INTERVIEW: Björn Strid – Soilwork

Concerns were building when the announcement was made that long time drummer Dirk Verbeuren was leaving Swedish metal titans SOILWORK to join MEGADETH. However, they were quickly dispelled with the introduction of singles Arrival and Full Moon Shoals from their long-awaited release entitled Verkligheten, showing that the band are still firing on all cylinders. With the new album due on January 11th via Nuclear Blast Records we caught up with frontman Björn Strid to get the lowdown on what we can expect from their 11th studio album.

I can’t believe The Ride Majestic was released all the way back in 2015! How you do feel SOILWORK has developed in this time?

Bjorn: We did a lot of touring for The Ride Majestic, three North American tours, two European tours and we also did Australia, Japan and South America so yeah that was pretty intense. It sort of left us a little bit drained and we needed a bit of a break. A lot of people have mentioned it’s been the longest break between albums we’ve ever had. I feel like we’ve found something new with our sound through the experiment that The Living Infinite was. It was a double album, 27 songs and it become a new era for us sound wise. I think we have been continuing down that path but the new album has a little more classic heavy metal elements that we had in the earlier parts of our career. I think we have become better song writers and with Bastian joining the band as well he did quite a lot of touring with us for The Ride Majestic so that helped before we began writing the new album.

It goes without saying that it was going to take a strong character to replace someone as talented as Dirk Verbeuren, how have you found working with Bastian?

Bjorn: It’s been really good! We were already touring with him when Dirk left for MEGADETH so it gave us an opportunity to get to know him on a personal level as well as musically. He did a great job on the new album and he had some big shoes to fill but he really pulled through. He is only 26 years old so what he achieved was very impressive.

What was the inspiration for the title and the artwork of the album?

Bjorn: Verkligheten means reality in Swedish, it came up a couple of years ago. At the time it didn’t seem right. When we were writing the new album we noticed it sounded very Scandinavian with the melodies and the lyrical themes. It seemed like the perfect title. Some of the lyrics are really socially realistic and others are more full of escapism and it’s really facing reality or finding a way to escape it which makes the title even better I think.

Was there anything SOILWORK approached differently with this release? Any different avenues you ventured down?

Bjorn: I think there was a lot of stuff added in the studio. We made the demo’s but we left it open for interpretation. There was a lot of percussion going on in the studio, I don’t mean like tribal percussion ala SOULFLY but it was more like a Children Of The Grave feel, you know? We worked a lot with the keyboards and they had quite an 80’s sound to them which helps them stand out in this genre, whatever genre that is! [laughs]. It’s a very multi-layered album and you will discover different things each listen and that’s the way we like it to be.

Do SOILWORK have any tried and tested routine when writing new material or do you just go with the flow and see where it leads you?

Bjorn: Usually just go with the flow. This time around we set out some time to focus on the song writing and I’ve never really done that before which made me kind of nervous how it was going to work out! It really worked and all the songs came to me in the end, I felt a constant flow of inspiration and it was only three or four months before we entered the studio.

SOILWORK have released two tracks so far both differing in style, how has the response been from these so far?

Bjorn: Really good! Arrival is really extreme, a lot of crazy blastbeats on that one and Full Moon Shoals is kind of a more melancholic beat but you can definitely recognise similarities in both of the tracks. Together they represent the album in a very good way.

How do you ensure you still continue to push yourselves creatively considering Verkligheten is your 11th album?

Bjorn: I think its all a matter of not pushing yourself you know? We always find new ways to express ourselves and I’m glad we have the ability to continue that creative momentum somehow. I think we rediscovered ourselves through The Living Infinite, as musicians and it allowed us to move forward again.

Absolutely, I think the fact it was a double album and it was so consistent throughout is a testament to your song writing ability.

Bjorn: Yeah true and at the time we didn’t know what we had going into the studio. I mean, we knew we had some really good songs but for it to become that special was a great kick!

How do SOILWORK go about devising setlists for touring? Do you stick to the songs you know will get a good reception or do you like to shake it up a bit from time to time?

Bjorn: It’s a bit of a nightmare [laughs]. With the lineup that we have we try to focus on the last three albums but that doesn’t mean we won’t throw in some old gems as well. It’s not an easy task but we usually come up with something really good.

SOILWORK are already confirmed for Bloodstock Festival next year, are you excited to be returning?

Bjorn: Absolutely! It was a cool experience so definitely looking forward to coming back.

Do you have anything else in store for the UK with regards to touring?

Bjorn: We have the AMORPHIS tour which is only going through London unfortunately but it’s about time we do a UK tour as well. We didn’t really have one for The Ride Majestic so we’ll work on it!

As your other project THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA continues to grow in popularity do you ever experience any logistical issues making sure you have the right balance between bands?

Bjorn: It’s a bit of a logistical nightmare but we have the same booking agent which definitely helps. Next year is going to be pretty intense as Me and Dave (guitarist) are going to be doing a bit of both bands. In the future we are going to try and separate the touring cycles. We knew we had something special with THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA but we didn’t expect it to progress this fast! We’re obviously very grateful for that and we’re having so much fun.

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

Bjorn: Please pick up the new album, it’s something we’ve worked very hard on and we’re really proud of. Thanks for the interview!

Verkligheten is due for release on January 11th via Nuclear Blast Records.

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