July 2025
The Night Flight Orchestra spelade på Gröna Lund i Stockholm härom veckan och Metal Covenant passade på att prata med sångaren Björn ”Speed” Strid om en handfull band han är del av eller har lånat sin röst till.
Den 31:a januari släpptes plattan Give Us The Moon. Börjar det bli svårare nu med nya skivor att få dem att kämpa mot de andra skivorna ni redan har gjort och som är lite mer inkörda hos fansen?
Jamen, det är alltid en välkommen utmaning, kan jag känna. Man vill alltid spöa sig själv. Och det är alltid en drivkraft i det. Alltså, man vill ju känna det också. Det som jag har pratat om mycket såklart är att senaste plattan är ju speciell, eftersom det är den första utan David (Andersson), som startade bandet. Bara det i sig själv var ju en enorm utmaning. Fokuset låg någonstans att ta med sig hans liksom arv och vad jag har lärt mig av honom och jag ville också göra någonting som är mer upplyftande, mer positivt, efter allt det vi har gått igenom med honom och saknaden efter honom och allt det där liksom. Så det blir en jäkla känslo-cocktail av det. Ja, det är ju inte lätt att göra en Night Flight-platta. Det ska gudarna veta. Men samtidigt kan jag känna att det är väldigt organiskt, liksom hela grejen, och det ligger så mycket kärlek i det. Och man investerar extremt mycket känslor i låtskrivandet, så att man är liksom helt slut när det är klart. Och då kan man känna sig lite tom också.
Men vad är det mer då som gör det så invecklat att skriva för Night Flight? Jag menar, det är ju ett gäng rutinerade musiker som ni är.
Ja, jo, precis. Även om vi går väldigt mycket på känsla, att det är väldigt organiskt och inte särskilt beräknande, utan vi vill gå på vad man gillar, vad som skapar bilder i huvudet när man skriver melodier och det här som man mår bra av eller som skapar gåshud liksom. Det är det. Det här bandet är så jävla mycket gåshud. Det är det faktiskt. Alltså, det är enkelt fast det är svårt. Det är inget man slänger ihop bara. Det är konsten att göra något som talar ganska direkt, men där arrangemangen är ganska komplexa emellanåt. Och det handlar inte om virtuositet, utan var sak har sin plats. Man ska ge låten den uppmärksamheten den förtjänar, med alla delar, och så ska det sitta ihop, och så vill man också göra en platta. Det, kan jag känna, kanske blir svårare och svårare, att göra en hel platta, för att ibland känns det som att man lägger ner så fruktansvärt mycket energi och sedan så lyssnar folk bara på singlarna ändå, eller så lyssnar de bara på första halvan av plattan och så går streamarna ner. Och det är ju lite trist. Så det får man liksom någonstans bara försöka glömma, för att det är ganska känslodödande på något sätt i processen när man sitter och tänker ”En skiva. Och så vill vi ha en sådan låt. Jag vill att det ska blomma ut där. Jag vill att den ska reagera på den låten.”. Och så börjar man tänka ”Jamen fan, kanske är det så att folk inte kommer lyssna på den då?”. Man måste bara slå bort det, för att det finns de som gör det. Det finns de som är som mig själv, och de kommer alltid finnas. Så vi kommer verkligen försöka att göra plattor så länge det bara går, och det tror jag att vi kommer klara för att vi har tagit igenom oss väldigt mycket och har haft många utmaningar. Så det är fortfarande det man vill göra. Någonting som sitter ihop och någonting som skapar någon mening. Samtidigt som vi kan tala väldigt direkt och det kan vara väldigt enkelt och jävligt dansant, så är vi liksom inte så överpretentiösa heller. Jag tycker vi dansar där lite på en linje liksom som är ganska intressant.
Du berättade just att du tyckte att det var lite svårare nu att skriva musik till Night Flight, men tidigare har du berättat för mig att ni ju egentligen skriver musik hela tiden. Så då kommer jag att fråga en lite fräck fråga så här ganska kort efter Give Us The Moon kom ut. Har ni mycket material klart till nästa skiva till och med, även den här gången?
Det kan vara så att vi kanske har något singelmaterial, men sedan om det är liksom en del av en ny platta, det vet jag inte än. Jag tror vi var ganska utpumpade efter att ha släppt den här plattan, för det var liksom en stor grej som vi fick gå igenom. Och sedan behöver man nog en liten paus. Men jag känner att det börjar klia lite grann igen liksom. Det ena behöver inte utesluta det andra. Vi kan släppa någon singel, vi kanske kan släppa någon mini-EP, eller vad som helst, och sedan kan vi ändå släppa en hel platta. Det är en kreativ orkester. Det var tråkigt när det blev så förutsägbart också, så här ”Albumcykel. Okej. Nu ska vi vänta tills vi ska göra en skiva.”. Va fan. Vi kör bara lite på känsla.
Hur går det utomlands för Night Flight? Är det främst i Sverige och kanske i Tyskland som ni kanske funkar bäst?
Tyskland är bra. Finland är också ganska bra. Sedan var vi i Sydamerika på turné. Frankrike är bra. England är bra. Det är väl dem. Sedan är det svårt att säga.
Men är det i Tyskland man får mest stålar i plånboken?
(Andas ut) Aa, mest folk. Det blir inte något att stoppa in i madrassen där liksom. Nämen, vi drar väl mest folk där.
Vi hoppar snabbt till Soilwork. Apropå albumcykel. Förrförra skivan, Verkligheten. Efter den släppte ni två EP tills Övergivenheten kom. Den här gången har ni släppt en singel, men det är ganska länge sedan…
Ja, det var i samband med turnén vi gjorde där i oktober med In Flames och Arch Enemy.
…men kan det komma att ni gör någon EP igen innan nästa fullängdare kommer ut och köra samma sak igen?
Nä, nu är vi fokuserade på en fullängdare. Nu har vi tramsat färdigt. (Skrattar) Nä, men det känns som att det finns något där. Så det är det jag fokuserar på. Jag har skrivit tre nya låtar och sedan om just de låtarna kommer med på skivan, det vet jag inte. Jag har skrivit tre nya låtar som jag är ganska nöjd med. Rasmus har skrivit en låt också, och jag vet att Simon är igång, och Sylvain drar igång det franska maskineriet snart också. Jamen, det händer lite grejer på alla håll och kanter.
Och vad händer med en låt som Spirit Of The Return? Kommer den bara leva sitt eget liv? Hur känner man för en sådan låt?
Det är svårt när man släpper en singel och så hinner man bli ”trött” på den själv. Och sedan när man ska släppa en fullängdare, då känns det lite så här ”Fan, ska den verkligen vara med eller ska den stå för sig själv?”. Och det är inget fel i det liksom. Nä, jag vet inte. Jag har inget svar på det. Men jag gissar att den… Nä, jag säger ingenting så har jag ingenting sagt. Det känns som att man inte vet om den kommer att passa in. Men det kanske den gör. Vi får se.
Nighthawk, som du är medlem i, släpper ju också en ny skiva inom kort. Kan du berätta lite om den skivan?
Det är ett studioprojekt som egentligen inte tar någon tid överhuvudtaget. Vi samlas när det finns tid och så spelar vi in oftast i en väldigt känd studio. Det har blivit ett koncept. Vi började med Abbey Road. Vi repade två dagar och vi spelade en pubspelning någonstans i London innan vi gick in i Abbey Road. Vi spelade in allting live på tre dagar. Sedan var det då Rockfield i Wales, också en väldigt känd studio. Så jag vet inte vad som händer nästa gång. Vi snackade om Hansa, men jag vet inte. Så det är ett väldigt kul projekt, när det finns tid. Nu är det ett tag sedan. Det är ju mer än ett år sedan vi var i Rockfield, så det har ju tagit tid för det här liksom. Men kul att den kommer ut nu. Men det är ett gäng jävligt trevliga människor och Robert Majd är en grym snubbe. Väldigt driven. Jag brukar komma hem till honom några dagar innan. Han har text och han har liksom embryon och så blir det ofta att jag försöker göra sångmelodier av det. Och sedan repar vi lite grann och sedan går vi in i en studio. Så det är ganska spontant. Det är kul att se saker växa. Det händer ganska mycket på ganska kort tid.
Alltså, du är ju känd givetvis från Soilwork från början, som är ganska hård metal, men precis som Night Flight är ju Nighthawk inte heller någon riktig heavy metal.
Nämen, jag är en jävla kameleont där liksom. Jag kan göra massor olika grejer. Jag tycker det är kul att utmana mig själv. Det är mycket av det här, såklart, som jag lyssnar mycket på också liksom. Det finns ju gammal Rainbow där och lite så här klassisk Hammond-hårdrock. Det är alltid gött.
At The Movies. En annan grej du sjunger i. Det är ju några år sedan en skiva kom ut. Januari 2022 faktiskt. Finns det någon plan där som du vet om för en tredje skiva?
Det finns absolut ingen plan, och det fanns aldrig en plan överhuvudtaget, och det är det som jag tycker är så kul med det projektet, att det var väldigt spontant. Det har kommit upp folk till mig ”Vad du gjorde med At The Movies, det är smart grabben. Det är riktigt bra. Hur gjorde du det?”, men det fanns ingen plan. Du vet, så här ”Ni hade en bra affärsplan.” och bara ”Nä, det var bara i stunden.”. Det var Chris Laney som drog ihop det, och han hörde av sig till mig, och så sa han ”Ska vi inte göra något? Jag är uttråkad. Jag tänkte vi ska göra lite soundtrack från 80-talet i hårdrocksversioner.”. Vi började med No Easy Way Out och det slutade med att folk älskade det här och satt och väntade varenda torsdag när vi släppte en ny låt. Folk satt och spekulerade vilken låt det skulle bli. Det gjorde så många människor väldigt glada. Det var en jävla kick alltså. Det var kul. Och jättekul att spela in också. Och sedan ett jäkla bra gäng. Men alla har ju sitt liksom. Chris Laney är igång nu med Pretty Maids ganska mycket och sedan Linnéa Vikström med Thundermother och sedan så Pontus Norgren med HammerFall.
När Night Flight drog igång, då blev ju alla förvånade, men At The Movies är också en grej som jag blev förvånad över.
Nämen, det är kul att överraska. Det blir väldigt kul. Det är kul att överraska sig själv också, ja, ”Fan, det har jag ingen aning om om jag klarar av. Men jag vill testa.”. Så det är kul.
Ett band som står dig lite närmare, Donna Cannone. Är du fortfarande med i bandet?
Nja. Alltså, jag skriver låtar. Jag kör inte så mycket live. Man har inte så mycket tid till det.
Men du måste ändå berätta hur det är att ha sin fru (Giorgia Carteri) i samma grupp.
Nämen, det är ju ganska häftigt när man står där och repar. Just att spela gura också för omväxlingens skull och inte stå och sjunga någonting. Det har varit ganska häftigt och så står man där liksom ”Vänta. Det här är min fru som spelar gura.”. Det är coolt.
Act Of Denial, med skivan Negative som släpptes för fyra år sedan…
Nej, men det tar vi inte ens upp, för jag är så trött på att Act Of Denial tar upp att jag är permanent medlem. För jag är inte det. Det är så sjukt hur de lyckas ta sig in överallt. Jag har gjort tusentals projekt och det här jävla bandet ska alltid lyckas, så här ”Hur går det med Act Of Denial?” och ”Jag är inte medlem där.”. Jag gör jättemycket sessioner. Men det blir jättebra. De är jätteduktiga och allt det där.
Jag hade faktiskt en fråga, men nu behöver du kanske inte ens svara på den. Är det ett riktigt band egentligen?
Nej, det är det inte. Det är ett projekt som alla andra. Eller jag kanske kommer göra en platta till, men det är verkligen ett projekt. Jag gör liksom många andra projekt och sessionsgrejer som inte får hälften så mycket uppmärksamhet och det blir så irriterande. Hela tiden dyker det upp, ”Act Of Denial.”. Varför får de sådan uppmärksamhet hela tiden? Det är ju liksom inte annorlunda från någonting annat. Jag vet inte om det är någon som har pyntat någon jävla publicist eller någonting. Det är liksom… Men det är jättebra snubbar. Det vill jag bara säga. (Skrattar)
Då måste jag också fråga om ett annat roligt band, Gathering Of Kings. Du har sagt förut att du inte var involverad i det längre. Gäller det fortfarande?
Efter första plattan så kände jag att jag inte hann med det, för det började bli lite andra gig med det. De började säga ”Ska vi köra i Tyskland?”. Jag tänkte ”Jag kan vara med på plattan, men jag känner att jag inte kan köra andra grejer.”. Då tackade jag för mig. Sedan var jag med i januari när de skulle göra ett jubileum. Då var jag med och sjöng de här låtarna som är med på första plattan. Så det var jävligt trevligt.
Av Tobbe – Publicerad 31:a juli 2025
Riot V’s Donnie Van Stavern talked to Metal Covenant a couple of hours after the band’s show at Time To Rock Festival in Southern Sweden in the beginning of July.
You started with the Tequila quite early today.
