INTERVIEW WITH EVERGREY GUITARIST HENRIK DANHAGE

When Rob from Paragon asked me if I was interested in interviewing Henrik Danhage from EVERGREY, my first reaction was "uhhh...who?" (you know, 'cause I'd been drinking a lot that day) After mulling it over for a few seconds, I realized who he was talking about and agreed. Evergrey is one of the many heavy metal acts that flourishes overseas, but remains fairly obscure in the U.S. They can play their asses off, but the market for technically proficient metal is pretty much gonzo in the U.S. Thankfully, the proliferation of the internet has enabled these bands to market themselves internationally in a manner that just wasn't possible say, oh... ten years ago. Anyway, I fired off a few questions and Rob fired off a few, and Henrik answered 'em...and this is what it looked like:

Steve C: EVERGREY has been around since 1998, and the music business has changed fairly drastically since then. Bands are making less money, major record labels are consolidating, and established acts are being dropped left and right. Is the desire to make music for a living as strong as ever, or is the dwindling business having an effect?

Henrik Danhage: Obviously the money is very important in order to survive. I think when you are starting out you are very innocent and very naïve in a lot of ways and you think the best of people and that changes, all of that stuff changes along the road. Basically everything is about money, if you have a record company that really puts in a lot of money you’re going to be bigger than if you were on a little independent label that really doesn’t have any money to put you on a tour and advertise and stuff. Sometimes it’s a lot more fun, like when you’re younger and you just played, now there’s so many things to think about that really don’t have anything to do with the music. We’re spending more time doing stuff around the band than actually just hanging out and playing. So it all changes, and it changes more and more the bigger you get.

SC: Scandanavians are encouraged to beging playing instruments very early on in life. American kids are losing their musical programs in their schools, and being subjected to a different Britney, Christina, or Jessica Simpson every few months. If you were going to introduce a new band on a massive scale (ie; millions of dollars in marketing) to the American public, which act would you choose?

HD: In a perfect world, I would bring JEFF BUCKLEY back to life again. Putting him back on tour and just spreading his music because he was fucking God.

Paragon Rob: How old were you when you started learning music?

HD: I got my first guitar when I was 7, but I was always a lazy kid, the first thing I did was rip off the strings because they hurt my fingers when I was doing all the playback stuff that kids learn. I fooled around and we had this little stupid band when we were little and we rehearsed one hour a week. So, we didn’t really progress that fast, around my mid-teens I started to play more serious, putting some time into the instrument. I’ve been playing a long time so I’m not that good considering how long I’ve been playing guitar.

PR: Was guitar your first instrument or were you forced to learn the flute or some other embarrassing instrument?

HD: No that was my first instrument. I think that I was supposed to be the drummer and I think I was allowed to do that for 2 rehearsals and I was just so bad another guy had to take over.

SC: Complete the following sentence: The most attractive Evergrey fans live in ______. (city, state, country)

HD: Attractive, as in beautiful? There’s a lot of places, Sweden is good obviously and playing in New York you see a lot of attractive people as well.

SC: OK, now which part of the world would you look out into the audience and see someone in desperate need of cosmetic surgery (burn victims aside, of course)?

HD: Oh dude, maybe in some villages down in Africa, but we’re probably not going to play there. ::laughs:: I really don’t know, that really is a hard question, I mean what is ugly in my eyes can possibly be very beautiful to someone else’s eyes. It’s hard to answer that one without coming off as a dick. (Come off like a dick... it's OK. We don't mind!)

SC: Bands and performers that are making the BIG money in music these days aren't exactly classically-trained virtuoso musicians. How do you feel about the fact that guitarists with one tenth of your chops are making fortunes with music that you could play in your sleep?

HD: It makes me feel kinda good actually because I think a lot of the guys that are in my position, and I know a lot of guys that have ten times my chops and they’re always going to be sitting in their fucking bedrooms just whacking off. As far as guitar players, I like people that can play, there’s a lot of guys that are not so good at guitar but they can write cool songs with the little knowledge that they have. I mean, Kurt Cobain, he was very limited and NIRVANA was never my favorite band but I still think you have to give him some credit because he did a lot of things as far as his little songs, he broke a lot of rules because he hadn’t had the knowledge at that period and he just played what sounded good to his ears and I think that is cool.


Say...whaddya think these strings are for?

PR: If there was one popular band that you'd like to pull aside and give guitar lessons to, who would it be and why?

HD: I felt a lot of those bands that came from Seattle during the grunge period had a lot of cool things going on. But I didn’t really like the lead stuff that they came up with. So a couple of those guys maybe, and maybe they can show me something cool, like different tunings or something like that.

