AMARANTHE
They’re out with Powerwolf – bring extra underwear!
How Has 2018 been so far for you guys?
ELIZE RYD (VOCALS): “We’ve been working on our fifth album! We took three months’ writing time and we went into the studio in March and stayed there for two months. Now we’re excited about the European festival season and our autumn tour with Powerwolf because we’re going to Israel for the first time, just before my birthday.”
wHat’s been your faVourite touring moment to date?
“We got to go on tours very early in our career so all our shows and meeting all the fans have been the best parts. I’m an adventure person, so I like to live in the moment and watch the view while we’re travelling. Nothing shocks me anymore, so the bus feels like a second home. I was lucky enough to stay in tents and do a lot of the nightlife stuff when I was a kid so this isn’t much different. You need to be open and not have too high standards to live on tour; my friends in the music industry say they’d rather die than live on the bus!”
wHat’s tHe strangest tHing you’Ve seen in an amarantHe crowd?
“In Malmö, Sweden, some guy threw his underwear up onstage and it landed on my face. I thought to myself, ‘This is a development from back in the day when girls would throw their underpants!’ I’m experiencing a change in the equilibrium between the genders. My father was there, too!”
wHat can we find tHe amarantHe lot up to on days off on tHe road?
“Most of the guys go sightseeing. Johan [Andreassen, bass] goes running, Morten [løwe Sørensen, drums] goes to the gym, Henrik [Englund, vocals] and olof [Mörck, guitars] go to restaurants and bars and Nils [Molen, vocals] hasn’t been here long enough to get a routine yet. I’m always either in the venue, in a coffee shop or cleaning the bus. I have a secret stash of cleaning products! I went into Arch Enemy’s bus at Graspop and it was the cleanest bus I’ve ever been in – it smelled of fresh apples. You have to make goals for yourself in life, so that’s mine: that someday our bus will be like that.”