PAIN OF SALVATION (Daniel Gildenlow) INTERVIEW
When I was guided by Pain Of Salvation’s label rep to the band’s
tour bus to do an already scheduled interview with mainman Daniel
Gildenlow, I expected to find the tall Swede his normal energetic self,
not downing a hot bowl of soup and medication! Daniel of course, being
the chatty and accommodating interviewee that he always is, ensured that
our latest encounter was once again an enjoyable one, explaining along
the way how we ended up witnessing another line-up change in the band’s
history, the difficulties that he had to battle through on both a
personal and professional level these last couple of months and also
explaining the reasons that lead him to fight on at times when most mere
mortals would simply have given up. If you are already a fan of this
great band, this interview will offer further justification for your
support and, hopefully, if you have never even heard of the
Eskilstuna-based outfit before, it will give you an incentive to catch
up on twenty one years of soulful and highly skilful music!
By Yiannis (John) Stefanis
• Daniel, if you told me last time we spoke back in November 2011
that I was going to see the band live so soon again, especially after
all these line-up changes, I would not have believed you. Having you
here tonight, apart from being a great pleasure, is also a great
surprise! So - welcome back!
Daniel: Thank you very much!
• Well, thank you for coming again! Daniel, quite a few exciting
things have been happening in the Pain Of Salvation camp recently – care
to elaborate?
Daniel: Yes! It’s been…I mean…it’s really a situation that throws
you over in many ways. I mean…on one level, of course, going through
that whole process of losing band members that you’ve been playing with
for a very long time is a very heart-breaking process. And then you have
that sort of intertwine with that interesting feeling of playing
together with new people and seeing what you can do with having new
blood in the band. So it is a very dualistic feeling, definitely, and
then in the middle of that you are going out having a tour (laughs).
Like you said, I probably have…I definitely have the same feeling that I
could not see how it would be physically and logistically…how it would
be possible at all to make it happen! I mean, we were scouring the face
of the earth for interesting possible guitar players during that tour
and when we met we hadn’t even started to go through any applications
yet. And here we are now, actually only a matter of weeks later with two
new guys (laughs) and Daniel (Karlsson) having switched from being a
bass player to being a keyboard player which he likes a lot as he’s been
a keyboard player from the start. So, I think that it’s impossible,
almost impossible to be in Pain Of Salvation without being a
multi-instrumentalist. You need to know your music from a lot of
different angles (laughs). So, it’s an honour, it’s a pleasure and it’s a
very…it’s turmoil in many ways – both positive and negative of course!
• I remember you saying last time round that these dates were booked
prior to the change of band members during a time when you were still
touring with Opeth. So you had the pressure of having to do one of the
most high profile tours of the band’s career thus far, being given the
opportunity to play in front of huge audiences and finally get the
exposure that you have been craving for, knowing full well that two
members were leaving the band. Then you had all those people positing
their thoughts on the band’s website, doubting your ability to move on
and how do you respond to all that? You come back only a few weeks later
with a brand new line up, two new members, and take on the scheduled
tour! And, you also get to perform and play new material such as
“Sisters” – one of my favourite Pain Of Salvation tracks of all time! I
don’t really know what to say here…
Daniel: (laughs) The thing is that when Johan (note:
Hallgren/guitars) said that he was going to leave the band we had
already booked the Eastern Europe tour, we had booked the Opeth tour and
we had just confirmed basically this tour. So he said that he was
leaving the band, which was not the first time he did that…when
something else comes along he gets very devoured and sucked up into
whatever is around him at that moment – that’s just the kind of guy that
he is. He did say to us “I am doing the tour of course” and we were all
like “oh, that’s good, the tours you mean” to which he replied “no, the
Eastern Europe tour” so… (laughs) we were like “aha, but we have the
Opeth tour which is booked and confirmed and we cannot drop that now”.
So, he agreed to do that in the end which was a very, very good thing
(laughs) because otherwise us playing would have been totally impossible
of course. I think that, at that point, I was thinking things like “oh
this is impossible, this spring tour I cannot see happening” and then
Fredrik (note: Hermansson/keyboards) was like “yeah, you know, I think
that I am going to quit too” (laughs). And normally people at that point
would have said “Ok, that’s it”, but that is when, when it becomes
totally impossible, and it went from highly unlikely to totally
impossible; that is when I somehow kick in and my wife is the same way –
we are very funny that way! It’s like we are pulling the carpet from
underneath our feet all by ourselves sometimes! We have been having a
really harsh year: we had our third son born with Down syndrome and, you
know, everything just turned upside down. Then half the band is…I mean,
you have to consider that the band is in a way…the band is always in a
way the worst enemy of a relationship for anyone. It is maybe not the
enemy but the competition! There’s always going to be competition
between going away, doing tours, focusing on music, having all these
things. Then you have your relationship on the other hand and everything
you do with one will undoubtedly take something from the other in a
way. It is a very heart-breaking situation in many ways. I think that
both of us had already been going through the…this is insane, with three
tours ahead of us, we have a new-born with Down syndrome, we have a
completely new life sort of laid down for us and then all of a sudden
the outer…how do you call that…you know, like something external was
actually giving us pretty much the ‘go’ signal to just withdraw from it
all and say “OK, you know, we cannot do it”. But instead, we kicked into
action! We went “no, it’s got to be possible” (laughs)! So actually, I
think that it was the fact that both of them actually left. I think that
from Fredrik’s point of view, I think he thought that “it’s better
doing it now than waiting another year and then I quit too”, because
both of them are…all of us are growing older I guess, so…
• You all seem to pretty much respect the idea behind Pain Of
Salvation and what this band has offered to the people through the
years. To give half your heart to it is not something that any of you
would be happy with right?
