Coming In For Landing With BJORN STRID From THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA

Interview by Kris Peters
When members of Soilwork, Arch Enemy and Mean Streak ventured
outside of their comfort zone ten years ago and created The Night
Flight Orchestra the seeds of something special were instantly
sewn.
By defying the "supergroup" handbook at the time, Björn Strid,
David Andersson, Sharlee D'Angelo and Jonas Källsbäckbroke broke
away completely from the sounds of their original bands and ushered
in a new (albeit harking back to days of old) era of music that
bears little if no resemblance to the style of music for which the
respective members were known.
Instead they created an 80s party band with the sole objective of
making people dance.
Despite the tongue in cheek nature of their music, The Night Flight
Orchestra went about their business with a serious and level head,
paying homage to a decade of musical fads and trends without
actually mocking it.
Which was a fine line to tread, but one which was carefully
navigated with due caution and respect.
Spawning hits like Domino, Lovers In The Rain, West Ruth Ave,
Divinyls and This Time, TNFO have pushed the proverbial envelope in
as many directions as it would turn, pumping out everything from
hard rock to pop to disco infused ditties and love drenched ballads
and everything in between.
Despite the global success afforded each of their five albums, TNFO
have somehow managed to steer clear of Australian shores for the
duration of their existence, a blight on their social calendar that
is soon to be rectified when the unruly gang of cavalirs touches
down for three exclusive shows starting in Brisbane on August
3.
Frontman Bjorn Strid cleared his schedule to explain the bands
absence and what they plan to do to make it up to us.
"It's gonna be a hell of a dance party," he promised. "So go get
your tickets now!"
With the first show under one week away, we ask Strid if he has
finished packing in preperation yet.
"I guess so, yeah," he laughed. "It feels like it was only a matter
of weeks ago that we hit Australia with Soilwork but it was in
November last year. Regardless, it's gonna be something completely
different. I'm really grateful that we're able to come to Australia
with The Night Flight Orchestra. We feel like the fan base has
grown a lot in Australia so I had to poke Doug from Hardline Media
to get us over there. We're definitely ready. We have a beautiful
set list coming up for these three shows. It's going to be
special."
Not ones to take these things lying down, HEAVY presses Strip on
why TNFO have neglected Australian fans for so long.
"Good question," he laughed. "We wanted to come in all those years
so many times but it's... it had to grow a little bit but we've
definitely felt that the last couple of years that a lot of people
come up to you when you're in Australia with Soilwork and say 'hey
when is Night Flight coming to Australia and bringing vinyls to the
signing sessions so we noticed it's been growing a lot and now is
definitely the time. I wish we did it five years ago, but at the
same time it was worth waiting for I think."
In the full interview Bjorn tells us what to expect from the shows,
explains what Death To False A.O.R Australian Tour means,
supporting KISS on their last ever Swedish shows, takes us back to
the start of the band and where they fit in, his love affair with
80s music and where it comes from, continuing the saga laid out in
Aeromantic and Aeromantic 2 and more.