{"id":8136,"date":"2012-04-22T10:51:41","date_gmt":"2012-04-22T00:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=8136"},"modified":"2012-04-22T10:51:41","modified_gmt":"2012-04-22T00:51:41","slug":"michael-amott-of-arch-enemy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2012\/04\/michael-amott-of-arch-enemy-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Amott of Arch Enemy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n<\/a>\u201cYou can\u2019t really say oh this band is really popular in Australia because they\u2019ve sold a lot of albums, because you just don\u2019t know what sales are worth anymore.\u00a0 We\u2019ve always done very well, we\u2019ve never been a multi-million selling band but we\u2019ve always done very well on the live circuit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swedish melodic death metal trash rockers Arch Enemy are heading back to Australia for a whirlwind two shows in Sydney and Melbourne in support of their brutal album \u2018Khaos Legions\u2019 released last year, and these shows are most definitely ones to catch if you can.\u00a0 With a new guitarist in tow, they hit our shores in just over week and in the lead up to the shows we spoke to lead guitarist of Arch Enemy, Michael Amott about the upcoming Australian tour, the departure of long time guitarist Chris and what we can expect in the future from these guys\u2026<\/p>\n

Of course you\u2019re heading back to Australia for two shows only on your whirlwind Australian Khaos tour.\u00a0 What can we expect to see at these shows?<\/strong>
\nHopefully we\u2019ll still be alive, we\u2019re actually starting in Japan and we\u2019re doing four shows there then we go around to Asia before we head to Australia.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to be an exciting run, we\u2019re playing Singapore and the Philippines and we\u2019re playing Korea, Malaysia, places like that.\u00a0 Then we come down to Australia, we got the opportunity to come down and do a coupe of shows with a new promoter for us in Australia and we just jumped at the chance to play Melbourne and Sydney and thought it\u2019d be a cool way to end that little run.\u00a0 I think the fans can expect a very cool show, we\u2019ve got a different\u2026 we\u2019ve got all the set lists on file we\u2019ve played over the last five years so we\u2019ll make sure it\u2019s different and we\u2019ve also got the new album \u2018Khaos Legions\u2019 to promote at the same time.<\/p>\n

How did the departure of Chris come about, and how has that affected the band?<\/strong>
\nWell he\u2019s left the band previously as well, in 2005 he left the band for a couple of years and then he came back, so the first time he left back in \u201905 that was more of a shock if you know what I mean, this time we\u2019d sensed for quite a while that he\u2019d not been 100% in to it, so we were sort of expecting this.\u00a0 It was no big deal, very undramatic and we had plenty of time, he let us know back in October that he had some new plans and handed in his notice, so we had plenty of time to sort it all out and find a new guitar player.\u00a0 I\u2019d already had somebody in mind, so it was fairly undramatic really.<\/p>\n

So tell us about Nick Cordle, and how he came to be the newest member of the band.<\/strong>
\nNick toured with us, he was in another band that supported us on a North American tour we did back in 2010, and that\u2019s where I found out about him, just watching him play every night and I just really liked his guitar playing and his stage presence and already back then Chris didn\u2019t seem to be 100% happy in Arch Enemy, so I guess I was subconsciously making mental notes for possible replacements.\u00a0 When this situation appeared late last year, I just kind of took that name and said let\u2019s give this guy a call, so I gave Nick a phone call, he was on tour with his other band, I think they\u2019d just stopped to fill up on gas at a truck stop somewhere in America and I call him and ask if he wants to jam with Arch Enemy.\u00a0 So that was an interesting phone call.<\/p>\n

With \u2018Khaos Legions\u2019 out for almost a year, has the strong support of it kept up?<\/strong>
\nYeah, you put out new music these days, for a band like us, we hit the road pretty relentlessly, we haven\u2019t really had time to assess what\u2019s going on ha ha.\u00a0 We do play and by now we play four or five songs off the \u2018Khaos Legions\u2019 album in our live set and those songs are going down very well with the crowd, there\u2019s very big recognition for the songs and people singing along and all that stuff and getting in to it.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what the new album has and has gone into our fan bases conscious, they approve, they have the stamp of approval.\u00a0 I think the first reviews when they came out, we don\u2019t really pay attention to that. I don\u2019t even know, album sales now days I don\u2019t really know what they are anymore, it doesn\u2019t really have the same\u2026 it\u2019s not the same anymore.\u00a0 You can\u2019t really say oh this band is really popular in Australia because they\u2019ve sold a lot of albums, because you just don\u2019t know what sales are worth anymore.\u00a0 We\u2019ve always done very well, we\u2019ve never been a multi-million selling band but we\u2019ve always done very well on the live circuit and we\u2019ve done fairly well with selling our music as well, as we play very underground extreme stuff in a way, if you look at the big picture it\u2019s very extreme ha ha, I know there\u2019s a lot more extreme things out there, you can get as extreme as you want and you can\u2019t even listen anymore.\u00a0 If you look at the big picture we still are an underground band, we have screaming vocals, lots of guitar solos, lots of drumming, down tuned guitars, it\u2019s not going to be for everyone but we do have a very strong supportive fan base which we\u2019re very pleased with.<\/p>\n

