If you love your Metal then it doesn’t come more in your face than Arch Enemy the Swedish Metal merchants that just keep on delivering. It may have been five years since their last record but with 2022’s ‘Deceivers’ they hit new post-pandemic heights with a collection of songs that will shake you to the core. We caught up with founder member and drummer Daniel Erlandsson to talk Australian Tour and so much more…
Mark: Good morning Sir, how are you?
Daniel: Hello there! I’m pretty good.
Mark: It’s great to have you with us today Daniel and great that you are coming down to see us again! You’re no stranger to Australian shores though you always manage to fit us in!
Daniel: Yeah it’s gonna be great to come back, the last time we played in Australia was in 2018 in the Spring.
Mark: The world has changed since then and you have a new album out ‘Deceivers’ which I think is one of my favourites. Hopefully there will be a lot of that record in the set?
Daniel: Yeah, I mean if you follow the band you’ll know that we released quite a few singles before the album came out and that was an idea from the Record Company to try a different kind of strategy to launch the album this time round. And one of the good things about that idea was that it allowed us to come out and play these songs live before the album was out which was pretty cool, so in the set we’ll be playing quite a few – five or six of them.
Mark: I know ‘Deceiver Deceiver’ and ‘House of Mirrors’ came out back in 2021 which gave us a nice taste of the album, so I think the strategy works, it leaves you wanting more as a fan and as a band I guess the best thing is you get to road test the new songs live to see how they go down with the audience.
Daniel: Yeah, we tried it out, we started touring again in the U.S. back in May in 2022 and we played a couple of the new songs which at that time were just like singles on YouTube. But it was different times, the pandemic meant that a lot of people were perhaps watching more YouTube (laughs) more videos. But for the most part it felt like the crowd was acquainted with the music and the new songs already.
Mark: I think it paid off then! On an album without a weak spot I think the last single ‘In the Eye of the Storm’ might even be my favourite. You’ve been treating the Southern Hemisphere to a lot of Arch Enemy – you just finished up a tour of South America – what was that like?
Daniel: (pause) Crazy.
Mark: (laughs)
Daniel: It was pretty intense.
Mark: They are well known for their passion and craziness down there! You covered a lot of ground too – Peru and countries that I guess get a few less visitors.
Daniel: Yeah, we’d been to most of those places before, but we hadn’t been to El Salvador, that was the first time we played over there and it must have been the longest Latin American Tour we’ve ever done. Wel it felt pretty long (laughs) and I guess that was because it was kind of connected to the European Tour – we toured for six weeks in Europe and then had one day off before we flew down to Brazil. So one tour to the other.
Mark: So not a lot of down time and now you’re heading down to Australia! The Tour I think is selling incredibly well which is great, I think I remember seeing you for the first time down here as far back as 2005, which might just be the first time you came down?
Daniel: Yeah that would have been the first time and I just remember everyone being completely blown away by how cool your Country is and how cool the shows were, it was a great first impression and I think you liked us too! (laughs)
Mark: It was great and you kept coming back so we both must have done something right! The tour is being hotly anticipated and I think a lot of that has to do with the new record. How do you go about putting together an Arch Enemy album? When does everyone get involved and how do you record in the studio?
Daniel: For the most part it just starts out with an idea – a guitar riff or somebody hums something into their i-phone and pick up a guitar and translates it to the guitar. And we start just adding little pieces together over time. And every now and then me and Michael sit down and we do a kind of bit more of a serious demo where we try to put those pieces together, and we just build on that, you know. It’s kind of time-consuming to be honest and it takes a lot of energy to put an album together. And this album is no different in that sense (laughs).
Mark: And it’s been worth the 5 year wait I think. Just to talk about you for a while, one of the questions I always love to ask people when we first talk is where their journey began and when they knew that music was going to be such an important thing in their life? I know that you started drumming at an early age and I know that your brother is a drummer as well so drums are in the family. But when did you know that you weren’t going to be able to escape this musical life? Did you always now?
