Andy Read speaks to singer Daniel Gildenlöw
There can’t be too many bands around who have ‘made it big’ with album number seven. But that seems to be the case with Sweden’s political ProgMetallers Pain of Salvation. Their newly-released seventh album, ‘Scarsick’, is certainly grabbing the attention on many levels.
Firstly, the outspoken lyrics that encompass the political views of the band’s creative driving force, Daniel Gildenlöw, have sparked fierce debate amongst fans, especially across the Atlantic – more of which later.
Secondly, the album has rendered more press and good reviews than any of the previous POS albums - our conversation is Gildenlöw’s ninth interview of the evening.
Thirdly, and most importantly for the band and label, sales have taken everyone by surprise. The first pressing of the album sold out in less than two days. Many of Sweden’s biggest daily newspapers have been heaping praise on a band that they’d never previously given a column inch to, and ‘Scarsick’ went straight into the Swedish album charts at an impossible 6th position.
 ‘The response has been terrific so far, even in Sweden,’ enthuses the surprisingly softly-spoken Gildenlöw. ‘We have a saying over here when things get a bit weird, that we’ve had two Thursdays this week. It’s very trend-orientated over here. So, for us to hit number six on the album charts – wow! I don’t think we’ve even been in the charts before.’
However, it’s not as if the band hasn’t been producing good stuff. Since the foundation of his first band, Reality, back in 1984, Daniel Gildenlöw has pursued his own concept of progressive rock music, in which he has continued to push the genre’s boundaries. By 1991, Reality had become Pain of Salvation and produced its debut album ‘Entropia’. The eco-aware ‘One Hour By The Concrete Lake’ followed to critical acclaim, but it was ‘The Perfect Element Part I’ which cemented the band’s reputation as one of the world leaders in progressive metal.
The superb ‘Remedy Lane’, led to a tour with Dream Theater as well as an invitation for Gildenlöw to participate in the all-star Transatlantic project with Mike Portnoy. An acoustic album ‘12:5’ and the deeply conceptual ‘BE’ completed an impressive and every-changing musical legacy for the band. That was until the long-awaited release of ‘Scarsick’.
I ask Gildenlöw to offer an explanation for their sudden rise into the mainstream, as apart from two oddly exceptional tracks, ‘Scarsick’ isn’t radically different from what they’ve done before.
‘I’ve no idea,’ he offers, ‘other than that maybe time has finally caught up with us. I can see that we’re very much leaving behind a decade when everything was focused on stupidity and simplicity. Pain of Salvation was neither. We were talking about war and environmental pollution, things that really mattered to us. We didn’t go on about everyday problems. But back then, that was called ‘being pretentious’. Now all of a sudden, it’s okay to talk about these issues and bands who do, are starting to get recognition.’
 ‘I saw a good review of the Mars Volta album in a ladies magazine. It was hailing one song because it was 17 minutes long. That would not have been a positive feature, for such a magazine, a few years back.’
For long-standing fans of the band, the only reason needed to delve into the new album is the unheralded revelation that ‘Scarsick’ has actually been written as ‘The Perfect Element Part 2’. Nothing was made of this in the pre-release publicity - although there was much speculation among fans. Confirmation only comes if you open the album case and peep inside the cover, the title is hidden away on the reverse of the side bar where the ‘official’ album title stands.
I invite the writer to explain how the concept of the new release fits in with the first chapter.
‘There are so many points of reference between the two albums, that’s a really big question. But the easiest way to explain it, is that ‘The Perfect Element Part 1’ deals with people who are dysfunctional in society. People who are broken. In Part 2, we are catching up with the male character. He is at the mental point-of-no-return and we see the outside world being portrayed on television. What we are doing is looking at the symptomology of society and comparing that to the symptomology of the individual, that we were looking at in Part 1. We are dysfunctional as individuals, but so is society in so many ways. That’s the journey.’
