Recent interviews
Monolord spelade i Stockholm den 29:e maj, samma dag som nya skivan Neverending släpptes, och Metal Covenant passade då på att snacka en stund med trion bestående av sångaren och gitarristen Thomas Jäger, trummisen Esben Willems och basisten Mika Häkki.
Drygt 4,5 år sedan förra fullängdaren (Your Time To Shine). Vad har tagit så lång tid?
Thomas: Ja, livet, typ. Vi körde ju på rätt jäkla hårt ett tag och så kom pandemin och så försökte vi ju köra vidare, för vi var ju ute och turnerade under pandemin också. Men så efter det när allting stängdes ner igen så kändes det som att luften gick ur en lite. Jamen, passade på att göra lite annat liksom under tiden. Alla vi gjorde ju lite sologrejer och lite sådant. Så det var väl bara nyttigt med en liten paus, känns det som. Vi spelade ju live fortfarande, men det var ju inte lika mycket. Något år spelade vi bara en spelning och sedan dess har det ju bara varit festivalspelningar vi har gjort. Men nu börjar det ju smyga på sig lite igen.
När jag lyssnar på plattan så är det ju samma genre fortfarande, men kan man ändå säga att det är lite av en ny sida av bandet på den här nya plattan?
Thomas: Det har väl smugit sig in lite grejer kanske som inte har varit med innan. Men samtidigt så tror jag inte någon av oss riktigt tänker på hur det ska låta liksom, utan ”Så här låter det.” och så blir det så.
Esben: Det har varit så hela vägen, känns det som, från insidan. Det är alltid något annat från insidan än vad det är från utsidan. Så att vi har fått höra för nästan varje platta sedan den tredje (Rust), tror jag, ”Jaha. Det här var ett steg i en annan riktning.”. I alla fall jag upplever att det känns mer som att det är något som upplevs från utsidan mer än från insidan, så det är svårt att svara på. Det känns som en naturlig utveckling där vi är någonstans.
Mika: Det är ju ett stort kliv från den första plattan till hit, men när man följer utvecklingen genom alla skivor så tycker jag att det är en ganska naturlig riktning.
Thomas: Det värsta som någon skulle kunna säga är ju nästan att ”Det här låter ju precis som förra skivan.”. Då skulle jag tycka ”Fy fan vad tråkigt.”. Vissa band gör ju det, att det liksom alltid låter samma på varje skiva, och gör ju det skitbra. Men själv så tycker jag att om det inte händer något nytt så är det liksom inte så kul.
En sak som är skillnad är ju faktiskt längden på låtarna. Det finns ju några åttaminuters, men generellt sett så är det ju kortare låtar på den här plattan än vad jag är van med från er. Var det någonting ni överhuvudtaget tänkte på?
Thomas: Jag tänkte lite på det här. Jag har ju skrivit det mesta och jag kände väl att det är väl ganska befriande att göra tvärtom ibland bara. Och sedan så började det faktiskt, tror jag, med Iodine, som då är liksom under fyra minuter, och den är liksom mer rakt på sak och känns nästan mer som en rocklåt liksom, typ.
Mika: Vi pratade ju lite om det innan vi satte igång med att liksom färdigställa en platta. Vi sa ”Det blir ju kul att på något sätt testa vad man kan göra med en kortare tid också, för materialet är ändå liksom någorlunda samma, så att ge den samma effekt fast på en kortare låt blir en intressant utmaning.”.
Har det lite varit så tidigare då, att ”En längre låt, det är en bättre låt.”? Har ni tänkt så?
Thomas: Alltså, ibland är det ju roligt att liksom överdriva saker. Låten Vænir från skivan Vænir är ju 17 minuter eller någonting. Jag tror att den var 19 från början liksom.
Esben: Men det har också alltid varit att vi har lite skitit i längden. Så har jag upplevt det. Och då har det blivit långt för att de har behövt vara långa för att låten ska bli klar. Det behövs liksom det partiet och vi har inte velat kompromissa med det och då har kompromisslösheten gjort att då blir den 10 minuter lång. Låten får inte plats inom mycket kortare liksom.
Thomas: Är det ett lägre tempo, men man ska ändå hinna med liksom allt det här, då blir det ju naturligt att låten blir lång på något vis.
Mika: Och det är väldigt skönt att på något sätt gå vilse i musiken. Att man själv också när man spelar upplever samma som en publik gör, att man blir i någon form av trans nästan. Då blir det roligt.
Varför valdes låten You Bastard som första video? Då representerar ju den skivan först av alla låtar, så hur resonerade ni när valde just den?
Esben: Tror du svaret ligger i frågan? Den representerar plattan. Liksom, det fanns något i den.
