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RoR - The last time I spoke to Peter Rusted Angel hadn't even been released yet! A lot has happened in that time period, most notably a change in vocalist and the completion of your second album. For those listeners who are still spinning Rusted Angel, what changes or surprises will Andreas bring to Insanity? What was his role lyrically? On that end, what are some of the lyrical subjects on Insanity? The titles can give me some idea (Pile of Hate is classic!)...CM - We developed the Darkane vocal style together with Lawrence during the recording of Rusted Angel. Since we hardly knew what to expect from the vocals at that time we later on felt that it could develop a lot. Andreas joined us in March 1999 and the first thing he had to do was to try to sound like Lawrence so that he could sing the old songs live. This turned out very good and people thought it was Lawrence singing. So when we hit the studio again we knew what to do with the vocals. Andreas uses the same style but has another sound, you could say more mature (nothing negative about Lawrence). He can sound very evil both with the traditional death vocal style, but also while singing with the clean vocals. On this album we did more of everything compared to Rusted Angel, and that goes for the vocals too. Andreas wrote one lyric (Emanation of Fear), Jorgen wrote one, and Peter and I wrote the rest.
The lyrics goes in the same vein as on RA. Here are a few examples of the lyrics...
"Third" - The lyrics are simply about a man's feelings and trauma when he has an close encounter of the third kind.
"Hostile Phantasm" - About a bitter prediction of a dark future.
"Psychic Pain" - Sometimes a person might look happy on the outside, but if you manage to break through his mental barriers, you'll find activities from the darkest hell.
"Distress" - Deals with unscrupulous people that try to gain as much success and material status from other people as possible, but sooner or later their evil acts will catch up on them.
RoR - You may have mentioned this but once again Daniel Bergstrand is behind the board for the recording. Was there even a moment's decision in this or have you known all along that Daniel would produce Insanity? What do you think that Daniel brings to Darkane? What does Darkane bring to Daniel?
CM - We were very satisfied with the production of Rusted Angel and it was never a question of using another producer for Insanity. You could say that Daniel Bergstrand is a part of the Darkane sound. If it wasn't for him, I think we would have sounded more like the average metal bands out there. Daniel doesn't really produce the music. It's written and arranged when we hit the studio, but he has a lot of great ideas regarding the vocals! If it wasn't for him the vocals would not have been that varied I think. Daniel has also told us that he loves to work with us since we're not afraid of experimenting. He and Peter experimented a lot with the drum sound on Insanity and I think that Daniel learned some new experiences of that. It took four days just to adjust the drum sound.
RoR - Was there a specific goal with this album? Rusted Angel was such a highly regarded album, was there any degree of pressure in the writing process of Insanity? Are there times of writer's block at all? If so, what helps break them?
CM - The goal was to do more of everything. We have found our style even more on this album. When we recorded Rusted Angel we had only existed for 6 months so we didn't know much about ourselves as a new band at that time. This time it was easier. We had found our style and it was time to develop it. Hopefully we will develop even more on the next album. Insanity is more thrashy and faster. We have some surprising elements like a song that is build on blast beats and stuff like that. To prepare for Insanity Peter and I used to meet every Wednesday and put together riffs that we had come up with during the week. Sometimes we couldn´t come up with anything and sometimes we wrote a complete song in just one evening (the song Distress was written Dec 29th 1999). The best way of breaking blocks for me is to listen to a lot of music and get inspiration from it.
RoR - You mentioned on the website that there were numerous problems in the recording of Insanity. You mentioned some, but I KNOW that there are some choice ones you're holding back on. Please, tell us one to give those that will never record an album some idea of what a band can have to go through to make a masterpiece!
CM - I guess the biggest problem was the stress! We had come up with a day by day schedule that we had to follow to finish the recording in time. Like we had 5 days for rhythm guitars, three days for bass and so on... This schedule crashed immediately when Peter and Daniel realized that the hi-hat was too loud in the snare drum track when the drums were already recorded. They had to make a sample of the snare drum without the hi-hat and replace every snare beat (about 10,000 on the whole CD) with different samples in the computer. This took three days and I don´t think neither of them slept during that time.
