IN FLAMES Guitarist GELOTTE: 'I Would Love To Tour With A Band Like METALLICA'

Jeff Maki and Greg Maki of Live-Metal.net caught up with IN FLAMES guitarist Björn Gelotte at the Sounds of the Undeground tour's recent stop at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md., to discuss the band's evolution, touring and early plans for the follow-up to their latest release, "Come Clarity". A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Live-Metal.net: You've shared stages with METALLICA, IRON MAIDEN, BLACK SABBATH, MOTÖRHEAD. Obviously, these have to be highlights of the band's career, but what else is there to do? Who else would you like to tour with?

Gelotte: "I'd love to tour with a band like METALLICA, for instance, because that's on a level which it doesn't get bigger than that. It just can't get bigger."

Live-Metal.net: You did a couple shows last year? Two years ago?

Gelotte: "Two years ago, I think, we did a couple of shows. And it was great. They're really cool guys, very down to earth considering how big they are. The second time we played with them, they came into the dressing room, 'Hey, guys. Good to have you guys back.' They remembered, and I was like, 'Whoa. That's very sweet.' Lars is a funny guy because he immediately started talking Danish to us because we understand. And he invited us up on stage, stand right behind his drum kit when they played in front of I don't know how many thousand people. It was very cool. So they're very cool guys and I can imagine a whole tour with these guys would be awesome. We'll do a tour with SLAYER, which is one of my favorite bands, because I don't think they ever put out anything bad. We're gonna tour with them again and I'm very excited about that tour. We're gonna do that in Europe. It's the European leg of the Unholy Alliance, which is running here right now. So one of my wishes is coming true."

Live-Metal.net: So what's it been like so far on the Sounds of the Underground tour?

Gelotte: "It's been great. It's actually been really good. It takes a couple of days for us to get our sound together up on stage because it's like everybody's using the same mixing desk, monitor desk, and storage. We had a pre-production day which got kind of fucked up, so everything got lost. So it took a couple of days for us. But now everything is coming together pretty good. It doesn't really affect the show, but it feels better if everything works good, if everything is where it should be. So, yeah, it's coming together. We're having a lot of fun with the rest of the bands, good friends most of them and if they're not already good friends, they will be good friends. A tour like this is a very social thing. I don't think I've ever played so much poker as on this tour. It's a school trip, basically. Everybody knows they have a job to do, but at the same time, you want to have some fun around it and you want to make sure you enjoy other people's company."

Live-Metal.net: What is a typical day like?

Gelotte: "Um … Getting up kind of late since we don't have to play until, like, eight or something. We do a little bit of interviews and stuff. We do some signings and start drinking beer around that time. Try to get some lunch if it's any good food. Today kinda sucked, I heard. I haven't been there yet. And then maybe there's a poker game going or just hang out, watch a couple of the bands. I mean, it's not like you won't ever see them, because it's a lot of shows. We have a lot of time. But I try to get up on stage and see a couple, depending on what the venue's like. Keep drinking beer, play a show, drink more beer and then get fucking cunted after a show. I mean, we're just hanging out. Depending on who's in the vicinity, that's the guy you want to party with."

Live-Metal.net: You said you started writing for the next album already. What are the plans for the next IN FLAMES album? What can we expect?

Gelotte: "I don't even know yet myself. I don't know. It probably will be very guitar-based again. We found a good way of recording and a good way of writing the songs together. I'm pretty sure it's gonna be guitar-based, very heavily guitar-based again. We're looking at different options on who could actually produce or record or do a proper mix of it and some of our favorite producers. We'll see if they have time, and if schedules work out, then it will be real fun, try something like that out. I'm not really good at working with someone that tells me what to do. So it's gonna be interesting. But I think most of these really good producers, they work in a way that you don't need to argue about stuff. So it's gonna be interesting. But very guitar-based. That's the only promise that I can give you."

Read the entire interview at Live-Metal.net.