Are you currently already working on new material for a new album?<\/strong>
\nWell we\u2019ve had a couple of small breaks so far and I tend to get a bit bored after a few days and being at home and getting into some sort of normality I tend to call our drummer and ask if he wants to just jam on some new ideas I have.\u00a0 We demoed up about three or four new song ideas I had, so we\u2019ll see and we\u2019ll take it from there.\u00a0 We\u2019re not writing seriously, but we\u2019re not in a pre-production phase with the new album, I think we\u2019re going to do that next year.\u00a0 This year is going to be mostly keeping on touring for this album \u2018Khaos Legions\u2019.\u00a0 2012 is going to be another year of playing all over the world for us and doing this.\u00a0 The album is still relatively fresh, it feels that way anyway, we\u2019re shooting a new video at the end of this month for a song called \u2018Under Black Flags We March\u2019 and it\u2019s a new sort of promotional clip.\u00a0 We\u2019re filming live shows along the way, we filmed one in Angela\u2019s home town of Cologne a few months ago, we filmed a show in Tokyo, and we\u2019re going to film in Manilla too in the Philippines, a festival there, it\u2019ll be crazy.\u00a0 Other things as well, so we\u2019re actually working on a DVD that might come out next year.\u00a0 A live Khaos kind of thing.<\/p>\n

Over the band’s career, what has been the biggest stand out moment for you being in Arch Enemy?<\/strong>
\nProbably getting Angela in the band and the first shows we did with her, getting that album out there and that was such a big step forward for us.\u00a0 I guess every band has that, if you look at the arc of a career or whatever you want to call it, and I think every band has that moment where it just jumps up and hopefully we had that when Angela joined, it was just really, really good album, a strong album, it\u2019s called \u2018Wages Of Sin\u2019 and that\u2019s more than ten years old now, it was just a strong record, the songs came out very naturally and it was just a really good time, it was also a very exciting time, we didn\u2019t really know what was lying ahead of us you know\u2026 And then I\u2019ve done so many cool things with Arch Enemy, we\u2019ve done support tours with Iron Maiden, we flew around the world to Japan, United States, Canada and supported them.\u00a0 We\u2019ve done a long US tour supporting Slayer, you know one of my favourite bands of all time, we\u2019ve toured with Megadeth, stuff like that.\u00a0 You know we\u2019ve done stuff that I never really thought that I\u2019d do when I was listening to their music in my bedroom when I was a kid you know, I never really thought I\u2019d be hanging out with Kerry King or Dave Mustaine, you know what I mean? Ha ha.\u00a0 I never thought that would happen, I used to have posters of these guys on my walls and just be totally loving their music and learning guitar playing along to these records.<\/p>\n

Aussie metal fans are known as being a little more passionate than some, how would you compare our metal heads to those around the world?<\/strong>
\nEverybody asks this question, it\u2019s the one question I probably get in every interview, from every country, it\u2019s like how do our fans compare to other fans, it\u2019s like everyone\u2019s concerned about that ha ha.\u00a0 I think Australian fans are really good, we have a great time there, always a very strong reaction and you\u2019re right, they are very passionate about metal there.\u00a0 I think the first time we went there was in \u201905 and we had a brilliant time, also a highlight I should say, there\u2019s always that special moment that first time you visit a country and you realise \u2018oh shit, we\u2019ve got fans here and they\u2019re really in to the band and they\u2019re amazing\u2019 and it\u2019s like a new sort of love affair.\u00a0 That was a great moment.\u00a0 I think compared to other countries, you know I think what I found is that Arch Enemy is a band that tours all over the world, globally, all the time, we go around, we were in South America, North America, Canada and then we go all over Europe into Russia, North Africa, all over Asia, we go everywhere.\u00a0 What I\u2019ve found with Metal fans is their spirit is the same wherever you go, it\u2019s just this love and passion we have for this crazy sub-genre of Metal, so there are more things that are similar than not similar if you know what I mean.\u00a0 Australian metal fans are great of course and we\u2019re looking forward to seeing them at the end of April.<\/p>\n

Lastly, do you have a message for your Aussie fans?<\/strong>
\nJust looking forward to coming back, we\u2019ve got a lot of cool friends down there and a lot of a favourite places, so we\u2019re just looking forward to seeing Sydney and Melbourne again and connecting with Australia again.<\/p>\n

Thanks Michael, see you soon and of course May the Rock be with You\u2026<\/strong>
\nHa ha ha as with you, see you soon.<\/p>\n

Check out the details of the tour here\u2026 <\/a><\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Sweden<\/p>\n

Band members: <\/strong>Angela Gossow \u2013 Vocals , Michael Amott \u2013 Lead Guitars , Nick Cordle \u2013 Lead Guitars , Sharlee D’Angelo \u2013 Bass , Daniel Erlandsson \u2013 Drums<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.archenemy.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release:<\/strong> Khaos Legions (Century Media \/ Riot! Entertainment)<\/p>\n

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