it's not every day you see a naked man on stage so Team Sonisphere grabbed a few minutes with Michael Jackson fanatic and Dead by April guitarist and singer Pontus Hjelm to investigate just before he got on his tour bus and headed off to play another gig.

We know you only put out your debut album in May, but considering the reaction in Sweden have you started work on the tricky second album?

It depends. I?ve been writing a lot of new stuff and have 10 new songs, but there?s no plan for the next album yet. I have no idea when it will come out.

What are you listening to on your tour bus at the moment?

Michael Jackson, metal bands, Gavin DeGraw and Justin Timberlake. In my opinion a good song is a good song and I don?t just like to get into one genre.

If you could play in any other band out there currently, which would it be?

I would love to be in Michael Jackson?s group, but of course it's not possible now. That would be a real dream.

How about if you could write one song in the history of music?

There are too many good songs, but Man In The Mirror maybe.

We think we know the answer to this, but who?s your greatest musical inspiration?

Michael Jackson, by far.

Let?s move on from Michael Jackson. Who?s your favourite metal band?

In Flames.

Some people describe your sound as melodic metalcore. How would you describe it?

We have metal influences and pop influences and things in between. Putting a label on it is really hard. We take metal to its extreme and pop to its extreme.

That?s a bit of a mouthful. Got anything more concise?

Emotional pop metal.

What?s the most embarrassing thing that?s happened to you on stage?

When we played in Finland I forgot what I was supposed to sing and just couldn?t find it, so I shouted something in panic that wasn?t very funny.

Finally, why was there a naked man on stage today?

He?s a friend from childhood and he does our merch. He has a need to be naked and does it on previous gigs and tours. He?s become a character.

Does he always run across the stage naked?

Not always, but he?d like too.