Daniel Gildenlow was very kind to answer some questions to selected medias just before Pain Of Salvation's show in Sofia on 08.10.2011 (pictures). So here is the entire conversation with him

RockLiveBg: About the two new albums, Road Salt 1 and 2. They feel so much different from all the previous works of Pain Of Salvation. Not only musically, but lyrically and conceptually as well. What caused that change? What was the shift that happened for you to start doing those?

I don't know, for me I feel like we've had so many different changes throughout all the albums. I mean if you're looking at the "Be" album and "One Hour By The Concrete Lake" they're really really different too, with very different sounds and qualities...

RockLiveBg: Yeah, but they all revolve around the same idea. So they're like in a closed space, but the Road Salt is like all over the place, it's shattered.

Yeah, I think it returns a bit to like "Remedy Lane" and "The Perfect Element" from a lyrical point of view. The "Road Salt" album revolves more about those issues then for instance "One Hour By The Concrete Lake", "Entropia" or "Scarsick", which are more global scale albums at surface level. But then again like with all Pain Of Salvation lyrics there's always the contrast between the surface level and the sub-layers. I mean you'll always have the huge global philosophical aspect and then you will have the very very small and intimate personal theme and those are always sort of interacting in all the songs. So in a song like "1979" or "Through The Distance" you'll see at surface level are very intimate and a very scaled down storyline, but it reflects the change of society. It reflects where we're going as...I wouldn't say species, but I guess as a culture.

RockLiveBg: If you look at the whole history of the band could you point to some moments that were maybe serious cornerstones and things that happened and changed everything?

For the band? I guess it's easier now to look at the most recent ones because they're fresh in mind and you can really see them in a different light. I think for me maybe not so much for the development of the band or anything, but from a personal point of view for all of us in the band I think it was a very fun thing to do the Melody Festival in Sweden. I mean to be part of a completely different sort of music scene than the one we're usually in. I think that was very refreshing and very nice for a change. I mean of course every departure or arrival of new members of the band will be a huge thing of course. That's something that will really change the constitution of the band in a way. But more often than not, you will find yourself seeing the advantages of the changes, than the disadvantages. Every time before it happens you think that would just...you know probably kill everything, but then when it happens you find new ways and you realize all the new good stuff that you're getting. That's why when Johan quit the band on drums we had in the end 8 candidates for drummers. Johan was also part of...you know going through the auditions, he was part of the audition process. So he was also screening the candidates with us (laughs), cause of course he wanted a you know...a good follower...

RockLiveBg: A worthy successor...

Yeah yeah, that's the thing. I remember when we had a meeting before the last day. He was on his way out from the band already back in 2003 so we knew it was only a matter of time. So he sort of hang on there pretty much just because we needed him to stay, but when we had that meeting I remember that I was sort of leaning towards maybe just you know...quitting the band, not me quitting the band, but putting the band to rest.

RockLiveBg: That's another interesting...

Yeah and he was like "Oh, c'mon! You can't quit now? I wanna be able to watch Pain Of Salvation live." . And he's done that...

RockLiveBg: So what made you stand up at this point, what gave you the force?

Well, "Road Salt" is partly about that. I mean the song "Road Salt" and "Of Salt", there's a number of...I mean "Road Salt" is consisting of one storyline that sort of reaches across both albums. That is in a few recurrent songs you have the one storyline, but then you have all these other stories that are sort of mirror stories to this one story about other people's important key points of their roads through life. And in this one story you can pretty much distinguish the things I was going through and probably as a band we were going through. When you don't know how to sort of like...you don't know if you have the energy. I think the only way of...you know the only way to keep going as a musician is a sort of...dysfunction (laughs) I think I would want to call it. If you're thinking about consequences too much and if you're being too practical about things there's no way you can...oh wait you can be really lucky and just be like the biggest star ever in 2 weeks and then that's ok. But for most people in music it is about struggling way too hard and sacrificing way too much in order to sort of get anywhere. And it's really impractical from any point of view. So I think one of the biggest key points for musical survival is not practicing your instrument, it's being completely stupid when it comes to weighting the pros and cons of what you're doing. So that's basically what kept us going I think.

Metal Katehizis: Here comes one interesting question. You have pain in the name of the band and I've heard someone say I don't remember who that was anymore, that in order to be a poet you have to be in pain. Do you share that view? (laughs)

I would like to say "No." I mean it would be really typical for me to say "Ah, that's wrong.". It helps sometimes, because I think it's not that being in pain will make you more creative, but it sort of does anyway. In a way because you have to deal with things and I think a lot of good music comes from some sort of catharsis thing, that you're actually using your music to channelize the difficulties in life and that's always been more interesting to me. But I think that it's just normal, for me I want to make music that has meaning it's just...There's so much music out there, there's so much stupidity in the media flow. I feel that I have responsibility you know, that if I am to take a bandwidth in this huge sort of information flow, then at least I can make sure that it's something that I feel is valuable and deserves to be there. And if I want to make something that I feel is valuable...it's like you tend to work with the stuff that feels important to you and that tends to be things that you feel are problematic. I know I had this discussion in an interview like a year back and I said that like if you go to a psychiatrist, you're not going to be there and talk about the things that are good in life. You have lots of things that you're happy with, but once you're in that seat, you're probably going to deal with the issues at hand that are problematic because that's more important to you. The things that are working are fine, you don't need to work so much with that. I think for me it's the same with music. It's not that I'm constantly depressed or...you know I'm a happy guy who doesn't think that mankind has any advantages. I really do, but once I'm making music I tend to sort of revolve and gravitate towards that.

