Author: Antonio Díaz

{mosimage}Swedish Hammerfall have been on top of heavy metal scene for more than one decade. We had a great chat with Oscar Dronjack, their guitar player, with time to talk a bit about everything: their new DVD and cover album, their little actions of mischief on tour, the leave of Stefan Elmgren from the band or how a motorbike accident affected him, having to rehabilitate his broken arm. A complete exclusive interview for the readers of FREE! 

I must confess I have had a weakness for Hammerfall since I saw them first time 11 years ago during their first European tour, opening for Gamma Ray and Jag Panzer in Madrid. A young Oscar looked astonishing on stage, all wrapped on leather. Now, more than 1 decade later, have the things changed a lot?

Well, everything has changed in a way, but in another way everything is pretty much the same. We are still recording albums, going on tour, making promotion. So it is a kind of cycle, but the way we think has not changed over the years; the way we write songs… The way we record has changed of course, before we had an idea in the middle of the night and we set the tape recorders, now we have Pro Tools and all that stuff to solve these things.

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You have just recently released a new DVD: Rebels with a cause plus the covers album Masterpieces. Why the release of this material just now?

Both releases were planned for last year, and for several reasons were postponed. Masterpieces is a good opportunity, we had done so many covers and we wanted to gather them together and add a couple of new ones, so the people do not need to go online and download them. Also the next studio album is not coming until 2009, so this time on summer was a good one.

The collection of covers there mix very famous bands with some others pretty unknown like Stormwitch or Roger Pontare. Is this mix made consciously?

Well, when we choose a song for a cover we choose it very carefully, something that we really like and we feel we can do “well” somehow. One of the reasons we choose unknown bands is that, for example, if we do an Iron Maiden´s cover, it would still always be compared to their original. It would be very hard to make it better even if you can make it different. Then we have other famous covers that we did for tribute albums. They come from many different eras of Hammerfall and many different times.

I was really surprised you include an Europe´s cover, taking into account you come from a black metal background. It gives a nice “glam touch”.

Well, if you were a Swede, it was impossible not to hear them in the 80s. Actually people gave them a lot of crap at that time, me included, not realizing how good they really are until the end of the 80s. The same kind of crap we got when Renegade came out and we became a little bit more famous. When I listen to Europe´s albums, especially the first two ones, they are really cool, pretty heavy metal. Then they added keyboards more.

You also sing in the cover of Breaking the Law…

Yeah, that one is included because we used to do the same at the end of every show, we were switching our instruments and I was singing, a kind of telling the audience “thanks for a great night”.

So following the title of the DVD, what causes make you feel like a rebel?

Hehehe… well, we play a bit with the words. As you can see, big part of the DVD is us breaking things…

Yeah, I was surprised when I watched it. Do you really break so many things when touring?

Well, not now. Back then it was like that. Well actually we never destroy something “major”. We never destroy back stages or mirrors or whatever. It is just little things.

Well, when bands like Manowar release a DVD, half of the time you see naked women. Here half of the time you can see the band stripping themselves!

Hehehe, maybe we are a bit of exhibitionists! The stripping part was quite funny. Anders had the audience just downstairs, and we were shouting:  do it do it! And then he finally did it. It was totally unexpected for us. I was there with the camera. So since we do not have pictures or videos or naked groupies, there we are ourselves! 

Stefan lived his dream for 11 years in Hammerfall, and now he goes to live his another dream” –Oscar commenting on the leave of Stefan Elmgren from the band-

Stefan Elmgren has left Hammerfall to become a pilot. What is your opinion about his reasons to leave?

Well, it was kind of sad and surprise, because I did not think that it happened at this point, but then we started to talk about it. All in the band knew that was his passion, he was already flying for a couple of years, very into that stuff. When he got the offer to become a full time pilot, we knew that it was quite fair that was what he wanted to do, so we had to take it and move on. He is still a good friend; we have played together for 11 years, so not bad blood there. He lived his dream for 11 years in Hammerfall and now he goes to live another dream, so I admire him for that.

Maybe then you can get free tickets when you have to go on tour…

Actually we said that if we would have a show or a festival close to an airport, it would be nice to fly all together, so we could rent a plane and he could fly us there and back.

But this time you cannot throw or break anything in the plane…

Hehehe, we have to behave! I do not want to get the captain angry at us!

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Oscar, you had an important motorbike accident few years ago, where you broke your arm. Were you worried about the consequences, if you would be able to perform the same than before after it?

Absolutely! I was very worried. 10 years earlier I broke my elbow too. Now this is my profession, so my job was compromised. My mother was pointing out to the doctors that I was a guitarist… I took very careful rehabilitation at the beginning. I have a bit of dissolute mind sometimes, but this took a lot of will power. It made me feel stronger to go through that, in a way. Sometimes I still feel my elbow stiff. I train a lot, for example I do taekwondo, to keep my muscles in good shape.

Being Finland so close to your country Sweden, what is your opinion when you come to play here?

Well, interestingly enough we have not played so many times there. I think we have been only 3 times in Finland. I think it has to do because when you go there you lose a day in the ferry going there and one day coming back. But being in Finland playing has always been great. First time was in 2003. There is a strong metal scene there. I don´t really know why we cannot go there more often than we do.

What plans do you have for 2008?

No touring, no shows except for one in Canada. Apart from that we are going to focus on working in the songs for the new album that will come out on February 2009. We will start to record it at the end of the summer.

Hammerfall´s discography commented by Oscar Dronjak

{mosimage}Glory to the Brave (1997): We did everything with best intentions, but I think nobody realized how professionally sounded until we went on tour. We did not have many expectations; it was the first album we recorded together and that tour opened the eyes of many people towards the band.

{mosimage}Legacy of the Kings (1998): Also very important. We wrote everything for it in a couple of months, working with the same producer and recording at the same studio. When you try to establish your style, it is important to have a couple of very good first two albums.

{mosimage}Renegade (2000): It is probably the most important album of our entire career in some ways, overall the coverage we got from the media.  We reached number 1 in the Swedish charts, so we got interviews from the general press, not only from the music media. 

{mosimage}Crimson Thunder (2002): Very exciting to record with Charlie. He is a very good producer and knows how to get the best from us. He is like one more of the family It features Wheels on Fire, probably our most famous song.

{mosimage}Chapter V (2005): I think this album is more important for me than for any other member, because it was the first one after I broke my arm. So for me it was a big step in my musical career.

{mosimage}Threshold (2006): I think that the most complete album we have done so far. All the songs are different, but still work together as an album.

{mosimage}Masterpierces (2008): It is a handful of other people´s songs played in a “Hammerfall way”, collected all over 12 years.

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Kinetik Control has been one of the nicest new surprises in the Finnish music scene during the past months; a band with a very personal style not afraid of provoking the audience with risky covers from old dance classics. Their first album has scored top high in the charts, and Tweak, one of the founders of the band, explains everything you need to know exclusively for the readers of FREE! Magazine.

Hello Tweak. Can you please explain a bit more about the formation of the band, Kinetik Control, and your personal past story in the music business?

I formed Kinetik Control in the beginning of the century with the aim of making music that would be totally honest and largely varied. The idea was to combine all kinds of music styles that have been important for me and not set any limits to what we could do. I've played in some extreme metal and rock bands in the past and done all kinds of music business related odd jobs, but now I'm 100% focused on Kinetik Control.

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There are tones of hard rock and metal bands in Finland nowadays, but when listening to Kinetik Control, I have the impression you have achieved quite a personal style, a bit more electronic and "dark" oriented. Which are your influences when creating your music (if we put aside the lack of divine inspiration…), and what do you think of the "boom" of heavy metal music in Finland nowadays?

I cannot hear darkness in our music, just light. The album title reflects the current state of the humankind; selfishness, materialism and superficiality, when it seems that people have abandoned their spiritual values. My influences vary; when I write the songs, I aim to tell a story. I do not write about my personal experiences but rather about things that I see and observe. I am merely an observer, not a judge. The boom of course helps in the sense that no one is scared for heavy guitars these days. I consider our music to be indie pop, the distorted guitar sound is the only thing we have in common with traditional metal bands. I do not either listen to metal that much anymore these days even if I did when I was younger. Frankly speaking, I am getting a bit tired of the metal boom. A lot of people get away writing uninteresting music simply by hanging on to the metal anthems. Freak singers can win the Idols because they say they are metal… I think it will all harm itself in the end.

Your second singles has as a title No one knows about us, but certainly that is not the case with the band, since although you are pretty new in the scene, your singles are hitting very high in the Finnish charts. Which are the reasons of this early success?

I don't know. We aim to make honest music with a lot of heart behind it, and I hope people can see that in today's impatient world.

Are the new members Medusa and Shades going to remain as permanent musicians in the band, or are more changes expected in the near future?

Shades has been clearly imprinted in the band and will remain as a permanent member. We also have a new guitarist to help me out: L-G, who used to play for a Swedish Spinefarm death metal act Arise.

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If I am not mistaken, you have worked with the recording of the album in the famous Finnvox studios, a place of reference for many well known Finnish and international bands. How was the experience there?

It was really learningful and the people there were friendly. I couldn't imagine us working anywhere else.

There is an interesting and curious cover in the album from Haddaway´s: What is Love. Who had the idea to cover this song?

Provocation. We chose a song that was a bit disgusting, and wanted to try the sense of humor of the listener. How low can you go? Do the limbo dance!

Are you able to focus your life just on your music now, or do you have other jobs/activities apart from Kinetik Control?<

We have no obligatory desire to focus solely on music. I love my day job and as long as it is possible to combine both, I will most surely do it. The other members have quite similar situations, but when the time comes, we are not afraid to put emphasis on the music.

I am getting a bit tired of the metal boom in Finland" -Tweak. Kinetik Control-

Is Helsinki the best place on earth to write depressing music?

Helsinki is a bit depressing in its own way, but I am originally from the north of Finland, Oulu, the most beautiful city of Finland. Oulu is a perfect setting for a melancholic frame of mind, but I tend to travel to various places inside my mind, and writing songs does not demand any certain type of feeling, atmosphere or place to happen.

In your official website we can still not find information about incoming gigs and tours. Is there anything already planned that you could share with us? Surely fans would like to know where to see you on live.

We are currently making rehearsal shows under secret name(s). The official tour will be published late this summer and performed during the autumn.

What are your future plans? Are you going to take advantage of the good welcoming of your first album to release soon a second one?

The only thing we are going to take advantage is the fact that I already have so many songs ready for the next album that we are kind of forced to do it so that we can move on, and I don't think you have to wait for a new album that long.

Anything else you want to add for the readers of FREE! Magazine?

Have a warm, music-filled summer and remember to lotion yourselves!

For more information visit:

http://www.kinetikcontrol.com