Daniel: Yeah, exactly.
• And we as fans really appreciate that! We appreciate any band
member leaving when their time is up rather than staying so that we can
‘enjoy’ the classic line up or whatever.
Daniel: Yeah, and also the thing is that doing what we are doing or
what every band is doing I guess is a huge sacrifice! You really have to
invest a lot of your own self, your time and of your life. I mean, it
is a huge sacrifice year after year after year and I totally understand
that it comes to the point when you feel that “it’s not worth it for me
anymore”. I think that this is the feeling, especially for Johan having,
you know, new kids on the way and a family to care for. That is the
problem all the time, you know, because music is not providing to the
level where you can have a band being financially supported by the
music, so you need to make that work together with so many other things.
You have your family life, you have some sort of job situation maybe or
other bands and other projects or whatever and that makes things very,
very difficult.
• So what is it that makes you say to yourself “you know what, I am
going to continue doing this”? I mean, it’s obvious that you really love
music, everyone who has heard even one Pain Of Salvation album knows
that, but here you are describing something very tough. In my case, even
if I were an artist I would most likely not have chosen to do what you
do – it would drive me nuts having to face so many problems! What keep
you going?
Daniel: I don’t…you know what, it’s…the original lyric for the song
“Deeper Cut” was entirely based on the idea that I have learned
everything, I know so much, every year of my life I am learning new
things but the only thing that’s left to learn is the art of giving up! I
don’t know, I just don’t have it in me! Especially if you…if I am faced
with a challenge it’s like I can’t resist trying it – I don’t know!
It’s nothing that I choose! I don’t choose to…probably I am choosing
several times a year to quit this but I just never go through with it
because it is just too important to me! I think that may be just the
difference, the fact that I feel that I do not have choice! It’s like a
fever (laughs).
• So what is the status of the members that are participating in
this tour? I have read a few things on the Internet but I believe that
it is important for their status to be clarified. It is obvious that
they are deemed important enough to help with the tour but are we to
expect any of them to continue being in the band after this tour is
over?
Daniel: They might very likely be but the thing is…we have been
through the process of changing band members a few times and being a bit
too rushed in deciding that they are going to be becoming full time
members or not. I think only time can really tell whether… it’s like a
constructive family situation and that’s really odd because normally
families sort of grow out of natural, you know, situations or
developments but when you are losing family members in the band, the
kind of business that we are in, be it the music industry or whatever,
the band-oriented family is not given the luxury of waiting, of getting
over and coming to a closure before getting new people in. It’s always a
very odd situation having new people coming in because it’s pretty much
like, and this is going to be an exaggeration of course, but it’s like
you are losing your granddad, you are at the funeral and then straight
after that is over you go and meet your new granddad! It’s an odd
situation, isn’t it? I think that I am becoming better at handling that
just because we’ve done it a few times (laughs). But still, especially
now at such short notice where we can really count the kind of times
that we have played together, I don’t think that we would ever want to
say that “ so and so is becoming a full band member” before knowing how
things are going to be in the long term, you know? So far, everything
has been working really nicely. Daniel on the keyboards, though, he has
been promoted to a full time member because he’s been around for quite a
while and we know that he is a really nice guy. He’s really, really
competent, he knows a lot of instruments, a lot of music – he’s very
versatile and very positive and, you know, all those things really
matter in the end!
• When you stated preparing for this tour and working on the
material you will be performing for us tonight did you find that you had
to adapt certain songs according to the capabilities of this line-up?
Did you find that with new people, new ideas and new ways of performing,
certain songs ended up acquiring a Jekyll & Hyde personality split?
Daniel: No, not so much. The funny thing is, I mean, we played stuff
from all the applications that came in from around the world, we chose
five people who we thought were quite interesting to try out for an
audition and what really struck me was that, because we were playing “No
Way” as one of the test songs, it was funny how all of the five
versions of “No Way” were different! We chose that song just because it
is not very strict compared to “Handful Of Nothing” where you basically
have to play what you play and that’s it, you know, everything is
pattern-oriented, but “No Way” is very much play-oriented and you almost
naturally have to put a lot of your personality into what you are
playing. You have the rhythmical theme where you know where things are
and how they work and so it was very interesting to see how many
different versions we got and all of them were good. I mean, all of them
were interesting and had high musical qualities and that was the fun
thing to see. I didn’t think that we had to adapt at all but the song
turned a little bit into something else at the same time as you can be
equally impressed by the fact that the songs were made exactly the same –
the soul of the song was intact through all those different versions!
