At The Gates
No More Promises

05.10.2015

What can you do in a period of 15 minutes? For example, you can brush your teeth, go to the nearest bakery or iron a jacket. As an alternative, you can read an article in an interesting magazine, update the software on your smartphone or listen to the latest EP of your favorite band. In short, you can do quite a lot of productive things. But doing a proper interview with an extreme metal legend over such a short time span is a quite challenging task. I happened to see Swedish melodic death metallers At The Gates live twice this past summer. Their performance at France’s Hellfest brought up my interest to the band to unparalleled heights, and an idea was born to catch up with the guys in Germany, on the sidelines of Wacken Open Air. However it turned out that the band was really short of time, and the label manager was very strict on keeping the schedule, so out of numerous questions that I had for drummer Adrian Erlandsson, quite a few remained unasked. Nevertheless, Adrian did the best he could, and hopefully we will have another chance to ask more next time.

How did you get the idea to do a reunion and a new album with At The Gates?

Well… We did the reunion in 2008. We did a number of concerts, the last show was in Greece, in September, I think. And then we just emailed each other a little bit after that. And then we got an offer to play a show in Gothenburg in 2011. We talked about it, and thought it could be fun if we played a few more shows. So we did it too, we just played our old songs and started to talk how about trying to record something new, to write some stuff together and see how it goes. Anders (Bjorler, guitar), Tomas (Lindberg, vocals) and Jonas (Bjorler, bass) basically wrote the new album. Then they started sending some ideas to me and Martin (Larsson, guitar) via email. Later, when we had enough material, we met together in a rehearsal room and finally came to the decision to record a new album. Then we began to look for record deals.

Are you satisfied with the cooperation with Century Media?

Yeah, very much. They are a great label, they have really dedicated stuff, they have a good back-catalogue. And they are very much in touch with the fans, the people who buy the albums. They did good promotion for “At War With Reality” (2014). So, yes, we have really cool cooperation with them.

Tell me about the album cover. How did come about?

We have a guy named Costin (Chioreanu) from Romania, who did some covers for recent albums, for example the new Arch Enemy record. Tomas sent him all the lyrics and he did an interpretation of the lyrical themes. There were a couple of different variations of the cover art before we chose the final one. That’s how it happened. The concept is based on Tomas’ lyrics.

Jonas and Anders are twins. How you distinguish them from each other?

(laughs) Jonas does not have any tattoos. Also Jonas is a little bit larger than Anders. Actually when you spend a lot of time with them they don’t look that similar.

Currently you have several projects. It must be pretty hard to take part in all these bands at the same time, to play festivals, for example. Don’t you every have any problems with that?

Of course, it’s not easy. In 2008 I had any activity only in At The Gates and Nemhain – a gothic band that I do with my wife. After that I started to play with Brujeria, as well. That was working fine together with At The Gates. But then At The Gates split up again in 2008, and I started playing with Paradise Lost. And that was tricky. Later we started doing shows with At The Gates again. But at the same time Paradise Lost still needed a constant drummer. So I just recorded a new album “The Plague Within” with them, but I don’t have the opportunity to go on tour with them, because we have too much shows booked with At The Gates. It’s a very difficult consideration, and I hope the guys in the band will not be pissed off.

Do you have any plans for another At The Gates album?

We are just enjoying the moment playing shows. We will play in South America in September and in Australia and Japan in October. There are some plans for another North American tour next year, and these plans have been made long into next year. We decided we are not gonna make any more promises like “we’re never gonna write another album, we’re not gonna play together again”, and so on. So, no more promises. Now we are just playing the shows supporting the new record. If we write another album, then we will.

You have visited Russia several times, first with Cradle Of Filth, then with Paradise Lost and At The Gates. Do you have any special impressions or memories about our country?

The first time I came with Cradle, it was 2003. Then two years ago with At The Gates. I could be wrong, but I think it has become more liberal now. I think in your country there is something happening that allows to achieve this. Maybe it’s some western influence, I’m not sure. I found there is more choice in terms of restaurants, for example. In Sweden I have a friend who is married to a Russian woman, and I know they had serious political problems to get her out of the country. Whenever we have played in Russia we always have a great welcome, and after the show, fans are always very kind and friendly to us. And during the concerts the audience are always really into the shows. So it’s always a pleasure.

Why did you decide to get a haircut? Previously, you had a great long hair.

(laughs) I like change, I think it’s good. I had a long hair for 15 years, and I just got tired of it. Me and my wife do a lot of scuba diving. And also because a lot of long trips I just got pissed off with the hair. You know, metal comes from inside, it’s not about visual stuff. If I decide to come back to long hair, I think it wouldn’t be as long as before. Also when you get a little bit older the quality of the hair is not good, you know.

Who were your idols in the beginning of you carrier?

For me personally, probably Iron Maiden, Saxon, Judas Priest, Motley Crue…

And if we speak about drummers?

It’s pretty much the same, actually. Tommy Lee was a big influence on me. Phil Rudd, Dave Holland… I started to buy albums in 1981. Almost all the important records of those years impressed and inspired me somehow. It was a very good time to get into music.

In your opinion, is there a possibility of a joint tour of the “big three” of Gothenburg melodic death metal – At The Gates, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames?

Not sure that gig ever takes place, it’s not something we have talked about. But if it happens it will be very cool. I'm always up for such things. We are all very good friends with all the guys. So why not?

It’s now time to wrap up this interview. Is there anything you want to say to Russian fans who wait for your new concerts in our country?

Thank you for all the support during the years. Looking forward to coming to your beautiful country again and I hope to see you at the gigs.

At The Gates on the Internet: http://www.atthegates.se

Special thanks to Birgit Luhmeyer (Century Media) for arranging this interview

Mikhail “IronMike” Shatalin
July 31, 2015
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