Evergrey: In a good position, and enjoying it

This is still not the after-concert interview we had hoped to do with the "five ugly guys from Sweden" (as Henrik refers to the band), but it's still better than the last time, when not only we didn't have no interview, but we even had no concert at all to start with. So here we are, before the show - Nebelhexa, holding the camera, Tzugu, holding the recorder and Klawz, holding the booklet of Monday Morning Apocalypse - in the backstage at Preoteasa Hall in Bucharest, face to face with guitarist Henrik Danhage, while in every corner of the room his bandmates were each handling the questions of our colleagues from other Romanian magazines/webzines.

Metalfan: Hello!
Henrik: Hey!
Klawz: You finally made it here!
Henrik: Yeah, finally!
Klawz: There was this cancelled show [in January]. What convinced you to come down here, after all?
Henrik: I mean, the reason that we cancelled wasn’t that we didn’t wanna play here, it was that we had some problems, so we were unable to get here because of the bus, were stranded in a parking lot, so…
Klawz: Yes, we know the story, but I wanted to know, do you do this all the time, when a show gets cancelled, you do everything possible to come back later?
Henrik: Yes, of course! Because otherwise we’re gonna lose all the fans there! And especially here, since we’ve been canceling, I think, two times, a couple of years ago we had to cancel another show here so we were really eager to get hereand play. Hopefully, there are gonna be a lot of people today!

Klawz: Have you had the time to see the venue, the crowd?
Henrik: No, we got here a couple of hours ago, our crew set up the stuff and we slept on the couch and then had our sound check and then we ran back to the hotel and slept for another hour and… and now we’re here!
Klawz: You didn’t see much of the city then…
Henrik: No, unfortunately not. We were all tied up; we had to get up really early this morning, in order to get here, so…

Tzugu: [noticing Henrik’s pierced earlobes] Does the earring affect the ear’s perception?
Henrik: Errr… Maybe… they’re vibrant in a sort of way… [Laughs] I don’t know. No, I don’t think so. [Laughs]

Klawz: Have you got any feedback from your fans from over here; do you have any expectations before the show?
Henrik: Yeah, I think it’s gonna be really good today, because there were a lot of comments when we cancelled, which is good, because that shows that you have fans! [Laughs] Yeah, it’s gonna be real good today! We’re really excited, we don’t play that many shows at this moment now, so… I think we’re gonna be playing one show next week and then we’re going to Australia for one week, that is pretty much all of the things we’re doing, so for the last months we’ve only played like, five shows or something like that, so it’s really fun!
Klawz: Like a holiday…
Henrik: Yeah, exactly!

Klawz: So you’re not really doing much else music related right now, with the band?
Henrik: Yeah, I mean every day I sit at home, writing songs on my computer and Tom is writing songs on his computer, and we meet, like, twice a week and I give him my stuff and he gives me his.
Klawz: So, you’re working on the new songs!
Henrik: Yeah. So I think at this point we have around 8-10 songs that are almost ready…
Klawz: Any song titles yet?
Henrik: No, not at this moment…
Klawz: How do you decide the titles for the songs?
Henrik: It’s pretty much up to what Tom writes about, I really don’t care that much about that. [Laughs]

Tzugu: Have you been to the Southern Hemisphere before?
Henrik: No.
Tzugu: Did you know that when you flush the toilet the water goes vice-versa, anti-clockwise?
Henrik: Yeah! I heard that! So the turd is gonna go this way, instead of that way…
Tzugu: Yeah! You know, the beer does the same!
Henrik: Oh yeah? So, I’m gonna watch the beer, I’m gonna watch my pooh going down the toiled when I’m in Australia! [Laughs]

Klawz: Getting back to songwriting, it’s only you and Tom who write songs?
Henrik: No, not only. At this point I don’t think that Rikard has any complete ideas, but… I think that I have four songs and Tom and Jonas have written  a couple of songs together… So, at this point it’s me, Jonas and Tom that are writing the music, but when we are gonna put all the songs together for the final things, it’s always Rikard… Rikard is very good at that, you know, putting together the songs. So it’s like… as far as arranging goes, that’s when we really work like a band. We have never been that kind of band that jams in the rehearsal place, we don’t even rehearse at all. It’s much easier sitting at home, drinking coffee, by myself, you know, nobody’s in the house. I just like that better, instead of having to show everybody else what they should play and it’s just easier to come up with a complete idea: this is what I want.
Klawz: So the songs are finished in the recording studio, then? That is where you come with all the ideas and Rikard is arranging them?
Henrik: Since we’re using the Pro-Tools, I have that at home, Tom has that at home and we have it at the studio as well, so it’s really easy that we can work on these pre-production things for a longer time ahead. Because the song quality of those pre-production things is really high. So we pretty much just use them all the way up until we start recording. The first time when we used that we actually had the pre-production, all the sound files, the audio files, and then we just removed and added the new complete ones, with the right sounds. It was really easy and really convenient, so… 

Tzugu: [noticing Henrik’s tattoos] The tattoos on your hands look so scary that we are afraid to ask!

