Opeth On 'Making It' In The Music Industry

  • Opeth On 'Making It' In The Music Industry
    POSTED

    Opeth recently revealed that the guys are back in the studio, putting the finishing touches on a new album & Mikael Akerfeldt hasn’t wasted any time in getting the word out there! He had a chat with Noisey and it’s one of the most interesting interviews I’ve read in a while. I won’t tell you what they cover, you’ve just got to read on yourself!

    Noisey: From those first days with Eruption to the upcoming Opeth release, how have you seen yourself evolve both personally and artistically since the first chord or lyric you wrote?
    Mikaelkerfeldt:Wow. I was 14 when I had that band Eruption. It was a three-piece, and I did write the songs, but we also played some covers. But it was just a learning thing for me, just a fun thing to play together with your pals and play some heavy metal songs. We did some Misfits covers and stuff like thatreally simple stuff, and I remember I was just blown away by the fact that you could get these instruments to sound good together. That you could have a drumbeat, a bass guitar that would add to the guitar riffs that I was playing just blew my mind. It was really just innocent fun, basically, in those days, and then now its been so many years since, but its what I do. Its whats kind of shaped my whole personality and my whole life. I owe so much to music. Like I said, its become part of my personality. Everybody who knows me knows how important it is for me. Ive changed so much. Its impossible to say. But I like to keep that innocence intact a little bit, because I dont want to get too carried away in the business side of things. Im interested in the business side of things, but I still value the creativity and the creative side of being in a band more than anything else. I mean, I have a career, so to speak, and we do make a living doing this now, which is fantastic of course, but I like to think its never been at the expense of that initial innocence in creativity. Its still there.

    When you talk about change, I cant help but think of how metal fans are notoriously fickle when it comes to change and generally welcome it with apprehension. Were those distinct changes in Opeths style from death metal to the more progressive rock sound of these last two records something inherently deliberate with you guys, or do you see it as a kind of organic creative growth for Opeth?
    Yeah, I mean, it was natural for me. I did try. We did theWatershedrecord which I thought was a really, really good heavy extreme metal whatever-you-call-it record, and then after that one, I started writing for the tenth album or what eventually becameHeritage. I did write a couple of songs that were a continuation of theWatershedalbum. They were heavy. They were supposed to be death metal ingredients and stuff going on there, but I knew something was not right. I didnt feel comfortable. I wrote some good things, but I ended up thinking, Fuck, is this right? And I ended up deleting two songs and just started from scratch. Thats when I wrote the song called The Lines In My Hand fromHeritagewhich was just completely different to what Id just been working on, and I felt that excitement that I needthat kind of Wow, this is something interesting, something new for me. So I think I just saturated and completed the style that we worked on before withGhost ReveriesandWatershedand those kinds of records. I needed some type of change, and it eventually came to me once I realized I was done maybe for the time being, but at least I knew I was done with this style and something had to change. Thats what made me look at things a little bit differently. Once I got going with the writing forHeritage,it was really quick. Less than six months and the album was written. Now we have a new dimension to our sound.

    Was there a different approach with this latest record as opposed toHeritage, and what does Opeths writing process generally look like from its genesis to the point where you guys feel comfortable that youve created something singular?
    Normally when I start writing for a record, Im a bit nervous. You dont know whether or not youre going to be able to come up with something that you like or come up with something at all, to be honest. I was inspired because pretty early on, I wrote a song on the new albumthe last song on there, which I ended up being really happy with. So I had some type of guidelines which was more melody, I think.Heritagewas somewhat deliberately fucked up all over the place because I love fucked-up-all-over-the-place-type music, but I wanted to do something more melodic with this album, so theres stronger vocal melodies and more melodies overall for this album. I was pretty consistent with that frame of mind throughout the writing process, so at least I had a plan with this album, and I normally dont, to be honest.

