Interview
Stage Times: Arch Enemy
From playing the UK’s ‘most violent’ pub to a sold-out Hammersmith Apollo, Michael Amott of Arch Enemy talks through his most memorable onstage performances
Thirty years since their formation and with twelve studio albums under their belt, it would be fair to assume that Arch Enemy have a pretty firm grasp on their identity.
Unleashing their fast and furious full-length Blood Dynasty earlier this year, the Swedish extreme metal pioneers have forged a signature sound driven by melody and atmosphere in equal measure. Fierce, technical, and razor-sharp, the urgent solos of guitarist Michael Amott and the guttural, venomous snarl of vocalist Alissa White-Gluz have become unmistakable markers of the band’s sound, but – if he’s being brutally honest – does Amott actually know what makes a great Arch Enemy song?
“I like to think so, but sometimes I’m wrong,” he laughs.
“It’s hard to predict what people are going to like, and I think that’s a dangerous game to play sometimes. We just try to please ourselves, and when we’re writing and recording that’s our time to be artistic and creative. After that, you hand it over to the fans and hope that they’ll enjoy it.”
“We do have a signature sound, but I don’t want to get trapped repeating ourselves,” he continues.
“Over the last few years, we’ve been experimenting more, trying different things. That’s fun for the fans, and it keeps it interesting for us too. I respect bands that stick to their guns and do exactly the same thing on every album, and there’s certainly a strength in that, but we’re too curious about what else we can do.”
That mentality is precisely how an album like Blood Dynasty has come to exist. Embracing the spirit of evolution whilst retaining the relentless intensity and emotional weight they’ve become known for, album twelve is a wicked declaration of intent.
A display of brute force laced with dystopian soundscapes and expressive melodies; it’s the type of record made for the cathartic release of the live show. From the crushing weight of comeback single ‘Dream Stealer’ to the sinister swagger of album closer ‘Liars & Thieves’, there’s little doubt that many of these tracks will be sharing the spotlight with the band’s oldest and hardest hitters.
“We’re very fortunate because whilst we write and record exactly what we want to make, much of the time it also happens to be what our fans want,” Amott nods.
“It’s special, and it continues to blow my mind how well our new material goes down live. Usually when you’ve been going as long as we have, people take a break during the new songs. They’re waiting for the classics, and whilst our old hits still go down great, it’s fun to get a great reception for the new stuff.”
Bringing the world of Blood Dynasty to UK shores for the first time this October, we sat down with Amott to reflect on three decades of live memories – from the local punk shows that first inspired him to taking the stage after Judas Priest to a 70,000 strong crowd in Poland.
The gig that made you want to play music
There was a youth centre where I grew up. Local punk bands would play all ages shows there, and I went to a few of those when I was around 12 years old. When I grew up, it was popular to be in a band. Bands were everywhere, and it was something that a lot of young people were doing. It always seemed so exciting to me, and I remember there were some rehearsal rooms in the basement of my school. I would run down there when I was even younger, peeking in and looking at what people were doing. Seeing those first shows though, seeing people that I’d seen around at school onstage, and seeing the crowd getting into it… It was so punk. People were slamming and pogoing, and there was so much energy. It seemed magical and I thought, ‘Well, if they can do it… Maybe I can’.
The first
The first Arch Enemy show was in Sweden in 1996. We opened up for another Swedish band called Dark Tranquillity, and there weren’t many people there, but we’d had an incredible opportunity presented to us. We released our first album [Black Earth], and it was immediately licenced by a Japanese label. They put it out, and it did very well in Japan. Because of that, they asked us if we could send them a VHS tape of us performing live, as they were thinking about inviting us to perform in Japan.
The thing was though, we’d never really played a show before. I’d been in other bands before who had played, but some of the other members – including my younger brother [Christopher Amott, former guitarist] – had never played. They loved the album, but they wanted to see if we could actually do it live, so we needed to book a few shows. The first one was that show with Dark Tranquillity, then we went and played some shows in Germany and Holland. We sent a VHS tape full of performance footage to the Japanese label, and we actually got invited over there. We played over first tour in April of 1997, which was a monumental moment for us. We were performing in Japan with this brand-new band that we’d put together, which was crazy.
