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Interview
Deutsche VersionInterview mit Evergrey (06.10.2008)
HH: Hi, how are you?
Jonas: I'm fine, thanks.
HH: Congratulations, I think your new record Torn is really great. How are the first reactions to it?
Jonas: That's awesome, thank you! We've got amazing reviews and feedback for Torn so far and that's just great. Also the limited edition version of Torn is already sold out which is fantastic. You can read some excerpts from different magazines on our website www.evergrey.net.
HH: What is your feeling about Torn? Is it more going back to the Evergrey roots or a logical consequence to Monday Morning Apocalypse?
Jonas: I think that Torn is more back to the roots even though we don't think in those terms when we write music. Monday Morning was a really direct album with straightforward songs and we didn't have any room for long solos or atmospheric parts or anything like that. And that was a cool experience to make an album like that. But on the new album we weren't afraid to have all those parts, if they fit in the songs, of course. If you put stuff in your songs just to fill it out or for no sake of it that's just a waste. And the fact that we have Jari on bass made it even more interesting to make cool parts that he could play along with.
HH: Oh yes, a new bass player joined Evergrey. Who is he and how did you get together?
Jonas: His name is Jari Kainulainen. He is from Finland and used to play in the finnish power metal band Stratovarius. Now he's been with us for over a year already, and we are so happy to have him on board. He is probably the best bassplayer I have ever heard and it is so easy to play with him, we compliment each other extremely well. He lives in Norway, so he can't be with us that often when we rehearse, he usually comes to Gothenburg a day or two before we have a show. And that is not really a problem because he's such a great and professional player, he doesn't need to practice anymore, haha.
HH: Why did you choose the title Torn for the album?
Jonas: It's such a powerful word which fits to the album. The songs and the lyrics are powerful and Torn was just a perfect word to describe the album with.
HH: I really like the song "Nothing Is Erased" for its powerful chorus. What's your favourite song on your new album and what makes it your favourite?
Jonas: That's a cool song. I love that chrous, too, it's really heavy and groovy. But "Broken Wings" is my favourite track at the moment. We had the opportunity to play that song live before Torn was released, it's really fun to play that song and it fits in a live performance just perfectly. It has the Evergrey elements: cool riffs and guitar harmonies, strong melodies and dynamics. "Still Walk Alone", "Numb" and "These Scars" are also favourites of mine on Torn.
HH: Let's talk a little about your lyrics. You wrote several concept albums like Recreation Day, In Search Of Truth and The Inner Circle. Is there also a central theme on Torn?
Jonas: No, there isn't. Some of the subjects that are dealed with on Torn are fear, betrayal, loss of something or someone and times when you just feel like giving up.
HH: Will there be an Evergrey album with - let's say - happy lyrics someday?
Jonas: I doubt it. The only chance that this will happen would be if we changed our musical direction and start to play sleaze or glam rock. And it's hard for me to see that day coming. Since we play dark music and emotional songs it just wouldn't be right to sing about cheerful stuff. It would just ruin the music and the whole vibe we're trying to create. The dark and serious subjects in the lyrics are one of those things that makes it "Evergrey" and we won't get rid of that.
HH: I really like the cover artwork of Torn since I think it fits perfectly to the music. Can you tell us something about the painter and how the artwork evolved?
Jonas: The guy who made the cover is Mattias Noren, the same guy who has done all Evergrey's covers since In Search Of Truth. He is very easy to work with and understands what we want. I think this is the best cover he has ever done, I totally like it. The pictures inside the booklet are taken by this amazing Danish photographer named Rene Rasmussen. The photos are unbelievable and they add another dimension to the album if you listen to it and look in the booklet at the same time.
HH: You signed with Steamhammer/SPV for the new record and there are rumours that some of your previous records will be re-released and updated with bonus material. Is that really going to happen?
Jonas: Yes, it is. I don't know when yet, we're in the middle of Torn now and we have a lot of things to think about but we will release some of the previous records sometime. We haven't discussed with SPV when we will do it, we are taking one thing at a time. Torn is first up. We are very excited and it feels great to be working together with SPV.
HH: What about the next tour? When will we be able to gaze at you guys on stage again?
Jonas: We just played in Gothenburg, we had our release gig for Torn there. It was great. Lots of people were eager to hear the new material live and we were so pumped up to play some of the new tunes live for the first time. We have some promo work to do before we start touring. We are doing some acoustic shows and signing sessions and we will do some fly-ins to cities we might not visit when we go out on tour. We're playing in Warzaw (Poland), Romania, Russia and we have gigs booked in Sweden. I can't wait to get out on the road, I miss it so much. And specially now that we got Torn in the bag and Jari on our team.
HH: By the way, I remember you wearing these yellow snake leather boots some years ago. Are you going to wear them again?
Jonas: Hell yeah, I still wear them, check out our new photos and you'll see them again. I love the look of boots but I'm also a sneaker guy. It's not trendy or modern to wear cowboy boots but who cares? If it looks cool and feels good for you just go with it. I bought those boots when we did two shows in Mexico. They had so many boot stores, I didn't know where to begin. They sold everything from snake skin and alligator skin boots to boots with ostrich skin. They also had a lot of hats but I'll wait until the next album before I buy one. Maybe I'll become a fullblooded cowboy with horse and everything on the next album. I mean, why stop with just the boots? Haha.
HH: You have been to Munich for several times now. Have you ever had time to visit the city or maybe even the Octoberfest? What were your impressions of Munich?
Jonas: I have heard a lot about the Octoberfest and I have to tell you that it seems like a fest for me. It would be facinating to visit it some day and join the party. Last time we played in Munich was at Rockfabrik, a very weird but cool place with a lot of different venues and clubs in the middle of nowhere basicly. I guess you have those places in Germany, they don't exist in Sweden at least. I hope to do a lot of shows in Germany when we go on tour.
HH: Thanks for your time and I wish you lots of success with Torn. Is there anything else that you want the readers of heavyhardes to know?
Jonas: Check out evergrey.net for updates and our myspace page at: myspace.com/officialevergrey. Cheers!