Fredrick Akesson - Opeth

April 4th 2010 (Le Bataclan)

It's half an hour before the meet & greet with the fans who bought the great VIP packages that I had the opportunity to have a little talk with former guitarist from ARCH ENEMY Fredrick Akesson. We spoke together of the special night to come, his place in OPETH, and his numerous projects to come.

Fab: Hello and welcome back to France. What are your feelings right now, a few hours before this special show?
Fredrick Akesson (Guitar): Thank you. Well, I'm excited. We really like this place too, the Bataclan. I played here once before, when it was my first show for me with ARCH ENEMY, so, it's a little bit special. I was really nervous, but now, I've done a few shows before so I'm not that nervous. I'd really like this show to be perfect, that's my goal.

Fab: ARCH ENEMY was playing one week ago in Paris…
Fredrick Akesson: Oh? Actually, we'll play with them tomorrow, and ENTOMBED in a festival in Holland…that WE headline…of course…Well, it's just a joke (general laughter).

Fab : It's the 20th birthday of OPETH, could you explain the choice of picking "Blackwater Park" to be played in his entirety?
Fredrick Akesson: Well, one of the main reason, it's that, as far as we understand it, many OPETH fans really like this album. And also, this year, we released a special edition of Blackwater park, with bonuses, a live song, a 5.1 audio mix, a DVD…(ndlr: the "Legacy Edition"), and that's also another reason.

Anyway, I think it was a good choice to do, it's difficult to take one album, we could have taken any one, but I guess, this one was a breakthrough album, that's when things started to happen a bit more for OPETH. And also I think that, at that time, OPETH had a management that was able to promote the album in a better way, make the band tour a lot. It's what you need to do if you want to get somewhere in the music business. You have to tour your asses off basically (laughter). That's what we do. All the time.

Fab : What about the second set-list? Some rarities or something like what you did in Stockholm? One song from each album, and chronologically…
Fredrick Akesson: We pretty much play the same set, we do play the same set-list on this tour, but the songs are really for the fans. I think that, as a fan, I would be probably satisfied because there are songs from the first and second album that we haven't played (for a while), and some songs that we've played on the "Progressive Nation" tour with DREAM THEATER, like "Harlequin Forest"… and there's also a song that OPETH had never played live, on this tour we play "The Moor", which I never played live since I joined OPETH, so for me, it was quite a lot of new songs to learn. I already played most of the songs from "Blackwater Park", except "Funeral Portrait" and "Dirge For November". Many new songs to learn before this tour (laughter).

Fab: And it's a 2h45 show! It must be hard…
Fredrick Akesson: It is, but this is the third show and we're starting to be warmed up, in our pants. It's getting good. The first shows were a little bit shaky but the crowd seemed to really like it.. So, I'm excited about tonight, hope to be really good. It is a special evening for us too. Usually, when we play headline shows, we play two hours, but it's always a little bit short because of the length of the songs. A lot of fans wants to hear "Black Rose Immortal" from the second album, but it's 22 minutes long, so we'd have to sacrifice other songs, etc…So it's difficult, but I think that the set-list we have now for these special shows, I'm really happy with it.

Fab: Are you gonna record something from this special tour for a DVD?
Fredrick Akesson: Yeah, we have a camera crew that went with us to do some behind-the-scenes footage of the first two shows, and we will record the show at the Royal Albert Hall in London (ndlr: April 5th) because that's the biggest venue, and also a classical venue. It will look good I think. So it's gonna be professionally recorded, and it's gonna be a DVD. But you should not think too much about it when you play, you have to relax and play normally.

Fab: You co-wrote with Mikael (Akerfeldt) the song "Porcelain heart" in the latest album "Watershed". Any news for the new record? and will you have more input in it?
Fredrick Akesson: Well, I try to write a lot of stuff. I recorded a bunch of riffs and I know that Mikael like some of the ideas. I also have on song that Mikael is working on now, and it sounds really promising, very dark and, yeah, very good. And I know he has some ideas, he likes some of my ideas so far…but we haven't really started yet, you know, but Mikael has already one song done. And it's really, really good. I don't think the fans will be disappointed. So after we're done with this tour, the main focus is to go back home and start recording ideas. So it's difficult to say now (about his input in the songwriting process), but I will do my best. But you know that Mikael has written all the songs in OPETH, so I'm not, you know, "I have to write"…If it's suitable for the album and everybody like it, it's fine. Otherwise, maybe keep it for a solo record or something. We'll see how it will progress.

Fab: Like other metal bands, OPETH will have a song ("The Throat of winter") on the video game "Gods Of War". Do you think it's nowadays a necessity to reach a larger audience? It's an exclusive song?
Fredrick Akesson: Yeah, it's an exclusive song. I think it's a very good promotion for the band, since many other metal bands are used in video games as well. And we also talk about being in the new Guitar Hero video game as well, but it's one of the older songs.

