Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Making Up For Lost Time With MIKAEL STANNE From DARK TRANQUILLITY

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Making Up For Lost Time With MIKAEL STANNE From DARK TRANQUILLITY · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Michael from Dark Tranquility Beautiful.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Nice to meet you. You're finally touring Australia after over
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: a decade. How does it feel to return and perform here.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: It feels fantastic.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: At the same time, it's kind of embarrassing the fact
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: that we haven't been coming around your parts in ten years.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: It's not for lack of trying trying, I can assure
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: you that. But finally it's happening, and we've been talking
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: about it, and we've been trying so many times, trying
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: to kind of work out the logistics of like a
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: like a making a whole tour, and now it's finally
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: kind of it came together finally, and I we're really
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: really excited. There's so much stuff that we haven't played
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: for you guys, and you know, and I think the
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: last two tours that we did for this new album,
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: we went to America first and then Europe some of
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: the best we've ever done.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: It's I think we're in a very very good place.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: And it's time we share that experience, you know, and
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: and bring that experience to you guys as well.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: So I'm super stoked.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, long over due, I think, Oh yes, you've been
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: around for over three decades now, shaping the Gothenburg sound
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: alongside bands like In the Flames and At the Gates.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: In Flames and At the Gates, How do you feel
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: about playing the sorry, How do you feel about the
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: evolution of the scene and what role do you see
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Dark Tranquility playing in it today?
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Oh? Wow, I don't know.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: I mean, I mean credically proud of the fact that
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: we've been doing this for so long and it still
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: feels good and works, and people seem to be still
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: very much interested in what we do. It's amazing, And
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: I don't know, I mean, it's always weird talking about
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: like a sea in the kind of effective where we
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: don't really view it that way.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: We were just friends hanging out in the small town
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: of ours, you know, and and try to kind of
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: come up with music that we to inspire each other
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: and to impress each other and to have fun together.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: But it's been incredibly cool to see over the years
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: just how how impactful that has been, you know, and
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: and that something that we just started, you know, in
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: the suburbs of Gothenburg thirty years ago, has taken us
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: twenty trips around the world.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: In order to play our music for everybody.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: And it's incredible and and I'm really proud of that that,
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: you know, of what we have accomplished and our friends
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: of course, So it's such an incredibly cool thing. And
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: and it's fun to see that there's a new generation
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: now that that comes out of the show.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: Obviously we have, you know, an older demographic maybe overall,
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: but everybody's bringing their kids and now you see this,
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: you know, fifteen years or twenty five year olds, you know,
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: who kind of grew up with this music through their parents,
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: which is kind of crazy in a way, and something
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: of course I've never thought would happen, you know, twenty
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: thirty years ago.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: But it's a beautiful thing to behold. Really.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh it must be. It must be so nice
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: to see that as well, that it transcends all those generations.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: That's so lovely. Yeah, your latest album, and Game Signals,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: has just been released. Could you talk a little about
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: the creative process behind it and how it compares to
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: previous records.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was our thirteenth album, so obviously it's a
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: bit difficult because it has to be kind of in
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: relation and in conversation kind of with the previous twelve,
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: you know, and how do you deal.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: With that and what do you where do you go musically?
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: And I think this one the added kind of difficulty
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: or was that we changed the line quite a bit
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: the last couple of years, like especially during the pandemic,
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: you know, priorities kind of shifted and and and for years,
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: like main songwriter has been nder jibap or drummer and
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: and when he left, we were like, okay, now we
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: have to kind of write in a different way. And
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: I think and Joan joined the band for this previous
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: album for a moment, but that's when he kind of
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: started learning how to kind of write together with us.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: So with this album, it was Joan and Martin Brenstrom
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: and I who kind of sat down and say, Okay,
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: what do we do this time? You know, how can
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: we prove that we are still very relevant? And how
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: can we prove that to ourselves that we need to
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: kind of keep this going and and and write something
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: that that means something to us, you know, all these
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: years later, and so it became an incredibly important album
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: for us, you know, And and I guess overall we
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: we talked a lot about our kind of feelings and
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: what we were in the world and how we felt
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: like what was happening, and you know, things are pretty
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: leak overall, and I think that kind of struck us
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: and we we ended up talking.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: About a lot.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: We were on tour in the US like three years
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: four years ago, three years ago, and we had just
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: kind of left Ukraine and that's the war broke out.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: All these things kind of like cor less than We
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: were kind of going through like a light depression and
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: realized like what are we really doing?
