{"id":1999,"date":"2011-02-28T00:00:35","date_gmt":"2011-02-28T00:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=1999"},"modified":"2012-02-18T02:36:15","modified_gmt":"2012-02-18T02:36:15","slug":"feature-evergrey-02-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-evergrey-02-11\/","title":{"rendered":"EVERGREY – Restoring The Loss (February 2011) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

EVERGREY – Restoring The Loss<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nFebruary 2011<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Evergrey (l-r): Marcus Jidell, Rikard Zander, Tom Englund, Hannes Van Dahl
and Johan Niemann<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

On May 7th, 2010, Gothenburg, Sweden-based progressive metal outfit Evergrey issued a public statement: guitarist Henrik Danhage, drummer Jonas Ekdahl and bassist Jari Kainulainen had all parted ways with the group. Henrik and Jonas preferred to explore music as members of their project Death Destruction, while Jari opted to play with Los Angeles metal assortment Killing Machine for financial reasons. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t very easy for us,\u201d admits Tom S. Englund, founder, guitarist and lead vocalist for Evergrey. \u201cWe\u2019ve been friends for ten years, and the last two years of those ten we started degenerating as a band and as people \u2013 we didn\u2019t enjoy the company of each other any more. Before that got to be a real big problem we wanted to make sure that we ended this, because nothing was more important to us than keeping our friendship. That was something that we built for a very long time, and not something that we were willing to sacrifice for a stupid band like Evergrey. That would\u2019ve been extremely stupid in my eyes, so we just felt that we should let bygones be bygones. They went one way, we went another way and we\u2019re all still friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

2008-2010 marked the decline of Evergrey\u2019s internal relations, though one root, central cause is difficult to pinpoint. \u201cIt was just total apathy,\u201d the guitarist confesses. \u201cWe didn\u2019t enjoy playing, and it wasn\u2019t any more complicated than that. We didn\u2019t appreciate each other\u2019s company at all \u2013 we spent more time with the crew members than we did with each other. We had a beer in Brazil, staying at a five-star hotel, lying by the pool and drinking drinks. If we aren\u2019t even enjoying that, then something\u2019s wrong. Somebody\u2019s not happy with the situation, and if the situation was that we weren\u2019t happy with each other, or if it was something to do with the music, or if it was something to do with the economy or the stature of the band, I don\u2019t know. It was most likely a combination of all.\u201d<\/p>\n

So it was a case of seeing each other too much Tom? Being on the road with the band, and all that? \u201cNot that much because it was band related, you know? It was business related. As soon as we sat down we stopped being friends and became business partners, and we forgot about the friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n

An age-old tale throughout the history of sound, musical differences were possibly a factor. \u201cFor me music is extremely important,\u201d the vocalist explains. \u201cIt\u2019s more important for me to get my way and get the music out that I have inside me than it is for me to have you as a friend. We had three major figures in this band \u2013 me, Henrik and Jonas \u2013 so we had three big minds clashing all the time. That came to a point where we didn\u2019t wanna step on each other\u2019s toes, and I can\u2019t do that. I have to write music and I have to get out what\u2019s in me, and if that means that I have to tell my best friends to leave the band then that\u2019s what I will do, and that\u2019s what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naturally, Evergrey\u2019s major personnel changes brought the unit\u2019s future into question from the remaining members\u2019 perspective. \u201cWe weren\u2019t a band first of all,\u201d Tom freely admits, laughing. \u201cAfter those guys were gone, we were nothing. I said to Rikard the keyboard player \u2018I have to really think about this. I have to see what I wanna do. I have to see if I should get a new job, or if I should do other music or whatever.\u2019 After a week to ten days the hunger came back though, and I told Rikard \u2018Let\u2019s try to write; we have to see if we can write together, just you and me.\u2019 All of a sudden, within a week we wrote three songs and it was like going down the autobahn in this fucking sports car and never putting your foot on the brake. Within two to two-and-a-half months, we wrote eight to ten songs and then we started contemplating getting new members.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Torn line-up: Jonas Ekdahl, Jari Kainulainen, Tom Englund, Rikard Zander and
Henrik Danhage<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