Henrik: Booo! Well, I don’t know what to say about that. It’s just something that I like, and it’s …
Tzugu: …a freak thing. You are just a freak.
Henrik: Yeah, exactly. Naah… I just like having skulls and eyes, it’s not like I made the tattoos to scare anybody, this is gonna fail anyway when they hear what kind of nice guy I am when I open my mouth, [Laughs] it’s just something that I like.
Tzugu: But they are looking at us! [Henrik has several eyes tattooed on his arms]
Henrik: Yeah, I guess they are looking at you! And at the girl as well [Nebelhexa was filming the interview], they see you all, so I have a complete vision of the whole room! [Laughs]

Klawz: If I may get back to the song part of the conversation [looking at Tzugu], is it ok? [Laughs] When do you think you’re gonna enter the studios?
Henrik: Maybe in the beginning of June, work for a couple of weeks… I mean, we haven’t really planned that yet, but… yeah, I think that this is how it’s gonna be. And then we’re probably gonna start having a couple of weeks of vacation, and then get back and finish the album. So hopefully it will come out in, like, November, I believe. I mean, that is the plan at this moment, so we’ll see if that’s gonna happen.
Klawz: Have you decided anything about producers yet?
Henrik: No, nothing. I don’t know if we’re even gonna use one. No, we haven’t decided.

Klawz: What can you tell us about the songs themselves? How do you like them, how do they sound to you? Comparing with Monday Morning Apocalypse, maybe…
Henrik: I think the songs will continue in that direction. Some of the parts that Jonas and Tom have written are a bit more complex again…
Klawz: So you are getting back at being a progressive band…
Henrik: No, I wouldn’t say progressive. I mean, I don’t know, I’ve never thought about that in that way. I just think that we play good music and if you wanna call it progressive, then it’s fine with me. I just see it that we are a metal band.
Klawz: In one of the interviews we did before, I was noticing a pattern of your records. Starting with In Search of Truth, which was progressive, then Recreation Day, that was more direct, then again a progressive album, and then again, Monday Morning Apocalypse which is, again, in your face, direct. And I was asking, following that pattern, is the next album going to be progressive…
Henrik: Yeah, I get it. We have never sat down and decided that. I mean, we decide that we are not gonna have more than 12 songs on an album and we’re not gonna have less than 9. So somewhere between 10 and 12 it’s good. And then we use to pretty much write 10 to 12 songs. We don’t have 20 songs and then we choose 10 songs. So, the whole thing when I write music and riffs it’s just… where I am at that time, you know. I can’t write another Obedience riff right now. So maybe it’s gonna be a little… at this point there are some tricky parts, but it’s still with the good great choruses that we focused on, it’s a lot of good songs in it. I don’t think that you are going to hear Evergrey doing all that …. [Imitates the sound of shredding guitars] because there are other bands that do that better, and they can do that!

Klawz: I was wondering about the solos. There are 2 solo guitarists in the band, how do you decide who does what solo?
Henrik: Err [Laughs] Most of the times, on my songs, I tend to play them. And now, what Tom has written, this is the first time that we haven’t sat together. We have started with that now, just so he can show me: “oh, here is a solo part” he has played and… We really don’t think in those terms, it really doesn’t matter if I have 2 solos and he has 8 on an album. Some things suit the song better if I play it and, of course, on the other hand sometimes I say, “You should play on this one, because your style suits that part better.”
Klawz: How do you think you are different in solo-ing, you and Tom?
Henrik: Err… I think if he’s more a staccato player, you know, playing a lot with his pick, maybe I do it a lot more legato and tapping things and you know… I do a lot of playing with the hammer bar; Tom doesn’t have a hammer bar. So it’s err… yeah, two different styles.
Klawz: Which do you think it’s your best solo?
Henrik: Hmm… I don’t know. Which one do you think?
Klawz: I don’t know which one of you does what, but I like very much the solos on As I Lie Here Bleeding…
Henrik: Yeah, it’s both me and Tom. I think it’s me, then Tom.
Klawz: And the one before that… End of Your Days.
Henrik: Yeah, that is mine. On End of Your Days there’s a keyboard solo and then I think it’s my solo. We’re gonna play these songs, you can check it out today.