Oh yeah. It was weird. I was saying that too. I was telling the guys, “It’s 1.45 (PM). I should come out with coffee.”. Yeah, it was a little early for that. But I mean, it’s not just drinking it; it’s the whole Riot thing. We’re known for Tequila. We have three or four songs with Tequila, and I use the bottle to represent Mark Reale, that passed away. I do it every show, you know. I crack it open, I cheers him, give him a little heart, “This is for you.”, and do it. It’s just been tradition. You know, 8 o’clock at night or 1.45, “Tequila.”. (Laughs)
You played kind of a different set today, starting with five songs from Fire Down Under.
The promoter sometimes wants a Fire Down Under set, or a Thundersteel set. I said, “Well, let’s do this.”. There’s a couple on Fire Down Under that we didn’t do. Mark didn’t write them, and they’re not really in the same kind of feel with what we’re doing. So we did the songs we normally do (Swords And Tequila, Fire Down Under, and Outlaw.), but we added two extra, Don’t Hold Back and Altar Of The King. So I said, “That fits. Let’s do this. Right in a row, Fire Down Under stuff.”. And then when we finish, we go right into Thundersteel, you know. So it has both vibes. It has the old school and the new school, so that’s kind of why we did it like that. Then we intertwined with older ones towards the end of the night, so. We have too many records.
It was six years between Armor Of Light and your last album, Mean Streets, so won’t we see another new album from Riot until 2030?
Well, what happened in that big time off was a few things. That was the Covid time a little bit, and bands were recording and trying to release, but we were going like, “Well, the record stores aren’t really open, you have to do online, and you can’t really promote it.”. Because there were too many restrictions everywhere. So we were going like, “Do we wanna put out an album, and then we can’t play here, we can’t play there?”. So that’s why we were kind of like, “Well, it’s kind of strange, so let’s wait.”. And in that time, we ended up switching labels. Nuclear Blast made an offshoot, Atomic Fire, which got picked up by Reigning Phoenix, so we got there. So that took a little time to do that. So by the time the Covid thing was wearing off, we got signed to a new label, and all that time we wrote music, like 20 songs, and then we ended up picking the best dozen, like we always do. So that’s what took so long. The next one, we’re already working on music, ‘cause the label was like, “Let’s try to get a record out in 2026.”. So we’re gonna have something sooner than 2030.
When you write songs, is Thundersteel still kind of the model for songwriting for you?
Yeah. Well, when we kept going… You know, when Mark passed away. You know, I was the original member of Thundersteel, even though I actually joined the band in ’84. I got to play with Sandy (Slavin) on drums and Rhett (Forrester) singing. So when we got together, we recorded stuff that’s on Thundersteel. We recorded Sign Of The Crimson Storm with Rhett and Sandy. And so we had that, and we were shopping the labels and stuff, and at that time, Sandy wasn’t into the more aggressive, heavy stuff, so that’s when me and Mark moved back to New York. We got Bobby Jarzombek, and then we got Tony Moore to sing. So that’s when Riot kind of went from their hard rock to power metal, ‘cause when I joined I was in a previous band, a Texas Slayer, and I was into that kind of metal. So me and Mark started writing songs like that, Flight Of The Warrior, Johnny’s Back, with a little technical, and kind of power metal, and stuff like that. So that’s kind of like where I was at with this. And so when we regrouped, way after the (Mike) DiMeo years and those records they did, Bobby and Mark came back and said, “A lot of people when we’re at meet and greets, when we’re talking to people, they, ‘Dude. Get the Thundersteel back together.’”. And Bobby was out with Halford, Sebastian Bach, and Fates Warning. He goes, “When I’m at meet and greets, ‘Thundersteel. Get it back together.’”. And Mark was doing that other version with Mike Tirelli, and they were going, “Dude. Thundersteel.”. So they called me, and they said, “Let’s get it back going.”. Tony Moore was a little hard to get. But we got Tony Moore back, and we got it back together, and we did that Immortal Soul. And so we came back with Thundersteel, and Mark was already getting sick, so, you know, during Immortal Soul, he didn’t play a lot on it. Like, four songs, and Mike Flyntz did the rest of them. So we ended up doing Immortal Soul, and that’s kind of picking up where we left off with Privilege Of Power and all that kind of stuff. And then unfortunately, you know, Mark started getting sick. He had Crohn’s disease. He was staying with me for a while, and I had to run him to the hospital here and there. He was very sick. We ended up doing that 70,000 Tons Of Metal, and when we were there at the boat, there was no Mark, and we were like, “Where’s Mark?”. I said, “Dude. Where are you at?”. And he was sick. He goes, “I’m gonna try to make it.”. He was going, “If I’m not there, you all just play without me.”. So we got on the ship, and we played our first set, it docked, we went to play the second set, we got the phone call. Killed us. A friend of ours, a tour manager said, “Hey. You’re not gonna believe this. Mark just passed away.”. Fucking killed us on the fucking cruise. Killed us. We were on there and, you know, Mike Flyntz, “I don’t even wanna play no more.”, and I said, “We got to do it for Mark and the rest of the thing.”. And it was cool because, you know, we made the announcement, and all the bands on the ship were saying, “This goes out to Mark from Riot.”. And Joacim (Cans) from HammerFall got up and sang with us, and stuff like that. So it was kind of a cool thing, you know. But it was kind of a sad thing. But leading up to the question: We had regrouped the Thundersteel lineup, so I was like, “Well, that’s where we’re going.”. And then when Mark passed away, we took time off. Mike Flyntz was real questionable. He was, “I don’t know if I wanna continue without Mark.”, and I said, “Okay. Well, let’s take a break.”. And then I started writing music, like I did with Mark, you know. Mark’s not with me, but he is with me. I’m thinking of what he would have done, you know. Because Mark taught me a lot about writing. I was more of the riff metal guy, and he was like, “Well, do that, but have a chorus.”. A memorable chorus that people will know. Like in Flight Of The Warrior, “Shining. Into…”. You got to do that. You got to get their attention. So that’s what I started doing. So I wrote three or four songs. And at that time, Bobby Jarzombek could not continue. He was with Fates Warning. You know, he was doing that. Then Tony Moore was throwing in the towel. He said, “I’m too old. I can’t sing high like that anymore.”. After they wouldn’t do that stuff, I was going like, “Okay. Well, let me put something together.”. So when I wrote those songs, I started auditioning singers. I said, “I’m gonna continue.”, and then Mike was kind of chilling. So I found Todd Michael Hall through a mutual friend. We went through a couple guys. But when we found him, I said, “Man, this guy sounds great.”. You know, he did Jack Starr stuff, and I listened to everything. And then I said, “Hey. Here’s two demos. Put your voice on it.”. And I showed him how to sing it. I wrote everything, and he sang on it. So I sent them to all the labels and stuff, and they heard it, and they said, “You must go on. This sounds like Thundersteel Riot.”, and I said, “Well, I wrote every song on Thundersteel, and Mark helped me with a few songs.”. And so that’s when we started coming together. And then Mike Flyntz, when I go, “Dude. The labels think we should continue for Mark because it sounds like that.”, he goes, “All right. I think I’ll climb aboard.”. Then we got Frankie Gilchriest from Virgin Steele. He had played with Riot for one quick record. And then we got the young Nick Lee, who was Mike Flyntz’s student. You know, he was a student at his guitar school. So that’s how we finalized the lineup and stuff like that. You know, I wasn’t an original member from the beginning, but I was an original member from where Riot stopped rock and started power metal from Thundersteel on. So I said, “I need to continue like this.”, because I’m not one of those guys where they go like, “You’re living in the past. You’re a cover band.”. I’m like, “No, no, no. We don’t play that.”. We play a few songs for the fans, but we do a majority of Thundersteel and that kind of stuff. So we continued that, and then everything started coming into place. The record deal was great. And the label was, you know, “Should you call it Riot or something else?”. I said, “Well, let’s call it the fifth chapter.”. Five singers: Guy, Rhett, Tony, Mike, and then Todd. I said, “The fifth chapter of Riot.”. It’s like a Roman numeral V in back of it, just to be kind of cool. So we’re not trying to cash in. And then we asked Mark’s dad, Tony Reale. I said, “What do you think about us continuing for your son?”. His quote was, “Please don’t let the music die with my son. He’s the immortal soul. You play; there’s his memory going.”. So we said, “That’s enough.”. And we decided to do it. And so that’s what led us up to continuing on. But we do the power metal, because that’s where I’m at. And so here we are, we got a record, the label liked it, “What are the people gonna think?”. And then we put it out, and great reviews. And we played a few festivals, great reviews. People everywhere going nuts. And after Unleash The Fire we ended up doing Armor Of Light, and then now here we are with Mean Streets. And I’m like, “Here we are. We have three records in this new lineup. It’s been together, like, a dozen years.”. So we’re doing something right. And if the fans didn’t want it, or never respond like today and on the other shows, we probably wouldn’t do it. But it’s been great, and it keeps us going forward, you know. So that’s where we’re at, you know, power metal forward.
You were mentioning Flight Of The Warrior and its chorus, but the overall lyrical content, do you think that people really care about what you’re singing about, or do they just want like a well-rounded chorus that they can sing along to?
You know, we take that into consideration. I mean, people are gonna want a good heavy song, but, like I was saying, with a melody. Even though, you know, sometimes they don’t know the lyrics. I’m even like that. I’ll hear a great song, and I’m like, “I don’t know what he’s singing.”, but I can hear it, and I can groove to it. As long as it’s real memorable to me. But I think people, even if they can’t understand the lyrics, like the way they’re presented. And even sometimes the language barrier, and if people don’t know a little bit of English, they’re just like, “Okay. We’re following this.”. But what we do when we write songs, we always had this formula, is everything has got to be a song within a song. We write the basic format, so that’s the song, but the singer has to sing a song within the song. So, ”Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da.”, so people out in the audience going, “La, la, la, la.”. So they can familiar. The guitar solos: Mark always used to go, “I just don’t wanna…”, but he goes, “Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.”. You know, everything’s a song within a song, so people can groove with it. And you hear people singing sometimes, “Ah, ah, ah, ah.”. You know, they sing along with the lyrics and stuff like that, like a soccer game or something. So I think it’s okay with the lyrics, or without it. I think as long as they feel it, you know.
Which ones of the Riot records are you the least satisfied with today? And why is that?
Least? (Laughs) That’s a hard question. I usually name the best ones. Well, and it’s not any disrespect for the past… You know, I grew up on Riot before I joined the band. I knew Mark right after he recorded Rock City. We’ve been friends for quite some time. And I knew Guy Speranza. I knew all the people. So when I was young, I loved Rock City, I loved Narita, I loved Fire Down Under. And then Mark even came to me one day. He goes, “Hey. Guy is quitting. Listen to this new guy.”. Puts a cassette tape in, and I hear Rhett, I go, “You know, he seems real rough.”, and I go, “You’re gonna use that guy instead of Guy Speranza? People are gonna freak out.”. And then he ended up getting in the band. And so that was kind of the thing. I was like, “Okay. It’s a little different, but I can dig it.”. A lot of people didn’t like it. So I’m going like, “Okay. That’s cool.”. So these are all right. And then, like I said, after Rhett, we did the Thundersteel, the power metal. You know, like I said, no disrespect to the people that followed, but the Mike DiMeo era, that was kind of strange for me. I was with the band for many, many years, and then when Mark did that, they changed their style from his rock and our power metal. DiMeo was like Rainbow/Whitesnake-ish. He has that Coverdale voice, and their music was real Ritchie Blackmore/Yngwie kind of. And that’s kind of cool; it wasn’t my thing. I liked the Nightbreaker, you know, and stuff like that. But the sums I didn’t care for was, like, Brethren Of The Long House. What’s the other one they did? Army Of One. I mean, it was okay. You know, I could tell it was a different style. And what was another one with that era? God, I forget. They did Nightbreaker, and Inishmore. You know, those were good records. We play Magic Maker and Angel Eyes, you know. But I’m just going like, “They were okay.”. You know, it was hard to top Fire Down Under, but then when Thundersteel came out, we were surprised how big it was. And then it just went down. You know, the people were like, “Riot’s changing members, and they’re playing this kind of style.”. Even the gigs, you know. I left the band for a while during that era because there was no money. They were playing little bitty places, you know. And they weren’t getting picked up by a label. So I was just like, “It’s not happening.”. So I think some of those are probably… You know, they’re good, but if I had… You know, we have 17 records, it’s hard to, like, knock them out. I think Thundersteel and Privilege Of Power hold a special place in my heart, obviously because Thundersteel is the first record I recorded on, although I wrote four songs on Born In America before I joined the band because Kip (Leming) left in the middle, and that’s when Mark got me to join. You know, I wrote Gunfighter, Wings Of Fire, Heavy Metal Machine. I wrote all these songs with Mark. So I’m going, “That’s kind of cool.”. Restless Breed, great record. The comeback with Rhett after Guy left. But could be down there, you know what I mean? The first three are golden, you know. You got to say those. So the latter part… You know, I would say some of the DiMeo era was a little weird for me. I probably like Nightbreaker, but the rest of them, I think they were down there. They had a few songs here and there, and they were cool. Then when we turned into the fifth chapter of Riot, out of those three records… God, it’s hard to say because I put a lot of time and effort into those songs. But I mean, Unleash The Fire was a great comeback. It gave us the go, and people liked it, so we were going. Armor Of Light: That was probably the one that sunk a little bit because people were going like, “Okay. The follow-up.”. We had a producer that produced bands, and he made it sound real fake. Drum machine sounding, and people were going, “Oh, it sounds like fake drums.”, and all that. And so I was going like, “Okay. That’s probably the weaker of it.”. And then Mean Streets come out. I think it sounded great because on Mean Streets, the latest record, I said, “Let’s combine not just power metal. Let’s take some ideas from the early shit.”. You know, Lean Into It, it sounds like Overdrive. Mortal Eyes, it sounds like Road Racin’. So we wanted to make a few rock songs, and then back to the power metal. So I would say, you know, the lesser would be Restless Breed in the Rhett era. The DiMeo, like four records from there. And then the fifth chapter of Riot, probably Armor Of Light.