Thomas: Alltså, om jag hade fått bestämma så hade det varit en låt på sin höjd som släpps så, men skivbolag tycker ju annorlunda. Så det är ju en sådan grej som de gärna vill vara med och… De lägger sig inte i så mycket annat, men just när skivan är klar, då vill ju…
Mika: De har en stark åsikt.
Thomas: Ja, om vissa saker, och då får vi ju lita på det. Men vi tillsammans hade ju kunnat välja vilken låt som helst och det hade varit okej med vilken som helst liksom.
Berätta om videon till den låten. Den är ju till stor del inspelad när ni står och spelar, om man säger så. Det fanns inga djupare tankar bakom den egentligen kanske, eller?
Mika: Nä, det var det ju inte. Vi hade ju en fantastisk fotograf med oss i studion som skulle dokumentera hela inspelningsprocessen. Han kom tidigt med i bilden. Fotade, och filmade väldigt mycket också. Och sedan när det blev lite snack om att han kanske då gör en video också, då följde han med mycket. Det finns ju ganska mycket material från när vi är utanför studion, när vi går och bowlar och sådant där. Så det kändes som en väldigt skön inblick i vårt liv i studion, men också att det inte bara är en spelvideo heller så det blir lite mer personligt.
Esben: Det var också första gången vi gjorde något på länge. Första gången vi var i inspelningsläget på länge, så det var lite av, comeback är för stort ord, men att vi visar att ”Nu är vi igång igen och det blir ett så skönt, direkt sätt att visa det på.”. Plus att det tar inte heller ifrån innebörden av texten i låten. Det pratade vi också om, för det kan ibland bli lite skitnödigt om man ska skildra något och skriva någon på näsan. Låten får liksom tala för sig själv och så får det bara vara en dagboksanteckning, att ”Det här är vi som har gjort det här i studion.”.
Thomas: Jag tror från början så skulle han bara vara där och dokumentera. Det var inte tänkt som video, utan efter en stund så bara ”Men har inte du jättemycket material här nu? Ska vi inte göra en video då?”. Så det tyckte väl alla inblandade var en bra idé.
På sista låten, It’s Neverending, har ni en gästsångare (Jörgen Sandström) också. Hur kom det sig till?
Thomas: På demon så skriker jag, men känner att det inte är min grej riktigt. Det tog alldeles för lång tid och jag blev alldeles för sliten i rösten. Jag känner ju Jonas Torndal som spelade i Grave och Jörgen har man ju träffat lite då och då också. Så vi satt i studion och funderade på vad vi skulle göra av det. Vi spelade in låten, tror jag, fast vi inte hade bestämt vem som skulle sjunga. Jag tror det var liksom nästan dags för mix och så hade vi liksom ingen sång på den låten än och så drog vi ett mess till Jörgen bara och så svarade han ”Ja, ja, det löser jag.”.
Nu ska vi snurra in lite på texterna. Då kanske jag vänder mig framför allt till dig då, Thomas. Berätta lite i stort vad texterna handlar om på plattan.
Thomas: Det är ju lite mer personliga texter. Innan så har det ju varit kritik mot religion och samhällskritik blandat. Det har ju också varit egna grejer i det, men väldigt diffust. Jag hade en period där jag behövde bearbeta saker bara, tror jag, och så kom det ut så liksom. Både musiken och texten egentligen, tror jag. Så både texten och musiken hänger ju lite ihop, känner jag själv. När man har personer i sin närhet som berättar om grejer de har gått igenom så kan det vara sådant som smyger sig in lite här och där. Man ser saker ur andras ögon lite. Så det är ju inte bara personliga prylar. Men det är rätt gött för att det är ändå ganska öppet för tolkning, vilket jag gillar.
Är du en sådan som samlar på dig idéer under en lång tid, eller sätter du dig ner och fokuserar?
Thomas: Jag brukar skriva ner saker när jag hittar någon fras eller något ord som jag tycker passar överens med någon slags bild och någon slags stämning. Jag har både i telefonen och anteckningsböcker och så där som jag går igenom när jag sitter fast.
Jag svänger över till plattans framsida. Finns det någon innebörd i den framsidan?
Mika: Oftast utvecklas det i samband med att man letar efter konst till skivor. Vi har alla alltid varit engagerade i varje platta när man börjar kolla efter ett skivomslag. Det är bara på första skivan (Empress Rising) som det är någon som faktiskt har gjort omslaget och jobbat med oss, men alla andra är färdiga konstverk som vi har kommit över på nätet, typ. Det är en väldigt rolig process att komma överens och hitta något som passar och då byggs det mer en betydelse för en själv helt enkelt.
Även fast det är redan färdiga verk så är ju omslagen faktiskt ganska olika varandra.
