IN FLAMES Bassist On Touring, 20-Year Milestone, METALLICA

Zach Dionne of The Maine Campus newspaper at the University of Maine conducted an interview with bassist Peter Iwers of Swedish metal band IN FLAMES on December 6, 2008 in Worcester, Massachusetts. You can listen to the 18-minute conversation at this location. The interview is also available in text format here. Iwers and Dionne chat about putting together a setlist, touring, reception of recent albums, IN FLAMES' future and 20-year milestone, METALLICA's new release, "Death Magnetic", the AT THE GATES reunion, beer and Guitar Hero. Several excerpts from the interview follow below.

The Maine Campus: What's it like putting together a set list for IN FLAMES? It must be tough — you've got over a hundred songs and only about 90 minutes to play when you're headlining.

Peter Iwers: When we rehearse, we try to be as flexible as possible. We try to rehearse as many songs … and then we can easily take a few away, right away, that we don't feel like playing. You know, you don't get the vibe. What we did in Europe was that we had about 30 songs that we played and then we mixed it up. Like one night we would play a couple of, like four songs from a certain album and we would flip-flop them each night. I mean, it's getting harder and harder, but you have to throw in like, the singles that we have, the … whatever, not hits, but so to speak. Then we try some new stuff that we haven't heard, haven't played in a while or that we maybe never played just that we feel could be cool. Like on this tour we play "Satellites and Astronauts" [from 2000's "Clayman"] for the first time. Stuff like that. But that also makes it harder then you have other stuff that you need to throw out again. I don't know how we do it; we fight and argue and, you know, eventually we end up with what we want.

The Maine Campus: If you're busting out something like "Satellites and Astronauts", do you just listen back and remember what you played? Or do you even wonder what you played there?

Peter Iwers: Yeah, we listen and remember. Remember or take it out — relearn it, basically.

The Maine Campus: Just by ear?

Peter Iwers: Yeah.

The Maine Campus: Is it tough putting the songs in order, with singles and what you'll play and what not to play?

Peter Iwers: You have to just think of being creative and having a pretty diverse set list. We have to see how many songs we play from that record. If we already played like three songs from "Colony", [1999] then we don't need to play the fourth one, regardless of how important it is. Or we flip-flop.

The Maine Campus: Do you try to play something from every record?

Peter Iwers: Yeah, we try to do that.

The Maine Campus: Critics and fans both are finally, I think, getting the point that there's no new "Jester Race" [1996] coming — that this is the direction things are going. Because after "Reroute to Remain" [2002] and "Soundtrack to Your Escape" [2004], people were saying "Oh, when are they going back to their roots, I hate this new direction." But since "Come Clarity" [2006] and "A Sense of Purpose", you're getting more people who are actually accepting and getting into it. How does that feel?

Peter Iwers: Well, it feels like normal. I mean, we would never change anything regardless. But it's nice to hear you say that, actually. But there's always some bitching, always people who want you to go back to your roots or whatever. I mean, that was in '96, '95 it was written, and you know, we're different people. Me and Daniel [Svensson, drummer] weren't even in the band, so we can't sound like that. Plus all the songs were written more of a studio perspective than what they are today.

The Maine Campus: Let's switch gears. Did you guys get to see the AT THE GATES [fellow Gothenburg metal band, defunct since 1996] reunion tour this summer?

Peter Iwers: We saw a couple of shows, yeah.

The Maine Campus: Yeah? Was it good?

Peter Iwers: Yeah, I guess, yeah.

The Maine Campus: You guess?

Peter Iwers: No, I was never a huge AT THE GATES fan. We were friends so I never really saw them as something, you know, groundbreaking, so. But seeing them play together again, it was cool.

The Maine Campus: In the very beginning, when you're just a small band playing shows around Gothenburg, why sing in English?

Peter Iwers: I think because everybody else does it in the beginning, I guess. That's the best way, it feels, to reach out to the rest of the world. If you want something said, you know, most people understand English, I guess. I don't know.

The Maine Campus: So do you think there was a grander scheme, then? Because if you're just starting a band as 19- and 20-year-olds, you probably don't think you're going to play in England soon or people in America will hear your record.

Peter Iwers: I mean, in Gothenburg, we all grew up together and some bands got to travel outside of Sweden before the others, and that was a huge inspiration. Like AT THE GATES, you mentioned before, they were one of the first bands that got to play abroad and, you know, everybody was inspired by that and started doing the same — or, actually, I guess, everybody already did it. But just how it happened. I don't think anybody really thought about it, that it's going to be in English, because it's just natural.

The Maine Campus: Alright, I think this is something I think everybody wants every metal band to weigh in on: What do you think of the new METALLICA CD, "Death Magnetic"?

Peter Iwers: I think it's good, actually, yeah. First time the, I forget the first single, do you remember?

