INTERVIEW: Björn Gelotte – In Flames

The Swedish metal scene has an incredibly impressive lineage and one of the bands who played a large part in putting the scene on the map is the legendary IN FLAMES. They are approaching a staggering 30 years as a band and show no signs of slowing down any time soon as their thirteenth full length studio effort entitled I, The Mask is due for release on March 1st via Nuclear Blast Records. We caught up with lead guitarist Björn Gelotte to get some insight into what we can expect from this release and what the remainder of 2019 holds for IN FLAMES.

Your thirteenth album is due for release in March entitled I, The Mask, what can the fans expect from this release?

Björn: As always a very guitar driven, melodic metal album. It’s hard to sell it! [Laughs] I just know I’m very proud of it, the songs are written to be played live. We’ve shown a lot of natural progression from Battles and what we have done previously. It’s kind of a time stamp to where we are musically. So yeah, I’m excited!

The subject matter for the album stems from humanity becoming dependent on technology rather than developing the art of human interaction. Did you have the concept in your mind before you began the writing process or did it come to you along the way?

Björn: I think Anders always has thoughts about his surroundings and this time is no different. It’s not necessarily a concept album but it has a continuous theme. If you look at social media today you have Instagram and all these other platforms you only show off the sides of you that you want to show off, people don’t really get to know you. It’s all to satisfy other people and it makes interacting kind of a thing of a past. There are multiple layers to people but it’s becoming more difficult to grasp. I think it is just a reaction to that and other situations similar to that. Sometimes it is experiences he’s had personally or what he has read about and then we try to unite it all. Hopefully you can picture yourselves in the stories and it will amplify the experience for you.

Of course, I always appreciate it when bands go the extra lengths to provide a storyline or narrative within their music. It adds an element of escapism. 

Björn: Yeah exactly, it’s also not telling the listener what to think and the point is to enjoy the music and escape from the every day bullshit and the mundane or the force fed news and just be someone else or somewhere else for a bit.

Do you feel the collaborative approach of working closely with Anders on this release benefited you?

Björn: Yeah, in every way to be honest. Something that we figured out big time on the Battles album was having Howard encouraging us to work with other people to see how it worked out. We didn’t use a lot of that material but it kinda forced us to open up and listen to each other as we’ve been very protective. I have my castle ‘music’ and you have your castle ‘lyrics’ and then we tried to combine the two. Now it’s more like we’re already on the same page from the first riff and the first lyric line and I can get inspired by just a couple of words which could put me in a certain mood and we’d just go from there or he could hear a melody and it would inspire him and that was done so early rather than fighting it out at the end. This was something we discovered doing Battles and this time round it was even easier. We knew the setup and the crew and knew how Howard likes to work. His style is very efficient and we were very comfortable to return to that and just start creating. That gave us so much time not spent in the studio. We only spent about five to six hours in the studio which left us with so much more energy to go home and continue writing during the whole recording process.

Ah brilliant, did you find yourselves with an abundance of material that you had to cull down?

Björn: We tried to be efficient and we’ve never really been a band that writes like 30 songs and then cuts them down to the best 12. We’d rather during the demo stages put about three or four songs together and we like to write albums rather than writing singles. We listen to music the same way as we did when we grew up. You put the first track on the A side and listen all the way through to the B side and you’re taken on a journey and that’s how we write. We usually have about seven or eight songs and then put them in the right order and see what we feel is missing then try to focus on those songs. It doesn’t matter whether we have 11 or 14 songs, those are the songs we’re going to work with. It wasn’t quite an abundance of material but everything we’ve done was absolutely meant to be there.

You originally played drums when IN FLAMES were in their infancy, do you feel this helps when piecing together song structures?

Björn: In every way and it gives me an understanding of what’s going on. I was never really a good drummer I was just the drummer that sucked the least! It was as simple as that. It give me an opportunity to start writing as I was always sort of a guitar player but it helped me with what would work and what wouldn’t and what dynamics we could add into the drums at least to my liking. It helps me with song writing as I can go to the guys and give them my basic idea but I don’t wanna paint the picture in too much detail but I can show what direction I want it to go. I encourage everybody to at least try it and get an understanding.

What keeps you motivated and driven as a musician after all this time?

Björn: I don’t know anything else! I don’t want to do anything else, I know I’m extremely fortunate to be able to do what I do. I joined the band when I was 19 and never had a plan. I went to school as an electrician for like two years and I’ve never worked a single day. The only reason I went there was because my friends who I was playing with went to that school just so we could hang out more! I think about it almost every day that this is fantastic and it’s very easy to be motivated when so many people are into what you’re doing and you love playing live. Even the boring days are better than the most perfect 9-5 job.

Of course, they always say the best job is one which doesn’t feel like a job.

Björn: Exactly, this is what I would have done in my free time anyways and now it just happens to me my full time thing. I can’t even call it a job, it’s just my full time hobby which helps me pay the bills which is fantastic!

With such an expansive back catalogue how do you go about constructing a setlist?

Björn: It’s not getting easier man! I dread this kind of question as it’s not exactly a fight but there is always a bit of negotiation going on and usually a couple of weeks or a month before we start discussing what everyone wants to play and what we would like to showcase from the new album. I’m being generous here but say if you have an hour and a half and you have 13 albums so that’d not even be two songs off each album! We have a way of doing it and Anders usually puts it together and we pick and choose and try to make something coherent because that’s as important as listening to a record. You need the right songs in the right place and it needs to have a natural flow to it. That usually takes a few shows until we find the right vibe and then we’ll go with that.

I can imagine it makes a little more difficult that the fans will have expectations of some songs which have kind of become a staple of your set over the years too?

Björn: There is a few of those but mainly it’s because the energy is so good and it fits really well into the rest of the set. Some songs may break up the heaviness or whatever but it needs to be fun for everyone. It’s entertainment at the end of the day but for us it’s always a chance to get away from everything and be happy for an hour and a half so we make sure it works both ways to benefit everyone.

IN FLAMES are approaching 30 years as a band, do you have anything special in the works?

Björn: Fucking hell! [laughs]. We haven’t really thought about that, we’re in the middle of it y’know? We rarely step out of the bubble really but we’re still amazed that we’re still doing it. We just keep going. Some albums have already passed their 20 year anniversaries and whatnot but we haven’t done anything special. We’ve been asked if we could play The Jester Race or Whoracles in full before and we’ve said no. We’re moving forward, we bring everything with us on the journey but it’s not like we’re stuck anywhere. We’ll maybe have a beer back stage or something! [laughs]

Absolutely. That’s a good mentality to have, always look to the future and you’re always going to have the opportunity to add those songs into the sets along the way.

Björn: Exactly, we’re in the greatest position ever, choosing what to play whenever we want to and deciding on when we want to go in the studio and write something knew. I wouldn’t change that.

Is there anything you’d like to say to the readers of Distorted Sound?

Björn: We’re coming back to the UK in April so come out and see us, the shows are going to be amazing. I’m really looking forward to it and thank you so much for the support over the years. It’s been amazing!

I, The Mask is set for release on March 1st via Nuclear Blast Records.

Like IN FLAMES on Facebook.