Klawz: I’d like to ask you about your bass player. You’re changing him again. Why is Fredrik leaving so soon?
Henrik: He just feels he wants to try other stuff with Hammerfall. I mean he played there ten years ago. We’ve been playing together, me and Fredrik, for over ten years, even before I played in Evergrey, we have DeathDestruction together, as well… So I’m not happy that he’s leaving, but Hammerfall is a bigger band and it’s a good gig for him. He’s one of my best friends so I think it sucks that I can’t be with him in Evergrey.
Klawz: Have thought about a replacement yet?
Henrik: No. I don’t see the reason why we should get another bass player at this moment. We have an album to do and maybe we’ll use somebody just for the album or maybe we’ll play it ourselves. We have a lot of time right now, you know, for once, time is on our side. I’m not feeling panicked about that, I mean there’s tons of good bass players out there and if we would choose to have a new bass player, I mean like a permanent, official member, we’re gonna really take our time.
Klawz: How does that guy have to be like? What demands do you have of him?
Henrik: Err… I don’t know. It’s really hard to say. But it would be really nice if he were like, if not from Gothenburg, at least from Sweden, to start with. Because it’s easier, you know, to have the same grown-up values. There’s probably a lot of great Romanian bass players, but I don’t have any personal connections in other countries than Sweden, you know. But I think if we would choose another bass player he would have to be amazingly talented in order not to be a Swedish one. [Laughs] But, to be honest I’m not panicking about this at all. It’s sad that he’s leaving because he’s one of my best friends, but of course this is a good thing for him, I think he should do that.

Klawz: [noticing that Henrik is playing around with the guitar he was holding in his hands] Are you nervous before a show?
Henrik: Yeah. I was a little bit nervous. I think it’s the adrenaline pumping in you. And it’s panicking now because I haven’t got the time to warm up properly, you know…
Klawz: Is it because of us?
Henrik: No, not because of you, it’s the whole environment. But I think it’s going to be good, I think it’s kind of healthy to be a little nervous. When you just walk in the room and you just do it like nothing, whatever it is, I mean cooking food or doing an interview or whatever, if you don’t have the respect for what you are doing… I mean a lot of people are paying money to see us today, so I’m really honored and I’m really excited to play.
Klawz: Does any of you guys have a ritual or superstition before going on stage?
Henrik: I always want to play my guitar, you know, before. And then we do a little thing, us the five guys in the band, just when the intro is going we just say a lot of really bad Swedish curse-words, you know, a lot of filth… and we’ve been doing it pretty much since my third or fourth gig with the band, we started with that and we’ve been doing it ever since.

Klawz: I read on your website, in an interview with your keyboard player, someone was asking Rikard what is he thinking about while he is on stage playing. What do you think about while you are playing on stage?
Henrik: To hit the right notes. It all depends. I mean if you are having a shitty day, maybe you are thinking about stuff… I mean it’s like anything you do, sometimes you just drift away when you are doing things at work… And then it’s really cool when you snap back and you see that there are a lot of people there, watching you, it’s really good. But pretty much you just concentrate on performing, making sure that everything is well performed. And having a good time, too! That is the most important thing!

Klawz: What is the best thing about being in this band?
Henrik: It’s that I can wake up and … with this work... I mean I woke up last yesterday and just worked on some songs at home, then a friend called and I went to do this DJ thing last night which was really funny, we were with some guys of In Flames up in another town of Sweden. Then I got home, my band was there and we sat together and then we went to Romania. And tomorrow I’m gonna be home with my wife again. The most rewarding thing is that people enjoy the music that I am doing and it’s just an amazing feeling, I can’t even describe it because it’s very honoring that people even care about, you know, five ugly guys from Sweden. It’s unbelievable.
Klawz: And the thing you like the least?
Henrik: Being away from my family. That is the thing that sucks. This is what we chose to do and hopefully we are going to be able to continue doing it for some years more. But you have to remember that it’s only, like one and a half-two hours everyday that you actually play, there’s a lot of waiting and… but I’m not complaining, ‘cause I’m not working in a factory and I’m fortunate enough to do this. But being away from home is the thing that sucks the most while doing this.

Klawz: The last question is about your record contract with InsideOut: is it still on, or it has run out?
Henrik: It’s run out. We are talking with, I think, three… yeah, three record companies…
Klawz: Bigger than InsideOut?
Henrik: Err… Yeah! I would say so. But at this time, even if we don’t sell a crazy amount of cds, we’ve still attained a certain level so we are really not getting any shitty deals right now. Which is really good. So even if we would decide to sign on a smaller company, it would still be better for us.
Klawz: How is that?
Henrik: I mean, you can sign a major label and it really doesn’t matter because if they have to decide if they are gonna put out Madonna on tour or Evergrey, Madonna is probably gonna go, you know [Laughs]. So it’s much better to be a big fish in a small pond, than the other way around. I think we are in a good position right now and we are not complaining, we are enjoying it.

Klawz: That’s it, I’m done, Tzugu, do you have anything else?
Tzugu: Just say something for the Romanians, anything; any cliché will do, Dracula, Ceausescu, just say something for us!
Henrik: Err… Check us out if you haven’t, probably they have… hopefully they have! And hopefully they are here tonight! Otherwise check out the website www.evergrey.net and Hail Satan!