Latest / Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast / PODCAST: Episode 757 - Jensen of The Haunted Talks "Songs of Last Resort" with Ojayy of Ghost Cult
Transcript
- 0:00I like my brain to get bored so I don't when I'm like doing the
- 0:04dishes or walking the dog. I don't listen to to podcasts or
- 0:08music because my brain is bored. It needs to entertain itself so
- 0:13it starts doing stuff. It gets creative so I I get my
- 0:17best riffs from when I'm when I'm bored basically.
- 0:26What's up everybody? This is OJ.
- 0:27I'm here with Jensen of the Haunted.
- 0:30Jensen How you doing brother? I'm doing good, thanks.
- 0:33I am very excited to talk to you.
- 0:35It's been a minute since your last record Strength and Numbers
- 0:38came out in 2017 about I guess, you know, that thing happened
- 0:44for a while so nobody was doing nothing and then everybody else
- 0:48had, you know, the at the gates thing took off for a minute.
- 0:51How long was this record ready or did you guys just have extra
- 0:55time to record this? So this is going to be a long
- 0:58answer. So I hope you have a lot of hard
- 1:01drive space. So actually the other day I
- 1:05noticed that the folder that we have on Dropbox, it says album
- 1:122020. So we were only, you know, going
- 1:15to wait three years until we have the the new album out after
- 1:19A Strength in Numbers. But Jonas wrote one at the Gates
- 1:22album and then another at the Gates album.
- 1:25I managed 2 Witchery albums in between.
- 1:29I also had this idea that, you know, when The Haunted started
- 1:34out, we always wrote everything in the rehearsal space like
- 1:37everyone did. I mean, there were no computers
- 1:39back then. And it was, it was a special
- 1:41blend because we, we've always been 3D main songwriters.
- 1:45So, you know, people can, you know, ideas shoot back and forth
- 1:49and, you know, it's a creative brainstorming kind of thing.
- 1:51And that's when I think, you know, we create the best music
- 1:56because it's, you know, everyone contributes.
- 1:59And also I'm not a fan of the rigid style that a computer
- 2:04brings with the, you know, you have to play along to a certain
- 2:06BPM and then the next riff you come up with doesn't work.
- 2:09But if you had been with the guys, you know, a good band will
- 2:13make it work. Sometimes it doesn't.
- 2:15But, you know, oftentimes you'll just, you know, move into that
- 2:18the different tempo, but you know, instead of throwing all
- 2:22those riffs away because they don't work anyway.
- 2:24So exit exit wounds and the strength of numbers.
- 2:28They were both written on on the computer.
- 2:31We all live in different cities. Adrian lives in in London.
- 2:34So since 99, since he joined Cradle Of Filth.
- 2:37So I had this idea that we're going to meet up me and Adrian,
- 2:42we're just going to, you know, jam it for a week and, you know,
- 2:44crank out a couple of songs. So I, I had planned this for
- 2:502420, but then, you know, that thing happened so no one could
- 2:54go anywhere. So he came over in 2021.
- 2:57I had a studio here for six days.
- 2:59We set everything up and we're going to start fresh the
- 3:03following day. He comes down with a bad tummy
- 3:06bug that night. I mean, it's bad.
- 3:09So he's, he's on my, my couch knocked out.
- 3:13And then three days later, I of course get it because it's a
- 3:16tummy bug. And so those six days they just
- 3:19disappear. Adrian has to go and take
- 3:21everything down and fly back home without us having played a
- 3:25single minute. So that kind of put a flat tire
- 3:28on everything. So moving up to to 2023, I work
- 3:33with making guitar plugins. I lead the guitar team, which
- 3:37means that I decide what we, what amps to do, what cabs, what
- 3:42mics, what producers to, to work with, to record the cabs and so
- 3:47on. And you know, colors, you know,
- 3:49all the buttons and effects and, and especially when it sounds
- 3:54right, that's when I say, OK, it's this is good for a release.
- 3:57So we were doing this plug in for a angle Savage app and that
- 4:03was done in 20 last year in March.
- 4:06And I sat at home and was trying it out and notice that I could
- 4:13play like I was in the rehearsal space, like I was sitting next
- 4:17to my my my physical angle at and all of a sudden these riffs
- 4:21started to come out. I mean, I get I get the question
- 4:25during these interviews for the album that you guys sound like
- 4:28you you did back then, like in the early days.
- 4:31And I said it's no different mindset.
- 4:34I just didn't know that I needed a different tool to play through
- 4:39to just because I'm the kind of guy, if I have a guitar sound
- 4:43that sounds like whatever Rolling Stones, it'll be beer,
- 4:46it'll be Rolling Stones riffs. Or if it's ACDC, or if it's
- 4:49super thick and heavy, it'll be Caius, you know?
- 4:52So whatever guitar plug in I had prior to this it, that was what
- 4:57I got out of it. And I didn't know I was held
- 4:59back by not having the right tool for me.
- 5:03So all of a sudden I could start writing riffs again like I was,
- 5:07you know, on the first album. So between March and end of
- 5:11summer, so say September, I had written 11 songs for the album.
- 5:14Ola always has music ready because he writes stuff for his
- 5:18YouTube thing. So he always has songs ready to
- 5:21go. Jonas hadn't written anything
- 5:22because he was burnt out and he was a bit, I guess a
- 5:25disillusioned, you know, some of the years have gone.
- 5:28He saw it as a Herculean task to write the album.
- 5:31So you know, in September when I was I was texting the guys that
- 5:36we're going to record this fall. Like I have 11 songs, you know,
- 5:39they didn't really believe me. But yeah, eventually Jonas got
- 5:42going too and that's that's how the album came about.
- 5:46Yes. A full disclaimer.
- 5:47I don't work at soft tube anymore that that put out the
- 5:50the angle of savage plug in, but I recommend you to check it out
- 5:54if you want to play that style. It helped me.
- 5:57Maybe it'll help you. So now there's no need to fly
- 6:01Adrian in. I've already started riding on
- 6:03the next album. So I mean, I don't think there's
- 6:06even going to be 3 years in between, hopefully just two
- 6:09years. We have a lot of time to catch
- 6:11up. Yeah, and this is the 10th
- 6:12record, and you've been. You and Jonas have been
- 6:15constantly there the whole way through.
- 6:18And this sounds like. Yeah, that sounds to me, sounds
- 6:21like the Haunted. It's like it feels like this era
- 6:23of the band. Is it the third record with this
- 6:26lineup? And it just evokes image for me,
- 6:29a remote sound. It evokes the early days as well
- 6:33as some elements of like the later second coming of dolving.
- 6:36It's got some of those elements there.
- 6:39I can like, I hear it. And this is uh, yeah.
- 6:42You know, it's like, I was very impressed.
- 6:44I'm very impressed that you guys were able to record digitally
- 6:47because I was wondering, did you guys do this the old school way
- 6:49or I guess the new school way of just, hey, you're over there,
- 6:52I'm over here and you made it work.
- 6:54That's how we we wrote it. But we recorded.
- 6:57Well, I mean, the first album that was just no click.
- 7:01It was just, you know, a throwaway guitar playing along
- 7:04to the drums, you know, until the drums are right and then you
- 7:07start recording. This was the same approach.
- 7:10It was just the writing that had to be done in the computer.
- 7:13A lot of people have told me that this album reminds them of
- 7:181 Killed Wonder. I think that might be because
- 7:22you know, Marco is also singing on that album and it and that
- 7:25album also has a thick brutality to it, a thick sound.
- 7:30But I like you say, I also think it has its elements from
- 7:34revolver. So it it has some kind of mix
- 7:36between revolver and one kill wonder.
- 7:38So it is that era 2003 through 2005 S Yeah, I agree.
- 7:43Yeah, there's some songs like, like to me, it's like, you know,
- 7:46the the last track on here, letters, letters of last resort.
