Interview: Q5

Having never graced British soil before, we grab some time with Seattle's phenomenal Q5 before they bring the light to the Camden Underworld, London with their first ever UK performance before moving onto Edinburgh to continue their European Tour!

Everybody has that list of 'must-see' bands and tonight it's definitely time for one of ours. We feel privileged to welcome Q5 as they prepare for their first show in the UK! It's clearly been one hell of a tour already as we step backstage to a tranquil room set with a sea of sleeping bodies.

However, clearly running on adrenaline and excitement, we are greeted by a very tired but elated Jonathan Scott K (vocals), Jeffrey A. McCormack (drums) and Dennis Turner (guitar). After a long and somewhat troublesome journey from Germany's Trveheim Festival, the lads are here and ready to give many London fans what they have been waiting for, for a very long time. 

Kayleigh: Welcome to London- show number three of the tour! There's a long road ahead but how's the tour treating you so far?

Jonathan Scott K:  Oh it's very tiring but so so great, really great. Especially last night...wow. Last night was absolutely brilliant.

Michelle: At Trveheim?

Jonathan: Yes- Trveheim Festival in Germany!

Kayleigh: What with it being a relatively new festival, we are curious to know what you think...

Jonathan: It was perfect. No other way to describe it really. They were so kind. They are doing it all just right and that's why they're successful. We really enjoyed it.

Jeffrey A. McCormack: Yeah, seriously so good- they made us feel right at home. What a brilliant festival.

Dennis Turner: One of those shows you'll always remember.

Kayleigh: ...And sold out! The reception must have been great?

Jonathan: Oh you know, I wish I had my phone- would have loved to have filmed a video. The reception was incredible!

Kayleigh: That’s so great- and nothing more than you deserve.

How does it feel to look out and not only see fans that have stayed loyal over the decades but also many fans who are clearly very young, yet so dedicated and knowledgeable when it comes to Q5's history?

Jonathan: It’s awesome, I mean when I look at someone, I don’t think about their age, I think "that’s someone who loves music!”

Jeffrey: It’s a family thing and that's what's so great. Everyone together. Age doesn't matter. Where you're from doesn’t matter. All the music, all the classic bands. It’s a family.

Kayleigh: After Headbangers Festival in 2009, Q5 didn't remain as active as people expected them to after such a successful show. Was there a reason why?

Jonathan: We were doing stuff semi-steadily but just in the States. You have to know how hard it is, I mean we went from playing huge venues, packed out with large crowds to… well, no one. 

After we started, people only cared about this new music coming from the underground, 'grunge' and what have you. Which was occurring in the very tiny clubs…everyone was focused on that. Bands like ours weren't getting a look in. But then you also had bands like KISS. They came along and would perform to 20,000 people each night. Lots of bands crashed and burned. 

We spent 10 years or so going through some big changes….with name changes, line up changes, as well as keeping up with other things like social media, no one knew what to expect of it all. So, we carried on playing a lot in Seattle. With three albums over the years, we are so happy with what we have achieved but we couldn’t get that break because we refused to do the ‘grunge thing’.

We stayed true to what we are. Hard rock. And here we are where things are starting to look real good for us and most importantly of all, it’s so much fun.

Kayleigh: 2014 Sweden Rock must be implanted in your memory. Is that when it all exploded for you again?

Jonathan: Well our minds exploded, anyway (laughter). Although, we had an incomplete band then. We had to discuss how we were gonna go forward because we had such a good connection. Social media helped us a lot, and we went from there. However, it all takes time. I wish it could happen overnight but it doesn’t. Radio is dead now and back in the beginning, that was the real shaker and mover.

Kayleigh: So we’ve caught you today on the third date of your European tour- you’ve said you're feeling very tired but how do you feel about your first London show tonight?

Jonathan: Oh, tonight is very special. Tired or not,  this is a very special night. We’ve been waiting for this tour a long time and here we are now!

Kayleigh: Well we know there are a lot of fans just as excited to see you perform tonight.

So, now for an inevitable, albeit important question...we know founder and original guitarist Floyd Rose wishes Q5 well and supports you all in moving forward, however he chooses not to play live anymore. Do you still speak with him regularly? Any chance of any future collaborations?

Jonathan: I literally spoke to him the day before we left. I always call him, I told him to come here to London and asked him to do one song,  just one song, maybe… 'Steel the Light'. I said "come on Floyd!" but he said …."no" (laughter). He does wish us well though and we still talk a lot.

Jeffrey: We wanted to have the blessing of the other guys too...original drummer Gary Thompson for instance… he came to our album release party and said how he actually thought we were tighter than the original line up!