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Like what what what is our purpose?
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: And all this Like are we just entertainers, you know,
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: dancing around on stage screaming and shouting, you know, And
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: it felt so insignificant, And I think that's what we
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: kind of carried with us into the writing process.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: We wanted to make something.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: That is that deals with all those emotions and hopefully
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: be more vulnerable and transparent in how we feel and
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: and and the idea when we started the band, like
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: all those years ago, was to do things differently, hopefully
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: than most of the death metal bands. At least that
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: was our you know, young mind, thinking like we don't
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: want to be like the otherwise we want to be
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: different all that stuff you know when you're seventeen, and
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: and I guess that is always in the back of
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: our minds, like what can we do that is not
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: the typical death metal way of doing things, you know?
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: So I think this is our most kind of vulnerable
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: album and and it's very emotional in many ways, I think,
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: and it was very very difficult to write emotionally but
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: also musically because we needed to kind of find our footing.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: And I think once we got started and we kind
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: of set the tone for what this album should be,
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: things had happened. And I can only obviously say that
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: when once we were finished, we were sitting in the
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: studio with the final mix, we said like, yeah, this
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: is like this is as closest kind of like perfect
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: album as we possibly can be, and we could not
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: be more proud of it. So it feels fantastic that
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: this tour, the tour for this album so far has
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: been some of one of some of the best tours
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: we've ever done.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: That's amazing that you guys have been able to take
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: those experiences turn it into music, but music that felt
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: right for you guys, and that sounded right as well.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: I can imagine that would have been a hard process.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: It always is striking that right balance or to make
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: kind of yeah music or lyrics out of out of
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: your what you're feeling and what you were experiencing.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: And but that's that's sort of music should be.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: It's easy to just write something heavy and write something
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: simple and straightforward, fine, and everybody.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Will go like yay, But if it doesn't make you
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: feel anything, then I think it's not that interesting for us.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: Definitely, I agree. In the early nineties you helped define
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: melodic death metal with albums like The Gallery and Character.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: Looking back, do you feel that genre label still accurately
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: captures what you're doing musically today?
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: I mean I remember at the time, like in ninety
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: six or something like that, when everybody talked about like
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: the Gothenburg sound, and it was kind of like this
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: and that it felt very restrictive and not really a
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: fun thing to be part of, because to me, it
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: meant that all the bands from Gothenburg sounded the same,
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: you know, whereas we thought the opposite, you know, we
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: figured like, no, we were totally different from each other.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: And that was one of the kind of one of
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: the big.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: Points that we were trying to make was that, yeah,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: we make music and it's melodic and it's death metal,
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: but it's it's very different from each other. But at
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: the same time, now now nowadays it's someone asked me
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: what we played, It's like, yeah, we played death metal
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: but with a lot.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Of melodies, and that's it. So I'm absolutely fine with that.
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: And I think like mellow death or whatever you want
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: to call it is that's exactly what are we doing.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Awesome.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: And a different question, now, what's the weirdest or coolest
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: thing you've been given to by a fan?
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Oh?
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Weirdest I to know, Like, yeah, woodoo dolls and that
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: kind of stuff I received. It's a lot of toys,
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: a lot of things.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: I think.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: One of the coolest things actually, like absolutely actually the
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: coolest thing I got. It was in Spain this yeah,
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: this or late late last year November. There's this guy
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: who's a professional model maker for movies. He does all
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: these kind of tiny models that you film and kind
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: of like so he made like a resting model of
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: me and it cause structured it and it's like this tall.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: It's absolutely gorgeous.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: I'm post it on like my Instagram soon because I
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: still haven't. But it's it's incredibly cool. So it's it
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: looks like like an action figure would buy in a
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: in a geek store, you know, that kind of thing.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: But so that's that's super cool. I love it.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: That's cool. But nothing too weird or gross.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: That you can't not nothing gross, but just you sometimes
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: you go like, oh, that's you know, sieved Christmas tree ornaments.