- 7:51That does harken back to some of the some of the, IT sounds like
- 7:54a doving error tone like, oh, this seems like it would fit on
- 7:57one of those records because like, yeah, like you've like you
- 8:00guys, I feel like these, this record couldn't have been made
- 8:04without going through all the records you have made to this
- 8:07point. You know, some records were
- 8:09extremely heavy. Some had this really hardcore
- 8:11feel to it. Some went in directions I wasn't
- 8:15momentously prepared for at the time.
- 8:18And things grew on me, you know, like, these aren't as fast as
- 8:21they have the mood. There's a you get to have a mood
- 8:24to your overall music. That's always been constant, you
- 8:27know, rather if it's fast or slow.
- 8:30They're just you guys have a vibe.
- 8:32That's the right way to say. It yeah, I get asked if we, you
- 8:37know, if we have decided on things before we start writing
- 8:40an album. Like, you know, I guess fans do
- 8:43that, you know, if it's going to be faster or heavier or
- 8:46whatever. But we've never done that.
- 8:50As a music fan of myself, I like the the idea of an album being
- 8:55some kind of document where the band was at at that point of
- 8:59time. So, you know, if you if you talk
- 9:01about Black Sabbath, like, you know, comparing A Sabotage album
- 9:05to Volume 4, you know, you could go, you know, when you nerd out
- 9:09with your buds like, Oh yeah, the first time in American
- 9:12studio or you know, those kind of things.
- 9:14So that was where the band was at at that point.
- 9:17And that's what I wouldn't say that that was a plan to do that.
- 9:20It's just how things worked out with with the Haunted.
- 9:24So every album we've done was where the band was at at that
- 9:27point. And I like all of our albums and
- 9:30I'm happy that, you know, we have different people have
- 9:34different favorite albums. I think that's cool.
- 9:37But yeah, with for this album, just because of that plug in
- 9:40again, it brought out my inner 16 year old again.
- 9:45So, you know it's time to get riffic.
- 9:48There are some heavy Atheros on this album and I I just, it's a
- 9:52heavy, it's a, it's a well mixed record.
- 9:55Jen's did his magic on this as always, and it's like I I never
- 10:00disappointed in his productions. So I was like, oh, of course I
- 10:03know it's going to sound sonically good in the mix, but
- 10:06damn, you get a good pair of headphones or a good pair of
- 10:09speakers. Damn the low end on this record.
- 10:11It just it's so it's a full ass record.
- 10:15I actually think I'm going to blow up my speakers in my car
- 10:18because I crank it when I'm I'm driving like, you know, like a
- 10:22you know, I've done so many interviews, so I don't know what
- 10:25I've already told you or if I've told the whatever 40 guys before
- 10:29you, but I usually don't listen to my own music because, you
- 10:33know, at the point of after you've recorded it, you're so
- 10:36fed up with it because you you just live to breathe it for so
- 10:39long. But with this album, when it the
- 10:42the mixes came back, we were kind of, you know, you, you
- 10:45know, that you have good stuff entering the studio.
- 10:49But when the mixes came back from from Yen's, it was the
- 10:54first time we heard it with vocals and with solo.
- 10:56And then we were we started to text each other and we have a
- 10:59WhatsApp. We're like, like, isn't this
- 11:02sounding really good? Like, yeah, you know, it's not
- 11:06like we were surprised. We were just I don't know what
- 11:08their right word will be. We were just, you know, this is,
- 11:11I mean, I think everyone played it at the top of the game for
- 11:15this album. So we are as a band, we are very
- 11:19proud of this album. And I gotta, I gotta compliment
- 11:22the vocals like Marco. Marco's voice doesn't.
- 11:26Marco's voice to me sounds timeless.
- 11:27It sounds just as strong as it did 20 some odd years ago when I
- 11:31first heard him and man, like I guess he he went to Bjorn studio
- 11:35to record these vocals and damn, it's like work with another
- 11:38singer at a singer studio. These it's just meant, you know.
- 11:43So this is a is a string of events.
- 11:45Actually, we recorded the the the album at the pool who studio
- 11:49in in Gothenburg, owned by and run by Oscar Neilson.
- 11:54I had gotten to know him through the Halo effects because he's
- 11:57he's recorded their albums. He's a super great guy and as it
- 12:03turned out, a great the Haunted fan also.
- 12:06So me having all those songs done, I was the one kind of the
- 12:11driving force. So we're going to record this
- 12:13fall. Even people in the band had
- 12:16their talents and oh, November is it.
- 12:18I booked the studio. So when Adrian came in and he
- 12:22put down the drums, Oscar is an old drummer and he loves the
- 12:26haunted. So he knows, you know, he knows
- 12:29what haunted drums need to be like.
- 12:32So he brought out the best of Adrian.
- 12:34When we put down the bass and rhythm guitars, we had a great
- 12:37foundation to build upon. Marco had the previously
- 12:40recorded with a guy called the UK School.
- 12:43He was in a band, or is in the band called Clawfinger that had
- 12:46a big hit back in the day. He did a great job with that.
- 12:50But he had moved from Stockholm, so we were thinking who's going
- 12:54to record the album or the vocals.
- 12:56We were thinking that maybe since Marco and Ola live in
- 12:59Stockholm, maybe Marco could go to Ola's YouTube studio place.
- 13:03And, you know, he has all the stuff there, record the vocals.
- 13:06But being the singer, you know, your instrument is your body,
- 13:10and it's, you know, can be pretty touchy.
- 13:13And if you have a guitar player leaning back and folding his
- 13:16arms and going, you could do that better.
- 13:18You know, that wouldn't fly with Marco.
- 13:19So I had this idea that maybe you could ask Bjorn because he
- 13:23lives up there. He records his, you know, he did
- 13:27all that stuff during the pandemic.
- 13:29So yeah. So I asked Marco that would you
- 13:33be into recording with Bjorn because, you know, they've known
- 13:36each other so many years. They respect each other, you
- 13:39know, So I thought it would be a great mix.
- 13:42And I asked Marco, and he was like, man, I don't know.
- 13:48You know, it would be. It's probably like telling me
- 13:51like, you're going to be recording rhythm guitars with
- 13:54James Hetfield. Like, man, I don't know.
- 13:57But yeah. So he agreed to it and you know,
- 14:01when they sent us the first batch of songs, like 3 songs or
- 14:04something, it sounded amazing. And Marco was super happy.
- 14:09Like he he we had a meet and greet yesterday in Stockholm,
- 14:13you know, early listening for 20 fans or something.
- 14:15And Marco said that Bjorn called him on a shit.
- 14:19So when Marco was yeah. So yeah, this course is not, No,
- 14:24it's not said Bjorn. I know we can do better and try
- 14:27this and try that. And Marco was like, OK, and it
- 14:31worked. And, you know, I guess with
- 14:34every song and Marco feeling like this is really working out,
- 14:38you know, every song got to be better and better.
- 14:40So I actually I think that Marco's never sounded better.
- 14:44I, I, I agree with you 100% on that one.
- 14:47And it's like, I've listened to, like I've even tracked down some
- 14:49of the face down records he's done.
- 14:51So it's like I like, hey, if I'm a fan of you, I try to go
- 14:54through your whole discography of what you've done.
- 14:57And I was like, OK, Marco is, you know, from that to the
- 15:00resistance stuff, it's like, it's great to hear Marco's
- 15:02voice. Like I'm so used to his attack
- 15:05he has. It's like, it's great to, for
- 15:06me, it's like, oh, whenever New Han Marco's like, this is the
- 15:09voice I've missed for a long time and I'm glad he's back.
- 15:13So let's see. I like to call this.
- 15:16It's like, so look, I need to talk about Warhead.
- 15:18I was like, I love a great song. Like in my head, I just joke
- 15:21into just my own personal joke. It's Oh yeah.
