Photograph: © Owain Richards

It’s the day of the first show on the UK DARK TRANQUILLITY tour and we’re sat in the subterranean venue of the Cardiff Barfly while hundreds, if not thousands, of red jerseyed rugby fans, inebriated, cheer on their team above ground. In a little green room, we take time out to chat to Mikael Stanne while sound checking takes place next door.

Welcome back to the UK.

MIKAEL: Thank you

You played Bloodstock here in the UK and then the Eastpak Antidote tour. Was the response you got the reason why you decided to do this tour?

MIKAEL: It was yeah. Bloodstock was fantastic. We didn’t really know what to expect with the Eastpak tour but it turned out to be a great one so we figured that we wanted to do more here. So we were lucky enough to be able to set this tour up.

Were you surprised with the reaction you got from Bloodstock?

MIKAEL: Yes! Oh yes! It was fantastic. And we’d never played a festival in Britain before.

You’d toured here with Chimaira previous to this, was that less successful?

MIKAEL: Oh yeah. That was kinda tough because it wasn’t really a crossover audience. They were there either for them or for us so we didn’t really go over that well. That’s why we had low expectations going into Bloodstock, which turned out to be great.

With so much music under your belts, is it hard choosing what to play each night?

MIKAEL: It is really tough obviously. I mean, we would love to go back and do a lot more old stuff but sometimes it just doesn’t work so it’s just a combination of songs that we just really love and songs that we know people really want to hear live. We do a lot of new songs on this tour. It’s torture every time we put together a setlist.

How do the crowd respond to the new material?

MIKAEL: That’s always tricky. I know when I go to see a band, I usually want to hear more of the old stuff that got me into the band in the first place but actually people have been really positive about this new album. We did a tour in American before the album even came out and we played about five new songs and people responded really well to it so it’s worked out well. I haven’t heard any complaints and that’s rare!

With bands like Soilwork and In Flames getting more of a mainstream success internationally, how do you feel when sometimes you’re overlooked as a band despite being pioneers of such a scene? Does it ever bother you?

MIKAEL: No, they’re different. We all come from pretty much the same background but we’re different bands. It’s always been about making the music we want to and people will follow and get into it. We’re not in a rush to go around pleasing a certain type of people or crowd or anything like that. We take our time with writing and know that eventually people will get into it.

Your progression album to album isn’t as drastic as some of these bands perhaps?

MIKAEL: Yeah yeah. But they have to feel different to us. We have a different perspective going into each new one. That way, it still feels interesting and is still challenging to write new material.

Are you writing now for another album now?

MIKAEL: We’ve got a little bit but nothing really serious. We’re doing a few tours then we’re going to shut ourselves off from the rest of the world.

Do you draw inspiration from other bands or is it now all internal, seeing as you’ve worked on lots of albums over the years?

MIKAEL: I guess we did that when we started the band, but not anymore. We obviously take inspiration from bands but it could be any type of genre for instance. But we’re over that, we know the kind of music we want to write. No matter what influence we have, once we go down to the rehearsal room and start playing with stuff and trying things out, what eventually comes out of that is Dark Tranquillity material. It doesn’t really matter where the inspiration comes from, it all goes through our individual filters and what comes out is all ours.

It’s quite an organic process?

MIKAEL: It is. It’s very much alive until we kill it by recording it.

What bands inspired you?

MIKAEL: Oh, um, a lot of German power metal and thrash. Things like Kreator or Helloween, stuff like that. Sabbat from Britain were like the greatest band ever.

They played Bloodstock as well last year didn’t they? Did you get to see them?

MIKAEL: I know, I missed it! I’ve met them before but never seen them… never seen them! So it was like torture for me to miss that. They’re going to play a few festivals this summer too I think. They were important. But also the thrash scene, the slayer scene. But Kreator and Sabbat were like the main ones for me.

That’s interesting considering how different you sound to those bands.

MIKAEL: Yeah, but it is a form of inspiration you know? I wanted to sound as cool as Mille Petrozza and write as well as Martin Walkyier

I think you’ve done that! Anyway, that’s the end of the interview, thanks very much for your time!

MIKAEL: Thank you.