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It was the year 1990, Jesper decided to take leave
of the band Ceremonial Oath, that he was currently in,
together with Anders Fridén and Anders Iwers
(Tiamat)
He wanted to make music in a different direction, and
he teamed up with Johan Larsson and Glenn Ljungström
to form IN FLAMES. The gang made a demo and shipped
it off to Wrong Again records in order to get a record-deal,
which they did. The owner of the company enjoyed the
music so much that he immediately gave them a deal over
the phone, as they rang him up one night. The next day,
they sat down and wrote the album Lunar Strain, which
was released some time later, and became a big underground
success. They had some "in and out members"
, and borrowed some from different bands. People that
have been a part of IN FLAMES since the beginning, are
Mikael Stanne and Anders Jivarp (Dark Tranquillity),
Anders Iwers (Tiamat), Henke Forss (Dawn), Daniel Erlandsson
(Eucharist, Arch Enemy), and a few more. The band then
released a mini-CD called Subterranean, that became
the "breaker" for IN FLAMES, in terms of getting
out off the underground scene, that is, and led them
to get a license deal with German company Nuclear Blast
for the next record, and they have been there since
then. After some time, the boys were getting tired of
constantly borrowing people in order to make a record,
or do a decent live show, and they asked Anders Fridén
and Björn Gelotte to join the band, on vocals and
drums, and they accepted. IN FLAMES were for the first
time a band with a real line up.
They recorded and released yet another record . The
Jester Race, which became a huge success, worldwide,
and the band started to get some fantastic attention
all over Europe, and in Japan, where they were licensed
to Toy´s Factory. They went on a festival tour
together with Samael, Grip inc. And Kreator - this was
the first big thing that happened to them, but definitely
not the last. Some gigs here and there over the next
year, led to both Johan and Glenn feeling that they
had to make a choice where their priorities were , and
sadly, they choose not be a part of IN FLAMES any more.
They both announced, unexpectedly after the recording
of Whoracle, that they were leaving, and Björn,
Jesper and Anders were left with a finished record and
half a band.
Luckily they were good friends with Peter Iwers and
Niklas Engelin, who both happened to play bass and guitar,
and they filled in at the end of the recordings, to
do a mini-tour with Dimmu Borgir. This worked out fine
and the two gentlemen were asked to stay in the band
permanently, and so they did. Together the group continued
onto a successful tour in Europeand an amazing week
in Japan, where they did their first two shows. Japan
welcomed the Swedes with warm arms, and they had an
amazing experience. As they return to Sweden, Niklas
leaves the band, due to some different opinions, and
the fact that he wanted to focus on Gardenian, his other
band. This is the biggest turning point for IN FLAMES,
as they decide to switch Björn from drums to guitar,
(being a guitar player originally), and recruit Daniel
Svensson ( Sacrilige) on Drums. This works out wonderful,
and they record COLONY, the biggest success so far.
The Colonization takes them around the world, to Europe,
USA and Japan, and this tour is an amazing experience
for IN FLAMES, that finally receives the attention they´ve
been waiting for. As they play full houses almost everywhere,
the party goes on for a few months, and the response
is excellent all over the world.
In August of 2000, after a few years of successful touring
, the release of Clayman is a fact, after spending 3
months in the studio. This record spins off really well,
and the sales are overwhelming and it knocks out the
previous record sales in a few months.
After doing festivals with Dream Theater, Slipknot,
Testament, Methods of mayhem, etc, a world tour was
to expect. In Flames aimed for Japan and Europe, which
was squeezed in between 2 American tours. This was the
same round as last year, only this time bigger places,
more people and more material. In Japan, Jesper received
an award from BURRN! As the number 1 songwriter of the
year. The tours were a huge success once again. Peter
Iwers did not join them on all of these tours as he
had a new arrival back home, that he stayed home with
instead, a baby girl, but he joined in for the Scandinavian
and Japan dates, and was temporarily replaced by Dick
Löwgren from Armageddon for the other tours. In
the year 2000, approximately 150 shows were performed
by In Flames , and then a well deserved vacation was
taken by the members. 2001, Peter is back and the band
does a few single shows in Sweden, including a headline
gig in Gothenburg, which was featured in 4 television
channels, and aired live on the radio.
Charts this year were very high, including #4 in Japan,
both group and record, # 3 in Canada´s greatest
metal mag- Brave words and Bloody Knuckles, # 1 in Metal
Maniacs, and # 17 on the official Swedish charts, to
name a few.
A video is shot for Only for the Weak, and the band
went on a mini tour in Europe, where they played 13
shows in front of 20 000 people, needless to say, it
was a huge success.
Next: summer festivals, including Wacken Open Air, Rock
Machina to name a few, then the release of a live album
: The Tokyo Showdown, in August, before heading over
to the US for another tour.
What next? well, another record was made, this time
at a new location with a new producer: Dug-Out studios
with Daniel Bergstrand. The band wanted to go elsewhere
and try on a different studio and producer. Reroute
To Remain was produced, and the the result was amazing.
More touring, headline spins, support spins were done.
Including raveling with the likes of Slipknot, Mudvayne,
Soulfly and Slayer, that gave them the possibility to
share their music with a different audience! Two headline
spins in the US, one in Europe, festivals, including
replacing Linkin park at Sweden's biggest festival:
Hultsfred.
The day after that show they were offered to do a support
slot for Metallica in Madrid, which was a huge success,
playing in front of 30.000 people, making it the biggest
show so far , that was not a festival.
The making of soundtrack to your escape started in may
2003 when they rented a small house in Denmark to do
pre-production. The idea to do this came very natural
as they had started working like this on the last record,
but this time they wanted to go even further away from
Sweden, to prevent any kinds of distractions. The result
was 11 songs, and then two more followed as they went
into another recording process, although this time they
moved all their gear and Daniel Bergstrands studio equipment
into a larger house in Denmark to do the recording ina
much more relaxed atmosphere. Only the druns where recorded
at Dug-Out as the previous record, but the producers
were the same: Daniel Bergstrand and Örjan Örnkloo..
which brings us up to date, where a large tour is on
it´s way, taking the band once again all over
the world, trying to spread the In Flames word around
!
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