Interview with Roine Stolt of TFK, April 2007

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Here is a brand-new interview with Roine Stolt, mastermind behind The Flower Kings, conducted recently, with questions from the readers of ProgArchives 

Aaron:  First off, I'd like to say thank you very much for taking time from
your busy schedule to answer these questions for your fans :)

1) Rob Bennett, from Bel Air, Maryland, USA asks: The 20th
Anniversary of The Lonely Heartbeat is approaching, will we see any
songs from that album return to the setlist? I'd love to hear a TFK
rendition of "Crawl Like An Animal"..

Roine:  Oh ,you reminded me of an album that I almost forgot , but yes there are a few good tracks on it .

However I doubt that we will play any of these live at the moment
,there are too much material laying around ,waiting to be played.

2) Matias Schlotfeldt, from Santiago, Chile asks: How do you do to
compose all the great music you've composed? I mean, It's just too much
for just one person!

I really can't say ,why and how it comes into realization. I guess
I just work hard and I happen to be a creative person with a strong
imagination and a good sense of musical poetry .

Besides this is what I do for a living so I've worked out some
sort of formula and I've learnt the tricks and trades and I've been
around for a while ,almost 30 years in the biz.

3) Carl Swallow, from Liverpool, England inquires: Roine, where do
you get your inspiration from, after all these years? In other words,
what is your motivation?

My motivation is to create ,to see how far I can take it ,to see what new ideas can be created and developed

within the framworks of Flowerkings.

Other than that see question/answer 2 .

4) Rai Hamilton, from Arlington, Massachusetts, USA asks: How did
you like playing The Regent Theater in Arlington last year? Would you
consider coming back?

Definitely ,it was a nice theater and I liked Arlington

audience .

Hopefully we'll be back next USA tour .

5) John Mattern, from Omaha, Nebraska, USA asks: Does you ever get
frustrated or down on your craft when you sees others making big money
from music who have a tiny fraction of your talent?

No , well maybe sometimes but rarely these days.

 I've come to realise that nothing is fair in the music biz .

There is seldom a relation between talent and success/ money.

I'm fairly happy with just having the chance to do what I do
,besides no one is going to be remembered for the money they
earned,everyone is going to be judged by their creativity and the
quality of their output.

Here I feel I've already made a few statements that will live on .

6) Evandro De Martini, from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil asks: What would you say to people who say prog-rock is dead?

I'd say : Open up your eyes!

Progrock lives and florish today ,but maybe not as "mega" as it was in the 70's .

On the other hand I believe there are more records released today in the genre than ever .

7) J. Gatten, from London, Ontario, Canada inquires: What is your
opinion of file-sharing and the downloading of music on the internet?

It does exist and we can't help prevent that , so we think we will
join in and in time let people download some of our concerts for a
minimum fee .

I'm shure it's gonna be OK.

8) Alberto, from Monterrey, Mexico, asks: What is your opinion on
Scarsick, the newest album from former bandmate Daniel Gildenlow?

I have not heard it yet , well I heard a few bars , it sounds fine to me,Daniel is very talented and very

creative,I just wish the audience would see more of the complete
Daniel ,meaning also his humoristic side ,as Daniel is a very funny guy
to be around with a good sense of humor.

I really enjoyed having Daniel in the band ,it's sad he can't tour with us anymore,but I respect his political standpoint .

9) Matt R., from Flanders, New Jersey, USA asks: Do you ever visit
ProgArchives? And how do you think the classic prog compares to the
progressive rock being made today?

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to visit sites.

As for modern v/s old prog .

I think there are good and bad things about both .

However I feel some of the 70's bands do have more to offer in terms of originality and melody .

Some of the new bands like Porcupine Tree,DT or even Spocks are all
great players and the production is stellar but they sometimes lack in
melody ,invention and the magic that I found in Yes,Pink Floyd,Genesis
or Crimson.

10) And finally, I myself would like to ask: Could you tell us about some of the solo projects that are coming?

I wish I could but ,I don't know .

Well I know that Tomas Bodin is working on one album he calls : "You Are" ,pretty much a follow up to "I Am"

Jonas Reingold's project KARMAKANIC has also a album almost ready called "Who Is The Boss In The Factory".

I'm working on a few things ,one being a more orchestrated and
acoustic thing and also a more straight art rock/pop/ blues record that
display more of my guitarwork .

But first the new Flowerkings compilation CD "The Road Back Home"
.Plus in september TFK release a new Studio CD ,working on it as I
speak.

 So stay tuned .

Again, thank you very much for your time, and I hope to see you and the rest of the Kings on the road!