Interview by Miriam C.
Interview Sweden’s Amaranthe is in some ways it looks like I’m interviewing two dear friends because I was totally flabbergasted when Elize and Olof still remembered me and my interview back in Trieste during their 2016 European tour in support of their album “Maximalize”. Coming back to current days, I had the chance to meet the band during one of the few headline shows in Eindhoven in conjunction with the European tour with Apocalyptica and Sabaton. The goal of this interview is to offer you the latest band updates straight from their words, so, I hope you’ll enjoy as I did.
Welcome back to Femme Metal Webzine. How are you and how this tour is treating you?
Olof: Thank you!
Elize: Thank you very much, this tour is treating us very very very good. Actually, there’s just one week left.
Olof: We feel sad…
Elize: … which is really really sad because it has been so amazing.
Olof: Yes, we were talking shortly with Claire [UK PR] the day before yesterday, when we were playing in Wembley, and I just mentioned the fact that soon we’ll be back at home.
Elize: I think I can literally continue this tour forever.
Olof: I mean, it is absolutely fantastic not only for being able to play these huge arenas which are obviously great promotion wise but also for us as musicians because it was a dream coming true playing in places such as Wembley Arena and O2. Additionally, we’re never treated this nicely by a headlining band ever in our entire career. Even if it’s a huge production, they are really taking good care of us and everybody is being super nice. Well, the bigger the production it gets, the more easily it gets to forget about the support band and they’re really making the effort to make us feel comfortable and welcome among them.
Nice. So, the last time we spoke was back in 2016 and consequently, a lot of things have changed like new albums were released and some line-up changes. I’ll focus this interview solely on the last few years and then the upcoming album will be released. I shall do a follow up about it.
Elize: It’s so nice
Olof: Of course with pleasure.
I remember my concert in Trieste and the old singer was still part of the original formation.
Olof: 2016? Wasn’t in the band Chris Adam?
Elize: I think it was Chris Adam, isn’t it? The temporary singer…
I saw him performing but I didn’t manage to see the old singer. However, recently, the new singer Niels has joined the band. How it happened and so far, how he generally impacted Amaranthe?
Olof: Back in 2014, I think his band Dynazty released an album called “Renatus” and there were some parts of that album that had a similar Amaranthe sound. So, when I heard his singing I thought immediately that he was a phenomenal singer and I already knew about him due to his participation at the Swedish Eurovision. However, I thought if a certain point the old singer would leave, we have potentially an excellent replacement here. In the end, it turned out that we played several shows with him and we also connected a lot as individuals too because we share an interesting musical taste in common. So, when Jake E.Lee finally left the band, we contacted him earlier than Chris Adam but he was busy touring with Dynazty and practically, he couldn’t make it. Instead in terms of the impact, Niels is really a professional and he really understands how Amaranthe works on stage and also, we click really well. I’m positively convinced that his voice perfectly compliments the album “Helix” as well with Elize too. They sound really good when they sing together. It’s kinda strange because I never thought about too much how his entrance in the band has changed things or how he fit in, for the simple reason that he sounds so natural.
Since you have started collaborating with Angela Gossow‘s management, Kult Management, everything has literally improved for Amaranthe. How this collaboration is treating you and how this new partnership helped the band?
Elize: I think we have realized that management is everything for a band because we can always create our music but we would also need someone that really really cares. Not only from a business side but even from a human side too, not someone that wants just to financially exploit us but someone who knows about a band’s needs, for example, be able to grow and what we would need to change for improvement. Since Angela is an artist herself, she’s completely aware of these elements and that’s one of the main reasons why, in my opinion, she is one of the best managers that you can find at this time. And also she’s a woman…
Olof: Which is also great…
Elize: …and she’s a great understanding as a female in this industry…
Olof: … and again, a different perspective.
Elize: Actually, she makes me feel stronger and has a lot of knowledge which, unfortunately, a lot of managers out there don’t have. They don’t have the right experience for it and I think, if we would stay where we were, we wouldn’t have the choice to participate in these tours and have these brand new contacts with the record label. Now, everything is well-arranged and organized and everything is not chaotic anymore. In the end, if you stay under the flag of chaos, you’ll get only chaos and basically, the only choices left of are giving up or getting a serious burnout. So, for us, this change meant a lot.
Olof: This was a complete game changer and Angela is extremely professional and I completely agree with what Elize said. Obviously, Angels already have all the connections in place because of her extensive tour experience that dates back to 1998. Of course, she has met all the people in the business and it’s not like establishing work connections from scratch: all the managements, bands and record labels know her and you cannot compare this, let’s say hypothetically, with one super-smart but lacking in connections which takes a long span of years (5 or 10) to build the right connections. We don’t have time to sit longer and wait for people who have to grow their business contacts, we basically need someone to pick us up. On the last note, Angela is a beautiful person, in every way and she really cares.
Back in October 2019, you were announced as one of the latest Nuclear Blast‘s signings of the year. How this partnership started and so far, how is proceeding you?
Elize: So far, it’s really good. We have just released one song which was “Sabaton cover” but everything around that worked out really really great. There was any chaos [laughs].
Olof: So day, it’s our second most viewed video after “Maximize” which it’s really impressive for a cover whose video was recorded with our cell phones. We did put a lot of passion in and it was done quite quickly and it’s curious to see the difference of when something is released in a more professional environment. Instead, regarding how our collaboration with Nuclear Blast started, of course, we already knew them a little bit and we met them many times but we never ever met them in an official role. There were just nice people which we hang out with every now and then, for example, I met Jaap 14 or 15 years ago and in general, it’s people that go way back in time and which we can trust 100%, as I said before for our new management, they’re not newcomers in this industry. They have already the connections, the contacts and the experience in place.
