ANDERS FRIDÉN Says IN FLAMES' Current Lineup Is 'Awesome In Every Possible Way'

As part of Jonathan Montenegro's "My 3 Questions To" series, Anders Fridén, frontman of Swedish melodic metallers IN FLAMES, spoke about how the band's latest three additions — Tanner Wayne on drums, Chris Broderick on guitar and Liam Wilson on bass — have affected IN FLAMES' performances in a positive way. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "First and foremost, they are great people, and that helps bring the whole camp in a good mood. As we go to stage or the whole surrounding, it's very, very important that you feel good and you have a good vibe during the day, to make sure everything is set for a perfect evening. So, that helps, for sure. Then, the most obvious, they are great and talented players. But I say it's equally important that you are a good person as well and the vibe is good. So, it helps. And because these guys are that good, Björn [Gelotte, IN FLAMES guitarist] and myself have to be on their level as well. So it boosts us, and hearing us playing together, it just elevates my performance as well. So it's awesome in every possible way. And we spend so much time together offstage, more than we are actually on stage, so that that aspect of having a good vibe outside is very, very important."

Fridén previously discussed IN FLAMES's current lineup this past February in an interview with Rolling Stone India. Asked what it is like bringing different people like Tanner, Chris and Liam into the band, even if it's just for the touring lineup, Anders said: "All the guys that you mentioned — Tanner and Chris and Liam — are in the band, so it's not just hired people. They are part of the band, but it's Björn and me that write the music and arrange it. That's what we do and it will not change. But the guys are very important to us and I think the way we sound live, we never sounded better.

"I don't mean that to be disrespectful to anyone who has ever been in the band, but these are really professional musicians and very skilled at what they do, and they all come from different backgrounds," he continued. "Tanner comes from a more hardcore punkish era, and Chris, obviously, with his history of being in NEVERMORE and JAG PANZER and MEGADETH… him we've known for more than 20 years. We were friends way before we thought about of him being in the band. It's been great to have him and him and Björn really jell together and they play a lot of guitar. I've never seen Björn play this much guitar, and I think Chris is a big part of that.

"Liam came in this last summer because [previous IN FLAMES bassist] Bryce [Paul] left us kind of abruptly," Anders explained. "We're still friends, so it's no bad blood whatsoever. But he had to focus on family and we had a festival booked in Europe, so we had to do something. And then, obviously, I know of DILLINGER [ESCAPE PLAN] from before and we met here and there, but we were not friends at all, so I didn't really know him. But our manager said, 'I think this would be a great fit for you.' He knew him way better than us and he came in and after meeting him for an hour, we were like best buddies. He's awesome and he's great and he fits in the band really well. He's a little bit older. He's not a young kid. He has a family. He has so much experience from the road, so it's a perfect fit. And he's a great guy on stage and off stage, and that's very important. And I need to say that because we play an hour, one and a half hours every other day. So that's what happens on stage. But off stage is also extremely important, how you are and how you behave and how you are socially, how you interact with each other. There's so much fun and there's no tension in the van, everybody's laughing and having a good time. Whenever someone needs to walk away a little bit and be on their own, it's totally cool. Nobody bothers you. So I am very happy to be part of this band right now. It's a good feeling after so many years, as I said before, still feel the vibe, especially after the pandemic and everything that happened. We got back together and we are able to do this. It's awesome."

IN FLAMES is continuing to tour in support of its latest album, "Foregone", which was released in February 2023 via Nuclear Blast.

"Foregone" was the second IN FLAMES album with Paul and Wayne, the first with Broderick, and the third with Grammy-winning producer Howard Benson (MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, THREE DAYS GRACE). Mike Plotnikoff (ALL THAT REMAINS, WARBRINGER) engineered at Benson's West Valley Recording Studios. Joe Rickard (10 YEARS, STARSET, DIAMANTE),who played drums for IN FLAMES from 2016 through 2019, handled mixing duties.

Wilson made his live debut with IN FLAMES on June 7, 2023 at the Release Athens festival in Athens, Greece.