Scar Symmetry Interview

The Gauntlet: How's the tour going, first of all?

Per Nilsson: Mostly, amazing.

The Gauntlet: Mostly?

Per Nilsson: Mostly. All of the shows have been really amazing, really beyond our expectations.

Gauntlet: Have you, as Scar Symmetry, been to the States before?

Per: No, this is our first time.

Gauntlet: I heard Jens ('Bobo', their tour manager) talking downstairs about how some of the previous shows Grand Rapids, Sauget, or something didn't really get the sort of turnout, at least with the merchandise that you guys were looking for.

Per: No, the presales were like.

(Kenneth Seil & Jonas Kjellgren enter, the latter rather drunk, goes to bar)

Gauntlet: (laughs) Hi there.

Gauntlet: But it seems like the crowd this evening was really into you guys.

Per: Yeah, absolutely.

Gauntlet: Even though it started early, I know there were a lot of people still coming in and heard you guys playing and said, "what's the point in bothering", since they'd already missed your set.

Per: That's too bad, that happens all the time.

(Note: The show was started 20 minutes early with abbreviated set-lengths to conform to city mandates regarding curfew and all ages shows)

Gauntlet: And how long has the tour been going on so far?

Per: (thinking) Eh two and a half weeks.

Gauntlet: And how much left do you have to go?

Per: One and a half.

Gauntlet: That's a pretty substantial tour for your first time.

Per: Yeah, four weeks. I think it's just long enough.

Gauntlet: And I imagine that some other members have been here before with other bands?

Per: Yeah, I think only Jonas.

Jonas Kjellgren: (mumbles)

Per: You're the only one who has toured the U.S., and been in Chicago.

Gauntlet: And have you liked it?

Jonas: Yes.

Per: But today in Chicago was too cold.

Gauntlet: Well, I'm sorry about that.

Jonas: And it's your fault.

(laughter)

Gauntlet: Well, you know, before you guys came today, it's something like 0 centigrade, but a couple days ago it was 15 and a week ago it was 20.

Jonas: (more mumbling)

Gauntlet: It just seems like whenever a metal band comes through the temperature plummets. Back in January, we had had no snow at all and then Enslaved came through and snow started falling that exact day. So, I don't know, maybe.

Jonas: Enslaved, they are fucking amazing. Especially the new stuff.

Gauntlet: Oh, yes. It was a good show, good show. But, I don't know, I'm going to blame you guys for bringing the cold weather.

(pause)

Jonas: I don't think so.

(laughter and Jonas exits)

Per: But we bring a lot of warmth with our music.

Gauntlet: Right, right. The textures, you know, to appreciate. And the audience gets warm through energy. So, anyway, all these other bands are Century Media; how is it that you guys happened to get up on the tour?

Per: I don't know, really. You know, Nuclear Blast and Century Media, they share office space in Los Angeles, so I think they work closely together. I guess it's just at a coffee break, like, "Hey guys, you have a band about to go on tour? Have anyone"

Gauntlet: Yeah, oh, how about Scar Symmetry? Let's set 'em up. Yeah, it seems like an interesting bill, you know, with Dark Tranquillity playing with The Haunted and Scar Symmetry (and Into Eternity), but it seems like there's some good crossover.

Per: Yeah, I think so, too. It's four bands that are very different from each other, but still at the same time, not too different, so we can attract each others fans. The Haunted fans come, the Dark Tranquillity fans, and perhaps we will add some fans as well. It's beneficial for everyone.

Gauntlet: Yeah. So, since you guys are still a young, up-and-coming band, I don't feel guilty asking this question: how did you all come together as Scar Symmetry?

Per: I guess you could say it was Jonas who put the band together, because you know he has his own recording studio where we recorded both our albums, and he wanted to try out something else. You know he was the singer of Carnal Forge and he wanted to play more guitar and do more solos, more melodic stuff. So he wanted to put a new band together and he thought, �Ok, of the bands that I have recorded recently, which are the best musicians I know?� So he knew me and Henrik, we had recorded with Altered Aeon. And he had recorded with Christian, I can�t remember which band�Torchbearer, I think

Gauntlet: He�s got a lot of bands.

