"A Word" With Peter Wichers from SOILWORK !

To me SOILWORK will always be one of my favorites in the Melodic Death metal genre ,they are one of the first bands to get me hooked on the alternating vocal style being used in Melodeath music.

The first time I heard the album "Figure Number Five" I was blown away by the perfect stability between melody and aggression in the songs, the title track made me lose it, with a beautiful build up at the 1min:50 seconds mark to one of my all time favorite solos.

So when I read the news online that Peter Wichers left the band, I was in utter shock, Peter is known to all SOILWORK's fans as the core of the band's sound, the band went on to release the very "Metalcore" influenced album "Sworn To A Great Divide" ...

A little while after the band wraped up a U.S. tour with Lamb Of God/Killswitch Engage in support of their latest album "Sworn To A Great Divide" they announced that they where parting ways with Ola Frenning, which to me came as a knock out, it was like so um whats next ?

3 years after Peter left the band to focus on his personal life and on producing, it was announced that he has indeed returned to the fold, to make things the SOILWORK way again !

A while ago, I got the chance to have "A Word" with Peter and ask him about rejoining the band, what's he currently listening to, the new Metallica and more.

I really wanted to ask Peter some more questions and he was totally cool with it, so I asked him about who in his opinion started the Melodic Death metal genre, what does he think of today's Swedish metal scene, his advice to a young musician and more.
Heres how it went:

TMR: You and Adam Dutkiewicz from Killswitch Engage are good friends, did you guys record something together ?

Peter: Adam D is indeed a good friend of mine and has been ever since we first toured together on their first US tour.

I did work together with Adam on the previous All Thats Remains record.


TMR: Can you recommend some Bluegrass music to a total newbie like myself ?

Peter: Hmm!!, there is a lot of good stuff, but I highly recommend getting some discs with Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas and also Alisson Krauss. These are all amazing players and kind of a gentle way of breaking into the bluegrass territory.


TMR: A Few years ago you made a Guitar Instructional DVD for the Japanese magazine "Young Guitar", would you ever release a DVD of your own ?

Peter: Well, I might consider doing something like that. But there are so many talented guitarplayers out there that probably would do a better job of that than me he he!!


TMR: In your opinion who started the Melodic Death Metal movement ?

Peter: Simple, Carcass and At The Gates!


TMR: How old is Ola ?

Peter: No Comment.


TMR: Growing up, how long did you usually practice playing ?

Peter: Well I remember coming home from school and practicing about 4 hours a day at the most. I generally think that my playing improved when started playing with people that where better at their instrument than I was. This is something I tell people who want to improve their skills. Surround yourself with people that are better players than you and that will push you to get better. Dont be afraid of fucking up, this is part of the learning curve!


TMR: Do you enjoy playing any other instruments ?

Peter: I recently got very into Square Neck Resonator guitars, but I have yet to purchase one. It is one of the most beautiful sounding instruments I have ever heard.


TMR: Who's your favotite guitar players ?

Peter: Wow, this list can go on forever, but here are a few names:
Mattias IA Eklundh, Steve Vai, Tony Rice, Dimebag Darrel, Zakk Wylde, Nuno Bettencourt, Jeff Loomis, Warren Haynes, Gary Moore, John Norum, Mikael Akerfelt, Angus Young, Mark Knopfler, james hetfield and many many more


TMR: What do you think of today's Swedish metal scene with all the new bands coming out ?

Peter: To be honest, I cant really keep track of all the new bands coming out, and living in the US I kind of miss out on a lot of stuff going on in Sweden, but one thing is for sure and that is that sweden stands for good musicians ship which makes me proud to be a Swede!


TMR: What advice do you have for a young musician that wants to be successful and original ?

Peter: Try and play like your heroes and listen to more than just metal, this will create more diversity in your playing and you will create your own style of playing that way.


TMR: Would you like to add anything ?

Peter: Play hard and work on a good vibrato. To many guitar players play like they are holding a piece of cotton in their right hand and who gives a shit if you can sweep for 2 minutes straight without being able to finish with a nice powerful vibrato???


I'd like to thank Peter Wichers for taking the time to answer my questions once again !

Cant wait for the new SOILWORK !

Check out Peter Wicher's
Myspace

and

Soilwork's:
Official Website
Myspace


While we wait for a new SOILWORK release with Peter back on board, I'll let you all reminisce over the famous video for "Rejection Role" from their 2003 release "Figure Number Five"