- 15:24It's like this. It's like the spiritual
- 15:25successor to shithead like in my in my ears, like you like you
- 15:28kind of A&B them back together. And it's a little to me, it's a
- 15:32little OK, You carry these two songs over to each other and you
- 15:36got to work with Patrick, you Yulius.
- 15:39God damn. How do you say that?
- 15:41How do you say his name? Julius.
- 15:43Julius yes, you got to work with him and with on that song and
- 15:47fire were born. What took so long to work with?
- 15:51Him. Yeah, that's a good question
- 15:52because he's done every band from Gothenburg, actually pretty
- 15:56surprising how we've managed to avoid them.
- 15:58Not that we've actively avoided him, but I don't know.
- 16:02And he's also. That was also like the same
- 16:04story with Yen's boogie that At the Gates had worked with him.
- 16:08So Jonas had the connection there with Yen's and sing with
- 16:12Patrick. And he said of course we're
- 16:14good, we need to do something together.
- 16:16And it was really cool. It was fast.
- 16:18Yeah, I don't know if you, I think you mentioned that you've
- 16:21recorded a video yourself. Yeah, it's it's very tiring.
- 16:25I mean, when you're on stage playing a show, you know, you do
- 16:29a lot of music, does the talking.
- 16:31But when you're recording a video, you need to be fucking
- 16:35head banging like constantly for I don't know how many hours.
- 16:40It's, it's bad. But yeah, he was so
- 16:42professional. He had so many cameras, so he
- 16:45captured so many angles at once. So, you know, we did maybe two
- 16:48or three playthroughs and it was that was 1 video.
- 16:51He's been doing this for so long himself.
- 16:54He's been doing this for like 30 years.
- 16:55So of course it's going to be quick with him.
- 16:58Yeah, that's and he's, yeah, he's he's one of my favorite.
- 17:02He's like one of my favorite directors out there of this
- 17:05genre. It's like, of course, it's like
- 17:07I can figure, I can, I guess 99% of the bands from your area he's
- 17:12worked with at some point or another and just took you guys a
- 17:15minute to get to him. There's going to be, I mean, the
- 17:18album is out this Friday. There's going to be a third
- 17:21video. Will you stop Friday?
- 17:24So awesome, then I should hurry up and edit this video.
- 17:28So let me get back to a fun part of the fun part of this record
- 17:32for me is you have a great logo. Your logo is phenomenal.
- 17:37And your covers are always, you always have some great covers.
- 17:41And you've worked with. I forgot his name at this exact
- 17:45second. Andreas.
- 17:47Andreas. Yeah.
- 17:48Andreas Peterson. Like, how did you start work
- 17:50with it? Because this goes all the way
- 17:51back to like, did he design the logo?
- 17:54He's a childhood friend of mine, so he he got into designing
- 17:58early. He even did I was in a band
- 18:00called Satanic Water and which turned into witchery, but he did
- 18:05the album cover for that. So he he was he went to art
- 18:10school, I guess you call it at the most prestigious art school
- 18:13in Sweden, won a scholarship, went to New York actually, and
- 18:18did his internship there at some kind of mega whatever ad
- 18:23company. So he's worked with big company
- 18:26names here in Sweden. He, I mean, he's even, you know,
- 18:30these guys have an idea for a bank.
- 18:33He comes up with the name and the, and the home page and the
- 18:36logo, the branding, everything. He's Andreas is also even he
- 18:40came up with the title The haunted made me do it.
- 18:42I mean, he's a great arts guy. So, so he does all this, you
- 18:47know, you know, banks and whatever, and he loves to do the
- 18:50haunted stuff because it's so crazy to him, you know.
- 18:54So when we started the band, I asked him that, you know, we
- 18:58need a logo, that this is what I told him.
- 19:01We need a logo that everyone between 8 and 80 can read.
- 19:05So he made it a huge block letters and he put the shadow
- 19:09guy there. Then the second thing I said
- 19:11that people need to be able to see that it's a haunted album.
- 19:14You know, back then there you had CD walls and music stores
- 19:19like if you're, you know, I don't know, feet 30 feet away
- 19:23from the wall, you need to see, oh, that's must be a haunted
- 19:25album. So he put it in the middle of
- 19:28the cover. No, he that's, you know, total
- 19:31concept branding, thinking, you know, like you wouldn't like if
- 19:34you're going to sell a new brand of, I don't know, soda or
- 19:38something, you know, just you see from afar that it has to be
- 19:42that soda and which actually worked out when they when having
- 19:47the logo in the middle. We did or actually Eric did a
- 19:52compilation album called warning Shots where, you know, they took
- 19:55the songs from the three first albums and the live album.
- 20:00So he just cut the the cover in four pieces and put it together
- 20:04and the logo just it centered. It worked still.
- 20:07So he's an amazing guy and he was actually the meet and greet
- 20:11I mentioned earlier. He was, actually.
- 20:14There as the kind of the 6th member, So these 20 fans that
- 20:19have won the early listening thing, they were pretty stoked
- 20:23to get to meet him. Yeah, his covers are just I
- 20:28like. He's a great designer.
- 20:30He's got a he's got a wonderful eye.
- 20:32And like, again, I've seen his work on on the Haunted Records
- 20:36as well as all those witchery covers.
- 20:38Yeah, he's, yeah, it's, I don't know.
- 20:40I got no bad words to say to him, but just man, like I see
- 20:43why you work with him. Like, because these covers,
- 20:45don't they all, they don't, they go together, but they don't go
- 20:48together. It's not like, all right.
- 20:49They're all, they have their own unique voice.
- 20:51Like every record, like, yeah, it's a time capsule.
- 20:54Every record captures that moment in time and like the
- 20:57covers are to me, just paintings.
- 20:59It's like, oh, this would be a great, you can hang this
- 21:01picture, you can hang this on the wall.
- 21:04This is all it's all wall hangable artwork covers to me.
- 21:07Yeah, and you know, the, the, the his albums because he's he's
- 21:12so into, he's so good at what he does it it became a branding of
- 21:18the whole, you know, all his album artwork.
- 21:21They kind of like you say, they're different, but they all,
- 21:24they have something in common. And they also differ from other
- 21:28bands. I don't think other bands have
- 21:31kind of that artwork that we do, which is a good thing.
- 21:35He also pointed out something because him and I brainstorm a
- 21:38lot and when we do the artwork, like because we start with a,
- 21:42you know, a white sheet of paper and OK, what are we going to do
- 21:45for this one? And he asks me what's the song,
- 21:48what's the lyrics about and so on.
- 21:50But he pointed out something that I hadn't thought about.
- 21:54The first album is mainly about personal rage, you know, and it
- 22:00has a black cover and then, you know, the fire.
- 22:03And then the second album was about serial killers.
- 22:06And then it just went from there.
- 22:08And then Strengthen Numbers is about, you know, fascist states
- 22:11about, you know, control of the masses.
- 22:14And this one is about world warhead and, you know, the fear
- 22:18of nuclear war and so on. So it's been in kind of like in,
- 22:22you know, a level up all the time, like an escalation.
- 22:25And I hadn't seen that connection before, which also
- 22:30brings the question like, what would be the topic after nuclear
- 22:35Holocaust? And maybe someone suggested
- 22:39that, well, because you're called the haunted, maybe it
- 22:41would be about ghosts because that's what what would be left
- 22:45like. All right, Well, maybe.
- 22:47There was this old Hanna Barbera cartoon from like the late 60s
- 22:51called Fundar the Barbarian. I think that would probably be
- 22:54what it it's about. It's kind of like like, yeah,
- 22:57everything's in ruins. It's like a a century past the
- 23:01bombs and the destruction of the world.
- 23:04And it's like people, you know, kind of Tarzan ish and like
- 23:08mutant creatures just like surviving in that world.
- 23:11And it's like, Oh yeah, what is this?
