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René : Daniel,
before Pain
Of
Salvation
saw the lights, you already formed the band Reality.
Can you tell us
something about that band?
Daniel : I
formed Reality when I was 11 years old. I still like a lot
of the songs I wrote then – I guess that I would have
bigger chances of becoming a rich composer on those songs
than on the music I write nowadays. We
had some success locally and nation-wide those early years.
Johan Langell started playing in the band around 1989, when
he was 14 years old, so we go way back.
René : Why
the change of the bandname into Pain Of Salvation?
Daniel : I
was sick and tired of Reality, and I looked for new names
for quite some time when I studied at Music College. I
wanted a name that meant something, a name that was more
than a cool expression. For me, Pain of Salvation has the
meaning of balance. Taking the good with the bad. It is also
a good expression in everyday use, when something does not
go the way you planned; “well, that’s just the pain of
salvation,” to indicate that this is just a slight setback
on an otherwise painless journey towards your goal.
René : Till
now the debut album is only released in Japan, why?
 Daniel
: We signed
with the Japanese label very early, even before recording
the first album. The European and US record companies are
more coward, so it took us some time to find one that we
could really believe in. We only work with people that
really like what we do, we don’t care much for money-talk.
Anyway,
when we found InsideOut they wanted to release “One Hour
by the Concrete Lake” first, for obvious reasons. That was
fine with us since we do not make particularly
trend-sensitive music; our albums are built to last.
René : It
will be released in Europe finally this summer, can we
expect a different version than the japanese version?
Daniel : Well,
it has the unique feature of lacking the bonus track.
*smile*
If
you already have the Japanese version, there is really only
one reason for you to buy the European one: all the artwork
is in full colour. The European version will be released all
over Europe on the 23rd of August.
René : The
second album was released in Europe earlier this year (the
first POS release in Europe), what are the reactions so far?
Daniel : Really,
really great. We meet one brilliant review after the other
and we receive great feedback from our fans. I must say that
I am surprised. Not that our music deserves less, but you
have to consider that we are a new, young band with quite a
different sound, and this must be seen as our European debut
since Entropia is not yet released. The number of fans is
constantly growing.
 René
: Is
the response you get now in Europe the same as in Japan?
Daniel : Yes,
very much so. Only problem in Japan is that we only received
82/100 in the biggest magazine. They want us to be more
mainstream progressive (if you allow that somewhat strange
terminology), stripping away the aggressive and funky parts,
which we will not do.
René : And
what about the US??
Daniel : I
cannot tell you to much so far, but our US fans (and they
seem to be quite a few despite the fact that we have not
released our albums there yet) will soon have reasons to
rejoice. Once again, some areas are harder than others when
it comes to finding a good label that dares to open a new
bottle of champagne instead of sipping the old one yet
another decade. And how’s that for a silly metaphor?
René : In
Europe you have toured with Threshold and Eldritch recently.
Was it are you satisfied tour for POS?
Daniel : Yes,
it was a great tour and a great experience. Some gigs were
better than others of course, but that is just the way it
is. We always seek to be the best band on stage, why settle
for less? *smile*
It
is not so common that a band gets to tour Europe one month
after the release of their first album. Consequently, I did
not expect people to come and see us in particular! Some
fans even travelled between countries just to see us more
than once! I bow my head in respect and gratefulness. The
gig in Uden, Holland, was the best one on the whole tour.
The audience was just great and the feedback made us even
better on stage.
René : Have
you ever toured that extensive or are you planning to tour
in Japan and / or US?
Daniel : The
European tour was our first tour ever, even though I went to
Japan for a promotion trip after the release of Entropia. As
for now, we are taking a short break after two years of
constant stress and pressure, and then we will finish and
record our next album. And of course we have the ProgPower
gig, which we look forward to a lot.
René : Well, talking about ProgPower, can
we expect something special?
Daniel : Oh,
just the ordinary POS stuff: passion, perfection and pure
divinity exploding on stage. *laugh* Who knows, perhaps we
will play one of the new songs for you – but only as an
encore. How’s that?
René : Let's talk a little bit about
the future, are
there already plans for a third release?
Daniel : Yes,
we have about seven or eight songs almost completely
finished, except for the lyrics. We are not sure whether it
will be a concept album or not, so I have waited with the
lyrics. I am sure that it will be a great album.
René : Or
maybe a liveCD and/or video?
Daniel : We
have spent no thoughts about a live-CD yet. To be honest I
have never liked live-CDs myself. I guess it is a nice
substitute for seeing a band live but...
About
videos; we have actually made three videos already, from the
first two albums. Two of the videos even won awards. But we
haven’t made any live videos – perhaps we will bring a
camera to the ProgPower.
René : OK, I guess we have discussed
the most important things, Is
there something else you want to tell the fans?
Daniel : I
want to thank everybody out there that supports our music
and our thoughts. It would not be the same without you. We
will be there for you, in mind and music
René : Daniel, thanks
for your time and good luck in the near future!
Daniel : Thank
you. I look forward to meet you again at the ProgPower
festival, René. Take care.
http://www.algonet.se/~gilden/
Saturday 07 August 1999
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