DROW
28th July 2003, 11:00 AM
Opeth rules, mang!
By PHILLIP YATES Colorado Daily Staff Writer
There is a litany of Swedish bands that people can tick off without a sweat: ABBA, Roxette, Ace of Base, and the A-Teens. When asked to list good Swedish bands - well - that's a different matter. Luckily for the small Scandinavian country, the music scene there is changing. Instead of Max Martin -created nonsense (the Stockholm-based music producer who writes songs for Britney Spears and other bubble-gum popsters), divergent musical sub-cultures and new bands within Sweden are bursting the staid stereotype of Sweden as pop-music fiefdom.
For many music aficionados, or maybe just Swedish culture sycophants, the last year has seen the Swedish pop-crazy stigma fade with bands like The Hives, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Sounds, and The International Sound Conspiracy getting gigs on late-night talk shows and ubiquitous retail space with their edgy rock sound. This constant influx of Swedish bands feels like an invasion that will never end - much like the Viking invasions of England during the 9th and 10th centuries. Luckily for us, they're not here to plunder; they're here to rock the house.
Opeth, a metal band from Stockholm, will be continuing the Swedish onslaught this Monday when the band plays the Fox Theatre. The band is in the midst of a long North American tour, and had its first show only nine days ago. Of course, the band had some first-night jitters.
"The first show was a bit shaky. We never played those songs live before, so were very nervous about that show," said Michael kerfeldt, Opeth's lead singer and guitarist.
But by the time Opeth comes to Boulder, the band will be ready to rock, kerfeldt said.
"By the time we come to Boulder, we are going to be tight as a mother****er, and do a good set for the crowd," kerfeldt said. "We are going to play the whole of the 'Damnation' album (Opeth's new, largely acoustic disk). We are going to do heavy metal songs we haven't done before."
Although bands like The Hives and the Soundtrack of Our Lives have a distinctly different style than Opeth's, their success has given other Swedish bands a ticket to ride (though its should be noted that Opeth had their albums distributed worldwide before the Hives or the Soundtrack of Our Lives came to the United States).
"Those bands are making some kind of high over the whole Swedish music scene which is in some weird way good for us, even though we are pretty far off from the style they're playing," kerfeldt said, describing Opeth as an extreme, progressive metal band.
Despite the fact that Sweden might have a reputation as a reservoir of pop-music tendencies, kerfeldt said that Sweden is actually a haven for up-and-coming extreme metal bands in Europe.
"If we are talking extreme bands, Sweden is at the fore of metal music in the world," kerfeldt said.
But, there are some distinct differences between European and North American aficionados of metal music, according to kerfeldt.
"In a way, parts of the North American crowd seem to be more into what we are doing," kerfeldt said. "They get more into stuff than a German crowd because Germany is the metal mecca in the world. The crowds in Europe are a bit more jaded because they get metal bands all the time."
kerfeldt is in a position to note the differences in the crowds since Opeth just left Europe about two weeks ago, and unfortunately had to cancel a series of shows in Finland in order to rehearse for their North American tour. That move enraged some loyal Finnish fans.
"It is never good to cancel shows," kerfeldt said. "We got a very negative response from the Finnish crowd. It was like they were going to kill us."
Opeth has had a long history, with an itinerant roster of players coming in and out of the band. Since the band formed in the early 1990s, eight people have left the band, with new bandmates entering the fold. kerfeldt is the longest holdover in the band. The current roster from the Opeth Web site lists kerfeldt as a guitarist and lead singer, Peter Lindgren as another guitarist, Martin Lopez on drums, and Martin Mendez playing the bass.
kerfeldt said that during Opeth's nascent stages it was hard to garner attention since they didn't do a lot of touring, adding the fact that one time in the band's history they toured only once in seven years.
"We never did anything people knew about," kerfeldt said. "We had a lot of distribution all over the world, but since we didn't tour, not a lot of people knew about us. The ones who knew about us, had a cult like following with us."
Opeth plans to stop touring later this year because not only the band needs a break (they have been touring since last December), but also because kerfeldt plans to get married later this year as well in Stockholm.
Though plans to stop touring are in the distant future, Opeth is concentrated on improving their shows concert by concert. kerfeldt is confident that the band will sound good by the time it gets to Boulder.
"We are going to give another two shows until we are completely into what we are doing," kerfeldt said, "but we are starting to sound good."
