Live-Metal.Net - Interviews: One Man Army and the Undead Quartet

Johan Lindstrand: Well, the music of the album was not intentionally at all because I'm not that experienced in the songwriting process because in my previous band, The Crown, I did one song in 12 years. Now, I had the opportunity to do my own things. I picked up my guitar and started to write some riffs. I didn't know what to expect myself, but it turned out to be really cool, and I know what kind of music I like. It's basically aimed on the heavy metal stuff, like the good old 80s, like the Judas Priest riffing, the classical thrashing riffing of Metallica in mid-tempo and then with death metal vocals. My vocals, of course, puts some touch to it, like the death metal sound. I think it's a cool mixture with my voice and the heavy metal mid-tempo music.

No, definitely not. The statement that we did on the web site is partly true, but there is a story to it that's not revealed. The statement, the problem was that we were being assfucked by a lot of amateur booking agents and stuff. We're coming home from tours with empty pockets. That's true and a sad story about it, but, of course, you can always learn from your mistakes and try something else on the next tour. The main reason for the split-up was because half the band, the main songwriters, wanting to continue with doing other music. I'm talking about Angel Blake with Marko [Tervonen] and Stolen Policecar, the punk rock band with Magnus [Olsfelt]. It's completely different to The Crown, and that proves that it was for the best that we split up instead of doing an album with a totally different approach. It would be unfair to the fans to release something else that would be unworthy of The Crown name. So it was definitely for the best that we just split up because nowadays everybody in The Crown are much more happy with what they're doing right now. I was very furious and pissed off like two years ago, but now when I'm sitting here and talking to you, promoting my new band, I'm just as happy as I was when I was with The Crown.

Yeah, definitely. We're not enemies or anything. We're still the best of friends within the band.

It had to be like this because we had been together for so many years. Marko has always been fond of doing the heavy stuff for The Crown, and now we wanted to do it but with another kind of vocals. Also Magnus had emptied his death metal storage within his head. He didn't want to do it anymore. It would've made it tough to continue without the main songwriters.

Basically, only One Man Army was stuck in my head for a long time. I was referring to myself as the One Man Army when I started writing music for the demo because I was all alone for six months before the other members joined. And when the other members joined I brought some more words into it. The band name is basically action meets horror. I'm very fond of the old Rambo movies. I think if you see the cover it's the beast that arises. You can see the One Man Army, the Rambo figure with its followers. And it’s also a big inspiration to us coming from the old rock n' roll in the 60s that have the long names with the one name for the song figure and another name for the rhythm section. I think it's pretty cool to bring that into the death metal genre.

Hopefully, of course, I want the lineup to stick as it is now. I was a bit disappointed at Valle [Adzic, bassist and engineer for the 2005 EP [When Hatred Comes to Life], to be honest with you, when he couldn't commit to the touring at all. I knew that he had Impious closer to his heart and he has his studio in line. But on the first tour, he can't join, and I was a bit frustrated and disappointed about it. We thought about, "Yeah, you can still be in the band. We're gonna pick up a session bass player," we said to each other. But after about two weeks of rehearsal with the new guy, I thought about, "Damn, this guy is good, and he's much more dedicated than Valle. So why bring back Valle then after all the tours?" It wouldn't make any sense because we need to be focused as a band, like five individuals together. We need to stick together. So it works for the best that Valle left. And he did it with a friendly leaving because we're still very good friends. He also wants what is best for this band. I need people to be 100-percent into what they're doing in this band, so hopefully the other guys stick around and do what's best for this band also in the future. I think they do, and after seven weeks with Children of Bodom, we are very focused in what we're doing together.

There are no plans yet because the album would not be released until April 4. It's all about the record-buyers, if they're buying the album and if they're digging the album. And it's all about Nuclear Blast America, if they want to push us over there. If we get the question to tour there, of course we're going to say yes because I really want to go there. I've been there before playing and it was a really great time and I really want to do it again because it's a totally different atmosphere over there than it is in Europe. So I'm really looking forward to it. If we don't get there for this album, hopefully for the next album.

