ARCH ENEMY Guitarist: 'For Us, It's About The Music'

The Great Falls Tribune recently conducted an interview with ARCH ENEMY guitarist Michael Amott. Several excerpts from the chat follow:

On European bands like CHILDREN OF BODOM, OPETH and ARCH ENEMY offering fans a different, yet familiar take on traditional metal music involving more than chords:

"I kind of knew it would swing around eventually.

"I think we're ahead of the game as far as the trend goes. I've been playing ... solos for so long that you kind of develop a real sense of what's actually tasteful. I'm not just impressed with somebody that just learned a couple of techniques and just pulled them off. There's gotta be something behind it, I think."

On never compromising his style to fit in with the trends:

"I've been doing this for some time now. I'm just playing the same music all the time (and) sometimes it seems to be more popular. What you hear in ARCH ENEMY is a little different than what you get in the next band and that's because I think we've dug a little bit deeper."

On having a female vocalist:

"We don't even think about that anymore. To us it's nothing we think about at all. We're not thinking about treading new ground. It's just the way it is."

On experiencing negative feedback from some metal fans because of the female vocalist:

"It has its positives and negatives with Angela. We're totally aware of that. Some people never will like us because Angela is a woman and because some people can't handle that. It's actually kind of funny. It's amusing to see how small people can be.

"For us, it's about the music. It's not about pushing someone who's in front, but every strong band, if you think of it, has a good strong front person.

"I'm not thinking about these tons of faceless three random words American bands where everybody looks the same. I'm talking about JUDAS PRIEST, IRON MAIDEN, BLACK SABBATH, even SLAYER, METALLICA and MEGADETH. All these bands had really strong front fighters. I think that's been a little bit lost now in metal."

On the departure of longtime guitarist Christopher Amott:

"We'd sort of noticed a declining interest in the band (from Christopher). He was maybe unhappy and not enjoying it as much as he should. When somebody's not really enjoying it, when somebody doesn't really want to be there, it kind of creates a miserable atmosphere for everybody."

As previously reported, ARCH ENEMY have recruited Fredrik Åkesson as a replacement for Chris Amott for the continued "Doomsday Machine" touring campaign. Åkesson has lent his awesome guitar talent to such varied artists such as TALISMAN, JOHN NORUM, KRUX, TIAMAT and his own (now defunct) group, SOUTHPAW.

ARCH ENEMY started their European tour in Paris at the Bataclan on October 2. The band's "Doomsday Machine" album entered the official German Top 100 chart at position No. 34. The CD was co-produced by the band and Rickard Bengtsson at Slaughterhouse Studio in Sweden and was mixed by Andy Sneap at Backstage Studios in Derbyshire, U.K.

ARCH ENEMY's U.S. hedlining tour with ALL THAT REMAINS, MNEMIC and A PERFECT MURDER will kick off in early November.