And I just got to ask you about the Iron Allies album Blood In Blood Out. You’re credited for the bass playing on the two singles, but not on the record. Why is that?
That was kind of a nightmare. It started off good. It was a great idea. I did two records for Alcatrazz. Graham (Bonnet) did one, and then Doogie White, and I played on both of them. You know, I was like, “Damn. I got to play with Alcatrazz. That’s great.”. And then they started coming up to me. They said, “Hey. We have a plan.”, and I said, “What?”, and, “We wanna make a band, and we wanna get people from other bands, and combine all the ideas.”. I said, “Cool. Who are you getting?”. He goes, “Well, we’re gonna get Herman Frank from Accept and Victory, and then we’re gonna have Dave Reece, the old singer from Accept.”. You know, he was on the other stuff. He replaced Udo and whatnot. And I said, “Okay.”, because I always liked Dave Reece. I loved the song D-Train. I even told him. I said, “God, dude. When you came in, that was killer.”. And then it was me. And then the first drummer we had, we went through a couple, was Mike Heller from Raven and Fear Factory. He was the deal. So we would get on Zoom, and the guy would go, “Here’s our deal: We call it Iron Allies because we’re iron and metal, and we’re allies because we’re from different parts.”. You know, Herman is German, and then Dave Reece was living somewhere else, and Heller was over here in Europe, and I’m American. So I said, “That’s a great idea.”. And we decided, “What style are we gonna be?”, and I said, “Well, we wanna combine Herman’s Accept style, and put some Riot magic riffs to it, and Dave will sing on all that.”. Started off great, so we recorded all these demos. And so Herman goes, “I’ll write two, you write two.”. I said, “Okay.”. So he wrote, you know, his stuff. Herman’s stuff always sounds like power chords like Accept, you know. He’s known for that real simple style. So when I wrote my songs, Herman kind of heard them, and he was kind of like, “Oh, all this. You did a riff, and I don’t do riffs.”. I said, “Here’s the thing, man. You call us allies because here’s what we’re gonna do: You’re gonna play your Accept, and then I’m gonna put a little decoration there, and then I’ll have mine.”. And I didn’t go crazy like Riot, where you got to be a virtuoso. So we started doing that, and Reece laid vocals, and Herman mixed it, and this other guy mixed it, and it sounded great. I said, “That sounds great.”, and I said, “Dude. This could be something good, right?”. And then all of a sudden it started going down. Herman, you know, I don’t know him great, but you know, I respect him, but he started being a little bit weird. He started going, “You know, I don’t know if this is turning out to the music I want.”. And the guy helping the band was that guy Giles Lavery. He’s working with a lot of bands. I told Giles, “What’s going on with this guy? You know, we got to be equal.”. Because that’s what it was: four members, equal writing, equal money. And then it started turning into… Herman was, you know, “Well, it’s basically my band.”, and I said, “Dude. No, it’s not.”. And he wrote his song; sounds just like Accept. I said, “I know, you’re Accept, but we got to make it sound different. You got to combine a guy from Riot and your style, and put it all in there.”. And the demo sounded great. They were good, man. I have four of them, and they sounded great. I said, “This is gonna be good. People are gonna freak.”. And then all of a sudden, yeah, Herman was like, “I’m not into it. I don’t like it.”. And then their big thing with me was kind of strange, and I don’t know if it was the truth or not, but as we were recording, we wanted to just get out and play a few shows, we’re on a Zoom conference call, and then Herman is talking about it. I never had a Covid shot, and they were… All of them, all the shots. And I said, “Well, I don’t really believe in it, so I’m not gonna do the shots.”, and then Herman says, “Well, if you do not do the shots, you cannot play with us.”, and I said, “What does that have to do with anything?”, and he goes, “Well, you cannot come play in Europe, and blah, blah, blah, blah.”. I said, “So this is what’s gonna end the band?”. And then the Covid thing went away two weeks later, you know. So it didn’t even make any sense, right? So at that point, Herman got rid of everybody. Even the manager that put it together, Giles, like, “I don’t like Giles.”. I said, “He put it together.”. He goes, “I don’t want him.”, and then he goes, “And you…”, and then he ended up getting rid of Mike Heller too, “I don’t want Mike Heller either.”. I’m like, “Dude. What are you doing? This is us.”. You know, Dave Reece is still there. And they got Francesco Jovino from Primal Fear for a while. After we got rid of Heller, we contacted Cesco, and I contacted him because Riot did that big tour with Primal Fear, and we all became friends. So I was like, “Cesco. You wanna jam with us?”. He said, “Yeah.”. So he came in after Heller. So I thought that was cool. But then they got rid of me, and he got a bass player that’s, you know, a simple guy like Accept, “Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.”. You know, they couldn’t do that (Hums his own faster kind of bass playing.). You know, that style. He couldn’t do it. So they did it, and it sounds like Accept and Victory, and I’m like, “I don’t think it’s gonna get real big. I think it’s just the same stuff you’ve been doing. If you would have put a little more creativity to it, I think this could have gone somewhere. If you would have kept all the members from different popular bands. You had a guy from Raven and Fear Factory, and a guy from Riot.”. All that stuff, and it just went down. I was a little sad that musically, you know, it’s exactly what I didn’t want. I was like, “Dude. There’s nothing special about it. It would have been special, but you didn’t.”. Everybody had a good style, you know. The drummer brought his flair, and I brought my flair, and then he took all that away, and he just went for the basics, you know. So that’s when I think it lost the creativity that they needed. So basically Herman took it by himself. He got rid of us, he got rid of Giles, and said, “No, I’m doing it on my own.”, so I’m like, “Okay.”. So more power to the guy. I haven’t talked to him since. That was just kind of the end of it. I was like, “Good luck.”. (Laughs)
You’re being active with (S.A.) Slayer again. Tell me a little bit about what happened when you put the band together.
Yeah, that was crazy, because Slayer basically was my childhood/ teenager band when we were growing up. We were in Texas. A few of the members have gone on to do bigger things. But this was our high school band, and we came out in the early ‘80s, and before L.A. Slayer. We came out first, and we released Prepare To Die, and then all of a sudden someone goes, “Dude. There’s some band in L.A. about to release an album called Show No Mercy or something.”. We’re like, “What the hell.”, and they’re like, “Yeah, it’s a new label, Metal Blade.”, and we’re like, “Oh, wow, weird.”. We had the label sign us. We put out Prepare To Die. We had great musicians in the band. You know, Dave McClain, who’s in Sacred Reich, and was in Machine Head. And Ronnie Jarzombek from WatchTower and Marty Friedman. The other guitar player, Bob: It’s kind of weird. BobDog went on to play with Pigface, an industrial band, with Martin (Atkins) and all them. So he did that. So it was kind of strange. But, you know, we released two records, and we did that big show, Slayer vs Slayer. It was a great show. People say it’s for the name, but it wasn’t really vs for the name. By the time we did that show, we were already kind of gone, because I was working with Mark in that side band, Narita, before he called me to join Riot. So we weren’t really there anymore. So it wasn’t a vs. But anyway, it turned out to be a great show. And then after that, we split up. And years down the line, you know, we’ve talked about it, “We should do a show. We should do something; a record or something.”. And, you know, we talked, nothing, and we talked, nothing. And then all of a sudden, just everything came together. The planets aligned, and the promoters… You know, we did those two shows. Ollie (Weinsheimer) contacted me from Keep It True, and he goes, “Well, since Riot’s headlining, how about Slayer plays a couple of bands before?”. I was like, “Wow! I would love that.”. And then a festival in Houston, Hell’s Heroes, where we played with a bunch of bands. And, you know, we got together, “Dave. Are you available?”. He’s like, “Yeah. Sacred Reich’s off the road.”. And everybody was available. And then, obviously, since Steve Cooper passed away, the original singer, “We need to get a Texas legend. We got to get Jason McMaster.”. You know, he sings with WatchTower, and a lot of metal bands, and Dangerous Toys, and all that. So we got him, and we actually recorded Prepare To Die over with him, a more modern with Jason singing, and we said, “Let’s move forward.”. And then we were all able to do these shows. So Jason’s in Austin, the rest of the guys are in San Antone, and Dave had to fly down from Wisconsin. Here we are, old men now, and we got back and played songs from when we were 15, 16 years old. So we went over the setlist. We played all of Prepare To Die, and most of Go For The Throat, and we got it all down. We played, you know, Hell’s Heroes, and we were like, “This is insane.”. And then we flew and did the Keep It True in Germany. It was really cool because you’re looking at your high school friends, and now here we are. But we’ve all been touring the world now. So it was kind of strange that we got back together. But everybody was doing some professional stuff. So that’s what happened. And now we’re getting more offers. We have Hellfest, we have Graspop, we have Milwaukee Metal Fest. We’re having people contact us, you know, a little bit. And then, of course, the guy that booked those two shows, Bart Gabriel, said, “You know what? You wanna make this bigger? Record a record.”. So we’re like, “Really?”. He goes, “Record a record, man.”. He was going, “You all come back from the dead. The other Slayer’s dying out. You come back from the dead, S.A. Slayer, and write an album like that. And once you get an album, and you’re settled over here in Europe, you’ll probably be able to come over here and tour. People will like your style.”. So it’s kind of weird, you know. So we’re all doing our other bands, everybody’s touring with their bands, but we have Slayer in our back pocket, and we’ve already written songs and stuff. So that’ll be a future thing, but you know, yeah, I’ll be doing that. I’m too old, but you know, I was in Slayer when I was 20; now I’m in my 60s. I’m an old man now.
By Tobbe – Published July 28th, 2025
Metal Covenant pratade med gitarristen Jonny Wemmenstedt och basisten Marcus Åblad från Nestor på Time To Rock för ett par veckor sedan.
Ni släppte ganska nyligen en ny låt, In The Name Of Rock ‘N’ Roll. Berätta lite om den.
Jonny: Jamen, det är en somrig åka-bil-låt. Det är ganska mycket i dur den här gången. De flesta låtarna går i moll. Men den här känns ju lite mer hoppfull kanske. Eller, vi har ju många hoppfulla låtar också, men den passade släppet med vår och försommar. Och sedan har vi ju våra reklamfilmer med Johnny’s Barbeque Buddies. Där passar den ju också fint med ”Grilla, sommar, mys, och rock ’n’ roll.”.
Det verkar lite som att det är en fristående singel, men för mig luktar det ju ändå lite en tredje skiva på ett sätt. Vad vågar ni säga om det?
Jonny: Vi vågar väl säga att vi har börjat prata om det.
Marcus: Det är ett stort steg. Från att kanske tycka att det kändes väldigt jobbigt så känns det kittlande och spännande nu.
Jonny: Men det kanske kommer ta ett tag till. Men vi kommer nog släppa ett par, tre singlar på vägen, och någon video till, till någon av de singlarna, som sedan kommer hamna på en fullängdare.
Många pratar om det, även fast det kanske inte riktigt har blivit så i rock ’n’ roll-världen, att man släpper singlar istället för album. Har ni pratat något om det?
Jonny: Det har vi gjort faktiskt. Vi har pratat mycket om det. Jag menar, om man kollar på musik generellt så släpper man ju låtar, som du säger. Man släpper en låt bara så här. Det är väl mer kanske att hårdrockspubliken kanske förväntar sig mer. De är mer ett albumlyssnande folk. Man vill ha ett album. Vi har stött och blött det där lite hur man ska göra det. Jag menar, det är svårt i dagens läge att bryta igenom surret och hålla sig flytande. Då kanske inte det är fel att släppa en singel emellanåt än att det går ett och ett halvt år innan en platta kommer. Vi har pratat också om ”Ska vi släppa en EP? – Ja, det har både för- och nackdelar. – Nämen, den brukar inte tas upp lika mycket för recensenterna. De skiter i EPs. De vill ha album eller singlar.”. Jag vet inte. Det är olika bud där.