While Tom S. Englund and keyboardist Rikard Zander remain Evergrey members, completing the quintet\u2019s line-up are guitarist Marcus Jidell (ex-Royal Hunt), drummer Hannes Van Dahl and bassist Johan Niemann (Demonoid \/ ex-Therion \/ ex-Evil Masquerade). Thankfully, auditions weren\u2019t necessary. \u201cWe just called friends; we called friends and asked them \u2018Do you know anyone?\u2019, and they would say either \u2018Yes\u2019 or \u2018No\u2019,\u201d the Evergrey founder reveals. \u201cEventually, we spoke to three people that we respect very much. We spoke to one guy named Snowy Shaw, who used to be the drummer for King Diamond and he sings for Therion. He\u2019s a fantastic drummer, and he had a drum student that he could recommend that was totally mature in his opinion, a drum student that was also a great player and had the ability to become even greater. He gave us Hannes, and then I called a great friend of mine named Pontus Norgren who plays guitar for Hammerfall. I asked him if he knew a good guitarist and he said \u2018Yes, I have one sitting next to me. Do you want to speak to him?\u2019, so I spoke to him. Pontus is married to Marcus\u2019 sister. Johan I knew from before; I knew him from touring together with Therion ten years ago, and I knew he was a great bass player so it was very easy. We didn\u2019t even audition anyone – we just met and started rehearsing for the tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

It sounds like everything fell into place Tom? \u201cYeah, I would say so. Definitely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mood within Evergrey circa 2011 to that within Evergrey circa 2008-2010 is incomparable. \u201cThe previous members of Evergrey we spent so much time together with; we did ten tours together and so on, and all this travelling and all these albums,\u201d the Swede reminisces. \u201cWe experienced so many things and what not, so I won\u2019t compare that at all because it wouldn\u2019t be fair either to the old guys or the new guys. Especially the new guys, because they\u2019re not here to replace anyone. They\u2019re here to take their own space, and carve out their own little world within Evergrey. That\u2019s what I want anyway, and that\u2019s what they have done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The multiple additions of Marcus, Hannes and Johan have injected fresh blood into the Evergrey stream, fuelling a renewed hunger. \u201cI think it\u2019s like when you play football, where you get two new players in the team and they start scoring and create new ways for you to do things,\u201d Tom figures. \u201cRight now this album is getting such rave reviews from everywhere, and we have never encountered anything like it for eight albums. It\u2019s quite strange for us to have unanimous praise from everyone. It\u2019s extremely nice of course, but at the same time mostly relieving.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Tom stated, a full three compositions had been penned for eighth studio full-length Glorious Collision<\/em> by the Evergrey mainman and Rikard within the first week of songwriting sessions. \u201cIt was great,\u201d he exclaims. \u201cI just fucking turned my head to the right or to the left, and I asked him \u2018Hey dude, do you like this?\u2019 He would say \u2018Fuck yeah, man \u2013 that rocks\u2019 or he would say \u2018No, that sucks.\u2019 Either way, we would come to a conclusion in two to three seconds. Also, me and Rikard have the same mind when it comes to being constructive; we criticise ourselves to the point where it\u2019s almost ridiculous but it also ends up with some sort of quality in the end, and that\u2019s where our heart lies. We\u2019re extremely keen on the quality; we would never let anything pass without us being totally convinced that that was supposed to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