SC: Hypothetical situation: You're walking down the street near your hometown one day, and a twenty-something year-old guy in a suit rolls up to you in his new BMW and says "Dude! I just downloaded the new EVERGREY disc. You guys ROCK!"... What's your reaction to this guy (someone who can obviously afford to buy a CD downloading the music you worked hard to create)?

HD: I would ask him “Do you want my keys so you can go home and fuck my girlfriend as well?” (Really? You'd let him do that? Wow, how open-minded of you. Oh. Wait. You're kidding. Heh. Gotcha)

SC: The Evergrey lineup is one that rotates fairly regularly. Do you think it's difficult to maintain a consistent following when new members are constantly being introduced?

HD: I know that for a fact, it is. In Greece, for example they’re very loyal, the fans that you have there, and they do not like when the line-up changes. They don’t like it at all, I’ve had fans coming up and being real upset. But it’s hard when you’re 5 guys living very close together. For the latest, when our drummer left, he wasn’t into it anymore, so it’s not like we fired him, not all of them got fired. ::laughs::

PR: Yeah, some people just leave on their own.

HD: Yeah, and you have to respect that, but I believe that every line-up change that we’ve had has really…it’s just been a better band afterwards. The line-up that we have right now, I’m very happy with that and I would love it if we could always have it that way because for the first time we feel like a real band, all 5 guys are going in the same direction. It’s hard to do it when you don’t have your heart in it, so I think it’s much better now.

SC: Rock music and alcohol consumption usually go hand-in-hand, and when you're sharing a tour bus with another band, the drinking can sometimes go a little overboard. How much of your time on tour is spent pickling your livers, and how much is spent actually working?

HD: Like, 50/50, there’s always things to do, there’s always somebody you have to do an interview with, a photo session, stuff like that. It’s not like going to work, and working at a factory, the nights are basically…you can party as much as you want because it’s always there and there’s always someone to party with. I wouldn’t say go out of hand, it’s hard, you’re tired when you’re going out on tour.

SC: In order to make any kind of money, a rock band must tour internationally. Of all the cities you've played/seen out on the road, which one could you see yourself packing up and moving yourself to?

HD: I don’t know, this is hard, I’m not in a position where I can do that. I’ve got a kid at home and stuff like that, but I like New York a lot but I don’t see myself living here and cutting all the roots at home and moving to different country. Plus it’s very safe to live in Sweden, I’ve been there all my life. Maybe go up north in Sweden. (Swedish chicks are really cute, too. Let's all move!)

SC: Also...with all of the terrorism alerts throughout the world, travel is now more stressful than ever. Was there ever a time when you hit a city while on tour, and just thought "Oh God, PLEASE get me out of here!"

HD: Um…No…It was kinda scary when we were in Detroit though. The scary part was that we weren’t allowed to find out how scary it was because were told to just stay on the tour bus, we weren’t allowed to go out anywhere. (Can you believe that? There are trains, cars, and buildings blowing up all over the world, and these guys are afraid of DETROIT. Man, what an armpit... if you're in Detroit, you have our condolences)

PR: Well, that makes it even worse because you don’t know what’s out there.

HD: Exactly, I thought it was kinda strange because there were about 2,000 people attending the show and I wonder where they come from if it’s such a bad neighborhood. We don’t have that at all in Sweden, like “Don’t go there, you could be killed if you go there!” That doesn’t really exist in Sweden. But it’s weird, especially if you’re doing gigs in Eastern Europe, they don’t know much English and you can tell that you’re really on your own, if something would happen we would be fucked over there.

SC: Being out on the road with a bunch of guys can get kind of lonely, so it's entirely likely that you guys have seen a few adult videos while on tour. If we were to rummage through the Evergrey porno collection, what kind of videos would we find?

HD: That’s a very good question. Myself, I like fabric, as far as all the implants and stuff, like American porn. Some of the other guys like more of the “ButtMan” stuff with a little video camera and shitty production, like “real girls” so to speak. I like the plastic though. ("Fabric?" What's he talking about?)

SC: Being cooped up with a bunch of guys in a small space can also be pretty smelly. Which member of the band has the biggest problem controlling his gasses?

HD: No, after a couple of weeks the guy that has the worst gasses is the king, the winner. First off, he deserves to be treated with the most respect, ::laughs:: you become real dorky when you’re out on tour.

SC: Is there any guy that you wouldn’t want to be around after a big German meal and a six pack of beer?


You will feel the wrath of my bratwurst and beer in a few minutes...

HD: I don’t think we have a real King of Farts, you know? It varies.

SC: Artists that used to be multi-platinum sellers are now selling a few hundred thousand units when their new releases come out, and bands that used to sell hundreds of thousands of records are now selling tens of thousands. Many established acts have been suggesting that the music business has to be re-tooled, and that the existing business model is not working (especially with so many bands being dropped). If YOU were going to start up a label and release music, how would YOU do it? ...better yet... WOULD you do it at all?

