I recently caught up with guitarist Björn Gelotte from In Flames before their set at the Welcome To Rockville festival in Jacksonville, FL. We talked about the band’s 25th anniversay, ‘Siren Charms’ and more.
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Q – You guys are currently out on tour with All That Remains and Periphery, how has it been treating you so far?
Björn – Well this is the first day, so we’re starting out with a festival, all nice and chaotic like. Tomorrow is going to be the first club show, which should be a lot of fun.
Q – It’s a very eclectic lineup to say the least. Do you usually prefer touring with bands you sound nothing like, as apposed to everyone sounding similar?
Björn – I think it gives the audience a wide range of music, and I always prefer it that way. Even though there’s something nostalgic about having the same kinds of bands, but in the end it’s everyone showing off and presenting their music, and you’d like to at least have some newer people there.
Q – I’m sure it’s the easier way to get the younger audience into discovering your band?
Björn – It’s certainly one way of rejuvenating the audience, but also to offer something that isn’t the same band over and over.
Q – ‘Siren Charms’ has been out for around seven months now, I know there has been a somewhat mixed reception from it, but how do you feel about it now seven months later?
Björn – I’m as proud as I was the day we released it. And it’s been that way for us for fifteen years. Every new release gets criticized by a few, but embraced by many. That’s just the way it is. I understand it cause I would kind of do the same, I wouldn’t exactly criticize, but it doesn’t automatically mean I love each and every album from this artist I love. It’s a different idea, and we wanted to do it differently this time.
TNF – Understandable, you don’t want to do the same thing every time…
Björn – Exactly, and there’s so few bands that can do that, such as Iron Maiden and AC/DC. ‘
TNF – It’s why I’ve always respected bands like you guys and Opeth, because a lot of bands who have been around for as long don’t want to upset their fan base, so they stick to a certain label they’ve made for themselves.
Björn – That would be very confining, and very uninspiring. It would be any fun for me in the end. But again it’s a thing of taste, but when we write and record, we do it for us. You never know what people are going to like, whether this riff is going to cater to the girls in the audience, you just can’t do that. So what you do is music you can relate to, and just be proud of it. And when it’s done, the five of us discussed with whoever is recording us, but other than that it doesn’t matter.
Q – Well you must be doing something right, because I believe it hit #26 on the billboard. Does something like that surprise you, or do you just never think about it?
Björn – I just don’t think about it. The real receipt for your work is when people come out to shows. It’s kind of mixed for us all over the world, where we’re playing, and especially timing is really important. But we’re very fortunate, we can go to almost any country that has a metal scene, do a show and expect an audience. It may not always be huge, but that doesn’t always matter.
Q – It’s been twenty five years since In Flames originally formed. Though you weren’t in the band originally, did you ever imagine it would become one of the most influential bands in melodic metal?
Björn – That makes me feel fucking old now (laughs). But no, you don’t think about that, and I don’t think about it now either. Again I’m extremely fortunate, this is the only thing I know how to do, the only thing I want to do, and it actually pays the bills. You can’t find that anywhere else, and I’m happy with it. To be some kind of “forefather” or a “legend”, there’s enough legends out there. We know we have a heritage or a legacy, so we’re really proud and really serious with our music, but that’s about it.
Q – What’s the best concert you’ve ever attended that you did not play?
Björn – I actually did play earlier on the same stage, so it was a festival in Italy, and it was the first time I saw Slipknot. I had never seen anything like it, the energy coming from on stage, and we were sitting on the stage to the side. Having seen Tommy Lee booed off stage right before, they set up the Slipknot camp and we were like, ‘What the fuck is going on?”, it’s just massive with everything. And when they started I was blown away.
Q – What are some of your personal favorite music releases from the past year?
Björn – That’s kind of hard because I’m very traditional, I’m probably like the people that hate us (laughs). It’s usually our singer Anders, he’s always constantly playing new music for us. It becomes a blur for me after a while, but some things definitely stick. There is one band called Beartooth, I believe it’s the same singer from Attack Attack.
TNF – They were actually supposed to play yesterday but their set was rained out, they along with four or five other bands like Exodus and Upon A BurningBody didn’t even get to play.
Björn – The new Exodus is great too, that sucks, I absolutely love Muse, the whole theatrical aspect, there’s just nothing else like that.
Q – Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, is there anything else you’d like to add?
Björn – Thanks for the support, I know it’s cliche to say but it’s true. Without you guys we wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t be standing in the sun listening to awesome bands. It’s as simple as that.
