10 Questions with ... Anders Fridén

1) Where does this interview find you today? What's on the agenda today besides this interview?

Playing a show! I'm in Cardiff and we're here to play with Avenged Sevenfold and Disturbed. We play in a few hours.

2) Give us your early music history even before you joined In Flames. What was your first band?

Oh, wow, ha ha, I have to go way back for this one. Well when I was around 10, I found Depeche Mode and Iron Maiden pretty much at the same time, and in those times it was more like you listened either to metal, or synth or pop or whatever ... you didn't listen to both. You listened to one genre; it was very, very specific what you listened to. Anyway, I always loved Depeche Mode, but I really got into heavy metal, especially hard rock and the new wave of British heavy metal such as Maiden, Priest and Sabbath. Then I wanted something heavier, so I got into flash metal, speed metal and death metal. After a while me and a bunch of my friends just wanted to be a part of the scene, so we formed a band in '89. That band eventually turned into Dark Tranquility -- a band that I left around '93, or '94? '94 I think -- for another band called Ceremonial Oath. After a little while I left Ceremonial Oath to join In Flames, and here I am today, many years later, ha ha.

3) While the band was formed in 1990 in Gothenburg, Sweden, you joined In Flames in 1995. How did that come about?

I played with Jesper in Ceremonial Oath. He left Ceremonial because he couldn't really write the riffs he wanted so he formed In Flames, and In Flames at that point was Jesper, Glenn and Johan. After a while, he asked me if I would be part of 'In Flames' and I said yes.

4) Since the band's inception, you've had great success in Sweden and toured alongside many of today's biggest metal acts. When did you know the band was making an impact outside of Sweden and worldwide?

I mean I think In Flames had a little reputation on their first album, at least the attention from different fans around the world. When I joined we were approached by metal labels around the world, especially in Europe, and we ended up signing with Nuclear Blast. That's when we knew we had caught some attention, and we got on our first tours and so on.

5) Tell us about your latest album "Battles." I understand you worked with a new producer Howard Benson. How did that collaboration come about?

Our management called a bunch of different producers whose work we were fans of, so I think we talked to about seven or eight producers in advance. With Howard, he said all of the right things to us, we knew his reputation from before, we knew his work and are fans of it so we wanted to record with him. We felt confident in traveling over to the States and recording there. We had a writing session for two to three weeks prior to the actual recording with Howard. We did demos of all the songs; He gave us some pointers and tips. It was really cool because he wasn't trying to turn us into something that we're not, but rather guide us to make us perform as good as we possibly could in the moments we were in the studio. I'm very happy with the choices that we made and the results we got.

6) You guys actually wrote the songs on "Battles" from Los Angeles. Why L.A. and not Sweden and how was that process for you?

We went to L.A. because that's where Howard is situated. I think he could go anywhere but he said 'Why don't you come to California?' Plus it's pretty nice to be in California in February, March and April where it's very cold, wet and snowy in Sweden. We're used to traveling and going different places to record anyways -- we've recorded in Denmark and Germany, and we've been in different cities in Sweden and so on. The whole process was fantastic. Howard's team was very efficient and they know what they're doing. I like the fact that it doesn't take that long from idea to tape so to speak. You don't have to sit around waiting for the right song for hours and hours until you end up losing the idea altogether. It was pretty quick and to the point and that's awesome.

7) What was the inspiration for the single "The Truth"?

Well, I'm a fan of Pink Floyd and their song 'The Wall' sort of inspired that, even though it doesn't sound anything like it. It has the singing of the kids and I kind of drew lyric inspiration from that song as well. Musically, every single song we try to just write good melodies basically. If it feels good and we're happy, then we continue. We're not a band that writes singles, we write albums -- so we always tend to think about how a song will sound on the album and how it will sound next to the other songs.

8) The song is doing very well here in the states at Active Rock radio and is approaching the Top 10. How gratifying is the acceptance of this first single to you?

Great! I mean, I want every single person in the whole wide world to listen to our music, so I'm happy. You know, we're writing good music that's quite accessible and everyone's entitled to listen to, and when it does good that's rewarding of course. I mean I was working with music as a hobby in the beginning and I still have a great passion for it. I still check out bands, I read magazines, listen to the radio and go to shops to buy vinyl. So for me it's great that we can reach out with music, and the more people like it, the more we can tour and continue to play.

9) You guys just finished up a successful tour of the U.S. this past Fall. What are your tour plans for 2017 and is a return to the States in your future any time soon?

It is in the very near future! We are heading over (to the US) in April I believe to play some festivals. Right before that we do a small European tour in selective cities and it's gonna be a lot of fun with a different set list then we normally play. Then after the States we go back and play festivals in EU. I wouldn't be surprised if we come back to States one more time, but at this point I don't know for sure. All I know is that we're going to be very busy touring this year and next year.

10) Finally, with the recent U.S. success of other Swedish bands like Ghost and Avatar, what makes Sweden such a hot bed for great Metal bands?

Ha ha, I mean I don't think any of these bands are looking for new trends or trying to be in the moment; they just do what they do out of true passion, and you can see that there's a true fire behind them. I don't know what it is but there's a certain melodic feel to most Swedish bands that you can't just find anywhere else. There's something, there's a nerve in the guitars that stands out to me. And obviously hard work. I mean, you can't go as far as GHOST or us or someone else if you don't work for it. You gotta get out there and tour your ass off.