Daniel: I haven’t always known, no. It kind of snuck up on me over time. The bands I was playing in and the output that we did, it got more and more serious and just progressed, eventually up until the point where, you know, it became a profession. And starting out that was never something you could imagine. It was two separate things – playing drums and getting a profession.
Mark: So where do you think it would have ended up if it hadn’t worked out for you?
Daniel: (laughs) Who knows Mark! I don’t know! (laughs)
Mark: I’m just looking at some of the messages coming in from readers who know we are talking today – one of them is saying you have to play ‘Sunset over the Empire’ is that one you’ll be playing for us?
Daniel: That’s one of the new songs we are playing live yeah.
Mark: Judging by the comments that seems to be one of the favourites so you’ll be onto a winner there.
Mark: If you could have been a ‘fly on the wall’ for the creation of any great Rock or Metal album just to see how the magic happened, what would you like to have seen being created? What has always intrigued you?
Daniel: That would be an album that just has that magical sound to it. One of those albums that you can’t really explain why. Maybe ‘Merciful Fate’ – ‘Don’t Break the Oath’
Mark: A classic!
Daniel: There’s just such an atmospheric sound on that record. I don’t know if they even know how they did that! (laughs) It just sounds so special!
Mark: That’s the thing isn’t it we know so much about so many albums but some of the real gems we know next to nothing about.
Daniel: That’s so true.
Mark: And our final question – a real easy one – what is the meaning of life?
Daniel: (laughs) To travel very far! …. and play shows in Australia! (laughs)
Mark: (laughs)
Daniel: I think I got out of that one! (laughs)
Mark: It’s the first time we had that one! It will be great to see you guys back down here – have a safe trip – you’ve treated the southern hemisphere to some great shows over the last few months and you’re back here in a week! When do you get to play back in the North?
Daniel: Over the Summer, we have a tour and we’ll combine it with the European Festivals we’re playing. We have plenty of shows – we’ll be on the road there from June to August.
Mark: I know the songs for the latest record had their origins as far back as 2018 and we’re released as singles early, are you looking to go down a similar route for the next record?
Daniel: I think it worked out pretty well, the record company wanted to try it and we went along with it. It was a different time, there was the pandemic, people were at home so it worked out well. If it would work out for the next I don’t know, people are back to kind of normal so if it would work as well it remains to be seen.
Mark: Before you leave us we just have to ask about the time you played with Carcass, the reunion shows back in 2007, how was that experience?
Daniel: Yeah that was crazy. It was a lot of fun. That was a band I grew up listening to so to play with them was very cool. And also to be part of the first reunion shows they did was special – we went to the U.S. – in the beginning it was meant to be just a few select Festivals in Europe but it kind of grew and grew and suddenly we were doing a headlining tour in the U.S. There was a really magical vibe about those shows, and it was so cool to be a part of it. The original drummer was sadly unable to play but every now and then he would come out and visit us and do a little drum solo.
Mark: That’s so cool. An I suspect that you might have already started work on demoing potential new songs?
Daniel: Yeah, it’s been quite some time since we did the songs that made it onto ‘Deceivers’ so we’re already working on new ideas and demos and stuff like that. That’s keeping me busy at the moment.
Mark: That sounds great. Thank you so much for your time today Daniel, take care and safe travels.
Daniel: Thank you very much.
ARCH ENEMY AUSTRALIA & N.Z. TOUR – February 2023
Feb 12 Auckland- Powerstation with Bulletbelt
Feb 14 Adelaide – Governor Hindmarsh with Valhalore
Feb 15 Brisbane – Tivoli Theatre with Valhalore
Feb 17 Sydney – Metro Theatre with Valhalore ***SOLD OUT***
Feb 18 Melbourne – Forum Theatre with Valhalore
Feb 19 Fremantle – Metropolis with Remission