    Whats been the greatest obstacle for you personally since you first began to play music professionally, and how did you overcome it?
    Well, theres been many obstacles. Financially, like in the early days with the first four or five records, we didnt make a penny. And at the same time, I lived with my mom until I was 23 or something like that, which was horrible. There were lots of obstacles. For many years, I think a lot of people just thought I was a dreamer. Like, Youll never get to where you want to go, because of whatever. It sounds boring to bring up finances, but eventually, you have to pay a bill or pay the rent or something like that, then dreams are not enough. You need something else. Our career, though, was still fairly easy, I have to say. We never had to sell ourselves or things like that in order to get a headstart somewhat. We got our first record deal based on a 10-second rehearsal tape so that was easy. That wasnt a problem. We did three records with them. We didnt really tour or anything, and we didnt make any money, but we had three records out that were pretty good and exciting for the time. Then we got a new record deal with a bigger label that was run by an even bigger label that eventually ended up taking us on, and then we got to Roadrunner. Everything on the business side of things has been pretty smooth, but we didnt make a living until we put out the fifth or sixth album. That was difficult, but the motivation for me was never faltering. It was always there. I could live on canned food. That wasnt a problem, because music made me happy. But I would have to say, even if it sounds boring, that the biggest obstacle was that I didnt feel part of society. I couldnt buy food. I couldnt buy anything, so I had to borrow money from my mother and stuff like that, so that was a big obstacle for us. I still kept my motivation intact because it was the only thing that made me happy. I couldnt see myself getting a so-called normal job because it wouldnt have made me happy. Im determined in that way that no obstacle is going to stop me.

    Theres certainly a misconception that seems endemic to bands starting up today who see exposure as some measure of success, but the hard reality is that it isnt easy. The making it myth is still pervasive in the music industry.
    Thats one thing Ive been thinking about quite a lot, actually. I mean, we have made many sacrifices because time will pass by. Band members who have been in this band have felt scared thinking, OK, what if we dont make it? Maybe I should just have a security thing. Maybe I should get a job on the side, or maybe I should get a second degree doing this and that just in case, which I never did because it took time away from my musicality. I made massive sacrifices while I saw many of my friends and even bandmates getting a job or getting another degree or whatever they were doing. I still maintained my focus on the music aspect. I was so determined. There was a time when I was the same. For example, when we did theBlackwater Parkrecord, I didnt expect anyone to buy it or like it. I didnt expect anything to happen. But then it did. All of a sudden, we got a tour, and we got a manager, and we got an agent, and it just kind of snowballed from there. But up until then, we spent a good ten years of our career with nothing, and with members leaving, too, and people not having any hope. It was, I would say horrible, but I was happy during that time. It wasnt easy.

    How have you seen heavy music, or what that term even means anymore, evolve since you first began playing professionally? Does the growing popularity for music seemingly born out of being unpopular possibly provide a new perspective on heavy music?
    I think heavy music is one of those things that when it comes to record sales, it still sells copies. Its far from enough copies for bands or record labels to make a living, so to speak, to make it work. We never sold shitloads of records ever, but enough for us to attract an interest from promoters and stuff like that, so our bread and butter is the touring and has always been like that. We have never depended on record sales to make a living, but luckily I think we at least recoup because were still signed [laughs]. But I think heavy music is quite interesting, because theres a massive interest for it out there, and its audiencequite a lot of metal people are also record collectors and like physical copies of their favorite bands records, while maybe some other genres of music dont have that type of fan base. But its still struggling, I think. Record labels have to lay off a lot of people and bands dont get signed. They put out their music on iTunes and shit like that where you dont even have a physical copy of the record sometimes, and its impossible to spread your music because youre kind of drowning in a flood of other bands trying to spread their music throughout Facebook and whatever else.

    Its difficult for new bands today, I think. We were just on the verge of this whole kind of change happening. We still had to establish our band before the decline of the record industry, at least to the point where we could go out and tour, and that we were somewhat of a household name. But to be a new band starting out now must be completely maddening. You have to look at different ways of how to spread your music. I think its a pipe dream for a band that people are talking about on the internet that its a really, really good thing for music. Which, to a certain extent it is, but its also very bad for music because of the fact that they have unique finances. In our early days, we needed it. The banking of a record label to get support for getting out there and touring, we needed to borrow from the record label. That would virtually be impossible if you put all your hopes in a Facebook page. Im sure theres a few American dream stories like that, where you get discovered because of your Facebook page, and then you have a massively successful artist, but you cant rely on those things to just happen, of course. First and foremost, if youre a good band, and you just stick to your idea on how to spread your name further, and if youre consistent, and if youre determined, I think eventually people will know. The longer you stay in the game, the more people will know about you eventually.