Kayleigh: Well that’s a compliment and a half!

Jeffrey: Sure is- hey, we’re a family!

Q5's first studio album Steel The Light (1984)

Kayleigh: So great! Moving on to discussing your first 2 releases. Steel the Light being the first with its classic, heavy, guitar driven sound making it hugely successful within the underground. How did you feel when releasing When the Mirror Cracks with its more melodic, AOR-esque vibe?

Jonathan: Q5 is Q5. We can do whatever we want! Back in the old days, we were told “great song- but we need a more commercial hit to be on the radio!” so we did write a few, although it always had that Q5 edge.  Our third album is back to that guitar driven sound- back to the heart and roots! It has some of the elements of the second album in there because we’re proud of what we've learnt and it brings it all together.

Kayleigh: Is there any news on your upcoming album? Still set for the end of 2018?

Jonathan: We’re gonna try for then, but when it does come it's going to be amazing!

Kayleigh: We don't doubt it! Any secrets you'd like to share?

Jonathan: Well, it's gonna be seriously guitar driven,  a touch melodic, classic vibe, very hard rock… We've got these two monster guitar players…

Jeffrey:  And what about me? laughter

Kayleigh: Oh you're a monster too, just on a different instrument!

Jeffrey: I've definitely been called worse!

Kayleigh: Any ideas for the album title yet? Or is that under wraps?

Jonathan: None yet!

Kayleigh: Well, we're looking forward to hearing it. Jonathan- have your vocal influences changed over the years?

Jonathan: Oh well I have loads of influences…Sabaton are a favourite. He is no Steve Perry but his vocals are unique and interesting. Different to other influences like Udo for example. I like a voice with a bit of the X-factor.

Kayleigh: And you guys? We always love hearing about people's influences.

Jeffrey: My earliest influence was Liberty DiVitto, also John Bonham, that's a token answer but nobody cannot dispute it. Tommy Aldrich too. When I was 9, I was taking piano lessons, my uncle (who was a professor of piano) knew I was into it as much. He knew I liked KISS so he took me to a concert and as from that moment I said  "I'M DOING THAT!" so thank you to Peter Criss.

James: Man, it's all about Zeppelin…I don’t play like Page, but every time you hear him, you get those goosebumps you know. Also, Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, George Lynch, Neal Schon… those are my faves for sure.

Kayleigh: So, what's in store for Q5 in the future? Do you have any dreams or goals or are you happy with living in the moment?

Jonathan: My dreams have never changed. I'm doing that right now by playing in London tonight. This, our first UK show is a dream. This is where it started, this a dream. Anything beyond this is something else.

Kayleigh: Well, we are beyond excited for tonight's show and we will be keeping our eyes and ears open and ready for news of a new album on the horizon! 

Visit Q5's offical page at www.q5official.com and on facebook for more band news!

Interview: Kayleigh Valentini
Photo: M. Godding

Interview: Mindless Sinner

Moods are soaring on the second day of Trveheim Festival as we have some time with Mindless Sinner to delve deep into their past and hear their thoughts on the current state of affairs in the world of heavy metal.

Louise: I’m going to start by asking about the very beginning. You’ve had quite a few different names in the past and I wondered if you could tell me a bit about what inspired each of them.

Christer Göransson: The first name was Purple Haze.  It was two of us and two other guys but they didn’t have a singer. They played under that name and then I came along and we changed the name to Genocide after a Judas Priest song because we love Judas Priest. We changed the name to Metal Gods for one gig and then we changed it to Mindless Sinner.

Louise: And was there anything in particular which inspired the final name?

Göransson: It was a friend of ours who came up with the name.  “Why don’t you call yourselves Mindless Sinner” … “OK will do!”

Louise: Despite being a bit on and off over the years, you’ve kept a really stable line-up.  How did you manage where other bands didn’t?

Göransson: Why we didn’t kill each other?

Christer Carlson: We do try occasionally (all laughing)

Göransson: This is the same line-up since late ‘84. We’re good friends.

Carlson: We’re good friends and we stayed in the same town – Linköping in Sweden.

Louise: And were you good friends before the band?

All: Yes

Göransson: I didn’t know you (pointing at Jerker Edman)

Jerker Edman: No, you didn’t but when you came along, we became good friends.

Carlson: We’re from the same part of Linköping as well so we went to the same school although we’re a little bit different ages.

Mindless Sinner - The New Messiah

Louise: I’ve read in a couple of other interviews that you’ve described The New Messiah as a follow up to Turn On The Power but with a 2015 touch.  I want to know about that last part, did you try and give the record a modern touch?

