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This
is fourth time I have the opportunity to interview Astral Doors,
so this time around I’ll take a different approach…
“Astralism”
is your third album (and an EP) in as many years – are you guys
workaholics?
Patrik:
Hehe, I guess that I must answer yes to that question. We don’t
like to sit at home rolling our thumbs and watch TV, we want
things to happen. Johan for example; he’s a god damn
riff-machine. I think he has at least 200 new riffs recorded on
his pc for future releases. When we’re not rehearsing for gigs,
we make new music. It’s as simple as that.
Your
new album has been very well received in the media – and the
only way for you seems to be up – culminating with the support
act for Blind Guardian in the fall of 2006 – where do you go
from there?
Patrik:
The next step for us, after the Blind Guardian-tour, is to be able
to tour Europe as headliners. Hopefully we have reached that point
after the tour; that is the plan. A live release has also been up
for discussion. The future looks bright for Astral Doors.
What
kind of expectations do you have for the tour with Blind Guardian?
Patrik:
To meet a lot of new fans of course. We have a lot of die hard
fans, but I hope and believe that the Blind Guardian fans will
take us to their hearts as well. I also look forward to hit the
road with the Astral boys again. We had a blast on the Grave
Digger-tour, and we always have fun when we’re together. There
are no “divas” in this band, hehe.
Do
you have any touring plans before the Blind Guardian tour?
Patrik:
We’re doing a couple of shows this spring, promoting the
“Astralism” album, and some really cool festivals during the
summer. In May we’ll pay a visit to beautiful
Copenhagen
for a gig at THE ROCK. I know that we have some fans in
Denmark
as well, so I hope they’ll show up to make that show special for
us. It will also be a great opportunity for us to break our
“beer-record” form last year!!
Once
more you’ve delivered an outstanding album, which shows an even
more mature band – I feel you’ve grown stronger with each
album. In which direction do you see the band moving in the future?
Patrik:
Good question. To be quite honest: I don’t know. It would be
great to deliver a concept-album to the world. I got a story I
would like to share with all of you, but I can’t really say at
this stage if it will happen on the next album or the album after
that. We’ll see.
The
biggest difference between “Evil is Forever” and
“Astralism” I see, is in the lyrically side of things – you
are dealing lot’s of very serious issues on this album – maybe
you’d care to comment on some of them?
Patrik:
Sure! Give it to me!
“Black
Rain” – dealing with the nuclear bombing of
Hiroshima.
Patrik:
Correct! I saw a new documentary about it last year. (On the
“sixty years after-day”) It showed the whole scenario: What
led to the bombing; what happened to the victims and what happened
to those who survived. Right after the program, I went straight to
my computer and wrote the lyrics to the song. It’s important
that the next generations don’t forget Hiroshima. We must tell and tell.
“London
Caves” – dealing with the bombs in London.
Patrik:
We try to look inside the head of a suicide bomber: What on earth
can drive a man to kill, not only himself, but also hundreds of
innocent people? Terrorism is the scariest and the worst of crimes:
Where will they strike the next time? No one can feel safe these
days.
“Israel”
– dealing with situation in the Middle-east.
Patrik:
Israel is such a historical and mystical land, surrounded by myths
and legends. Our song “Israel”, talks about the past and the
present situation. Will it ever be peace there? I sure as hell
hope so.
“The
Green Mile” – dealing with the death penalty.
Patrik:
Yes, it’s a story of a guy sitting on death row waiting for his
execution. Many people think it’s about the Stephen King story
“The green mile”, but that’s not really the case. I had the
main part of the lyrics ready but couldn’t find any good chorus,
when I got the words and melody in my head: “I’m on the green
mile trying to get out”. I re-wrote the lyrics to fit the chorus,
and the result was awesome. It’s a very dark song with a spooky
atmosphere.
On
the other hand you’ve also written a metal hymn in “In Rock We
Trust” – is this sort of a thank you to us the fans?
Patrik:
I guess you could put it that way. It’s a celebration to the
fans of hard rock. At the end of the day we’re in this business
for our fans and “In Rock We Trust” is truly a metal hymn.
It’s also a way for us to say: Hey, it’s a free world and you
can believe in what you want. It’s up to each and every one, but
we; Astral Doors only believe in rock’n’roll: That’s our
religion!
Tell
us about the James Bond connection on your albums – on this one
it's “From Satan with Love”, on you last one it was “Evil
is Forever” – do you plan for another play on words on your
next album?
Patrik: Haha,
I think it’s quite enough of the Bond-themes on our albums for a
while. Humour is important for us, but if we do it again it might
be too much; but as a certain guy said:
-
Never say never again!
That’ll
be all for us this time around - thank you very much for
participating in this interview and sharing this information and
your thoughts with us - these last lines are entirely for you…
Patrik:
First of all I want to thank you for the great questions and your
interest in Astral Doors. It means a lot. Secondly I would like to
thank and salute all the fans of Astral Doors for supporting us.
We do this for you guys! See you on tour and remember:
IN
ROCK WE TRUST!
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