Practically, you are saying that the Spinefarm deal was good but not good enough because they are a huge label…
Elize: No, it’s not that. The problem arose when Spinefarm was bought by Universal because this last one became our main label. Consequently, Spinefarm needed to go through Universal‘s contacts in every country, so, sometimes when we had released our material, we sensed that there was a clash due to miscommunication, for example, this happened with our video clips that were not available in certain territories. And luckily, Nuclear Blast doesn’t work that way because they are already established and they have just one main label and that’s it. Their work is so coordinated and they are specialized in metal only. Actually I forgot to add something when you get picked up by a major, you’re always on second hands when you are on a sub-label.
Olof: Definitely. However, the good thing about Spinefarm‘s deal was that early on invested in us because we’re a completely unknown new band. It’s also important to remember that while they might not be the perfect fit for us right now, at the time the initial work they did for us was absolutely fantastic. Just consider only the fact that we had the great possibility to shoot all those promo videos and that decision that doesn’t come slightly from a record label. In fact, I think that someone in Spinefarm recognizes our potential by investing in us even though we’re unproven and untested. Still, part of the issue with Spinefarm was that there was a constant change in the staff working there…
Elize: Oh yeah, sure, we never got the chance to know them, really.
Olof: In conclusion, the people that we sign for changed at least two or three times and I just refer to the closest label’s contact which was a little bit of shame but you cannot stop it from happening.
Elize: Then, all of a sudden they opened new offices that didn’t exist before and they changed distributors. If you think about the whole situation, then it surely leads to never finding stability in our lives [Laughs] until now and that’s why we are extremely happy with this new deal. Like you said before, everything happens for a reason and I think Spinefarm was the right label at that time but now we are in need of something more established and it’s also important to change sometimes even if it’s quite scary to make changes, it’s correct to give a chance to it because it can only get better.
Olof: I mean, with Nuclear Blast we were talking for a long while and it was kinda clear that they believed in us and sometimes can happen that label signs, bands, just because they need more income to cash in. Of course, that can be a risk and we are completely aware of the fact that Nuclear Blast doesn’t work like that. Maybe, it can happen at a lower level where nobody cares so much, however, Nuclear Blast made really obvious to us that they don’t want just to sign and cash-in. They want to invest time, energy and passion.
Elize: For example, take Nightwish. They were also on Spinefarm‘s roster and look how they got bigger and bigger since they signed with Nuclear Blast…
So far, Nightwish for the Finnish market has a special deal with Sony Music Finland and before that, they have just Spinefarm, so Nightwish‘s a bit particular in the sense that for the Finnish market, they prefer to have someone local because they know they do and the don’ts of their internal market.
Elize: It did happen to us too, I mean, I remember that back in the day that we had a dedicated promoter at Universal Sweden and he was working really nicely. Unfortunately, those departments were closed due to the dynamicity of the music industry.
We just mentioned the digital single “80nds and All the Way” which can be originally found in Sabaton‘s “The Great Release”. How did you come up with this idea? I mean, I really love the chorus and I wish that it will be released also in physical support in the foreseeable future because I’m more into collecting CDs and stuff…
Olof: This is actually a good point and I never considered it as such but we’ll carefully dedicate some thoughts about this. In terms of how the event developed, at the time we’re already speaking with Sabaton about the project and we felt like it was a common dialogue. Considering that isn’t our first tour and we actually toured for the first time in 2014 with them, we wanted to go the extra mile and we’re wondering how we could be able to show to our fans that even ourselves we are Sabaton fans. Well, additionally we’ve been friends with them for a long time and we know Sabaton’s drummer Hannes van Dahl since our first tour with Hammerfall because at the time he was playing with Evergrey. So, all the connections in a way are intertwined. I have to admit that it was Pär’s suggestion [Elize laughs] like “maybe you guys you should just do a cover” and I’m like “Yeah, normally we don’t do covers”, however, we did something with Powerwolf this past summer and it turned out really well.
Elize: It was really fun to record this cover!
You know, Amaranthe plays a specific genre and Sabaton comes from an entirely different musical background. So, I was wondering if there were some difficulties in terms of arrangements due to Joakim Brodén’s particular vocal style and also, taking into account that all this had to be adapted for a trio of vocalists…
Olof: I mean, for the arrangements from a musical perspective, it was clear after the first time I listened to the track and I noticed the same chord track that we use in Amaranthe’s songs like “Amaranthine”, b or a bunch of other songs. Now, potentially, with our vocal harmonies, the toughest part to rearrange might be the verse while the chorus is solid 100% Amaranthe’s style. At the end of the day, everything falls exactly into place without any problems so ever.
Elize: We changed a little bit back and forth but I really like to see what the lyrics communicated and I was able to see myself singing at the beginning of the song.
What 2020 has in store for Amaranthe in terms of everything, I won’t play it specific…
Elize: Of course, a lot of touring and a lot of festivals. It’s gonna be a very busy year also because now we’ll see what will happen when our album will be released with Nuclear Blast. There’ll be some nice collaborations. We are just sucking in and channeling everything and we are just getting ready to spread this good energy around.
So, Olof and Elize, I really thank you for your time. Please now it’s your space, be free to greet your fans and our readers as you want.
Olof: Well, thank you in general for the great support throughout the years. The band has existed for almost 10 years and we’re still growing. Thanks to the people who buy our albums and merchandise, we can dedicate our time on a full-time basis to the band. So, once again a huge thank you for making us live our dream.
Elize: Thank you for your support. We love you.
