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This interview was published in www.laestadea.com.

Jesus: Welcome to Spain, this is the first time i get to see TREAT in a concert, finally! I would have liked to have gone to Firefest, but it was not possible. I have to say that i own all of your discography and after the big surprise of the compilation 'Weapons Of Choice' and the great new songs, alot of people me included were thinking something great could be prepared, was there any work done in 2006 to prepare for a new album?

Patrick: Well, actually we didn't prepare, when we started in 2006 we released our greatest hits, and we did two new songs, at that time no-one knew if we were going to do a new album or not, but after a few years we went to Sweden Rock festival and we saw that the fans really enjoyed this, and i thought all along the way that, lets do an album, we sort of got into it more and more, so for a year we tried to you know, how should we do this, the old way, the modern way, or in between, and for a year this album sort of gave birth from something that we actually knew in the beginning so, but it turned out really good.

Jesus: The new songs were written, it was a mix of pure melody, classic Treat hard rock and a touch of modern sound, was that the direction of the Treat sound?

Patrick: As i said earlier, this sort of came through a whole year of writing songs, its a process during a whole year, of writing songs, and this is what we came up with.

Jesus: The new songs, were they all demos, or composed?

Patrick: No, actually not, we had some songs that Anders started with and then perhaps me that got into the songs and changed the tune and changed the chorus or whatever, and some songs just came out like that, i know that Anders had really prepared for a year or so, but it was a process for a whole year, and it was a long recording, as i said earlier, it wasn't easy as we didn't know if it should be pure modern or pure melody rock, so we did something in between.

Jesus: You know some bands that return after some years and they have changed their sound radically and their fans are lost in the change of sound what do you think about these bands, because Treat as fans can see don't feel the same way?

Patrick: Well if you compare this album 'Coup De Grace' with the first Treat album, there is certainly a distance between those albums of course, but there was also 25 years between them, and we of course developed all these years, but i actually think we have saved alot of that melodic rock that we had in the early years, and we put some modern things into it, but it was to do with production these days, its quite different production to 25 years ago, and fans may think its modern, but it could just be the way its produced these days, but i think this will go out to a wider audience.

Jesus: After 1 year ago if i have memory and the re release of Scratch & Bite and the DVD of Firefest i could see you were in good shape, how was that concert and the people there, did it make you work harder for the new album?

Patrick: Yeah, well when we did that, we the whole band really enjoyed doing Firefest and Firefest is a really great forum with alot of fans, and is a great place for a band to play, and this was the first time that we played in England, so to do a DVD there was really exciting for us, and we think that the DVD turned out really good, and of course it was like a cliff hanger for something new and it enlightened us to do something new.

Jesus: Have you played in Spain before?

Patrick: No, we have not this is the first time.

Jesus: I know that alot of Spanish people went to Nottingham to see you at Firefest?

Patrick: Yes, i met alot of Spanish people there, it was great!

Jesus: I will talk about the sounds of the new album, in my opinion if i mix up the Treat album of 1992 a bit of the old ones but more hard rock with more detail, this is a question a little similar to one we have had before, but i was wondering if you talked about the production and doing it harder or more melody?

Patrick: I think that the production is also something that was a process during that time, as me and Anders we produced the album, and i have my studio and Anders has his studio.

Jesus: I have another question about that i was going to ask, is it easier to produce your own albums, not like in the 80's when the bands used to have producers.

Patrick: Well yes, as both Anders and me are producers it was much easier for us to produce and maybe we had some different views, i had my views, and Anders had his views, but when we combined them together, i think it turned out really good.

Jesus: What do you think about Internet promotion, people who have the opportunity to listen to samples, and listen to songs recorded by fans from concerts. Can this promotion be on the wrong side of the Internet?

Patrick: Do you mean the wrong side of the Internet like downloading? Since i work in the business of course I'm very much against the downloading, well we shouldn't actually get into this. [laughs]

Jesus: I ask because there is much more promotion because people can listen to so much more...

Patrick: And for that the Internet is the greatest thing, and is so good for promotion, despite the downloads of course, and you have these forums such as Facebook and Myspace and your home page and you link everything up... and if you compare it to 25 years ago, if we would have played with Treat at Firefest 25 years ago, you wouldn't have this kind of click on Youtube the day after, and its really good for us to have these forums for everything, promotion, despite the downloads [laughs]

Jesus: I have to admit the Spanish people have not got alot of opportunity to hear about hard rock and melodic rock, how did you find Spanish fans in this tour, and in Europe the promotion is not like the 80's do you think you are getting new fans?

Patrick: Yeah, for sure, definitely, and its much thanks to the Internet of course, it doesn't matter what music it is, its good for every kind of music, or any kind of information, if its news, or if its the volcanic ash [laughs] or whatever, and i am really amazed, and the whole band is amazed about the fans here in Spain, it was the same when we were in England, i didn't know that there were so many die hard fans there till we played at Firefest, and its the same here, great fans, its really good, i appreciate it.

Jesus: How was the start of the tour, tell me something about Pamplona? I am sure the people enjoyed the shows?

Patrick: Well, i didn't know much about Pamplona, is it a big city?

Jesus: No, not really.

Patrick: Because when we came here, at first it looked like a small village, very picturesque, with the vine district and it was like in a movie or something, with the church and it looked very old, and it was so very nice...

Jesus: Sometimes the gigs are in Pamplona as its near to the big cities and Bilbao...

Patrick: really terrific, really nice and very beautiful, and we were really amazed with the fans there, and the same with Madrid but Madrid is a really big city, but it was so amazing to come to this small village and all of a sudden the whole venue was full of fans, and it was really great!

Jesus: If the new album works great, will Treat continue to produce new Albums every 1 to 2 years?

Patrick: I'm not sure, i will leave that open, we just ended this one, perhaps, we will see...

Jesus: Can you tell me something about your influences, old and new favourite bands?

Patrick: Oh its very hard, its very individual, as i play the keyboards, i like alot of classical music, and bands like Deep Purple, Queen, The Beatles, for me actually its alot of Jazz, alot of classical composers, that's my kind of thing, and i cant answer for the other guys in the band, sorry.

Jesus: I think this interview is over, thanks alot, if you want to say something to the Spanish fans and fans that read the interview.

Patrick: Well i want to say I'm so grateful to be here, and we didn't want to cancel this tour, well you know about the volcanic ash, and they said we can get here by bus, which will take three days, and it was like oh god,well we have to do it as we have fans there, and it was really worth it, and we are really glad to be here and thanks to all the fans!

Interview by Jesús García Forés
Written by Claire Davis-Wilkinson