Interview with Björn Strid of The Night Flight Orchestra

Björn Strid is an icon of the rock and metal world. His work in metal bands like Soilwork and Act Of Denial is incredible. However, he also fronts the AOR band, The Night Flight Orchestra. On the day of the release of their new album, Give Us The Moon, I sat down with Björn. We discussed this new record, the first album recorded and released since the passing of guitarist, David Andersson and the challenges in making a new record without him. He also tells stories that inspired songs for the new record and more.

Mick: The new album, Give Us The Moon, is out today and I've already published my review. I think it's great. Could you tell us a bit about the production and the mentality going into this album?

Björn: Yeah, I mean, a lot of things happened. We had to go through the grieving of the passing of our guitarist, David Andersson. So we needed time to grieve and then, you know, regroup and try to find the joy in the music again try to turn that into something empowering and comforting and uplifting somehow. David and I had to talk on his deathbed, and for him, it was only natural that we would continue. He could see that this journey is far from over.

So that felt good, having that with us. As he was a very unique songwriter and lyricist in general, we had to take his sort of heritage and his world with us. When we started writing this new album, we felt the challenge that lay ahead. We found that it was not an easy thing to do, but it was also important for us to not just copy what we had done before. It was more of a thing of having David on the shoulder in a way. I felt his presence while composing, but we also needed to be confident on our own feet and start from scratch. So that was quite a journey.

After witnessing his last very dark years, and I think that affected also his lyrics quite a bit. So, I think this album became a little bit of a reaction to that. We wanted to create something more positive and uplifting. That being said, it was also important that the melancholy and the darker elements came through.

Overall, we wanted to write something a bit more positive, but still very multi-layered. Once we started finding that joy again, remembering the good times with David, and being in the same studio where we always recorded, things started to happen. We kind of spread out the recording sessions and wrote some more songs, and then went in again, and then we started hanging out and recording music. We were cooking and drinking, and it was a nice feeling. It became sort of like a good celebration of what we have together, and also David's life. So that became the journey and sort of the guiding star in all of it. It was also to create something even more sort of cinematic and dreamy. I think we succeeded in doing that. It has that sort of vibe running through it.

Mick: Definitely! I can't get most of the songs out of my head, it’s super catchy. So, obviously, you're carrying that burden, but you're still producing something that's so jovial, over the top and happy. I also felt the motif of an interplanetary, cosmic vibe to it. Especially with songs like “Cosmic Tide” and “Give Us the Moon”. What was the plan lyrically, with those imaginative ideas?

Björn: Well, I mean, we wanted to keep on with the tradition of creating a contrast between lyrics that are very full of escapism and fairly trippy. I mean, David was very much into urban fantasy and stuff like that. I was never really a big fan of that stuff. I was more into realism in my lyrics and based on real-life stories.

After being on the road for so many years, there are so many things you can write about, because there are so many weird experiences you can have. He introduced me to that world because he couldn't stand reality. He was always escaping. So, we introduced each other to each other's worlds, but I think that also made things interesting, that contrast between reality and total escapism. We wanted to carry on that tradition, and there's a bunch of real-life stories on this album, possibly more than ever before, but also songs like “Cosmic Tide”, which I see as a tribute to David, that Sebastian Forslund wrote. It's wonderful and very emotional, the whole song. So I see that as a tribute from Sebastian to David.

Mick: You mentioned that there were some songs inspired by real events. Are there any specific examples on this album for you?

Björn: Absolutely! Firstly, there's “Paloma”, which is about a good friend of mine and my wife's, who works as a stewardess, and she started dating a pilot. He turned out to be not so nice to her, and it became quite destructive and toxic. She kept going back to him, and we both got frustrated. Then I thought to myself, I’m in The Night Flight Orchestra, I need to write a song about this! I need to write a liberation song for our friend here. So that's what I did and it happened when we flew home from Alicante, where we played a festival. On the flight home, there was a stewardess named Paloma, and I was like, that's it! That's the name! I started writing the lyrics in the air on the way home, because, obviously, I didn't want to out my friend's real name. So that became the song, and it has a very special meaning. By the way, since then, she has left the pilot. I like to think the song had a little something to do with it, but who knows? So I guess it worked in a way. She was very touched by it, and that's the single that comes out today.

Then there's “Runaways”. I used to live in Toronto for five years and moved in 2015. It's a very special city that I love. Everything around it was amazing. It was just a relationship I had there that didn't work out. So it was tough to leave it. I haven't been back much since. I felt like I needed to write a makeup song with the city somehow. So it's sort of like a revisit there.

Then we have “Melbourne, May I?” as another example. It was inspired by when we embarked on our first Australian tour. We were connecting in Doha, I think, and I got a phone call from my Mom who told me she had breast cancer. That's a tough call to get when you're on your way to the other side of the world! However, I felt like I was surrounded by family. The Aussie crowds were amazing. I got a lot of support so it was a very emotional tour. It, sort of, culminated in Melbourne, where I kind of broke down after trying to stay strong throughout the tour. It was a beautiful moment. So, I had to write some kind of a tribute to the Aussie crowds, especially Melbourne.

Mick: I can imagine that was a challenge to get through. It is so fascinating that people on the other side of the world can feel like family. You've had a very long career and travelled to many countries, is it still surreal going to foreign places, and still having massive audiences there with everybody knowing the words to your songs? Is it still a surreal feeling or have you grown comfortable with it now?

