Connect with us

Interviews

Interview with Michael Amott

Ron

Published

on

Empire Extreme and Just A Rock and Roll Junkie teamed up together to talk to guitar shredder Michael Amott of Arch Enemy before they hit the stage with At the Gates and Amon Amarth. 

EE: Hows the tour going so far? 

MA: Vey good, we are out here with Amon Amarth and At the Gates and we get to play right before Amon Amarth. We have had some killer reactions and we had an epic show last night in NY. 

EE: We made a joke about it being a Swedish invasion

MA: Yeah it is, there’s a lot of Swedes Around. I think it’s cool and I know most of the guys. 

EE: You guys just released the Covered in Blood compilation album, how was that?

MA: That’s a collection of songs that we recorded from 1996-2017 all the cover tunes. I didn’t realize how many songs we actually had. Some of them were unreleased. 

EE: Are you guys working on a follow up to Will to Power?

MA: Yeah we will work on it next year. 

EE: Hows it like working with Alissa no that’s she’s been in the band for a while now?

MA: Excellent. We have a great work flow. It’s working well.

EE: If you could put one song in a time capsule that’s sealed up for 100 years or so, what song would you want to be in it for Arch Enemy?

MA: I would say nemesis. That’s a pretty insane track. 

EE: I was thinking maybe Dead Eyes See No Future. What if the in the future they don’t have no eyes and are telepathic. 

JRNRJ: With all the bands on this tour being similar but different, what’s your take from the stage when you see the fans with costume and flags. 

MA: I think it’s great. Everyone has the own flavor on this tour. We have a great spot since we play right before Amon Amarth so everyone is there full packed house while we play. 

JRNRJ: I’ve got one more question for you that I can’t let you go before I talk to about Spiritual Beggars, I love that band., I love that band. I loved the Demons and On Fire albums. You have been putting out albums with them as long as you have been with Arch Enemy, did you ever have any difficulties balancing the two bands? 

MA: That’s a great question, I was able to do that, being the creative driving force of both bands. I was able to back and forth seamlessly. I was doing that early on, but then Arch Enemy got a lot more busy and toured the US. The gaps became longer. That’s funny you mentioned Demons and On Fire albums because JB who sings for Grand Magus is the singer on those albums, and the drummer from Grand Magus played on all the albums, and Sharlee who plays bass for us was on the Demons album. All we are missing is Per who played with Opeth

JRNRJ: When you write do you write for both bands at the same time or do you know which songs are better for which band?

MA: I just write riffs and melodies all the time. It’s easy for me to split them. I’ve a few times that I wasn’t sure but it’s usually easy for me. 

About Author

Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH OF VIRTUE

Ron

Published

on

By

Where does the band name come from? Wanting to be the best version of yourself at all times. The name is a reminder to hold ourselves accountable.

How is the music scene in Michigan? The Michigan music scene has always been vibrant and in my opinion, important. Do we get the credit we deserve? Absolutely not. But for the state that brought you Motown, Eminem, Lizzo, The White Stripes, I Prevail and so many other incredible artists – it’s kind of hard to believe that Michigan remains a hidden gem.

How’s the reception from the fans of the latest album “Omen”? It’s been incredible. From seeing people singing along at shows to us seeing new supporters of all different ages, colors, and creeds joining the journey. Omen has been a pivotal album in our career and we’re proud of it!

If you could tour with 2 bands, which bands would you want to tour with? Spiritbox and Bad Omens. They’re both making waves, changing who the metal audience is, and surely they’d be fun to hang around with.

Where do you draw inspiration for the lyrics? Honestly, the lyrics are our stories. The stories of our struggles, our trials and our tribulations.

What’s been your favorite tour or show? We just got off of a tour with our labelmates, Any Given Day. They treated us to a handful of sold out shows over in Europe, which at this point we call our second home. Those were great shows, but any show we’ve done in Europe is typically one for the books!

