myles: Alright, deal.
• So to close this off in style; which one of you comes up with the best pranks? Who is the craziest guy of the four?
Myles: Oh, that’s easy.
Mark: Yeah, that’s Phillips the drummer.
Myles: No doubt!
Mark: Yeah, if you sit next to a glass window and all of a sudden you see ass cheeks right next to you, you can be pretty sure that it’s our drummer!
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