Olof Mörck

0:16OlafMy name is Olaf, and I play guitars and keyboards for Swedish metal band Amorath.

0:21HostFirst of all, I want to congratulate you regarding the album, The Catalyst. Really awesome album. Favorite song, my favorite song, The Catalyst, of course, but liberated and insatiable. These two songs, like, my favorites. These three songs are my favorite. So, first question, you did so many interviews, right? Everybody asked you about the album. So, I'm not afraid not to cover the album. But I noticed that nobody asked you how many songs didn't go into the album.

0:53OlafYeah. So, it's an interesting question, because the way that me and Lise write music, we don't necessarily finish the songs until a little bit before we go into the studio. So, usually it's embryos and ideas that then later grows into fully fledged songs. So, we would typically write vocal lines, chord progressions on guitar or keyboard, and then you have the skeleton of a song. The way that I see it is that a great song can be played on any instrument, together with the vocals, or even in any genre, if you know that vocal lines work really well. So, to answer the question, I would say, 40 ideas?

1:30HostHow are you doing? Okay. A lot of ideas. What happens to those ideas? Do they wait for their own life in the future albums, or are they just a good idea that you can reuse somehow for singles or maybe for other projects?

1:45OlafActually, we have never used an old idea, ever. Which is a little bit of a shame, because there are some really fantastic stuff there.

1:52HostOr you can keep them in a vault, like Prince, you know, and maybe someday, you know, keep them in the back. It's fine.

1:58OlafYeah, I mean, you never know. Maybe, you know, something would fit. But the way that I like to see it is that as you mature as a composer and a musician, and you're as a person as well, your perspectives tend to change. And so, when you're writing for a new album, you want that to represent where you're at at your career and, you know, in your personal life, basically. So, not so far, but there are some songs that we completed for the first album. I haven't really talked much about this. I should be careful what I'm saying. But let's say that there were four or five songs that were actually completed with the whole setup, but not recorded for the first album. So, that could be kind of cool, because it's a time document for, you know, for times past, basically. So, maybe, you know, one day for the 15th anniversary, 20th, who knows?

2:45HostWell, who knows? You can always put them in as a separate album that didn't come out. I mean, it's endless. And it's good that you're putting it all in the walls, because if it's flowing in your head and it's flowing, you feel it. So, why should you stop? Let that rest for the future, right? Exactly. Okay. So, you mentioned one thing, is that it's a certain time snap of your life at a certain point, the album, right? Have you noticed the development in your personal creative way, how it was, like, developing throughout the albums? I mean, certainly, because they are, as you say, they're snapshots of where you were at, you know, at that point.

3:30?While, even with the first album, we were really happy with the genre and the style that we had kind of, you know, I would like to say created, almost. Because it was a very weird combination of genres, especially at the time. So, it's a little bit of both, in the sense that already, you know, 14 years ago, we were very sure what we wanted to do.

3:50OlafAnd I tried, you know, as much as possible to stay true to that vision, because, like any really, really good band, I think, does that. You know, even if you have this evolution, and there are some extreme examples where you have bands that have changed very little, like ACD, CRR, Iron Maiden, or something like that, which are fantastic bands. So, obviously, we like to innovate, you know, quite a bit for every album, but we like the core to remain the same. And, you know, the innovation part is always a reflection of, you know, your perspectives on life, what you, the kind of music that you listen to, and everything in between.

4:21HostYeah, so the catalyst was the catalyst of all of the stuff that you mentioned in the other interiors. The album, right? So, it's a development of your personal stuff. Yes, the vision. That's really important, because you are the band with their own sound. You know, even if you go on Wikipedia and check what's the genres, it's like a list of huge genres, which is a sign, it's their own genre, right? You can't just, you describe it as a name, the name of the band, right? So, how come it's really hard for artists to find their own voice, right? It takes years, right? What was in your case? How did you know what you want? Because, not only, it's not easy.