    It goes back to the innocence you mentioned earlier where the source of motivation is key.
    Yeah, and thats really important. You cant go into this line of business, if you will, if youre just wanting for it to be a business. It cant just be thinking in business terms. There has to be a determination. I really dont think you can fool people otherwise, at least not in the metal world. It has to be something pure.

    Opeth has had, and continues to have, an enormous influence over musicians from a wide range of genres. Are there any specific musicians today who you listen to and see as challenging and ultimately rewarding their listeners?
    Theres a couple of newer bands that I kind of like. Most of my inspiration and most of my fascination when it comes to other artists, you have to go back in time to the old shit. But theres a girl, her name is Billie Lindahl, who has a band called Promise and the Monster, which basically started out as some type of singer-songwriter thing. She had like, an echo pedal and recorded layers of stuff with this echo pedal. I saw her in a small caf, and there was just 15 or so people there, and I was like, Wow. That was amazing. And I actually invited her to play Roadburn which Im curating in Holland in April. Shes gonna play there. I really respect her. Theres a couple of Swedish prog bands that I think are still putting out interesting music. I still consider them new bands like Anekdoten, who started out as a kind of King Crimson tribute band but pretty early on found their own style. Theyre putting out some really interesting music. Theres a band called Elephant9 from Norway and Sweden thats like a psychedelic jam instrumental band that I think are really, really good. When it comes to extreme metal, theres not so many. I like Ghost. I think Ghost are a really, really good band. They write really good songs. We toured with them, and I guess were friends now. Their soundtheres references, of course, on the first album to Mercyful Fate and maybe Blue Oyster Cult or something like thatbut I think with their second album, they have their own sound now. I was really impressed with them when we toured with them because theyre just a really good band. Theyve got swing and groove, and theyre really good musicians. They have fresh ideas, I think, so I like that. I was a late bloomer when it comes to Ghost. I was very skeptical about that because everybody fucking loved them, and all I could hear was the Mercyful Fate riffs. I had to see them live before I could warm up to them, but now I really like them.

    Check out the rest of the interview at Noisey


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Opeth recently revealed that the guys are back in the studio, putting the finishing touches on a new album & Mikael Akerfeldt hasn’t wasted any time in getting the word out there! He had a chat with Noisey and it’s one of the most interesting interviews I’ve read in a while. I won’t tell you what they cover, you’ve just got to read on yourself!

Noisey: From those first days with Eruption to the upcoming Opeth release, how have you seen yourself evolve both personally and artistically since the first chord or lyric you wrote?
Mikaelkerfeldt:Wow. I was 14 when I had that band Eruption. It was a three-piece, and I did write the songs, but we also played some covers. But it was just a learning thing for me, just a fun thing to play together with your pals and play some heavy metal songs. We did some Misfits covers and stuff like thatreally simple stuff, and I remember I was just blown away by the fact that you could get these instruments to sound good together. That you could have a drumbeat, a bass guitar that would add to the guitar riffs that I was playing just blew my mind. It was really just innocent fun, basically, in those days, and then now its been so many years since, but its what I do. Its whats kind of shaped my whole personality and my whole life. I owe so much to music. Like I said, its become part of my personality. Everybody who knows me knows how important it is for me. Ive changed so much. Its impossible to say. But I like to keep that innocence intact a little bit, because I dont want to get too carried away in the business side of things. Im interested in the business side of things, but I still value the creativity and the creative side of being in a band more than anything else. I mean, I have a career, so to speak, and we do make a living doing this now, which is fantastic of course, but I like to think its never been at the expense of that initial innocence in creativity. Its still there.

