Evergrey: A night to remember? Not quite yet

Evergrey were supposed to play in Bucharest, on January the 21st, but, unfortunately the show has been cancelled. So what you are about to read is actually an after-concert interview with guitarist Henrik Danhage, except that the concert never really happened. Yet.

Evergrey, 2006: Rikard Zander, Jonas Ekdahl, Tom Englund, Michael Hakansson, Henrik Danhage

Metalfan: Hi! First of all, we must say we were very excited thinking we would talk to you again at your show in Bucharest. And then we were very disappointed since it couldn't happen. Seems that we'll “talk” like this, which is better than nothing.
Henrik: Hi there. Due to technical problems with the bus trailer we were forced to park the bus outside Istanbul for over 10 hours to fix the trailer and therefore we couldn’t make it to Bucharest for the show, which is a real shame. We are very sorry for this and hopefully we can come back soon and play the show.

Metalfan: So, since you couldn't make it to Romania, can you please tell us how the rest of the European tour was?
Henrik: The tour was pretty good, except the 2 cancelled shows. It was really cool playing in countries we haven’t been in before and meeting new fans. There was a lot of problems with the bus company and because of them we were late to the venues everyday which really sucked cuz our crew had to work their asses of every night to make the show happen.

Metalfan: When we last talked at Metal Camp Slovenia in 2006, you announced that it was the last show for Michael with Evergrey. You now have a new bass player in the band, Fredrik Larsson. He is the third bass player in Evergrey, right?
Henrik: Right, good counting man, haha. We are very happy to have Fred in the band and he is a good replacement for Michael, so I think we are all happy now.

Metalfan: He used to be Michael’s technician, how did this transition come along? Is his accommodation complete now?
Henrik: This is the same thing as with Jonas and former drummer Patrik. Fred is a really old friend of mine and we known each other for almost 15 years. He was my first choice and he was the one Michael wanted as his replacement as well.

Metalfan: Will you have him wear a skirt on stage like Michael used to do?
Henrik: No, of course not, that was Michael’s trademark. As for Fredrik, we force the motherfucker to play naked, hahaha!

Metalfan: Apart from playing with Hammerfall he was involved in several other projects like Crystal Age, Dispatched, None. Are they all now in the past for him, is Evergrey his main focus?
Henrik: I formed None with him and guitar player Pierre Lysell over 10 years ago. Yes, I believe that Evergrey is his main priority, as all of the other bands are more or less put on ice.

Metalfan: How do you think his musical background will influence his input into the band? His influence on the new songs?
Henrik: I really don’t know yet. He doesn’t bring that many riffs to the table but he has a really good sense of timing and cool arrangements, so it’s going to be cool with his ideas in Evergrey.

Henrik Danhage

Metalfan: And now some questions about Monday Morning Apocalypse, that we couldn't ask you at Metal Camp because you seemed already too tired. It's been a while since Monday Morning Apocalypse has been released. Do you happen to see it from a different perspective right now?
Henrik: I think Monday Morning Apocalypse is a really good album and it felt really great having Sanken and Glauman working on it as well. Too bad it didn’t sold better cuz it was by far the most expensive album we made so far in our career. We tried something new and fresh for us and I’m very proud of the end result.

Metalfan: What do you think about the feedback it has got so far? Did it meet your expectations?
Henrik: The reviews were good and most of the fans dug it as well. It was the best album we were able to do at that point and I like it alot. Of course I wanted Monday Morning Apocalypse to sell gold in every country and that we didn’t do by far, I’m sad to say. But it’s a good, killer album, I would say.

Metalfan: Looking back at Monday Morning Apocalypse, are there things you want to do different for the next album, like producing it yourselves, since there has been much criticism about the sound, or do you think you will continue with processing the vocals, using filters and so on?
Henrik: Of course I hear the album different from when we put it out, but I am extremely happy by the end result of this album. As far as recording techniques go, I don’t know what we will use next time around.

Metalfan: Maybe some ideas that seemed great at the time didn't turn out to be so great after all?
Henrik: I don’t think that way, what is done, is done. I don’t walk around and regrets things.