Fab: Ok, which one?
Fredrick Akesson: I don't know if I can say it…but it's "Deliverance"! (laughter)

Fab: You've been in OPETH for three years now. How has evolved your vision of this band? as you were almost like a fan before joining them, and now, you're a part of it…
Fredrick Akesson: That's what I like with OPETH, every album has something new to offer. And I think, as a fan, when I heard "Ghost Reveries", I thought to myself, "how the hell are they gonna top this record?". But I think, in a way, "Watershed" did that because it's different and it's a very good album. I'm excited to see where the next record will lead us. Without taking away the core of the OPETH songs, it's important to stick with it…

Fab: The trademark of OPETH
Fredrick Akesson: Yeah, exactly. It's difficult to say but it's something that feels fresh and interesting. That's not repeating old albums to maintain a business It has to be something that really feels special, not just in the same vein of the other ones…development (is the word).

Fab : And as the songwriting of OPETH is complex and has a wide range of music styles, is it not hard to re-invent yourself?
Fredrick Akesson: Absolutely, I mean, of course there's always some stuff that is the liquor of the Opeth's sound, and it is of course difficult to top yourself. You have to go over and over the ideas, and digest them for a while, before you make the decision.

Fab: Who has the idea of the VIP package?
Fredrick Akesson: It was…you know, we always do signing but we wanna do something more personal for the really hardcore fans. Now, we hang out with them, it's not like we're sitting behind a table, we meet them in a room and they got a lot of extra treats: a backpack, a cd, calendar, t-shirt and a VIP pass, and a ticket of course, etc… I think it's quite a generous package for a fan, if you're really into the band.

Fab: A musician question: how many hours do you spend practicing? Daily.
Fredrick Akesson: When I was younger, when I was about sixteen or seventeen until twenty-five, I usually spent six-seven hours, and some days ten. But now, I try to…on the road I play a lot, today, I've played two and a half hours already (ndlr: it was 4:30 PM). But it's important, it makes me feel more relax…

Fab: Secure?
Fredrick Akesson: Yeah, secure, that's a good word. I also love to play guitar because it can always develop into something new. And that's what I like in joining OPETH too, it evolves more. And I think the way of writing riffs now is a little bit different since I joined OPETH, there's no rules, it's more open-minded.
I give some guitar lessons too, back home. And I'm also going to do some clinics in May or so, in Sweden. So when I'm back home I have to write an instrumental track for the clinic (laughter).

Fab: All technical aspects in one song.
Fredrick Akesson: (laughter) yeah, exactly.

Fab: Do you have a favorite song, that you love to play live?
Fredrick Akesson: From "Watershed", I really like to play "Heir Apparent" & "Hessian Peel". This one is a little bit tricky, the picking part in the middle is very…(laughter). You can't drink too much beer…On the older songs, "The Moor" that we play now is really fun I think, and also "Advent" & "Forest of October" from the first records which in the beginning, took me a little while to, digest (smiling). It's fun to play these old-school songs live.
And also one that we play, "Funeral Portrait" from "Blackwater Park", that's really fun to play too.

Fab: Fun question : Mikael said that France has a real sex culture (ndlr : the dog porn joke), what else do you like in our country?
Fredrick Akesson: (increasing laughter). Oh yeah? Well, when you're a kid, you only hear about Paris, the most romantic city, that is, I guess, the rumors for Paris. I never had a French girlfriend so I don't have this personal experience (laughter), but I have still hope backstage (laughter).

Fab: Do you have news about KRUX and TALISMAN?
Fredrick Akesson: Yeah! You know, TALISMAN is not happening because Marcel Jacob took his life (ndlr: July 21th 2009, at age 45), which was very sad, and I already left TALISMAN a long time ago, but they wanna maybe do some reunion thing. It was talked about to do something of a tribute for Marcel Jacob in Sweden. But I haven't heard if that's going to happen, I don't know when.
With KRUX, we're going to record a new album this year it looks like. So in May we plans doing a demo, a four-track demo. So I think that will happen because we have a lot of off-times with OPETH this year. Only a couple of festivals in the summer after this tour is done, so, there will be time. Also I'm gonna try to record a solo album, a guitar album. I have many ideas already so…(laughter). I also have so many other stuff going on in my life back home; I need to move to a new apartment, when I'm done getting divorce with my wife. A lot of turbulence …

At that moment, one person (tour manager?) came backstage to warn Fredrick that it's time for the soundcheck. Fredrick very kindly tells me to take the time to finish the interview, but as I don't want to be imposing, I asked just one last question.

Fab: Do you have any other passion in life, except music?
Fredrick Akesson: Yeah, I like movies, sports. I used to be a goalkeeper in handball. I was fourteen, but it's also when I started practicing music, and I hurt one finger during a game, so it was like, no more sports for me. But I do try to play some tennis sometimes. I like skiing, but it's been a long time since I've skied, so to take a ski vacation is really something I wanna do.