So that was pretty cool, and no, when it comes to playing with new
people one thing that is actually really nice is that now we can make
five-piece harmony vocals because Fredrik refused to sing all the time
(laughs). He did sing during the “Scarsick” tour but that was the only
time because Simon (note: Andersson/bass) was not a very experiences
singer, so Fredrik actually, in the end, he stepped up and sang
(laughs). It’s just really amazing I think.
• Fredrik always came across to me as a pretty shy and reserved
person. Anyhow, during our last interview together I asked you whether
songs like “Sisters” and “Healing Now” were to be performed to which
your answer was “no”. I actually remember you saying that “Healing Now”
had so many layers of mandolin that it is impossible to play live and
now I understand that the song somewhat miraculously made it on the
band’s set list? Is that right?
Daniel: Yeah but you will be a bit disappointed because we are not doing it tonight!
• Oh no, you’ve got to be kidding me! Are you serious?
Daniel: I am sorry, I am sorry but yeah, it is a technical problem.
We’ve had half of our gear left in Germany because they unloaded too
much stuff with the bus company but “Sisters” we are doing.
• Ok, well, you cannot have it all in life I guess!
Daniel: Yeah, next time though! I am sorry – I would have really
liked that too but we will be playing it again as soon as we will make
it to mainland Europe and we get all our gear back. Now I think that
this was one of the amazing things with getting new people in the band.
To them all of the songs were equally new at least to some respect so
all of a sudden it was like we had a blank page – at least that’s what
it felt to me. Normally you will have people who know a certain amount
of songs and it is very convenient to fall back on those songs. Now with
these guys they… to them this song is as new as any other song, so I
almost…again, of course, because it is so unlikely and impossible for us
to get any songs together, so what do I do? I choose “Enter Rain”,
“Sisters”, “Stress” – songs that we have never played before, just to
make this even more impossible. There is just something in my head that
just refuses to abide by rules.
• Daniel, that is exactly what we love about you! I have been lucky
enough to see Pain Of Salvation live a decent number of times and I do
not remember ever saying to myself “tonight’s set lost was just like the
one on the previous tour”. I mean granted, there are songs like “Ashes”
that you are somewhat expected to play every time but overall you
always pleasantly surprise us.
Daniel: Yes, I think that I like putting myself out of my comfort zone every now and then.
• You were pretty impressed by people’s reaction throughout the UK
during your support slot for Opeth, and especially Glasgow. Have fans
been equally kind to you so far during the few dates that have been
performed on UK soil?
Daniel: Yeah. In Glasgow we played in from of a smaller crowd this
time round but yeah, Scottish people seem to be a good audience for us I
think. The English are a bit more…you know, a bit more ‘prog-y’ I
think.
• Daniel, you almost made the word ‘prog’ sound like an insult there (I laugh).
Daniel: I thought that I could make that sound like an insult
without people knowing but… (laughs). It’s like, they are really
appreciative and they are giving a lot of feedback between the songs but
they are not really engaging – they are not a physically engaging
audience. We had a few girls in the front row that were really rocking
it out yesterday but, apart from that, there is a lot of really
appreciative and impressed nods going on in the audience.
• The few times that I have seen you in Greece the vibe was better
as we are a nation that does like to manifest its feelings clearly – we
do that.
Daniel: Yeah, you guys are great!
• There was a point in time that I was somewhat worried as to
whether Britain would provide a welcoming environment for Pain Of
Salvation but I see that you are gradually picking up momentum recently.
Daniel: The thing with Pain Of Salvation is that the music
normally…it seems to be attractive to a lot of different people from a
lot of different backgrounds musically. I mean, you can look at what we
have as our core fan base but you can also see that the music has the
potential of reaching a lot of different people, a much wider audience. I
think that it’s a matter of actually having people exposed to it in the
first place and then, you know, getting your foot in the door, so I
think that having been able to play in front of the UK audience will
almost naturally make us some sort of…I don’t want to repeat myself but
put our foot in the door (laughs)? I am happy to be doing headline shows
here.
• Well Daniel, I have been given the nod to wrap things up here.
Thank you for your time, I hope that you will feel better soon with
regards your bad cold, I hope that you will enjoy tonight’s show here in
London if that is possible under the circumstances and hope to see you
again soon.
Daniel: Thanks, I will try to do my best tonight. Thank you.
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PAIN OF SALVATION (Daniel Gildenlow) INTERVIEW
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Mon 20 Feb 2012 19:44 GMT | Permanent Link
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