5:01OlafI mean, I think everyone in the band has a very eclectic taste in music. So, we listen to a lot of different styles of music. And for me personally, the background that I come from is, it's very shaped by classical music. And I think I studied it a lot, and I played, you know, piano, violin, and, you know, all that stuff. But I think, I think with Amaranth, I wanted to step away from that. So, I was consciously stepping outside the comfort zone. So, I think that that's one of the first things that is really important, is that if you just sit completely within your comfort zone, it's just going to be really, really difficult to define yourself musically. Because it's your comfort zone. Yeah, you might think that this is where you're going to do your best things, but it might be the other way around, in a way. And secondly, I mean, working together with Elise, writing music, obviously she has a very eclectic taste in music as well. So, what we did was, I based it very much upon my upbringing with Gothenburg, Melodic Death Metal. So, that's more of the comfort zone, of course. And then you have all these pop influences with modern pop, you know, from, actually, not only modern pop, but everything from, you know, the 90s or even the 80s forwards to current things that are happening in pop music. Like, we keep a completely open mind and let all those things inspire us. And Elise is an expert when it comes to this. And the thing is that, it's not a secret, but people don't always realize how much of an influence pop music has been on hard rock music for the last 40, 50 years. And people don't always want to realize it, even with the really heavy bands, have all these influences. Because that's where the big choruses come from, and, you know. Some people admit it less than others. But we just wanted to take it to the logical, almost end conclusion. Like, what if you make it really extreme on both sides?

6:48HostAnd it works. I think it works totally. The album and the whole band is, like, it's, as I said, success. You have your own song. Well, you mentioned that you also wanted to do the symphony. You did the symphony, right? You composed, or not yet, or?

7:02OlafNo, not yet. But, I mean, something orchestral, on, yeah, on a grander scale, that would be very cool to do. Also with the band, and, I mean, there has been some conversations about it. I can't really say too much. That's something that's going to happen, you know, longer into the future, if it happens, I might underlie. Because we're always a busy band, you know, it's always about the next step, and so on and so forth. That's something that I've been lately sneaking into.

7:27HostPutting us more and more and more and more influence. Oh, a combination of pop, a little bit pop, metal, and symphony, more heavy, yeah. When we're talking about, we need to define, when we're talking about symphony and orchestral stuff, is it more like a classical influence?

7:43OlafYeah, I mean, it can be anything from film score music to classical music, any way that you could use an orchestra, basically. But, I mean, to do it live with a full, you know, piece orchestra, if it's possible, and if we have the time, that would be a dream come true.

7:57HostDo you have a favorite composer, composer, composer, classical or film score, or something like this? Because usually people ask you about the metal stuff and other bands, but what about the classical composers?

8:10OlafWell, yeah, several. It depends a little bit on what perspective, because, first of all, I really like the older melodic baroque music, like Vivaldi and Bach, and, you know, this kind of thing. And, obviously, we are in Vienna, so I have to mention Mozart as well, naturally. I've been to the Mozart house here in Vienna plenty of times also. No time for sightseeing today, unfortunately. And then, let's say, more modern stuff, from Gustav Holst to Anton Schoenberg, also living here in Vienna, which is really, really interesting. And then, when it comes to contemporary classical music, it can be very, very, very interesting as well. It's a lot more difficult to digest, and it's more about the ideas than harmony and melodies, I could even say. But there's some really interesting stuff there, such as Arvopart and so on.

9:02HostDo you sometimes deconstruct some pieces that you like the most, you know, to understand how it's made and why it's working? Because sometimes you don't understand, it's just the feeling is good.

9:14OlafYeah, exactly. I mean, when it comes to classical music, it's different because it's very often based upon things that you can define. Especially from the 1700s and the 1800s, then you can see that there are certain modulations, there are certain chord progressions, and there are different ways to work with harmony that was established as a rule as soon as, you know, the rules were broken. Yes. Then the rules got updated, basically. It's more difficult when it comes to pop and rock music because it's based more on intuition and theory. But I love to break down songs and see why simple songs work. I think this is maybe the most interesting thing because this is about the emotional connection in a, let's say, classic rock song. I don't know, or a pop song from a band like Roxette or Abba.

9:59AmarantheYes, your coward Roxette. Exactly.

10:01OlafSo this, just as an example, we did a cover of Feeling Like a Flower by Roxette, and for me, it was really interesting to re-record the thing because then I could, meanwhile, analyze to see what it is that makes the song tick.

10:16HostI know, I know, I know Hemingway, well, I mean, Hunter S. Thompson, the writer, was retyping, retyping physically Hemingway. Hemingway was doing it the same way, to understand the flow, the rhythm, the tempo, the words, to understand. So basically, it's the same approach. You do the cover, and you understand at the same time how it's been done, right?

10:39OlafYeah, it's exactly like that. I mean, from the orchestral point of view, again, like the intro for tonight's show that you're going to hear is heavily inspired by John Williams, and very consciously so as well. So there's a bit of Star Wars and even more Indiana Jones in there just to set the mood, you know, for the show, and then it goes into the more electronical realm. And that was a fantastic way to just get a little bit, a few minutes in the head of John Williams to see how he approaches orchestration. And it's a really good method to learn how to, like, to just pick things apart. That's also what I did when I was a kid, you know, with In Flames, who are also from Gothenburg. And I even got to jam with the In Flames guys when I was 16 years old. So that was a good way to get into their hem space and try to, you know, figure out what it is that makes the band tick. They're still a phenomenal band.

