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Het laatste nieuws uit de metalwereld
PAIN's PETER TÄGTGREN doesn’t care about possible plagiarism accusation against Croatia's EUROVISION entry BABY LASAGNA
12-04-2024
In a new interview withLaureline TilkinofTuonela Magazine,Peter Tägtgrenof Swedish industrial metallers PAIN was asked about recent accusations of plagiarism leveled against Croatia’s 2024 entryBABY LASAGNA, whose song for this year’s competition,“Rim Tim Tagi Dim”, is said to be very similar toPAIN‘s“Party In My Head”, which was originally released in 2021.
“I didn’t even hear it in the beginning, and (comments about the supposed similarities between the two songs) started popping upeverywhere,”Petersaid: “People were, like, ‘Oh, I think Croatia stole your song,’ blah, blah, blah. And I was, like, ‘What? I don’t hear it.’ I just hear ‘woo hoo hoo’ (in the chorus), but you hear ‘woo hoo hoo ‘ in‘I Love It Loud’withKISSsince ’81 or whatever. So, for me, I was fine with that. And then, actually, our bass player explained, ‘Well, he has the same kind of figure of singing.’ Whatever. I don’t care. I thought it was fun. And I think it’s good that they put in a little bit metal in thisEurovisionthing, like they did with theLORDI15 years ago. When you get it right, it gets popular. So people want more metal.”
When the interviewer noted that it must make him feel good when other musicians are inspired by his work,Petersaid: “I mean, I have no problem, like I said. I’m honored, even though it doesn’t say my name on it. But you can maybe feel that he heard‘Party In My Head’before. So I’m totally fine with that.”
PAIN released their latest single last video ‘Push The Pusher‘ last month. Demonstrating their ability to blend electro grooves with fist-pumping rock, this track is presented with a stunning clip made by a dedicated video team, Midjourney and AI tools. All images in the video are generated by Ai and animated by two artists, Dmitry AlekseevandSergey Kozlov, who created this special video in 2,5months. The creators worked with a unique method, and developed this masterpiece for ‘Push The Pusher‘. PAINare back and prove to be more innovative, entertaining and daring than ever before. The new albumI Am,will be released on May 17th viaNuclear Blast Records.
Watch ‘Push The Pusher‘ below.
Peter Tägtgrencomments:
“Push The Pusher was the first song I started working on after PIMH. I was hungry for distortion and stomp, to create an industrial feeling again. Lyric wise it’s really about me, as I’ve heard more then half of my life..to grow up.”
Watch the previously released “Go With The Flow” and “Party In My Head” below.
“I Am”track listing:
01.I Just Dropped By (To Say Goodbye)
02.Don’t Wake The Dead
03.Go With The Flow
04.Not For Sale
05.Party In My Head
06.I Am
07.Push The Pusher
08.The New Norm
09.Revolution
10.My Angel
11.Fair Game
It’s 2021 and a pandemic is strangling the world — and no one seems to be having fun. Seemingly tireless music freak PeterTägtgrencouldn’t care less as he hits the jackpot with — pardon the harsh language — a f*cking catchy… well, party anthem. We are of course talking about the song“Party In My Head”byTägtgren‘s synth-infused metal projectPAIN.
“I don’t really know what it is about‘Party In My Head’that made — still makes — people go crazy for it,”Petersays. “But what I do know for sure is that the song has already been enjoyed millions and millions of times. The numbers are pretty crazy! Of course,PAINis no stranger to writing danceable and catchy, albeit metallic sh*t… It’s always been in the DNA of this project. But let’s face it: if the world really needs ‘party anthems’ from a cynical geezer like me, something’s seriously wrong.”
Our beloved planet may be screwed, but there still doesn’t seem to be much wrong inPAIN‘s world as 2024 ticks fast on the calendar. There simply can’t be, becausePAIN‘s eagerly awaited new studio album“I Am”is soon here — yes, after eight years of devoted waiting.