Marcus: Sedan kommer jag ihåg från när man själv var lite yngre, att det var härligt att få den där singeln liksom. Sedan en singel till innan albumet kom. Det finns något härligt i att få vänta med. Det är vi så sjukt dåliga på idag. Det ska gå så jävla fort liksom. Teenage Rebel-plattan är ju inte gammal egentligen. Men då kommer alltid frågan, med all respekt, ”När kommer nästa platta?”. Man är hungrig på nytt och det går så fort idag. Så det kan också, tycker jag, vara befriande att dra ut lite på processen. Att få någon singel och sedan får man verkligen längta efter den här plattan. Jag kommer ihåg hur härligt det var förr i alla fall. Det var jobbigt, men det var också så här ”Shit. Nu kom en singel.”.
Den känslan är ju tyvärr borta.
Jonny: Jamen, den är borta. Det var ju inte alltid att man kunde provlyssna en skiva heller. Vissa skivbutiker hade ju det, att man fick provlyssna med lurar liksom. Det hade de ju på Expert i Falköping. Små bås som man kunde gå in i. Då var det ju liksom att ”Nämen, fan, den här vill jag inte ha.”. Men ibland så var det så att man hade sparat ihop till någonting, för att man hade någonting gammalt med artisten, och så kom den nya och sedan var det inte alls vad man hade tänkt sig. Men nog fan fick man lyssna på det, för man hade ju gått och sparat till den där skivan, när man var barn eller tonåring liksom. Så man kanske värderade sakerna mer. Men idag så bryr man sig ingenting. Man får ju tio musiktips i veckan. Folk skickar länkar och så orkar man inte ens lyssna.
Jag kommer ihåg att jag ibland brukade provlyssna i olika skivbutiker. Men ändå, vem har inte köpt en skiva på grund av omslaget?
Marcus: Herregud. Det är ju 50 procent liksom.
Jonny: Det ser man ju. Det ser man ju att det är världens bästa band.
Marcus: Ja, fy fan. Helt rätt, helt rätt.
Det sas inledningsvis att den här nya låten inte går i samma tonart som ni brukar köra. Men ändå, hur bundna tycker ni själva att ni är av Nestor-soundet idag efter två skivor?
Marcus: Jag tycker att vi både är det och inte. Jag tycker att det är stor skillnad på Teenage Rebel och första plattan Kids In A Ghost Town, även om vi försöker hålla oss till att låta Nestor. För mig var ju den första plattan den unga tonåringen och sedan kommer man att upp och någonstans börjar bli vuxen på Teenage Rebel, att man sjunger om djupare saker och låtarna betyder mer. Och den evolutionen behöver ju nödvändigtvis inte ta bort soundet. Men det är ju en utmaning för nästa platta att utvecklas och behålla sitt ID. Och det vill vi ju såklart, men vi vill inte göra en exakt likadan platta till. Det finns inget värde i det liksom. Inte för någon, tror jag.
Jonny: Andra skivan var nog viktig på det sättet, alltså att det skulle vara en naturlig uppföljare till Kids In A Ghost Town. Det hade nog varit väldigt farligt om vi hade skrivit över huvudet på folk, och ingen hade fattat någonting och att vissa bara ”Jävlar, vad de har bytt stil.”. Utan man måste ju cementera liksom soundet. Och vi har ju ett ganska eget sound om man kollar på banden i genren. Och sedan vad det är, ja, sådant där är alltid svårt att säga. Men vi har ju något eget sound väl. Det är klart, som Marcus säger, att vi behöver ju också utvecklas. Om man ska gå i mörkare klanger eller kanske det är produktionen bara som ska ändras. Mixarna kan man ju dra lite i. Jag tror vi alltid kommer jobba med ganska så stora refränger. Det vågar vi nog inte ta bort. (Skrattar)
Marcus: Nämen, jag vet inte om vi vill det. Det ska ändå någonstans kittla i ens egen mage och på armarna.
Men om man tar bort refrängen, då blir det ganska svårt för 50 procent av lyssnarna att ta till sig låten, skulle jag vilja säga. De kanske inte står och lyssnar på ”Jäklar, vilken härlig basgång det gick här i andra versen.”.
Marcus: Det gör ont att du säger det där med basgången, men, ja, okej då. (Skrattar)
Jonny: Och nerkortade solon på videos, och radio edits och allt vad det är liksom. Men det är ju så det är. Allt kräver en strategi om man ska bryta igenom. Så tänker vi också när vi gör en skiva. Vi skriver inte 40 låtar och väljer ut 12, utan vi skriver 12. Varje låt ska ha sin plats på skivan. Och det kan handla om tempon, och det kan handla om, ja, tonarter såklart, liksom hur sången ska ligga. Nämen, framför allt BPM tror jag är viktigt. Om det ska vara hel- eller halvtakt, 6/8, ”Ja, vi behöver en sådan, vi behöver en sådan, vi behöver en sådan.”. Men det är nog lätt att hamna i att man hittar en eller två bra låtar, som blir första och andra singeln, och sedan är det fillers, än att det ska få en funktion liksom. Men vi försöker göra så att det inte bara blir att allt låter typ likadant, och sedan så är det några som blev lite vassare, men att man kan jobba mer strategiskt med tempon och tonarter och klanger liksom.
Men ni jobbar väl mycket så när ni skriver låtar, att det blir att skicka filer mellan varandra. Det är väl knappt någon som bor på samma ställe.
Jonny: Nej, vi har bara Marcus och Mattias, trummisen, i Falköping, och sedan är vi ju utspridda liksom.
Marcus: Nämen, det är ju det. och Spanien då, där vi kan träffas och vara kreativa tillsammans.
Tiderna när man hyr en studio för hundratusentals kronor känns förbi när man inte behöver det längre.
Jonny: Det finns inte längre liksom. Nej, vi lägger ju allt hemma liksom. Jag lägger gitarrerna hemma hos mig och Marcus lägger ju basen hemma hos sig.
Marcus: Man kanske kör final-inspelning i Spanien. Då brukar vi två och Tobbe sitta liksom. Det är ändå rätt skönt att live kunna redigera, att ”Men fan. Ska vi prova så här?”. Där tycker jag att det är mer värt att sitta i en studio. Det är ju inte det att det inte går, för första skivan är ju helt så, att det inte fanns något alternativ liksom, för vi kunde inte flyga runt eftersom det var pandemi, så det var ju att skicka filer.
Jonny: Men det sköna är ju att sitta tillsammans, oavsett vad man gör liksom. Det händer ju så jävla mycket. Om man liksom fastnar i någonting, något ackord eller riff eller någonting, då sitter man liksom och skickar 50 filer fram och tillbaka. Det tar ju tre dygn liksom. Det löser man ju nästan på tre minuter när man sitter i en liten trio och fixar ihop i en studio. Så det saknar vi ju, hela tiden, kan jag tycka, att sitta mer ihop.
Och förutom att då fokusera mest på Nestor-musik, håller ni på med något lite annat vid sidan av då och då? Kanske fixar och trixar lite och gör lite annan musik ni kan tycka är rolig och som kanske inte har sett dagens ljus ännu.
Marcus: Nämen, jag skrev en hel del innan vi drog igång, med lite andra polare och så där. Men nu är det inte så mycket. Vi hinner inte riktigt med. Det är också skönt att vara i ett projekt. Det är också det att det går ganska fort, och vi är ganska gamla. (Skrattar) Så vi måste vara här och nu i det. Jag spelar ju varje dag. Jag spelar massor med saker. Sedan skriver jag inte alltid liksom. Men där har ju Tobbe sin grej, och Jonny med, att de skriver mer. Men det blir ju oftast riktat fortfarande till Nestor liksom. Vi är för gamla för att hålla på med annat.
Jonny: Jamen, det är nog med det vi har här. Alltså, det tar ju mycket tid liksom, och jag menar, vi har ju andra liv också. (Skrattar) Familjer och barn. För min del så tycker jag att det är jävligt skönt att ha en grej. Jag tycker också att det finns någon identitet i det, att så här ”Men där är gitarristen i Nestor.”, än att man kanske kuskar runt och att man lever på att man är med i tre band och försöker korsschemalägga liksom. Jag vete fan om man skulle orka det riktigt.
Men det är ändå rätt kul, Marcus, när du säger att ni är ganska gamla. Jag kommer ihåg att min farsa berättade för mig att man förut kunde få en käpp i 50-årspresent. Skulle man ge någon en käpp på 50-årsdagen nu så skulle nog personen bli ganska förolämpad.
Marcus: Det är andra tider. Jag kommer också ihåg när min farsa fyllde 40. Jag kommer fan ihåg det. Det var liksom ”Fan, det här är ju ett pensionärskalas. Nu är det fan över.”. Men det är ju inte så idag. Det handlar ju både om livsstil och inställning, och jag tror det vi gör nu ger energi för att man håller sig ”ung”, eller ”yngre”. Det är också viktigt att hålla sig i form. För att klara det här måste man hålla sig i form på något sätt liksom. Röra på sig, tänka på vad man käkar, ha bra rutiner, och bra policy kring ”Vad gör vi när vi giggar? Vad gör vi inte?”.
Det har ju varit lite snack fram och tillbaka huruvida ni ska fortsätta göra det här och hur länge ni ska göra det. Tobbe sa till mig för några år sedan ”Vi får se hur länge vi gör det här, för det är ju ganska mycket jobb med Nestor.”. Vad är det faktiska tillståndet idag för bandet? Hur ser ni på framtiden? Jag vill att ni ska vara så ärliga som möjligt.
Marcus: För att vara så ärliga som man kan, så ska vi väl säga att vi pratar väldigt mycket om det och att vi har en ganska kort tid planerad framåt. Men ”Vi åker hit.” och sedan tar vi en ny ställning liksom. Vi tittar kanske något år framåt. Vi gör en plan, ”Vad är rimligt? Vad kommer vi orka? Hur kommer det påverka våra liv? Hur kommer det påverka våra familjer? Vad är värdet i det?”, och vi har sagt, och det är väl den viktigaste parametern, att vi inte vill stanna. Vi vill köra, vi ska köra järnet, vi ska ha så roligt som möjligt, och vi hoppas att massor av folk får superroligt med oss, och så ska vi göra det bästa av det här för alla liksom. Vi är inte intresserade av att stagnera och så gör man samma sak igen och igen och igen.
Jonny: Eller hamna bakåt. Alltså, jag tror att det finns ganska många i vårt band som skulle känna att om det börjar gå sämre, och att vi märker att vi går ner oss både i kapacitet och var vi får komma och lira, så är det inte så intressant för oss längre. För att det är ju en sak, att de flesta banden har ju kuskat i 20 år för att få göra de här grejerna. Vi har ju inte gjort någonting. Vi började ju på Monsters Of Rock Cruise i Miami. Det var ju vårt sjätte gig liksom. Vi är ju världens mest tacksamma, men det är ju också så här att vi har fått så jävla mycket fint under de här åren och vi vill ju ta detta så långt det går. Vi vill ju bli störst.
Marcus: Jamen, såklart, på det bästa av sätt liksom. Det finns ingen prestige i det här. Jag känner att ”Nu kör vi, all-in. Ta med så många som möjligt, ha så roligt som möjligt, inte fastna i klichéer och trender, att det måste vara på vissa sätt, stereotypt, utan våga testa, töja, utmana systemet. Jamen, nu gör vi något annat roligt då, vi hänger upp och ner, hittar på roliga grejer, och gör det tillsammans med sköna människor.”. Det var världens flummigaste svar på en konkret fråga.
Turnén i oktober, den kallas ju In The Name Of Rock ’N’ Roll, från den här singeln. Hur baserar man en turné med det namnet på en singel?
Jonny: Det är ju ett statement, In The Name Of Rock ’N’ Roll. Det vi gör är liksom hyllningen till det och livet.
Marcus: Alltså, vi skrev ju, i någon form av ambition, ett manifest till första skivan. Det finns ett manifest där som handlar om restore the glory of rock och som är signifikativt för oss. Och där tycker jag In The Name Of Rock ’N’ Roll gifter sig hundra procent där. Det är det det handlar om liksom. Och det tycker jag alla band tänker på, ”Vad fan är det vi håller på med? Varför gör vi det? Vilka gör vi det för?”. Vi gör det ihop, som jag sa. Det är inte bara vi liksom. Det är askul med eld, men det är inte så jävla kul om ingen är där, eller hur? Då brinner det bara lite. In The Name Of Rock ’N’ Roll handlar om ”Man ur huse. Nu jävlar kör vi.”.
Och tillbaka ett litet hack till det där med att jag frågade er hur framtiden såg ut. Desto större ni blir så finns det en lite större krets som säkerligen vill att ni ska jobba hårdare, för det handlar ju om någon persons levebröd, och det kan vara ni som är den personens levebröd. Ni skrev ju på för Napalm efter första skivan och så återutgavs den. Då tänker jag, vilka krav har skivbolaget Napalm på er och vilka krav har ni tillbaka på dem?
Jonny: Vi har väl option att vi kan bli droppade. Men vi har väl en skiva till. Men det är ju bara ett handslag, så vi kan ju dra när vi vill.
Marcus: Jag har inte skrivit på något. Har du gjort det?