Göransson: No, we wanted the record to sound like it was from 1986 but that’s a hard thing because it’s not 1986 anymore.

Carlson: I think the aim was to avoid new touches and to keep it as eighties as possible.

Göransson: We tried to record it as we did back in the day but we did record it digitally which was pretty different to analogue and that’s the 2015 bit.

Carlson: It’s hard to avoid, it’s been many years developing and playing and so that was tough going back but we did good work.

Louise: It’s interesting because so many bands seem like they aren’t as focused on recording albums that sound like they used to.

Göransson: You can’t be stuck in the past, you know. You’ve got to progress and move forward but we have a sound and we wanted to preserve that, with a new touch. We have no aim to sound like another band or like 'new metal'. That’s not our thing, so why should we?

Louise: Can you tell me about the best live show that you played back in the eighties?

Magnus Danneblad: I can’t remember the eighties (laughing).

Edmund: We did a show in our hometown and it turned out to be a big crowd that came along, we didn’t expect that. It was a great gig. The skin on the snare drum broke so we had to cut it short. We only played seven songs, we didn’t have a spare.

Danneblad: That was a great gig, a short gig. It was in a kind of school hall and it was so crowded that they had to take away the temporary wall between the theatre and the dining hall.

Göransson: I like to say that we haven’t done our best gig, yet.

Carlson: Hopefully tonight! And then a better one after that.

Louise: Well the next question was the same but for gigs since 2014. Do any of the shows in recent years stand out?

All: KIT (Keep It True Festival)

Göransson: Yes, KIT was great and we had a great gig in London at Live Evil.

Tommy Viktorsson: I think the first gig we did at Muskelrock. We didn’t have any expectations whatsoever and the crowd was great. It was quite surprising.

Carlson: Funny story there. We had a meet and greet and we hadn’t played for ages. Magnus said “what the f**k are we going to do at a meet and greet, who is going to want to meet and greet us, I’m not going”. We all said “come on, come on, we’ll try it”, and we sat there signing on shoes and people and meeting fans for half an hour, 45 minutes. We didn’t expect that and then the gig followed in the same footsteps.

Danneblad: It was overwhelming.

Louise: How is it with those younger fans who weren’t born yet when you were doing your thing in the eighties. What does that feel like?

Göransson: It’s crazy

Carlson: It’s weird.

Viktorsson: It’s very hopeful for the future, seeing these young people makes me think, actually we did something good back in the eighties, we must have.

Carlson: It’s amazing, the whole scene of this underground type of heavy metal. We went to L.A, London, Athens and wherever you meet people, if they’re young or old, they sing along to your songs and it’s hard to grasp.

Mindless Sinner in 1985 (via Mindless Sinner Facebook)

Louise: Taking those two time periods, in the eighties and now. Are either of them better or more fun than the other. How do you compare them?

Göransson: Now or then? It’s better now.  Because we are better musicians, we play better, we sound better and the crowds are bigger.

Carlson: We’re doing the gigs we never got to do in the eighties. There weren’t any opportunities to go around the world the way we have the opportunity to do now. It’s a dream coming true. We’re around 50 (years) all of us, so it’s a weird feeling. We couldn’t dream that this could happen.

Edmund: This isn’t even the dream we used to have, this is a bonus.

Carlson: I guess it was more frustration in the eighties. We had a record contract quite young, 15 or 16 years old. We had big beliefs and nothing really came through. We did quite a lot of gigs and a few albums but I guess this is when the dream comes true.

Louise: Since the end of the eighties had you always wanted to get Mindless Sinner back on stage?

Göransson: No, we didn’t but some things happened that made this opportunity for us. So it was not planned. We split up in 1990, Tommy left and then the four of us had a band called Skinny Horse with the drummer from Axe Witch. We made an album back in ‘93 and then we split up as well.

Carlson: We all stayed in the same town, we had contact. Me and Jerker also played in other bands and so everyone kept on playing. We had a bit of contact so we thought, let’s grab a beer and play a few old songs.

Göransson: We thought we’d play this gig (Muskelrock) and that would be it. But then more opportunities came along. We’ve always been friends even if we weren’t playing together. We’ve never had any hard feelings.

Carlson: When we broke up in the nineties, everyone wanted to do their own things. We were finished for that moment.

Göransson: It was strange you know, because when we first met to play the gig, we rehearsed, we plugged in and started to play and it was like we had never stopped.

Louise: During those years that you weren’t active with Mindless Sinner, have you still been going to heavy metal shows, listening to new bands? Has it still been a part of your life?

All: Yes

Carlson: You can add that there’s a lot of things happening privately with families and kids.

