Gildenlöw, Daniel (Pain Of Salvation) (June 2001)

Pain Of Salvation And The Future Of Society

It was almost an adventure (considering that Daniel Gildenlöw had a lot to do with POS to have some time to talk) but at the end we finally met! Well, not quite met, but at least I and mighty Daniel Gildenlöw were able to exchange some words regarding the future projects of Pain Of Salvation, the future of society and? a possible live date in Pesaro (my city)?

Igor Italiani: Hi Daniel! Finally we've made it! So how are you doing?

Daniel Gildenlöw: Oh, it's OK. We have a lot to do at the moment because of different things. We are composing new material and we're trying to put things together.

II: OK. The first thing I wanna ask you is if you're pleased with the sales of The Perfect Element - Part I at the time. Do you think you'll soon be able to live entirely with your music and so put all your energy on Pain Of Salvation?

DG: Well, I really hope so, but for the moment it doesn't look like that. We are selling a fair amount of CDs but it's not close to actually being able to support ourselves. That would be great to be able to live by virtue of our music, but we have to maintain other jobs in the present. However that's a situation pretty difficult because Pain Of Salvation is taking a lot of time.

II: But what's the job you are doing right now to keep your music dreams alive?

DG: I'm a music teacher and I'm a computer teacher. In computer I'm teaching web design and traditional things like Microsoft software, various applications?

II: So maybe that's the reason why you also made the booklet inlay graphics?

DG: Yeah. I've always been interested in visual graphics of different kinds and I like playing with computers so basically for the album I had visions of how I wanted the complete expression of the album to come out you know, the actual songs, the lyrics, going on to end with the booklet.

II: OK Daniel. Let's go to the past. I was astonished to learn you started playing and singing when you were a young child. You also won a lot of prizes when you were young, so maybe you are a "natural"?

DG: Oh, well I guess I've always performed in a very easy way ... I've always annoyed people with actually just learning everything without having to practice. I remember, for example, that during music college, when I had lessons on the guitar or something else and I couldn't play it, then I would just leave the guitar under the bed for a week and then I could play it without ever having tried it [laughs]. Well, that was pretty good. On the other hand, you know, that makes you lazy [laughs again], because you never really get used to practice ... I just wait for things to happen ? in fact I've never enjoyed practicing. I can enjoy sitting and finding inspiration ... new ways of portray[ing] a song, but you know, [to] just sit and practice scales and stuff like that ... well, I've never done that. I don't like it.

II: But you never took lessons in the past? I mean, especially for singing, 'cause you do such a terrific and original work on [the] POS albums from a vocal standpoint.

DG: I think that the basic reasons for my vocal timbre are that I started singing very early and I was quite free minded about using my voice in different ways. I did have some vocals training but it was more classical singing and I cannot see that this thing actually helped me much. It is good to know the basics facts of how to use your voice in certain ways, but at the same time I actually had some problems when I did that, because suddenly I thought I was losing my vocal identity, my own voice. I was trying to sound like something that I wasn't.

II: However from your early days you already had this dream of being a musician, right?

DG: Yeah, yeah. I remember... mmh, could have been when I was 7/8 years old, we were playing rock stars with tennis rackets, just putting on a Kiss album and pretending to be famous musicians. It was pretty funny. I think that I had a different view of the rock star back then, I actually expected that I would earn money from it [laughs]?

II: How was important to have a family that was already deep into music and that backed up your (music) choices when you started?

DG: I think it was both good and bad. My parents always supported me, but on the other hand I've always found some resistance as well. Not intentionally, but I remember that sometimes I was studying on the guitar playing rock 'n' roll and daddy would come to me and say: "Well, Daniel, you know, that music will probably not be so popular when you'll grow up!" He didn't mean anything bad, 'cause you know that these are comments that you make sometimes, and that usually don't affect you when you finally grow up ... but as kid I would reply: "Oh, shit [laughs] that's terrible"...

II: OK. Now we return to the present. When do you think The Perfect Element - Part II will be finished? Did you write almost all of the material like the first time?

