THE HAUNTED Frontman: 'I'm Really Tired Of Getting My Life Threatened And My Family Threatened'

Spiritech of PyroMusic.net recently conducted an interview with vocalist Peter Dolving of the Swedish metal band THE HAUNTED. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

PyroMusic.net: I was a huge fan of "The Dead Eye" but I think it was fair to say that due to its more melodic and diverse nature some fans didn't like it. And I think "Versus" is the logical progression from "The Dead Eye" and some fans are annoyed by that. Are THE HAUNTED past the point where you care about what fan reaction might be like when you make a new album?

Peter Dolving: I think we're way beyond that. We make music to satisfy ourselves and I think we're very fortunate 'cause it seems that we have a very solid fan base that who really happen to like our sound, you know. And then they seem to give us the freedom to actually do things. And of course there will be loudmouth motherfuckers like me who will... I have a really diverse taste in music, but people who are loud like me (laughs) who will get really pissed off because, you know, they're ADD or their lack of education or imagination or just that they're just fucking boneheads just does not allow for anything diverse or melodic or anything else. It's funny you know, because they're the kind of people who will think that women are gay (laughs).

PyroMusic.net: (laughs)

Peter Dolving: You know? That's kind of where it's at. People who think that like the latest CANNIBAL CORPSE record is too experimental. That's the kind of people. And what they think is really not... I don't know, that's like listening to what comes out of George Bush's mouth — why would anyone care? But no, we make music to have fun and that's kind of always been the goal with this band, to make music that we can rock out to and have a good time. Even when we've done really dark and introspective stuff, it's been music to actually have fun to. That might sound, I don't know, paradoxical, but it's very simple when you really break it down, that's what it's all about. Get the shit out and enjoy the rock! (laughs)

PyroMusic.net: Indeed. I interviewed you a couple of years ago and you said that you "read like a college professor ought to." Was there anything you were reading around the time of the writing of "Versus" that inspired the lyrics on the album?

Peter Dolving: Hmmmm (pauses). I don't think there was like one particular one but I think there's a kind of... oh man, this sounds so intellectual, it's got kind of like a crispness to it, I don't know, a very direct and not so emotive... it's not a very deep record (laughs). It's very kind of in-your-face and very confrontational and direct. But this one didn't have a lot of inspiration from the outside as far as direct inspiration more than the actual process of what we've been through as a band together over the last couple of years. So I think it's very, I think it's pretty earnest, like straight up, wham, bam, thank you ma'am, you know? There's one song on the record which is of more of an abstract nature, the song "Skuld". The word "skuld" in Swedish it means guilt, and it's kind of a consolatory, kind of emotive interlude more than anything else. It's not a lullaby, but it's kind of got that feel to it and there's a tradition in Sweden for making songs that are relieving, soothing, to ease the rage and the pain of being human and being alive. So I think that thing in there kind of works around that theme.

PyroMusic.net: You became somewhat of an online celebrity a few years back for your MySpace page blogs, which seemed to stir up a fair amount of controversy on sites like Blabbermouth. This seems to be died off a little lately. Was this a conscious thing, or you just haven't had the time to dedicate to it anymore perhaps?

Peter Dolving: Nah, it's whoever was taking my blogs and posting them on Blabbermouth has stopped doing it, I think. Which is kind of a nice relief in a way, because I've gotten a hell of a lot more personal over the last like year and I think it would be... the Blabbertrolls would have a field day (laughs). And they're welcome to it if they care enough to actually go about it, but you know, I don't care. As long as I don't get... I'm really tired of getting my life threatened and my family threatened, because people have done that in the past. And that gets tiring, because it's like, well, if they want to do something like that they'd be really up shit creek (laughs),that wouldn't be good for anyone.

Read the entire interview at PyroMusic.net.