Evergrey
The World Is A Dark Place Now

27.09.2016

Life takes weird ways sometimes – you get to know a band by reading their interview with a magazine, you get to see them live for the first time 13 years later, and soon after that you get to interview them yourself. That’s the chart of my relationship with Swedish progressive metallers Evergrey, which culminated in what you currently see on your screen. In the course of our short, but intensive conversation with Tom Englund (vocals, guitar) and Johan Niemann (bass), we covered a broad range of topics, including the new album "The Storm Within", which I believe is their strongest in the past 10 years, earlier releases, and other projects which the musicians have had or have worked with in the course of their career.

I got to know Evergrey in 2003 when I read your interview with a Russian magazine and then listened to some of your stuff. And this year I finally saw you playing live at “Masters of Rock”, for the first time in my life. I enjoyed your performance a lot. And what about you, did you like it? And did you like the whole festival, did you manage to see any other bands play?

Tom: Yeah, we had a great time. We listened to Orden Ogan, it’s a German band that sounds really cool, and we listened to headliners – Slayer, Avantasia, also The Dead Daisies… It’s a great festival with a great audience. Our show went great, so we were happy.

You've released nine albums and the tenth one is going to be released soon. So tell us a few words about the forthcoming "The Storm Within" album.

Johan: It’s darker than the previous record, I would say. A bit more desperation this time. It’s not as warm, it’s a bit colder and bleaker. It’s not a party record.
Tom (laughs): It’s not a record that you put on Friday night before you wanna get drunk off your ass.
Johan: Unless you’re doing in all by yourself and you wanna kill yourself – then it’s the perfect record.

What are the reasons for this development? Has the songwriting process changed? Have the sources of inspiration changed? Why is the new record even darker than the earlier ones, which were not so happy either?

Tom: Well, we were just comparing it to the last record, we weren’t making any references to the older ones. But if we speak about “Hymns For The Broken” album (2014), it’s much more convenient, there is much more hope in it, it’s a lighter album, I guess. As to the reasons, I think the world has changed, and we change with it. The world is a dark fucking place now, and that, of course, affects our writing and our mentality, like everyone else’s.

Speaking about your early albums, some of them, such as "In Search Of Truth" (2001) and "The Inner Circle" (2004), are concept ones. So is "The Storm Within". Could you reveal the idea behind this album?

Tom: It’s about losing someone, it’s about loss, it’s about how you try to become a full person again, how you find yourself, how you fasten yourself together, and how you find purpose in life. It’s about immoral thoughts you have, it’s about darkness, violence and everything you go through while experiencing a loss that is of significance for you. But it’s also a celebration of the time that you had with this person, it’s not only mourning. I think it’s a description of the time in the life of a person who is going through a turmoil.

Maybe this is a too personal question, but is this concept based on your personal experience?

Tom: It’s actually based on a friend of mine. So it’s very personal, but not exactly for me, but it was easy for me to empathize with him.

Are you still in charge of writing the lyrics, Tom?

Tom: Yes.

And who is in charge of music?

Tom: We all are.
Johan: Everyone has an equal say in songwriting. Obviously Henrik (Danhage, guitar), Jonas (Ekdahl, drums), and Tom spend more time in the studio writing than the rest of us, but we all came in with our 2 cents’ worth of opinions, and everyone has and equal say in respect of songs, orchestrations, structures and everything. It’s very much of a band effort.

I also heard the promo given by AFM Records and I enjoyed a lot of songs. But why have you chosen "Distance" for the, let us say, single? In my humble opinion it's not the catchiest song on the album.

Tom: That was the reason – because “Distance” is not the catchiest song on the album. “Distance” is the first song, and we want to introduce the listeners to the world where we were while writing and creating this album. It wouldn’t have been right if we had started with the second song, because it’s not the perfect representation of the album as a whole. It’s a great second song, but it’s not the introduction that we wanted people to have.

I have already watched the video for "Distance". The director was once again Patric Ullaeus. Why have you chosen him, are you satisfied with the video and what exactly does this video mean to you?