- 23:13And it's like, oh, it's like an old TV.
- 23:14They don't know what it is because they've never
- 23:16experienced certain things. So that you'd see like certain
- 23:19items from that we would honestly, we would recognize.
- 23:22They're like, Oh yeah, like I don't know what this is or
- 23:24they're calling it something else because to them it's not
- 23:27what we use it for. So that's a.
- 23:29There's an idea for that post apocalyptic world or something
- 23:33like a Mad Max thing. Yeah, but far-flung into the
- 23:37future, though, you gotta can't make it too too close because we
- 23:40don't need that that mental trauma.
- 23:44So we're in your 20 plus years with Century Media records.
- 23:48So far, so good. What made what makes them the
- 23:51right home for the haunted? They've.
- 23:52Always been super cool to towards us.
- 23:56The people that we've worked with, the A and Rs we've had,
- 24:01we've only had two A and Rs and they've really cared about the
- 24:04band. We were very fortunate to get on
- 24:08Century Media actually. I don't think we would leave for
- 24:12any other label to be honest. We feel at home there and they
- 24:16take good care of us so. And speaking since that you've
- 24:20been there for 20 years with them.
- 24:22This year it's an anniversary of a record we spoke about earlier.
- 24:25This is the 25th anniversary of Made Me Do It, which blows my
- 24:29mind because I remember that was like, that was like the record
- 24:34of the decade for me, where when that record came out, I was
- 24:37like, this is this intro, this everything on that record was
- 24:42that record was life at that time.
- 24:44There was nothing more. I was like, there was a haunted
- 24:47kool-aid. I was drinking it back in the
- 24:48day. And that record was, yeah, that
- 24:52record holds such a special place in my heart just because
- 24:54I've seen you guys play so much wrong that time.
- 24:57And I caught the and the tail end of the first album cycle.
- 25:01And I gotta say, man, that's like those records, those songs
- 25:05still hold up. I listened to it like the other
- 25:06week. And I was like, yeah, like these
- 25:08records, these songs are timeless.
- 25:10And I'm very, very glad I got to see them in those days.
- 25:13And I can't wait to see it again when you guys get to America.
- 25:17It's been a minute. I know you guys did that, that
- 25:19cruise, that boat cruise a couple years ago.
- 25:21But I need to, we need to get the Haunted back to America
- 25:24because or I need to get my ass overseas because I miss you
- 25:26guys. We also did Maryland Death Fest.
- 25:30That was too. But yeah, absolutely.
- 25:32I mean, America was our second home.
- 25:34I mean, the year we toured the most, we were out eight months
- 25:38that year, and I'm sure more than half of it was spent in the
- 25:42US So we've done a ton of shows there.
- 25:45So of course we want to go back. And I know we're popping up on
- 25:49festivals and whatnot, and I guess with the anniversary of
- 25:51that record, do we have any, like, thoughts of anniversary
- 25:55shows with that record or, you know, 27 for the first record
- 25:59and hell, like 1 kill wonders, 22 years, like, and yeah,
- 26:03special plans to commemorate anything.
- 26:05And it might be because festival season here in Europe,
- 26:10especially after COVID, it all gets booked between September
- 26:16and November the year before. So right when one season ends,
- 26:20that's when you start booking for for the next.
- 26:22So when our single first single came out in March, no one knew
- 26:25that we had a new album coming out.
- 26:27And I guess no one knew what was going to sound like.
- 26:30So for this year, this summer, we've had to, you know, get on
- 26:34the festivals that were still had slots available.
- 26:38So actually 26 will be our festival summer for this album.
- 26:43But we have a ton of shows this fall, so we're going to Japan
- 26:48and stuff. So we're going to be doing a lot
- 26:50of shows and we'd love to come back to the US, of course.
- 26:52But about anniversary, special anniversary gigs, we haven't
- 26:58spoken about this for this year because, you know, it's been so
- 27:02long since we put out a new album that we we really need to
- 27:06show that we were still alive and doing well.
- 27:09But next year is actually the 30th anniversary of forming the
- 27:13band. And I've been thinking on what
- 27:15to do because we still got a year like it was in July 27th,
- 27:201996, me and Adrian rehearse the first time.
- 27:23So I'm thinking like, what could we do?
- 27:25You know, maybe a hometown show, but what would you play?
- 27:29Because it's it's the anniversary of the band, you
- 27:32can't really focus. If you focus on all albums,
- 27:35it'll be like a normal game. You play the Best Song.
- 27:37Or we should, would we do a live album maybe, you know, after
- 27:41like a anniversary thing? Or yeah, if you got any good
- 27:45ideas, you know all yours. I think I like like me
- 27:49personally, like I was like, yeah, you could play though, you
- 27:51know, this it's become like standard now to like, oh, here's
- 27:54the whole record from front to back here at the first record,
- 27:57you know, it's like, oh, you could you could.
- 27:59I think what Testament did just now is like they did like a
- 28:02evening whiff tour right now. So just them you guys could do
- 28:05like a anniversary show in your hometown.
- 28:07That's like, hey, do with two or three songs from each record and
- 28:10in between and like, hey, this is what we were at.
- 28:12This is where we were at this moment is the change if they
- 28:15talked about like, you know, where they were at that time
- 28:18between each record. So maybe something like that
- 28:20would be cool because that was cool hearing like stories from
- 28:22like then we first did this album.
- 28:24This was blah, blah, blah, blah. We almost send you this one.
- 28:27We this song almost didn't make the record for whatever reasons.
- 28:29And I made it and, you know, stuff like that was kind of cool
- 28:32just to like hear like, you know, a oral history of the band
- 28:36basically, because you guys have a very interesting history and
- 28:39everybody's like it's at the gates Junior are they're going
- 28:41to play. Are they going to keep playing
- 28:43all the all the at the gates songs?
- 28:44I wouldn't, yeah. Cuz there was so much of yeah,
- 28:48cuz there were so many of At the Gates guys in the band when it
- 28:51first formed. You guys kind of got
- 28:53grandfathered into their old record label, The Record Deal.
- 28:57So I think something like that would be interesting for music
- 29:01nerds and just like band stuff. Cuz yeah, 30 years is the
- 29:06knowledge you have in your head not everybody has.
- 29:08That that's a good idea actually, to do actually do it
- 29:11backwards. So start with the newest album
- 29:14and then, you know, so people, they get to hear more and more
- 29:17stories that are, you know, fewer people have heard to kind
- 29:20of build the suspension. And because with the Internet
- 29:23these days and, you know, all the interviews I do for this
- 29:25album, a lot of stuff gets revealed.
- 29:28So you know that, yeah, it's a good idea actually.
- 29:32Like a three hour show. What do you fly over for it?
- 29:34I got to get my ass back to the DMVI, need to update my passport
- 29:39because it expired and I forgot to renew it, and I got to get
- 29:41this real ID. So once that happens, yeah, just
- 29:43give me a little time, give me at least six weeks, Give me a
- 29:46six weeks lead up, all right, That'd be worth coming out for.
- 29:49Yeah. And if you decide to use
- 29:51anniversary shows, I don't know how cool I don't know your
- 29:55relationship are with the former members.
- 29:57You know, maybe they could show up and say hi for a minute.
- 30:00But I are you guys still cool with some of those with those
- 30:03cats? Yeah.
- 30:04I mean, maybe we could do a show like that.
- 30:06So let's see. I mean, I need to convince the
- 30:09other guys. We have everyone in the band and
- 30:11nowadays has a lot going on, so I know.