New guitarist Marcus Jindell, meanwhile, made songwriting contributions towards two numbers: \u2018You\u2019 and \u2018To Fit The Mold\u2019. \u201cThat\u2019s correct,\u201d Tom confirms. \u201cIt\u2019s quite remarkable in a way since he came into the band so late. Even though he came into the band so late, he still got his say and still got things into the band. It\u2019s great for him as a musician to come into the band and really understand what the band is about, because that is quite a task to be honest. He came in and co-wrote \u2018You\u2019; he wrote the beginning riff for it, so I just wrote parts around that and the vocal melodies of course to make it into a song. With \u2018To Fit The Mold\u2019 we rewrote some of his ideas and made it into an acoustic beginning, and so the song is what it is today, which is great. Those two songs widen the album\u2019s diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Tom Englund<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Bassist Johan Niemann and drummer Hannes Van Dahl contributed towards Glorious Collision<\/em> as well. \u201cThey mostly contributed fresh views and fresh ideas but most of all positive input, which is not to be looked at lightly,\u201d the axeman emphasises. \u201cThat is something that is extremely important, because before it was sometimes the case with Evergrey that it wasn\u2019t really that important. I could say whatever I wanted, like \u2018Hey, listen to this\u2019, and the response would be \u2018Yeah… well… yeah.\u2019 You felt that their hearts weren\u2019t in it, that they weren\u2019t burning for it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evergrey\u2019s new members joined at a late stage in the songwriting process for Glorious Collision<\/em>, so it would be plausible to assume its successor will be a more diverse affair. Tom remains noncommittal, however. \u201cI don\u2019t know man \u2013 I don\u2019t even know if there will be another record,\u201d he concedes. \u201cRight now, we are very fragile. It\u2019s like asking… we\u2019ll have to see where this takes us. Right now, it looks extremely good. Pre-order wise and everything like that, the numbers look better than any album we\u2019ve ever released, but at the same time things change and things can happen. Right now we\u2019re looking at the schedule which will take us into January 2012, so we\u2019ll do that first and then we\u2019ll see how much speed we\u2019ve got within us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom founded Evergrey in 1995, and over the course of those 16 years the outfit have issued eight studio full-lengths. Without doubt, Evergrey has been a huge part of the man\u2019s life. \u201cOh yeah, fuck man,\u201d the vocalist acknowledges. \u201cHalf of my life I\u2019ve been in this band almost, but you change as a person also. I\u2019m not the same guy as I was when I was fucking 20 or 21 or 18, and thank God for that. You alter your ways of thinking and you alter what you value the most and such, and I don\u2019t want to come to a point where I write music because I wanna make another $40,000. That\u2019s fuckin\u2019 useless \u2013 the day when I do it for that, then I will stop. Right now I still write for the love of the music, and for the fact that I love to do this. I can\u2019t imagine myself doing anything different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marcus, Johan and Hannes are fully fledged members to confirm, as opposed to session musicians. \u201cThe line-up? Yeah. Fuck man, they\u2019re there now,\u201d Tom corroborates. \u201cThey\u2019re a part of this album, so I would say that they are most definitely in the band. They came in and recorded the album, so they\u2019re there. That\u2019s what is nice about this. Breaking up from Evergrey as it were was the best decision the guys in Evergrey have ever made, otherwise we would not be here today and we would not have this album and people would not… Like in America, it\u2019s extremely weird because we have all these high-profile internet pages like Metal Injection<\/em> and Decibel<\/em> that premieres our videos and our singles, and those sites never looked at Evergrey before. <\/p>\n

\u201cSeriously, I\u2019ve done over 200 interviews. This is my fourth week in a row doing this, and for me, it\u2019s like all of a sudden… And no-one… The worst review I\u2019ve got from a journalist \u2013 speaking to them like I\u2019m speaking to you right now – was \u2018I think it\u2019s a quite good album\u2019, which for me by that point was two weeks into doing interviews. It felt like he was degrading me (laughs). Even that was quite a nice comment, but for me right then I thought \u2018Something is wrong with you because everybody says it\u2019s in our top three albums.\u2019 Everyone from the USA says it\u2019s our top album, but it doesn\u2019t feel like we\u2019ve done something different. That I\u2019m aware of, anyway. It feels like we pushed some kind of button that made the world understand us all of a sudden \u2013 it\u2019s really, really weird. The only thing I can think of is that maybe this album has a more prominent sense of hope within the despair and drama that usually surrounds Evergrey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to judge Glorious Collision<\/em> against its seven predecessors, the Evergrey founder refuses. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t,\u201d he rebukes. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t do that \u2013 I never do that. It\u2019s like comparing seasons in football \u2013 I use football references all the time because I love football (laughs). How can you compare one year if you win the Champions League and the next year you win it again? Which one would you say was the best? It\u2019s weird. I can\u2019t even do it, because for me all of the albums are a map of my feelings. They\u2019re a map of where I was at that time, because at that time the writing represented my mood. The writing told the story of where I was at that time, which is a great thing for me because it\u2019s an emotional map of my history. When I listen to one of our albums, I immediately end up in that place where I was when I wrote the songs. It\u2019s fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Evergrey (l-r): Hannes Van Dahl, Johan Niemann, Tom Englund, Rikard Zander
and Marcus Jidell<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

