IN FLAMES Bassist On Guitarist STRÖMBLAD: 'He Really Needs To Deal With His Problems'

Live-Metal.net's Jeff Maki recently conducted an interview with bassist Peter Iwers of Swedish metallers IN FLAMES. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

Live-Metal.net: What is [guitarist] Jesper [Strömblad's] status right now? Is he still checked into rehab? What is his status right now with the band in general?

Peter Iwers: His status is that he's still working on getting himself 100 percent — getting well and coming back as soon as he feels he's ready. Now it's not gonna change. We are five members of IN FLAMES and it's not gonna change, like some people are speculating. Jesper is very much in the band, but he needs to be ready. It's up to him when he's ready to come back and is strong enough to stay on the road. He really needs to do deal with his problems, and we are there for him as much as we can, trying to support him in the best way that we can, not rushing him and showing him that his position is here when he's ready to come back.

He's not coming back for the first tour at least, and then we'll see for the next one. He's doing way better and I'm very happy for him. It has been a problem for many, many years. At the beginning of this year, he delayed this decision, but his latest decision was to check himself in and get well once and for all. And with a few minor mishaps, he's been sticking to it. It's a disease and a lot of people don't know. And we all had to learn, obviously. Alcoholism is a disease — you can't help it. A lot of people might say [that alcoholics are] selfish and mean, and might take what an alcoholic can do to you very personal, but remember it's a disease. It takes some time to get well. And he's one of my best friends and I'm trying to give him all the support that he needs.

Live-Metal.net: So it was his own decision? It wasn't any kind of band intervention or anything of that nature?

Peter Iwers: No, because we didn't really know how bad it was. And when you're an alcoholic, it's a hard life, obviously, but I guess somehow you know about it. We didn't know how bad it was. He actually told us about it. That was his own decision. We are sticking by him. But we are still touring because we want to be out there and play and perform the commitments that we booked this entire year. We will want to fulfill them. We can't just keep on canceling. We got together with Jesper [and determined] to keep on touring without him until he's ready to come back.

Live-Metal.net: OK, so tell the fans about his replacement.

Peter Iwers: Niclas Engelin. He plays for a band called ENGEL. He's been helping us out before and he's a great guitar player, great songwriter and everything. And his band, ENGEL, is something everybody should check out. They've made one record and maybe even two, but I don't know the status of the second one. But they're an amazing band. He's a great guy. He came in with a couple of days' notice and rocked the songs. And he's a good friend, as well, since a long time ago. He and I actually joined IN FLAMES together in '97 and [current IN FLAMES guitarist] Björn [Gelotte] was still playing drums and Nic playing guitar. But then in '98, Björn wanted to play guitar instead, so Nic went away and formed ENGEL. So we're good friends all the way through this.

Read the entire interview from Live-Metal.net.