Jonny: Nej. (Alla skrattar)
Marcus: Nämen, vi ställer väl krav på varandra skulle jag säga. Ja, det är ju inget att hymla om med det. Det vet ju alla band, att Tyskland är en fantastisk marknad. Och vi hade ju diskussioner med väldigt, väldigt många skivbolag innan vi bestämde oss för att gå med Napalm. Och det gjorde vi också baserat på att vi har jävligt mycket mandat att bestämma själva. Vi har själva investerat in i allting. Vi är liksom inte skyldiga en massa pengar. Det finns inte, utan vi har valt att gå en annan väg för att kunna vara väldigt fria i det vi gör. Och vi har också krävt, och det är kanske också ett handslag, men artistisk frihet, att vi bestämmer, estetik, hur det ska se ut, vad vi vill göra, och varför vi gör det. Och det är viktigt för oss. Vi vill inte fastna i att det ska vara på ett visst sätt.
Jonny: Nej, de grejerna kör vi ju helt själva. Och även musikaliskt. De godkänner ingenting, de får inga demos, de får ingenting, de får ”Här är skivan.”. Och det har vi sagt från början, och de har sagt ”Jamen, det är ju därför vi vill signa med er, för vi tycker att ni gör det så bra själva.”. Jag menar, vi behöver ju bara en distributör. Från början, när det började bubbla… Alltså, vi har ju gjort allt själva, ”Ut med skiten bara. Prångla ut den på YouTube och Spotify.”. Och ändå så tar det sin egen väg liksom. Ett skivbolag kan ju hjälpa till i viss mån, om ett band har en artistisk torka eller liksom med visuell hjälp. Men det var ju dealen från början, att de tyckte så här ”Men vi vill inte gå in i det. Vi ska köra ert race, men vi vill ha er.”.
Jag vill påstå att det är ju faktiskt inte många svenska rockband på de senaste decennierna, speciellt i Sverige, som har haft den här raketkarriären. Det är ett par andra. Så frågan är: Är ni lite imponerade av er själva? Kom igen nu. Ni behöver inte hålla tillbaka.
Jonny: Det du sa just nu, det sa ju även Live Nation, att de hade ju inte sett det på ett par decennier. Det var så här, typ Europe, Ghost och Nestor. Alltså, när folk har hajat till. Sedan är det ju folk som jobbar sig till en plattform och så kommer man upp dit och dit, och dit och dit. Men att få det så (Knäpper med fingrarna), det har ju inte varit många.
Marcus: Jag ska säga, helt ärligt: Jag är jävligt imponerad över alla i det här bandet. Vi är hundra procent där vi är på grund av den arbetsinsats som är gjord, och att vi är open-minded, och att bygga det på jävligt fina värderingar där vi tar hand om varandra, men också är sjukt ärliga i att ”Det där gör vi inte. Det där gör vi. Hur utvecklas vi? Hur jobbar vi med varenda liten detalj?”. Det handlar om detaljer. Det handlar om att försöka göra så bra som möjligt. Det handlar om att hitta både vad vi själva vill ge och vad folk vill ha, och så kunna vara true i det. I vissa fall vill ju folk ha saker som man inte kan ge dem. Bra, då gör man inte det. Det är inte vi liksom. Jag upplever att vi träffar mycket människor där vi har fyllt någon form av hål liksom. Vi har hittat det här i hjärtat, att ”Fan, det där behövde jag.”. Det är bland det finaste vi kan få, tycker jag, när någon kommer fram och berättar om ”Fan vad jag mår bra av att få vara ihop med er och göra det här.”. Igen, vi gör det tillsammans. Och det tror jag har hjälpt till i att bli lite framgångsrika i den här genren, att det inte måste vara på ett visst sätt. Vi kan göra det på ett annat sätt och det kan bli jävla bra liksom.
Jonny: Men det såg man ju lite också på det visuella, exempelvis, när vi började släppa våra videos. Det fanns ju inga sådana videos under den tiden när vi började. Vi vill ju vara så långt ifrån att vi är gubbar med trasiga jeans som står framför en green screen. Folk bara scrollar ju sådant. Vi tänkte så här: ”Vi ska ju göra små filmer som Twisted Sister 1985.”. Man märkte att folk gillade det. De fick ju åka lite tidsmaskin. Som svar på din fråga om vi är stolta över det: Det landade jävligt bra. Såklart, det måste ju vara bra låtar, annars orkar ju ingen lyssna på skiten liksom. Då är det ingen som bryr sig. Och sedan, klart att vi kanske hamnade perfekt under pandemin. Det var lite så här en blöt filt över samhället. Folk behövde något varmt och gött, och så fick de åka lite tidsmaskin med oss. Så att jag tror att det är många parametrar som skapar saker. Men som sagt, vi lämnar ju ingenting åt slumpen. Vi drar ju gärna i allt från låtar till en idé för en video. Det drar man 200 varv. Eller att jag sitter och spelar ett gitarrsolo hemma. Jag ger ju mig aldrig, utan det ska ju vara så som jag har tänkt mig. Sedan får jag nästan släppa det och så får andra välja.
Går det överhuvudtaget med er musikstil att skaffa sig en yngre publik än vad ni har idag? För om jag tittar runt när jag ser ett Nestor-gig så är det kanske inte bara 17-åringar, utan snarare 47-åringar.
Marcus: Nämen, jag tycker att vi märker ibland nu och att vi ser att det är de här som vi också trodde skulle bli tuffa. Alltså, upp till 20 år, som ändå kommer och diggar på. Vi har sett det mycket i Tyskland, att det börjar fylla på med yngre. Vi har även sett att det kommer på svenska gig med. Jag tror att det handlar kanske mindre om att man ska kunna gilla musiken än om man får träffas av den. Det är svårt att få den här generationen, den målgruppen, att höra låtarna. Vi är i olika forum, så det gäller att hitta den där beröringspunkten för att få folk att lyssna. Och det är ju svårare att nå ut i det här bruset, att få någon att stanna upp och lyssna liksom.
Jonny: Vi vill ju slå bredare. Alltså, vi vill ju vara på P3 också. Så är det ju. Men det är en relevant fråga, för vi har ju tänkt på det också. Jag tänker så här: Yngre människor lyssnar väl också på hårdrock och 80-tal. Men de är inte lika synliga. Sedan är de kanske inte lika köpstarka heller, att de inte har råd att åka runt. Men vi har märkt en liten uppåtgående trend.
Vad är den största fördelen med att inte bli lite känd när man är yngre och istället är lite mer mogen människa när man blir känd.
Jonny: Jag känner väl att man är lite mer klacksparkig och tacksam. Man njuter kanske mer av det, än om man hade varit 22. Jag vet ju inte vad som hade hänt då. Kanske vi hade blivit helt bananas i huvudet. Alltså, att uppskatta det väldigt mycket och att det kommer mitt i livet och bara ”Wow! Då fick man den grejen också. Det var ju otroligt.”.
Marcus: Nämen, det tycker jag med. Jag har helt andra perspektiv på livet nu än vad jag hade då. Jättesvårt att säga hur jag hade hanterat det då. Men framför allt de hårda läxorna man har lärt sig om att man faktiskt inte har en aning om hur någon annan mår eller har det innan man har pratat med den och förstått att ”Fan, det kan vara tufft i livet.”. Man möter folk på ett annat sätt nu idag. Det är helt fantastiskt att få hänga med folk och prata om både musik och annat i den här sfären och jag förstår och uppskattar det mycket, mycket mer idag än vad jag hade gjort om det hade hänt när jag var 18. Även om jag tror att jag hade haft jättekul då också. (Skrattar)
Av Tobbe – Publicerad 25:e juli 2025
Krokus came to Time To Rock Festival recently, and Metal Covenant got to talk for a while with bass player and founder of the band, Chris von Rohr.
You guys are out celebrating 50 years since the start of the band. Just tell me what you feel right now.
To tell you the truth, I try to adjust to this rather fancy festival here, you know. We just came from Graspop, then we went to Switzerland, then Germany, and now we are here, and we are about to embark for Wacken, you know. So when I see all the boys in the band, you know, I feel a happiness, and I feel kind of a vibe we never had before. And this is since about one and a half years back. We went to a new level with the band. I don’t know how it came about, but it just seems the promoters want the band again, and the younger generation discovers the back catalogue, you know. So for us, it’s kind of surprising, to tell you the truth. But we play better than ever, and the band is happy, so we travel wherever they want us, you know.
And on this 50-year anniversary, do you record some of the shows for maybe a coming live album or something?
Yeah, we are always recording, doing things, you know. But we live in times where albums and all that stuff are gone. People out there basically want a pizza for free, and we decided we don’t do pizza just to give away, you know. I mean, we may do the one new song and just give it out for free, you know. But whole albums cost money, if you do it good, if you wanna do it good, and for us, it’s the level. We are not the band who every year and for every tour come out with a new album and deliver mediocrity. Krokus is about Swiss quality. The Swiss quality that we wanna bring, you know. And as a producer and founder of the band, I’m really checking that the quality is here, and this quality came back in 2008 when the original came back.
And when this 50-year anniversary someday will be over, what is then left to achieve for the band?
And we are already now in the 51st year, you know. So for me, to tell you the truth, birthday goes by my ass. I don’t give a shit about those things. It’s just a coincidence that we are now in the 51st year, because Krokus was founded in 1975, so now we are already approaching 51, you know. But we are living in the moment. We are not always looking back, you know. Of course, sometimes you lie at home, and you think, “Wow! We have been together for so many years.”. It seems just incredible in a way. And as almost an original, besides the drummer. Tell me any other band which is 50 years together with the original. It’s really something special. But we live now, we live in the moment.
About six years ago you announced a farewell tour, but here you are six years later. Will you ever, ever announce something like that again?
No, the point was there just to understand. We came to the conclusion after three number one albums, “Let’s stop on top.”. Then we wanted to make a goodbye tour. Then came Corona. That stopped all the touring, and we met each other again in our town. We started talking, and we asked ourselves, “What can we trust? Fuck politics. Fuck the whole moneymaking Corona. Stop the hysteria about the climate. The wars.”. All that shit, you know. We found out music is what we basically need to live. So we met again, started jamming again, and then we said to our management, “Listen. Ask the promoters.”. We asked the fans, “Do you want us to come back?”. Because it was not a business idea to make a farewell tour and then come back. I met my new girlfriend at this time, and she said, “You have really decided to stop this whole thing.”. The whole band was thinking like that. I was even looking for a new job. Then suddenly a spark came back, and we said, “Fuck. We cannot stop already now.”. And now it is five years later since then, you know. And I think that the band is even better live than before. That’s why we continue. If I, as a founder and bandleader, would feel that the band goes like other bands, like losing the voice, losing this, losing that… Guns N’ Roses, this, that. Suddenly it’s just a shadow of the good times. If that would happen, I would instantly stop, you know. Because, like I told you, we wanna deliver Swiss quality. That’s our aim. Otherwise I stay at home. I don’t need to make money from that.
And during all these years, there have been ups and downs for the band. So in what way do you personally deal with the times that haven’t been so good?
We had these incredible ‘80s, you know. And then there was a fight going on in the band, basically produced by our gangster management in America. He never gave us a break. He was intriguing, pushy, you know. So I was thrown out of the band. And at the moment when this happened, I think in ’84, I was shocked, because it was my baby, I founded it. It was, like, a horrible year. But then, and that’s the most unbelievable, I wrote a book about this whole story. It is called Heaven, Hell, Rock ‘N’ Roll. It was a number one book in Switzerland. It is the chance, because something bad always has something good too. I started to write. I brought out in the meantime five books. All bestsellers. So I started to write, which I would never have done if I would have stayed in Krokus then. Krokus went down, more or less, because they went into glam and took the glimmer away from the great Headhunter songs. They lost it. And at the same time, I built it up as a songwriting producer with Gotthard, a band from Switzerland. So we, Gotthard, went up like that, and Krokus went down like this. So I stayed for 11 years with Gotthard. I learned a lot as a producer and as a songwriter. So, if I look back, the darkest moments were for me in the end the best thing that could happen to me, as a learning process, you know. Because we live and we learn. And then we met again, we started talking, and things suddenly were miraculous. I said to myself, “I wanna bring back this Krokus band where they deserve to be and where they belong.”. Gotthard was okay, but Krokus is the ultimate Swiss rock band, who made it to America, who charted in America, who became honorary citizens of Tennessee, and Rihanna was wearing our shirt, you know. I mean, there is no other Swiss band who ever achieved the same status in America and England. So I thought to myself, “This cannot end like this.”. And fortunately, Marc kept his voice. All singers, when they get older… You can take Ian Gillan; you can take Axl Rose. You hear those singers, and it’s not where it should be. And we had the luck that at least two thirds of Marc’s capacity from the ‘80s is still here. And then we started building up with three new albums, and this and that. And we worked hard to be where we are now.
And in the early ‘80s, when there were good times, was it like being in heaven to you at that point?
