Gildenlöw, Daniel (Pain Of Salvation) (March 2002)

A Walk Down Remedy Lane - An Interview With Daniel Gildenlow

At the first Italian gig of their tour I unfortunately missed their entire performance 'cause I was scheduled to interview James LaBrie at the precise moment Pain Of Salvation were taking off on stage. But two days later I was determined to see every single note of their set, because I really believe that this band is one of the most outstanding figures of the new progressive scene. But I wanted more, so I fixed an interview with Daniel Gildenlow in the first hours of the afternoon, even if I couldn't imagine that I would spend more than 45 minutes with the amusing Swedish musician, talking about almost all the aspects of the music business, especially the unbelievable situations of some shows!

Igor Italiani: Hi Daniel. How's the tour going?

Daniel Gildenlöw: Hi! Oh, the tour is going very well.

II: How does it feel to play just before Dream Theater, for example?

DG: Well, it feels very natural in a way. We have known for quite some time that we would do this tour, so it feels bizarrely natural. And it feels good to play in front of these big crowds.

II: But don't you think that sometimes the opening acts feel shy about performing in front of such big audiences?

DG: Oh, no, it's worse to play for ten people [laughs]. Well, you know, in fact, the other day our new Italian fan club visited and asked if we could sing something from Jesus Christ Superstar. Well, this makes you shy [chuckles].

II: Daniel, I thought POS would soon deliver The Perfect Element - Part II, yet you have unleashed Remedy Lane in between. Can you tell me why you made this change?

DG: Well, we already discussed when we released the first part of The Perfect Element waiting maybe an album before delivering the other chapter. Mainly it's because we have already released three albums, and if we would have released the second part of TPE half of our complete production would be centred on one single concept, and this is perhaps not really representative of us. But another important reason, in the end, was that, when we knew that we were going on tour with Dream Theater, we wanted to have a new album out. From this point of view the second part of The Perfect Element involves a lot of different aspects, like an orchestra, other musicians, and so it would have been too much of a risk to work on such a short time schedule to complete it.

II: But you have already started to write something for this new chapter?

DG: Yeah, it is under the writing process. I'd already started to make some orchestra arrangements, but then we had a discussion about how we wanted to proceed, and so we came up with the solution of doing another album in between. But the new material is waiting for me at home.

II: And you wrote all the material like the past albums?

DG: More or less yes. 99.9%! [chuckles]. But I hope that the other guys will contribute with some features at the right time.

II: Daniel, switching to other things, what about the experience of playing with Transatlantic?

DG: Yeah, it was an interesting experience. I think that the most challenging experience was to learn everything before going on tour, because I only had three days of free time to do that. And it was also interesting being at the other end of the table, because Transatlantic consist of 4 people who are respective leaders in their bands.

II: Like you!

DG: Yeah, exactly. So this time I decided to remain in the background, and just do my job. It was interesting to view from a different angle the construction of a band, to see the relationship thing from a new point of view.

II: But do you think that the fact of playing with Transatlantic helped you get the opening act spot with Dream Theater?

DG: No, because we were already told that we would open for them. You know, we first met with Mike [Portnoy] in Paris last year, when the rumours started flying around, but I can tell you that Mike already contacted us way before that night. Apparently he liked a lot One Hour By The Concrete Lake, so he asked us to join Dream Theater on the upcoming tour from the second e-mail he sent to us.

II: So it was a Mike decision?

DG: Yeah, I think that everything in Dream Theater is Mike' decision [laughs]. Well, not like this, but I think that he makes most of the decisions of the band, the practical ones. Maybe it's because he spends a lot of time organizing tours and stuff like that, or maybe it's because it's a matter of life. For example, in our band different people are more or less interested in having a responsibility in making decisions. Usually it's kind of natural.

II: And do you think that some other musicians will call you in the future to have you as a guest on their albums?

DG: Well, I already had some suggestions. I did an Italian project back in December, a project called Genius, which has Daniele Liverani doing all the music. I accepted because I had time at the moment. Well, maybe I thought I had time at the moment, but there was also Transatlantic [chuckles]. However I only had to do a couple of songs, so I was busy only for a few hours and then I sent the masters back.

II: Daniel, you already came to Italy once, some time ago. What are the main differences that you've seen from the first time you visited?

DG: I think that one of the main differences is that the first time we played in front of 20, 30 people, in Biella, and now the three shows together are like 20,000 people. So definitely that's a big difference. Another one is that now we have our Italian fan club, too, and they have also set up the [Italian fan] website just a few days ago.

II: And do you think something has changed in the country?

DG: Oh, it's difficult to say that. That's the worst thing about being on tour. You go to all these lovely countries and you have to sleep until two or three o'clock, then you have to do soundcheck, check out rooms, have something to eat, do the show and have another meal after it. Well, actually the only proper meal we get is after the show! After this you go back into the bus and you have to sleep, so you don't see almost anything outside. But you know what? Now I know this tour bus very well! I can mention every scratch and every tape that's in there! But when I go home I'll say: "Well, you know, we had a hell of a time. Spain was excellent and Italy great. You know, when you are a rock star you get to see everything, you party all the time." [laughs]. A complete liar!

II: But you had a real day off in Milan.