Edmund: Life came along and that’s good. It’s still always been a part of our lives. 

Louise: Have your musical interests changed much over the years?

Danneblad: New music always comes along year after year but you still have your roots somewhere in there.

Louise: Are there any young bands who you can see reaching the potential or quality of the likes of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Dio?

Göransson: That’s a hard question.

Carlson: There’s loads of good bands around and all these great old bands are still touring too. Then guys like us turn up and with all the new bands and all the revival bands it gets so crowded and there’s so many good bands around so we’re so grateful and thankful that we get asked to play here or wherever else.

Göransson: I can’t see it. The new bands, they are great but still nothing like the old ones but there’s plenty of music I haven’t heard.

Carlson: Of course there’s going to be great new bands and new icons but I think in this genre the old bands are iconic and have a special status.

Göransson: The music scene is different now. We didn’t have the internet in those days. Now anyone can record anything in their living room and everyone around the world can hear it. Back then we were sending tapes to record companies.

Danneblad: Back then you had mail correspondence all over the world. You would write to a fan and maybe you’d get a response in a couple of months. It was a really different time to communicate.

Louise: Do you prefer that as it is these days? Or how it was back in the day sending tapes ?

Göransson: It’s yes and no. Because there’s so many bands now. There were many back then as well but it’s so easy now for everyone to send out their song, recorded at home. The amount can make it drown a bit, it can be easy to get lost a little bit. Of course it’s positive and also positive for us. That’s how we’re here now.

Louise: Is there anything for us to watch out for coming up with Mindless Sinner?

Göransson: We’ve got a new album in the works. It will be out next year sometime.

Carlson: It’s going to follow the footsteps and progress we’ve made before. We can’t be standing in one place all the time but it’s going to have a lot of good things from the past and other things to bring it along and a little bit forwards.

Göransson: We have recorded everything but the vocals so that’s next.

Louise: And that’s everything, thank you so much guys.

Carlson: We could just add what we feel about coming to places like this. It’s amazing to find all these volunteers and of course we chip in as a band too. There’s no money in this scene. Everyone’s working hard, there’s a lot of love and positive vibes at these places across the whole circuit. That’s probably the most important thing.

Göransson: They’re working hard for free, for the love of the music.

Mindless Sinner at Keep It True Festival 2015
( photo from Mindless Sinner Facebook)

Stay up-to-date with Mindless Sinner via their Facebook page.

Writer: Louise Dornan

Interview: Kee Marcello

Swedish guitar maestro Kee Marcello is back in the UK for his Scaling Up Tour where he'll be performing many tracks from the 1988 Europe album 'Out of this World' and more! 

Born Again's Kayleigh MG is lucky enough to sit down with the man himself for a good old chin-wag, and to hear what he's got in store for fans as his UK tour commences.

Kayleigh: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us today, Kee! Your upcoming UK tour has been the talk of the town, particularly with you celebrating tracks from Out of this World for the 30th anniversary!

Kee: It's a pleasure- those songs are very special to me so I'm equally excited for the tour!

Kayleigh: Your first advertised show is at the Robin 2 in Bilston, but a little birdie told us you'll be back again at the brilliant Cavern Freehouse for a 'secret gig' on Wednesday 10th October... is that right?

Kee: Ah yeah, I didn't expect too many people to know about that....it is supposed to be a secret show. It's more of a gig to warm-up for the London show you know? A chance to perform to close friends and colleagues and see how things go down. It is a great venue sure... really enjoyed playing there last time I was in town!

Kayleigh: So, as previously mentioned, you'll be treating fans to some of the brilliant tracks from Out of This World to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Were there ever any talks with the Europe guys about collaborating once more to bring this together? You are almost crossing paths with your UK dates...

Kee: No, nothing like that was ever discussed but I'm still on very good terms with the others. I'm just enjoying playing some of the tracks that have only been played a handful of times... overlooked tracks.

Kayleigh: So which of these overlooked gems can we look forward to hearing?

Kee: Songs like 'Sign of the Times' and 'More Than Meets the Eye' are always great to play.. those songs are so overlooked and for me are like well-kept secrets. I can't give too much away but let's just say there's a lot of never-before performed material and a chance to hear some jams with the rest of the band, too.

Kayleigh: Exciting! 'Sign of the Times' live- what a dream! What else can we be expecting to hear from the set?

Kee: There will be songs from Scaling Up as well as a few others in there too.

Kayleigh: Scaling Up is great- also very Europe-esque in it's melodic style with some songs sounding like they could have been squeezed on to Prisoners in Paradise. 

When song-writing, do you prefer writing as a solo artist or with the thought in mind that these songs will be intended to play with other musicians?