- 30:15Yeah. I mean, Ola might be the busiest
- 30:17guy I know with, you know, the guitar brand and, and YouTube
- 30:21channel and and bands and so on. But yeah, let's see if we can
- 30:26pull something like that off. It'll be cool, super cool to
- 30:29have old members join in. Yeah, man, cuz yeah, yeah, it's
- 30:32like fun. Like Adrian is the drummer who
- 30:34started the haunted. But like I've seen pair with you
- 30:38guys more than anybody. So like, you know, that whole
- 30:42yeah, that was, that was my era of the band that I like, I don't
- 30:45say fell in love with, but yeah, the era, yeah, the era like I
- 30:48was, yeah, whatever the record of the era, I fell in love with
- 30:50you guys. So it's like, you know, certain
- 30:52people hold a certain people just hold a sweet spot in my
- 30:55heart and like, and have an Adrian back in the bath.
- 30:58I was like, okay, that's exactly what I would have, would have
- 31:02liked, you know, cuz it's hard to replace certain people if you
- 31:04replace, you know, that's why I'm glad Mark goes back And it's
- 31:07like, oh man, I couldn't think of a I couldn't, I can't hear a
- 31:10third voice singing these songs besides either Peter or or
- 31:14Marco. Yeah, it's difficult when a band
- 31:16changes vocalists, and having a third vocalist would have been
- 31:20a, you know, a tough sell. So we're very happy that Marco
- 31:27chose to join the band again. And he was, he said he loves to
- 31:32join the band earlier too. But you know, we had Peter in
- 31:35the band and things were cool. And but then when the
- 31:38opportunity came, because he left the band because he had
- 31:41young kids at home and we were on tour so much and you know, so
- 31:45there was no disagreements or anything.
- 31:47He just had to prioritize. So yeah, very happy to have both
- 31:52him and Adrian back in the band. And it's.
- 31:54Like. Ola's a great guy in the band,
- 31:57yeah. Yeah.
- 31:58So it's like, yeah, the chemistry that these three
- 32:00records have is again, again, it's very similar to the other
- 32:04to the to the first error lineup because it's it's like the the
- 32:09like you and Ola work really well together.
- 32:11Like some of your harmonies in here are just OK, all right.
- 32:15You know, there's some harmonies and I just make you smile.
- 32:17It's like, Oh yeah, it's like I can't head bang.
- 32:19I'm just like, I just sound. That's great, man.
- 32:21Like I'm gonna talk about this record a little bit because I'm
- 32:23gonna because I'm just I need a fanboy out about about this new
- 32:27album. Like what is my favorite track
- 32:29on here so far? It's like I like the bleed out.
- 32:32The bleed out. I was like it's just so that
- 32:34song to me that like the album is sequence great.
- 32:37I feel like the bleed out, like I like the last track, but the
- 32:40bleed out could have been the last track because it just has
- 32:42the way the way it ends with all Adrian's little drum fills and
- 32:48little nuances in there. The way that song just ended
- 32:50that to me, that's a song I put on repeat.
- 32:52I put that song on repeat more than anything else on this
- 32:54record, but it just it just sound about like those little
- 32:58moments in there and I just it just a great that's the song
- 33:01that all right, turn off the lights and just hang out in the
- 33:03dark and you can just vibe out to that song.
- 33:04There's a story behind that song.
- 33:06So that's, that's one of my songs.
- 33:08Like I mentioned earlier that I wrote 11 songs for this album.
- 33:12And usually I, I do the fast stuff and then the, you know,
- 33:15the melodic stuff is handled by, by Jonas or, you know, Jonas and
- 33:19Anders back in the day. But you know, when I was at song
- 33:238 or something, I was thinking, you know, I have written my
- 33:29share of the album. You know, I'm, I'm good.
- 33:31But I came up with the, the, the, the first riff when I was
- 33:37out walking the dog. I, I don't, you know, I like my
- 33:41brain to get bored. So I don't when I'm like doing
- 33:44the dishes or walking the dog, I don't listen to to podcasts or
- 33:48music because my brain is bored. It needs to entertain itself.
- 33:53So it starts doing stuff. It gets creative.
- 33:56So I I get my best riffs from when I'm when I'm bored,
- 33:59basically. So I came up with this melodic
- 34:01thing and came back inside and got the guitar and that yeah,
- 34:05this is pretty cool. And you know, put it, started
- 34:08recording it and then I came up with what is the chorus of the
- 34:13song? It's a three harmony, 3 guitar
- 34:17harmony thing and we've never had anything like that in with
- 34:21the Haunted and we within the band, we call it the Thin Lizzy
- 34:24part because it has three harm. And you know, I was thinking,
- 34:28you know, I have my share of fast stuff.
- 34:31Maybe I should just keep on writing this song and I finished
- 34:33it and you know, I really like the vibe of it.
- 34:37And from working with the Halo Effect, they have a guy, there
- 34:43was a band, Swedish band on Eric called the Misery Loves Company,
- 34:48the two man band and the guy that did all the keyboards and
- 34:52synthesizers, he's the guy who does all the the keyboards and
- 34:56whatever with the Halo effect. And since I've heard that stuff
- 35:01so much, I mean, we've done 150 shows with Halo Effect.
- 35:05I was thinking that, you know, this could maybe be something
- 35:08for for Odeon to also work on and so send it off to him.
- 35:12And he added a new dimension that we haven't had for the
- 35:15haunted. We've never had, you know,
- 35:17keyboards or anything in the background before.
- 35:19I mean, we're a man's band, right?
- 35:21But yeah, so that added also something I've always loved fade
- 35:25out songs because, you know, when I was a kid listening with
- 35:28headphones, but if there was a fade out, especially in the last
- 35:31song, I'd be following with, you know, the volume knob.
- 35:34Like I want to, I want to, you know, the circus is leaving
- 35:37town. I want to go with it kind of
- 35:39finding out what they're doing. Actually, if you do that with
- 35:43the last song, Forensic, on the first album, if you go all the
- 35:47way to the end, you'll hear that we we cut into a pretty famous
- 35:51riff by another parent. There's a little Easter egg, if
- 35:56you will. But yeah, so I also ended up
- 35:59writing the lyrics for To Bleed Out.
- 36:02It's a great song. I'm pretty confident that we
- 36:05will play that song live because it's, you know, we need a varied
- 36:09live set anyway, and I think it'll work great.
- 36:13So it's one of my favorites too. Yeah, I, it's a, like I said,
- 36:17like sequencing is very important and it's like some
- 36:19records was like front loaded with all the fast stuff and it's
- 36:22like everything. Some people just like keep the,
- 36:25the different stuff at the end. I, I do like that it is kind of
- 36:29like early in the, in the mix, in the in the set, whatever.
- 36:33It's early in the, it's early in the listing of songs.
- 36:36So like you get the nice wave, but I feel like your ears need
- 36:39to wave. It's like you don't get tired
- 36:41from this record. You put it on.
- 36:42It's like it doesn't, it doesn't like exhaust you in the first,
- 36:45like 2020 minutes, Like, oh God, there's still more songs.
- 36:48It's like, OK, cool. You get a you get a chance to
- 36:51breathe and continue this record And, and it's like, yeah, 'cause
- 36:55you're going from that to like to hell.
- 36:57Like, yeah, even a hell is wasted on the dead.
- 36:59Like that ending. And again, like I'm a big fan of
- 37:01endings and that's just one of those great yelling, screaming,
- 37:04just bang, you know, those, you know, symbol stabs, like great,
- 37:07I love all that. Just give me that.
- 37:08You know, that's that's another wonderful ending.
- 37:11Also one of my songs it's. Not Pig, it's just this
- 37:15randomly. I'm just pulling out songs that
- 37:17I like that I just. Oh yeah, that's all.
- 37:18Yeah, that sticks out. Like the song that stick out.
- 37:20Apparently I'm a fan. Of you.
- 37:22Adrian actually texted me one evening saying that this is
- 37:27because he was listening to the album at home.
- 37:29And he texted me saying this is the Best Song I've ever played
- 37:33on. Like what?
- 37:34What? How drunk are you right now?
