ARCH ENEMY Drummer Prepares For CARCASS Reunion Shows

Anthony Morgan of Lucem Fero recently conducted an interview with ARCH ENEMY drummer Daniel Erlandsson. An excerpt from the chat follows:

Q: Is there a reason why ARCH ENEMY worked with Fredrik (Nordström) again, after all those years?

Daniel: "Yeah. We did a few albums with Andy Sneap, and he also mixed a DVD (2006's 'Live Apocalypse') for us. We had worked with Andy for a couple of years, so we wanted to try something slightly different. In some ways, we set out to have a slightly more aggressive album in terms of the sound. With Andy Sneap, you get a really clear, clinical and precise production. Andy's production is awesome in its own way. We wanted to try something different though, and that was the idea."

Q: Could you tell me about your personal contributions to "Rise Of The Tyrant"?

Daniel: "Yeah. Apart from drumming, my personal contribution to 'Rise of the Tyrant' was just being part of the whole writing process. As Chris (Amott) had obviously left the group before, I arranged the songs together with Michael (Amott) this time around. When Chris returned, we already had most of the album written. He had some ideas that surfaced on the album, but it was mostly me and Michael who rehearsed the songs."

Q: What was it like getting Chris back onboard?

Daniel: "It's great; it's good to have him back. He missed out on two years of touring basically, though he played on 'Doomsday Machine' (2005). For that reason, he wasn't really out of the group so to speak. Chris returning is like a family member returning."

Q: When ARCH ENEMY filmed the video for "Revolution Begins", your hair reportedly caught fire. Is that correct?

Daniel: "It's partially correct, although the story has been exaggerated."

Q: Could you set the record straight as concerns that story?

Daniel: "Yeah. It didn't really catch fire that way. I actually had a wall of fire behind me when I played drums, and the wind changed. The fire didn't actually touch my hair but it got too close. For that reason, it basically got too warm. It basically melted one of the sides of my hair, and it frizzed up. I had to cut my hair a little bit."

Q: It has been mentioned that ARCH ENEMY intends to re-record some of the songs from the albums recorded with Johan (Liiva). Is that correct?

Daniel: "Yeah."

Q: Are there any dates planned for recording of those songs?

Daniel: "Yeah, we're actually talking about recording them in early 2008. We've talked about doing this for years now. There's a lot of songs that we really like which are featured on those albums, but we can't really play them live as most of our fans discovered us after Angela (Gossow) joined the group. The idea is to release an album, and to be able to play those songs live."

Q: You've been asked to fill in for Ken Owen for upcoming CARCASS shows, so can you tell me about that? How did that come about? Is it Michael who asked you?

Daniel: "Yeah, he asked me to do it. I think one of the reasons Michael asked me is due to the fact he knows me as a drummer, and we obviously rehearse. I have my drums set up in our rehearsal space, and that's where CARCASS have been meeting up and rehearsing."

Q: Is it going to be difficult filling in for Ken? Obviously, Ken has health issues which is the reason you're going to be behind the drum-kit. Is it going to be difficult living up to what people remember from those old CARCASS shows?

Daniel: "I'm not going to involve too much of my personal flavor, put it that way. I'm going to try to emulate his playing as well as I can."

Read the entire interview at this location.