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July 24, 2008 |
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Peter Tägtgren
April 2006
By Joe Mason
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Sweden's HYPOCRISY have been busy in the last several months. They first went out on a North American tour with NILE, SOILENT GREEN, RAGING SPEEDHORN, DECAPITATED and WITH PASSION and are now just about to kick-off their spot on the Neckbreaker's Ball tour across Europe this month. I caught up with mainman Peter Tägtgren to talk about the band’s latest album, "Virus", their sound changes over the years, among other topics.
Well, first of all, thank you, of course, for taking this interview.
You're welcome, man.
The last time I spoke with you, I believe, was I April and one of the questions I asked you was "What are you going to do when you get back home?" You told me that you were going strait back to the studio. That was back in April and in September a new album comes in and in-between somewhere you produced DIMMU BORGIR's "Stormblåst" remake. Do you have an apartment or did you just move all of your belongings into the studio?
No, there were only a few things left to do on the "Virus" album it wasn't 100% done but it was pretty quick to do spend a week or two and get it done. Then I did DESTRUCTION's new album and also the DIMMU BORGIR album and also the new CELTIC FROST album.
Wow, you did all of that in a short period of time?
Yeah, until August, the end of August.
Did you sleep at all? (laughs)
Oh yeah! Don’t worry! No problem.
With so many bands you only get a new album every two or three years and then you tell me you're going strait back to the studio and "Snap!" You were just here five months ago.
I know.
How do you get so much done in so little time?
You just get into it and you just do it, you know? When you know what you've got to do, you just do it. No messing around.
We could put you and Devin Townsend together and...
We wouldn't have to sign any people! (laughs) We'd just, knock out ten albums every year.
You two are music making machines.
It's great! The only thing that's better than making music is having sex. That's the only thing that's better.
So, a lot of the reactions from the fans, and this is just Internet jibber-jabber.
Right.
But the reactions I've been reading is that they feel that this is the best release you've put out since "Into The Abyss" or the self-titled album.
Yeah, I think that both from the fans and from the magazines and stuff like that; everybody's been really happy about it. I mean, I've seen a few that have been bad but it's been like, 96% have been overwhelming. You know, like, really, really good. So, I guess we did something that everybody wanted, including us.
It's funny, I rather enjoyed "The Arrival", and I was surprised to find as many negative reviews on it as I did and they were calling it "tame" or "Peter can't do this" or whatever.
Yeah, the only thing that when I listen to it, "The Arrival" that I miss is that is a little bit more faster songs. There should have been a couple more fast tracks and then it would have been a really good album.
So, what songs have gotten the strongest reactions so far?
"Let The Knife Do The Talking", "Fearless", "Warpath", "Craving For Another Killing" - there's a lot of good. I mean, it's different from person to person but definitely "Let The Knife" and "Warpath".
This album seems to be a lot more diverse than in previous albums. Was that intentional?
Well, I always want to hear an album that's like a roller coaster, you know? I don't want to have the same speed all the way through. I'd rather have it fast, slow, mid, fast to get a really good balance to it.
I read that Horgh (drummer) contributed on the songwriting on this one.
He did a couple of riffs but mainly when I have to send in a guitar riff in, or something like that, he doesn't try to just keep the beat to it, he thinks like a guitarist and tries to do a little bit more to it. He tries to do something more with it and that's what I think is his unique way of playing drums. He doesn't just to try to hold the rhythm, he actually tries to play with the rhythm.
Knowing that you do the vast majority of the work with the band, how long does it take you to write, record, produce and release an album?
It depends again; two or three months, from when starting the writing 'til the album is done. Produced and mixed and all that. This time, we took the whole summer, just writing material and recording it until September. We had a pre-production of the album and then in November we went in and started recording the new album. So it was just another couple of months after that if there was anything that we needed to change, we changed it.
Well, when and if, you're ever done with HYPOCRISY, or you retire or whatever; do you think you will ever appease your fans by releasing your lyrics?
I mean, we do that on the new album. I had more time to spend on the lyrics and they came out much better and then it felt like, "okay, time to release it."
Do you think you'll ever release the lyrics to the previous albums?
If I have time. I mean, everything I have is on napkins or whatever, here or there. It's like, when I'm in the studio, I mean, it's the last thing I do before mixing is to write lyrics and to put lyrics on. It's always like... it's definitely the last thing. I mean, I don't ever want to sing about nothing or bullshit or whatever. I really want to have something that means something to me and sometimes, for me, they don't come out 100% and I don't really feel like printing them either for one reason or another but on this album it was okay to do because I had more time to do it.
I've noticed that all of your slower songs all seem to have very depressive themes. "Living To Die" seems to be about the inevitability of death; "Slippin' Away" seems to be a song about suicide.
Yeah.
"Paled Empty Sphere" seems to be about the uncertainty of life; your other songs seem to have these themes in them as well but they don't seek to come out as passionately as they do otherwise and why such a dark subject matter?
I don't know! You know, life is shit and we all feel depressed a lot of times and for me it's like going to the shrink. For me, it's therapy to write a song like that and it feels much better afterwards. I know a lot of people who can agree to this shit that I write when it comes to that stuff because not everyone is living in 'la la' land anymore, where everything is great. It's reality.
You have the most different styles of vocals, and what I mean by that is that you have about five different styles that you can use on vocals and they're all done very, very well.
Oh, thank you.
How did you develop so many different styles?