Tom: Patrick has done our last 10 videos. It’s a guy who’s in the Evergrey team almost as much as we are. When we started writing for this album, I had this vision in my head, and I said, “Maybe we should go to Iceland and film a video there so that we could have the same sort of imagery in our heads, in the booklet, in the video and everywhere”. Luckily enough, we were able to pull that off – we went to Iceland and filmed three videos there. We will also shoot the fourth video in a couple of weeks.

Was the idea to show some sights of Iceland, or is it maybe a bit deeper?

Tom: No, as I said, the vision that we had in our heads when starting to write the first songs is a desolate eerie place on a distant planet, and the only thing that was sort of similar to it was what we saw in different movies like “Prometherus”, “The Martian” or “Oblivion”, and all these movies were shot in Iceland. We said, “Well, let’s go and do that”.

Well, the video has its own atmosphere, so I think you’ve completed the task.

Tom: Great!

Floor Jansen from Nightwish recorded some vocals for "The Storm Within" and as far as I can judge on basis of the AFM promo, it sounds cool. How long have you known Floor, and whose idea was it to invite her?

Johan: We’ve known her for years. She’s been a fan of the band and a friend of the band for years and years. It was actually Tom’s wife Carina, it was her idea that she would sing on the record, but we didn’t have a song for her. And then the day after Rikard (Zander), our keyboard player, came up with the song idea that we thought was so Nightwish-y, and we felt it would be a perfect song for her. She agreed to do it, and luckily for us, she was at home at that point when we were gonna record it. We were very fortunate and lucky to have her.

Major changes in your lineup happened in 2010 when Henrik, Jonas and Jari (Kainulainen, bass) left the band. Then a couple of years ago Henrik and Jonas returned. What's the story behind such changes?

Tom: They left because we couldn’t work together anymore. For me it was more important that we stayed friends, so I told them, “I see that we’re not having fun in the band anymore, so I think it’s better that you leave”. They agreed, and that was the best decision we could have made. Just by coincidence four years later we were in need of a drummer and guitar player for two shows that we had lined up. Our drummer Hannes (Van Dahl) had gotten an offer from Sabaton to play with them, so he couldn’t play. The only guys that I knew that would be easy enough to rehearse the songs with were, of course, Jonas and Henrik, so we asked them, “Do you want to earn 500 euros each? Come and play two shows with us?” They said yes. And of course, when we played, we discovered that we had fun again. Then we started all the fucking talks, almost therapeutic sessions where we had to speak about if we’re gonna play together again, how we’re gonna do that. And here we are today! It’s quite remarkable, but we’re happier than ever, and the working climate in the band is perfect. I think it was the best decision we could have ever made to let them go.

"The Storm Within" is your second album for AFM Records, and you changed several labels in the past. Could you tell me about your collaboration with AFM and the reasons why you left previous ones?

Tom: Well, we’re leave when we’re not happy, let’s end at that. If it doesn’t work, get out! SPV was a shitty label that didn’t work, so… A shitty label with shitty people - a good combo! (both laugh) For AFM, this is our last album under this contract, we’re talking to them to see where we’ll end up on the next album, we’ll see. But now they’re doing a good job, and so are we.

You seem to tour a lot now, and as far as I know you are supporting Delain this fall. Do you know these guys personally, or was it the label’s idea?

Tom: Well, the label asked us, and they did it when we were in the studio, a long time ago. But then the terms weren’t really what we needed them to be, and for a long time we hadn’t agreed to support anybody else. Now we think it was a good way for us to come out and try out new songs and then come back and do a full headlining tour. We’re really looking forward to it, and they seem to be very nice people, so I think it’s gonna be an easy and smooth tour.

You were to Russia like 10 years ago if I'm not mistaken. What was your experience here and why haven't you come back since then? Do you have any plans of visiting Russia again?

