In Flames

Meet Bryce Paul of

IN FLAMESInterview by Ken Morton - Live Photo by Jack Lue

Interview by Ken Morton - Live Photo by Jack Lue

In Flames made their return to The Hollywood Palladium, this time in suppport of fellow Swedes Meshuggah. In addition to all the fan favorites, In Flames would debut a few songs from their upcoming Foregone endeavor. After the show, Highwire Daze caught up with bassist Bryce Paul for an interview. Among the inquires found within are how a local Southern California musician wound up within the ranks of a legendary Swedish melodic death metal brigade - as well as news on their soon to be issued Foregone magnum opus. Read on...

How did your recent tour with Meshuggah go and what were some of the highlights?

It was absolutely epic. They’re really awesome dudes. Of course, they’re a fellow Swedish band, so it was awesome to be part of this tour with them. It was actually our first tour with them. We’ve played a bunch of festivals and obviously they’re friends of ours – but this was our first tour with them officially – so that was super cool. Highlights of the tour – probably one of my favorite shows was the first show – we actually joined them in Denver, Colorado – and that show – I don’t know if it was the elevation or the weed that everyone was smoking – but it was the rowdiest show for how large it was – probably a 3,000-cap room – and it was amazing! It was super fun. It’s hard to choose a highlight, because overall, the tour was really fun.

You’ve lived here in Southern California. What was it like doing a show at the Hollywood Palladium. Describe that night for you.

Whenever we get the chance to play in LA, it’s always special to us as a band, because we recorded the past three records there, so we get a lot of our friends coming out – and of course a lot of industry friends as well. So, it’s always a bit hectic – it’s more of a giant party atmosphere. It makes for a busy night for us, but overall, it’s always super special. The response is always great for us. For me, since it is somewhat of a hometown show, it’s always special to see friends and family and share our current show with them. It was really awesome!

Is your other band Ives still happening?

Awesome! Man, that is such an old project of mine. That was my brother and I’s project – I was still in high school – so this was years and years ago. I’ve always loved heavy metal, but musically I’m all over the map. I’ve played everything – that was an indie rock band – I’ve played from that to country to heavy metal – all over the place. But heavier music has always been my go-to.

And so, to answer your question, Ives is no longer active. We have a record that we never released. Maybe one day if we get the itch, we’ll just randomly drop it. It’s a good collection of songs. I love songwriting – and dabbling in all different genres for songwriting. It’s fun to kind of put on a different hat and write different styles of music. I appreciate a good song. That for me is what makes music so fun.

How does a local musician from Southern California wind up in this legendary Swedish death metal band called In Flames?

To sum it up, the story isn’t as super random as it sounds. Joe Rickard who played drums for In Flames for the Battles album cycle – he is a good friend of mine – we go way back. I was living in Nashville, Tennessee at the time and I’d constantly see Joe on the road. I was super stoked to hear that he got the gig with In Flames. I’ve always been a supporter. We had never played in a band before together – but we’d always been brothers supporting each other – even though we had been in totally different genres of music. We just never had the opportunity to play in a band together, and when the opportunity came up that In Flames was looking for a bass player, he mentioned my name to the guys as a recommendation. It was Superbowl Sunday 2017, and he calls me up and says, “Hey, would you want to hop on this tour coming up?” I had about a month or so to start diving into the In Flames catalog and learning the songs. And yeah, the rest is history.

Describe that first show you did with In Flames and what it was like to replace a long-time member, Peter Iwers.

Obviously, it’s a big undertaking with a band that’s been around for such a long time. There’s a lot of responsibility and I want to do my very best and perform the position of a bass player. It was a bit daunting, and my biggest concern was how are the fans going to treat me as a new guy coming in so late – normal concerns that one would have. But thankfully, everyone’s been super cool. I think that if you have the chance to see us live, it’s obvious that the band is firing on all cylinders – and we’re just having fun out here man. It’s been super cool.

Have you met Peter – and if so, what was he like?

I haven’t actually crossed paths with Peter. And even though Gothenburg is such a small town, I haven’t

crossed paths. We almost met over the summer, but we were playing on a different day. So, I have yet to meet him.

What could In Flames fans expect from the upcoming Foregone album?

As an In Flames fan, pretty much wherever you came into the In Flames catalog – whatever your preference is – I think there’s something for everyone. It’s a heavy, aggressive, still melodic record – there’s no curveballs. I guess maybe one of the curveballs would be Foregone Part 1 having a blast beat that significant was a surprise for some people. But it’s an In Flames record – and if you’re a fan of the band, you are going to like this record. I’m so confident – we’re all super excited to get it out there. It can’t come soon enough. If you came in from the Battles cycle or if you came in from The Jester Race, there’s something for everyone on it. I think we cranked up the aggressiveness as one should after being locked up in a cage for two years – so it definitely carries more energy in that way.

Chris Broderick formerly of Megadeth and Jag Panzer is now in In Flames. So, you’re not the guy anymore. What has it been like working with Chris who has been in all these amazing bands?

Chris is like my sensei. He’s just a little bit older than me, and it’s so awesome just picking his brain about the music industry. Everything from music to his daily routine is pretty awesome. He’s a machine! He’s a very dedicated man to his craft – anything from his diet to his guitar shredding every day. He might be a robot – I’m not sure. (Laughs) But no, he’s freaking awesome. He’s become a good friend of mine – we’re constantly going to the gym together and keeping each other motivated – and being able to share stage right with him every night is super cool. We have such a good time. And I can’t wait for you guys to hear his contributions to this new record with some rippin’ leads. Great guitar player – great human being. You can’t ask for anything more.

Are you involved with any other bands or projects outside of In Flames?

To be announced. I’m a bit of a hardcore punk fan. I have some new music in that vein coming soon – so more thrash hardcore. So, keep you can keep an eye out for that. Hopefully, next year we’ll have something out.

Speaking of hardcore- the first time I saw In Flames was at Furnace Fest in the early 2000’s. In Flames returned to play at that legendary festival in Birming-

Foregone by In Flames

available February 10th, 2023 via Nuclear Blast Records

ham, Alabama a few months ago. What was it like for you to play Furnace Fest?

That fest – it’s so punk rock compared to a lot of festivals. As a music fan, with so many bands playing, I absolutely loved it. For our show, we weren’t really sure, because it’s not necessarily a metal festival as you know. There’s only a handful of real metal bands in the sense of the genre specific. A lot of hardcore – a lot of metalcore breakdown-y artists – which is awesome! I love that! So, we weren’t sure people were going to even watch us play – but our set ended up being really awesome – really fun – lots of energy from the crowd. And we got to see so many of our friends. I got to watch Comeback Kid, Kublai Khan – I saw Orbit Culture – they’re friends from Sweden. So, it’s really cool to see a festival back, and I think it’s only going to get better and better – and I think there’s a revitalization of the scene in a way – and I think people are down to go to a festival like that. It was super fun!

Do you have any messages for In Flames fans who are reading this right now?

Lots of touring coming up. We’ll be coming through everywhere that’s possible this next year with the new record. Pre-order that. We’re looking forward to releasing a couple of more songs soon and get some more new music out there for you guys.