Interview with Micke Andersson (In Pain)
Photo by Alexandra Lindholm
Hail Micke and In Pain you are very welcome to my small blog! First of all I would congratulate on your awesome new album called ‘The Sound of Death’. Let’s start our conversation with your latest news: I’ve watched out a lot of times your brilliant old school video “Shallow Grave”, it just reminds me glorious old days of early 90s. Tell us more about video-making process, fantastic cover art of Chainsaw Design (it’s an awesome tribute to Eternal Swedish Master Tomas Skogsberg) and all the important details of “The Sound of Death”.
Micke: Hi man!! Thanks. We wanted to make something that reminded of an old classic horror movie, nothing fancy. It’s actually me digging in the video and its filmed at an old cemetery near my place. The video was edited by Antonio from the band Neptunian Sun.
About the cover: I came up with an idea of some kind of tribute to my friend Tomas Skogsberg so I contacted Chainsaw Design and presented my idea, he got back with a quick sketch and I was like GO!!. He really captured the whole thing in the right way. Chainsaw Design was easy to work with and really professional, hopefully we will work together again in the future.
Well The Sound of Death is actually (as strange as it might sound) our first full album in our nearly 30 years of existence. The reasons are many why we haven’t released an album before but now we are a full band again with great people in it and the time was right for an album. This is the first recording with the new lineup. The lineup today looks as follows: Mattias – vocals (1999), Wegren – guitar (2017), Nicklas – guitar (2018), Matte – drums (2013), Micke – bass (1992).
“The Sound of Death” has been released through Swedish Southcoast Productions. Would you be so kind to enlighten us about this corporation between In Pain and the label?
Micke: I guess it´s not a secret that I´m the owner of the label. I got tired of sending out promos and demos to labels so I started my own instead. I have worked for both To The Death Records and Regain Records/Helter Skelter Productions in the past so this is not completely new to me. I will continue releasing In Pain until an interesting offer comes along. So you could say that the corporation is the best haha.
Artwork by Chainsaw Design
What are your future plans with In Pain? Do you plan another video? What is the situation with live shows? (It would be awesome to see you live near my area, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary)
Micke: We talked about doing another video but let´s see what the future will bring. We did our first gig with the new lineup at Noselake Metal festival this summer and it was the first gig in a long time. This was a great 2 day “underground” festival and well organized so we could not turn that one down. If there are any good and interesting offers in the future we will consider them. We are not actively looking for gigs right now but as I said if something interesting comes along let’s see. We will continue writing music and release it one way or the other like we’ve always done.
In Pain is a pretty old horde from Sweden. You released 2 demos “Pole of Torture” (1993) and “Corpse Crusade” (1994) where you has been involved as a guitarist/vocalist and according to Encyclopedea Metallum In Pain unleashed a demo “War” in 1998… What happened with you then?
Micke: I founded the band in 1992 with Loui. Loui and I played guitar and shared the vocal duty, Thomas Gran on bass and Christian Fridlund on drums, that was the original lineup. After a while I took over the vocals full time and left the guitar. The first 2 demos “Pole of Torture” & “Corpse Crusade” featured the original lineup. They were recorded during the same session but released as two separate demos. Thomas and Christian left the band in 1994, can´t remember why right now but there was no bad blood involved. The band was on hold 1996-1998 due to military service, jobs etc. The band has been more or less active since then so this is not some kind of reunion.
In Pain returned to the scene in 2000s and recorded two demos, "The Warmachine" 2003 "The Corpse Crusade '07" demo 2007 "The Warmachine" 2003 and a bit later you released 2 EP-s namely “A Call from the Grave” (2015), “Summoning the Dead” (2018). What should we know about this period?
