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One Man Army and The Undead Quartet - Johan

13/06/05 || Global Domination

Old staff-member Josh interviewed Johan from One Man Army and The Undead Quartet for the old GD-site and had this to say at the time:

“This interview was especially enjoyable because I was able to converse with one of my favorite death metal singers, Johan Lindstrand. Johan used to be in one of Sweden’s top death/thrash bands, The Crown, and is now with One Man Army and The Undead Quartet. His new band is one of the most promising acts I’ve heard in some time and I’m anxiously awaiting their full length, but enough about that! On to the interview!”

Global Domination: First off, thanks for taking the time to chat with us Johan. How’severything on your side of the world?

Johan Lindstrand: Hey! No problem. The pleasure was all mine. Well, everything is damn fine now. And even better when answering your questions!

Before we discuss your new band, One Man Army and The Undead Quartet, let’s talk for a second about the demise of The Crown. There have been numerous stories, rumors, and such about the real reason behind the band’s decision to call it quits. In your own opinion, what really caused the split between you guys?

In my own opinion? It´s written on the homepage, isn´t it? Haha, no but seriously, there are a few other reasons besides getting assfucked by amateur booking agencies and having just pure bad luck. There were 5 very important people in The Crown and at the time of the split, half the band didn´t wanna continue writing death metal music. We talked about changing our sound very much but it would never had worked out and it was better to split up than to release some strange and different album not worth calling a Crown album.

When you left The Crown after Deathrace King to work at a Saab auto factory, many assumed you would do the same after the breakup. What motivated you to come back with One Man Army and The Undead Quartet?

It wasn´t my intent to leave the band just to commit 100% to that shitty factory. There were simply a lot of economical problems at home but at the same time there was a lot of pressure to put a lot of effort into the band. When you tour as much as we did on the Deathrace album without getting shit for it, it´s very hard to work as a human being.

But when I came back to the band, all my previous problems had vanished. I think it was very good to get away for a year because when I got into the band again I had this new energy. I felt things I´ve never felt before. So I was very happy about that situation and ready to kick some more ass but all of a sudden we called it quits, which is so fucked up. So after that I felt very depressed but I knew that I wanted to continue with the music so started to write and this demo got recorded and the machine was rolling again. Now it doesn’t bother me at all that we split up because otherwise the One man Army would never have existed.

For a period of time, the identities of the other members of the band were kept secret, but recently the band lineup was revealed. It looks like you’ve found a very solid group of musicians to become The Undead Quartet. Will this be a full time venture for all involved, or will the other members continue to pursue their other bands/projects, etc.?

Everybody´s totally into this new band but yes, they all have different bands as well but that won´t affect the conquering power of this band. Not at all. But I´m fully aware that on some topics like gigs and stuff it might crash some day but that day is far away I think. But as I´ve said before, no matter what, this band will stay focused on my point of view and that is 110% marching forward but I really hope that the Undead Quartet will stay in this shape forever cause they´re all great guys. I´m really happy to have them.

After listening to the mp3’s on your website, I have to say I was rather surprised. The music you have created for this band sounds much darker and a bit more sinister than anything you’ve done before. Was this your goal for the band from the very beginning?

Well, I just started to write music and I knew that I didn´t wanna blast anymore. I wanted heavy riffing and simplistic mid tempo songs to get that catchy feeling. Of course I can´t leave the fast stuff completely so there are a few fast elements in there. It´s in my blood I think! But to answer your question, I just let my feelings go apeshit and the songs happened to turn out as they are.

Also, it seems you’re doing something different vocally. On the mp3’s, it seems you’ve decided to go more for a straight-forward, guttural death metal approach as opposed to the growling thrash vocals you’ve done in the past.

Yeah, people tell me that. But I don´t know – I mean, just listen to the “Crowned Unholy” album and “Death Metal Holocaust”. Those are some very straight forward guttural vocals there as well. I think it´s the same beast here but perhaps a little older and more worn out than before, hehe.

Ever seen necro porn?

Well, I´ve seen that classic German movie called Nekromantik. But that´s more like necro-romance hehe.

Also, big congratulations on your deal with Nuclear Blast Records. How did this come about?