Metalfan: You did a lot of touring promoting this record, what songs are the crowd's favorites?
Henrik: The live favorites from Monday Morning Apocalypse are Still in the Water, In Remembrance and Monday Morning Apocalypse. They work out really good live.

Metalfan: Closure is a song composed by Jonas, that's a surprise! One would expect a drummer to write some heavier, dynamic stuff, how did he came up with this idea?
Henrik: He has a lot of cool stuff like that. Jonas is a musician that plays drums and not just a drummer. He can play the guitar very well and piano as well. It’s an honor to have a great musician like him in the band.

Metalfan: We have a question about the cover of Monday Morning Apocalypse. We noticed that all the Police Stations in the tags on your photographs are American. Why not Swedish or French or German? What was the idea?
Henrik: That’s because we only have been arrested in the States HAHAHAHA. It just seemed better and easier to have it from the States cuz people all over the world would know the idea and recognize jailpix from the States. You don’t get your picture taken in ever country in Europe, as well.

Metalfan: With Monday Morning Apocalypse you said you have focused on the songs themselves, the essence of the songs. What is your focus for the next record?
Henrik: I will keep focusing on writing the best song possible within myself and just see what comes out of that, as I always do. I play music, I don’t think music when I do songs or riffs.

Henrik Danhage

Metalfan: Looking back on your catalogue, you have In search of truth, a concept album and a progressive album, then Recreation Day, who had a more direct approach, heavier, then another concept album, and the progressive elements came back into the picture, then came Monday Morning Apocalypse, which is again, straight to the point, heavy. So, if you are going to follow this pattern, the next record must be a progressive metal concept record. Is that right?
Henrik: I don’t know what we will come up with next time around. Only thing  I can say is that it will feature a whole bunch of new great Evergrey songs, as always. We are not gonna make a straight forward heavy album or a technical progressive one just for the sake of it. What will come out of us, I can not tell you at this moment, but I can say that it will have our special touch on it, as always with Evergrey.

Metalfan: Speaking about In Search of Truth, it is inspired by a book written by Whitley Strieber. Did you try to contact him, does he know that he inspired you to write music about his story?
Henrik: I don’t know, man. I haven’t even finished that book. It’s one  of Tom’s all-time favorite books, so he got really inspired by it. I don’t know if Mr. Strieber knows that his book is the main inspiration for In Search of Truth album. We have not contacted him though.

Metalfan: You just got back form a tour with In Flames. How was this experience? Being on stage, playing with another band, playing different songs...
Henrik: It was really cool and very inspiring to go out with In Flames and trying to do their songs justice. It was cool to be a hired gun and on my toes every night. It was also a big honor for me that they chosen me from all the guitar players out there and they wanted me as their first choice, cuz they can have anybody they want. Very cool gig.

Metalfan: How do you think this will influence your songwritting for the next record?
Henrik: I might try to keep the riffing simpler and heavier.

Metalfan: Do you think that the sales are the best indicator of the quality of an album? I mean, if Monday Morning Apocalypse has sold a lot more than let's say, In Search Of Truth, does that make it a better album?
Henrik: No, I think there are a lot of parameters to have control of when you release a new album, such as: time of year, other releases, and so forth.
Also, the quality of an album is very subjective. For instance: Smells like Teen Spirit would have sounded exactly the same, even if it only reached the audience of a small club in Seattle.

Metalfan: Speaking of sales, the name of your band has been growing bigger and bigger in the past few years, does that make you feel some kind of a pressure on you? Everybody expects more and more from you, the fans, the media, the label... How does this affect you as artists, your songwriting?
Henrik: The most important thing when we make an album is that we are proud of the stuff we release. We always feel that we stand for what we write and appreciate it alot if the fans and the media likes it to. I think that you could get lost if you considered the public reception of an album too much and that would somehow hold the creativity back.

Metalfan: That would be all for now. Thank you very much for answering our questions and we hope the Romanian fans will finally get to see Evergrey playing here. We will leave the final words to you.
Henrik: We are going to try to come back and give the Romanians what they once were promised, as soon as possible.Thanks for your patience! Check out our homepage for further tourdetails. Thank you for your severe interest in our doings and last but not least:
Stay grey!

Photos by Patric Ullaeus