DG: Well, the bad thing about the day off in Milan was that I had lung problems, so I thought about sleeping as long as I could. The other guys went downtown, so I remained here with the guitar technician and the drummer [Johan Langell] and the other guitarist [Johan Hallgren]. We were in this large parking lot and after a while we told the bus driver we would go to the café to have breakfast. Well, when we returned the bus driver had gone to sleep, so we couldn't go back onto the tour bus. We were stuck in this parking lot outside the bus. So every free day has been fucked up in one way or another. For example, in Paris we had some problems with one of our amplifiers, so we spent almost all the day searching for a good music store in the city. And the hotel rooms had short beds, too!

II: And what about playing in the US, too?

DG: Very large beds! Extremely large beds! [laughs].

II: Well, they always do everything big -- big cars, big beds.

DG: Well, except the stage; that was small.

II: Well, you can't have everything!

DG: Mmh, so large beds and small stage, or small beds and large stage. Let's see ... we choose large beds!

II: Yeah?

DG: Well, in fact you spend more time sleeping, so it's an easy choice. [laughs]. No, the US was very nice. We went the first time for the Progpower USA [festival, in February 2001], and that was one of the most special gigs we've had, because just before that we were meant to go to Iceland, because we had booked a gig, a radio performance and a TV performance. But the owner of the venue had booked us wrong somehow, so he thought we would come the next month. There was a bit of a discussion, even if we failed to reach the owner of the place, and we were forced to skip the gig. We only did the TV show and that was a bit particular as well, because we were so short of time that we only had one try to film it. We were doing "Ashes" and in the middle of the second verse, one cameraman, while doing a close-up of my face, pulled out the power plug for my amplifier, so I had no guitar sound and I had the solo coming in the end, so I tried shouting to Johan [Hallgren]: "Hey, take the solo, take the solo," and he was going: "What?"

II: And what about the pavements of Baltimore. I read that you had to sleep on the airport's pavements the first night you arrived in the US?

DG: Yeah, we missed the connection and so we had to sleep there. Nobody would help us. They were like: "Oh, that's too bad. OK, next one?" They were very supportive and kind, without a doubt! So we had to sleep there and it was probably the worst night of our experience. When we arrived at the venue we were completely wasted, so we slept until soundcheck, and a little bit more after that. We only woke up to play! I tell you, I had a fear of fainting on stage, because we were absolutely tired from the trip! Fortunately the gig did very well, 'cause the people still talk a lot about it; so, in the end, everything went our way. Then the other time we went to Progday [September 2001], and it was very, very different, because there was this big lawn, you know, grass everywhere, and there were all these people with their kids, foldable chairs ... it felt like a small Woodstock, it felt very weird. But it was also very, very special, and it will be interesting to see what will happen next time around.

II: OK Daniel, returning to music, when do you think you'll release the second part of TPE ?

DG: The idea is that it will be the next album, but it will all come down to when it will be finished - the symphony orchestra stuff. We have never worked with an orchestra before, so we don't know how much time it will take. We are not doing the Metallica thing, with the orchestra only in the background. You know, we could use a keyboard for that, instead we want to use the orchestra in symbiosis with the band, with exact scores with difficult passages thrown in. You know what, the impression that I have from the orchestras, even the great ones, is that they make a lot of mistakes, and we have a hard time tolerating that [light chuckle]. Well, I don't know if they're used to working in the way we plan to, as we already had problems of timing with a quintet of musicians we took with us in "Idioglossia." In the mid-section we had Johan doing a change and the same split second they were lost, completely out of tune. They were not even in the neighbourhood of playing the right thing. I don't know, but it seems that the orchestra players have big problems with timing and rhythm. It sounds strange but it's true.

II: But do you think that POS will play live with an orchestra in the future, like Yes for example?

DG: Well, I have no idea? [chuckles]

II: Daniel, returning briefly to the tour with Dream Theater. I think you have to do an outstanding job every night to let the prog fans, who maybe sometimes are too much into the main act, take notice of who you are and what wonderful music you play.

DG: Well, yeah, and you know what? We were especially looking forward to the Italian shows, because everyone said that the Italian audience was the most difficult to capture, the hardest one for the opening act.

II: But I have to tell you, Daniel, that I've heard a lot of people, and I include myself here, that came to the shows to watch mainly POS. The thing is that we know how good Dream Theater are, but we also know that your band plays some great stuff, and this is almost the first time you've played live here. So that's the reason why I wasn't surprised to see the great reaction you had in Milan.

DG: Oh, thank you, thank you a lot. Well, I hope that today will be even better, so maybe the next time we will come alone, and there will be still a lot of people in the audience.

II: I hope it, too. OK, time's up! So thank you Daniel, and have a great show.

DG: Thank you. We'll do our best. Ciao to all the Italian fans of POS!

Discography:
Entropia (1998)
One Hour By The Concrete Lake (1999)
The Perfect Element (2000)
Remedy Lane (2002)
12:5 (2004) Be (2004)
Scarsick (2007)
Linoleum (EP) (2009)
Ending Themes (On The Two Deaths Of Pain Of Salvation) (2009)
Road Salt One (2010)
Road Salt Two (2010)
Falling Home (2014)

Be - Live DVD (DVD) (2005)
Ending Themes (On The Two Deaths Of Pain Of Salvation) (DVD) (2009)