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: I have a lot of beer mugs and coasters. I
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: have a lot of custom made T shirts and that
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: kind of stuff. So it's I mean, it's and it's fantastic.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: I think it's it's so cool. You know that it's
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: such such generous thing, you know, to do and and
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: generous gesture, and it's cool, you know when people just
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: want to give back, you know, for for for the
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: you know, the kind of the now gift free gift
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: of music you know that we provide.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: So I think it's amazing and I'm really.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Happy that we have such devoted and dedicated fans who
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: will take time out out of their lives.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: You know, in order to to make something for us.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: It's incredible.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: That's lovely. Yeah, your live performances have earned a reputation
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: for their intensity and atmosphere. How do you prepare for
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: a live show, especially when playing some of your older
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: iconic material alongside new songs.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: It's a bit of a nightmare setting putting a set
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: list together. Obviously it's too much to choose from, but
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: it's it kind of depends on territories. Sometimes America we
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: played maybe a different set. Europe is kind of we
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: know what to expect in different countries, so we kind
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: of adapt to that when it comes to setlist.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: In terms of the show like it, it also depends.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: In Europe, we do like a bigger production.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: It's easier and yeah and financially doable, so we basically
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: a lot around kind of visuals and and projections and
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: lights and stuff.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: So it's it's all those things that kind of come
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: into play. So it's a big plan.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: Like planning stage that that takes place months and months
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: before we start touring for an album and and it's
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: but it's been cool lately or for for this touring
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: cycle to revisit some old songs that we just haven't
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: played in forever to kind of, you know, spice it
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: up a little bit and make it interesting for us.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: But also for for for diehard fans who who get
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: to see songs that they just missed or that we
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: missed playing.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: And but it's it's it's hard putting together a set
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: that just feels right all the way through.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: So in the beginning of a tour, we have way
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: more songs that we can play in a night, so
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: then we kind of changed every other night or.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: In order to to kind of finally get to that
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: perfect set that just feels right and you know, has
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: this kind.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: Of flow through it. You know that that feels good.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: But it's not easy, but it's also kind of fun
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: and it's cool to experiment. You know, it's a lot
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: of work, but it's it's worth it, and.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: You like to keep it a bit fresh obviously for that.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, Yeah, that's awesome.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: Are there any bands or artists that you're listening to
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: at the moment that you really enjoy all that you
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: draw inspiration from?
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: Always, there's so much cool stuff out there. For me,
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: inspiration comes from just different kind of creativity. I think
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: when I listen to music that is it's different from
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: ours and different from what I maybe normally listen to,
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: you know, so I just I get inspired when I
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: hear something that I don't understand, you know that that
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: is kind of so out there that you're like, hey,
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: what's going on here?
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Like I I don't know what this is.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: So I've been listening a lot to to kind of
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: instrumental improvised psych rock and and doom and psychedelic rock
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: in general, where it's mostly improvised and just kind of
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: goes for it. So there's no way to have expectations
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: where a song is going. It's just something that happens.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: It's kind of like jazz, but it's heavy and cool,
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: you know, and and it's just it's just really inspiring.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: When you you listen to something, you can be totally focused,
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: but you have you don't you don't kind of apply
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: those the occupational hazard that I of course have, you know,
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: going like okay, where's this leading? Okay, where's this pre
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: course coming? And then Okay, what's what's the next thing
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: gonna happen? When it's the solo and stuff, But it's
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: totally different, you can kind of relax in a way
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: and and and really enjoy it for what it is
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: and h and that that is inspired, and I think
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: it doesn't kind of affect what we do, but it
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: affects how I maybe I write lyrics. Sometimes, you know,
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: I listen to something that it doesn't have lyrics, and
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: I start to think, what would I say here?
