Interview с Pain : DARKSIDE.ru

Well, first of all let me congratulate you with such a great show! Did you expect such a welcome from the public from the beginning?

No! I mean we were in Moscow not long ago and show then was really great, but we didn’t know what to expect from St.-Petersburg, but crowd was really wonderful.

In one of your songs you sing – “I don’t believe in god or destiny”. What do you believe in then?

I believe in life. I mean we live and then we die – that’s it. I’m sure we’re going somewhere after that, I’m going to hell – that’s for sure! (laughs) I’ve been a naughty boy! (everybody laughs) Well, I don’t have time to think about such things. I think you live now and make the most of it.

You take part in a lot of projects, you engineer many bands – for example Immortal or Children of Bodom, you play in Hypocrisy and Pain. (at that moment my mobile phone rang – the melody “Shut Your Mouth”)

Haha, you see! It’s everywhere! (everybody laughs)

So how do you have time for everything?

Well, it’s like working 24 hours a day and doing a lot of things. And I don’t get bored I guess. And I do what I really like.

In Pain you combine things that in some opinions cannot be combined. You sing about diseases, drugs, human race global problems, but the music is for dance floor actually.

I don’t know. I just write music, write what I feel and try to give some good rhythm into it. And the lyrics come just what I feel and what I think about life. For me it’s not as if I played anything, I just write what I feel. I don’t know why. I don’t know what to sing, because as for me I don’t like to write love songs and all that shit, I’m not the one for it, you know. I write about what I do, about things that come from my heart.

For Pain you recorded all the instruments yourself. Why did you choose this way of working? Do you feel comfortable working alone? And is it difficult for you to work side by side with someone else?

I don’t know actually. With Hypocrisy I do work with other guys. It’s nice to me to sit by myself and write my own stuff in my free time. That’s what Pain is like. Here I do what I like. And I don’t get bored, because I develop as a producer, musician and so on. And I’m learning with every new album.

In different songs you write about different diseases – Aids, cancer, drug addictions. Is this theme so close to you?

For instance the song “The End of The Line” is about one Aids guy. He lived in Stockholm and actually he fucked the girls. So that’s what the song is about and the song about cancer I wrote because of my grandma – she died of cancer. It’s just what comes into my mind, what I live with, whatever I consider bad or wrong – I sing about it. It’s not as if I thought out something. It’s about shit that I get out.

To tell the truth I was struck when I read the lyrics of the song “Just Think Again”. What inspired you for such lyrics?

You know, I am a daddy. That’s` why I wrote about children and what may happen to them,

and actually about what happens to them now. It’s enough to switch one channel and you’ll see this. So I didn’t think much about the lyrics – unfortunately.

In your lyrics you also touch upon UFO problems. Do you believe that something of the kind exists? And have you ever seen something like this?

No I haven’t seen it myself, but what I think is like this – we were placed to the Earth millions years ago – and sometimes they return to see how much we have fucked down the Earth. Maybe…

In one of your interviews you said that you hate religion. Do you deny any religion? And what’s the ground for such attitude?

You know – religion’s become very obsessive. I think that you may believe in anything you like. So it’s better to be your own god. As for me – I think – it’s all bullshit.

When you set up Pain what aims did you have? And do you think that with you r 5th full length-album you managed to bring to life all your ideas?

Yeah, a little bit. I mean there’s no any big idea beside Pain or Hypocrisy. I just do the best I can with every album.

Who worked at the cover artwork for the latest album? And what did you want to say by such a cover?

I don’t know. As for me I don’t like this cover at all. To be honest I really hate it, but here it is nevertheless…

Why did you accept it then?

It was too late to think about anything else. So I decided let it be this, whatever actually. The cover is bullshit – I think the most important thing is what the album is like. I don’t really give a shit about it.

Why did you choose the song “Zombie Slam” to shoot the first video clip from the new record? What is especial about this song?

Because it’s a little bit different you know. If I do a single or a video for one of the songs - it should be different from the other stuff. At least for me it’s a little bit different and that’s why I chose it.

You once said that first you write music – you write music, record it and when you cannot wait any longer you sit down and write all the lyrics within 2 or 3 hours. Can you really sit and write anything within such a short period of time?

No, no. Not in 2 or hours. It’s bullshit of course. Yeah, the music is very easy for me to write and record. And when it comes to lyrics I can sit for weeks and think, “What the fuck should I sing about?” So it takes a lot of time to get into it , but when I get into it it’s a little bit easier. But I hate to write lyrics, because I’m not a person who reads books. You know for people who read a lot of books it’s easier to get the imagination, and I am not the one. So I write from my heart I guess.

Your older clip, “The End of the Line”, is a little bit strange – there are a lot of worms in it. What do they symbolize and what did you feel when you had to seat near them?

You’ll be laughing, but I have no idea of what they symbolize! (laughs) You won’t believe, but the first time I was sitting before the camera I asked, what the video is gonna be about. And they said,

”Nothing really. You just have to be creepy!” And I was like, “Ok”. I still don’t know what this video is about.

Which Pain album do you consider to be the best and why?

I think the new one. I don’t know what the people will think, but for me it’s like I write better and better songs. And that’s the most important thing for me.

