– Hi Peter, first off thanks for taking the time. How’s everything doing?
Hi, no problems! Right now we´re preparing for the shows in Finland and the release of VII. I´m also breaking in our session guitarist that will stand in for Gråby on this tour.

– Your new «VII – Född Förlorare» will be out soon, what are your expectations?
Well, as with all the previous releases we are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.
It feels really godd that it finally will be out, but I have no idea how it will be recieved? Guess we just have to wait and see..?

– I think V was quite successful and benefited you in this way, as I could say you earned a big spot of fame with it and you gained much more recognition as well. Did you ever think about those positive consequences this album provided?
Yeah, I guess that V was quite successful, but I have never thought about that. I remember one of the last days in the studio of the recordings of V, me and Niklas looked at eachother and just said «what the hell have we done!? People will hate this…»
We honestly thought that the Halmstad album would be the end of shining. But to be honest we make the albums that we want to make, not that we think people will like. You have to be true to yourselfe and when you start to think about what people wanna hear there´s a big chance that you´ll loose the «spark» or whatever you want to call it.

– Talking again of VII, I read it means something like «Born Loser» So, who’s that born loser?
You, me and everybody else…

– The album’s release date was delayed several times. What happened?
Well it´s a long story. But basicly it´s about cash, communication and broken promises…
It started three years ago, and just a couple of weeks before the master was sent to the label I recorded the last acoustic guitar parts. So there was actually recordings going on during that hole period even if I did some of it in my own studio.

– Due to this, I guess the recording process was different this time. Tell us, please, a bit about it.
Well, as I just said, we recorded all the basic tracks in a studio just outside of Halmstad, then Niklas did some of the recordings in Norway and Eskilstuna and I did some in my own studio. So it was not untill the final mixing session that we actually heard everything that was recorded. But that was cool, after such a long time we actually heard it with fresh ears so to speak.

– In the album we can find guest artists as Erik Danielsson, Chris Amott, Peter Bjärgö or Nordman. How did this arise? What do you think each artist brought to each track?
Nothing of this was actually planned from the beginning, but it turned out really cool and they all made really cool stuff.
The biggest impact is Håkan Hemlin (nordman) because he sings all of the choruses on «tillsammans är vi allt».
I guess that no one in europe knows who he is, but in Sweden he´s a really big artist, so it will be fun to see how the swedes will react on this.

– Precisely in the song where Nordman cooperated, we can find an almost leading piano. What did you want to express with it?
When we recorded the piano parts it was just me, Richard Bengtsson (the producer) and Marcus -the same guy that plays on Halmstad and Klagopsalmer- in the studio. And we just let him play his stuff, with a little guidence of course, but mostly on his own. So basicly we wanted to catch his emotions and feelings for the song.

– Even though in «FFF» there’s only a piano, and is also a song that stands out from the rest for being quite different. What can you tell us about it?
Actually I think that you are talking about «I nattens timma», witch is the cover song that Peter Bjärgö is singning on.
It´s very much a typical Swedish folk-music/lullaby kind of song in a 3/4 beat.
Marcus is once again doing a great job on the piano and there´s some melotron there aswell and a short acoustic guitar lead from me. I just love that song and how it turned out.

– This is another example you have always done nice contrasts between your lyrics and some beautiful passages. How important is this for you? What does this balance represent in your music or even in your mood?
Well, i think that this is different for all of us and actually really hard to answer. i guess it comes out more during our live shows where the dynamics really sets you in the «right» mood, and for me it really sends me to another place playing the softer parts live.

– With your sound we can notice you’re not narrow-minded musically speaking, as we can find elements from different Metal styles or even influences from non-Metal music genres. What are your biggest musical influences? What’s the weirdest thing you tend to listen when you’re touring or just at home?
Well, I guess that most of the influences comes from non-metal bands actually. I hardly ever listen to metal at all nowdays and I know that Niklas is like that too. I like (allmoast) everything that is well made and were the artist is true to himselfe.
And on tour we listen to everything from Dire Straits to michael Jackson.
I think that if you write music you should allways look for inspiration outside of what you are doing yourselfe. Otherwise it will just be like a copy and totally uninterresting in the end.

– I’m also curious about the guitars opening «Tiden Läker Inga Sår», as they sound pretty «classic»- So I would also like to know which guitars players have influenced you.
Well, my all time favourite guitarist is John Norum from the band Europe, I think that if people listen to his solo albums they will here were I have taken alot of my playing from. other then him I like all the well known good players like Yngwie, Gary Moore, paul Gilbert and so on. I´m also a big fan of the flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia.

– If I’m not wrong, you’re now doing a video for «Förtvivlan, Min Arvedel». What could you advance us about it?
Right now I have´nt seen anything yet so I honestly don´t have a clue? Hopefully it will turn out just as sick as we want it to be.

– For this album, Niklas has left his other bands just to concentrate on SHINING. Does this give your more confidence or affects you in any way? Or isn’t any real change?
I think it might have the biggest effect on him actually. Shining has allways been his number one priority, but maybe now it´ll be even easier to focus on Shining then before.

– Talking of Niklas, he’s a man has never gone unnoticed. Do you think this benefits you as a band or the contrary?
I think it´s good to have a front man that is seen and heard alot, so hell yeah! it´s good!

– 7 albums SHINING albums released, and you’ve been in the band since IV. What album are you the most proud of? Why?
Right now I´m most proude of the new album. i´m proud of the other aswell, but it´s like «been there, done that», why look back when you can look forward!?

– And, after all these years, tours, albums… Is there anything left for SHINING
? Any aim to get?

Oh yeah! we´ve just started! We have toured europe so much the last years and I think it´s time to advance to the US market and even the Asian aswell. There is still so much to do, and now with the backup from Spinefarm we can really do it.

– You have recently toured with WATAIN and AOSOTH. How was the tour like? What are your memories?
Well I don´t remember that much actually… don´t know why..?
But I am really impressed by the watain guys. They are the real deal, no bullshit going on there i can tell you.
And as I said earlier, I really respect bands that are true to what they do and to themselfes.

– And after it, will you hit the road again after releasing «Föod Fórlorare» in support of it?
I hope so, but right now no tours are planned. But I guess that there will some in support of the album later this year.

– You have played (and you are still playing) in different bands but, If I’m not wrong, you’re currently just with SHINING and APOSTASY so, any news regarding APOSTASY? I read you’ll soon unleash a new album…
Yeah, the new Apostasy album (Nuclear Messiah) will be out quite soon, but the europeean distribution is not clear yet.
But when it´s done I hope to go on tour with them aswell and do as much gigs as possible.

– And finally, what are your near-future plans? Not necessarily just with SHINING.
Well, Shining is my number one priority and will allways come first. But I try to do as much as possible.
The last few years I have made alot of recordings and solos for other bands and I will continue to do that whenever i get the chance. I´ll try to tour as much as I can with shining and apostasy. And the writing sessions for shining VIII is planned to be early 2012, but I guess that it depends on how much touring there will be? There are also plans for a second video so my guess is that this year will be pretty much stuffed with things to do.

– That’s all, thanks agian for your time. If you now want to add any final words, last lines are yours.
Thank you too. And to those that reas this, stay true!

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