So with that being said Tom, you were in a less positive frame of mind when Torn<\/em> was written? \u201cOh yeah. Can you maybe even tell that by the title (laughs)? Maybe that title was a prophecy. I guess it was (laughs). I didn\u2019t even think about it like that, but yeah, definitely. The thing is, the older you get the more you understand things. I sound like an old man speaking (laughs). I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve been through this as well, whether it be in a relationship with a girl, or like us a band situation. You can continually be in that situation for several months or years without really appreciating where you are because you just go on routinely, thinking \u2018This is the way life is \u2013 nevermind\u2019, and that was what was happening with Evergrey. When we wrote Torn<\/em> we were all fired up and felt great, but Henrik wasn\u2019t really involved. He met a new girl and his views on life changed a bit, but we were okay with that because we were still best friends. I thought \u2019He needs his time with that, so let him do that\u2019, so me and Jonas wrote that album. Then it came out though, and nothing panned out the way we wanted it to. We then started to get miserable within Evergrey, but we didn\u2019t really notice. It just degenerated day by day, and we became worse and worse without realising that we were all of a sudden unhappy.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then it comes to that crunch moment when your eyes open a bit more. \u201cYeah, exactly,\u201d the guitarist agrees. \u201cThen you wake up one morning and say \u2018Stop for fuck sake. What the fuck am I doing?\u2019 You realise suddenly that yesterday I hung out with friends and didn\u2019t even think of Evergrey, and all of a sudden I was a happy person. Isn\u2019t that the way things are supposed to be in my fucking professional life? Especially when I create music, travel around the world, meet different cultures and play in front of great fans everywhere. If you don\u2019t appreciate that, then something is wrong. That was it, and then I told Henrik \u2018We\u2019ve gotta talk. I can\u2019t play with you anymore, and I want you to tell me that you\u2019ll leave Evergrey because I won\u2019t have to kick you out \u2013 because I will.\u2019 That\u2019s what I said. He was my best friend. \u2018I don\u2019t want this to die man. Get the fuck out \u2013 I can\u2019t stand you anymore.\u2019 We spoke for two hours, but we both knew, me and him. We knew when we called each other and set that date for a meeting. We knew that that would be the end of his time in the band.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lyrically speaking, Glorious Collision<\/em> inevitably references Evergrey\u2019s internal struggles of late. \u201cThe lyrics I wrote beforehand,\u201d Tom begins. \u201cIt\u2019s quite obvious what \u2018Leave It Behind Us\u2019 is about; it\u2019s about the fact that we had these ten years, and we should leave it at that \u2013 let\u2019s not fucking ruin that. It\u2019s like a divorce album (laughs). \u2018You\u2019 is about being betrayed, and \u2018Wrong\u2019 is about me being wrong when I thought I was right. \u2018Frozen\u2019 is about when you become used to routine thinking and that apathetic part of life, while \u2018Restoring The Loss\u2019 is about when we started to get back to life. Then we go into other songs and other similar feelings and ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Classic rock elements surface on the album. \u201cWe didn\u2019t care; if a Def Leppard guitar riff came up, we\u2019d fucking play that if that suited the song,\u201d the singer insists. \u201cIf it benefited the song, that would be in there. Take the song \u2018Out Of Reach\u2019; the verses in \u2018Out Of Reach\u2019 are extremely hard rock I would say, but with my vocals and the dramatic keyboards or whatever you want to call them it becomes an Evergrey song in the end. Yeah though, the influences were what I was thinking about, especially on that song, which is like a fucking AOR song.\u201d<\/p>\n