And now that you can look back at your previous material – do you think that, “This I might have done better!”

Yeah, I know what you mean. When the album is done you usually go like, “Well, this I shouldn’t have done.” But looking into the past I don’t regret anything, because

And when can we expect a new DVD from Pain or Hypocrisy?

With Pain we’re actually doing it right now, we’re collecting the material, all the stuff that is happening with us on tour, different sessions of madness. And hopefully we can release it in January or something like that. It’s not gonna be a kind of a super-production live-show, it’ll be some concert shooting, some back-stage shooting, anything that happens, all that shit that happens to us! (laughs) (addresses to the guitar player and all the rest members) Guys, right? (shouts loudly, almost screaming)

In one of your previous interviews you said that you were not satisfied with the way Universal worked with you. Now you’ve changed label. Are you content with Roadrunner? What can you say about them?

O, it’s too early to say. (at that moment he sees that one of the guys takes several bottles of beer from the case) Hey! Don’t! Don’t! It’s for Tiamat guys! (everybody laughs) Sorry, we’re going on. (begins to sing) Ooon and ooon again!! (everybody cracks)

Not long ago you performed in Moscow with such titans like Therion and Blind Guardian. What impressions do you have from this concert? As far as I know where was an apprehension that Pain wouldn’t perform at all…

Actually, when we came to the venue there was something wrong with the stage. (as far as we all remember there were cars on stage, they were left from the previous party in the club – add.) I think Blind Guardian were complaining about the stage. It was fucked up with something, so they had to rebuild the whole stuff. So when we came to the place there was Blind Guardian on sound-check, then it was Therion’s turn to sound-check.
And we sound checked in several minutes. And the performance of the first warm-up band was cancelled. It was high time to open the doors, but nothing was ready and the people were complaining about it.

I know that you were once drinking with Silenoz DIMMU BORGIR from your running shoes "Adidas", then you polished the scene with the soap, or something of the kind. Does it happen so often during the tours?

This is that’s we are! All the time. And to tell you the truth we don’t drink alcohol at all. Don’t you believe me?? Smell the bokal. (brings the bokal with whiskey to my nose) It’s tea! (everybody laughs) And we never get drunk. I’ve never been drunk in my life! Well, Peter be serious! (laughs) I m

ean that our life is always a party – you go on stage, do your job and then you’re having a rest. You’re partying.

Is it the way to survive?

Yeah! Exactly! I’m alive. Though… I should check… (fells his pulse) It’s ticking… (gives a sigh of relief) Yeah, I’m definitely alive! (everybody laughs) I mean that on tour we’re all friends. For example today we’re performing with Tiamat and we are having a good time together, they are super guys you know! We take care of each other whatever anyone need, we help each other. And it’s a great fun.

How is your son? A couple of years ago you said that he was interested in metal. Does he still like the music you are playing?

Yeah! But I’d rather have him sitting and painting pictures instead of listening to this music. (laughs) But I don’t want to go like this: “Oh, I give you a guitar and you must begin to play music!” No! he can do whatever he wants when it comes to the future. I don’t really want to push him to do anything. Whatever he decides to do he will be supported with. Only if he’s not gay – it’s not a problem! (laughs) He is with me every other week . If I go somewhere for the weekend then I see him more later.

On your new CD there are lots of guest musicians – drummer Mikkey Dee (MOTÖRHEAD, ex-DON DOKKEN, KING DIAMOND) in the song "Zombie Slam"; CHILDREN OF BODOM frontman Alexi Laiho, who played lead-guitars in the epic "Just Think Again", and Peter Iwers (IN FLAMES), who recorded the parts of bass for two songs. How did it happen that all these musicians got into this CD? And how did you get in touch with them?

I just told them: “Guys! Take free beers!” And they came! (laughs) And speaking seriously – these were some kind of favors – we do favors to each other.

Could you tell a bit more about your cover-album. Why did you decide to record such a CD?

Because I needed to get out of Universal. I owed them one more record, so I thought, “Why not release a cover-album?” So here it is.

What covers will make this CD? I know that there will be "I Play Dead" BJÖRK and '"Behind the Wheel" DEPECHE MODE. What else?

Electric Light Orchestra for instance. Actually I play the covers of the band that I like. And you mentioned the song by Beatles “Eleanor Rigby”. Why this song. It’s different from their other stuff… I just like it and it’s a really good song. I like the original very much. It was cool to make it anyway.

And the question about your hit “Shut Your Mouth”. When you were writing this song – did you expect such a success?

No! Not really! I had this melody in my head and I I just put in down. And I recorded this song very fast you know. Then I wrote the lyrics. I don’t know – everything just worked. And in general when I write songs I have no idea of what success it’ll have. You just do the best you can.

Your schedule is very tight. When did you have a rest last time? And how do you have a rest? Partying?

No. When I’m at home a don’t drink that much. When we are on tour we drink a lot of course! When I’m at home – the best thing is to watch movie and have some pizza.

Hopefully all of the fans enjoyed the show. And I hope they will in the future! I hope to come to Moscow very soon. I really hope they like the albums we’re doing. We’ll come back with the new record and it’s only the beginning!

Interview by Ksenia “Wolfin” Khorina
2 авг 2007 the End

Pain

I am alive (?)