OPETH Mainman On Illegal Music Downloading, Reissues And Lineup Changes

UK's Metal Hammer magazine recently conducted an interview with OPETH mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt. An excerpt from the chat follows:

Metal Hammer: Your label, Roadrunner, has been criticized for the number of reissues it releases, including your last album, "Ghost Reveries". Do you think that's fair?

Mikael: I think most labels do that today. The record industry is not doing that well; the companies are grasping at straws to try and make money, and perhaps that's the way to do it. I don't care how many reissues of our albums they put out — they could put out a thousand reissues and I couldn't care less, as long as the quality is good. You don't have to buy these things if you don't want to. Personally, I don't buy clothes and I don't go out drinking, I just buy records — so I don't have a problem with buying 20 different versions of my favorite album.

Metal Hammer: "Ghost Reveries" was leaked via the Internet before its release in 2005. Does illegal file sharing piss you off?

Mikael: It does piss me off. The main problem for me is that the magic gets lost. When you're downloading, you don't have the artwork, you don't have anything but the tunes, and in bad quality. It bothers me, because the ideal situation for me would be to gather up 5,000 fans every day and give them the record and we could listen to it together, although that's not possible. My music is sacred to me, and I don't want it to be presented in any form other than the ones we have approved.

Metal Hammer: OPETH's drummer Martin Lopez left the band in 2006 and guitarist Peter Lindgren followed a few months ago. Is the new lineup stable now?

Mikael: Well, you never know! But the overall vibe in the band now is really good. We've been hanging out getting to know each other, and it's good because everybody in the band just wants to play music. That's always been the most important thing with this band; I want everyone to be a musician, and fuck the other things. It's so easy to be carried away with this type of business. There's a lot of other things that are cool to do, but that shouldn't take away from the importance of the music, and if you don't have the music anymore, you're nothing. That was the problem with both Lopez and Peter; that's why they left. Because they probably didn't burn as much. It's not easy to be in a touring band like this one; it's tough. The guys in the band, they write and play music in their spare time, and there's no question about anything else.