Esben: Det är helt medvetet. Vi har alltid jobbat med att vi vill liksom gärna vara utanför, vilken genre nu folk vill kalla det vi gör. (Skrattar) Vi gör saker som är lite otypiska för den typen av musik. Och vi tre har olika smak, så vi letar mycket efter någonting som alla gillar och det betyder också att det medvetet ofta blir väldigt öppet för tolkning. Det talar till mig på mitt sätt och det talar till Mika och Thomas på ett annat sätt, men alla tre gillar det från olika perspektiv. Och det var väl så med den här också, tänker jag. Det var någonting vi alla gillade och som på något sätt representerar vad plattan är för oss. Och sedan vad det är, det känns ganska öppet.
Man sätter ju inte direkt ett likhetstecken mellan medlemsbyten och Monolord. Hur, till skillnad från nästan alla andra band, lyckas ni ändå hålla ihop tillsammans?
Thomas: Jag tror att vi är jävligt envisa bara. Jag menar, det är ju som ett förhållande liksom när man är så nära varandra. Vill man spela tillsammans, då får man lösa problemet.
Esben: Vi började sent också. Jag tror det är en faktor någonstans. Jag var 40 när vi startade bandet liksom. Jag är 20 år äldre än de flesta är när de är mitt i ett band som det går bra för. Med någon sorts livsinsikt så tror jag alla tre vet vad vi har och hur värdefullt det är och hur värdefullt det är att kämpa för. Hade det här bandet varit det vi är nu när jag var 17 så vete fan hur det hade gått, för att vara helt ärlig. Det hade varit en annan resa än vad det är nu. Så det är många faktorer. Men jag håller med. Alltså, vill man spela så får man lösa skit. (Skrattar)
Många äldre band släpper ju inte ens skivor, för de tycker inte att det är värt det längre. Men ni verkar fortfarande ändå vilja vara hyfsat produktiva, men ni kommer ju inte bli stormrika på att släppa just själva plattan.
Esben: Fast den är en del av helheten. Den behövs för att göra det vi gör. Sedan om man inte tjänar pengar på själva plattan så tjänar man pengar på att plattan existerar. Plattans existens möjliggör det här. Utan den så hade vi inte kunnat åka på de här turnéerna till exempel. Så allting hänger ihop. Men det är riktigt. Man tjänar inte pengar på plattorna i sig längre, på samma sätt som vissa stora band gjorde på 80-talet. Det existerar ju inte riktigt, men det är mer ett visitkort, ”Det här finns.”.
Thomas: Det är ju framför allt den kreativa biten. Jag skulle inte kunna tänka mig att inte skapa. Man sitter ju med gitarr eller bas eller vad som helst dagligen hemma och gör någonting, och sedan bara ”Oj, jävlar, vad hände här?” och så blir det något annat eller ingenting.
Mika: Det är en kul resa när någonting kan skapas tillsammans och det blir en färdig skiva.
Av Tobbe – Publicerad 31:a maj 2026
Butcher Babies and Infected Rain were out on a co-headline run through Europe last month. Metal Covenant conducted two separate interviews with the bands’ respective frontwomen, Heidi Shepherd and Lena Scissorhands. The interview with Lena was published on May 11th. The interview with Heidi follows below.
You guys have released a few singles lately. Tell me about all those songs. Start with Black Dove.
You know, it’s so fun every time Henry, our guitar player, writes a banger. He is, and always has been, the main music writer of our band. Every time he writes a banger like that, he kind of disappears for a few days. And he’s in the studio writing, and I’ll walk by, but I’ll just hear the clank of his guitar for days, and I know he’s cooking a banger. And then he’ll show it to me, and I’m like, “Ah, that’s my new favorite Butcher Babies song.”, and that’s exactly what happened with Black Dove. The moment he showed it to me, I was like, “Okay, this one’s gonna rip.”. I was so excited about it when I heard it first, and I’m still super excited about playing it live. This is our first tour that we’ve been able to play it live. Something that’s just really exciting about it is that it’s kind of a little bit of our classic sound. Just kind of a throwdown song. Just a banger, you know. We always need at least one or two of those. It’s one of our favorites to play live right now.
Tell me about the video to that song.
My parents have a film studio. I grew up in film production. That’s what my dad does. So they have a studio, and we were so lucky my dad didn’t have it booked for a day, and so we went to Utah, and my brother filmed it. And we just wanted to make it super chaotic, kind of ‘90s / early 2000s style. And the color of that video is pretty much the main color of the album cycle. Like an orangish kind of red. It kind of just signifies kind of almost, I don’t know, like chaos to us. And so we wanted to just kind of turn it into some sort of early 2000s / ‘90s vibe. Some fisheye stuff. It ended up being really fun to make. I’ve been doing a lot of music videos with my family from the beginning. That one was just really fun. My brother filmed it, so it was like whole in-house. Just a family thing.
