INTERVIEW WITH IN FLAMES SINGER Anders Fridén

We caught up with IN FLAMES singer Anders Fridén during an afternoon off from Ozzfest in early August. He had literally just woken up and was handed a phone right away to do this interview, so many thanks to him for being such a good sport. He explains the importance of being true to yourself, how to prioritize your rider requirements, and how to perform with a splitting headache.

Paragon Rob:: You’ve toured many times in the U.S., but this is the first time you’re on Ozzfest . Is this easier or harder on you guys compared to a regular 2-3 band tour?

Anders Fridén: I don’t know, I can’t say it’s harder, really. It’s not better or easier or anything, it’s just another tour in another form, and it’s just strange to play for 20 minutes, really. Opening up the main stage when people are sitting down and stuff like that, that’s weird. And I think I’d rather do our own tour and play every day for longer than do this. But then again, this is a great opportunity for us and we see it more like a promotional tour than our own tour, and I hope our fans can see the same thing. Because we will come back and we will play longer during off dates. But during Ozzfest, it’s more for us to reach out to a wider, and new, audience that might not have heard us before.

Paragon Rob:: You’re opening up the main stage at Ozzfest every day. What’s the crowd attendance like that early in the show?

Anders Fridén: It’s really hard to tell, because in the seating area, they’re very spread out, but there’s always a grass area above, and it usually has a lot of people and since we are starting 5 minutes after Rob’s [Zombie] ending his set, there are always more and more people coming. So it’s hard to tell. It could be a couple thousand, but they’re all spread out. So it’s hard for me to count, really. ::laughs::

Paragon Rob:: After the performance at the end of the day, when the shows are all over and everyone’s packing up, who do you guys usually end up hanging out with during the tour? Do you hang out with any of the other bands…?

Anders Fridén: SOILWORK guys usually come up to us, and we hang with some of the guys from As I Lay Dying, and the Shadows Fall guys are around. We play a lot of cards (Hold ‘Em) every day. Try to steal the other bands’ money.




Do I have something in my noooooooose?...Loook clooooser!!!

Paragon Rob:: If you were to put together your own festival what bands would you bring out on the road with you?

Anders Fridén: Do they have to be alive?

Paragon Rob:: No, it’s up to you.

Anders Fridén: I would like to have SLAYER, and QUEENSRYCHE during their prime time between Operation Mindcrime and Empire. ALICE IN CHAINS, PANTERA. This is hard. ::laughs:: There are so many bands I want on there! ::laughs::

Paragon Rob:: For a while you guys were wearing all white overalls for each performance, what was the theme behind that?

Anders Fridén: To piss people off, really. Everyone else is wearing black, so this is during the Reroute to Remain [tour], and the whole thing was basically a white cover and everything, so we thought let’s work with that theme and if we could piss some people off, that would be really good. Conservative Metal people go, “You should wear black! You should wear spikes! You should do this…” and we’re like, “Whatever.” But now we won’t do it again. ::laughs::




and I don't know why I'm yelling!!!!!!

Paragon Rob:: How is the support out there? Are you seeing a lot of In Flames shirts in the crowd?

Anders Fridén: Yeah, we do. We go up to the second stage every day doing signings for FYE and for Jäger and we meet a lot of people, so we see tons of In Flames shirts, and that’s cool.

Paragon Rob:: One thing I always loved was the gradual evolution of the Jester face, who came up with the whole Jester thing?

Anders Fridén: Me and a guy called Nicholas. When we did the Jester Race album, we came up with the whole theme behind it. We want to stick with it. We want to have our own ID, ::laughs:: and I think it’s a good symbol, so that people can identify with the band and know immediately that if you see somebody wear a jester head tattoo that they are an In Flames fan, and other people will know as well.

Paragon Rob:: Yeah, every time you guys come out with something new, I always look forward to see what the new face will look like because it’s always something different.

Anders Fridén: Yeah, I don’t know if it’s going to be different [on the new album], but it will be the jester head in some shape or form.

Paragon Rob:: I know that every band tries to make each album better than the last, but which of your albums are you most proud of?

