Arch Enemy Guitarist Speaks On Disney Situation

Band Photo: Arch Enemy (?)

KNAC.com recently caught up with ARCH ENEMY guitarist Michael Amott to discuss, among other things, Disney's forced cancellation of Black Tyranny Tour shows at House Of Blues venues located on Disney-owned property:

KNAC.com: Kind of a strange start to the tour, eh?

Amott: "Yeah it was crazy, it was a sold-out show in the end, which was cool. But they had to switch the venues two days before and do all this scrambling around. We got here and it was like, 'OK, what's going on?' It was really nothing to do with us, it had to do with the booking agent and the venue owners. We're too metal for Disney, I guess. Mickey Mouse called and he was really pissed (laughs).

They're pretty down on metal, I guess. It really wasn't too bad for us, but it must have been a hassle for all those people who bought tickets for a show they thought was going to be in Anaheim who had to drive like 70 miles to the new venue."

KNAC.com: You've got (brother) Chris to get acclimated back into the mix...

Amott: "Yeah, but he's full-on back into it. He's enjoying himself and having a good time and playing very well. So it's falling into place. He's pretty stoked to be out here, he hasn't been on the road in three years so he's excited to be out here playing shows and to be playing guitar again."

KNAC.com: Did he rejoin the band in time to do the album?

Amott: "He rejoined the band about six weeks before we went into the studio so he was there for pre-production and rehearsals and when we did the arrangements for the songs."

KNAC.com: Did you feel that he would eventually come back to the band, or did you think he might be gone for good?

Amott: "I don't know. I think we all were hoping he would come back at some point, but it had to be because he wanted to be in the band, not because someone was pressuring him to come back. He approached us and we talked about in the new year, actually, he said he'd really like to come back to the band we were like 'Yeah, the sound's great.' But we thought we'd give him a couple months to think about it, because this is a very important part of our lives. this is our life, we don't really have anything else.

We don't want get into a position where we got rid of the guy who we had, and who we were quite happy with, and then have Chris leave again because he decided he really wasn't into it after all. We wanted to make sure he was 100 percent certain, so we gave him time to make sure this is what he really wanted to do, and he convinced us that it was. So he's back in the band."

Source: BW&BK