Next song, Lost in Your Touch. Tell me about that one.
The whole album actually is kind of just like a big love letter to my past. And I’m not just talking about, you know, the last couple years. I’m talking about, you know, 20 plus years ago. This one in particular was about 10 years ago, and there was a moment where I got to watch the love of my life fall in love with somebody else, and it was super close to home and right in front of my face. Not like he was doing it on purpose to be a jerk or anything, but it was just something that I was around to see, and it was one of those relationships that I was fighting to keep. I was wondering the whole time, you know, “Do they have the same emotional connection we do? Do they have the same memories? Does he think about this when he goes to this certain spot, which is like our spot?”. You know, kind of what everybody goes through in dealing with the one that got away type of scenario. It was 2015, and it was one of the wildest kind of, “Okay, I think I’ve figured out where I belong in my life in that aspect.”. It was a really difficult song to write because it’s written about my dude now. ‘Cause we’ve been together for 15 years, but we had a breakup, and in that breakup, and we’re in the same band, I got to watch him fall in love with somebody else. When I wrote it, I brought it to him, and he was like, “I’m really proud of you.”, because I turned something that was such a negative, and such a hard time in my life, and a hard time in our life, our lives together, into a positive. And so that song’s really special. It’s really special for us, so every night I get to play it, it’s almost like a little bit more of me heals. There’re a lot of songs on this album that are very healing. (Laughs)
And the video?
Oh, the video. My other brother filmed it. So my whole family’s in film.
How many brothers do you have?
I have three brothers. I’m the oldest of six kids. I have three younger brothers and two younger sisters. So one of my other brothers filmed it. He and my dad worked together on it. You know, my dad did the focusing, and my brother did the handheld. You know, breaking his back holding that big-ass camera. But it was really cool because it was just a full-on family production. There were just the band, my brothers, my dad, and me. It was really cool. I gave my brother the ideas, and he said, “I know exactly how to do this.”, so it was all really, really great. And I feel very lucky to have my family involved in the arts like that where I can rely on them to help me out with my vision.
Let’s go to a song that’s a little bit older, Sincerity. Tell me about that one as well.
Sincerity was actually written about my divorce. That was 20 plus years ago. There’s a line in the song that says, “Why’d you have to say that? I thought I saw the truth in your eyes.”, and that was based around me, ‘cause I’m the one who said it. He said to me at one point, “If you would have never brought up the word divorce, I never would have thought about it.”. I was 19 years old. I was young. I should never have been married in the first place. But I was. And I learned a lot of lessons from it. You know, it wasn’t something that is probably optimal. But in the society that I grew up in, in Utah… I mean, kids get married straight out of high school all the time and start their families. I grew up Mormon, and in the Mormon religion that’s what they do. So I thought that that was my plan. I thought that that’s what I was supposed to do. I got married, and right away… I knew before I got married I shouldn’t have done it, but I did because I was so young and just felt like that was what I needed to do. Of course, I’m grateful for the trajectory of my life and how it’s gone, but looking back at things like that and the lessons that I learned, that’s what Sincerity was about in the first place. Just about the cumulative lessons learned that kind of stemmed from that moment. My life changed in a blink of an eye. When I got a divorce, everything changed in my life. I left the Mormon church, I moved away from where I lived, I changed my life completely. My whole life changed because I decided, “You know what? None of this is for me. None of it.”. I decided to completely redirect everything. I had just gotten a divorce, I was a pro athlete and I broke my back, so athletics were out of the picture, my whole life was changing, and I decided to pursue music. Everything changed, for the good. But, you know, that was kind of the catalyst of it, “I need to watch my mouth and things that I say.”, and that started when I was young. Although I’m grateful for it now, it’s kind of, you know, a reminder.
And the video there as well.
Oh, the video was just so fun. We were just racking our brains of what to do. One of my favorite music videos is the Coldplay music video Yellow, and Henry says to me, “Why don’t we do a full one-take video?”, and I’m like, “All right, we’re doing it slo-mo.”. And we just tried to figure out somewhere cool to do it. We were on tour with Cradle Of Filth, and we had a day off, and we were in London, and we’re like, “Let’s go!”. So we went down into Piccadilly and bootlegged the video with one camera, one light, and did it. It was really fun. I do the editing for our videos, and the editing was really challenging because there were a lot of people waving, and stuff in the background, so I had to go in and take them out. Like digitally remove people. That was challenging. It was probably one of the most challenging editing things that I’ve had for any video because it’s a one-take. It’s fun though.
Do you think that these three songs overall show a new side of Butcher Babies, or are they in the traditional vein, in your own opinion?
I think it’s pretty traditional. Most of the writing process is the same. The difference is here that these stories aren’t bounced off anyone before they’re told. The only person I’m bouncing it off of is when it’s done being written. You know, then they hear it and I explain what it is. On all of our albums, like for instance, on our last released album in 2023 (Eye For An Eye… / …’Til The World’s Blind), you hear a song called Last December, which is a very emotional, a very open song about an incredibly dark time in my life about suicide, and then you also hear a song called Beaver Cage, which is just about party, party, party, party, party. You know, that’s kind of what we’ve done through our entire career. You know, there’s so many layers to us as people. I do believe that music is a snapshot of time of what we might be going through in our lives at the moment or what we’re thinking about. And this album is no different. The only thing I think that is different about this is that I started going to therapy in early 2024, something I should have done at a young age, and all of a sudden it started helping me remember these layers that I had kind of suppressed. So the difference here is that you’re hearing basically my therapy sessions in these songs. You’re hearing what I talked about, what I learned about myself, and what I learned about how to live my life in the future too.
What date will the album be out?
Oh, I don’t know yet. We’re going over that right now. It’s gonna be in the fall.
At that point it’s almost two years since Sincerity was out.
Yeah, it came out in November of 2024. So here is why. Sincerity was supposed to be a part of an EP. We had just signed with our label, and we were just gonna do an EP. And in January of 2025, I started my therapy sessions, and I just started writing so much, and I asked the label, “Would you be interested in maybe turning this into a full length instead of just an EP?”, and they were like, “Yes!”. So we put a hold on every other release, and that’s where the delay between releases came from. But yeah, it has been a long time.
And you participated on a new Stitched Up Heart song as well, Cannibal. Tell me about that song and tell me about the video as well while you’re at it.
Well, that was all them. That was all Stitched Up Heart. Mixi wrote that whole song. I was super grateful that she asked me to sing on it. That was her creation, with her producer, and she came up with the video and everything. So I was just super grateful to just be a part of it. Yeah, but the video was really fun. Up in some loft in Los Angeles and hanging out with my friends. I’ve been friends with Mixi since 2007. We’ve been really close for a long time, so it felt like it was like a natural union.
If you take this guest appearance aside and focus on other guest appearances, would you say that you would be doing guest appearances because of A) For the income. B) Just for the fun of it. C) To get some recognition for Butcher Babies?
I think most of the time if I’m doing a feature, like me featuring on someone else’s music, it’s because I either like the people, like the song, or feel like it’s a team effort in some sort of way.
So none of my A, B, C.
None of the above. Sorry. Yeah, D – None of the above. (Laughs)
Are guest appearances more important to the artists themselves, or is it really important for the fans as well? What’s your take on this?
I did a feature on an Infected Rain song (The Realm Of Chaos) several years ago. 2021, I think is when it was. And a lot of people knew that Lena and I were friends ‘cause we are neighbors (in Las Vegas). And we post about it all the time. In 2020, when the world was shut down, we spent almost every day together. And we were posting about it. We did hikes together, movie nights, dinners. Like this was our little pandemic family. You know, the fans wanted to see us do stuff, like, “You guys should do a song together.”. So we did it. And then it turned into, “You guys need to tour together.”. So we’re doing it. (Laughs) But it’s also a huge plus for us ‘cause we get to tour with friends and do songs with friends. I get to get up and sing that song with them every night, which, you know, five years later is just so much fun. You know, the song still has a life of its own. I think features are really fun because we get to bring our worlds together. They’ve been doing it for so long in hip-hop, and it has kind of just within the last, I don’t know, probably like five or six years, become more valued, I’d say, in the rock and metal world.
Just out of curiosity. Your clean voice is perfectly fine. So when did you decide to also sing with a harsh voice?
Oh, my mom says it’s ‘cause I was an angry teenager. (Laughs) I don’t know. I mean, I started doing that kind of stuff by myself when I was, like, in high school, just driving around screaming in the car, listening to metal when my mom told me I wasn’t allowed to. She would always find my CDs and break them. Like there’s a classic story of my mom finding a Korn CD in my closet, and she’s like, “I will not have this satanic shit in my house.”. She didn’t say shit ‘cause she doesn’t swear. She doesn’t even say crap, so, “I will not have this satanic stuff in my house.”. Broke the CD in front of my face. But, you know, my mom really loves Korn now. She’ll stand side stage and watch them. She loves it. But back in the day, I think that this music gave me a channel for how I felt inside, and I would just drive and scream along to my favorite bands as a kid, and I think that that’s where my screaming came along. But I didn’t really evolve it until I decided to do it for real.
So in those early days, how did that screaming work out for you? Did it sound awful or good?
I had the music turned up, I don’t know. (Laughs) I was just like, “Dig through the ditches and burn through the witches. I slam in the back of my Dragula.”. I was just screaming to Rob Zombie, I was screaming to Slipknot, I was screaming to Korn, and to Limp Bizkit. Like all the bands that just spoke to me as a kid. I didn’t listen to myself though. That’s how I would take out my anger. (Laughs)
And those bands you mentioned. Do they in any way influence and inspire you up to this day?
Of course, of course. I mean, I’m a nu metal kid. I was born in ‘85, so I grew up in the late ‘90s, and early 2000s is when I kind of found my love for this genre, and those were the bands that introduced me to it. Of course, I found everything prior to those bands afterwards. I’m forever influenced by… I mean, even with the song Korn released the other day (Reward The Scars), I was like, “Oh, that’s different.”. And I think what is so influential is the longevity and that they’re able to still go out there and reinvent themselves. I mean, Papa Roach is such a classic example of that too. A band that is constantly reinventing themselves to the number 1 slot. It’s so cool to see. The fact that these bands are just still out there headlining these stages, still out there playing these shows is so inspirational to me. I just turned 41 the other day and I feel like a spring chicken on this stage. I feel like I’m still able to go out there and play like I did when I was 28, and I think that has a lot to do with watching my idols do it.
By Tobbe – Published May 20th, 2026
Infected Rain and Butcher Babies were on a co-headline run in Europe last month. Metal Covenant conducted two separate interviews with the bands’ respective frontwomen, Elena “Lena Scissorhands” Cataraga and Heidi Shepherd. First off is Infected Rain below. The interview with Butcher Babies publishes in about a week.
Tell me about the new song, Stranger, which you put out on March 19th.
We released it right before the tour just like a little treat for our fans. It’s like a little taste of what’s going on and what we are brewing at the moment. It’s a personal song. It has a lot going on on a personal level, on a human level, and I felt like sharing this new sensation that I am experiencing for the past years. And also I realized that it’s actually a very common feeling that people have. I’m specifically talking about becoming strangers to ourselves. You know, that feeling when you can’t recognize yourself in the mirror. Like not because of age, and not because of being tired, or didn’t sleep enough, but just because somehow, somewhere on your path of pleasing people, pleasing society, pleasing loved ones, and so on, you somehow forgot what you are, and what you stand for, and what exactly is your opinion here. So yeah, this is Stranger.
Usually I say that a lot of people keep thinking too much about what other people think about them.
Exactly. And it’s such a waste of time, isn’t it? I had to learn that in the first years of my career as a musician, because for the first time I was exposed to the world on that level, even though we’re obviously talking about super little levels, but it was a huge shock for my system, for my identity even, you know, because everybody had an opinion about me all of a sudden, and they are complete strangers that never met me and they are so sure that I’m like this or like that, you know. And I cared. I cared so much for it. I was like, “I’m part of a band and I don’t want people to think wrong things about me because it will reflect on the band.”. It was so much going on. So many sleepless nights, and worries, and unnecessary stress. And then eventually I made peace with it, and I realized that you cannot control people. You cannot control how they see you, you cannot control their behavior, and so I stopped caring about strangers’ opinion about me. If someone really, really cares to know you better, they will know you better.
When you guys had those lyrics and the full idea to that song, was it kind of easy to get the theme to the video that comes with the song?
Yes, it was easier, because we just loved this idea of taking off a mask. But then it became more challenging while we were creating the whole storyline of the video and all the details, because then we were like, “Okay, but it has to be still your face.”. So it became quite tricky to create that mask. In fact, it was so well done. Different people, different artists worked on it. In my opinion it was so well done, because when the first images went online everybody thought it was AI. Everybody thought it was created digitally and it wasn’t really a thing until they saw the video. And yeah, that was fun. It was a lot of fun. They scanned my face and they built the mask based on my facial proportions, sizes, and so on. Which was really tricky. A few millimeters off, it looks like a different person. It’s so interesting.
Do you think that this song in any way shows a new side of Infected Rain, or is it more like traditional to you still?
Both, I think. I think it’s a good mix of both. We are still us, we are still the Infected Rain that people know, that people have heard, hopefully, already before. But at the same time we change, you know. We change as people, as musicians, hopefully to the best. You know, we always try to become better versions of ourselves the more time passes. And I think that Stranger is a good representation of a newer, fresher sound and look of the band, but still maintains the core of what we’ve been doing previously.
Will this song end up on the next album?
Yes, we think so. I mean, we can’t say 100 percent yet, but it’s been loved by people so much. And we are not hurrying with the new album. We already have so many new songs, and maybe we’ll have just as many more in a month, or in three months, or in half a year. We’ll see. We shall see. We’re taking a little bit of a different approach with this album. We don’t have a date yet, but it’s definitely gonna be out next year.
What is the biggest motivating factor for you guys to release another record?
I think it’s quite personal, actually, because we are big fans of our own music, and we love being creative, and we love being productive. We don’t like just sitting and doing nothing, you know. If you see us when we are not on tour, we work so much on multiple aspects of the band. So I think it’s personal. We really love being creative, and we just write, and eventually we’re like, “Okay, let’s work on a new record.”.
And when you write new songs, do you often agree on what comes out with a song, or do you have different opinions on songs?
We often have different opinions, but that doesn’t mean that we disagree on things. Having different opinions on the same theme, especially in our little Infected Rain family, is more like having the same view in different colors. You know, it’s almost like one person brings the idea and the others garnish it, and so on. Or multiple people bring the idea, and multiple people still garnish it. We have a saying, “One head is very good, but multiple heads thinking together on the same project is so much better.”. Because you might miss certain things and certain details, and maybe somebody will give you that one idea that made a difference, you know.
Do you sometimes struggle with writing lyrics to songs because you can’t find the correct words to the correct song?
No, but I do definitely have some songs that take longer. And the reason is because I write separately from music all the time. I just put ideas down all the time. So basically like little poems or just ideas on a paper, you know. They might become songs; they might not become songs. When the band gives me the music, the raw music that they are working on, whether it’s one song or multiple, it takes me a while first to understand the theme, the atmosphere, the energy of what’s going on. And once I do, I know what I wanna talk about, and even if I didn’t have that developed completely into a whole poem, I’ll sit there and I’ll work on it. Sometimes I can finish the lyrics in one day, sometimes in weeks, ‘cause I really like to play with words and be very tedious about certain phrase structures. Yeah, it depends. I never really rush with it. But some songs do write faster than others. I’m sure musically, for musicians that play instruments, it’s quite the same. Sometimes you get super inspired and you can put down a whole thing, and sometimes certain songs need more time.
And do you remember which album was the most difficult to make?
The first one, for me specifically, because I’d never been in a different band before Infected Rain. And in the first album especially, I was specifically singing, and performing, and doing what my musicians were asking me to do, because I didn’t know what it meant to compose music. I was only bringing lyrics, because I wrote lyrics and little poems since I was 14. So it was quite easy for me to just write lyrics. But I needed help with applying lyrics to the songs, of course, so my musicians would sit with me and look through my lyrics and try to compose the vocal parts together. It was math for me. It still is, but I’m a bit more familiar with, “Okay. This is how it makes me feel. This is what I wanna go for. I’m gonna try out this.”, and then I’ll see if I like it or not. Back then it was quite difficult because I couldn’t understand if I even liked it. I didn’t know if it was okay what I was doing at all. So the first album was the most difficult for me, I guess.
Now we’re talking albums here, but can you see Infected Rain becoming a non-album band someday and just release standalone singles instead?
I don’t think that’s, how to say it?, a specific goal or a specific idea that bands go for. I think what it is is just like moments. So I totally can see a single here and there released without the expectation of an album. But will we ever just stop doing albums and just release songs? I don’t know. Maybe. You know, never say never. Because times change. Everything changes. The way people listen to music changes, the way people react to music changes, the way people go to shows changes. So I mean, never say never. I don’t think it’s a bad thing or a good thing. It’s just a thing, you know. So I’m not sure.
You’re out on tour for over 10 weeks now. What’s the most difficult with being on the road for over 70 days and what’s the most difficult with not being home?
Oh, there is a big list. (Laughs) Well, of course, the answer is in your question. It’s not being home. Because literally being on tour is… You’re uncomfortable all the time. You know, you miss your bed, you miss your toilet (Laughs), you miss your kitchen, you miss your friends, your family, your significant others. That’s literally the most difficult part of being on tour. Now, once you make peace with it and you get used to the new routine, then I guess the difficult part would be the expectations of certain fans. Sometimes I feel like the expectations are super high, and you almost feel guilty for not meeting those expectations. Like at a meet and greet, or during the show, sometimes it’s visible that you’re, I don’t know, tired, or that you’ve not been sleeping enough. Sometimes it’s visible, and people ask you, “What’s wrong with you?”. I wanna say so many things, but I don’t. (Laughs) I’m like, “Nothing is wrong. I’m all good. Everything’s okay.”. But in reality, really nothing is wrong, but it’s such physical work. And it’s not just the show. The performance itself is actually the highlight of any musician, because that’s what we are here for, and no matter how tired you are, no matter how weak or strong you feel today, you perform and you give your best. But the difficult part is everything else besides the show. Like even doing interviews, for example, is not an easy thing to do on tour. Like I was literally putting my eyelashes on when I found out that I have an interview. I was like, “Oh, my God. One second.”. But you know, normally I always know in advance and I get ready. Even our friends sometimes are like, “Well, but you’re free all day. Your show is in the evening.”, and I’m like, “I don’t think you understand.”. The moment I wake up, I have things to do. So many things to do. So, it’s something you can get used to, of course, but is it easy? No, it’s not. And it’s not for everybody. Musicians and crew members, it’s hard work. It’s harder than people think. And I’m not trying to complain. I’m just trying to be real with people. I love it. This is my favorite job on the planet. No matter how difficult, I would never change it for anything else, you know. It’s a dream come true to travel the world and share your art with complete strangers that are there and feel like you and can connect with you. But is it an easy job? An easy job is maybe to go every day to… I don’t even know if there’s an easy job. Every job is difficult. I imagine an easy job is to go somewhere in the nature, and work in the nature, and bring your computer, and not be connected to any office or any other people. That would be easy, you know. But I don’t think there are easy jobs. Every job has its difficulties and difficulties.