(laughter)

Per: Yeah, he does. So he knew that he [Christian] was an amazing vocalist. So he asked us, �You want to form a band?� and we were like, �Eh, ok, sure.� And Kenneth, they were from the same town, so he knew Kenneth because they worked at the same music school, they both teach, so he knew he was an amazing bass player. So we just put the band together, did a one-track demo, got a deal immediately�

Gauntlet: One track demo?

Per: Yeah. It wasn�t even one track, it was half a track.

Gauntlet: What?

Per: It was �Seeds of Rebellion� from the first album. But it was the second half of the song with the solo section, but that wasn�t written yet, so it was just the main riff and the verse and the chorus. I don�t even think we had the proper lyrics. Jonas just came up with some riff, recorded some drums and bass and then Christian came up with the vocal melodies and he just used phony words�

Gauntlet: Like The Beatles and �scrambled eggs� I don�t remember which song that was, �Yesterday�? But then the label, I suppose, knowing the pedigree of the musicians involved said, �Hey, we can do this�?

Per: Yeah. We were signed to Cold Records, a small, independent Swedish label, and just when we got the deal with them, they made a deal with Metal Blade to license their releases. So we got signed to Cold Records and them immediately were on Metal Blade, which was a big step up for us.

Gauntlet: That�s pretty convenient.

Per: Yeah, and we recorded the first album, and we had only started out as a band so we didn�t know�almost didn�t know�what sort of stuff to write.

Kenneth Seil: �Ok, let�s try something out.�

Per: Yeah, we knew we were trying to do something in the melodic death category, so we just threw a couple of songs together and recorded it. And we did the first album and we ourselves were kind of like, �wow, this is good!� It became a really good album, we didn�t know what to expect ourselves. �Wow, this is the best band I�ve ever been in.� So everything came very quickly: signed to Cold Records, then to Metal Blade, released the first record, and then Nuclear Blast contacted us. �We want to buy you guys, we want to buy you out from your contract.�

Gauntlet: Oh, so you had a multi-album contact with Metal Blade originally?

Per: Eh, we had the contract with Cold,

Gauntlet: Ah, right. And then they were�

Per: Metal Blade licensed. We had a three record deal with Cold. So Nuclear Blast paid Cold�large amounts of money, I guess, just so we could sign with Nuclear Blast.

Gauntlet: Yeah, �cause I was going to say, it seems like Metal Blade wouldn�t be the type to be willing to give you guys up.

Per: They wanted to buy us also.

Gauntlet: Yeah? I�ve heard, just from talking to other European bands, that Nuclear Blast is one of THE labels to be on.

Per: Yeah, in Europe. I guess they are not so big here�

Gauntlet: I would guess Century Media is the label for metal in America.

Per: Or Roadrunner�

Gauntlet: Yeah, you�re right, Roadrunner. I was thinking a little bit more underground, but you�re right. Roadrunner has signed some amazingly popular acts recently. So, when you guys had just gotten the band together, did you all know each other?

Per: Em�no. (laughs) I knew Henrik, we met when he was 14 and I was 15 and we jammed in my garage. So, we had played forever, but the other guys�we had known Jonas from recording in the studio, but we didn�t know Kenneth and we didn�t know Christian. And they didn�t know us, so actually the first time we met, all the five of us, was the day we put our signatures on the contract. And we did our first photo shoot that day, also. The photo that is on �Symmetric in Design�, I had just met the guys just one hour before.

Gauntlet: Wow. I guess it�s lucky for Nuclear Blast that you guys get along. Lucky for you, too.

Per: Yeah, and you know, on the personal level we have chemistry; it�s the best band I�ve played with.

Gauntlet: I can tell, considering how quickly you guys have put out two albums, there�s gotta be something there�

Per: Yeah, and everyone is so talented. The songwriting process is almost�ridiculously easy.

Gauntlet: (laughs) Just sort of flows out?

Per: Yeah. It�s silly. If I write the song and come up with the riffs and don�t have a clear idea what I want the vocals to do, I just record a demo and sent it to Christian and he calls me a few hours later: �Hey, man, check out your email, I�ve got a vocal melody for your song.� Ok, I listen to it�Wow, that�s amazing! And then I send it to Henrik who writes all the lyrics and one day later Henrik calls: �I got some lyrics for the song.� I read the lyrics�wow, that�s really genius, man. The songwriting is�I�ve never experienced it before. The core of the songs on �Pitch Black Progress� were written in two or three weeks. People have a hard time believing that, but really, we could just deliver however many songs�. We could put out an album twice a year�

Gauntlet: Yeah, I was going to ask, maybe you should try that.

