AMZ: You have toured in a lot of other countries other than the United States - Canada, and Europe. What is your favorite country to tour in, and why?

M.A.: Well, actually, we haven't toured that much. Now we do like, one of gigs. This is our second tour ever. We toured Europe once before, back in '96. Best country is hard to say because they are all different. A lot of cities here in the States, and Canada, you know, is just fantastic, and some of the cities here in the States have been just as good. We like Italy and some parts in Germany. I really can't compare. It's been such a long time since we toured Europe. We've only done like one of gigs, in Poland or wherever. But Italy - we look forward to going back there.

AMZ: When do you go back to Italy?

M.A.: I don't know. I think we have a tour scheduled for Europe in the fall. We are going to do some festivals this summer, and going to on Europe for the fall.

AMZ: When do you go back in the studios to start working on another album?

M.A.: I don't know. I think maybe late next year we are going to record again. I need some time to write music, and I don't have any music in me right now. I have to shrug off the tour things, you know, and take it easy for a couple months when I come back home and try to get some inspiration. I would say the company, the record company, will be on our backs to record an album and put it out early 2003.

AMZ: How do you go about putting together your albums? Do you write all the music and the words, or is it a group effort?

M.A.: Well, in the studio it becomes a group effort. I write the music and the lyrics at home and for Blackwater Park I recorded demos and sent it out to the other guys. Then when we come together in the studio it's there that the magic happens, if you know what I mean. So I would say it's really much a group effort. I think with every group there's one guy that's taking care of most of the writing, and in Opeth it's me.

AMZ: When I first listened to Blackwater Park from beginning to end, I almost thought it was a concept album because the music flows in the up and downs, with the climaxes and the ending, but there is no story with it in the liner notes. Was it intended as a concept album?

M.A.: No. I've done, actually, two concept albums. Still Life is one, and My Arms Your Hearse the other. I was kind of tired of it, and I wanted to do something different.

AMZ: But it still has that same feel.

M.A.: Exactly. It's not something we can just take away. It's part of our sound. I wrote these lyrics in 10 days when I was in the studio, you know, and I didn't have a clue what I was supposed to write about, so I just sat down and wrote, and it ended up being almost like a link between the songs, but there's no relation like a story between the songs.

AMZ: This particular line up has been together since '96? Is that correct? or '97?

M.A.: Martin Lopez is the new comer. He might have come in the band in '96, but I think it was '97. We did My Arms Your Hearse with him, but not Martin Mendez, because I played bass in that one. So Mendez has been with us now for two albums, Still Life and Blackwater Park.

AMZ: So far as you know you are going to stay together for the next album?

M.A.: Yes, I certainly hope so. We are great friends, and I think we have something going as a band, especially when we recorded Blackwater Park. My Arms Yours Hearse is like we tried out a new drummer. Still Life we tried out a new bass player, and Blackwater Park was like...Pshew!! Everything worked. So I think we can stay together.

AMZ: Is there anything you don't get asked that you really wish your fans knew?

M.A.: You know, I get this question pretty often and you know, and I never have anything to say, because you know, I kind of clear my mind with every interview and I've done so many interviews sometimes I just answer all the questions on repeat. It's the band that makes me I wouldn't say special, but some people, they think highly of me, but my private life is pretty ordinary, you know.

AMZ: Do you always do the same line up of songs at every performance?

M.A.: No, today we changed our set a little bit. Lately, we try to feel what the audience wants, if we hear them screaming for a certain song we know how to play it. Today we only had 50 minutes on stage. We weren't supposed to play Credence but we played it anyway. We were supposed to play something from the first album. We try to change it around. We have a repertoire of I think 7 or 8 songs on this tour. We will never have more than an hour anyway.

AMZ: Who decides on the particular songs?

M.A.: We all do. Some of the songs we've played forever. We never rehearse. Before the tour we went through some of the songs we wanted to play. Some of the songs we play every time, so they were like, already rehearsed.

AMZ: Well, I enjoyed them, and from the reactions of the audience I think they enjoyed them too.

At this point Akerfeldt's face lit up as he said with emphasis, "Yeah!"