Learning by doing. After awhile, after the first couple of albums, growling all the way through, it just got boring, you know, and I just wanted to do something for myself because if I'm bored then other people are going to be bored too. So I just tried to, see if anything's there, try to make it a roller coaster. So I tried things for what kind of song it is or what kind of guitars it is or what kind of lyrics it is. So, to me, it's trying to think with my dick.
(laughs) What do you mean by that?
You know, you use your inner... whatever you use for this song to get you inside that kind of mood.
So, why do you think so many other vocalists insist on using only one or two styles throughout their entire careers?
Oh, I don't know because there are so many good singers out there, you know? Everyone sings their own style and I guess I haven't (found) my own style so I keep on searching and try to develop it. I don't like to stay in one place all of the time and I don't like to repeat myself and keeps it refreshing for me.
Do you think that having that kind of mentality allows you to keep your material fresh as well?
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think there are so many bands that release three or four albums and they sound the same. I want to change the style in guitar and percussion and also maybe the way I do vocals, stuff like that and that way I keep things a little bit fresher. I want to try many unique things to keep HYPOCRISY to go along with what HYPOCRISY does and that's the most important thing. It's not about trying to develop a new music style or anything like that, it's just normal stuff. Developing us.
You guys had a backlash from your fanbase with "Catch 22"; what happened there?
Um, you know, I think that some people were not prepared for "Catch 22" but basically on "The Arrival" album, we basically wrote the album for the fans.
You guys have undergone many changes from your sound from album to album. Why do you think there was such negative feedback from that album?
I don't know. I don't think people were prepared for that one. I wanted us to have a different production, more raw, more in your face, and also I think some people say that there are too many clean vocals in there and stuff like that and I just see it as an experiment like every album we do. You never know what's going to happen until we stop and you have it in your hands. It's a fuckin' adventure when you're making an album, you know, we don't sit down and know exactly what we're going to do, we just go with the flow and write stuff and sometimes people like it and sometimes people don't. I mean if you listen to bands that have been releasing albums for over ten years, there's always one that people don't even like that much. And there's always one that's a classic. So, you know, it comes with the territory.
You said earlier that "The Arrival" was an album for the fans. Did you find it difficult to keep yourselves interested in what you're doing what you're doing when you're writing for the fans?
No, not really because we just develop as we go and now that we have Horgh on the drums the was album was more complex, more faster when it's fast, more heavier when it's heavier.
One of the big changes, as you mentioned, was Horgh coming out on drums to replace Lars (Szöke), who was a long time member; what happened there?
I don't know; he just wasn't into it anymore. I think he peaked on being a drummer in '93 and then he just stopped. He just wasn't interested. He was interested, he still is interested in music but he doesn't want to get better and stuff like that. He's just going like this (his hand shows a flat line) and was just going like this without any decent changes.
I read in another interview that you did that he hadn't owned a drum set since 1995, is that true?
Yeah, so that shows just how interested he was.
And the level of dedication he had.
Yeah, a little bit.
Now, I know very, very little about producing and mixing and all of that stuff. When I was driving down here, I was listening to "Living To Die" and I was wondering how you got that old time radio sound at the beginning and end of the song? I've heard other groups use this before but I have no idea how it's done.
Oh! You mean the music that really, in a box or...
Yeah, it sounds like it's trapped.
It's just filtering it through EQ's and stuff like that and fucking around with the compressors and distortion boxes and stuff like that until you get it to it sounds like, okay, it sounds like a broken radio, AM, whatever.
How did you decide to do that for that song?
Ah, I don't know! It just felt like in the beginning, when I wrote the beginning of it, it just felt like you can do that on that song and capture the feeling like it is like that. With the riff of that song makes you do it like that. I don't know; it just comes naturally! It's nothing planned. I don't sit down and (decide) that I'm going to write a song where it's going to sound like a radio in the beginning and then "Poof!" It was just like, after I heard the riff when I wrote it was like "Hmm, this should be cool, I should do this."
You guys are primarily a Death Metal band when you are on stage.
Yeah.
Is there any chance that we will hear any of the slower songs or anything from the self-titled album?
Yeah! I mean we, we totally just mix it all up. Slow, fast, mid, slow, you know.
The last time I saw you, the majority of the songs that you played were from "The Fourth Dimention", "The Arrival", "The Final Chapter", "Osculem Obsenum" and very little of the newer material, like from self-titled or from "Into The Abyss".
If you don't have the (headline) we have nine songs, I mean, we only have forty minutes. It's impossible to cover every album. We do from the first album, we do a couple from the new album, because, of course, we have to push the new album, we do a couple from the self-titled and just try to mix it up there but it's hard when you only have forty minutes.
How come you don't headline when you're over here?
We will! In September, we'll be back and do a headlining tour and that way we'll cover everything.
What's the time difference between a headlining and being a supporting act?
You get at least twice as long when you're headlining. If you say you want to play two hours you play two hours. If you want to play one and a half, you just do it and the bands before that have to adjust to that from when the show starts to when the show ends. It's all about timing the whole thing beforehand.
Why are there so many fade outs for the ending of your songs?
I have no idea! I remember that also, on a couple of albums, during the mastering, I would be like, "Shit! That's the sixth song we faded already." I mean, I don't know; don't ask me. I have no idea. It's just a coincidence maybe of how the riffs are to the ending. I mean, I don't know, we never paid that much attention to it.
That's everything I've got for you. Thank you very much for speaking with me.
No problem, man. My pleasure. [FIN]
» Official HYPOCRISY Website
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