DG: Oh, wow. That's difficult. Our initial plan was to start recording the new album in February/March/April somewhere, but now we've been offered some big tour opportunities and in that case we must have an album ready next year pretty early, a fact that has kind of overthrown all of our planning a bit. At the moment I'm not really sure what we will do. Perhaps we will enter the studio this fall and then released the new album early next year. However I wouldn't want to promise anything like that, because we want to release the album when we feel its completion is really OK. We don't want to rush things. Talking about the songwriting aspect, I'll probably be the most prominent songwriter once again, that's usually the way it tends to be [laughs]. I try to get the other guys to write as well, but the problem is that I write music at a very fast pace. For example, for the TPE - Part I I had a lot of music that I left out of the album. Probably I could have published another CD of material if everything had to be included. Add to this that when I wrote TPE - Part I we lived all in different towns, so that affected this process as well. Consider that the more time you spend with music ideas, the more finished they become. So basically, since I also play all the instruments (of course not on the album), well, it turns very much the way that I script even, cymbals passages of the drums. This thing in a way is not the most innovative and inspirational for the other guys but that is a problem in living in different cities. It's not that I want to do everything on the album. I have no choice, and I also told that to the other POS members as well. I can't stop it [laughs again]!

II: On the website is also reported that you guys are sure to create an album even better than the first one, but I've already given the maximum vote to TPE - Part I. I can't go any further?

DG: Ah, well you have to change your system [of voting] [laughs]. We had the same problem with One Hour [By The Concrete Lake]" we received 100/100 in a magazine?

II: Well, the same with me?

DG: Oh, that's really good. We can only thank you. That's great. Now we are expecting 101/100 [laughs]?

II: Will TPE - Part II have the same influences of the first part ... for example the FNM [Faith No More] vocals, the mixture of prog rhythms and heavy aggressive parts you brilliantly adopted already in the past? Will there be some surprises as well?

DG: I think we will have the same kind of emotions and different structures throughout the album, even though we will probably have new elements as well, like for the first album Entropia; there were more funk elements, it was more rock 'n' roll, more loose in a way. One Hour... it's perhaps the most traditional prog metal album POS have done, even though a lot of reviews confirmed its strange and unique sound. [On t]he last one we added a bit of the seventies sound, more of that groove that we had on the first album, I feel.

II: Daniel, you said recently that the concept underlying TPE is the modern society and the way it creates broken individuals. Don't you think that society is also creating a wider gap between the rich and the poor ... I mean, aren't the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer?

DG: Definitely, definitely. That's one of the biggest problems we have. Actually today, I've read in a magazine [about] the ten richest people of the Earth, it was just so incredible, you know ... there should be some kind of limit on how much one person can own, because those amounts of money could do so much good to a lot of poor people. I've seen the totals and I can't even imagine those numbers, it seems so bizarre ... that money would feed so many mouths ?

II: And what about the fact that child abuse, domestic violence, and gun homicides by young boys seem on the rise nowadays? Maybe the modern society is erasing the period once known as childhood?

DG: Oh, yeah. In a way it is. It's very ... it's what you say, it's a double edged sword, because in a way we should never grow up, and at the same time we should never remain totally children.

II: Maybe we should gather inside us the best of both worlds, the innocence of a child and the consciousness of a man?

DG: That would be the best, but society has turned this process the other way around. We are taking the unawareness of the child and its naive egoism and mixing it with the power and greed of grown men. We are taking the worst of two worlds!!!

II: Final argument has to be touring. The word has already been spread that you could possibly be the supporting act of the next Dream Theater tour, along with another great band: ARK. What can you tell me about those rumours?

DG: Well, I don't know how much I should. We've been offered to go with Dream Theater, on their next tour ... we just have to wait and see ... however, that would be great for us, because in this situation we should be able to reach a vast audience, one that should enjoy Pain Of Salvation well.

II: So there's the possibility to see you live in Italy?

DG: Absolutely. I want to get to Italy as soon as possible; I've been there 8 times during my life, once with Pain Of Salvation. I really enjoy the Italian people, so I look forward to return to your homeland.

II: On the website I've also noted that you are looking for help from fans in the guise of local promoters or POS "prophets." I really like this thing because, as you already reported there, something positive can happen anytime with this collaboration. What's your opinion about that?

DG: Yeah, exactly. We've seen with other bands as well that actually a lot of things can happen from the fan base. We've been to Iceland and we've been to Denmark and both those things were arranged by a POS fan.

II: OK Daniel. I think that's enough. There's something else you would like to say?

DG: Oh, just wait for us and we will come. We will be there and I hope that all the Italian fans will be there as well. We'll have a nice time, I promise you.

II: So Daniel goodbye and hope to talk to you and see you when you'll come to Italy!

DG: Oh, this would be great. Goodbye and see you soon, too.

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)