Well, in the beginning, yeah. Because we were dreaming of being professional musicians, we were dreaming of being on a tour that never stopped. You know, to not do other jobs, and to be a professional musician. But then, when we were on that never-ending tour, suddenly it felt like routine, it felt like being in a cage. I mean, we toured for months and months, and being together in a bus with the crew, and you had no time for yourself to read a book, to do something, and it got more, and it’s like animals in a cage. But it’s not only our band that this happened to. We toured with Motörhead, we toured with all the bands, and we saw what happened, drugs-wise, this way, that way. So the dream turned into a nightmare. There’s no doubt about it, you know.
Which album would you consider was the most important one for the band? Not maybe the best one, but the most important one for the band.
The Metal Rendez-vous album was a breakthrough. People in England and America heard that album and said, “Wow! There is something very great happening here.”. And then we cultivated that. We still play most songs live from that album. And then the Headhunter album, where we really took it to another level. I always check that the album covers look good, you know. Like, the silver skull, which no band at that time had. It was Eat The Rich, and the Headhunter song, and stuff like that on it. Yeah, those two albums were in the old times surely the most important ones. And then out of the new ones it’s the Hoodoo album, with Hoodoo Woman on it. So I would name these three.
The first album I heard was Headhunter, so that’s still a personal favorite.
You started late, but you started with the best.
You mentioned writing a couple of books in the past. Is that something you still do?
Yeah, yeah. I think I’m probably gonna be more remembered in a hundred years for my writing than for the music. But that’s just a guess. That’s something special, but making music is ten times more satisfying. Because writing books is work, and music is feeling, and music is flowing. It’s going out there, not thinking. It’s like in sports, if you ask the best tennis player, they tell you, “Don’t think when playing.”. And music is the same thing, you know. So, what can I tell you? I like to do it, but I will stop that soon too, because it’s too much work. I mean, to write my memoirs took me more than two thousand hours of my life. But I’m happy with it. It’s a really good book. I did that before even Keith Richards and all the great biographies came out.
You’re a multi-instrumentalist, and you play drums, guitar, bass, and keys. Is there any other instrument that you master?
Yeah, the typewriter. (Laughs) That’s it. More is not possible.
With so many albums out, how the hell are you guys able to pick songs to play live?
It’s easy. It’s like this: We take the best songs we have, and then any new song, any other song we choose, has to come close in quality and intensity to those best songs. And if it’s in-between, we say “No.”. When we play for the people, we feel which songs work. You feel it, you know. If you make new songs, you play them, and people stand there and don’t know them. It can be okay, but we belong to those bands who make new arrangements. And we play the songs better than we did before. When you go in the studio, you are not so free, but live now we are free to interpretation to do something new.
By Tobbe – Published July 21st, 2025
Metal Covenant met Firewind guitarist Gus G. at Sweden’s Time To Rock Festival in early July.
Stand United was out in March last year. It’s been 16 months now. Is there any new Firewind material in the works?
Yeah, there is. I’m already working on it. As a matter of fact, I’m done with a lot of the music and the arrangements, and we’ve even tracked drums for, I think, nine or ten songs. We have even vocal lines ready for some of it, but no lyrics. And this means there is a lot of work to be done still. And of course I have to record all the guitars from scratch and everything now. But to answer your question in short: Yes, there is definitely a follow-up in the works, and we’re already deep into it.
Will you be working with Dennis Ward once again?
Oh yeah. We are already working together.
What’s so special about that guy?
Well, the thing is, it has to do with the chemistry between us, I guess. You know, we just work well together. Like, I’ll send him something, and he just helps me complete my ideas. I have a very good idea when I write something, and when I do an arrangement I know where I wanna go in musical terms. So he gets that vision. Like, I have a vision, and he gets that, and he helps me to kind of like complete it from a producer point of view, and also as a co-writer. A lot of the times I will have song titles or ideas for lyrics and stuff, and he will help me write the lyrics. And he’s great with vocal lines, and he’s great with producing singers. So usually I would want him to work with Herbie on the vocals. Kind of like, we have a little bit of a songwriting team, the three of us. And it’s a good team, you know. We work well together. Everybody respects each other, their ideas and stuff, and where we wanna go. He understands what I’m about and all that. And he’s like a multi-talented guy, you know. He makes great mixes as well.
For the Stand United album, you released the first single, Destiny Is Calling, over a year before the album was out. Is that something you will do this time as well?
Not like that. I think the direction was a little bit off from the label at that time. They just wanted to drop singles out of the blue like that, whenever you had them, which I get, you know. I mean, it kind of feeds the algorithm and all that. But it definitely distracted us from going in the studio and making a record. I’m not saying… And the last record I’m very proud of. But in the end, I think the whole project was kind of sidetracked, like in terms of promotion. You know, as we went along, months were passing by, and certain people left the label. By the time we released the album, the label was almost shutting down. I don’t know if you’ve heard; AFM is no longer. We were one of the last albums they just threw out there, like, “Okay. Let’s be done with it. Pay these guys their remaining advance and then let’s get out of here.”. So it was like that. And I think our last album suffered a lot from sales, even though the reaction was really good and the streams are good. You know, the actual sales were suffering because of that situation. It took so long from first single to album. It was a little bit over a year. And we kept touring in between, and going back and working on two more songs, back out on tour, work out three more songs. It was nerve-racking. I don’t wanna do an album like that again. I’m gonna finish it this time, and then we can decide how to release it. We’ll make a proper plan, and come up with a proper strategy of how to drop the new music, if you know what I mean? Not improvise like that.
And it’s been ten Firewind records already. The eleventh is coming. That’s quite an accomplishment, right?
It is, yeah. I mean, not many bands do that, I guess. Or just to even be around for 20 plus years in the business; it’s tough, you know. When we started it was a totally different landscape than today. You know, we keep doing it as long as there’s some interest out there. You know, some records have done better than others. I guess the secret to it all is to just keep moving. As long as you feel like you have something to say artistically, it makes sense to do it.
Has it been a bit frustrating to you that Firewind hasn’t gone bigger than you actually are at the moment?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That has been kind of the big question mark even within the band. I think the problem there with us lies in that we’ve had quite a few singer changes in our history as a band, and definitely that has hurt the band and the brand. I think that was the worst thing that happened to the band. It didn’t allow it to get bigger right at the time when the hype was there. And then also, that led into a hiatus for four years, and once you go into that, you lose a lot of ground. We never officially broke up, but we stopped in 2013 and then we came back in 2017. We had to start from scratch again, basically. Of course, we had some of the fans that still listened to the band, and they stuck with us, but we had to find a new audience. And then we did what I thought was a really great record, Immortals, that was very well-received. And then we had to start from scratch again ‘cause the other singer (Henning Basse) left again. And then, before the next album (Self-titled), Covid hit, and we had to deal with that. So we’ve been very troubled with bad timings and singers leaving. I’m not making excuses, but I think that definitely was one of the bigger reasons why the band didn’t grow at the time. But the good thing is that we managed to navigate through all these things, because there was a lot of turbulence in the band. So, we managed to navigate through that, we managed to come back, we did a few investment tours again, even in our later career, you know. And we seem to have reached a point where we are finding a new audience. We still have some of the old audience with us as well, but we are finding a new audience. We see the growth again now. I’m pretty realistic. I don’t expect that the band is gonna be, like, the hot shit again. It’s too late for that. But on the other hand, we have a brand that is established for 25 years, almost, and that’s not something you can kick just like that.
For the most part of your career you have been part of a couple of bands simultaneously. Why wouldn’t just one band, or maybe two at the most, be enough for you? Why can’t that cover your creative outlet?
Well, when I first started out, I was very young, so I would just play just for the experience. So any band that would invite me, I would just join. At some point, I was in four bands in my early career. But then when the touring obligations started coming in, I realized that I can’t keep up with it. I think by 2005 or 2006, I quit everything else, and I focused on Firewind. That’s when the band started growing, basically. And then, in 2009, I was asked to audition for Ozzy Osbourne, and I got the gig. And I mean, come on, that’s not something you say no to. And that has helped my career immensely. And my name, of course. Maybe the band not so much, because it’s a different audience. But you know, it definitely changed my life. Of course, I had to put things to a halt for a while. But then, after that, when that thing went down, I went back to what I did.
When you’re writing songs for Firewind, do you ever feel a little bit limited to keep your songwriting in the Firewind vein?
It’s the blessing and the curse, as they say. You know, we have created our style, our world, our musical world, and it’s not like I can go in there and write a rock radio type of song now, and be like, “Hey. We’re gonna be like this now.”, or we’re gonna be more metalcore or something just because. So it’s not something you can experiment too much with. On the other hand, that makes every record more challenging. Like you said, album number 11. It’s pretty challenging to come up with cool new stuff now that we haven’t already done before. But I always try to inject even something little that’s fresh, like an element or something, even if that’s, like, a little keyboard sound, or just try some new things arrangement-wise that we haven’t done before. So I always try to go for that, and to me, that keeps it interesting. I’m starting to get into conceptual records more and more. It’s something that I’ve not done so much before. We’ve only done one concept album. It was the album called Immortals. So for us, I felt like the next step is to do a concept record, and that’s what we’re doing now, actually.
But you have your solo shit as well. Is that your real creative outlet at the moment?
No, both are. I mean, I write all kinds of stuff, I guess, and some fall into the Firewind category, and the stuff that doesn’t, I can experiment with. Like, for example, I can dig deeper into the guitar instrumental world with that. And I cannot do that in Firewind. It doesn’t really make sense there, you know. The last record I did was a full instrumental record (Quantum Leap), and it was received very well. And that’s a very unpopular thing right now, to do like an ‘80s shred record. But I did it. You know, I don’t care. And it’s one of those projects where there are not much expectations from anybody. I can also collaborate with different singers and different musicians if I want. So I get creative in a different way there. You know, Firewind is a baby that we really need to kind of take care of the right way. You know, it’s what has carried us for two decades plus now, so we have to be careful with it. But we want to be adventurous with it too. But all the other stuff, I can just go out there and do solo stuff, even if it’s just singles. Right now I’m just releasing singles. Just because. Why not?
And about collaborating with other singers. Tell me about the collaboration with Ronnie Romero at the moment.
Yeah, I’ve known Ronnie for a while, and last summer he called me up to do a couple of acoustic gigs together in Romania. I live in Greece; he lives in Bucharest. It’s like a 30-minute flight. And I went there, and we spent a nice week together playing acoustic shows in Romania. And then we did a couple of electric gigs with a full band back in Greece. And then he was looking for a booking agent, so I introduced him to my guy. And then when that happened, things started coming, like, together. We were like, “Hey. How about if we do some festivals with this?”, and actually we got quite a few offers in, and we didn’t expect that, and we were like, “Okay. Let’s go out there and play some of our favorite stuff and some of our own music.”. I have a catalogue; he has a catalogue. And then we booked a tour for the autumn. And we’re writing a couple of songs now. We just released a song called My Premonition. And it’s cool, you know. We’re not gonna start a new band or anything like that. We’re both busy already. But just putting our two names together, it creates interest. And both of us have been involved with the OGs, like he’s been involved with Ritchie Blackmore and Rainbow, and my name is attached to Ozzy Osbourne as well. So it’s a cool idea to go out there and celebrate the music of the people that we’ve worked for. But also play some of our own stuff, yeah.
Tell me about the song, My Premonition, that you just released. You mentioned it just a minute ago.
I had this song, you know. I actually co-wrote it with Dennis Ward, again. I wasn’t sure again, like that was one of those tracks where I’m like, “Should I put it on a Firewind record?”. I thought maybe it’s a little bit too kind of like traditional. It’s between hard rock, and it’s got this kind of like old school Dio vibe. And then I thought, “Maybe it’s not so suitable for Firewind.”. It could work, of course. And then I had it sitting there, and I liked it, and then I said one day to Ronnie, “Hey. We have all this stuff lined up. Check this song out. Can you write lyrics to it?”. And he just did it, like in a couple of days. And it works great.
And you’ve also done, in the past at least, quite a lot of guest appearances on other bands’ records. Is that something that fascinates you, to just go in and make a guest appearance?
Well, sometimes people ask me about that. And that’s like an easy session basically for me. It’s just a couple of hours. I just jam over a backing track they’ll send me, and I love to solo. You know, I’ve played solos on other people’s records, from small artists to people like Doro, and Bruce Dickinson most recently. So yeah, I’m always open. I don’t do too many of them nowadays, but you know, every now and then I’ll do something.
So are you more careful about what you wanna do, to not litter your name, you know?
Yeah, I think about that. I don’t wanna play on everybody’s… I mean, I get asked about these kind of guest solos every week from at least two or three people. So I don’t wanna do them all. I can’t do it all. Yeah, it could be easy and quick money, but I’m like, “Okay. I have to protect my brand.”, of course. And I have to like what I’m doing as well. I always tell them like, “Send me the song. I’ll listen.”. If it’s something that I think I can contribute to to make it better, yeah, let’s talk about it. If it’s something that I feel is not for me, I’ll tell you straight up, it’s not for me. And of course when a bigger artist asks you, then that’s a great opportunity to play for somebody that I’m a fan of. I mean, like when Doro asked me. I love Doro. Or when Kamelot asked me. I love that band. Or Bruce Dickinson, you know. Come on. So it’s not like I’m gonna ask, “Can you please send me the track? I’ve got to listen to it first.”. You know it’s gonna be killer. You know that. You know it’s gonna be fucking legendary. But you know, like I said, I play for other artists that are not known at all, or very underground. I don’t care. If it’s something that I like, I’ll do it.
