It’s been a long time coming but, finally, Swedish metal stars In Flames are at the level they deserve to be at. With their new album, A Sense Of Purpose, setting the metal scene alight, Planet Loud sat down with Daniel from the band while they were on tour in the States with Megadeth.

Planet Loud – Hi Daniel, how has the tour been going?
In Flames – “The tour has been great here even if it has been a little long.We’ve noticed that a lot of people have travelled to see more than one show so we try to mix the set up every night. We’ve found that, at the start, the new material wasn’t going down as well as the stuff people knew but as the record came out and people started to learn it, then the reaction was great.”

Planet Loud – What were your goals for the new record?
In Flames – “On this new record we didn’t really set out with any goals or anything we wanted to achieve. Basically, all we wanted to do was make a record that would allow us to go out on tour all over the world. The thing is that, if we didn’t enjoy it then we would stop doing it.”

Planet Loud – As a band, In Flames have been around for almost twenty years, what keeps it exciting?
In Flames – “Well, the five of us playing together is what makes it exciting. Being on tour is not that exciting and you have twenty three hours to get through before you goon stage but, when the five of us get up on stage to play, something special happens. It’s really hard to explain but we have so much fun and it just seems to work.”Planet Loud – As you seem to be so tight as a band, what is the writing process like?
In Flames – “Jesper and Bjorn start out making up some riffs and then they bring the ideas to the five us and we sit down and make a rough demo of the songs which we use to sort out the songs before we go into the studio to record. I’ve been in the band for ten years now and the writing process has always been the same. We each do our own parts and, sure, we occasionally we fight about some things but, on the whole, I think we have the same musical vision about how we want In Flames to sound.”Planet Loud – You said that you know how you want In Flames to sound but, going back twenty years, In Flames were one of the pioneers of the Gothenburg Metal sound. How hard is it, after twenty years, to keep it fresh?
In Flames – “That I don’t know. We never want to do the same album over and over again. We are not Iron Maiden or Slayer. They can make the same sounding album over and over again but we can’t do that. We want to develop with each album. There is usually two years with each album and we get inspired and learn from all the things that happen to us. Like it or not, these things subconciously affect how you will sound.”

Planet Loud – You did a massive amount of touring for the last record. What was your frame of mind like as a band at the end of that touring?
In Flames – “It was strange because everything was going so well and it was like, even though we needed a break, we didn’t want to take one. We had made such an impact, we didn’t want to lose what we had spent all that time building up by taking a break. A break for me is when I’m not on tour, I can be in a studio working on music but it doesn’t feel like work for me.”

Planet Loud – You must have had a lot of amazing experiences on the road, do they inspire Anders when he writes his lyrics?
In Flames – “Definitely. Anders writes very personal lyrics to him but, spending a year on the road, a lot of things have happend to him and the band which have inspired him.”

Planet Loud – Are songs like Disconnected and Sleepless Again inspired by personal experiences?
In Flames – “Yeah, they’re personal to him, I try not to talk to him about what they’re about. I think you could say that a song like Sleepless Again could be inspired by being on the road. Ha.”

Planet Loud – Like we’ve talked about, you’ve been together as a band for nearly twenty years now. How hard is it to keep giving up all those “normal” things to go out on tour?
In Flames – “I do miss it yes. In fact, some times I would rather be sat at home doing the dishes or the cleaning or being with my baby. You really learn to appreciate all the mundane, boring stuff that most people take for granted. The truth is that we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for our really understandable families at home. We’re working for just one hour a day while they are working for twenty four hours a day. They are the ones who have sacrified everything. Like everything else in the band though I hope that we have grown up and are able to deal with things like that. I guess we are more mature now..”

Planet Loud – Life really changed for you guys after the tour you did with Slipknot. What was it that changed?
In Flames – “I don’t know really. We released the album before that tour and everyone was saying how much they loved it then, as soon as we do the tour, they are all criticising the album and saying we sold out! The thing is that, if you sell x number of copies of your record then you are seen as sellouts because they don’t wantpeople who listen to mainstream music listen to their favourite band, then it is not about the music.”Planet Loud – Do you think you changed as people after that tour?
In Flames – “I don’t know but, for us, we saw it as an opportunity to reach the next level and we took it. The thing is that In Flames is a very special band. It couldn’t work with anyone else in the band. When the five of us are together then something very special happens.”

Interview by Graham Finney