EVERGREY INTERVIEW
Evergrey's "In Search For Truth" is by far one of the best power/progressive metal releases of the year. Of course I decided to do an interview with main-man, vocalist/guitarist Tom Englund:

Interview by Claus Jensen
To start off, I'd like to hear how come that this is your third album on the third record company … didn't you get along with your former labels?

"We are very determined people and big fucking Vikings too, so if we don't get things the way we want them to be. We make a lot of noise, hehhe"

"The Dark Discovery" wasn't available lots of places, mainly due to GNW's poor distribution channels, so I think a lot of people aren't aware of that album, or at least haven't heard it. Could you try to describe that one?

"It is a very rough and dark album that we wrote when we were a very young band we had only been together for less than a year so of course we did not know what we wanted to entirely. We came from a death metal background and therefor our intentions was to bring back the melody in our song writing but to keep the darkness in there and I think we did a debut album to be proud of. So if you like dark melodic stuff check it out!"

On "Solitude…" you refined your style into something much more original - dark, powerful and progressive - two years later, what can you say about that album now?

"A really strong album, we had eventually got our style together and really knew what we wanted to do this time with Evergrey and it turned out to be a fantastically sorrowful and sad CD where everything actually turned out the way we wanted them to be also we had a great success with it and did a lot of gigs and tours festivals and a terrible amount of press :-)"

Now with "In Search Of Truth" you've done a masterpiece of power/prog metal (at least in my opinion) - what was your aim with this album? What do you think are the musical differences from the previous albums and this one?

"Well let us say like this; The "solitude " album took us one and half years to write and this took us one and a half months so figure it out… we had no real thought behind it at all. I mean if you compare the two latest albums you could say that the solitude is a total showing of despair while ISOT is a travel through hope and despair. I think that we maybe have taken the darkness and sorrow to another level and maybe added a bit more progressiveness to the album as well."

You've changed some of the band members - why? And what did the new guys bring to Evergrey?

"Some people are made for this life some are not! And the new members contributed a hell of a lot more than I really thought that they would in the first place so it is all a band effort."

I feel that the keyboards have a more dominant place on the new album and some parts of it reminds me of the way your fellow Swedes Pain Of Salvation use the keyboards - would you agree?

"Well I am not to fond of comparing bands at all and since POS are a great band that I am a fan of I wouldn't think that it would do either them or us justice to compare us. But the keyboards are much more prominent on this album basically cause this time we have a keyboard player arranging most of the parts and therefor it gets another sound than before."

You've also begun to "sing" more this time around - it's not so much the same usual phrasings you're using now. Are you more confident as a singer now?

"Absolutely the years have given me experience and courage as well as more knowledge of how to sing so yes."

The opener of the album, "Masterplan", is by far the most melodic song you've ever done in my opinion - very memorable song … in some ways it reminds me a bit of Kamelot. Was it intentional to have that one REALLY melodic song starting off the album? Or was it just where it fitted into the concept?

"No we never have any intentions and we only write what is the most satisfying for us in order to keep ourselves happy! Again we never have any plans besides the obvious Masterplan."

The album is a fascinating concept about alien-abduction - please explain …

"Well it is about a man in his mid-thirties who is having a real hard time in his life, all of a sudden he is starting to get scared of real basic things like getting out of bed in the morning getting afraid of sunset as well as sunrise this gets to the point where he realises he needs to talk to someone so he attempts to talk to his friends and family, loved-ones but no-one will hear him out so basically he is left out in the cold with no-one to confide in so therefor he decides to meet with a psychologist who hears him out and together they decide to perform a hypnotic regression session so that they maybe could find out the origin of the strange occurrences happening to him and after a few sessions they find out that he has been a victim of abduction since he was 5 years old."

Once again you've used King Diamond guitarist Andy LaRocque as producer - what did he bring to the Evergrey sound? And how important is it for you to work with the same producer-team?

"Well this time me and Andy have produced together so basically we have got to know each other real well which makes it very easy in the line of studio work, to talk the same language for instance is a big help and of course it is very important to have a working situation going and Andy has a lot of great ideas. But he has never have nothing to do with the song-writing in EVERGREY merely he is there to bring us faith and lead the way."

Instead of using Kristian Wahlin for the cover-artwork you've used Mattias Norén - why?

"Well we ordered a cover from Kristian that we in the end was not too happy about and therefor we decided to ask Mattias from who I had seen some nice work to a reasonable price and we are never afraid to try something new as long as it improves us in what ever way it might be."

I've seen you live twice - both times at ProgPower Festival in Holland - and you kick ass!!! You seem to be a fantastic live band, and I guess you spend a lot of time rehearsing the live shows before going out on the road … where do you feel most comfortable: on stage, in the studio or in the rehearsal-room making new songs?

"We hate the studio work it gives me the creeps however it is a necessary evil. And live are where we come to life so of course we prefer the live-environment. And we love to see the reactions from people when we do a decent show that is what makes it worth it in the end. But we do not spend that much time in the rehearsal room how odd it might seem and the things that are the hardest as it seems is that we are having a lot of stuff to do like now for instance when we need to rehearse we have done more than 140 interviews over the last weeks and I have been in France for promo for a week so it always interferes with our training sort of speak but hell this is what we have been fighting for very long so … No real complaints here ….."

I know that you're very active on the Internet, Tom - is the web an important thing for any modern band nowadays? How much time do you spend each day on the Internet?

"Well I do not have the time I want anymore for the web however I think it is very important and have gained us a lot of interest and have got us things that never would have been possible without it. I usually spend like two hours a day."

What new bands, besides Evergrey, would you advice fans of your sound to check out? And what are your personal favourite bands (not necessarily "metal")?

"Well I listen a lot to Tori Amos, Pink Floyd, of course, POS , S X and a hell of a lot more whenever I get the time."

Any plans of tours? If so - when, where, with whom?

"Well we have a moth more at least of press and promo. So that will keep us busy after that we will hopefully embark on a European tour as well as a Swedish tour. We have the release party and video release this week and next week we are doing a gig at a record store here in Sweden. We are also going to Paris for a least one show before the end of the year and after that Atlanta , a French tour next year as well as a USA tour so yeah very busy …."

If you have anything else to add, please feel free to do so;

"Keep up the darkside!"