Albums of Purgatory: Firstly, whats the band up to right now?

 

Peter Stalfors: Our second album "Evilized" was released in Sweden January 17:th and it will be released in the rest of europe on january 27:th

On Monday January 27:th we will perform an unplugged gig at a signing session at cd-specialistan in Göteborg and from february 7th until february 25:th we're going on tour with Hammerfall in Germany and Scandinavia.

 

AoP: How would you describe the Dream Evil sound?

 

PS: A mixture of modern power metal and classic 80's Heavy Metal in a fat production package.. he he he..  

 

AoP: How did the band begin in '99?

PS: Fredrik had this idea in his head for a couple of years to form a melodic Hard Rock band. It all started in the summer 1999 when he was visiting a greek band he recorded earlier in his studio. During this vacation in Greece he met Gus who was a friend to this band. Fredrik noticed Gus great talent and told him that if he ever came to Sweden that he should visit him in his studio. Gus was going to Sweden later that year anyway to visit some friends so he did like Fredrik said and showed up in Studio Fredman where Gus and Fredrik started to make songs together. Around christmas they had recorded a first demo with four songs, The Prophecy, Take the world, Losing you and Heavy metal in the night. They realised that a good singer was needed to complete this recording. Fredrik remembered Niklas who sang backing vocals on the first two Hammerfall albums and called him up. Niklas came down to the studio and recorded these four songs. Gus and Fredrik was totally impressed. They realised that they needed a couple of more songs to get a record deal, so they decided to make another demo. As Gus played the bass himself on the first demo they decided that they should get a "real" bass player instead. As Niklas and I had been playing in the same cover band eight years before it wasn't so difficult for Niklas to mention me as the bass player. I came down to the studio and we rehearsed and finished writing the songs Chasing the dragon, H.M.J. and 7th day which we recorded the next day. After a long wait and dealing with a couple of record labels we finally got a deal with Century Media Records. We realised that we should get a good drummer and Fredrik knew Snowy from before so he called him up and asked if he was interested in playing the drums for the recording. When Snowy heard the songs and recorded the record he wanted to join the band as well.
 

AoP: Are you involved in any other projects and if so how do they compare musically to Dream Evil?

 

PS: Snowy is working with Notre Dame which is totally different from Dream Evil, more like "Scary Metal" or something. Gus is working with Firewind and Mystic Prophecy which are more similar to Dream Evil.. but not the same of course...

 

AoP: Can you remember your first gig (how did it go)?

 

PS: Our first gig was at our release party for the Dragon Slayer album, april 27:th 2002, we had so much fun. The plave was packed, well it was a small place but as it was packed it was a great experience.

 

AoP: What sort of reaction are you getting from the new album Evilized so far?

 

PS: I haven't read any reviews yet, but what people have told me is that it's a bit heavier than dreagon Slayer. And that's our intension.. We like the music a little bit more Heavy Metal than power metal.  

 

AoP: What are your favourite Dream Evil tracks?

 

PS: On Dragon Slayer it is "Save us" and "In flames you burn", live I like to play "Heavy Metal In The Night"... On Evilized it's "Evlized", "Fight you 'til the end", "Made of Metal" and "The end"...

 

AoP: What are your favourite all time songs or albums?

 

PS: "Power slave" album with Iron Maiden, "Breaker" album with Accept and "Operation Mindcrime" album with Queens Rÿche.

 

AoP: If you could choose to feature on a tribute album for a band who would you choose and which song would you play?

 

PS: Iron Maiden - "The number of the beast", it's a great song and a lot of fun to play as well.  

 

AoP: What was the first record you bought?

 

PS: Metal on Metal with the band Anvil... I can't remember when it was.. I just remember that my brother bought "For those about to rock" with AC/DC at the same time he he he..

 

AoP: What would be your dream band line-up?

 

PS: That's a hard nut to crack...

Bass - Steve Harris

Drums - Nick Menza

Vocals - Chris Cornell

Rythm Guitar - KK Downing

Solo Guitar - Marty Friedman  

 

AoP: What do you think of the position of metal and music in general today?

 

PS: Well I'm no professor at Heavy Metal but I think it grew a lot in the late 90's and I think it's quite strong today, not as strong as it was in the mid 80's but I think we're getting there.

 

AoP: Which other bands in the scene really stand out for you at the moment?

 

PS: Audio slave, Iron Maiden, Halford, Hammerfall

 

AoP: Do you have any funny stories about the band you can share with us?

 

PS: We have a lot of fun together all the time, I can share one funny thing which happened to Fredrik last summer after performing at the Sweden Rock Festival june 7:th 2002.

After a whole night of partying Fredrik decided to go back from the festival area to the hotel which was called "SAS hotel", he crawled into a taxi and told the driver to drive to "SAS hotel", the only thing was that he was that drunk that the driver thought that he said "Stads Hotel" which was in a different town.. So he ended up at the wrong hotel in the wrong town. When he couldn't find his room he fell asleep on a couch. The morning after he went down to the restaurant and ate some apples and stuff, then he called Gus and told him to meet him in the lobby. Gus went down to the lobby but they could of course not see each other... so Fredrik called Gus again "I can't see you, lets meet outside at the entrance instead". It was now when Gus described to Fredrik what he saw that he realised that he was at the wrong hotel. He had to take a taxi 80 kilometers to get to the right town and the right hotel... and that wasn't exactly cheap.. he he he...

 

AoP: and finally, what do you see in the future for Dream Evil?

 

PS: A lot of fun, a lot of shows and a lot of traveling to new places where we've never been before to perform for new crowds.. And of course new albums. I see a great future for Dream Evil.... and I hope to see you all there !!