Thank you. Nuclear Blast is a very good label with very dedicated people and they really show their appreciation towards the bands that are signed there. They are a real hardworking label and it’s a real comfort to be there. Of course we sent the demo around to different interesting labels and we actually also got an offer from another big label but NB felt more of a real choice.

From what I understand, you’ll soon be preparing a full length release for an early 2006 release. Can you divulge any details as far as who you plan to record with, song titles, etc.?

Yeah, we will record the album straight after the summer I think. We have a very good studio in mind but not 100% confirmed so I will not reveal it yet. I have almost all titles and lyrics finished and there will probably be like 6 new songs besides all the demo songs. These new songs are real killer. If you like the demo you will love this. That´s a promise.

Some new titles are “Mary´s Raising The Dead”, “Bulldozer Frenzy”, “Still Marching”, and “Hell Is For Heroes”.

Will this band be the type of band to play one or two shows after each album release and remain in Sweden, or are you guys looking to do some serious touring?

No! No! No! We plan to tour the hell out of this planet. I think we will start the next year with some support tours and a couple of festivals. It would´ve been cool to go to the States after the first album. I mean, if the album does well, they will probably throw us on a lot of tours but time will tell. I have to say this one more time. This is no goddamn project. This is a real band and real bands play live, period!

Rate the following singers on a scale from 1 to 10. 1 being somebody who should never pick up a microphone and 10 being someone who should carry a mic around all day just because of how good they sound…if that makes any sense.

Jörgen Sandström:
Very good singer. I loved his voice in Grave. Ironically I watched a show in ´93 when they opened for Bolt Thrower but then he had a cold so the other guitarist had to sing. I give Jörgen 6/10

Marco Aro:
Very good stage appearance but the vocals aren’t that unique in my opinion. Still pretty good and it fits the music he sings. I give him 5/10

Peter Dolving:
I haven´t listened to him that much but everybody says he´s great so I guess I will be the one to bring him back to the ground, haha. 5/10

David Vincent:
The god of death metal. He´s one of my absolute favorite singers of all time. 10/10

Glenn Danzig:
Glen has a very cool and unique voice which sometimes is very good but also sometimes very bad. I give him 7/10

Elvis:
The master No1. The greatest of the greatest. The best voice in show business with the best stage appearance of them all. A true god. I give him 15/10 (Note: I now owe Marko Tervonen an apology, as he informed me years ago that Johan was the biggest Elvis fan alive and I didn’t believe him)

Glen Benton:
Mr. Benton has a very good and brutal voice and I like him very much on Serpents of the light. One of the absolute greatest. 8/10

Chris Barnes:
One of the worst singers of all time. I thought he was very cool in Cannibal Corpse but in SFU he totally sucks vocal wise. And they say they love AC/DC, haha. I think it´s a total insult to AC/DC. Rock´n roll IS noise pollution the way they play. Why? Why?

Haha, don´t take my shit too personal. I respect them for doing their thing. Cheers dudes! I give Chris 1/10

What bands have been making their way through your stereo/ipod/mp3 vault as of late?

Well, all kinds of shit actually. I often listen to my own collections. It´s more fun than to listen to the same artist over and over again. Slayer, Judas Priest among others and of course The King

As far as touring goes, are their any particular bands you would like to go on the road with?

Morbid Angel with Evil D, Slayer, Judas Priest. Hmm, I don´t know? There are a lot of cool bands out there and I hope we´ll go on tour with one of the big ones, hehe. I have BIG plans for this band dude!

What are your hopes for the future of One Man Army and The Undead Quartet?

First of all to release a killer album and to start doing some shows all over the world and then step by step take on new heights. My hopes for this is total success, second place is for losers, haha. Just a joke, don´t quote me on that!

Any last words for the readers at GD?

Well, thanks for taking your time to read this interview and if you haven´t checked out this band before, do it!!! Almost the entire demo is free to download on our homepage. Check it out! Other than that, I´ll see you all on the road 2006! Cheers!

Johan, thank you so much for the interview bro. Hope to see you soon!

Thanks yourself. Great questions. Cheers!

Interviews