The Maine Campus: "The Day That Never Comes"?

Peter Iwers: Yeah. The first time I heard that, I was thinking — I heard it on radio — and I was thinking, "What the f--- is this sh--? If it wouldn't be METALLICA, nobody would sign this sh--." That's what I thought. But then I listened to the whole CD, and I listened to it over and over again — this song, especially — and no, I think it's really good. I think people want to ban them, people want to bash them, whatever, you know, because they're, you know, they're the biggest band in the whole world. And they put out a pretty crappy CD last time, but this time it's pretty decent. It's never going to be what it was then, you know, in the '90s and everything like that, like "The Black Album" and "…And Justice For All". And I think if you expect that, then you will always be disappointed. But it is what it is. I think it's really good.

The Maine Campus: Yeah, for what it is, it's a rockin' album.

Peter Iwers: Definitely.

The Maine Campus: This is going to get repetitive with the favorite songs, but how about live? I know you guys have all said "Pinball Map" [from 2000's "Clayman"] a lot of times; do you have any newer favorite live songs?

Peter Iwers: Yeah, live, actually, I love playing this "Sleepless Again" [from "A Sense of Purpose"]. I think it has a lot of different stuff you're playing at different times.

The Maine Campus: Yeah, a lot of different stuff in that song. It's not very formulaic.

Peter Iwers: 'Cause I always think about that question, you know — I don't really have a favorite song, but then I thought about it on stage the other day, "This is really fun to play." It's going to last like that for a while, and then I'm going to get sick of it like every other song when we have to take it out for a while.

The Maine Campus: Is "Pinball Map" still a favorite? Is it still a fun one almost every time?

Peter Iwers: Yeah, I mean, most songs — there's never a boring song to play. Some songs that we have to play, because people want them, can sometimes be a little bit boring. But as long as you get the energy from the audience, that is a reason to why we play them in the beginning, so it's cool.

The Maine Campus: Any all-time favorite songs from the discography of IN FLAMES?

Peter Iwers: I think, you know, 10 years after IN FLAMES is done, I'll sit down and I'll listen to it and then I can choose one. But each record is an emotion for me, you know, I had something personal on each record and some things are good or not so good. So it's more like that, you know — more how I felt at the time.

The Maine Campus: You're a big DVD collector. Anders' [Fridén, vocalist] used to have a quote on the Web site saying, "Whoever has the most DVDs when they die wins." So who has the most DVDs?

Peter Iwers: I think he's the winner so far.

The Maine Campus: Really?

Peter Iwers: I don't know. I have tons. I have so much. My girlfriend is killing me every time I come home.

The Maine Campus: [laughs] 'Cause you bring home so many from the U.S.?

Peter Iwers: Yeah, from every tour, you know. There's no space anymore. So, I guess I have a lot. I don't know how many, you know?

The Maine Campus: You guys have a really strong work ethic. MESHUGGAH [another Swedish metal act] recently commented in an interview on how you tend to do something like 260 shows a year while they lean more toward a hundred. So where does that come from?

Peter Iwers: It's like you said, it's work ethic, you know. I mean, we do this for a living and we have been doing it for a long time and we know that, you know, we're not a radio band, we're not going to sell a million records overnight. We need to work at it, we need to be out there and play and it becomes good because that's why we started this; we love playing live. And the only downside can be being away for those 260 shows, from your family and stuff. But they're pretty understandable, so.

The Maine Campus: IN FLAMES are coming up on 20 years of existence. Any plans, thoughts?

Peter Iwers: There are some stuff that we're going to do — I can't talk about it.

The Maine Campus: But how do you feel? When you think of a metal band that's been around 20 years, you think of IRON MAIDEN, SLAYER, METALLICA. They've been around longer than 20 years now, but I think they were some of the first metal bands that were going for like 20 years. And now IN FLAMES is getting to that milestone.

Peter Iwers: For us, it doesn't really feel like 20 years. 'Cause only Jesper [Strömblad, guitar] was in the band when it started. I've been in it for like 12 years now, and Daniel for almost 12 years now, and the other guys for like 15, I think. So we don't really think about it, I guess.

The Maine Campus: I think it's going to hit you guys and you'll be like, "Whoa, 20 years."

Peter Iwers: Yeah. "We're old."

The Maine Campus: This is a less serious question — what do you think was a bigger change for the band: When Anders got dreadlocks or when Björn [Gelotte, guitar] shaved his long hair?

Peter Iwers: Didn't care, either one of the times.

[both laugh]

Peter Iwers: I think a lot of people care, and Björn hates those questions, you know, "Why did you cut your hair?"

The Maine Campus: I wouldn't ask why, but…

Peter Iwers: No, but a lot of people do that. And I remember when Anders got dreads and all the people here, all of a sudden we were "core." I was like, why would we be?