11:29?Did something surprise you back then with In Flames when you were jamming, when playing with them? Like something that, like, maybe something was unusual, maybe, that just sort of surprised you? Or just the whole experience for you was magical?

11:42OlafI would say the thing is that they have several different pretty simple parts that come together and forms a unity. And it's a little bit unusual, at least for me, especially at the time, compared to, like, thrash metal bands like Metallica, for example. Then you usually have the one riff that is driving, and then you have drums and bass to back that up. And then you have the vocals that go on top after the riff is written. What's really cool with In Flames music is that, for example, with this melodic death metal, is that there's a lot of different parts that are, you cannot play them by yourself, because then they are meaningless. Without the other guitar player putting the harmony and the general harmonical context of it. And then you have the bass playing something else. And there might be, you know, several layers of harmony on top of that, on guitars. So it's some pretty sophisticated stuff.

12:33HostI see that you have a fascination with the magic of simplicity. Absolutely. Is it, can I dare to say that sometimes it's easy to hide behind the complexity and just to keep noise, and it's harder to make something simple and effective?

12:55OlafI mean, it's exactly like that. I mean, as a songwriter, that's kind of what you're looking for. You're looking for something that is just intuitively going to hit people emotionally. And the way that you define simplicity, because, I mean, you can do that with some really complex stuff also. Because it's just going to reach the person in a little bit of a different way, I think. And then again, everyone has, I mean, music is subjective, so everyone has different tastes. But I think for these really, really, you know, timeless classics that every songwriter is kind of looking for, then it's usually the simpler the better. And then you can make a really complex arrangement, and you can put a ton of stuff on top of it. But if you don't have the core idea, you basically don't have anything. I mean, I can be even impressed by bands who do, I won't say bad songs, but maybe not great songs. But they make amazing arrangements with really, really good musicianship. And I'm still going to be impressive, but it's just not going to have that X factor, if you know what I mean. And I'm not saying that I achieved that in any way. It's just, it's rather the goal. It's what you're looking for. But I can see it in other people's music when they have, you know, achieved this, according to my taste, of course.

14:08HostYeah, of course, of course. What do you think about Tabor Swift?

14:11OlafFantastic songwriting. I mean, you have Max Martin, a Swedish guy, who used to be in a metal band called Masquerade. And I mean, he is responsible for, like, all the way back to, as people know, in the 90s, you know, with Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys. And the funny thing is that if you actually go back and listen to the songs, they are Def Leppard songs or something like that, that are just rearranged into pop music. Like, if you listen to the Hysteria album, and then you compare it to Britney Spears' Oops, I Did It Again, you will see where the influences come from. And this is what he says himself, so it's not something that I'm making up, but I could hear it already before. And then he continued to write music throughout, you know, what is it, three and a half decades now, almost. And he managed to reinvent himself. And even if it changes the sound, and, you know, pop music changes almost every year, the chord remains the same. Great songs, really good melodies, and really good arrangements. Then I would say Taylor Swift is probably not something I listen to a lot, myself, personally. But I can really appreciate the craftsmanship of the songwriting behind it, for sure.

15:21?Great. I mean, I ask regarding Taylor Swift, because everybody has an opinion regarding Taylor Swift. Yes, yes. All right, we don't have much time, don't want to bother you too much. So what's the plan right now? We finished the tour.

15:33HostAre you already, did you compose more music that's coming up in the near future?

15:40OlafLet's say it like this. We had the three and a half years, roughly speaking, almost four years between Manifest and The Catalyst, and we don't intend to have the same amount of time in between now. Because obviously, in the pandemic, the band got a bit of downtime. We got to, you know, rethink, replan, restructure, reorganize, all that fun stuff. But now we feel that we have a good momentum, and we have a ton of inspiration, you know. So I would say, you know...

16:06HostI know how you compose, you can compose in one year. I'm pretty sure you can make new music in the next year. Especially where you have, like, motivation and a full steam ahead, I would say.

16:17OlafYeah, absolutely. I mean, I always have inspiration. It means I always have inspiration, so... Why stop? Yeah, exactly.

16:23HostPerfect. All right. Which song should I put at the end of the interview of Amaan as a good introduction to the band?

16:30OlafThe Catalyst from the album, The Catalyst.