Per: But then the recording process is not so fast. The first album I think it took three months, the second album four months.

Gauntlet: So, longer to record than to write.

Per: Yeah, the songwriting is like a breeze. But in recording it, we are very much paying attention to detail.

Gauntlet: Yes, that is clear. It�s got a very good sound to it.

Per: Yeah, especially the latest album. We had to make sure everything was perfect.

Gauntlet: I noticed that especially with the vocals. When he�s doing the high, clean vocals to the low, deep growls, they both sound really nice and it balances the rest of the sound really well. So, then, do you have a problem then, if you have so much material, trying to figure out what you actually want to put on the album?

Per: No, not really. We only write as much as we need for an album, but I guess we could write more. We are writing material for the next album now, and actually, I haven�t written a single note, because I�ve been busy with another project, but Jonas has written 10 songs. So, I think I will come up with five, six, seven, eight songs or something, and we will choose the best ones.

Gauntlet: Kinda like a faucet. Turn it on, songs pour out, and then when you�re done, turn it off and just wait for the next album. I wonder if Nuclear Blast might even say, �Hey guys, can you just slow it down a little bit and draw it out.�

Per: Yeah�

Gauntlet: Did you have any idea that, once you started writing, you would be able to keep writing it like that, or did you think it was just a lucky stretch and that it might get harder later on?

Per; Well, I don�t know. For the first album, we didn�t really know what we were doing, it was just like an experiment. I tried to write some different kinds of songs to make it varied. And then the next album we knew a little bit more what we were doing, but still I wanted to make some different kinds of songs. The first album is 48 minutes, and the second one is like an hour. But I don�t think we�re out of ideas. The most important thing, I think, is that we�re trying to do things we haven�t done before. We had quite a lot of success with the video track, �The Illusionist�, a lot of people know it and like it, so it�s kind of our signature song, so for the next album I don�t want to write a song exactly like �The Illusionist� again. I want to make each song have its own face�

Gauntlet: Character.

Per: Yes, character, its own personality. I think that is important, and I think that mostly we have accomplished that.

Gauntlet: So, I know you said you hadn�t written anything for the next album, but�

Per: I have song ideas. I�ve recorded some stuff in my home studio that I don�t know what I will do with, because I have other projects as well, but some of those ideas might end up as a Scar Symmetry song.

Gauntlet: I read another interview with you, actually, where you said you weren�t particularly influenced by the modern melodic death metal scene in Sweden, like Soilwork and such�but you still get compared to them. Does that bother you guys?

Per: No, I don�t think too much about it. You know, I really like Soilwork and have a huge respect for them. We toured with them, and they�re super nice guys and great musicians, but they are not an influence to me in my songwriting. But I think it�s ok to be compared to them, because they are a great band.

Gauntlet: So, if not them, then what bands would you cite as some of your primary influences?

Per: (pause) I haven�t got a clue. I don�t think I have any particular bands as my influence, but for some songs I can pick out particular influences. Like, for the last song on �Pitch Black Progress�, �Deviate From the Form�, I actually was inspired by some old 80�s synth pop. Actually, yes. Maybe you couldn�t tell, but I had no ideas for riffs and then I thought about an old song by Nick Herschel, you know him, the British guy? And he had some song with the synthesizer base (mimics synthesizer line), and I thought, �I�ll make a guitar riff like that.� And the rest of the song came along, but the initial inspiration was synth pop, 80�s, and I made a metal song out of it. So, in hard times, inspiration comes from weird places.

Gauntlet: And there�s some really catchy stuff from the 80�s.

Per: Yeah! I like 80�s pop, I like jazz, metal, classical, whatever, whatever pleases my ears.

Gauntlet: Mm-hmm. And that reminded me, have you seen the Cannibal Corpse lounge singer?

Per: �No.

Gauntlet: There�s a video on the internet of a guy whose taken Cannibal Corpse songs and has turned them into little piano arrangements and sings the lyrics. It�s pretty outrageous.

(Jonas enters again, attends bar, burps. Henrik Ohlsson follows)

Per: There�s the guy in Sweden whose done an album with Dismember covers, I haven�t heard it, but it�s supposed to be all acoustic

Gauntlet: I think I read something about that�

Per: Yeah, but I haven�t heard the album yet.