If you could bring back a dead musician, who would it be? Prince for sure. An incredible musician I would love an opportunity to chat or make music with!

About Author

Continue Reading

Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH TWIN TEMPLE

Ron

Published

on

By

Being Married and being in a band together. Do you feel that makes it easier or harder?

We love to do the Devil’s work together so for us its a match made in hell. 

What’s your favorite horror movie?

That’s hard to narrow down but the first few that come to mind are Rosemary’s Baby, The Devil Rides Out, Wickerman, The Devils Reign featuring Anton Lavey, Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, anything starring Vincent Price. We also got to see an advance screen of “Late Night with the Devil” featuring a very evil performance from our friend Dave Dastmalchian. We’re also looking forward to Bryan Fuller’s “Dust Bunny” and are positive it will be a new favorite. The list goes on…..we are huge horror fans.

Favorite Non Horror Movie?

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (which is horror/noir adjacent) and The Burbs (also horror adjacent…haha.)

All of Quentin Tarantino’s films- our latest favorite is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, because 1960’s LA…

What misconception of Satanists would you like to educate people on?

We’re not here to proselytize, force our beliefs on people, or educate people on them Selves, Satanism or anything else. If people are interested in exploring Satanism, we encourage them to do their research and question everything. 

If you could bring back any dead musician, who would you pick and why?

We would have loved to do a song with Ronnie Spector who recently passed. Also would have been amazing to collaborate with Jack Nitzsche who arranged so many amazing songs. 

If you could tour with any 2 bands, who would you want to tour with?

The Ronnettes & The Shangri-Las.

What has been your Favorite Tour so far?

The God is Dead Tour that we’re currently on is definitely the most evil and blasphemous tour yet. We find it very pleasurable to be able to continue expanding the rituals and seeing our nightmares come true on stage.  

You were on “Dragula” with the Boulet Brothers, how was that experience?

It was a fiendish delight to collaborate with some of our fav monsters. 

What was it like Touring with Danzig?

Another nightmare come true! We’ve both been fans for a long time and we’re obviously inspired by the wicked world Glenn has conjured. So to get to spend time with him and watch him live every night and to now call him a friend is completely surreal. He’s a legend— but was also one of the coolest, kindest, most unholy people we’ve had the carnal pleasure of touring with. 

How’s the reception of the last album “God is Dead”?

Personally, we love the record and are very proud of what we’ve accomplished. As far as other peoples’ reactions…. we don’t know and don’t care! We pleasured ourselves and that’s what matters most.

What got you interested in the style of music you play? And how would describe your music?

We’ve always loved classic American music from jazz to blues to country to rock and roll and so on. We also love the pageantry of heavy metal and theatre. So for us it was a very organic culmination of our obsessions. Rock and roll has always been the devils music. 

Have you visited the Satanic Temple in Massachusetts?

No we have not but Lucien did attend one of our rituals so we had a chance to share where we get our babies blood and all things Satan. 

Have you had any bad encounters at shows because of the misconception of satanism?

No! We purposefully foster a live show environment where all are welcome, all should come being the most important person in the world which is themselves, whatever that may be. Even Christians! We believe music is meant to bring joy, transcendence… We just want to share the things we love; pink, rhinestones, big hair, great rock ’n’ roll, Satanic ritual, you know…  but we have had churches assemble outside our shows, screaming through distorted PA speakers that God is not dead & wishing us all a “terrible time”.  Why would their God not want us to have fun? This kind of behavior is only makes us more proud to be who we are and do what we love.

About Author

Continue Reading

Interviews

FIRST JASON: LOVEDRAFTS INTERVIEW

Ron

Published

on

By

EMPIRE EXTREME GOT TO SIT DOWN AND TALK TO ARI LEHMAN OF FIRST JASON AND TALK ABOUT STARTING THE CULT OF JASON VORHEES FANS

About Author

Continue Reading

Trending

%d bloggers like this: