Michael Amott: 'Mickey Mouse Called And He Was Really Pissed'

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."

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

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."

Did he rejoin the band in time to do the album?

"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."

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

"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."

Thanks for the info to Bravewords.com.

Comments

[Assassinate]

tbh disney is the biggest pile of balls and i think that they are just a big headed bunch of dicks. Music is music let it go its on course dont pick on it cause its better that u insignificant cock suckers

[Assassinate]

disney is so up itself. Something should be done. really like. i think we shuld like beat the c**p out of some1 big there lol.
No but seriously they are being arrogant pr*cks and its not on.

[Cacophonic]

I think Mickey Mouse influenced some of us. (Michael Jackson)

Anyways, I think Amott should have whooped some ass.

[Ackj]

I saw Sevendust at Disney's house of blues, that was cool.

Assassinate wrote:

disney is so up itself. Something should be done. really like. i think we shuld like beat the c**p out of some1 big there lol.
No but seriously they are being arrogant pr*cks and its not on.

And why the hell should Disney compromise for a band? Do you know nothing about marketing? If something's bad for business, you don't do it. Disney made a fair call. They're a kids TV company for gods sake, not a music promoter.

[haggardguy]

Ya... because Disney doesn't own multiple movie and music corporations which produce some of the most kid unfriendly fare out there. I mean, they hired a known sex offender for god's sake. Disney is just full of pricks.

[I_Forgot_My_Pen]

I saw them a week ago and they were great.

haggardguy wrote:

Ya... because Disney doesn't own multiple movie and music corporations which produce some of the most kid unfriendly fare out there. I mean, they hired a known sex offender for god's sake. Disney is just full of pricks.

But that's not the point. They do that under different labels, because different brands are associated with different images. It's like a car company. Take General Motors, for example. If I say "Hummer" you'll get a different instant impression than if I said "Cadillac" or "GMAC" or "Saturn." Yes, Disney owns everything not owned by Clear Channel or God, but they keep separate brand images for exactly the reason Rankles was talking about.

Checked.

[MA 4 ever]

Meh old news.

[SadistNation]

i nearly saw Converge and Mastodon play there

[duncang]

It's perfectly fair, I wish there was more news about Carcass-Amott than Disney/Arch Enemy-Amott.

[properBo]

duncang wrote:

It's perfectly fair, I wish there was more news about Carcass-Amott than Disney/Arch Enemy-Amott.

it might be a bit out of date

[sk8rMeTaLhEaD27]

ARCH ENEMY \m/

[Td_Nights]

Looks like all the Mods are Disney fans. *points out above quotes*

[HaKattack]

I thought UG had an interview section...just saying.

[buckethead_jr]

:haha

[zigslip]

lol, but the mods are right

[Seither2k]

Ridiculous...Way to go, Disney. Instead of checking out a band BEFORE you book them, go ahead and get 'em booked THEN cancel on their ass just before. You guys rock.

[Schizopathic]

Ackj wrote:

I saw Sevendust at Disney's house of blues, that was cool.

and you're publicly admitting that why?

[Mythman99]

I wanted Michael Amott to whoop some Disney ass!

[Shinozoku]

Ackj wrote:

I saw Sevendust at Disney's house of blues, that was cool.

Arch Enemy is more metal than Sevendust.

[Aidy Damage]

So overt racism is fine, but metal isn't? Hmmm... nice one, Disney.

[legrille]

same thing happened with lamb of god back in '04 if im not mistaken, when they were on tour with slipknot and shadows fall. they were supposed to play at the forum in la but the owners of the forum didnt allow lamb of god to play

Checked.

And lol.

[SicSeb]

Isn't that breaking a legal binding contract? Pretty strange, they could have thought about that before hand. Other than that, Arch Enemy is amazing, 30th november Amsterdam!

^ I'm sure those contracts have escape clauses out the ass in them.

[sral76]

That is gay. But Disney has every right not to let a band perform at their venue for whatever reasons they want. It's just lame that they booked them and then decided to not let them play for whatever reason. That was a really ****ing awfull thing for disney to do.

[Metallica708]

sral76 wrote:
But Disney has every right not to let a band perform at their venue for whatever reasons they want.

Thank you.

We may not like it, but the likelyhood is the tour manager or whatever signed a form that said "Disney reserves the right to change the venue blah blah blah"

Checked.

[Korzack]

That line is just a classic though - Yoink!
Yeah, welcome to corporate management, everybody. It sucks, but this is the case - probably more so with Disney, because they've got such a brand to look after - Haha do you see Minnie Mouse locking horns in a mosh-pit? Only time they've done something different from their usual stuff was Pirates of the Caribbean, and look how that turned out once the franchise kicked in.

[swedish_death]

disney.. watever it sucks, but who ****ing cares? they got to play the show anyway (at a different venue i know) but this is not the big news.

Im so ****ing stoked that Chris is back on tour. He's always been my favorite for some reason.

[thycrusader]

if Walt Disney was still around, he would slap Robert Iger and John E. Pepper in the face for turning Disney into the piece of sh-t it is now.

[RHCP94]

Stop bitching people. This is a perfectly fai decision, and probably better for marketing. There is alot of middle aged families that go to Disney Parks, and I doubt they want to hear metal when they go to a resturant (well, the one is Florida is also a resturant).

[RedNovember]

Mickey would be pissed.

It is a completely logical decision on Disney's oart. They're a kids company. Let's think now. SCENARIO TIME

If Lamb of God actually played a 5 year old's birthday party (like in the video for redneck) they would be in so much shit. Just like AE. If they had played that show, what kind of flak would Disney have caught? "allowing satanist music to flow to the ears of children"?

It does suck that they had to go to another venue 70 miles off. I wouldn't have been able to see it and been very pissed.

[rebreh]

disney was just trying to be politicaly correct. THey are one of these corperations where if one person complains they give in.

[I'm_Guitarded]

this is why as a child i watched nickelodean insted =P

[whitebluesboy]

Would you HONESTLY want your young children to be near an arch enemy show where there will be many drunken loud possibly violent metal fans who are a block away from the magic kingdom?

[pucci6d6]

whitebluesboy wrote:

Would you HONESTLY want your young children to be near an arch enemy show where there will be many drunken loud possibly violent metal fans who are a block away from the magic kingdom?

EXACTLY. a BLOCK away. do you think a drunk person could walk that far without getting confused?
anyways that was gay what disney did, but theyre allowed so whats with the bitching.

[burn the stars]

pucci6d6 wrote:

whitebluesboy wrote:

Would you HONESTLY want your young children to be near an arch enemy show where there will be many drunken loud possibly violent metal fans who are a block away from the magic kingdom?

EXACTLY. a BLOCK away. do you think a drunk person could walk that far without getting confused?
anyways that was gay what disney did, but theyre allowed so whats with the bitching.

yes i do, but chances are my kid would stab them for being drunk and annoying them

[mobious128]

my kid would BE drunk and violent(jk)

[Captain Chaos]

I was at one of the shows that was switched to another venue, in the end the venue was as good as the house of blues located in Disney. Lately I've been receiving emails from HOB about shows being cancelled or moved somewhere else.

[m1chael w0rkman]

I'm_Guitarded wrote:

this is why as a child i watched nickelodean insted =P

nickelodean for the win.

[RubberSoul54321]

Question: Why are a band like Arch Enemy even considering playing at a Disney venue in the first place? Not exactly "metal" is it? Or is there something I'm missing?

[rapscallion]

I saw queensryche at that venue, and a show coming up soon was Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Sanctity and Gojira... they let them play...

[rapscallion]

and also on that note, there were no children visible anywhere near the place. Kids go to Disneyland during the day, not Downtown Disney at night

[screamsoftly]

RubberSoul54321 wrote:

Question: Why are a band like Arch Enemy even considering playing at a Disney venue in the first place? Not exactly "metal" is it? Or is there something I'm missing?

They aren't playing at a Disney venue, they're playing at a House of Blues venue, that happens to be located on Disney property. And who cares how metal it is. A show is a show.

[outlaw metaler]

first disney has had metal bands play their venues before and second
shouldn't they of booking

[rhakiath]

well disney can do it, but metal is not satanist.


it just sucks

[wigers will die]

i ate mickry mouse for breakfest

Checkked.

[oddhawk676]

I think even Mickey Mouse makes better music then Amott and his little Arch Enemy, if Mickey Mouse does not make music, then NO music is BETTER than having any Arch Enemy spurting out half-assed power chords.

[rblotnicky]

Yeah good call by disney. Arch Enemy doesn't blong there. They belong in a real metal show. Not some crap kid event. Disney doesn't got shit on real metal when it comes to trying to appeal to young metal heads, because they need to be extra family oriented, or else most of their business would walk away, and possibly not come back. I wouldn't blame them because if you think about it, if i brought my kid to disney and they had some crazy heavy metal playing, whether they cursed in the lyrics or not, that's just not Disney, and not what I am there with my kids for.

Now on the other hand if I took my kid to Ozzfest, or some other crazy awesome metal tour, I would love to see a band like Arch enemy. They rock live. Talented bunch of ****ers.

[hitek008]

they probably had to change venues cuz Mike called mickey a faggot, sharlee'D kicked donald duck in the dick and Angela ate pluto on accident when she started doing death growls. End of story....and yes arch enemy are f*ckin brutal...glad to hear chris is back

[ericthewhite]

I think even Mickey Mouse makes better music then Amott and his little Arch Enemy, if Mickey Mouse does not make music, then NO music is BETTER than having any Arch Enemy spurting out half-assed power chords.

first if i went to disney world i would love to hear arch enemy play! they are my favorite band and i'm 16 and im not offended or anything! in my opinion they are deffinitely the best band ever. they are way better than other bands like sevendust or maybe even better than metallica! (no offense i love metallica but they are a bunch of corporate sell outs!)

so don't tell me that they only play power chords! have you even ****ing listened to their new album "rise of the tyrant"? have you tried to play any of it?! so shut the **** up you fake plastic metal ****er!

[ericthewhite]

thats right biyatch