And back a little bit to songwriting. I’m just eager to know how you build a song from the beginning, most of the times.
It’s usually just a few riffs that come together. Sometimes a whole song will come to me, like, in a few minutes, and those are the best ones, that just have a burst of inspiration. And then other times will be like just a couple of riffs, and I’ll be like, “Oh, this is such a cool part. And then I have this other part. I can put them together, but I don’t have a chorus.”. Or vice versa. I have a really cool chorus melody, and I need, like, an intro part or a verse. And sometimes those can take a while to complete. But yeah, I like to take my time with it if I don’t have it right away. I’ll do demos even if they’re, like, half-finished, and revisit them later.
I’m a little bit curious. How much do you tweak and twist with your sound to find the right guitar tone for what you really wanna come out with?
Nowadays it’s very easy with plugins. And I already have, like. my own plugins library. I just released a thing called Tone Asylum from a company called TONEX, and I’ve already captured and modeled all my amps. So most of the stuff is there, like, instantly. And even if I don’t use my own stuff, there’s like tons of plugins that are great out there. To get a good guitar tone is pretty easy nowadays. You really need a good studio and a big room for recording drums. But guitar tones, you can access them. I think technology has come a long way now with guitar, with tone capturing and profiling and those kinds of techniques. You can just send a DI signal, complete dry signal, and then you can reamp it through whatever you like, and you can sit there for days in the studio if you want and try all the amps of the world. So I don’t worry too much about the tones like that. I just record stuff quickly. I have my go-to tones, and then I let the engineer who’s mixing it send me test mixes, and if I like it, I’ll tell them, and if I don’t, I’ll also tell them.
Whatever happened to the band Kriterion, that you were part of?
I mean, we got busy with other stuff. I’m still talking to Rob Chapman pretty much every week. You know, we’re buddies, we talk. I just didn’t have time to take on a third project. Managing Firewind, and playing, and writing, and producing. It just takes up all my day. I don’t have time for anything else. And we have a couple of more songs in the can that we have to find a way how and when to release them. But I don’t see it becoming a full-on band or anything.
This will totally go against your artistic vein, but have you ever been thinking about changing your music style to meet people’s requirements a little bit?
No. But it’s a good question though. But no. Never really like that. I mean, of course, people have their opinions. Everybody has their opinions. We all have that. But there have been times where I’ve been thinking like, “Oh, this is what’s popular now.”, and I’m looking at the numbers, ‘cause I’m also, like, business-minded and I’m analyzing numbers. And then I’m realizing when I sit down to write or play guitar, I always end up with this. Well, I have to play what makes me happy. If I’m not happy doing this, I just can’t do it. At that point, it becomes like an office job in an office that I hate, and I don’t wanna do it anymore, and I was like, “Fuck it. No.”. I need to do my own little riffs. I don’t know how good they are or how bad they are, but I have to do what I love. And to answer the question again, I’m making a long answer, but I have thought about stuff like that, and we analyze it. Even within the band, we talk about it, “Oh, what are these guys doing? What are these guys doing?”. But then in the end, you can’t just do like that, because if there’s a band that’s successful at something, and you’re like, “Oh, how did they get there?”. Well, they’re already there. You know that even if you try to copy that, it’s just not gonna be successful. And if you ask people what they think, everybody’s gonna give you a different opinion, so. So you just got to stay true to yourself, man. And you just hope that something resonates with the audience. It’s the harsh truth to accept. And I’m gonna cross-combine it with your earlier question. Yeah, maybe we didn’t become one of the bigger metal bands in the world, whatever, but we definitely found our audience, and we’re grateful for that, for what we have, you know. So yeah, man. It pays our bills, we can keep doing it, and we’re super happy and grateful for that.
By Tobbe – Published July 17th, 2025
Metal Covenant was at Sweden Rock in June and got to meet Johnny Dee, known from his drumming with among others Doro, Britny Fox, and Tyketto.
The Doro band put out a new single recently, Warriors Of The Sea. Can you tell me a little bit about that song?
Yeah. It came out on May 23rd, before we did a little special event in Germany, the Metal Queen Metal Cruise. We were a few hours on a boat up and down the Rhine. It was a different concept for us, you know. We’re used to being stuck on a boat for five days or so. Yeah, I mean, I can’t speak much about the inspiration for Doro, but I think the song kind of came for the cruise, with a different kind of feel, you know. ‘Cause these rock cruises are quite big, and a lot of people really enjoy to sail and see their favorite bands, and actually that’s quite cool. I always looked at it like a festival, which you have more comforts, you know. You can go to your room if you want. You don’t have to pee in a porta-john. But this thing we just did was really cool, and I think she wanted something special for the fans that came, so she created this song based on that, with just a little bit of a nautical vibe, in a way, you know. We’re rock ‘n’ roll people. We’re a little bit like pirates, you know. We ride on a tour bus from town to town. You know, it’s kind of a play on that. But also an anthem for the people that come to this kind of special event. But, you know, Doro’s definitely into always keeping that one strong mentality going, which is to keep fighting in your life, and it comes across, I think, for people in their normal everyday life. You know, to just look at the positive things. And, you know, there might be a storm in your life, which seems unbearable, but you can always hope for the sun to come again, you know.
Yeah, pretty much like the album title to the last record, Conqueress – Forever Strong And Proud. And speaking about that record. It was out about 20 months ago. Have you already started making another record?
Well, Doro’s constantly doing stuff, so she really is always thinking, noting, writing, and sometimes we’ll have such a strong idea that she needs to get it done, like, immediately, you know. We’re not a typical band, because sometimes it’s a band, sometimes it’s a solo artist, you know. What I learned when I first joined is that it really is a family situation and a band, but it is Doro, you know. So there’s times where you have to take a back seat. She does her thing the way that she wants to do it, so it might not be a record where, “Hey guys. We have 10 songs. Let’s go in the studio and do it.”. She might have an idea, and needs to get it done immediately, and nobody’s around, so she’ll do it with her producer or with, you know, somebody in the band, just one-on-one. You know, I’m pretty positive that she’s collecting ideas and stuff for another record. But for me, I haven’t heard anything new yet. I always kind of get surprised when she’s like, “Hey. I have 24 songs.”, and I’m, “What? Where in the hell did they come from?”. So we’ll see what the plan is, if it’s gonna be something into next year, another record or not. And I have no secrets to reveal as far as that goes. (Laughs)
If I’ve counted correctly, I think you’ve been in the Doro band for 29 years in total.
No.
Is it more? But didn’t you have a break or something?
Well, yeah. Technically, I missed one leg of the tour because I got married that year. Yeah, I skipped out on the German dates of the Machine II Machine tour. Frank Ferrer from Guns N’ Roses, way before Guns N’ Roses, came and did the tour, and then I came back right after that. Yeah, so if you count the whole time, it’s 32. But yeah, it was not that long of a break. Only, I don’t know, six weeks or something. I took a leave of absence. But I’ve been here since ‘93, so.
So if you think about that number, is that even hard to comprehend?
It is. It’s ridiculous. When I think about that, “Wow!”. You know, I’m really fucking old all of a sudden. (Laughs) But I mean, Doro’s been doing this for 42 years, and I’ve been there for 32 of that. That’s, like, insane, you know. I mean, a lot of bands never even last 22 years, so it’s really, I think, a statement to her commitment and her longevity, and also for me, as a drummer, that she’s kept me around that long, and also that I feel comfortable enough to stay. You know, I’ve never been a guy that wants to jump from thing to thing. It feels much more comfortable for me to be part of something. I’ve always been more of a band drummer than an individual solo guy. I mean, I like to be part of something, and I like to be with people that I really like. Yeah, it is quite unbelievable. But yeah, here we are.
What do you remember from those early days of Doro?
I remember a really good feeling. There was an upheaval in the hierarchy of rock and metal. Things were very Seattle-based at that time, from the ’90s on. So 1990, ‘91, ‘92 was all like this, you know, really grungy stuff going on. And hard rock and glam, or whatever you wanna call it, was all falling away. So I was in America, just thinking like, “Wow! What’s next?”, ‘cause all these kinds of bands, like the band I was in previously, Britny Fox, were searching for what the future will be. And then all of a sudden I got this opportunity to play with a more international artist. A German singer that’s famous all around the world. She’s a pioneer of female vocals and metal. So I came to Germany, and I was like, “Wow! It’s still kind of existing here.”. People aren’t as quick to get rid of something. Europe is very dedicated to the things that they love. I always say to my friends in the States, like, “If you tour in Europe, and you win over these crowds and these fans, you could come back here forever.”. Live music is different in that way. It’s not like this trendy, “Oh, I’ve got to see so-and-so this year.”. It’s like, “Oh, this band is back again. We definitely go, because we go every year.”. It was a great experience that I had on the very first Doro tour. It was just really fun, ‘cause we made a live album on that tour, which kind of encapsulated this feeling and this time. When I hear those songs and that record, it takes me right back to that time, that it was real special to be doing that. You know, in the beginning we only toured in pretty much Germany or the German-speaking countries. We would go to Austria and Switzerland, and then that was kind of it. We didn’t go anywhere else. And then into the late ‘90s, 2000s, we started to go back to America, we started to go to Russia, we went to China and Japan, and all these other places. It was like, “Wow! It’s all new again.”. I saw sort of these waves that we were riding. You know, that was like, “Wow! It’s safe to go back into the world again.”. You know, the music wasn’t so popular for a little bit of time. All of a sudden this came back, and people really missed it, and wanted to hear it again, so.
Yeah, quite a few bands during the ‘90s were quite experimental and sometimes tried to go from heavy metal to other stuff.
You know, Doro made a record in Nashville before anybody was like, “Hey. Let’s go to Nashville and make a record.”. I mean, she literally was ahead of her time in trying to do some different kinds of things. True At Heart: You wouldn’t say that was a success compared to say Triumph And Agony, but for her, as an artist, to sing these really sensitive ballads and things was all part in needing to emote that kind of thing, like, “I’m not just a heavy metal singer. I can do pretty much everything. I wanna try to do this, I wanna try to do that.”. But then your love is metal, and you come back to it again. So the first tour I did, we did a lot of ballads, we did a lot of heavier, older songs, you know. And then we started to write some newer stuff, which was kind of like, I wouldn’t say grungy, but the Machine II Machine album was a little bit more electronic sounding. So she was trying to blend some of the newer things into it. Yeah, I think she really has tried, and successfully survived through those times, and is still here to really do it.
But for me personally, I could actually see grunge and heavy metal side by side. I think that some people lost interest in heavy metal going with the trend or something. But for me it didn’t matter. I loved Alice In Chains, I loved the Doro band still, I loved Iron Maiden, or whatever. No problem. Good music is good music.
I think it was more the case that the people that only liked grunge were like, “Haha. It’s our time to shine.”. But that happens in music. You have trends like disco, and fucking electronic music, and punk rock. I mean, this is all different styles that can live side by side, you know. And nobody says, “If you like this band, you can’t like that band.”. I always hated that with people that are sort of one mind on… You know, “I only like this.”. It’s like, “Well, dude. Open your mind and maybe you’ll be surprised.”. So you’re like me. You like a little bit of everything. I mean, if you like something like death metal, you can like ABBA. I mean, good songs are good songs. You can’t listen to fucking heavy, depressing shit all the time. Some people can, but that’s probably their mood all the time. But you go through changes. You wanna be happy, you put on something that makes you feel good. You wanna be fucking angry, listen to this. Music is a mood. It’s a feeling inside. It can really do anything, man. You can brighten your day, or if you feel down, you just listen to some chill music. Like, I listen to certain types of music when it’s raining. You know, I wanna hear fucking Genesis or Led Zeppelin. That’s just the power of music. You know, it’s amazing.
Were you always a drummer, or did you start with other instruments as well?
I started as a singer actually, when I was very young, in grade school. Second, third, fourth grade I was singing. And I went to Catholic school in Pennsylvania, in the States, and I was singing in the choir, or the glee club, they called it, and we would do these religious songs at Christmas time, or some Broadway kind of musical shows. I had quite a high voice, and they would give me the high parts and stuff like that. But I didn’t wanna be like out front, you know. I love to sing. I still sing backgrounds, and I harmonize with other people in the band, but for me drumming was always more of a thrill. Something physical, keeping the beat, sitting behind and kind of holding the whole thing together. And I fool around on guitar and keyboards, but I wouldn’t call myself a multi-instrumentalist, you know. It’s just for fun.
Was drumming difficult for you in the beginning? Or was it just natural to you in the beginning?