“The previous record‘Coming Home’came out in 2016 — and, of course, there was a tour after that,”Peterexplains. “In 2019, I released an album called‘F&M’withRAMMSTEINsingerTill Lindemann, a project I left in 2020. In 2021, it was time for my death metal bandHYPOCRISYto get active with a new album‘Worship’— and, of course, we toured again. If that wasn’t enough, let’s add that there was a studio album withJoe Lynn Turnerin 2022… In other words: the last eight years have passed in the blink of an eye. After all this, it was the perfect time forPAINto go full force again. I felt excited to say the least. Needless to say, the success of‘Party In My Head’gave the album process an explosive start!”
Let’s get one thing straight: the powerful-sounding“I Am”is truly a versatile — if not the most versatile — musical missile inPAIN‘s rich discography. The new songs go everywhere with heavy industrial riffs, haunting melancholic vibes and groove-filled rhythms — without forgetting surprises, of course.
Petersays: “There’s no boundaries withPAIN. I just get an interesting idea for a song and along the way it can turn into anything. Sometimes I also like to deliberately surprise people by following an exciting musical path where unexpected things happen.
“If I had one big goal this time, it was to add more intensity and edge to the songs,” he adds. “‘Coming Home’turned out great, but looking back now, I was maybe a little too deep into my ‘David Bowieworship’ with the orchestral stuff and the acoustic guitars. This time around, I definitely wanted more tempo, aggressiveness and an industrial atmosphere. Going back towards the old times ofPAIN? Maybe a bit…”
“‘I Am’is also more of a family affair than ever before. My sonSebastian— also aPAINdrummer — wrote the music of‘Revolution’and‘Don’t Wake The Dead’. These absorbing songs add width to an already versatile album. All in all, completing‘I Am’required a lot of composing, writing, thinking, experimenting, doing and re-doing. It was a long and sometimes challenging process, but never painful!”
Speaking of surprises… What song will give fans the biggest wow effect this time?
“It must be‘Go With the Flow’,”Petersays. “I dare to insist that when it starts rolling, even the deep connoisseurs ofPAINmusic are wondering what the heck is going on here. I would say it’s my ‘DEPECHE MODEin the ’80s’ song’.”
“Lyrically,‘Go With The Flow’represents a slightly brighter moment in the darkness. I always tend to think that everything is going to hell, but with this song I tell myself, ‘come on dude, let things be for once and go with the flow’.”
There may be these rare rays of light from the beacon, but darkness still prevails.
“The album’s title track starts with the line ‘there’s no hope in the valley of death’,”Petersays. “And if I look at the lyrics, I could dig up a lot other examples of similar sinister moods. But hey, a sarcastic guy like me and such gloomy times we live in… Are you expecting some sunny faces here? Well, sunny or not,PAINis going to be busy for the foreseeable future. There will be a lot of touring to support the record. Summer festivals, extensive tours here and there and more.
“And what about the future anyway? Ask me again in eight years and there have been a few studio albums from different bands, a lot of gigs and something else. Yes, I am what‘I Am’…”
PAIN has released a new song, “Revolution” last September. The song was a standalone single.
Watch “Revolution” below.
Petercomments: “We wrote this song together, me and my sonSebastian. He wrote all the music and I did the lyrics. And it turned out great. We are very proud of this song. The lyrics are about false information on social media and news, and for a normal person, it’s hard to understand what is right and what is wrong.”
Regarding how PAINcame together,Peterpreviously said: “PAINwas just me f*cking around in the studio, and it grew into becoming a band.”
Started as a one-man project with all the vocals, instruments parts, and production made by one person, it has became a prominent touring group that today consists of, apart fromPeter, his son Sebastian Tägtgren (drums),Jonathan Olsson(bass) andSebastian Svalland(guitar).
Peter is also the founder, frontman and guitarist for the Swedish death metal band HYPOCRISY, as well as a world-renowned producer whose resume includes work withSABATON,MARDUK,DARK FUNERAL,DIMMU BORGIR,IMMORTALandSEPTICFLESH, among many others.
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Tags:
- Hypocrisy
- Industrial
- Nuclear Blast
- Pain
- Peter Tägtgren
- Zweden
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