So we were constantly after the schedule, and when it looked like we´re gonna catch up with it something else broke down like 3 ADAT recorders. One morning there was water on the floor in the studio due to heavy raining and we couldn´t do anything that day. But the scariest thing was the last night when the album was finally mixed and we were waiting for a CD-R to be ready so that we could leave for Helsingborg. Andreas was leaning over the sound board to get the CD-R. When he stepped back lightning suddenly struck down in the studio building making the sound board collapse and flash, and all the equipment died. I don't wanna know what could have happened if he had touched it, but we would have to look for a third vocalist I´m sure. This was still only a few examples of all the shit that happened during the recording...
RoR - 58 tracks for drums?!?!!? :) One thing that I liked about Rusted Angel was that for as much obvious attention as the riffs were given (and deserved), Peter was also given a chance to liven what can always be "standard" rhythm tracks up. Due to that, Darkane to me has a very drum driven sound. How much does the band push Peter to accentuate the drums versus Peter pushing the band with his compositions? Are the songs written as a band or seperately?
CM - I would say that we push each other and Peter pushes himself very much too. Without Peter, Darkane wouldn't have got this much attention. He has a very special drumming style and I really love it! I personally feel very honoured to play together with him. Like I mentioned Peter and I get together and write the music. He knows almost everything about rhythm and I'm more into chords and melodies and harmony theory so I think we fit each other very well. The other guys have also started to contribute with some material, and I hope it will be even more in the future.
RoR - You also all seem to be very open to individual members performing with other bands? Is there an open door policy in regards to this? I bring it up because on one hand I think it's good to play with other people to learn different techniques or just advance your musical knowledge, but it can also become a problem in regards to time or commitment.
CM - I think all of us agree on that Darkane is priority #1. But it doesn't take ALL our time. There's still time for other bands and projects. Klas used to play in his band Defaced a long time before we started Darkane, so he has his heart in that band too, but it's no competition about him between the bands. We're all like a big family... Darkane, Soilwork, Terror 2000 and Defaced.
RoR - On that note, how much of your life does Darkane encompass? If the band became so huge that it was all that you could do, would that be ideal? Or do you need other outlets, either musical or otherwise, to feel complete? I ask because at some point a band can become a job, and once something is a job the joy and desire to continue can dissolve.
CM - At the moment it's quite calm since Insanity hasn't been released yet. There are a few email interviews now and then, and we're rehearsing and will soon try some new ideas. I really hope we will go on tour after the release, but nothing's planned yet. If Darkane was the only thing I could concentrate on I would do it 100%.
RoR - The artwork for Rusted Angel was pretty impressive, and I remember seeing the cover pop up on advertisements for various things in Honolulu. How important do you think that packaging is to a Darkane album? I'll tell you, as good as the songs were on the WarDance comp, it makes a huge difference to get that beautiful glossy paper package that came with Rusted Angel... And to that, what were the ideas for the artwork for Insanity? What made you choose Thom Ewerhard? Didn't he do the Artwork for Amon Amarth's The Avenger?
CM - I think the packaging is very important. It will give you the first reaction of the CD (as long as you don't download it from Napster). It's cool if you can make the booklet go in the same vein as the music and lyrics. When I think of certain classic albums like Iron Maiden and things like that I see a special colour in my head when I listen to the songs... Like Powerslave. When I hear the songs I see the colour of sand because of the cover. I think it's like that with many albums for me. We think Thomas did a great job on our booklet. It's nothing but Insane. Nuclear Blast told us about him so we tried him out, and I'm very satisfied! To tell you the truth, I don´t know about the Amon Amarth cover but I know he did one for Hypocrisy´s S/T.
RoR - That's all I have for now, but for all of us eagerly awaiting the album, what can we expect? What does the crystal ball show for Darkane, a US tour with the new Century Media publicity?
CM - I really don't know anything... I don't even know if the album is good. You know, that's not up to me to decide. It's up to you! The only thing I can say is that me and the guys in Darkane are very satisfied with this album and we don't think that the listeners who bought and liked Rusted Angel will be disapointed. It would be so cool to tour the States! I really hope we will do that someday. In the meantime take care and stay metal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Darkane - Insanity, 2001WAR Records
Christofer Malmström - guitar
Peter Wildoer - drums
Jörgen Löfberg - bass
Klas Ideberg - guitar
Andreas Sydow- vocalsDarkane's Official Home Page can be found at: http://www.darkane.com
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