Micke: Well not everything on the internet is true. We didn´t return to the scene we have always been here since 1992 except for a 2 year break. Someone needs to correct the info on Encyclopedia Metallum haha. It was around this time that Loui officially left the band, making me the only original member left. We released another demo 2003, think it was just named “Demo -03”, “Corpse Crusade” came 2007 and The Warmachine in 2008-09. I think The Warmachine was only released on MySpace, maybe we did some CDrs of it, can´t remember…. no tape on that one. During this period the lineup was as follows: Mattias – vocals, André Steffensen – guitar, Micke – bass, we didn’t have a permanent drummer during that time. In 2013 Matte (drums) joined and that gave some new energy to the band. Matte is an old school drummer that plays with fury, it fits the band. The Call From the Grave 7” are old demo tracks that we rerecorded, the title track is an unreleased track written by Loui back in the day and this was Mattes first recording with the band. André left the band before the recording of The Call From The Grave EP so I recorded all strings on that one. “Summoning The Dead” is Wegren’s first recording with the band. Wegren is an old friend of the band since the beginning back in 1992 and he is a great guitarist so it was a yes when he asked if he could join. Nicklas joined after the release of the Summoning The Dead EP & The Sound of Death is Nicklas first recording with the band.
You released an awesome split “Pain of Chemical Sufferings” with Brazilian Death metal old schoolers Chemical Desaster (Hail Luiz Carlos Luzada!) via Brazilian label Psicose Records 15th of February this year. How became that amazing alliance?
Micke: Yes. Luiz contacted me and suggested that we should do a split and I thought it was a great idea. We were in the middle of the writing/recording process of the new album so we could not record any new tracks for that split so we took the Summoning the Dead EP and the title track from the 7”. I think it turned out great and a good way to spread our names on two different continents.
Since 1998 you are the bass-player of In Pain. Why did you change guitar to bass? What are your favourite vocalists/guitarists/bass players all times?
Micke: I like the bass better for some reason so nothing more to it than that.
Well that´s a really hard one… There are many great musicians and songwriters out there and it would take a lot of space to write them down so I’ll pass on this one.. ok give you one: Lemmy Kilmister.
I’m a big fan and supporter of Svensk Dödsmetall scene since 1992. How do you characterize old glorious Death metal days in Sweden? What has been very first metal show you visited back in the day?
Micke: It was fun days for sure. We are from the southernmost parts of Sweden and there was a great venue in Malmö called Stadt Hamburg. They had killer acts there like Morbid Angel, Death, Dismember, At The Gates, Napalm Death, Bolt Thrower, Cannibal Corpse among many others. The best venue there ever was in Malmö and I don’t think there will be another one like that ever. There were also gigs in Lund close to Malmö and we live close to Copenhagen so we often took the ferry over to gigs there. My first real Metal gig was Kreator and Death 1990 in Lund. It was a unique gig because Chuck was not on vocals. Malmö is more like a Punk/HC city, not many Death Metal bands there. We were the only Death Metal band from our area Trelleborg (and I still think we are). In the beginning of our existence we played gigs with our friends in Cursed (Ystad) and Absurdum (Staffanstorp) it was a great time, I miss those days.
Micke you are playing the guitars/keyboards in the Gothic metal band Nightflower later Tears of Melancholy and Act 3 since 1997. How and when did you meet and join them?
Micke: I started that band (it’s basically the same band with different names and members). Felt like I needed to play some other style at that time. I was listening to Paradise Lost & Cemetary so it went in that direction. I was also inspired by the band Left Hand Solution so it´s basically a combination of those bands with my own touch to it. Don´t think this is the right interview to go deeper into that band haha.
In Pain from Anderslöv/Trelleborg If I’m not mistaken. What places could you recommend to visit from your area? What kind of local foods and drinks are your recommendations?
Micke: Turn around, there´s nothing to see here. Well there is an old Viking fort in the city of Trelleborg worth a visit but that’s it. About food and drinks: there are not any places that I can recommend really, maybe the local pub, they have decent food and beer. Anderslöv is just a small village so nothing special there. If you are in Trelleborg you are in a part of Sweden called Skåne and there are other interesting places both historical and food to visit and it’s about a 1 hour drive to most of them.
Do you have any special hobbies beside music?
Micke: Music takes most of my time one way or the other. I´m part owner of a BBQ catering business so food & beer are my other interests.
Tack så mycket Micke! Wish you and In Pain all the best, hope to see and meet you personally in the near future. Send to the readers in the end your thoughts from the Sound of Death…
Micke:Well thanks for your interest in In Pain and for your
support, good luck with your blog, hail.
If you are into old school Swedish Death Metal you
should listen to The Sound of Death. Recorded, mixed & produced by Tomas
Skogsberg. Death Metal, straight from the grave!!!
Micke Andersson
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