Tom: We don’t know. I guess people hate us in Russia! (both laugh) We really want to come, but nobody calls and asks us.
Johan: We only ask for a million dollars! (everybody laughs)
Tom: Honestly, we often speak about how much we would love to come back to Russia, but, I guess, some promoter needs to contact us. We can’t just come on our own. Hello, we’re here! Do you have a concert hall?
Johan: We need an invitation. Maybe you can sort that out?

OK, I’ll try to talk to some promoters. By the way, what do you prefer – playing big festivals such as Masters Of Rock or smaller clubs, like you will be on the tour with Delain?

Johan: We like everything. Obviously big festivals are really fun – it’s fun to play to 40,000 people. But it’s cool to play in a club environment as well, because you get the audience closer, so it’s more intimate. It’s a little scary, and it’s good, it keeps you on your toes. Even if 10 people are there, that’s fine - as long as these 10 people are happy, we are happy, too.

Have there ever really been 10 people at an Evergrey show, or is that an exaggeration?

Tom: Once we played on a Sunday morning. There were two people and one dog.

Oh, that’s a shame!

Tom: For the dog, yes. (laughs)

Your former guitar player Marcus Jidell plays in the band Avatarium which I personally like a lot. Are you still in touch with this guy and have you heard Avatarium? I was lucky to see both Evergrey and Avatarium at Masters of Rock this year and these two shows are festival's highlights in my opinion.

Johan: Yeah, we heard of Avatarium, absolutely.
Tom: Didn’t they play the day before us at Masters? They left before we came. But we played with them at Graspop last year.
Johan: It’s a great band. She’s a great singer, he’s a good guitar player.

Tom, as far as I can remember this year at Masters of Rock you played Caparison, but on Evergrey's website there's a Jackson guitar on your photo. So whose endorser are you actually?

Tom (laughs): I’m not endorsed by anyone.

Oh, really? I thought you were endorsed by Caparison, they have your signature model.

Tom: Yeah, but they stopped working with me, so I stopped working with them, but I still have a lot of their guitars. (laughs)

Then a question to Johan. You played in Therion for several years and recorded some great albums like "Secrets Of The Runes" and you left the band along with your brother in like 2008. Please tell us briefly about the experience in this band and the reasons why you left.

Johan: Eh, well… I’ll try to keep it as short as I can. I was with Therion from 1999, when I did my first record with them, until 2008. So it’s almost 10 years, a long time. In my last year, 2007, we did a lot of touring, played a lot, and we really needed a break. We decided that we would take a break for 2008 and we wouldn’t talk to each other. And then Christofer (Johnsson, Therion mainman) booked a festival in Poland without asking us, and we decided we weren’t gonna play. That’s the nice version of that story. We said that if he really wanted to do that festival he needed to find a new band, which he did. End of story.

Tom, you contributed vocals for one of the Ayreon albums. Tell us a few words about this collaboration and about how you got to know Arjen Lucassen.

Tom: I think he was a fan of Evergrey a long time ago – and this is such a long time ago I barely remember. He called me and asked me if I wanted to be on the album, and I said, “Of course”, because I think Ayreon albums are high quality music. I went to his house, we recorded for a day there, and… yeah, it was great, a great experience. He has a cool ear for music.

What are Evergrey’s future plans? Do you maybe plan a DVD? The previous one came out a long time ago…

Johan: The immediate future is the Delain tour, and we will hopefully headline next year. We wanna go to North America, we wanna go to South America, hopefully we’ll be able to come to Russia as well. As far as DVDs go, we’ve talked about it, but it’s a costly thing, and we have to find the right venue, and the right reason to do it, too. It’s pointless to just put up a few cameras at any show and just release a DVD, it has to be something special.

I'm running out of questions so please say a few words to your fans here in Russia!

Johan: Well, hopefully we’ll be able to come to Russia, and when we do, we hope that you will come to our show! Looking forward to see you!

Evergrey on the Internet: http://www.evergrey.net

Special thanks to Irina Ivanova (AFM Records) for arranging this interview

Pavel Vlasov
August 14, 2016
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