Kee: Good question... I think both have their great points. I mean I love working on my own projects, focusing on the material from birth to delivery, but you can't beat that collaboration you get when working with other musicians. Being a solo artist you get to have the best of both worlds.

Kayleigh: That's great to hear... in comparison to someone like Malmsteen who has the other musicians crammed on the side of the stage with him being at the centre. Is that not something that would interest you?

Kee: Haha! Oh no... Yngwie is great but that's ridiculous. I see it as a band effort- I work with some great musicians... It's so important that you get to gel and work collaboratively.

Kayleigh: So what's next for the Kee Marcello band? Will you be sticking with the melodic rock style? It's most certainly a genre you've put your stamp on. 

Kee: For sure... It's always great to play around with new sounds and I've done that in the past with bands like my '80s band Easy Action, but I won't be going into thrash metal or anything any time soon. 

Kayleigh: Well, if it ain't broke...

Kee- thank you so much for a great chat. To say we are excited for the UK tour is an understatement! We'll look forward to catching you at the Camden Underworld!

Interview: Hällas

Hällas live in London.

On a beautiful, unusually hot and sunny day in April, Born Again's Louise Dornan sits down in the leafy Waterlow Park with the guys from Hällas ahead of their London show.  Settling down 100 yards from Highgate Cemetery - the home to poets, authors, artists, astronomers, free thinkers and philosophers - it seems like a fitting place to delve into the world of the Future Past.

Louise: Ok, welcome to London! I wanted to ask how the rest of this mini-tour has been. What’s the reception been like so far?

Kasper: It’s good, it’s all good.

Alexander: It started in Liège in Belgium and that was the first day of summer there so we started it off. It was a really nice show actually.

Louise: How have the crowds been?

Alexander: They stood a bit far away from the stage, they were shy maybe.

Nicklas: That’s a cultural thing we got to know. That you have to ask them to come to the front or else they stay about five metres away.

Louise: Did they come when you asked?

Nicklas: (laughing) We didn’t ask…

Tommy: We never force anyone to do anything.

Louise: And what about Newcastle last night?

Kasper: It was a bit special, intimate but still not. It felt like we were playing in a classroom. Very clean and very calm.

Louise: Calm people?

All: Yes, really calm.

Nicklas: Something that made me nervous was that here we come and play music when some of our main inspirations are British. We’ve come to play in Britain for the first time and the response was kind of delayed after the songs so I thought maybe they were thinking “who are they to come and play our music.”

Kasper: Some of the audience were wearing Genesis shirts and I thought, “We can’t live up to this.”

Nicklas: But afterwards we got a really good response from people and they were really warm and friendly.

Louise: You’ve had a bit of a sudden rise to fame, especially here. Is there anything in particular you would put that down to?

Marcus: Probably star rider.

Alexander: Fenriz of Darkthrone put us out so a lot of people noticed us then so maybe that helps as well.

Nicklas: But it’s also I think that we are ourselves, could you say that? We don’t play any game, we just are what we are and who we are and maybe people like that.

Tommy: We’re not party animals, we’re calm guys.

It seems like it’s a sudden rise of Hällas but we have put a lot of work into this for many years. We have worked really hard, so many hours and shows in Germany and Sweden, travelling a long way and we’ve worked a lot with the music to make it as good as possible for us to be satisfied with it.

Kasper: And it’s our first album, our first full length, so that’s probably why people got to hear of us.

Nicklas: But we released this EP a couple of years ago and that’s an important step too. Everything you do comes together. So it’s hard to say what exactly.

Alexander: The first EP we didn’t get as much attention, it came more with this album.

Nicklas: But we did get some attention.

Tommy: It took us to Germany.

Louise: To which gigs or festivals in Germany?

Tommy: We played in Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig and also Denmark. And we got to the venues in Sweden where the bigger bands play so we could open for them. So the EP was a good opener for us to get access to play shows and to work more with music and the band.

The bands debut album, Excerpts From A Future Past.

Louise: Just to elaborate on what you said about ‘Star Rider’ – It’s quite different to your other material. Is that something that you did on purpose for any reason?

Nicklas: We just tried to experiment and there was this idea that the others had some kind of riff and then we thought about what would happen if we tried to make some sort of disco-hard rock song. Then when we got the result, we thought, “why not”.

Kasper: We did not think that people would like it. Maybe, but probably not. We were a bit scared.

Tommy: We thought about the old prog bands. They all always did one short song and the rest are longer so we were thinking a little bit about that. It was also a big challenge for us to write a short song.