When you talk about change, I cant help but think of how metal fans are notoriously fickle when it comes to change and generally welcome it with apprehension. Were those distinct changes in Opeths style from death metal to the more progressive rock sound of these last two records something inherently deliberate with you guys, or do you see it as a kind of organic creative growth for Opeth?
Yeah, I mean, it was natural for me. I did try. We did theWatershedrecord which I thought was a really, really good heavy extreme metal whatever-you-call-it record, and then after that one, I started writing for the tenth album or what eventually becameHeritage. I did write a couple of songs that were a continuation of theWatershedalbum. They were heavy. They were supposed to be death metal ingredients and stuff going on there, but I knew something was not right. I didnt feel comfortable. I wrote some good things, but I ended up thinking, Fuck, is this right? And I ended up deleting two songs and just started from scratch. Thats when I wrote the song called The Lines In My Hand fromHeritagewhich was just completely different to what Id just been working on, and I felt that excitement that I needthat kind of Wow, this is something interesting, something new for me. So I think I just saturated and completed the style that we worked on before withGhost ReveriesandWatershedand those kinds of records. I needed some type of change, and it eventually came to me once I realized I was done maybe for the time being, but at least I knew I was done with this style and something had to change. Thats what made me look at things a little bit differently. Once I got going with the writing forHeritage,it was really quick. Less than six months and the album was written. Now we have a new dimension to our sound.

Was there a different approach with this latest record as opposed toHeritage, and what does Opeths writing process generally look like from its genesis to the point where you guys feel comfortable that youve created something singular?
Normally when I start writing for a record, Im a bit nervous. You dont know whether or not youre going to be able to come up with something that you like or come up with something at all, to be honest. I was inspired because pretty early on, I wrote a song on the new albumthe last song on there, which I ended up being really happy with. So I had some type of guidelines which was more melody, I think.Heritagewas somewhat deliberately fucked up all over the place because I love fucked-up-all-over-the-place-type music, but I wanted to do something more melodic with this album, so theres stronger vocal melodies and more melodies overall for this album. I was pretty consistent with that frame of mind throughout the writing process, so at least I had a plan with this album, and I normally dont, to be honest.

Whats been the greatest obstacle for you personally since you first began to play music professionally, and how did you overcome it?
Well, theres been many obstacles. Financially, like in the early days with the first four or five records, we didnt make a penny. And at the same time, I lived with my mom until I was 23 or something like that, which was horrible. There were lots of obstacles. For many years, I think a lot of people just thought I was a dreamer. Like, Youll never get to where you want to go, because of whatever. It sounds boring to bring up finances, but eventually, you have to pay a bill or pay the rent or something like that, then dreams are not enough. You need something else. Our career, though, was still fairly easy, I have to say. We never had to sell ourselves or things like that in order to get a headstart somewhat. We got our first record deal based on a 10-second rehearsal tape so that was easy. That wasnt a problem. We did three records with them. We didnt really tour or anything, and we didnt make any money, but we had three records out that were pretty good and exciting for the time. Then we got a new record deal with a bigger label that was run by an even bigger label that eventually ended up taking us on, and then we got to Roadrunner. Everything on the business side of things has been pretty smooth, but we didnt make a living until we put out the fifth or sixth album. That was difficult, but the motivation for me was never faltering. It was always there. I could live on canned food. That wasnt a problem, because music made me happy. But I would have to say, even if it sounds boring, that the biggest obstacle was that I didnt feel part of society. I couldnt buy food. I couldnt buy anything, so I had to borrow money from my mother and stuff like that, so that was a big obstacle for us. I still kept my motivation intact because it was the only thing that made me happy. I couldnt see myself getting a so-called normal job because it wouldnt have made me happy. Im determined in that way that no obstacle is going to stop me.

Theres certainly a misconception that seems endemic to bands starting up today who see exposure as some measure of success, but the hard reality is that it isnt easy. The making it myth is still pervasive in the music industry.
Thats one thing Ive been thinking about quite a lot, actually. I mean, we have made many sacrifices because time will pass by. Band members who have been in this band have felt scared thinking, OK, what if we dont make it? Maybe I should just have a security thing. Maybe I should get a job on the side, or maybe I should get a second degree doing this and that just in case, which I never did because it took time away from my musicality. I made massive sacrifices while I saw many of my friends and even bandmates getting a job or getting another degree or whatever they were doing. I still maintained my focus on the music aspect. I was so determined. There was a time when I was the same. For example, when we did theBlackwater Parkrecord, I didnt expect anyone to buy it or like it. I didnt expect anything to happen. But then it did. All of a sudden, we got a tour, and we got a manager, and we got an agent, and it just kind of snowballed from there. But up until then, we spent a good ten years of our career with nothing, and with members leaving, too, and people not having any hope. It was, I would say horrible, but I was happy during that time. It wasnt easy.