Björn: Yes, it's still surreal, you know. I mean, I've been everywhere with Soilwork. However, with The Night Flight Orchestra, we're still, sort of, an under-the-radar project. We're going places though! We went to Latin America for the first time last year and that was just a crazy experience. It’s how people know all the details in the songs. They not only sing the words, they’re singing the bass lines, they sing the guitar parts, you know, the melodies, everything! It's just insane. They're like an orchestra, the crowd. There's just no way you can ever get used to that. It was a beautiful moment.

Then obviously, you know, going to Australia for the first time. If somebody had told me back in 2012, when we released the first album, that we would go to these places with this band, I wouldn't have believed them.

We also got to open for Kiss on their very last two shows in Sweden, ever! I mean, what do you do with that? Where do you go? That feels like very much the top of the mountain.

Mick: Definitely! So, speaking of that, is there anything you still want to do with this band? Are there any goals you want to achieve with this project?

Björn: I want to develop our concept. I mean, we're a band with a full concept that has no limits, you know? Obviously, we have our tongue-in-cheek and sort of gimmicks but I think it's very balanced. We want to bring a show to crowds that we would like to see ourselves. I guess it's just a matter of a budget. If we had enough budget, we would bring like the side of a 747 on stage, and do like our entrance down the ladder, or something like that.

I want to keep developing this to be something special and see this as a concept, but it's really like a heartfelt concept. So that's something we're looking forward to. Hopefully this album will, you know, do some things, I don't know. We're excited to see where it's going to take us and keep developing a rock show the way it was meant to be.

Mick: Just bringing it back to the album, I found it so tight-knit. Do you ever find moments where you have to restrain yourself in the songwriting process? Like, oh, I could have like a 15-minute keyboard solo there, or I could have a 10-minute guitar solo, or whatever. Do you have to rein yourself in and find those moments when you have to restrain yourself?

Björn: Well, I would say that I'm pretty good at restraining myself with these things. I'm always the guy that's like, okay, no, that's unnecessary. But that's where me and David always butted heads, because he was always like, no, no, no, let's keep it going.

However, on an album like this, we have 13 songs, and there's still some progressive stuff there but I think the whole record is very balanced. There were times when things could go off the rails and that's what I love about it. It's like an open field when you start composing something. You can do whatever you want. It doesn't mean that it's always going to turn out great, but pretty often, it does. It's quite remarkable how that works, at least in our world. I guess, in a way, that's where it should matter, to begin with. You easily get high on the fact that we're The Night Flight Orchestra, and we can do whatever we want. It's good to maybe restrain yourself a bit now and then. So that's where I come in.

Mick: Ah very well then. Something I noticed on this album is that every song just seems to flow naturally into the next. Was that something you took into consideration? So is there a process that goes into the order the tracks have to go in? Or is it just a case of, this is what sounds good to me?

Björn: That's always a process, getting the songs in order! First of all, because we write a lot of material, we’re always writing, and then when we feel like we have enough for an album, we just need to tie it together. We like to make a little interludes, to make the songs flow together easier. That's always an ingredient that's been there on our albums.

It's usually Sebastian and Sharlee D'Angelo that are very involved in the track order. Then, of course, I'm also involved but it's usually their task.

Yeah, I think it's really important that the songs sort of are connected, and that it almost feels conceptual. Then again, we also like the format of singles. We want the songs to be able to stand on their own feet and make sense.

Yet since we are the flag bearers of modern AOR, album-oriented rock, then we need to sort of deliver an album, you know? There's some pride in that, you know? That it should take you on a journey, and that everything needs to sit together. It's fine even moving between genres on the same album, but still, it needs to sit together. I think most of the time, we succeed. It's a challenge for sure but it makes it all the more exciting.

Mick: Is there any one particular classic AOR album that you admire for how they bring that concept together?

Björn: Oh, I would say the Alan Parsons Project album, Turning of a Friendly Card. That's one of my absolute favourites. I've always been an Alan Parsons fan, they were one of the first bands that I listened to as a kid as well. So they have inspired me a lot. That's definitely one of them.

Mick: Are there any particular songs or moments, from your career, that are particularly nostalgic to you or hold a very special meaning or memory?

Björn: I would say “The Last of the Independent Romantics”. It's one of my favourite songs that David ever wrote and it was one of the last songs we listened to together. I came to the hospital, and I was sitting by the bedside. I knew when we listened to that song together that it was going to be the last time I saw him. It was a special moment. We have been playing that song ever since as well but it feels sort of empty without him there. For me, it's a masterpiece and it's a song that's going to live on forever in my heart.

Mick: Finally, I do like ending my interviews on this question. What is the hardest thing professionally you've had to overcome in your career, be that with Soilwork or with The Night Flight Orchestra, with anything, and how did you overcome it?

Björn: Wow. Never gotten that question before.

I mean, I think we've talked a lot about, definitely one of them was losing David as a friend and a musician. He was with me in both Soilwork and The Night Flight Orchestra

I had written songs before but he was the one who came in and encouraged me to pick up the guitar again and start really writing songs. That meant so much to me because I didn't feel confident enough. He put that confidence in me.

I remember working on Living Infinite with Soilwork. That was after Peter Witchers, who I founded Soilwork with, left for the second time. That's when David came in and we knew that we had to deliver something special. You know, and that's a lot of pressure. Then he was like, let's record a double album! That's just insane to begin with. But that was David for you right there. He inspired me to write songs. It wasn’t easy, I had to dig deep, but he made me a better songwriter in the end.

Then, you know, now with his passing and having to write a new Soilwork album without him, it's going to be really, really tough. However, now that I've done it with The Night Flight Orchestra, can I also do it with Soilwork?

I think this is going to be some of the toughest things that I've ever experienced as a professional musician, I would say

Mick: Thank you so much for your time!