Anders Fridén: I can’t say, you know? Whenever we write an album, we’re so happy with it. And we try to make the best In Flames album ever. So I can’t say, because when we did the Jester Race, that was the best we could do, and when we did Soundtrack To Your Escape, that was the best we could do then. I’m really proud of them, I don’t regret anything from any album. I think they’re all representing In Flames in a very good way. And we just recorded a new one, it’s recorded and done, we’re just waiting for the release date because we don’t have a label in the States, so that’s why it’s taking some time. The new album I’m very proud of. I feel it’s like a “best of” album without being a “best of.” It’s like all of the seven albums we’ve done to date put into one. It’s worth waiting for. I think it’s, by far, the best album to date. But that’s how I feel now. ::laughs:: That’s what you should say, that’s kind of the cliché answer. ::laughs:: You have to be happy with the latest release, otherwise there’s no point in releasing it. But as I said earlier, I think all In Flames albums are a very good representation of who we were at that time in our career.




IN FLAMES perform in Upstate New York on OZZFEST 2005

Paragon Rob:: Your live show can be pretty intense, and it’s definitely loud. What do you do if you are about to go onstage and you have a splitting headache. I’d imagine it could get real painful when you have to do a song like “Clayman” or “Behind Space.”

Anders Fridén: Forget about it. If the audience is there, and they are going crazy, we are too. I’ve had some of the worst hangovers in my whole life, I’ve been shaking before a show, ::laughs:: and I’ve been really sick as well, I mean, really, I got the flu really bad, but as soon as you’re on stage, that doesn’t count anymore. You have to be there for the audience because they are the ones that buy the tickets, and the tickets are quite expensive these days, and you just have to forget about yourself and do everything possible for the audience.

Paragon Rob:: So you just try to ignore it and get on with the show.

Anders Fridén: Yeah, and if the audience is good, you forget about it immediately. And you realize immediately after, it’s like, wow, ow, it hurts! But on stage it doesn’t really matter.

Paragon Rob:: In Flames has been around for well over a decade now. What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned in that time?

Anders Fridén: Don’t care what other people tell you. ::laughs:: I mean, obviously, you can take advice from people and stuff like that, but it’s really important to stay true to yourself, and don’t look at trends because trends come and go and it doesn’t really matter what’s hip right now. Just work, work, work, and play live as much as possible.

Paragon Rob:: With as many albums as you guys have, and the amount of touring you’ve done over the years I’m sure you’ve done a large number of interviews, and most of them probably sounded the same. What is the most annoying “stock” question that you get asked all the time?

Anders Fridén: It’s hard. From time to time, interviews can be great, interviews can be poor. But now I don’t do that many interviews. I do a couple every day, but when you do a promotional tour, you do like 16-20 every day and then it gets really boring after a while; you get really tired of yourself. But I would say the most annoying one right now is, “Yeah, we read on the Internet that your fans are divided. Some people don’t like your new sound, and some people, blah blah blah blah blah…” That is really like, so, whatever? Some people like it, some don’t. That’s the end of it. It’s just music at the end of the day anyway.

Paragon Rob:: Every band gets a rider for the tour and you get to request pretty much anything you want to have with you at each stop. Have you guys ever intentionally put strange or crazy things on the rider to see what you could get away with?

Anders Fridén: No, we’ve never done that. ::laughs::

Paragon Rob:: No cliché ‘80s Metal tricks?

Anders Fridén: ::Laughs:: No M&Ms in divided bowls, no.

Paragon Rob:: But you gotta have the bowl with all the brown M&Ms!

Anders Fridén: ::Laughs:: I’m not an M&M fan, really. As long as I have the whiskey and the beer, I’m all set.

Paragon Rob:: That’s the most important thing to have.

Anders Fridén: Yeah, and towels. ::laughs:: Whiskey, beer, and towels, and then we’re all set.

Paragon Rob:: All right, I’ll let you go back to whatever you have to do for the day.

Anders Fridén: My sleep? ::laughs:: No, I gotta get coffee. ::laughs:: That’s my next mission before I do another interview. ::laughs::

Paragon Rob:: Any last words or plugs for our readers?

Anders Fridén: Sorry you have to wait for a new album, but we’re still waiting, and it will be out some time in February. And thank you for this interview; it was a nice wake-up call. ::laughs::

Check out the official IN FLAMES website at INFLAMES.com

This interview will also be featured in print in Paragon Music Magazine. To get your copy of Paragon Music Magazine, email your name and address to ParagonMM@hotmail.com and include $1 per copy by cash, money order, or Paypal (email them for payment info).