HD: It all depends, if I had the finances to do it the way I want to do it. It’s very hard for bands and artists nowadays, especially with the “Flavor of the Month” because if you don’t have a hit you’re fucking dropped. People in the business can tell us “Oh, there’s no originality left.” But look at BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, he had the chance to release a lot of CDs before he found his own style, that just doesn’t happen anymore, so it would be nice to have a little label where you could release a couple CDs a year and just let the artists grow. I understand though, because money is important, you’ve gotta have money, so I can understand the record labels as well.

SC: What are you up to when you're not on tour? Is there a day job waiting for you?

HD: No, right now I probably have three things that I have to maintain, and that is my son, of course, I try to hang out with him as much as possible. Plus the band, and I just hooked up with a new babe so that’s kinda like the three things that I have going right now that I have to maintain. Other than that I just spend a lot of time with the guys from the band even when we are home. It’s kinda hard getting back in the loop with all the old friends, it’s much easier to just hang with my boys, because we have done all the things together, they’re my buddies, so that is mostly what we do, just hang out with the band and the girlfriends and stuff like that.

SC: Henrik, you've done some producing, so it's safe to assume you know your way around a studio and/or ProTools. Do you agree with the minimalist approach METALLICA took with the St. Anger record?

HD: Uh, I thought it was kind of…it was a good idea, but I think the whole thing fell flat on it’s face. I don’t like the way it sounds, but it’s always cool doing new things. I don’t want any of my CDs to sound that way, but that’s the cool thing about Metallica, they can do that. They’re so big they can break all the rules and get away with it.

PR: I think they were trying to go for that “garage” kind of sound that they had when they first started, and they probably looked at the music scene and saw how badly produced some new bands are and they thought it would go over well. But people will buy the newer music because it sounds like that and that’s what they want, but people don’t want that from Metallica, they don’t want Garage Days, they want the Black Album.

HD: Exactly, and that is a great CD, no matter what you think about it like “They sold out” or whatever that is one of the best rock CDs. It sells over a million a year, it’s a great CD.

PR: In a previous interview, someone from the band admitted that they weren’t big fans of DREAM THEATER, this answer was taken way out of context and before you knew it there were rumors of hatred and grudges that were completely false. Have you ever gotten done with an interview and thought back to an answer you gave and suddenly feel as if you shouldn’t have given a particular response?

HD: I was the one doing that interview, actually. Even though we are recording artists and stuff and out and playing, we’re still regular fucking people with opinions and if somebody asks me something then I answer them. In this case, the guy that did the interview, I can’t say anything bad about him because when I read it, it was my words. But I had never said that I don’t like Dream Theater, the worst is probably that they’re on my top 100 list. I liked the new CD, and they are the leaders of what they’re doing and it would be pretty stupid to bash on them or bash on any band for that matter. But what I don’t like is to be compared to any other band because I don’t think we sound like any other band. I don’t like when people are calling us Progressive Metal and putting us in context with other bands that I don’t want to have anything to do with, as far as being compared to. Obviously it would have better if I had answered in a different way, but people were spreading all this bull and had altered their own opinions and what they think about me, they don’t know me, it’s just people with too much time. I really don’t care about that, there’s no point to go in the forums and start answering stuff like that because I really don’t give a fuck what people think about that. As far as this Dream Theater thing, it just got out of hand, I talked to [DT drummer] Mike Portnoy and it’s all good. That is the only thing that I care about, I don’t want them to think that some cocky Swede goes around slashing them because that wasn’t the case, we are cool with them, I don’t give a fuck about what the other people think. They can say what they want, they are entitled to that, but so am I. They can check out our website and come down if they have anything to say and we can take a beer and talk, or they can just continue bad-mouthing and stuff like that because a real fan doesn’t do that

SC: Plugs? Plug, plug, pluggity plug....

HD: I think it’s been cool, there were very good questions, a lot of different questions. That is always fun because I’m going to do 5 or 6 more interviews today and it’s always nice when you get different kinds of questions, so thanks for that. Thank you to all the readers and fans that take the time and put in a lot of effort to find out more things about Evergrey, I’m real grateful for that and I know the other guys are as well. Um, buy our albums, come to our shows, we can drink some beer and have a good time.

Damn, that boy can talk, can't he? Nice to know the Swedes have senses of humor and that they can hang. Much thanks to Rob from Paragon Music Magazine for setting this one up.

Check out EVERGREY's official website at Evergrey.net

Also, check out Rob's review of the latest Evergrey disc, Inner Circle.