Kasper: We’re not used to writing verse-chorus-verse-chorus. It’s like our first proper “pop” song.

Nicklas: We wanted to have something more simple because we felt the album material was quite hard to get into. So we thought maybe something lighter to begin with.

Louise: About your lyrics - The concepts are quite mystical and otherworldly on both of the records. Is there any particular literature or other source that inspires them?

Marcus: It all started with the idea I had for the first song on the album ‘The Astral Seer’. I just had that line for a lot of years, “he had walked the earth for a thousand years”. So I had this idea in my head but I don’t know where it came from.

It’s also about a guy being sentenced to death who manages to escape from hell but then lives on forever being chased by all these different demons. I guess somewhere I’ve read about it in Greek mythology; I don’t remember the name right now, maybe Orpheus? He’s going down to hell to get his girlfriend and he’s not allowed to look back so he gets the same fate. Somewhere, I probably had that in my head from school or something.

Louise: Going back in time a little. How did you all come to find each other and find you had musical interests which would combine to create this?

Kasper: It started out in Jönköping where me and Tommy are from. I guess we didn’t know each other but we both wanted to play rock music. We had friends in common and in that way we heard about each other. We played in our friend’s garage for a while and then I moved to Linköping where I met these guys (pointing to Alex and Marcus).

Tommy: Alex first joined the band and we were a four piece from the beginning with another guitarist but he left and then Marcus joined in because Alex and Marcus had played together before in other compilations.

Then we went into the studio after a while to record our first EP. Nicklas was the producer of that record and we felt like that things he laid on the tracks, the organs, the synthesisers, it added a new dimension to the music that we couldn’t be without. So we were forced to force Nicklas into the band.

Marcus: But you said we never force anyone to do anything. (all laughing)

Louise: (to Nicklas) Did it take a lot to talk you around?

Nicklas: No, no. I just felt like there was something with these guys. That this combination was very good and I always wanted to play this kind of music. So it wasn’t a hard decision at all.

Louise: Can you tell me about the best or your favourite live show that you’ve done so far?

All: Roadburn!

Kasper: Two days ago. It was a big crowd and everything was very professional.

Nicklas: I liked the Berlin one last time, it was really good. In Urban Sprefe. There was really good sound and everything.

Tommy: That was the first show in Berlin again since we released the record. But also one of my favourite shows was Stockholm. It was one of the first shows when we had released the new record and it was so crowded. They closed the doors because there were too many people. The response we got from the audience was so unexpected.

Alexander: I was thinking that one too. The reception we got there was so good.

Nicklas: For us to come to Stockholm, we’re from the countryside for them, so it’s like the farmers are coming to town. We didn’t think they’d like us.

Kasper: Stockholm was something completely new for us, it was great.

Alexander: Also Gothenburg. That was the first time we felt the audience really liked us.

Tommy: We’ve done many shows in Gothenburg and the audience there is really true to us. They come back and they show support for us.

Marcus: But we liked the others too, I just wanted to say that.

Louise: On to your classification or genre. What does adventure rock mean to you and your music?

Nicklas: We want to make music that makes you feel like you want to sit on a horse and go out to the world.

Marcus: I think you (to Nicklas) coined the term when we were recording “this sounds like an adventure, this is like adventure rock.”

Tommy: I think it’s also become a lead word in the band. The music should be an adventure for the listener. That also includes the progressive parts. The songs are not the same exactly as an adventure or an adventurous movie. There are ups and downs, it should be very dynamic and that’s the feeling we’re trying to put into our music.

Nicklas: We wanted to make the album almost like a play with side A like act one and side B act two. So we wanted the listener to sit down and listen through just like a movie.

Kasper: I guess you can say that we play a mix of prog rock and heavy metal but were not playing 100% prog rock or 100% heavy metal. It’s more fun to call it something else.

Louise: Have you made any decisions about the music you’ll be recording next or do you just go with the flow?

Marcus: There’s been some planning. We’ve been having meetings. But with music you can never plan anything fully. I guess we’ll have to adapt on where we are as people right now because you cannot just force it.

Alexander: With plans like that, we can say “We should do something like this, it would be cool.” But if it actually comes out that way, that’s another story.

Nicklas: Yeah, it always changes on the way. Nothing turns out the way you plan but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Kasper: As it looks now, we all enjoy the proggier part of the music way more. Until we are supposed to play it live. In song writing it looks like we are going more in that direction now. But we’ll see, maybe we’ll change that.

Tommy: We want to develop ourselves even more and add stuff that we haven’t been doing. Music, it has to be hard for us to do it, a challenge. We have started planning the next record. Not the music, but the story.

