Last week, we headed out on a mini-trek round the UK to see PAIN live in London, Wolverhampton and Bristol – and our tour report of the three days can be read here. In Wolverhampton, we got the opportunity to sit down and have a chat with Peter, and this is what happened!
So you’ve currently been on tour for the last two weeks or so. How’s it all been going so far?
It’s been really good. I’ve been having a great time so far, and I’ve met a lot of awesome people.
Which one has been the best so far?
I don’t know…but London was quite good. The crowd wasn’t the biggest but it was loud! I mean, comparing the sound to the size of the crowd, they were definitely one of the loudest. But let’s see what happens tonight. I have no expectations as I don’t know what to expect from here.
So this is your first time in Wolverhampton?
Yeah! So I guess we’ll have to see how it goes tonight!
Last night I noticed your lineup was a bit different to the last time I saw PAIN live. I recognised André, as I think he’s played bass for all your tours I’ve seen so far, but is this going to be the new touring lineup from now on?
Yeah, André has already been with us for tours in the past, so not much has changed in respect to him! I mean, Johan is supposedly the bass player, but he can never do it, bla bla bla, so I just said fuck it. And Michael…well, we have some other issues, so I said okay, bye bye to him. And that’s it – so what you see right now is what you’re gonna get. Except Sebastian, as he’s just jumping in for David until David is ready to come back.
Has it been an easy transition to adjust playing with a different lineup?
I think we have more energy now than we’ve ever had – there’s a lot more energy onstage. I also think we sound better, as we’re a little tighter. It’s like everything’s had a vitamin shot!
I did think that last night you were very tight and it just felt a little more together. Not that you weren’t in the past, but it definitely felt like you’d stepped things up a little bit.
Thanks! I think we were a little sloppy before, but y’know, what can you do?
Staying on the subject of live shows, next month you’ll be heading to Finland for some shows with the awesome guys in Turmion Kätilöt. What can fans expect from those shows – will you be doing anything different compared with these ones?
(laughs) Madness, as always, I would assume!
I’m going to be heading out to those shows as well, actually!
Really? That’s cool! They’re good friends of ours and we always have a great time. How can we go wrong with that? We’ve toured together in the past – we’ve done like seven or eight shows in Finland together and they also went with us on our headline tour in Europe in 2011. Well, half of that tour. As for what you might expect…well, we’ll play some different songs in the set but I think that’s about it. It’ll probably be a little more crazy, but you never know! (laughs)
On a broader scale, when it comes to touring, what do you like most about it?
To be honest, mainly being onstage. The rest is kinda boring! I’ve been there, done that, so by now I’m just waiting for the soundcheck, playing the gig and then hanging out with people.
I can imagine all the waiting must suck!
Yeah! It’s a good time to get a hobby…!
So have you picked up any hobbies over the years of touring?
Nope! (laughs) And I’m actually being sober for this tour, so time is going EVEN SLOWER for me now! But I’m putting my performance in first place, not the drinking. Like I mentioned earlier, everything is sounding better…the vocals are better and the tightness of the guitars are better. So I think it’s a good result.
That’s awesome! So, moving onto some more random questions – if you could choose an animal to represent the band, what would it be?
(Immediately) Pig! And if you’d like a reason, well, we’re pigs, so…! (laughs)
If there was going to be a film released about PAIN, what actor would you want to play yourself?
I don’t know…I have no clue. Wait, no – Darth Vader! Wearing the mask, of course. I think he’d make a good me.
If PAIN could put its name to a product, what would it be and why?
How about a dildo? Why? Well, because some women might need it!
Would it have your face on, like how Ghost put Papa Emeritus’ face on theirs?
(laughs) Maybe! But that might scare people off, so I don’t know about that!
And to finish – what’s in store for you in 2017?
Gigs, touring, that sorta thing. We’d like to try and come back to the UK and do it again, and hopefully step up a little bit. We’re hoping to be playing a lot of festivals this summer but they’re still being booked, so let’s see what happens on that front. Hopefully the festivals will include a few in the UK as well!
PAIN’s new record Coming Home is out now via Nuclear Blast, and is available from here and here. Check out our review of it here.