- 37:37You know, he said he's, he said he wasn't drunk, but yeah, so
- 37:40that's pretty cool. So you've been, you've been
- 37:42involved in music for over 30 years.
- 37:45You know, from, from from what the sand stuff to to satanic
- 37:50slaughter to, to witchery and the haunted.
- 37:54Like you said, when you pick up the guitar and the guitar tone,
- 37:57are you are you, Do you have to be in a mood to write for a
- 37:59certain band? When you pick up the guitar like
- 38:01oh, I'm I'm in haunted mood today this or I'm in witchery
- 38:05mood today, or they just start playing like oh, this song
- 38:07should be for the haunted, but it could go to witchery.
- 38:10Or vice versa. And it's happened.
- 38:12So there's a good example all of that.
- 38:15There's a, you know, the first instrumental track, the first
- 38:21song on the haunted made Me do it album dark intentions.
- 38:24That is so the haunted that it's almost become the doorbell, you
- 38:29know, signature of the band. And this must have been in 99.
- 38:35I guess Witcher was going to do a show, a festival I think in
- 38:40Finland, just a one off show and the drummer at the time couldn't
- 38:44do it. So Adrian jumped in to do it.
- 38:46So we were at a Witcher rehearsal with Adrian.
- 38:50And so this must must have been right before Adrian left to join
- 38:56Cradle Phil. So it has to be.
- 38:59And you know, people were tuning their guitars or something.
- 39:03And you know, I just got this idea.
- 39:06Then asked Adrian, can you just do that thing?
- 39:10And then I played the riff and I have this thing if if a song won
- 39:15to be written like the the the following riffs just come, you
- 39:19know, by themselves, then you know, you have a good song that
- 39:22that song is a minute and a half.
- 39:25I think it took me 3 minutes to write it.
- 39:27And that's also one of the reasons to why I like rehearsing
- 39:31instead of coming out with something.
- 39:33Get the computer going, pull in drums, play the riff, and then
- 39:37you've kind of lost your your frail thought to the next, you
- 39:40know. But anyway, the other guys in in
- 39:42the witchery, they chimed in because they they saw what I was
- 39:45playing and they followed and they everyone, yeah, this is
- 39:48super cool. And I was like, yeah, so I think
- 39:52this sounds more like the haunt that they were like Boo.
- 39:58Yeah. So funny story that went to the
- 40:01haunted and. Me and Adrian wrote that song or
- 40:04I wrote it with Adrian and Adrian didn't play it on the
- 40:08album cuz pair played. So, a little funny story.
- 40:12Yeah, I gotta figure, like some of those songs, Yeah.
- 40:15I didn't think about it back then, but I was like, yeah,
- 40:17yeah. When he went to go cradle, I
- 40:19don't know how soon. I don't know how soon those
- 40:22songs were in the works before he left for made me do it, so
- 40:27it's only it's. Only that song.
- 40:31We were pretty disillusioned back then because we were on
- 40:34Eric and they we, we didn't. I think we only played twenty
- 40:37shows prior to Adrian leaving on an album that made it, you know,
- 40:43best newcomer all over the place.
- 40:45We had, you know, great buzz going, but we didn't we couldn't
- 40:48get out to play shows. So he had left for for cradle.
- 40:52That's when we got the offer to open up for a testament.
- 40:55And that's when we asked pair because we knew Invocator from
- 40:59from Denmark. And when we had done that tour
- 41:02with the testament, we asked pair to would you want to join?
- 41:06He said yes, So actually sit only September to December those
- 41:13what is that four months by 4. That's what we wrote haunted
- 41:18maybe do it because we entered the studio in January.
- 41:21So yeah. Yeah, and I was and I I remember
- 41:25I said I saw that show at the Birch Hill for all our New York,
- 41:29New Jersey fans. It's like, yeah, the virtual.
- 41:32I saw the haunted with testament at the Birch Hill.
- 41:34And I think it was Marco's first time too.
- 41:36It was like Marco and pair there was both like the new kids on
- 41:39the block for that record. And yeah, you guys have been
- 41:44that line up just like was etched in my brain.
- 41:47I was like damn. That was a great tour.
- 41:49I mean, people say people say that The Haunted, that first
- 41:54album helped bring thrash back. I think I think the combination
- 41:58between that album, because it was a new band, so it caught,
- 42:02you know, people who like to discover new music.
- 42:06They had that band and it was the same year that The Gathering
- 42:10came out by Testament. So established thrash band
- 42:15brought back. It was had also made a great
- 42:18thrash album and that tour we did together was like, so
- 42:21there's something from for the, you know, the old cats and the
- 42:24the new kids. I think that worked together and
- 42:28you know, because times were rough in the 90s for thrash.
- 42:31So 99 was a good year for thrash.
- 42:33And since then, you know, a lot of thrash bands came back.
- 42:36I'm not saying it's thanks to us, but they're back.
- 42:39And if you know, they've never. You guys definitely inspired a
- 42:43lot of bands. I'll definitely say that from
- 42:46from that era. You guys definitely inspire a
- 42:49lot of bands. All you a couple of nickels, you
- 42:52know, and I look at the haunted, the first record.
- 42:54I look at the self-titled like that's very like I, it's a very,
- 42:57to me, I hear as a crossover record and it's like, I hear
- 43:00like odd, like, you know, So there's some hardcore elements
- 43:02to it. There's some thrash stuff.
- 43:03It's like a heart. It's like a melodic hardcore
- 43:06album. Like in a lot of moments here,
- 43:08which I'm like, Oh, there's like guitars here because it's like
- 43:10there's vocally, it sounds like a hardcore singer like to like
- 43:14the New York hardcore style in my in my ears.
- 43:17And then there's a lot of like cool.
- 43:18Like some of the songs have this just like kind of punkish
- 43:21hardcore Y kind of vibe to it. And then there's like, Oh yeah,
- 43:24that's some melodic like guitar work.
- 43:26I've been here and it's like, oh, and then you guys went to
- 43:29made me do it. And that just was like a thrash,
- 43:33thrash, a palooza on that record.
- 43:35And I was like, Jesus. And then one kill wonder.
- 43:38Then we got to 1 kill wonder. And for me, it was just like, it
- 43:41was heavy. It was it's, it was just a dark
- 43:46record. It was, it was just, it felt
- 43:48cold, but still heavy, like in a negative way.
- 43:50But it was, it just felt the mood in that record was a very
- 43:52cold, gave me a cold feeling. And the production, yeah,
- 43:56production was great. Songs are wonderful.
- 43:58There's Mars of, of, of, you know, clean vocal, clean, clean
- 44:02singing Marco, you know, and it was like a very, it was just,
- 44:06yeah, it was just a, it was just a rough record, like a hard,
- 44:09brutal, but it wasn't like all the way fast all the time, you
- 44:12know, Cuz of course, like DOA, it's the big, the big stand out
- 44:15for everybody on that record. So yeah, it's you guys made some
- 44:19smart videos. You guys made some fun videos
- 44:22back in the day. Those serial killing days are
- 44:25great. We deliberately wanted to make a
- 44:28dirtier album because we thought the hunter made me do it.
- 44:32It sounded good, but it was too clean and lacked the the the
- 44:36bottom end. So when we recorded one kill
- 44:40wonder, we told Fred that we need to make this dirtier and,
- 44:45you know, a bit more grim, if you will.
- 44:47And I know that the pair drummer pair had a thing about this
- 44:52album because it's it has amazing drumming on it and you
- 44:56can't really hear what he's doing.
- 44:58So that bummed him out a bit. I I remember.
- 45:00But yeah, it served its purpose. It was the the natural evolution
- 45:05of things, I guess. And then we with the revolver,
- 45:08of course, the developing was back.
- 45:10So, you know, there's other things to explore.