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: What does this mean to me? And I really like that. Wow,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: that's really interesting.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: I've never thought of that sort of music like that,
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: thinking of as a way of like, well, you don't
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: know what's going to happen next, so just sit back
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: and enjoy it, because usually I like songs where I
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: know can expect what's going to happen.
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: That's yeah, I like that too, but like just in
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: terms of like you get inspired, it's yeah, it's fun
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: to do the opposite.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, music, I'm constrained.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: I like that.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: With such a long career, you've likely experienced some pretty
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: surreal moments. What would you say is the most memorable
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: or unexpected experience you've had so far on the road.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Oh?
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: Wow, that's a lot. I remember it kind of like earlier.
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: This was like twelve fourteen years ago or something. We
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: were in Busan, South Korea, and we've been touring for
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: a while and we played this festival. We didn't really
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: know what it was like. We were just trolling, you know,
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: drinking and partying all night, and then finally ending up
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: after the long train ride down to Busan and arriving
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: there still kind of drunk early in the morning, like
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: from traveling all night, and someone said like, yeah, you
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: need to kind of get to this place.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: What's going on? Supposedly we're doing this outdoor festival. We
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: didn't know, and.
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: For some reason I was given the keys to the
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: city on a beach with a ceremony full of like
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of kids and people everywhere,
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: marching band playing some doctrine quility stuff and the mayor
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: of the city giving me the keys to the city,
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: and I got an assigned a plaque that is now
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: on the.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Beach in Busan. I had no idea that that was.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: That was probably the most surreal, like at least yeah,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: back then, I was like, what is going on here?
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Like how does this happen? Like where are we?
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: It was our first time or second time maybe in
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: career ever, so it was but that was cool. And
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: then I still haven't been back and I want to
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: go back and see if they're still there.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you got it.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Oh that's so cool. So strange but awesome. Your music
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: often explores deep emotional and philosophical things. You've briefly touched
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: on this, but is there a particular message or concept
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: you want advance to take away from Endgame Signals.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: I think it's I mean, it kind of deals with
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: how how we cope with things that don't go our way,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: how we deal with loneliness, loss, grief.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: And I've always said, like, you know, like before, like
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: I've tried to be kind of positive and kind of
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: have a positive outlook on things that eventually things will
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: be fine, you know, that kind of attitude worse with
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: this album or these last couple of years, I haven't
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: really felt that. I felt like, yeah, things are just
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: gonna get worse before they get better, you know, And
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: so kind of kind of not putting your positive spin
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: on it felt felt really good. And I think maybe
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: sometimes it's okay to kind of give into feeling miserable
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: or being upset and angry, and.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: And that that's what what what the album became.
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: And I talked to a lot of people on this
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: tour that have, you know, really yeah, difficult experiences, and
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: and it's it's kind of been been a comfort somehow
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: to to have someone or or have music or a band.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: You know that that kind of it's upfront about how
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: horrible that can be.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: And and I think.
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: We there's a song on the album called One of
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: Us Is Gone, and it was the last song that
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: we wrote for the album because we we knew that
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: it was going to be the most difficult one because
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: it dealt with the death of our former guitar player,
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: Frediki Wanson, who passed away three years ago. And he
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: also during the time when he was struggling with cancer,
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: he wrote a lot.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Of music and he.
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: He, uh it is that, he said, like I wrote
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: all this stuff and he gave it to us, and
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: he said, you can do whatever you want with it,
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: like you know, if if if it's anything good, use it,
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: you know. That's and that's so we decided to kind
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: of use his music and kind of construct a song
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: around it and then.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Have that be a tribute to him.
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: But it also became a song about how we dealt
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: with loss of our old friend, you know, and that
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: kind of became kind of like a cornerstone of the album,
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: even though it was written last, but it was something
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: that we knew was going to happen eventually, so we
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: had to kind of almost shape the album around a song.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Too difficult to write, you know.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, definitely What I Am.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: That really kind of affected us, and I think just yeah,
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: it's about, yeah, dealing with things that that maybe seem
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: kind of too difficult to handle, but of course we can.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, we were resilient and we have.