Gauntlet: Yeah, I should look that up again.

Per: I did not think you could do acoustic versions of Dismember songs.

Jonas: (jokes) Of course you can, those songs, they suck.

(laughter)

Jonas: They got on the radio�

Per: Did you know that Dismember did an unplugged set at the radio station, in 1993?

Gauntlet: Really?

Per: When death metal was bigger than pop music in Sweden. It was on the TV all the time, it was bigger than Madonna. It was very brief�

Jonas: For one year, it was like the biggest thing.

Gauntlet: So, then what happened, what overtook it?

Jonas: The media, it was everywhere, everybody wants to like death metal, then suddenly no one wants to like death metal. It�s like nu metal. Your neighbor out washing his car, the real dork or the sports guy, he is out washing his car, �listening to metal�, so you don�t want to, you know what I�m saying? �No, I don�t listen to his music, of course not.� That�s what happened, I think. My sister, my own sister was like, �Oh, I love Entombed and Dismember, and I was like, �Fuck. I don�t.� You know, I do, but at that point�no more of that crap.
The days when we were growing up, I would be listening to M�tley Cr�e and she would say, �I love Motley Cr�e, they�re so good!� And I would say, �No! You cannot like them!� She would say, �They�re so pretty!�

(laughter)

Jonas: So after that I had to listen to something else, something that wasn�t playing on the radio. You want your own music, you don�t want everybody to listen to it.

Per: I think a lot of the metal fans, they really want metal to be underground and exclusive.

Jonas: We have people who are just like us. It�s always the same, even if they are fifteen or fifty, they are just like us. It�s weird.

Per: Especially the little, the guitar nerds. The thirteen year old guys�

Gauntlet: Who take videos of themselves playing all the stuff from the bands they know, yeah.

Jonas: Because we are like that. We don�t have the most hardcore, so to speak, heavy metal fans. Maybe they think we are gay or whatever, I don�t know. But we don�t care, so that�s nice.

Per: We don�t have those Neanderthal fans.

Jonas: I�d rather have a crowd filled with Lasses than a crowd filled with Asses.

(laughter)

Per: Or something like that.

Gauntlet: So, do people in Sweden still think about and remember when death metal was really popular or have they moved on, do they ignore it now?

Jonas: I think none of them are in the scene today because all those guys and girls, they grew up and made a family, found a job. They don�t listen to metal anymore, they are out of the scene. That death metal �boom�, the only ones who remember are guys who play in bands like us and Dark Tranquillity�all those, we�re the only ones who remember.

Gauntlet: Do you guys still have good audiences when you play shows there? I would imagine so; I would hope so, at least.

Jonas: Yeah! We almost never play in Sweden, but when we do, like our first show, we did in Stockholm, and our first album wasn�t out yet�

Per: Yeah, it was, just for a few months.

Jonas: Well, people, they were totally crazy. They were traveling from all around the country just to see our first show ever.

Per: Yeah. People knowing all the songs and singing along and mosh-pitting and everything.

Jonas: That was a good show�our first show and people were singing along. We�ve all been in over bands before, but nothing like that. They say, �Oh, you changed my life�. How can you do that with just a guitar? Ridiculous.

Per: Yeah, that always amazes me.

(Per picks up his guitar)

Per: I�m sorry, I have to pick up my guitar. After a few beers�it�s like, on tour, this is my woman. I have to touch her.

Gauntlet: So, the people who used to listen to metal and don�t anymore, do they just think it�s kid�s music?

Jonas: I don�t think they think about it, even. Only when they get drunk, then they want to listen to Iron Maiden or whatever�

Per: �I remember when I was younger��

Jonas: Yeah, that�s bullshit. I mean, you have to stick with whatever your interests are.

Per: Yeah, but if it�s so easy to drop out of it, then perhaps you weren�t so into it to begin with.

(Per exits for a few minutes)

Gauntlet: I have an opinion similar to that, about people getting into metal. They�ll find one or two bands, maybe Slipknot or something like that, and then they�ll listen to Slipknot for six years and not look for any other bands�. I kinda think they maybe shouldn�t look for other bands.

Jonas: No, they�re not worth it.

Gauntlet: I don�t know how well they would appreciate it, something like Scar Symmetry, Carnal Forge, or Altered Aeon, or whatever.

