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BACK
 PAIN
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Concentrated Creativity
By Adrian ‘The Energizer’ Bromley
NET-only
Peter
Tagtgren is happy that his electronic/industrial project Pain’s
second disc, Rebirth, has finally made it to North American shores
via Renegade Records after two years of distribution hassles. He
is even happier that the third Pain disc, Nothing Remains the
Same, is almost out in stores.
"It takes two years to get the second disc into North America,
and I am already finished with the third one," starts Tagtgren.
"I mean, that is the chance you take when you sign to a major
label [Universal in Europe] for a deal. It was just a nightmare
to get the time to get the CD out there and to get it to certain
markets. It was released months later, and I dunno, man. It was
hassle after hassle. You take chances with these things.
"I got a lot more clever with these labels. Now the label putting
out the third album [for a November release] is really behind the
marketing and making videos and pushing singles. It should be good
for this album."
And what about North American distribution?
"I have no idea what is going on, really. They are just going
to release the album in Sweden and see how it does. They want to
do things right and not let Pain get looked over. This isn’t
the same type of music that A-Teens or The Cardigans are putting
out. Those are some of the bands on the same label, mainstream bands,
and Pain sounds nothing like them. The label just needs to know
where I am coming from and what I am doing with Pain and try to
take it from there."
A lot of people in the metal community know of Tagtgren’s dedication
to the metal scene, whether it be through his other band Hypocrisy
or the thousands of hours he has sat behind the production board
in his own Abyss Studios. His work is well documented and highly
respected. What kind of ideas inspire Tagtgren to venture into the
electronic/industrial realm of Pain?
"I do Pain because I want people to see another side of me.
I want people to experience me making music with clean vocals, rather
than always with growl. I just want to showcase other things I can
do musically," he states. "I also do Pain to learn how
to make this kind of music work—the production ideas involved
to reach a certain sound or vibe. I am learning from this experience.
I don’t work with a lot of bands of this genre, and it is a
new experience for me. I never wanted to be pigeonholed with one
style of music I created. So I created Pain.
"When I started doing Pain I had a lot of ideas going on in
my mind musically, and I didn’t want to bring them into Hypocrisy
and change the ways things were. I didn’t want to soften or
dilute the sound of the band with various ideas. I had to do Pain
to get it out of my system."
He continues, "I had so much I wanted to try and do and it
would have been unfair to alter the ways of Hypocrisy, so Pain was
born from all of that. By doing Pain, I actually saved Hypocrisy
from changing into something really untrue to its roots and origins.
For me, Pain also helped me become a much better producer. It opened
me up to a lot of variety and new ideas in the studio and I have
been able to bring those new tools into my work following the completion
of Rebirth."
So what can fans expect from the third Pain record?
"A lot more professional of a record and 10 million times better
production than the last record. I think people will find that Pain
has grown up."
And while many fans of Pain praise the 1997 self-titled debut, Tagtgren
isn’t proud of that disc.
"I don’t think the first record ever should have been
put out," scoffs the singer/producer. "The second disc,
Rebirth, should have been the first record for people to get exposure
to Pain. I had all of these ideas coming together while working
on the first record and the next thing I know it is being put out.
You live and learn from experiences. The album coming out next should
be my second album, but as you can tell, I am one step behind myself.
It is weird, but that is the way things are."
Hopefully you’ll catch up one day, eh?
"Yeah. Maybe," he laughs. "One day I’ll be ahead
of myself with Pain and that’ll be the day when I am ahead
of everyone else."
And with the steady work that continues to come with his involvement
with Pain and Hypocrisy, Tagtgren has decided to close down Abyss
Studios in the new year. He only plans to use the facilities for
recording the bands he is involved with, as well as a few bands
he chooses to work with. His reasons for the closure are well warranted.
"I am just tired of being tied down and having bands knocking
on my door to produce their records. I want to focus on Hypocrisy
and Pain. I want to tour and record albums with those bands. I want
to take time to explore and create and not feel pressured to work
with so many bands.
"I’ll close the studio down to the public, but work with
bands that I want to work with. I’ll work with a couple bands
a year, but I don’t want the studio to become a ‘factory’
for bands. I am getting sick of people seeing that a record was
recorded at the Abyss Studios and buy it for that reason. I don’t
want it to be a trademark name. I don’t want to see that happen."
He ends, "I believe in the way I feel about things, and this
seems like the right thing to do right now. Bands like Hypocrisy
and Pain need my focus, but of course I can’t break away from
the studio. I love it. I just need to balance things out and make
sure my studio time isn’t as crazy as it has been in the past."
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