- 45:12Like I, I mentioned that we every album is like where the
- 45:16band is at that point. So that that was what we wanted
- 45:19to write. And yeah, like for a minute I,
- 45:22you know, I was like, oh man, like these records to me, like
- 45:24for a minute, like what happened?
- 45:25Like what happened to like the aggression?
- 45:27The aggression just metamorphosized into a different
- 45:32mood. It was still there.
- 45:33It just wasn't like, oh, I wanted to be like just fist
- 45:36banging like, you know, angry thrash metal.
- 45:39But with some of those records like like, like Revolver kind of
- 45:43remind me of the first record and it kind of had, it had like
- 45:48that kind of, it was bright, but not.
- 45:50Yeah, it was a bright. It felt not like hopeful, but it
- 45:54felt like, you know, I just, I gave your record nice.
- 45:57You left that record feeling like, yeah, I feel kind of good,
- 45:59you know? Yeah.
- 46:01Like, 99 is on that album and that's a like a party song
- 46:04almost, Yeah, you know, drink beer and destroy your, your,
- 46:09your house. So I guess that I see what you
- 46:13mean with it being a a happier, lighter album maybe.
- 46:18Yeah, and it's like like, yeah, I'm, I'm like, I do enjoy the
- 46:21dead eye. Like I I enjoy the day, like the
- 46:23medication. That's a great, that's a great
- 46:25song. That record.
- 46:26I like everything is like the with that record, everything is
- 46:29this, the this, the that. And I thought that was a it's
- 46:33like like a interesting concept record to me.
- 46:37I don't know if you guys can see what a concept record, but it
- 46:39gives like a feeling. It gives like a an interesting
- 46:43cycle of from every song, the first song to the last song on
- 46:45that record, a nice yeah. You feel like you get a complete
- 46:49little story, like a mental story in it, just by the mood
- 46:53that record gives off. Yeah, it is my favorite haunted
- 46:57album. It has a dark mood to it, but
- 47:02the songs, it's not a concept album, but I absolutely know
- 47:06what you mean by it. It feels like it because the the
- 47:10whole production, it's kind of, I don't know, complete in a way.
- 47:14You can't take certain elements out like or certain songs.
- 47:17It just this is. You should listen to it in its
- 47:20entirety. Yeah, there's, it's not a record
- 47:23for singles. You know, some people like, oh,
- 47:24like you can listen to this song and that song and the rest is
- 47:27filler. It's like that whole record has
- 47:29its own like an inner purpose to be played together.
- 47:33And then it's like, what do we got next?
- 47:34It's like, I'm just like going through the whole history
- 47:37because I I got you for a minute.
- 47:38So it's going to run through like, like the verses, like,
- 47:42what were you at, like when you guys were doing verses?
- 47:45And the cover does like, it's like a, to me, it's a little
- 47:47subtle throwback to the first album cover, you know, just
- 47:50because it's got the same kind of splotched look to it.
- 47:53And, and it's like, yeah, like, you know, Moronic Colossus.
- 47:56Like I remember. Like again, it's like, yeah,
- 47:58like it gave me and it was like, yeah, there was cool.
- 48:01There's still elements of what I wanted person just like a me
- 48:04person. It's like I wanted, like I just
- 48:06wanted more aggression. And it's like, huh, we're
- 48:07getting it, just in a different form.
- 48:10And I don't know how I it was hard for me to process that one.
- 48:14Yeah, it was. I think we were kind of at a
- 48:18crossroads there. Maybe some of the band members.
- 48:21Me and Jonas have always been into metal. him and I were
- 48:25always the one. Yeah.
- 48:26Both were put out a new album. Or Saxon.
- 48:28They were coming to town. We got to go check and the
- 48:31others maybe not so much. I think we were getting close to
- 48:35what that lineup had in terms of metal.
- 48:40So we I think we ended up writing 21 songs for that album
- 48:44and I think we recorded them all too.
- 48:46And we we were a rehearsing band for way longer than any of our
- 48:51Arthur Gothenburg contemporaries.
- 48:53They start rehearsing. They only rehearsed the maybe
- 48:56before the album recording. And before tour we were, you
- 49:00know, if we were home, if not every day, so every other day.
- 49:04Once we had gotten the sound with two Madison, we recorded
- 49:08all those songs live in two days, 21 songs.
- 49:12So that album is live in the studio.
- 49:15Well, solos came afterwards, of course, and and vocals.
- 49:18But yeah, we were that well rehearsed at that point.
- 49:22But and it was also a challenge to choose songs.
- 49:25I remember, yes, there's a compilation CD that came with
- 49:30some kind of package. I don't know, something damage,
- 49:33I think it was called something, I can't remember, Collateral
- 49:37Damage actually, 6 songs that didn't make it on the album.
- 49:41So like that, you know, that's almost a full album extra that
- 49:44came out afterwards and the songs are very different.
- 49:48And that is what led into Unseen because that was where the band
- 49:53was going, so things were changing.
- 49:55And then after Unseen, there's a lot of great songs done in Scene
- 49:592, but after Unseen, that's when we kind of hit the roads and for
- 50:04many members, and that's why 33 members left, left me and Jonas
- 50:08though the heavy metal or the metal guys left and we got the
- 50:12other guys back and they are all all into metal.
- 50:15So that's why Exit Wounds sounds like it does, yeah.
- 50:19I remember when I first heard Exit Wounds, I was very.
- 50:21I was just a happy little kid again.
- 50:23I was like, Marco's back. I was like, I perked up.
- 50:25I was like, what? He's back.
- 50:26It's like, OK, like Adrian, that's like, he's never played
- 50:29on anything since the first record.
- 50:30Oh, snap, you know? And then again, I was like, I'm
- 50:32also like, I'm like one of those guys like, yeah, this is, this
- 50:35is your catalog. And I'm a big legacy person.
- 50:38So like, I, I hate when bands like just forget certain errors
- 50:43of their career. I was like, no, no, like those
- 50:45records are part of your catalog.
- 50:47Like you should, you know, like every record is somebody's first
- 50:50record basically, you know? So I was like, you never know
- 50:52what fan is there for what era. Some fans are either older
- 50:57school fans for you guys, somewhere newer.
- 50:58But yeah, there's people in the middle that were there.
- 51:01It's like, you know, and it's again, I do like, I don't call
- 51:03it a challenge, but it's always, it's always interesting.
- 51:05I like hearing interpretations like, you know, Marco's
- 51:08interpretation of, of, you know, Peter's songs, you know, and
- 51:12like now it's cool to hear like drumming interpretations of
- 51:16Adrian playing Paris songs, even though it's the same band.
- 51:20It's like, okay, cool. How close is he playing it to
- 51:23his version? You know, and like that?
- 51:25Thing but yeah, he's he's playing, he's putting his own
- 51:27touch on it. That's the literally you have
- 51:30when you you know you're the only person playing that
- 51:32instrument, like you know, the bass or the drums when you're on
- 51:36the guitar, you need to to play what the guitars do because
- 51:40it's, you know, such a riff oriented music and me being
- 51:45still in the band, you know the guitars are what they are.
- 51:48So Ola had to adapt solos. Of course he could do his way,
- 51:51but I'm. Trying to remember what song was
- 51:53it? I think it was, Was it 3 times
- 51:55or bullet hole? I'm trying to like, yeah, it's
- 51:58bullet hole. Like yeah, that one part in
- 52:00bullet hole where Peter just just fires out that one verse
- 52:04and you guys are just going slow.
- 52:05And I remember Marco just put the microphone in his pocket and
- 52:08just go like this, you know, And that was like, that was so
- 52:12clever. It's like, that's a lot of words
- 52:14to like to, that's a lot to get through.
- 52:16And he was like, I'm coming back for a victim.
- 52:18Victim. I was like, like, yo, perfect.
- 52:22Like he was. Yeah.