Jonas: I started to listen to metal when I was five years old. And now it�s just getting worse and worse. (laughs) More and more bands. About ten years ago I had a girlfriend, she didn�t like metal, and I thought maybe I will stop, I will quit music, just to be with her? But of course, she was totally fucked up and I moved out.

Gauntlet: Came to your senses, back to the music.

Jonas: �Cause girls, they can fuck up a lot of things, you know?

Gauntlet: And music will never leave you, right?

Jonas: Yeah. If I were to quit playing now and get a regular job or whatever, I don�t know, I would kill myself. Because I love metal so much. Playing metal, basically, I produce metal every day. I mean, it seems like ten hours every day seven days a week. And when I get home, I want to listen to metal. Have a few beers, listen to some new shit��Have you heard Beneath the Massacre?�, �No!��(bows up and down in worship pose)

Gauntlet: Yeah, they are insane.

Jonas: And I like them. So, I can have my life like this forever. Never ends.

Gauntlet: It�s good to hear you say about the popularity, that there was sort of a drop-off. I�m kind of worried about metal in America becoming sort of a commercialized commodity.

Jonas: These bands, they are so bad they will not be around in 10 years. They will be gone�don�t even worry.

Gauntlet: Yeah, just looking at bands today and then back two years, thinking that bands like Bullet For My Valentine or Hawthorne Heights�

Jonas: I�ve never heard of them.

Gauntlet: It�s kind of �emocore�, kind of�

Jonas: I don�t know what emo is.

Gauntlet: It�s like pop death metal. In America, there�s a phrase called �Myspace Metal�, which refers to bands that have built up basically their entire fanbase through Myspace and haven�t done anything as far as going out on tour, putting out real albums�I don�t know if you�ve heard of Job For A Cowboy?

Jonas: Hm, no.

Gauntlet: If you liked Beneath the Massacre you might like Job For A Cowboy. They had on their Myspace site millions upon millions of plays before the released even their first EP.

Jonas: �Why?

Gauntlet: Because it really fits in with what young teenagers like today. It�s got really heavy breakdowns that they can dance around to, and�

Jonas: Oh! I have something to say about this. I recorded a band a while back, I won�t say any names, but they were talking about breakdowns. And I wanted to say, �Break-downs?� Is that like, Fear Factory [makes guitar chugging sound] or is it like Anthrax [imitates faster chugging]? Breakdowns? And they were saying, �No�BREAKdowns, we should take it from the BREAKdown part.� And I said, �Oh�. I got it.� (laughs)

Henrik: What�s a breakdown, anyway?

Jonas: It�s when the guitars are like�[imitates more abrupt guitar chugging]

Gauntlet: Yeah. The song slows down and�

Jonas: [imitates another breakdown with pinch harmonics] And then they go like this�[sings in most emasculated voice] �I wanna feel��[rest unintelligible, then continues breakdown imitation with hands slapping out double bass for another 15 seconds]. (pause) They�re all the same.

Gauntlet: I think that�s the best impression I�ve ever heard of a breakdown.

(Laughter)

Jonas: [More breakdown impressions, another minute passes] Like that. It�s so�bad.

Gauntlet: Well, because they�re predictable, because they just slow down and�

Jonas: I realized that on our first album that we actually have a �break-down�, but I didn�t know what it was. And now that I�ve heard it, the newer songs don�t have one breakdown. Because I go, �Why are you doing this? This is fucking heavy metal!�

Henrik: What was the question?

Gauntlet: Oh, I don�t even remember anymore.

(Laughter)

Gauntlet: I think I was talking about how the Myspace metal bands have those, and that everything is about the breakdown now. I go to some local shows and they do a lot of them there.

Jonas: All the breakdowns, they�ve already been done by Pantera, Meshuggah, Anthrax, or any other 90�s metal band. And you can�t do much more than that�[counts off syncopated beats, imitates another breakdown]. After one album, what are you going to do on the next one?

Henrik: They�ll do the same thing, but a little bit worse.

Gauntlet: They�ll start on a beat later, and then do the same thing again. There are just too many bands writing the song for the breakdown. It�s not a part of the song, the song is just there for the breakdown. Especially with the local shows, the kids will just wait around for the breakdown to come and then just stand around the rest of the time. But I think where the original question started was when Jonas was talking about how death metal was really popular in Sweden back in 1993, �94, and then went by the wayside again.

