The Score Magazine October 2019 | Page 16

Is the music first written in Swedish or English? Who translates from one language to another? The demo was done in Swedish and Mike did the translation in the actual studio recording. All song ideas started without lyrics and I know Mikael thought it was more difficult to come up with Swedish lyrics. But I also think that inspired and triggered him to work harder and remain even more focused. What led Opeth to sample a 1970s children's puppet show for "Heart in Hand"? That is from an author called Jan Lööf who also still writes children’s books. He makes great illustrations and the books are still entertaining for me as an adult to read to my kid. We grew up with the puppet show so it’s for nostalgic reasons I believe. Do you have any pet peeves about the prog scene as it stands today? No, not really. We just try to focus on what we are doing. Akerfeldt said that going on tour is "agony". Do you agree? No I like it and I think Mike does to a certain extent. It has its downsides with all the travelling, lack of sleep and of course being away from your family. But performing the gig is a great feeling and the desire to play better and better gigs is something we always aim for. What do you do before, after and between shows when you have time to spare? I usually play the guitar a couple of hours before the gig. It’s like a ritual for me and it makes me de-stressed and relaxed before the show. Usually we don’t have time to do much between shows because of the tight schedule. But it’s usually interesting to see some historical places and record stores, visit restaurants, etc. When an Opeth album is created, are the songs extensions of a singular, overarching idea? Or are they expressions of separate ideas/instincts/memories, etc.? It could be a bit of everything really. It often starts with a guitar riff or a drum beat or a melody. Musical ideas are most of the 14 The Score Magazine highonscore.com time the starting seed for a song. Lyrics usually come after. Tell us about where In Cauda Venenum comes from. And, what is the story being told? Since there is the Swedish and English version of the album it made sense to use a Latin version. Black Metal bands used Latin titles of songs and we haven’t done that before so maybe that inspired the name a bit. With the two-language release it made sense to bring in a third language. Also the line didn’t come from one of the great philosophers and we liked that. There is a sense of the new album being carrying more grandiose sensibility than before. Would you say that is a good assessment of it? If so, what is the purpose behind this? I would indeed, The purpose was to make the most ppic album possible. I think we really went the extra mile on In Cauda. We rehearsed before the recording so everyone had their parts in their muscle memory so we could focus on A/B testing different instruments and gear etc. What, in your opinion, is most poisonous to a musician's craft? The strive to get better and better.. it’s a never ending quest and there will always be something you can get better at. But that’s also the fun part and it’s a rewarding feeling when you finally reach a goal here and there. But as a musician l rarely stop thinking about guitar licks and songs so that can be very difficult to put aside as a “regular job “. Perhaps that would be poisonous. Tell us a bit about your last experience in India. What are you expecting this time? I remember that the audience was great. We had our own bodyguards which never happened before. We also had the luxury to have an off day so we took the opportunity to visit a temple and I really liked that experience. We are all really big fans of the Indian cuisine so fortunately enough we got to try some fantastic food. I’m a fan of the spicier food and one vegetarian dish I had was really powerful haha. Looking forward to visit India again!