Nicklas: We have all of these ideas and some of them we will use when we see fit.

Tommy: We have a lot of music also but we haven’t started to put it together.

Louise: That’s pretty much it, but I’d like for each of you to recommend an album for your fans to check out. Preferably one that’s had a big impact on the music you make.

Tommy: I think the Trespass album by Genesis was really an opener for me to go into the more progressive part of music. I really loved that album when I first heard it and I listened a lot to it. I think the story telling parts of that album and the soundscaping and how they build music is something I’ve taken into me and tried to add to Hällas.

Alexander: I can say, Zarathustra by Museo Rosenbach because it’s a prog band but it’s also really rocking and straightforward as well, kind of like our record. It’s not that progressive like maybe Genesis or something. So if you like our record then you should check that out because it’s even better (laughing).

Kasper: Maybe Crises by Mike Oldfield if you’re tired of rock. It’s a good poppy album but also with a proggier side.

Nicklas: I cannot say one album but probably something with Depeche Mode, something from the late 80s and early 90s perhaps. Music for the Masses maybe.

Marcus: I’d say for this music it’s probably Rush, 2112. Yeah, I’ll say that one.

Take a look here for some photos of the Hällas gig later that night in The Lounge and be sure to check them out at any and all of their upcoming dates via www.hallasband.com.  We’ll see you down the front at the Muskelrock show!

Photography: Charis Bagioki
Writer: Louise Dornan

Interview: Alan Jones of Pagan Altar

Alan Jones and Brendan Radigan at Hammer Of Doom XII

August 2017 saw the offering of Pagan Altar's final album, The Room Of Shadows, with fans feasting on the complex and intricate layers of Alan Jones' guitars and the strong rhythm section of Diccon Harper and Andy Green under the unmistakable powerful warble of Terry Jones. It had been two years since the tragic death of the frontman and many would have experienced bitter sweet emotions as the very first notes played on the opening track 'Rising Of The Dead'.

The following September saw Pagan Altar members Alan, Andy and Diccon join forces with Magic Circle's Brendan Radigan and Cauchemar's Andreas Arango, to perform to a sold out crowd at Montreal's Wing's Of Metal festival. This was to be the only show, but luckily, European fans were treated to a performance at Wurzburg's 2017 edition of the Hammer Of Doom festival, which led to the decision to continue with this outfit to celebrate Pagan Altar's 40^th anniversary this year with a handful of dates already confirmed in Denmark, Greece, Romania and Chile.  Born Again's Michelle G talks to founding member and guitarist Alan Jones about The Room Of Shadows and Pagan Altar's future.

Michelle: The album was due for release in 2014 under a different name but you weren’t happy with how it sounded. Understandably, it was left untouched for a few years. What was the driving force behind resuming work on the album? How much of it did you want to change and what did you change?

Alan Jones: The main driving force for me was to finish something we had started five years ago and had been dragging on for what seemed like forever. Neither me nor my dad were happy with how the album had turned out the first time around and after my dad’s death I couldn’t listen to the album at all, mainly because it just sounded awful. I decided to have another go at finishing it and brought in Andy (Green) and Diccon (Harper) who had the imagination and talent to turn it around and make it something that both my dad and I could be proud of.

Michelle: The album is very much entrenched in a deathly theme with added nods to fictional and real life Victorian horror. Is there a way you wanted the album to flow from start to finish?

Alan: The album was originally going to be called Never Quite dead. It started off as a bit of a joke about the band coming back to life after ten years of lying dormant and people writing us off for being dead and buried. My dad probably would have given a more highbrow answer but that’s the truth. We have always liked our albums to have a bit of a theme running through them and my dad had always been interested in the Macabre so it was duck season for him when it came to subject matter..

Michelle: Did you follow the same writing ritual as previous albums?

Alan: For this album, the plan was, I would get ideas, record them roughly and give them to my dad. He would write some lyrics then we would do a demo to hear how it sounded then give it to the rest of the band. 'The Ripper' was different because my dad had already written the words so we sat down together and I put the music to the words for a change. When we wrote the early material we were living in the same house so we would always sit down together and write the music.

The Room Of Shadows

Michelle: The artwork to The Room of Shadows compliments the sound and feel of the album completely. What was the main inspiration behind it and how did you come to find the artist Adam Burke.

Alan: My sister lives in an old Victorian house in Plumstead on the outskirts of London. We took an assortment of atmospheric photos of my niece Ellie (Terry’s granddaughter) in a Victorian dress that related to some of the songs from the album. My friends Annick and François were in London in 2016 and we met up and I took them on a tour of sunny Greenwich. We ended up at my sister’s house in the evening and while we were there I asked Annick if she would be interested in bringing out the album. We showed her some of the photos we had taken for the album cover and she had liked the one of Ellie by the fireplace but thought it would look better as a painting. Adam (Burke) did a wonderful job of the cover and we are all very happy with it.