I think it came to me quite naturally, you know. I’m pretty much self-taught. The theory part of it was pretty tough for me. I was a kid that couldn’t really focus on a lot of… You know, my math was terrible. So really, in all honesty, I should be a terrible drummer, but I stick to the rock music, you know. I don’t go too far into, like, progressive or crazy jazz stuff. I like good old two and four. You know, AC/DC and Kiss. I was brought up on that kind of stuff. I just like to play rock drums. Old school heavy rock drumming. But I kind of just learned, you know. At one point I remember that none of these limbs would work together, and you just keep trying and one day your brain clicks. Then it’s like, “Oh wow! I can do something different with my foot all of a sudden. Oh, cool.”. And then it just builds from there, and you just keep trying, and getting better, and that’s how it kind of worked for me.
What’s cool with drummers is, you know, using two feet, two hands. Ask people to draw a circle with their left hand and at the same time a square with their right hand. 99 percent won’t make it. So getting that coordination is unique for drummers.
The cool thing about drumming is that, really, I think anybody can do it, you know. Would you be great? Probably not. I mean, I always say, “There’s always somebody better than you.”. But drumming is fucking fun. Anybody can pick up two sticks, and literally go, like, “Here’s a beat.”, and play an easy beat, you know. It’s very difficult to do that on guitar because you have to know notes and chords and things. It takes a lot longer, and a lot more practice. But drumming is a primal thing inside all of us. I mean, that’s where we come from. You can take a conga or a tabletop and just play a beat, and you feel it inside you, and that’s fun to do. You don’t have to say, “Oh man. I’ll never be so good.”. I mean, it’s like, “Put a drum kit in your basement and just have fun.”. It’s possible.
Can you see yourself playing with Britny Fox once again?
I always could. And I’m sad that it hasn’t happened, and it’s not happening. Basically, the three other guys can’t get along to get it together, you know. And that always makes me crazy because it’s just fucking music. If you don’t get along with your beliefs or your whatever, fine, you know. You can agree to get together and play some music that means something to some people, you know. ‘Cause, really, it does. There’s a lot of fans that would love to hear that stuff. And I would have a blast to do it. But, you know, people change, and unfortunately they grow out of something. I never stopped, so to me it would be completely easy to just jump in and do it. But if you don’t do it for 10, 20, 25 fucking years, all of a sudden it’s like, “Oh shit.”. You start to second-guess like, “I’m a little bit scared to do it again.”. But we tried and tried and it’s always the same shit, you know. So now we have a version of just the bass player (Billy Childs) and three other guys that are calling themselves Britny Fox, which is not really the band. I would love to see an original reunion. There’s not much time left for that.
Yeah, we’re all getting older. And even the fans. Just look outside here. I think being 50 here, no problem. And even being 65, on your way to your pension, no problem. We all love heavy metal. Rockers love their heavy metal.
I know. I mean, that’s our music, dude. That’s our generation, you know. This is our time. It won’t be here forever. Hopefully, we pass it on to the younger people, and they keep it going. But every generation has their thing. And the thing that they listened to when they were starting with music, they wanna have that feeling, ‘cause it feels good, man, to listen to live music, and to see songs that you grew up with, and feel that again, you know. So with Britny: You know, I’m always hopeful, but I just… I would never give up, but then again, it’s like I’ve seen how this is over and over not happening. So it’s like, “Okay. I guess I shouldn’t get myself upset about it.”. But I’m ready.
By Tobbe – Published July 14th, 2025
Opeth’s bass player Martín Méndez and drummer Waltteri Väyrynen were talking with Metal Covenant at Sweden Rock Festival.
The Last Will And Testament was out in November last year. What can you guys say about that record today, when it’s been out for over six months now?
Martín: I mean, I’m still proud of that record. I think it’s a nice kind of comeback for us. We cleared the ground, yeah, with some elements from the past. So it feels good. And with Waltteri coming in, it helped us to develop a little more.
Waltteri: I mean, even today, listening back to the album, it still feels very fresh. I’m very proud of the album. It was worth all the time and effort that we put into it. It’s been so nice playing those songs live now for the first time this year. Yeah, it’s very exciting.
If you listen to your own records, in what way do you listen to those records? Are you at home, headphones, or in the car?
Martín: Myself, usually headphones, and the car. I like the Opeth music as a fan also, so I can listen to the whole album without a problem. Usually, that’s a problem when you’re playing a record, like most of the records I’ve been part of, I can’t listen to them. I listen to them when it’s mixed or released, but then I can put them away. But with Opeth, I can listen to them.
Waltteri: I mean, I can say that for every record that I’m part of. Usually, like Martín said, when it’s being mixed and you compare the different mixes, and when it’s finally mastered and completely finished, then you kind of play it on repeat all the time. Then you kind of leave it for a bit, and then you might come back to it a bit later on. But yeah, it’s usually around the time when it’s getting finished that you just play it over and over and over.
Is it hard for you guys, as you have played on the record, to not be critical of what you personally have done on the record?
Waltteri: It’s very difficult, especially like a few years after when you hear the album again. Then, of course, you start to notice, “Oh, that could have been better.”. Yeah, little things like that.
Martín: Yeah, that’s a natural thing when you listen to old records. And hopefully you get better and better as a musician. But also, it’s nice to accept the naturality of the time. We try to do our best every time, and of course you’re gonna get better at it, and do this better with time. But you have a chance to play live, so it’s good. Those songs you kind of play in a little different way.
Waltteri: I mean, like when you start playing the songs live, then they kind of start growing their own life, and keep evolving a little bit.
I took a look at a couple of setlists, and I saw it’s either two or three songs from the new album. Do you guys wish that you could play even more songs from that album?
Waltteri: I think we can pretty much play any song from the album, and it would work really well. But of course it’s hard to come up with a setlist nowadays with so many albums. You have to include the classics, and the songs that you want to play, and also represent the new album. It’s kind of hard. But if it were up to me, I’d love to play the whole album.
Martín: Yeah, but you need to represent as many albums as possible. You can play for two hours, which is really long already, but we cannot cover all the albums. But yeah, I would love to play more songs from the new album, but it takes time to rehearse as well.
Waltteri: And also with the lights and production. It’s not like we can just bring in a new song like this. (Snaps his fingers) Yeah, it takes a lot of preparation. And it’s hard to please everybody. There’s always those hard core fans who want to hear some obscure songs that haven’t been played live ever, but also you have to think about the whole picture and the average crowd.
Martín: We like to represent the new album, for sure. And then you have to play a few more songs. But we like to represent the old stuff too, and I think what fans like to hear is also the kind of classic songs. Yeah, it’s not easy to come up with a setlist. There’s a lot of preparation. There’s a lot of stuff, like the lighting show and everything. We don’t play with a click track or anything, so everything is going to be done manually, so we cannot just jump in with a new song.
Waltteri: Also, a really cool thing about this band is that I think we can pretty much leave out any song, or bring in any song from the album, and still the fans would be happy. I mean, there’s no song in the setlist that we have to bring in. And also, not having to be like a legacy band. You know, all the same songs, always.
And Mikael is writing most of the material, so when you do your work on the albums, how much does he interfere with what you’re doing when you’re actually recording stuff?
Martín: I mean, he’s always there, so he kind of has the last word on everything. But speaking for myself, I have a lot of freedom. We get very good demos from him. We love the songs. Usually, I prepare for one or two months before the recording, and try to come up with some bass lines, and present them in the studio, and then we can work together on the final things. That’s the way I work. I mean, his demos are pretty precise, in many ways.
Waltteri: He’s got a very strong vision about the whole picture, which is very cool. He’s quite amazing. He can already in the demo phase picture how it’s gonna sound in the end result. It’s very nice to follow that vision.
You’ve been in quite a few other bands, Waltteri. So what is different with playing in Opeth to all the other bands you’ve been with?
Waltteri: Yeah, it’s kind of different with every band. Like with Paradise Lost, the way I worked on the drums was I got rough drum demos that I started working on myself. I came up with some ideas, and we bounced the ideas back and forth through email. Alexi (Laiho, Bodom After Midnight) didn’t have any drum demos. You know, nothing recorded. Like we just showed up at the rehearsal place, and then he showed us the riffs, and then everyone in the band sort of came up with their own ideas. I mean, that works too, but it just takes longer time. But the way that Mike is working, I find that the most efficient way, at least for me. He has these very precise demos that already kind of sound like the album, and it’s easy to work on, you know.
And you’re left-handed. What might differ your drum playing from right-handed drummers?
Waltteri: I mean, I play right-handed kits. I would say mostly I play like right-handed drummers. But there’s a few things, like the fast double kick parts, I lead with my left foot. And some of the fills, I start with my left hand, and I might want to land on my left side. So it’s like a feature. It hasn’t stopped me.
Belonging to the rhythm section of the band, how do you guys talk about merging the bass and drums to one entity?
Martín: Waltteri came into the band, and I think we did like 16 songs the same day. It was insane. The sound is so good already. But I’m very picky when it comes to the drums and bass. You know, they have to be together. But it’s been so easy with him.
Waltteri: Yeah, I feel like I get spoiled to get to play with such a good bass player, because he’s just so easy and smooth, and we don’t even really have to talk about anything. We just talk through the music.
Martín: I mean, that’s the beauty of it, when you find the energy of somebody who plays in the same band. It’s not easy to get that chemistry, but we felt right away that we together have something for everybody. I feel very relaxed when I play live because I trust everybody, and I know they’re gonna play well, so I just try to enjoy it and relax. I think that’s the meaning of playing music.
Opeth is a band that has really changed its musical way over the years by starting with kind of death metal and going to kind of progressive rock. Can you sometimes feel that the experimental way of doing things might have too large impact on what you’re doing musically?
Martín: I mean, that’s the natural side of Opeth. We know what we’re gonna do when we go into the studio. Everybody knows. We talk a lot before recording an album. We kind of drop ideas for the next song, so we kind of have an idea already, and if it’s gonna be something experimental, that’s just nice. It’s like the nature of Opeth, to experiment in a way and do something different.
Waltteri: Also, Mike’s way of writing: He doesn’t write a riff like, “Oh, I’m gonna write a riff now that sounds typical for Opeth.”. It’s always about the music itself and it sounds very natural. Whether it’s complex or experimental, I think it always comes naturally, and he doesn’t try to come up on purpose with something very complex or whatever.
I see Opeth as one of the bands that is not like everybody else. How important is it for you guys to come out with music that is like nobody else’s music?
Martín: For us, what is very important is to please ourselves first of all. We kind of go into a bubble where we go to the studio, and then we don’t have any contact with anybody. Nobody knows we’re there. And we just want to please ourselves, like, “This is good music.”. And that’s what we always do.
Waltteri: That’s, I think, one of the main things that I really respect about this band, and the reason why I joined is that the band never followed any trends, or lost their integrity, or did anything that’s, you know, cool at the time. They always just do their own thing.
Martín: When we’re on tour, everybody listens to a lot of music, and it’s not just metal, and I think that reflects on the music. So for us it’s not very surprising if we’re gonna do a ballad, or some kind of jazzy sound, or death metal. All of us pretty much have all those styles inside. So I think that’s part of the nature as well for us, to be very open-minded to listen to music and to play music. I mean, you don’t need to be a professional of any style of music, but you need to know a little bit of everything.
Do you always believe that the fans will take the time and have the patience to get into a new record from Opeth?
Martín: That’s difficult. I mean, we always want to please everybody, of course, and we know we’re taking a risk every time, but that’s part of the game.
Today it’s easy to stream a record on its release date. What kind of good things or bad things do you see with that people can get access to the records so easily nowadays?
Waltteri: I think I stopped buying albums like 10 years ago, so I’ve kind of accepted the way the music business is nowadays, and how everything is easily accessible online. So I think it’s a good thing. But also, there’s too many things going on at the same time, so also people probably have a hard time keeping up with what’s coming out. There’s so many bands and new albums coming out every day. It’s kind of hard to stick out nowadays.
Martín: We’re living in this kind of transition time now, and I think it’s gonna get better in a few years maybe. Right now anybody can release an album and put it up there. Yeah, it’s overloaded. I mean, it’s everywhere. But I think good bands will still be there. And I think in the future, hopefully, people will get more kind of picky, as it was back in the day. If you weren’t a good band, you didn’t get signed in the ‘70s or the ‘80s. I mean, it’s a different time, and you have to accept it and try to work it out as best as possible.
Has Opeth kind of reached the top of its popularity?
Martín: That’s hard to say. I mean, we don’t really think about these things. What I would like to believe or dream about is to keep going, and create records in the future, and play live. That’s the goal. If we get bigger or not, it doesn’t really matter. I’m happy with where we are. We’ve always been, like, slowly going up. We never got from zero to popularity. So for us it pretty much feels the same. And luckily, it’s going slowly up still, you know. I think the key is to still release interesting music. I think that’s the thing.
One final question. Not really Opeth related. Waltteri, why did your time end in Paradise Lost?
Waltteri: It was because of Opeth. (Laughs) No other reason. I mean, of course it was tough leaving the band after seven and a half years. And I am still very good friends with the guys. I loved the music, and I still do. It’s still one of my favorite bands. We had a good time, but also, when I got the call to join Opeth, I couldn’t really say no. I mean, for a drummer, it’s sort of a dream to get that role. Yeah, I just had to do it. I’m very happy where I am today.
By Tobbe – Published July 4th, 2025