The Other Side: In which song is the soul of Pain Of Salvation?

 I think it's impossible to sort of pick one. I guess in a way I've created this creature to start with that is Pain Of Salvation and I've always struggled to have a very high ceiling, to have as many possibilities as possible. Even so I can still feel sort of captured and enclosed sometimes, because I feel that there are things that even we couldn't do without people...you know abandoning the boat. I think the "Road Salt" albums were in a way...sort of knowingly one step across the line. It was just like when I was writing "The Perfect Element part 1"...I have this sort of take no prisoners approach in a way. I decided after

"Entropia" and "One Hour By The Concrete Lake" when we had the music, but we were still trying a bit to adapt, people were having opinions about this or that. With "The Perfect Element" I just felt that "Ok, people may hate this, but I'm gonna do it anyway.". I remember both the label and the studio they were all really concerned that, you know it sounds really weird, just like very slow and very...

RockLiveBg: They were wrong...

Yeah, but I mean we had to sort of fight up streams for that album, because it was beyond what people expected. And I think I had the same...I came to the same point with the "Road Salt" albums where I felt that "Ok, I'm doing...". You know again from a practical point of view it is definitely a bit too risky with you know the typical sound that I was looking for. It is again take no prisoners approach so I guess we still don't really know if that pays off or not, but at least we've done what we really...at least I've done what I really believe (laughs).

RockLiveBg: One thing that has been bothering me and most of my friends when we listen to you guys is when you're composing, which of the two comes first – the lyrics or the music?

Different. It's different from time to time. It all depends; I've had this question many times I still don't really have a good answer. I guess you can take it apart into music, melodies and lyrics if you want to, but most of the time they really sort of develop together in a way. I mean many times I just basically hear the more or less finished product in my head and then it's just a matter of sort of trying to get that out.

RockLiveBg: So did it came to a point when you are writing a song and you are finishing the lyrics as the song goes by or you always have the lyrics first ready?

D: No, as I said it's different. On every album there's always going to be two or three songs where I'm struggling really against time, you know to get the lyrics done, cause I can't start the recordings of the vocals until I have the lyrics. And I have a very fixed, a very firm idea about what I want emotionally, what I want it to be sort of commenting in a way, but sometimes it's just...it's like I'm looking at finding a better way into it. I'm really one of those really annoying guys that...I just don't go with the first thing that comes to mind. I do sometimes, but if I feel that "There's gotta be...there's a better way of doing this.", I can keep working on that for months and months and even years sometimes. I still have an unfinished song dating back from I don't know 1993 cause there's one transition that I'm not happy with (laughs). So it stays, I have no idea if it ever will be recorded or not, but I just have this feeling that this must be...there is a way of doing this better. It's like you feel that you know where the song is going, but you're just not seeing it exactly clearly yet. You need it to tell you where to go in a way.

The Other Side: I would like to take you back to the "Road Salt" theme that you discussed where you were answering the previous questions. The "Road Salt" sounds much like a trip into the 70s or even the ending of 60s, but musically you have been always a very searching mind. Why did you choose exactly that period to turn back to?

Cause, I mean (laughs) look at the alternatives. The 80s, the 90s? The 00s they're just crap. I just found out that I couldn't find any inspiration at all. I grew up with 80s music and I think all my friends, usually they can really like it, because you know we have a nostalgic sort of connection to it. So you know that "This is not what I like today, but you know I really like this anyway. It reminds me of...". I don't have that. It's like I listen to songs that I really really liked when I was like a teenager and I'm like "This is just crap! Honestly, honest to God just crap and I can't stand it."(laughs), which is difficult... Sometimes when we have sort of get-togethers and we are supposed to pick our favorite whatever song from Judas Priest or whatever and I'm like "I can't find anything." (laughs).

The Other Side: I watched you at the tour before releasing "Road Salt" it was in Thessaloniki in Greece. There, watching your setlist at concerts, you played songs from that period like Nights In White Satin (Moody Blues), like...

I didn't even know that. See that's...Leo was singing that at a rehearsal and that's why (laughs), I have no idea. I don't even know if I've heard the original, probably not.

The Other Side: Ok, that's why I wondered if this is just some kind of momentary inspiration searching.

I don't know yet. I guess in retrospect, if I try to look at it and dissect it, I think what I tried to do was create an alternative universe in which you have the production of the 70s and the music of the 70s and then picturing a continuation of that, which was not the real one. Where the 80s were much more sort of a development of what we had in the 70s and then step by step...It's like I guess I was trying to arrive at a point in the now with the sort of hypothetical timeline between the 70s and now. So this is sort of what I would picture in a way that the music would be like if something really bad hadn't happened in the 80s with music production.