That really is crazy, because often artists spend the majority of their career dreaming of playing in places like Japan. It’s rare that a European band finds success over there so swiftly…
It’s true, and some bands never get to play there. They have a very specific taste over there. and not all bands get to go there because they just don’t write that type of music. We’ve been there pretty much every year since though, and it’s ridiculous. We’ve done so many tours over there. Playing live is the best thing about being a musician, and it always feels so special when people embrace that.
(Photo by Martyn Goodacre/Getty Images)
The smallest
We’ve played some really small shows, especially if you look at the UK. We played at a place called The White Horse in High Wycombe, and after we finished playing it became a strip club for the rest of the evening. The space where we played was so tiny, and the strippers definitely had more room than we did. A couple of years later, I was back in England watching TV in a hotel room. They were listing the ten most violent pubs in the UK, and that place was number one.
Incredible. Does playing those kind of shows ever discourage you, or is it just about the experience?
I’ve always had the attitude that the fans that have actually come to the show should not be punished. It’s not their fault that other people didn’t turn up, so even if it’s an empty room we just try to put on the same show. It might not seem so great to you if you’re looking out at an empty room, but it’s the same show for them. Luckily though, we don’t play a lot of shows like that anymore. Those days could come back though because it’s really up and down in this business. We don’t take playing bigger rooms for granted.
The biggest
We’ve been lucky to play a lot of huge shows, but the one that really stands out is a free festival called Pol’and’Rock. I heard that there were around 700,000 people there, which seems completely crazy, but I can believe it. The set is on YouTube, so people can check it out, but it’s massive beyond comprehension. Judas Priest played before us, which still seems so weird. It didn’t make any sense to us, and we were certain that everybody was going to leave after they finished. They didn’t though, and when we walked onstage it was just an ocean of people. They didn’t even have barriers for the crowd, they just had a human barrier of security people holding everyone back. It wouldn’t happen nowadays because all those things are so regulated, but it was completely old school.
The weirdest
We’re the type of band who aren’t afraid to go out and play everywhere. When we go to China, for example, we don’t just play Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, we play 10 or 12 cities over there. You get to go to these places where they don’t have shows all the time, and bands like us certainly don’t come around often. Those ones are always such a thrill, and I love playing the shows that feel a little bit different. I’m weird, and I like when crazy things happen, so it makes me sad that it doesn’t happen too much anymore. Everything’s organised in a way that ensures shows go off without any problems, but in the early days there’d be plenty of times where we’d turn up to a show to find that the promoter was a 14-year-old kid. I love the chaos of not knowing what to expect.
The worst
It was actually with another band that I had. We were playing the Pinkpop Festival, and we travelled so far in our van to get there. We got onstage, and something broke down with my amp during the first song. We couldn’t get it to work, so they tried replacing it with another amp. That worked, but then another thing went wrong. I switched my guitar, but the band was just plodding along without me. We ended up just giving up, and it was awful. Going home the next day sucked because it was just a complete waste of time. When you’re playing shows though, things always go wrong. I’ve fallen off the stage, I’ve fallen down on the stage, Sharlee [D’Angelo, bassist] has whacked me over the head with his bass by mistake… You have to accept that things like that will happen. When things go wrong, I try to laugh about it now. At least when I make mistakes in my solos people realise it’s live and not on backing tracks!
The best
Photo by Katja Ogrin/Redferns
Last year we headlined the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, and we had never played there before. To headline there, and for it to be a sold-out show, was just amazing. It went off perfectly, and you always worry with those big shows that something is going to go wrong. We were all really looking forward to it for so many reasons, and it ended up being as special as we hoped. Those are the moments that you always remember.
Photo by Xavi Torrent/Redferns