- 52:23That's like one of my. It's like some little memories
- 52:26like this, like fun, fun memories I've had of this stuff,
- 52:28man. Like, dude, I appreciate your
- 52:29time, man. I'll let you go soon.
- 52:31I just have a few more for you. And like, so like, yeah, you've,
- 52:36you've done feeling work. I've seen you.
- 52:38You've done feeling work and at the gates for a moment a few
- 52:42years ago when somebody had to leave and you had to fill in for
- 52:46a Halo effect because somebody can't.
- 52:48You know, somebody shouldn't be on tour for a while, you know,
- 52:52and you know, all respect to you for doing both jobs.
- 52:54How do you come into established bands?
- 52:58Like I'm just playing guitar, I'm just feeling and you know,
- 53:01it's not as mentally stressful. You have to write anything.
- 53:03But how do you, how do you just like work on that stuff and make
- 53:09it feel authentic to the band? I tried to, you know, the Halo
- 53:14effect. I I stay true to their vision
- 53:17because you know, that Halo effect is not so much.
- 53:22I mean, they're they're great rips, great songwriting, but
- 53:25they're not such a riff orientated band compared to the
- 53:29haunted. So, you know, it's the more the
- 53:33music as a whole and you know, Mika Stein stunning on vocals
- 53:37that you know, the it's a different kind of fan, I think.
- 53:40So it's pretty cool. It's pretty different.
- 53:42I mean, probably my experience from Halo effect that opened up
- 53:46the you know, the to beat out song, you know, or else I
- 53:49wouldn't have thought of it at the gates.
- 53:51I have four days to learn the sets and and also luckily their
- 53:56first was it no, their last show on that run.
- 54:00I think it did 5 shows or something with them that was in
- 54:03Japan and it, it takes a long time to get a visa approved for
- 54:08Japan and the they were going to play the Love Park festival, one
- 54:12day festival. And so say there's 5-6 bands
- 54:16playing that night. Luckily enough Halo Effect,
- 54:19we're playing that festival as well.
- 54:21So I had a visa so it worked out perfectly that OK, you do it, I
- 54:26can do it and you know, flights were booked and everything.
- 54:29So you know, yeah, I'll do it. And, you know, some of the songs
- 54:33we played live like World of Lies and Blinded by Fear.
- 54:38So then I knew I sat playing along to the album and, you
- 54:42know, great production absolutely on that album.
- 54:45But sometimes you can't really hear what the rhythm guitar is
- 54:48doing. And I knew it was Anders
- 54:50playing. So I was going now Anders would
- 54:52probably do something like this and, you know, just did whatever
- 54:56with my because I've been playing his riffs for so many
- 54:58years. It just, you know, locked in
- 55:01with the music I was playing along to.
- 55:03I just knew this was probably be what Anders would do and then it
- 55:07was just there. So learning that stuff was
- 55:09really easy. Easy.
- 55:11But it was. I had four days Halo effect.
- 55:14I had a few months so. But yeah, I like jumping into
- 55:19doing stuff. I also filled in for a machine
- 55:22head. Yeah, yeah, I had to.
- 55:23They were playing a show in Stockholm opening up from
- 55:26Metallica sold out biggest indoor place in Sweden.
- 55:29They're built by bass player had to Adam his name is right or at
- 55:33the. Time.
- 55:33Yeah, at the time, yeah, Adam. He had to find back home for
- 55:37some, I don't know, some reason and they have my number.
- 55:42Asked me for number for Swedish bass players.
- 55:46They got them. Me and the Haunted had played
- 55:49the festival. So me and Jonas flew back and
- 55:52into Stockholm actually. And when we got there, Machine
- 55:55Head were there picking up their instruments off the belt and I
- 55:58went like it. Did you did you find anyone on
- 56:02the home? And you know, I could maybe try,
- 56:06you know, if if you're desperate, which they were.
- 56:09And yeah, 45 minutes sets had to learn there's the whole set in
- 56:15two days on a base. And it was a round stage, you
- 56:20know, to Metallica's round stage.
- 56:22Never played that before. Never played with in ears
- 56:25before. The in ear monitor guy didn't
- 56:28know what I needed. I didn't have, you know, those
- 56:31molded in ear things. So I just had the, the whatever,
- 56:36you know, the ear protection, the squeezy kind.
- 56:37They popped out. I couldn't hear anything.
- 56:40But I only played one mistake and that was a very noticeable
- 56:44mistake. So the last song they played was
- 56:48Hell Be Be Thy Name by Iron Maiden.
- 56:50And, you know, it starts out very calm, you know, boom.
- 56:53And you know, it's, I don't know, 40 open a strings, boom.
- 56:59And then they go, you know, at 5:00, you know, that's where you
- 57:04change. I can hear any vocal.
- 57:06Sally, am I on 38 or 39 now? You know, I don't know.
- 57:10OK, it's here. I just had to decide.
- 57:12It's here. Like, no.
- 57:15So yeah. But yeah, pretty good with just
- 57:18two days prepared. I also played with Bruno.
- 57:21Yeah, you've you've gotten around live man, I gotta and
- 57:25that makes you I think that that versatility of being able to
- 57:28learn stuff that short notice and you know, obviously more
- 57:32time it's better, but you know, that does make you very useful
- 57:35to be able to do that short notice stuff.
- 57:38Hard worker and I don't have to play solo so that you know, that
- 57:42helps. Nice, so I gotta ask what what
- 57:46got you? What made you pick up a guitar?
- 57:48So I grew up in Canada and there was this phone salesman that
- 57:53called the house one day and the, you know, for, for music
- 57:57school. I was 70 years old at the time.
- 57:59And, you know, it does young Patrick want to learn an
- 58:02instrument? And I said yeah.
- 58:04And they had two instruments to choose from.
- 58:07And I had a really hard time choosing.
- 58:09It was the guitar and the harmonica.
- 58:12Squeeze box accordion. Yeah, accordion.
- 58:16And I had a really hard time choosing, believe it or not.
- 58:19But I chose guitar because I had seen Elvis Presley on TV and I
- 58:23knew that he played guitar. So OK, I'm going to play guitar.
- 58:26And that class, even though we were so young, everyone had an
- 58:29electric guitar. So I got my first electric
- 58:31guitar when I was 7. And yeah, played guitar there
- 58:36for a year or two. We moved back to Sweden.
- 58:40I had to the music school then it only had acoustic guitars and
- 58:43you had to sit like this and, you know, play with your
- 58:46fingers. And I thought it was super
- 58:49boring. So I I just stopped going.
- 58:51And then a couple years later, when I started 7th grade,
- 58:57something had happened that summer.
- 58:58Everyone came back and had Judas Priest and Iron Maiden patches
- 59:02everywhere. And yeah, I borrowed, I think it
- 59:04was for those about to rock, that vinyl I borrowed from a
- 59:07friend, put it on an O and heard, I mean, it's chorus, it's
- 59:11ACDC. And this is stuff I know.
- 59:14So I found the old guitar and brought it out and I can play
- 59:17along to it. And then from then on, you know,
- 59:19I was, I was hooked. Cool.
- 59:22Well, if you happen to have in your archive of of merchandise,
- 59:25if you happen to have any double X like Swedish ass fuck shirts
- 59:29or any of those shirts, Yeah, yeah.
- 59:33My ex had, I had the hoodie from back that I had the black hoodie
- 59:36from back then. My ex had that that that's gone
- 59:39to the ether. And I was like, oh man, I'm
- 59:41going to be hunting on eBay for stuff.
- 59:44You never know what turns up. Yeah, All right, man.
- 59:48Mr. Patrick, you have a good night, man.
- 59:49I appreciate you again so much. And yeah, man, it's really nice
- 59:53catching up and I'm excited for this record and.
- 59:56It's all good. I had a fun time.
- 59:59That was cool. Thank you so much bro.
- 1:00:00And I'll see you. We're going to play New York
- 1:00:03sometime.