By PHILLIP YATES Colorado Daily Staff Writer
There is a litany of Swedish bands that people can tick off without a sweat: ABBA, Roxette, Ace of Base, and the A-Teens. When asked to list good Swedish bands - well - that's a different matter. Luckily for the small Scandinavian country, the music scene there is changing. Instead of Max Martin -created nonsense (the Stockholm-based music producer who writes songs for Britney Spears and other bubble-gum popsters), divergent musical sub-cultures and new bands within Sweden are bursting the staid stereotype of Sweden as pop-music fiefdom.
For many music aficionados, or maybe just Swedish culture sycophants, the last year has seen the Swedish pop-crazy stigma fade with bands like The Hives, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Sounds, and The International Sound Conspiracy getting gigs on late-night talk shows and ubiquitous retail space with their edgy rock sound. This constant influx of Swedish bands feels like an invasion that will never end - much like the Viking invasions of England during the 9th and 10th centuries. Luckily for us, they're not here to plunder; they're here to rock the house.
Opeth, a metal band from Stockholm, will be continuing the Swedish onslaught this Monday when the band plays the Fox Theatre. The band is in the midst of a long North American tour, and had its first show only nine days ago. Of course, the band had some first-night jitters.
"The first show was a bit shaky. We never played those songs live before, so were very nervous about that show," said Michael kerfeldt, Opeth's lead singer and guitarist.
But by the time Opeth comes to Boulder, the band will be ready to rock, kerfeldt said.
"By the time we come to Boulder, we are going to be tight as a mother****er, and do a good set for the crowd," kerfeldt said. "We are going to play the whole of the 'Damnation' album (Opeth's new, largely acoustic disk). We are going to do heavy metal songs we haven't done before."
Although bands like The Hives and the Soundtrack of Our Lives have a distinctly different style than Opeth's, their success has given other Swedish bands a ticket to ride (though its should be noted that Opeth had their albums distributed worldwide before the Hives or the Soundtrack of Our Lives came to the United States).
"Those bands are making some kind of high over the whole Swedish music scene which is in some weird way good for us, even though we are pretty far off from the style they're playing," kerfeldt said, describing Opeth as an extreme, progressive metal band.
Despite the fact that Sweden might have a reputation as a reservoir of pop-music tendencies, kerfeldt said that Sweden is actually a haven for up-and-coming extreme metal bands in Europe.
"If we are talking extreme bands, Sweden is at the fore of metal music in the world," kerfeldt said.
But, there are some distinct differences between European and North American aficionados of metal music, according to kerfeldt.
"In a way, parts of the North American crowd seem to be more into what we are doing," kerfeldt said. "They get more into stuff than a German crowd because Germany is the metal mecca in the world. The crowds in Europe are a bit more jaded because they get metal bands all the time."
kerfeldt is in a position to note the differences in the crowds since Opeth just left Europe about two weeks ago, and unfortunately had to cancel a series of shows in Finland in order to rehearse for their North American tour. That move enraged some loyal Finnish fans.
"It is never good to cancel shows," kerfeldt said. "We got a very negative response from the Finnish crowd. It was like they were going to kill us."
Opeth has had a long history, with an itinerant roster of players coming in and out of the band. Since the band formed in the early 1990s, eight people have left the band, with new bandmates entering the fold. kerfeldt is the longest holdover in the band. The current roster from the Opeth Web site lists kerfeldt as a guitarist and lead singer, Peter Lindgren as another guitarist, Martin Lopez on drums, and Martin Mendez playing the bass.
kerfeldt said that during Opeth's nascent stages it was hard to garner attention since they didn't do a lot of touring, adding the fact that one time in the band's history they toured only once in seven years.
"We never did anything people knew about," kerfeldt said. "We had a lot of distribution all over the world, but since we didn't tour, not a lot of people knew about us. The ones who knew about us, had a cult like following with us."
Opeth plans to stop touring later this year because not only the band needs a break (they have been touring since last December), but also because kerfeldt plans to get married later this year as well in Stockholm.
Though plans to stop touring are in the distant future, Opeth is concentrated on improving their shows concert by concert. kerfeldt is confident that the band will sound good by the time it gets to Boulder.
"We are going to give another two shows until we are completely into what we are doing," kerfeldt said, "but we are starting to sound good."