How have you seen heavy music, or what that term even means anymore, evolve since you first began playing professionally? Does the growing popularity for music seemingly born out of being unpopular possibly provide a new perspective on heavy music?
I think heavy music is one of those things that when it comes to record sales, it still sells copies. Its far from enough copies for bands or record labels to make a living, so to speak, to make it work. We never sold shitloads of records ever, but enough for us to attract an interest from promoters and stuff like that, so our bread and butter is the touring and has always been like that. We have never depended on record sales to make a living, but luckily I think we at least recoup because were still signed [laughs]. But I think heavy music is quite interesting, because theres a massive interest for it out there, and its audiencequite a lot of metal people are also record collectors and like physical copies of their favorite bands records, while maybe some other genres of music dont have that type of fan base. But its still struggling, I think. Record labels have to lay off a lot of people and bands dont get signed. They put out their music on iTunes and shit like that where you dont even have a physical copy of the record sometimes, and its impossible to spread your music because youre kind of drowning in a flood of other bands trying to spread their music throughout Facebook and whatever else.

Its difficult for new bands today, I think. We were just on the verge of this whole kind of change happening. We still had to establish our band before the decline of the record industry, at least to the point where we could go out and tour, and that we were somewhat of a household name. But to be a new band starting out now must be completely maddening. You have to look at different ways of how to spread your music. I think its a pipe dream for a band that people are talking about on the internet that its a really, really good thing for music. Which, to a certain extent it is, but its also very bad for music because of the fact that they have unique finances. In our early days, we needed it. The banking of a record label to get support for getting out there and touring, we needed to borrow from the record label. That would virtually be impossible if you put all your hopes in a Facebook page. Im sure theres a few American dream stories like that, where you get discovered because of your Facebook page, and then you have a massively successful artist, but you cant rely on those things to just happen, of course. First and foremost, if youre a good band, and you just stick to your idea on how to spread your name further, and if youre consistent, and if youre determined, I think eventually people will know. The longer you stay in the game, the more people will know about you eventually.

It goes back to the innocence you mentioned earlier where the source of motivation is key.
Yeah, and thats really important. You cant go into this line of business, if you will, if youre just wanting for it to be a business. It cant just be thinking in business terms. There has to be a determination. I really dont think you can fool people otherwise, at least not in the metal world. It has to be something pure.

Opeth has had, and continues to have, an enormous influence over musicians from a wide range of genres. Are there any specific musicians today who you listen to and see as challenging and ultimately rewarding their listeners?
Theres a couple of newer bands that I kind of like. Most of my inspiration and most of my fascination when it comes to other artists, you have to go back in time to the old shit. But theres a girl, her name is Billie Lindahl, who has a band called Promise and the Monster, which basically started out as some type of singer-songwriter thing. She had like, an echo pedal and recorded layers of stuff with this echo pedal. I saw her in a small caf, and there was just 15 or so people there, and I was like, Wow. That was amazing. And I actually invited her to play Roadburn which Im curating in Holland in April. Shes gonna play there. I really respect her. Theres a couple of Swedish prog bands that I think are still putting out interesting music. I still consider them new bands like Anekdoten, who started out as a kind of King Crimson tribute band but pretty early on found their own style. Theyre putting out some really interesting music. Theres a band called Elephant9 from Norway and Sweden thats like a psychedelic jam instrumental band that I think are really, really good. When it comes to extreme metal, theres not so many. I like Ghost. I think Ghost are a really, really good band. They write really good songs. We toured with them, and I guess were friends now. Their soundtheres references, of course, on the first album to Mercyful Fate and maybe Blue Oyster Cult or something like thatbut I think with their second album, they have their own sound now. I was really impressed with them when we toured with them because theyre just a really good band. Theyve got swing and groove, and theyre really good musicians. They have fresh ideas, I think, so I like that. I was a late bloomer when it comes to Ghost. I was very skeptical about that because everybody fucking loved them, and all I could hear was the Mercyful Fate riffs. I had to see them live before I could warm up to them, but now I really like them.

Check out the rest of the interview at Noisey


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