You’re talking about touring life, and you love being a musician, but do you kind of feel also that you’re living in the now and not worrying too much about what will happen in the future? Because maybe in 30 years, who knows what will happen?
Well, that’s my choice. And maybe it’s gonna be very sad, or maybe it’s gonna be very happy because I actually lived in the moment. I don’t know. I had a very close relative pass away when I was 21, and it really opened my eyes to how short life can be. She was only 37 at the time, and to me that was life changing, and I’m very sad that a death had to happen to change your life like this, but since that moment and since the realization of how short life can be, I just chose to live today because you cannot change your past and you cannot predict the future. Maybe your life will end tomorrow, maybe your life will end in 10 years, 30 years, 50 years. Who knows? No one knows how much we have left. So why should I worry exactly about things that aren’t in my control? It’s just a choice. And I know being in this industry, specifically in the metal industry, is quite challenging and quite unpredictable for your future. You think, “When I’ll be old, will my music bring food on my plate still? Will I need to find another job?”. I don’t wanna think about those things. No, I don’t want to. I’ll figure it out. Of course, it’s good to have a little bit of a plan for the future, but worry too much about the future and be like, “How are you gonna look when you’re old with all these tattoos you’re getting while you’re young?”… When I’ll be old, I won’t give a shit about what my skin looks like. I want a tattoo now and I’ll get it. I wanna be a musician now and I’ll do my best to be a musician now, you know. And hopefully this can change my future in the best way possible as well. But no one can predict it. Look how every day changes. No matter what your job is, you cannot predict your future. I will definitely not have a pension given to me by a government ‘cause of my choice of career. But I’ll figure it out. I’ll be 40 this year. I don’t know where time flew. But I take it with open arms and I’m not ashamed or afraid of my age. I’ll just be what I can be in the moment. That’s all. Sometimes I feel like I’m 20, sometimes I feel like I’m close to 40, but certain lifestyle changes can really make you feel better. So that’s all on you.
A little tougher question. Will you someday go back to being a five-piece again?
Well, again, never say never. Maybe one day. Honestly, we feel very, very comfortable to be four people on stage. There’s just some sort of balance having the drummer and then three people in front. It’s so much easier on stage, so much more balanced. If you ask my guitar player, he will say, “Yes, of course.”, but I am always saying, “No, please. We feel so comfortable without extra people.”. But sometimes I watch bands that have multiple instruments on stage, and I’m like, “Wow! This sounds so amazing.”, like with the violin, and other musicians doing so much more, and, like, creating so much more to the music layers. So I don’t know. Never say never. But we definitely don’t plan it in the close future.
But did you guys actually tell a true version of why the brothers left the band? (Bass player Vladimir Babich and guitarist Sergey Babich left Infected Rain in 2023.)
We did. But we didn’t go into details. We didn’t. But we never lied to anybody. We were way too different. Our paths were already separating for years. Like they had one specific goal with being in a band and being musicians, and we had completely different goals. Doing the same job, but having different goals, eventually became a problem. But I mean, we are not gonna go into details because those are personal things, and we would like to keep them personal for the respect of the many years that the Babich brothers gave to Infected Rain, and as well for the respect of fans that have a big place in their heart for them as musicians and as human beings. It’s just not fair. I don’t see the point, you know. And a lot of fans were very hurt and upset with us, and I remember making a statement and asking everybody to be respectful. People have lives to live, people have careers to pursue, and it’s just unfair to get into details, and, you know, like in any family, there are sometimes people that you can be super cool with your entire life, and sometimes there are people in your own family that you’re not very comfortable around anymore because your visions of life or visions of family itself are way too different. So it’s okay, you know. I have some relatives that are not my favorite people on this planet. I still see them, I still gladly spend time with them, but just a little bit at the time. (Laughs) So this is how it became for us.
By Tobbe – Published May 11th, 2026