RockLiveBg: If it all just went like it should...

Yeah, if it just continued with you know...If you take "Road Salt 2" for instance and then you'd compare it to a true 70s production you'll see that there are huge differences. Why people think it's typical 70s is because it has the nakedness, the rawness. It doesn't have lots and lots of low end, it doesn't lots and lots of high end. It's a more mid frequency based sound and it's much more dry, it's naked and much braver than the contemporary productions we've seen in the 90s and the 00s.

The Other Side: Possibly today's listeners just get used to the more polished sound...

Yeah they have and we're here to bring them back to something good (all laugh). And I know they're going to like it in 10 years from now, because that's what is going to happen...

RockLiveBg: That's the worst part...

But for once I thought we might be actually in time, in synch because I wrote most of it and we started recording it in 2008, which is 3 years ago. So we're 3 years late with our development, which usually should sort of work with reality in a way. It's like you know with "Disco Queen" at least in Sweden, Scandinavia it really came off really well. Because that was one of the songs that had actually been in progress for again 3 years or something. So I think we benefit from being late with what we do. Cause now you can see it's several other artists are releasing sort of 70-vibe albums all of a sudden. I don't know if you've realized, I mean more and more...

Metal Katehizis: Like Who for example (laughs).

Well, let's see quite a few Graveyard, Opeth's new album I've heard. I haven't heard it myself, but I'm pretty interested, because it seems like it's something that I might like actually.

RockLiveBg: Actually both you and that guy Mikael, you are like on the same mind at the same time. You released albums shifting back...

I feel in a way that...Again maybe it was good that we were sort of delayed in the process, because people are still thinking that is sort of a bit too far out there with the sound. And still we're 3 years late with when we wanted to release it. I was sort of already leaning towards it already back with "Scarsick", but I didn't have the guts to go through with it.

RockLiveBg: You didn't have?

Yeah, with "Scarsick" I wanted to a have a more brave "in your face" production, but it's like everybody kept telling me that "Nah, no one's gonna really...they're not gonna get it.".

RockLiveBg: Honestly I thought you shouldn't have released "Scarsick" as the second part of "The Perfect Element". It's bad timing really (laughs), you should've waited for everything just to...I don't know fall in its place.

Well, you know we needed to make an album and it just happened to be that (laughs).

RockLiveBg: Cause I remember reading an interview somewhere around "Be" when you said like "I know that the next album will not be The Perfect Element part 2. I know that."

(laughs) Well I couldn't really say that could I?

RockLiveBg: So last one. Usually when you're doing music most of the songwriting, the lyrics, everything comes generally from you. You have a lot of stuff in your mind I mean, you even have to distinguish some of those to actually get in to the band, cause 99% just go away. So how does the band react to this? You're like the mastermind of the band. Where there times at some point where they felt like they were just left out, they don't have enough...they are not involved in the songs as much? Particularly "Remedy Lane" which is like an album you can do yourself (laughs). So how do you cope with that? Right now the albums are much more band-oriented. But before that...

For "Road Salt" 1 and 2 I'm playing all of the instruments for many of the songs and I've never done that before (laughs). But I'm glad to hear it! I don't know I just write music and they're free to write music. It's open for everyone to participate. I mean you're a journalist and you know that when you have an idea you write it down and if you get an idea of what you want to write you just go ahead and write it. It's not like "Ok, this is what I want to write. Let's call someone else and see if they want to write something with what I'm writing". It's not that you're not interested in it or that you're saying that no one is allowed to comment or whatever, but you just have this idea and you just do it, and that's it. Then you're showing it to whoever an editor or whatever and they have some opinions and you can talk about that and that's it. It's the same thing with music I think.

RockLiveBg: So you like what you present them?

So far yeah...

RockLiveBg: I can't imagine you going into the studio and presenting something like "Remedy Lane" and saying "So I have these ideas, what do you think?".

I did. With "One Hour By The Concrete Late" I gathered like a 200-page document with what I wanted to base the concept on. And I tried to make everyone involved and ask them what they though and everything.

RockLiveBg: That's good.

Yeah, but it was just completely pointless. They were like "Yeah, it's fine" (laughs). No one read it! I think Fredrick read parts of it, but there's just no point...

RockLiveBg: So they just like what you do? They get involved in it?

So far they like what I've done and I'm happy with that. It think that they almost even said it at that point like "It's ok, it's gonna be good" you know (laughs).

The Other Side: 200 pages? You gotta write a book!

I collected also tons of other material too. You know like about radioactivity, about the military, about water consumption all of these things that it would be constantly revolving around. I was sort of like trying to make my points you know. So I'm not doing that again (laughs).

RockLiveBG, Metal Katehizis, The Other Side: Thank you Daniel!

Oh, it was nice talking you guys!

Author: Yannis Petras