Michelle: For live shows, Brendan Radigan and Andres Arango fill the vocal and second guitar positions; how did you come to find them and how was it preparing for these two festivals considering they live on a different continent to the rest of you?

Alan: Annick knew Brendan and sent me a link to the band Magic Circle which Brendan sings for. She asked me if I thought his voice would be ok for the live show at Montreal and if so could I contact him and introduce myself. I had a listen to the link and watched a couple clips of some Magic Circle live shows and thought Brendan would be perfect for Montreal. Andres plays in Annick's band Cauchemar and knew our music quite well anyway and had worked out most of it before I had even sent him my “Pagan Altar’s play in a day DVD”. For the upcoming live shows we will play as near to the CDs as we can and rehearse them on our own, then ask for a rehearsal where we are playing. That seems to have worked for us the last couple of times.

Michelle: How did Brendan feel taking on the daunting task of filling the ‘Pagan Altar’ frontman spot that Terry had very much made his own?

Alan: I think you would have to ask Brendan that question. For me Brendan has been very aware of the diehard fans and has worked extremely hard at making sure he has got my dad’s phrasing right without trying to copy him. I thought I could never imagine anybody else but my dad singing our songs and just wanted to do the one off at Montreal, however, since this band has been put together I just want to get that vibe of Montreal and Wurzburg back.

Brendan Radigan at Hammer Of Doom XII

Michelle: What was the general response at both festivals you’ve played as ‘Time Lord’?

Alan: Both festivals have been fantastic and I couldn’t be happier with the response. I think we all took a chance of having egg on our faces without being able to rehearse properly but it shows how talented these guys are being able to do the whole set with one or two rehearsals. Yes there may have been a few little slip ups here and there that the band would have noticed but on the whole I think people were happy with how we played.

Michelle: Dance of the Vampires’ has been played at both ‘Wings Of Metal’ and ‘Hammer Of Doom’ festivals. Will other songs be played live at later dates?

Alan: We are working on most of the album The Room Of Shadows at the moment . I have been playing the other songs for the last hundred years and it will be nice to play something different for a change.

Michelle: I read that you didn’t want to play under the name of ‘Pagan Altar’ as you felt it wouldn’t be right. What’s made you change your mind?

Alan: Andy, Diccon , Andres and Brendan.

Pagan Altar at HOD XII

Michelle: The early Pagan Altar shows sounded/looked like they would have required a lot of practise to perfect them in terms of lighting, effects and the on stage ritual before your set. Why did you drop the elaborate stage production when the band reformed

Alan: It was just too expensive to do in 2007 and not worth the hassle. Back in the early days we would have to go out in the morning with a couple of friends we could persuade to help us with our rather large and bulky PA that we had basically made ourselves. Take all day getting to the place, putting the PA in place wiring everything up and putting the Altar up ect. Then we would have to play a two hour plus set and after we had finished we had to take it all down ,get it all back in the van and get back in the early hours of the morning. When I was nineteen, twenty I used to love all of that.

From 2006-7 onwards it was turn up with your guitar and a few pedals and off you go.

Michelle: What inspired your noticeably unique playing style? What was the music that you listened to when growing up and who influenced you most?

Alan: My earliest influence I suppose would have been the Everly Brothers and The Shadows. My dad liked the Everly brothers and we had a few of their albums and most of their singles about at the time. Then all of a sudden the albums started to change to the likes of very heavy very humble (Uriah Heep) ELP, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and many more, but the one that really got me hooked was Queens’s Sheer Heart Attack and the opening track, 'Brighton Rock'. That started me off and the rest followed. In 1978 I discovered Rush after watching the Old Gray Whistle Test and was lucky enough to see them play live a couple of months later. I have spend the last thirty odd years trying to play like these guys and ended up a bit of a mish mash mix of all of them.

Michelle: At a time when the ‘in your face’ style of NWOBHM was emerging, was it a natural decision to follow the other path of heavier, doomier, slower rock?

Alan: I think that NWOBHM had its roots originally in the energy of punk and new wave and these guys had progressed from that and were looking for something a bit more challenging to play. Many of our songs had been written in the mid seventies and that was where our roots were and although we did try to incorporate some of that energy into our music it always ended up sounding like us.

Keep up to date with Pagan Altar news at www.paganaltar.com

Read our review of The Room Of Shadows here!

Writer and photographer: M. Godding