(Per enters)

Gauntlet: Welcome back.

Per: Thank you.

Gauntlet: You missed Jonas�s breakdown.

Per: Oh, yes?

Gauntlet: There were�a lot of them.

Jonas: I hate break-downs.

Per: So what are you talking about?

Gauntlet: Oh, man. It�s been a trip. Been talking about a lot of things. Death metal being unpopular in Sweden again and all the Myspace bands in America�

Jonas: With break-downs.

Gauntlet: So then we were talking about breakdowns for�for a while. But anyway, as far as question I had about Scar Symmetry: you mentioned a few times some other projects�and I know a lot of you have plenty of them�how do you decide what material you�re going to use for Scar Symmetry and what material you want for other projects?

Per: Well, the things that we come up with that don�t suck, we use for Scar Symmetry, and the sucky stuff we use for side projects. That�s why Scar Symmetry is better than the side projects.

Gauntlet: (Laughs) So you�ve decided Scar Symmetry is your main focus, then?

All: Yes.

Per: Because the other bands, some of them are very good, I think, but none of them has been like this.

Gauntlet: Or as popular, yeah.

Jonas: It�s fun music to make, with you guys. We get to a point where we just get together and play together and have so much fun.

Per: Yes�the chemistry is beyond anything else.

Jonas: I just love to hear their instruments together with mine. That is the foundation of Scar Symmetry: that we love to play together. And, hey, if you have that foundation you can go from nowhere�to nowhere (laughs). Because you just love it, you know. If we don�t want to do something, we don�t do it. Because, we�ve got other jobs, we don�t have to make commercial records to survive. Most bigger bands will have to make a record that lots of people will like so they buy it�we don�t have to do that.

Per: In other bands I�ve played with there�s always been something wrong with it. In one we had a psychopath singer, in another band we had a really stupid bass player who just ruined everything. And then in another we had a bass player that was a psychopath�

(laughter)

Per: So, enough with the psychopaths.

Gauntlet: That seems like a good theme to honor. I did an interview with Tony of Sonata Arctica a couple days ago and he was saying how it�s really important for him to have music and to play music as a hobby. Then, if you get lucky and famous, that�s the way you should do it instead of aiming for it and saying, �I want to be a professional musician.�

Jonas: We didn�t think like that at all, we just wanted to make an album together and see what it would sound like.

Per: Tried to make music that we would like to put in our stereo when we drink. And then people liked it and we got a major record label deal�

Jonas: We were not even thinking like, �In two and a half years we will be on a US tour.� Never! It was never like that. It was more that we�d record with these other guys because everybody is good at their instruments or whatever, and maybe we�ll do a couple of local shows.

Gauntlet: So when you started Scar Symmetry you were actually looking to slow down from the bigger bands you�ve been involved in before?

Jonas: Yeah�I quit the Forge because I wanted to do something more musical and just for fun and do it in my studio, because in my studio there�s always more and more work and I don�t have much time for touring anymore. So I just wanted to make a band that could make fun music: fun to play, fun to listen to. And now it�s gone the other way. Now we will do more touring than ever. But I�ve never felt with this band that it�s a bad thing. Always when it was Centinex or Carnal Forge I was like, �No, I have to practice for this band, or I have to do this or that.� There�s always been something that�s not been totally right, and this is the first time that I�ve thought everything was nice: the music, the lyrics, the vocals. This time it feels right.

Gauntlet: And by the way, who is it that came up with the name Scar Symmetry?

Jonas: Henrik.

Gauntlet: And why did you choose that?

Henrik: Well, we were just talking about different ideas for names of a band and I had this idea to symbolize the music growth of the band. Combining the brutal side and the more melodic side.

Per: The duality.

Gauntlet: Alright. I wasn�t sure how to interpret it, whether it was supposed to be symmetrical scars on one�s wrists or something�.

Per: If you google �Scar Symmetry�, you get mostly pictures about us, but then a small amount about breast implants and the symmetric scars, you know.

(laughter)

Henrik: That�s the subconscious thing. I did not think about that.

Jonas: �Scar Symmetry LOVES silicon breasts.�

Henrik: Hey, that�s a good opening.

Gauntlet: Would make an interesting title, yeah, definitely get people to read it.

Per: �Symmetric in Design�, you know.