A large part of Evergrey\u2019s appeal is arguably Tom\u2019s vocals, a strong asset for the Swedish metal act. \u201cMy vocals are definitely one of the greater trademarks of Evergrey of course, but then again you should know that I never even considered myself a vocalist up until The Inner Circle<\/em> album,\u201d he notes. \u201cI always said \u2018I play guitar… Oh shit, and sing as well.\u2019 For me, to begin with it was always more of a way to get from A to B to get the song to where I wanted. I never listened to great vocalists and thought \u2018Ok, that\u2019s what I wanna do.\u2019 For me it\u2019s never been about that, so I guess I have some sort of talent in making my will come through not necessarily by being the best vocalist in the world, because I\u2019m not. But I\u2019m good enough (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

Sombre, melancholic moments juxtapose themselves against harder, metal-type moments on Glorious Collision<\/em>, not that such passages are intentionally composed. \u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t think,\u201d the axeman asserts. \u201cIt just becomes what it becomes, and I think doing this for ten years has also given me some sort of advantage over many other bands when it comes to the multi-faceted aspect you\u2019re asking about. I just make music; if it turns out to be a very slow song like \u2018Free\u2019 which is totally acoustic and orchestrated, then that\u2019s what it becomes. But if you… I don\u2019t know man. For me, it just happens. I don\u2019t sit down with a plan, or sit down with a writing schedule or sheet music in front of me. Everything is in my brain, and in the end it becomes greater during the writing process.\u201d<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s very unconscious? Natural? \u201cYeah, I guess (laughs), or very conscious but in an unconscious way,\u201d Tom guesses. \u201cIt\u2019s there, you know? I just have to close my eyes, and it comes to me. If you played guitar for me, I would within two minutes have ten different ideas on how to improve it and what should be added to it in terms of drums and bass and keyboards and vocals, and if there would be vocals or whatever. My mind is like that 24 hours a day, so I even think about that when I sleep which is extremely, extremely tiring. I wake up totally exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that means you\u2019re totally suited to write music because if you didn\u2019t feel that way, then maybe it would be time for you to leave music behind. \u201cYeah. We\u2019ll see. Maybe it\u2019ll come to a point where I can\u2019t take it anymore, and I become too fucking old to deal with the mind activity (laughs). Yeah… I also love it. This is what I do man, and I don\u2019t know how to do anything better than that, so… (laughs). So until I find something that will replace the music, I think I will do the music.\u201d<\/p>\n

A music video was filmed for the track \u2018Wrong\u2019, directed by Patric Ullaeus of Revolver Film Company (who\u2019s previously helmed videos by Dimmu Borgir, Lacuna Coil, In Flames, Sonic Syndicate and Lacuna Coil). \u201cPatrik is a good friend of mine \u2013 Patrik and me are exactly the same,\u201d the axeman feels. \u201cI would say he has exactly what I was just talking about. It\u2019s really funny that you mention that because he is exactly the same way but when it comes to film. We are working on different projects together which are more movie theatre based. A movie, that\u2019s what we\u2019re working on. We have been working on it for a year. We had some major works that got in-between us, but we\u2019re not in a rush. It\u2019ll probably something with supernatural ideas and what not. We have a story, but I can\u2019t tell you too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glorious Collision<\/em> was released on February 22nd in North America, on the 25th in Germany, and on the 28th in the rest of Europe, all through Nuclear Blast Records.<\/p>\n

Interview published in February 2011<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EVERGREY – Restoring The Loss Anthony Morgan February 2011 Evergrey (l-r): Marcus Jidell, Rikard Zander, Tom Englund, Hannes Van Dahl and Johan Niemann On May 7th, 2010, Gothenburg, Sweden-based progressive metal outfit Evergrey issued a public statement: guitarist Henrik Danhage, drummer Jonas Ekdahl and bassist Jari Kainulainen had all parted ways with the group. Henrik […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[114,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evergrey","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1999"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4296,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999\/revisions\/4296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}