As mentioned earlier, it’s the lyrical aspect of the songs that have already generated fierce debate among fans. In particular two tracks. Firstly Gildenlöw’s angry sideswipe at the politics of America in the track of the same name, and the John Travolta disco beats that feature in the eccentric ‘Disco Queen’.
‘Oh I’ve never heard those two songs mentioned before,’ he laughs. ‘America has been a frustration among the band, pretty much since 9/11. I want to emphasise that this song is criticising the American government and the way they run their foreign politics.’
‘And I think criticising the American government is actually taking sides with the American people, as they are the ones who are going to suffer the most in the end. I mean, there is only so much tolerance in the rest of the world and (the American government) is just pushing that limit all the time.’
 I ask whether there is any truth in the rumour that the band’s record label, Inside Out actually asked them to remove the two tracks in question.
‘Not really, that has just been blown out of context a bit. What happened was that Inside Out said, that as our record label, they had to inform us that ‘America’ might not be the cleverest move if we wanted to get success. It was bound to upset people. But after that, they said that, as usual, we could do whatever we wanted. And as usual, we did.’
‘And it was the same with the song ‘Disco Queen’. It was a case of the label saying: ‘Well it sounds a bit weird. Are you sure about this?’ There was a feeling of doubt. But we’ve been met with that ever since the first album. Even with ‘The Perfect Element’ people were saying ‘Are you sure about this?’ In fact, I can’t remember an album where everyone just said: ‘Sure. Go ahead. That’s great.’
‘But now the record label is saying to us: ‘Hey, maybe we should do a video for ‘Disco Queen’. We always try to push our limits on each album. There are always songs on each album that will push the envelope a little bit. And it’s usually those songs that stay with people for the longest time.’
The controversy has certainly generated plenty of interest in the album. The downloads of "America" on Inside Out America's home site quickly reached a staggering 22,000.
The band’s outspoken views on American issues are certainly nothing new. I remember when seeing the band headline the Headway Festival in Amsterdam three years ago, they all jumped on stage in bright orange t-shirts with the headline ‘No War’ emblazoned across the front. Last year, Gildenlöw hit the headlines for his decision not to travel to the USA for a tour with The Flower Kings, as he refused to submit to the USA government’s requirement for finger printing.
In a message posted on the band’s website he admitted: ‘All-in-all, this decision has probably cost me a lot, but it has given me unexpected support too, and I do not regret standing my ground in this issue. If I don't, how can I expect others to stand up for what they believe in?’
 A year on, and the singer is happy to expand his views on the whole topic.
‘We’re focusing way too much on fear and paranoia,’ he explained. ‘We are solving the things that we can solve, because we don’t know how to solve the real issues. We don’t know how to deal with environmental pollution. It doesn’t have a creed or a colour. It doesn’t have an army. We can’t fight it. So how can we deal with it? But terrorism, that’s easier. You can shot terrorists. We know how to deal with that.’
‘All of these ‘wars on terror’, all this introducing more security and tapping people’s phones left, right and centre, none of that will help people. Nobody lives happily in a Big Brother society.’
‘We spend billions on more security and surveillance systems and having people take their shoes off before they get onto an aeroplane, to save what? A few hundred, a few thousand lives. They are important lives, don’t misunderstand me here, but we’re neglecting so many other areas that are so more important. Those are the issues that do need to be tackled, as time is running out.’
So how does he react to people who say that music and politics should not be mixed? That music is just there to be enjoyed, as an escape from the everyday world.
‘I just don’t understand that statement,’ he retorts. ‘When people say politics, they often mean party politics. But as soon as a musician starts sending his images and messages around the world, that’s politics. The question is, are they aware of the message that they are sending out? If you’re creating a song about partying, you’re saying that you think that partying is what we should focus on. You have so many topics to choose from, but the activity of drinking alcoholic beverages with friends is your priority. I just want to write about the things that are important to me.’
Interview & Live Photos for DPRP by
ANDY READ
LINKS:
Pain Of Salvation Official Website
Pain of Salvation MySpace Page
InsideOut Music
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