Gauntlet: One would hope so, at least.

Jonas: �Pitch Black Ass��

Gauntlet: Speaking of that, the shirt you�ve got that says �Symmetric in Design� on the back along the bottom, some guys I know were talking about how their asses were symmetric in design, so it was really just a perfect label right there.

Per: You can always relate everything to that.

Gauntlet: It�s life, you know, it all comes down to it. And what better way to get it than to be a musician, yeah?

Per: Yeah.

(pause)

Henrik: No, we don�t know. Back it up.

(laughter)

Gauntlet: Alright. You�ve talked about the writing of the music, but so far as the lyrics it seems like there are some really interesting, diverse things you are taking on. Do you write about just whatever comes to mind or do you have specific goals that you�re looking for?

Henrik: Everything in Scar Symmetry that deals with words has to do with me, because I�m the one who writes the lyrics.

Per: (shifting) I�ll move over here, then.

Gauntlet: Join the beer-drinkers in the peanut gallery. Alright. So, with the lyrics is there something that you�re trying to go for or just what you have in mind?

Henrik: Basically, it�s very thought out from song to song. It deals with different things, mostly on �Pitch Black Progress� it deals with society and how it doesn�t work and where it�s going, stuff like that. It paints kind of a bleak vision.

Gauntlet: And do you have these ideas and then, when you get the song, see which ones they fit with or do you hear a song then get ideas from that?

Henrik: Mostly, I hear the song first. I can�t start writing down stuff without knowing what the song sounds like. If it�s a mellow song with a melancholic vocal line, then I don�t want it to be about destroying the world, not in that way, you know? That�s what I�d use for a more aggressive type of song. When it�s melancholic then I want it to be emotional and to reflect the feeling.

Gauntlet: And do you ever encounter issues with other guys in the band? Them saying, �Well, I don�t know if we were going for that with this song,� or is it just�?

Henrik: No, not really. Most of the time they say they�re a little amazed�

Gauntlet: Yeah, that�s what they were telling me, that they were really impressed by it.

Henrik: And that inspires me as well, because when they say that, then I go crazy and write even better stuff. You�ve got to have the people in the band behind you, otherwise you can�t really do anything.

Gauntlet: Mm-hmm. And so, you get the song with the vocal melody and you have to fit the words to the meter?

Henrik: Exactly. But it depends who�s writing the song. If I write the song, I just do the vocal lines on guitar, just playing the vocal line. But when Jonas makes the song, often Christian is singing the vocal line, just some gibberish words, could be anything, you know. And then I have to fit everything into what he�s saying and sometimes it even has to sound the same.

Gauntlet: That could be pretty difficult.

Henrik: Yes, it is difficult sometimes. That�s about 50% of the songs on each album. It�s no problem doing the death metal vocals, when that stuff is going on it doesn�t really matter. If he uses a certain word to express something, I have to use a similar word, but at the same time have to get my story in.

Gauntlet: So how did you decide that you would take care of all the text stuff?

Henrik: We did that pretty early on before we had any songs written, because as you may know, we�ve all played with several bands before and they knew my lyrics from that.

Gauntlet: Alright. Well, (pauses), I guess I left my list of questions a long time ago�

(Jonas takes out some chew)

Gauntlet: How�s that working out for you?

Jonas: I love it.

Gauntlet: It will give you some crazy cancer.

Jonas: I know. I want it. And it�s good for your�something. It�s good for your breath.

(laughter)

Gauntlet: I think I�ve only met maybe one or two people who do that in America; is it more popular in Sweden?

Per: Way more.

Jonas: You don�t have the same shit here, I�ve tried it. It�s all the same. It�s no good.

Gauntlet: Well, for us it�s about making it as healthy as possible, even if it�s still cancerous. When I was in Germany a friend of mine did that and was amazed. He�s a smoker, rolls his own cigarettes, and he couldn�t finish a single one over there because they were so powerful, they were making him cry.

Jonas: (laughs)

(Interruption from tour manager)

Jonas: Well, we�re about to go now.

Gauntlet: Well, I think I was about done with my questions as well.

Per: Yeah, everything?

Gauntlet: Yeah, certainly more than I could have asked for. So, thank you all so much, it�s been a pleasure.


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Tags:  Scar Symmetry  , Per and Jonas, interviews

Sam Rahn    April 04, 2007