It was like six years I was over there. When we are looking at the audience, it's much more wilder in the States, at least as I saw it when Cannibal Corpse played because we were playing with Nile and Cannibal Corpse. It was much more intense, the violent mosh pitting. But at the same time, they have a lot of fun. In Europe, we also have mosh pitting, but they are much more smoother and it's more mellow here. It fits the music much more in the States when you're watching a crowd to a really intense live show, and standing on stage and seeing this extreme behavior of the audience is so cool, I think.

Yeah, I really don't want to be in the middle of a mosh pit in the U.S.A. or even in Europe. But when you're on stage singing your songs, you're getting so much energy from that mosh pitting and screaming. So that's what I mean. It's much more wilder and kind of a different atmosphere throughout the whole show.

Elvis, of course, hasn't inspired me vocal-wise. The entertainer behind Elvis is really cool and I respect that 100-percent because nobody like him has been around for like 30 years with that kind of energy and that kind of intimacy with the audience that he had. That's what I'm inspired by. I've been inspired by James Hetfield vocal-wise even if nobody can hear it. The sounds he makes, the breathing, it's more detailed, but I'm a bit inspired by it. Also, "Evil D" David Vincent [Morbid Angel]. That's one of my favorite death metal vocalists of all time. That's basically where I got the most inspiration from.

Actually, I think I'm the only Morbid Angel fan in the band. I have been 90-percent of the influence on this album because this was the starter for this band. I did most of the music. So basically, that's why it sounds a bit Morbid Angel-ish. The other guys don't listen to it that much, but I really love Morbid Angel.

The cool thing is this is kind new to me, as well, to write both music and lyrics because I didn't write the lyrics for The Crown either. I had some rough times throughout the last four years, so I had a lot of things in my head that I wanted to get out. It's a lot of personal stuff in the lyrics mixed with fantasy to give a distance to it. I'm not going to go into detail about the problems I've been dealing with. It's a lot of fantasized lyrics as well, like "Behind the Church," "No Apparent Motive," "Killing Machine." "Behind the Church" is my own version of The Omen trilogy. "No Apparent Motive" is about [a serial killer]. The "Killing Machine" song is basically about when you're looking at the cover art, it's basically what you're reading about when you're seeing the new band, the killing machine, they come in from nowhere to take over the world and show the world that we are a new force to be reckoned with. It's a lot of metal cliché in that lyric in the "Killing Machine" song, but it's cool at the same time because in the chorus I'm saying, "Still marching on a mission in blood, still marching." It's basically my continuation of because even if we had a hard breakup from The Crown, I'm still marching.

I really think "Killing Machine" is a long and very groovy track that you can bang your head to and it has very cool riffing to it. But my personal favorites are, I think, "Public Enemy No. 1" and also "Devil on the Red Carpet," it's a very cool song to play live. My all-time favorite one is probably "The Sweetness of Black," one of the first tracks I wrote. It has kind of a cool groove to it like Black Sabbath meets Sepultura.

Yeah, this is really the deal. Nothing can stop me from pushing this band forward. But I am involved in one other project that isn't that time-demanding. I'm also the new singer of Incapacity. They have released two albums and half the band left like half a year ago. So my old friend, Christian [Älvestam], the main guy from that band, asked me if I want to join and I said yes. It's some cool, catchy music with some blast-beating. It will be cool to do that next album. That band is about doing maximum two shows per year or something, so it's not that time-demanding. So it won't affect One Man Army at all. It's the same for Christian because he has a lot of other bands to deal with as well.

They are the biggest metal label in Europe. I actually got two contracts. I had a contract from Metal Blade sitting there waiting to be signed. I had to choose between two contracts. Metal Blade is a really great label with great people working there. We love all of them there, but I have done that for a lot of years. Nuclear Blast is also a big label that has bigger resources. It's like a new fresh start for me with this new band. It was much more interesting to me to start working with new people with my fresh beginning. That was the main thing about deciding and it was to work with new people. I didn't want to ride on The Crown wave completely, using the same people. It wasn't fun. It wasn't attracting enough.