On the creative process

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi_nnpTf87c

The oldest, and in a way the most raw (and real) of the three. Already the introduction goes straight to the point (0:21 timestamp):

The only thing we strive for is to create something that sounds fresh. A step into something new. Something we haven't done in the past. That's basically how the writing process begins.

At first there's hardly anything, then nothing… Then some more, and then nothing again. And in the end there's just an inferno. And that's how we roll. So, talking about the writing process and how much time it took etc… It's the same story each time.

(…)

You both have budget constraints and a time frame to work with. So, you can never fully do the things you want. I mean, in your head. In the end it will be awesome, and you're pleased, but it's not really what you aimed for. At least with Meshuggah.

Back in 2012, Meshuggah knew what it's like to work remotely, and experienced the tensions between synchronous and asynchronous collaboration – something many researchers discovered for themselves only after 2019 (4:02 timestamp):

The way we work now is basically everybody at their own personal workstation. Some of us write at home. And then we play back the ideas to each other, or send it online. That's a work flow we have utilized for quite a while now.

The idea this time was to write and rehearse everything in the studio together. And to get it all in place.

(…)

We actually managed to do that.

At least for the first song. Then we went back to our original way of doing things. Unfortunately.

(…)

Everybody liked that first song. "Holy shit, this is great, this is the way to go"…

I remember going: "Hey, this is fun, how about continuing with the next song?" But in an instant everybody scattered, staring projects of their own. And that led to the retreat towards our old way of doing things.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Rgi5C0JbRs

This is where the idea behind this post started, some two years ago. My thesis deadline coincided with the promotion period leading up to the release of Hushed and Grim. Excerpts from the movie were coming out as short, 1–3 minute videos, now gathered in this playlist together with the full thing. I have not, in fact, watched the full movie yet (I somehow missed its release), but from scrolling to find the quotes which I remembered from the teasers, I can already see that it is a wild ride. Definitely to be seen in full.

Here, they could just as well be talking about writing a research paper, or working on a thesis (08:22 timestamp):

And then we bring it to each other, and we start saying, "Hey, do you like this? Cool! What do you think of these two together?".

And then you've got three other guys, that [their] opinions are just as valid as yours, and maybe they don't like something that you love, and so there will be some compromises.

And while it's less relevant to my analogy, this quote goes to show that there is a lot of earnestness in the movie (50:10 timestamp):

I guess those feelings of loss, you know, they show up and it's sort of always been a thing for us, that's sort of where we as a band put those kind of things, you know, those big losses in your life, and everyone goes through it.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKh5NaqzRBU

The latest of the three, and what prompted me to actually write this post. The movie feels a bit overproduced compared to the others, with guests visiting the studio, band members making trips, or that short perfectly focused shot of drumsticks showing a Vic Firth logo at 32:33 (okay, Meshuggah documentary also does that, 3:30 timestamp, but there it comes explicitly as part of Thomas Haake's kit tour). At the same time, the production quality means that it watches like a really good extended music video. And the last 20 minutes is, in fact, an extended music video.

I did not write down any particular quotes from this one, but it's good, too.