Opeth

Saturday June 21 (Hellfest 2008 2nd day)

For the second one today, we are proud to interview Martin Mendez from Swedish Progressive Death metal's Band Opeth. They have just released their last album Watershed (Roadrunner records) and will start a european tour (along with Cynic and The Ocean) in November.

Fab : So are you happy to be here at the Hell Fest ?
Martin: Yes, finally yes.

Fab: What do you think about the various bands on the bill?
Martin: Well, there's a lot of ones I want to see. It's really good. Definitely I want to see Morbid Angel, Obituary, Slayer, of course MOTORHEAD.

Fab: It's very eclectic.
Martin: yeah, yeah. It's very cool.

Fab : Do you have planned anything special for the show to come?
Martin: no, we don't do that, whatever the show is we don't need to do special things

Fab : Concerning the set-list maybe?
Martin: Well, the set-list is gonna be kind of the same as we did in Turkey, and we didn't have so much time to rehearse this time, because I had a son last week, so…

Fab: Congratulations!
Martin: (laughter) thanks.

Fab: Do you miss him?
Martin: Oh yeah, yeah.

Fab: I guess it's one of the downsides of touring?
Martin: Yeah, of course. (But I am) more happy to play

Fab: Concerning Mikael Akerfeldt, how did he managed to have a voice so warm during the "clean" voices, and so powerful on the others?
Martin: Yeah, I guess …. I don't know, I don't understand how he does. He smokes, he doesn't take care of his voice like all the singers do it. I see all the people like, taking pills…he doesn't take anything, and he had to sing every night. So that's pretty amazing.

Fab: Yes, exactly, especially on live. It's very demanding.
Martin: Oh yeah, sure.

Fab: What's the story behind the song "Hours of Wealth", at times it's very jazzy-bluesy. Whose idea it was?
Martin: That's Mike (who's) writing songs. I guess he just came up with something different.

Fab: Concerning the artwork of the last album, which is very nice, very intriguing. Is there a special meaning?
Martin: Well, we tried to do it right with things like, pretty dark. And at once it's something we can sense in the music in some ways and, I don't know, it's like a lonely guy in the dark, being like himself, or whatever he is.

Fab: It has to go with the music.
Martin: Yeah, Travis Smith did the same and he did a great work too.

Fab: I know you've toured with DREAM THEATER, what is your opinion about this band? Any special anecdotes?
Martin: Well I like the band, (but) I'm not a big fan, I stopped listening to them since the"Awake" album I think But they're a great band, I mean, really good players, very, very professional, nice guys to hang out with too. I like Mike Portnoy a lot, he was like, every day coming to our dressing room, and talking to us, a really friendly guy. The tour was really fun.

Fab: What is your worst and/or best memories on tour?
Martin: This tour? It didn't happen anything bad, it was pretty easy for us, we played just one hour, it was like, really easy to play one hour and the whole day, hanging around, go see the bands every night.

Fab : Is it not hard for you to establish the set-list, especially in festivals, where you don't control everything?
Martin: Yeah, we just played 4 or 5 songs. That's not much long. But, I enjoy it, or course, it's much worth to play your own show. Album to album we used to play. After one hour, it's like, you start to get warm, involved in your body, you know.

Fab : Because on festivals, people are coming for you, but there's also people who, even if they know you by name, don't know your music. Is it something you have in mind when doing the set-list on festivals like this?
Martin: Not really. Every tour we try to change songs and, we're trying to make a good mix, try to cover all the albums. We don't have like, a specially (made) thing like, you know, like we're on festivals: should we play this for the people? I just, that's how we feel to play.

Fab: Concerning your keyboardist, Per Wiberg, who's with you for three years now. Could you tell us about his input in the music?

Martin: He's a great keyboard player. Of course, he brings different sounds. Mike writes a lot of keyboards too, of course, he perfects it in some way, the stuff to be right… Of course, he (Per) brings the band an another dimension.

Fab: What would you make listen to someone who didn't know Opeth at all? One song that best represents the band.
Martin: I don't know, there's a lot of it. Maybe "The Drapery Falls" this is a mix of everything we used to play.

Fab: Sometimes, when I listen to your music, the calmer parts, it reminds me a little bit of, I hope it won't shock you, Alan Parson's Project. Not always the music, but the ways of singing, the feeling, the atmosphere…
Martin: Yes, the progressive side of our music is like the biggest influence for everyone, so, it doesn't surprise me.

Fab: What do you think about the return of "Old School" bands like TESTAMENT, HELLOWEEN, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES who came recently in Paris?
Martin: It's fine. These bands can still play you know, some of them still sounds great.

Fab: There's a demand, some people want to go back to the roots.
Martin: Yeah, that's something that, as of today I heard many metal bands that are coming up with something different, but mostly of the bands, are sadly like each other you know. Maybe that's the reason, but it's really fun in a way to come back to those bands, we grew up with those bands. It's good for the youngs one, not just listen to slipknot or whatever it is. It keeps us alive too, you know, "we can still play a lot"!!(laughter).

Fab: What's your project for the close future? Except touring.
Martin: We have a lot of touring, as you say, it's gonna be one year at least, so it's very long. I don't know, take a break, that we always do after the touring, go for a new album, I guess everyone in the band is to do some side-projetcs too in the same time, so we will see.

Fab: Do you know any French metal bands?
Martin: GOJIRA, I know that. They're pretty good.