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: All this strengthen us that that's still there, but it's
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: sometimes really really hard to see.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely what a beautiful legacy that he left, but
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: also the way that he was able to help you
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: guys write that last song as well, really really powerful.
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: It was awesome, Like it was horrible, but it was great,
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: and it felt really cathartic to to kind of have it,
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: have it done and kind of get it ready. And
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: of course, like the first people I played it to,
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: I said the song immediately to his, his his wife
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: and his uh, his brother's and you know, like, hey,
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: this is this all right? You know this is and
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: so it's it felt like, you know, kind of like
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: some some kind of closure. It's it's never really closure,
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: but it's yeah, you know, one step out of the way,
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: you know, to that feeling okay.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: About it.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, and he was with you as well at
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: that time. Yeah, it's really special. What does Dark Tranquility
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: mean to you?
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: It means kind of like I mean, yeah, we we
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: started this when when I was fourteen, Yeah, and it
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: has been my main focus in life ever since. And
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: it's it has led to pretty much every kind of
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: relationship I have, you know, with friends and fans and everybody,
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: and really and it of course has taken us me,
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: you know, all over the world and done incredible cool
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: things and and I've seen yeah, the world many times over.
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: So it's it's and it's also like the outlet, you know,
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: the kind of the channel to to kind of say
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: something that that maybe you know, don't don't normally talk
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: to about, you know. And so it's it's the Yeah,
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: it's the It's one of the most important things, you know,
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: there is to me. So and so it's been great
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: to kind of over the years kind of like share
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: it and and keep the legacy kind of going even
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: now with different musicians as well, who who who understand
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: and what what we're about and what it means to
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: be in this band and and and why we feel
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: that or why we should keep it different or keep it,
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: you know, as unique as possible. And so it's it's
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: it's been incredible, and especially seeing like how how it
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: has kind of evolved over the years, like in terms
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: of the people who listen to us and come to
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: the shows, and and how how the audience has grown,
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: and and how accepting and and kind of open the
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: are to to to whatever we do.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Basically, it's amazing.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh that's awesome. And just quickly, last question, if
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: you weren't a musician, what do you think you'd be doing?
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: I worked like kind of like in.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: What do you call it that, I've been like caretaker
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: basically and worked for handicapped organizations for the last twenty
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: plus years or stuff like that. So maybe I would
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: keep doing that. But if I didn't start the band
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: in the beginning, I would probably do something in arts
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: and design. That's what I kind of grew up loving.
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: And that's how I met Nicholas, because we shared like
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: the passion for drawing and and and all kinds of
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: arts and and and just and that's what we'd end
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: up doing. Like we said, after after school, we just
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: sat and draw drew for for hours and hours and
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: then then we decided to kind of switch to guitars
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: and that's how we started the band.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: But he's still an illustrator.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: But maybe I would have gone that pop if I
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: didn't start playing guitar, because yeah, but so so it's cool,
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: like Nicholas is still like may he does all the
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: artwork and everything for for DT and for the Heal
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: Effect as well, and.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: But maybe I would have done that, So I don't know.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's awesome, So you obviously very very creative. But
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: also I just wanted to commend you on your job
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: being a support worker, because that's something I've always considered
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: going into as well actually myself, and I think it
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: takes a certain type of.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Person to do that. It's incredibly rewarding and it's a
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: cool thing to have.
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: I had a very very flexible I stopped working up
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: a couple of years ago, but before that it was
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: very flexible. And it's also like you're helping someone. It's
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: a good contrast to come from a tour where everything
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: is kind of handled and taken care of, to being
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: the opposite when you get home.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: So I really enjoyed that. Yeah, now I just don't
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: have any.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: Time, but yeah, yeah, no, that's amazing, Mikayl. It is
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: so lovely to speak with you today. We can't wait
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: to see you guys down under.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, awesome, thank you Yah,