Don't Fear Change: In Flames Tap Into Music History For 'Siren Charms'
Thursday, 04 September 2014
Written by Huw Baines
Some buildings are more than just bricks and mortar. The old CBGB, Fenway Park, Old Trafford...it’s subjective, but take your pick. Berlin’s Hansa is on the list. In the ‘70s, David Bowie recorded ‘Low’ and ‘Heroes’ at the studio, while Iggy Pop thrashed out ‘The Idiot’ and ‘Lust For Life’. During the following decade it was home, for varying lengths of time, to Nick Cave, Depeche Mode, Pixies and Killing Joke. More recently, it played a role in the Manic Street Preachers’ twin reinventions on ‘Rewind The Film’ and ‘Futurology’.
In Flames are perhaps not the first band that would spring to mind when thinking of the place, but they tapped into its atmosphere and heritage for ‘Siren Charms’, the latest in a long line of evolutionary records from the Swedish metallers. After visiting Hansa in his capacity as an A&R man for Razzia Records, and with In Flames having sold their Gothenburg studio, frontman Anders Fridén was quickly taken with the place and the possibilities it presented.
“I believe if you want to be affected by something, if you’re open, you will be,” he said during a recent stopover in London. “I wanted to go there for a long, long time, being a music fan. So many great artists, and great records, had been recorded there. I just wanted to go into the studio. And when I went there, I got goosebumps. I felt the whole thing. I called up the guys and was like: ‘We have to record here, this is the place. I can feel it. This would do something to our music.’”
Having spent over three months putting together their last record, ‘Sounds Of A Playground Fading’, the band gave themselves less than half that this time around. Arriving at Hansa with some riffs, basic structures and little else, they began work. The curtailed writing and recording schedule heaped pressure on their shoulders, a burden felt keenly by Fridén upon his return home, when he physically and mentally caved in.
“[I] both enjoyed [it] and it was very stressful and terrible at the same time,” he said. “I wanted to leave with everything done, I didn’t want to go from that place and be 80% done. Now, in hindsight, I think everything happened exactly as I wanted. But, I cursed to myself and the world several times while in Hansa.
“Part of me is still there, trying to escape the studio. I came back as a different man. To me, it was an experiment. At home you have distractions. You have your family, me working at the record company. You barbecue, you hang out with friends, you have kids running around. I can’t write a metal album that way. I need to open up a different channel. I need to think about different things. I need to be by myself, under pressure. It had to happen this way.”
‘Siren Charms’ will divide In Flames’ fanbase again. Sedately paced, atmospheric, powerful and adorned with synths, it’s another step away from the straight up, ferocious early releases still prized by so many. When talk turns to their latest reinvention, a note of steely resolve enters Fridén’s voice. The metal scene’s rules and regulations are still not his concern.
“Music should be evolving,” he said. “I don’t think anyone owns a certain style of music. To me, music should be emotions and feelings and wherever those take you. That’s where I’m going. I can’t do the same thing again and again. I don’t want to make something I’ve done better. I don’t want to compare.
“When I first got into this type of music I was drawn to it because in hardcore, punk and metal I thought there were no rules. The deeper I got into the scene, all of a sudden I was told that there were these rules around. Why? I never signed a paper saying ‘I have to do this’ or ‘I have to do that’. I can do what I want. To me, it’s funny how people are surprised with every album we make. We’ve always created our own path. We go our own way. This is our interpretation of how In Flames should sound in 2014.”
There is a note of bewilderment that runs throughout his discussion of the subject, one that stems from a belief that In Flames have never set out to dupe their listeners or chase something beyond creative satisfaction. Above everything else, he says, they want to write good melodies and challenge their listeners.
“It’s very true, honest music,” he said. “It’s written by us. It’s not written by anyone else. No record companies, no outsiders. Now everyone else can have their say, because I’m done. Do you know what I mean? That’s how I want to feel. I want to feel mentally and totally done when I’m done with an album. Then, when it’s released, I feel bulletproof.”
In Flames Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Thu October 16 2014 - MANCHESTER Ritz
Fri October 17 2014 - GLASGOW O2 ABC
Sat October 18 2014 - LONDON O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
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