Niklas Sundin, Guitarist for Dark Tranquillity Swedish Melodic Death Metal band from Billdal, Sweden. Niklas Sundin Interview May 21, 2013. Niklas has done album artwork for such notable groups as Arch Enemy, In Flames.
Niklas Sundin Interview
1. How was it recording the album Construct?
Recording an album is always a tough and stressful experience, but we’re fortunate enough to have a band member who owns a studio, so we can take all the time needed without feeling the deadline whip on our shoulders.
2. Where did most of the influences come from for this album?
Life, the universe and everything. I believe that everything you somehow experience and internalize will assert some kind of influence, but it’s close to impossible to make a list. It never happened that listening to band X or Y consciously made us think “let’s make the new song sound more like band X or Y”, so it’s more of a hidden process .
3. Where did the idea come from for naming the album Construct?
It’s a good title that sums up the musical and lyrical ideas in a good way while still being somewhat ambiguous (it obviously can be both a noun and verb) and opening up new questions rather than providing answers. Also, it follows the proud D.T. tradition of one-word titles.
4. Will there be any Dark Tranquillity tours in support of this album?
Certainly! Headline tours in North America and Europe will be announced on www.darktranquillity.com as soon as all the dates are 100% confirmed.
5. Would you say that social media is a great way to attract attention towards bringing in new crowds to concerts?
I’m quite ambivalent towards social media and enjoyed the internet more before the average Joe had access to it. In a way, it’s good to have a direct line of communication with fans, and of course there are ways to utilize this for promotion, but at the same time it’s one of many things that steals attention from the only thing that really matters: the music.
6. What do you think of promo videos and its importance now?
Mixed opinions here as well. It’s a creative field that (just as with music recording) has been democratized and thus allowing for everyone with a good idea to create something. This can be a great thing it itself. The negative implication is that the music can get “polluted” if one gets used to always have a visual component to the listening experience. A band is expected to release several songs per album in a video format these days, and I prefer music to be experienced by its own merits. If you watch a horrendously bad lyric video (one wouldn’t need to look far for that…) for a great song, the overall impression probably is worse than if one solely would listen to the music.
Peter Iwers Interview, In Flames bassist Swedish Heavy Metal
Amon Amarth Interview | Drummer Fredrik Andersson on Surtur Rising
7. What could we find interesting in your music collection at home?
I never was that much of a collector; throughout the years I’ve either sold or given away most of my physical albums. Right now I only have our own albums, the rest is digital.
8. Could you describe what goes on in a day in your life as a musician?
It depends on what’s going on at the moment. If we have a studio session or tour coming up, the days are filled with rehearsals and preparations, but otherwise we’re just regular middle-age men with regular lives.
9. Where do you see the future of music going?
One can only guess, and I really have no idea. If we’re talking about music as a creative enterprise, technology is already bringing us to a point where “anyone” can make and record music without the need for an expensive studio or a physical distribution network. With the recent versions of Garageband, one doesn’t necessarily need to have a basic grasp of music theory. In a way I think this is pretty cool since it allows people to be creative and is a kind of logical extension of the punk ethos, but speaking from a music industry perspective, things are definitely getting more complicated.
10. Any words for future musicians?
Create – don’t copy!
Check out Dark Tranquillity on their Official Facebook site http://www.facebook.com/dtofficial