At The Gates. Interview with Jonas Stalhammar

Interview by Olga Schneider

1. First of all, I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to do this interview! How does the band feel in such a weird time?

- No problem. Well it’s a been a weird 18 months living with the pandemic. Luckily we had already planned to spend most of 2020 writing and recording “The nightmare of being” so it was mostly just festivals that got cancelled for us.

2. You joined the band in 2017 as a guitarist. How did it feel to join such titans after so many years of the band's existence? What was the most difficult aspect of becoming a part of the band?

- On one hand it was me joining a band that has a huge legacy and also replacing a talent like Anders Björler. On the other hand, I was joining a band that has friends I’ve known for 30+ years. So it’s been fairly easy.

3. How do you see your own impact on the band, on its music and history having released two last albums with these people?

- That one is really a question for the other guys. It’s hard for me to pinpoint the impact I’ve made.

4. When you joined the band, the material for “To drink from the night itself” had already been composed. Was it mentally hard to record something that was composed without you? Probably you had some kind of wish to change something to bring your own “vibes” to the whole creation?

- Not hard at all. It’s not the first time I’ve done that. Even though you haven’t written anything you still bring your own vibe with your playing. It’s the same in bands i write most music and others have to play it.

5. As for “The nightmare of being”, you guys announced that you started recording it a year ago, the time when this bullshit with the pandemy was on top. But this fact didn’t stop you. Was this decision to start recording connected to some thoughts that it was probably the best time for it, when you don’t tour so you can concentrate on the new album? Or it was just a coincidence?

- Before the pandemic broke out we had already planned to record the album when we did so we didn’t have to change any plans for the album. The only touring plans during that time was to do a bunch of special shows playing ”Slaughter of the soul” in full to celebrate it turning 25 years in 2020.

6. Lots of time has passed and lots of members have changed since the band was created, but it still manages to keep its own sound traditions, and for a listener it’s so easy to realize after the first 5 seconds: that’s At The Gates. What’s the secret of this kind of magic, in your opinion?

- I don’t know. At The Gates really focus on the songwriting a lot. Always try to change an evolve somewhat on every album. We still maintain the sound mainly because of it’s us playing i think. We don’t see any point of doing another “Slaughter of the soul” for example. You already got that one so why do another just like it.

7. As we can see, you’re already planning a tour in Sweden for December. What are your expectations from this tour after such a long time after concerts and stuff like that? How might it change the audience?

-I actually think the pause life has been on can actually be good for the live shows in the long run. Makes people even more excited to go see a band play live. No matter what it is really. And we feel a big excitement being able to do what we love the most which is playing live again.

8. Do you already plan any tours abroad with the new album, or do you prefer to be a bit careful with planning something in such times?

- We have tours planned but nothing that is official yet.

9. I already mentioned that At The Gates manage to keep their own sound whatever the time and the members are. Was it hard for you personally to follow their principles taking your own part while composing the new material this time and bringing something of your own?

- Jonas Björler has once again written all the music but we all get to have our say about arrangements etc. He and i share a lot of the same influences anyway so it’s not quite difficult to adapt to the new songs. And as I said before, we all have our own style of playing so no matter what I bring my own feel into it anyway.

10. How do you see the results of your own and the whole band’s work this time? What do you expect from your further work with the dudes?

- I’m extremely satisfied with how “The look forward, not back.

11. Our traditional question: what would you like to say to our readers and crew in the end of this interview?

- Big thanks for the support and I hope to see you all somewhere out there at our shows.