Unleashed is one of the big four of Swedish death metal along with Entombed, Grave and Dismember. Having Unleashed in Romania, as headliners of the first day of Metal Gates Festival was a privilege and we were very excited to meet the legend, vocalist and bass player Johnny Hedlund.
DinIntunerec: Hello, welcome to Bucharest and thank you so much for getting on board with this interview. First of all, what does it feel like to be one of the big four of Swedish death metal that has an uninterrupted career?
Johnny Hedlund: Well, it feels very good and thank you for having us here in Romania. It’s always good to come back. Yeah, it feels great. Actually, this year is our 35th anniversary, so it’s a very long career, I must say. It feels really good.
DinIntunerec: Having the same lineup for more than 30 years is an amazing accomplishment. How did you manage that?
Johnny Hedlund: Oh, I think it’s because… Well, there are several things, actually. I think, first of all, when we formed in 1989, we agreed, all of us, that the band has to be… First of all, it has to be death metal. If you want to play something different after a while, you can do that, but not in Unleashed.
Second, we all help out. There are so many things you have to do in a band and once you grow older, if the band keeps going for 5, 10, 15, 20 years, there are many things to do. It doesn’t matter if it’s the merchandise or interviews or social media or whatever it is. Everybody in the band has to help out.
And of course, number three, you have to be very good friends. That’s it. There are a lot more things, but these are the three most important ones, I would say.
DinIntunerec: Your latest release, No Sign of Life, came out in 2021. What is your formula to create a new album which continues to push its limits without giving out of its sound, achieved through the years? Is there a cliche idea that the band’s latest work is the best?
Johnny Hedlund: I think that it pretty much alludes to what I just said on the first question, because since day one we said Unleashed is always going to be a death metal band. We have to agree that the music that we will create from day one will always be this way.
Now, you can develop and you can get better and you can try new things… You can take some new stuff into your music and whatever, but it will have to be the same style of death metal. Otherwise, it’s not Unleashed anymore. So, I think that what we did is that we agreed all along, all the road that this is what it’s going to be like. If you make a new album, you want to make it better than the previous one. But, it shouldn’t be too much different. Because, if it’s too much different, it’s not Unleashed. It’s something else. I think that’s the formula.
DinIntunerec: What was the creation process for this album? Was it different from the earlier releases?
Johnny Hedlund: Really, we’ve been doing pretty much the same thing for many, many years now. Fredrik makes most of the music and I make most of the lyrics. So, he starts making music and he sends the music to me and I start making the melody lines for the vocals. After that, I make the lyrics for the melody lines and I make some pre-productions, actually on a phone. So, I sing through the phone on the music and so the band can listen to it. It’s a pre-production, it doesn’t sound great, but it’s okay. Then, everybody in the band can say, a little bit more of this, a little bit less of that. When everybody agrees, that’s the song.
Then, we go for the next song. So it’s a process. Sometimes it takes two years, sometimes three years. But it’s been pretty much the same for the past 15 years. Really, very much the same process.
DinIntunerec: The next question is about my favorite single from your latest album: It Is finished. It’s one of my favorite songs and it’s the most untypical track from the album. It’s a little bit darker and the atmosphere is heavier… and gloomier maybe. Can you tell how it was created and what it’s all about?
Johnny Hedlund: Yeah, I think this song is maybe a little bit different than to the other songs. But we created the music and the lyrics in the same way. So, it’s not a big difference. I remember that Fredrik said, maybe It Is Finished is a little bit different than what we used to do. But we all loved it, so I think that’s it. It’s an amazing song. If everybody in the band likes the song, it’s good for the album. That’s how it is.
DinIntunerec: What is it about?
Johnny Hedlund: Well, I think the past 5 or 6 albums now, we’ve been doing a storyline from a book I never finished. I made a book called The World of Odalheim and that book was never published. So for the past 10-12 years I’ve been doing chapters… Many songs are as a chapter from the book. It Is Finished is in the end of the last album. And I think in the actual storyline about the Midgard warriors, they captured the son of White Christ.
They had captured him and they strung him up on a cross to try and push him to some information, but they get nothing. And so It Is Finished is really one of the words that, if you read the Bible for example, there are many things that come out as the last words that Jesus Christ says when he dies. It Is Finished is one of the lines. So I kind of stole that and put that into the son of White Christ’s last words. It’s me being a little bit funny too, actually, and being a little bit ironic so to speak. That’s what it is about.
DinIntunerec: How was the band in its early days? Can you share some memories about how the band came to be?
Johnny Hedlund: Well, I was in a band called Nihilist way back then. When that split up, me and Anders and previous Fredrik, and a guy called Robert, we sat down. I think it was in my laundry… We started practicing some songs. We figured out that, well, let’s form a band that can have the potential of being the most brutal live act you can actually see. So, we just got on from there. We started making songs on a cassette, of course. That’s what happened way back then, we made cassettes and tried to mail them out to everybody we knew.
DinIntunerec: What is the biggest difference that you find today with the past?
Johnny Hedlund: Well, there are a lot of differences, but you mean in the music industry I guess, for example. The biggest difference of course is the information technology that came into the music scene. As far as recording and stuff like that goes, and communication obviously. I think that’s one of the biggest differences. Because before that, we all had to meet in the practice room and we practiced three times a week. And then, we couldn’t really send songs to each other. So, we had to meet in there and show each other, new riffs. Today, obviously, you can send that through the internet. Things go much faster today, and I think that’s the biggest difference. It’s got good sides and bad sides, but I like it.
DinIntunerec: Let’s talk about the band’s focus on Viking subject, ever since the beginning. You were one of the first to have used runes and other elements of Viking culture in your artworks, and also in death metal. Is it only a subject of interest, or is it more like an element of cultural identity, or even a source of pride?
Johnny Hedlund: My ancestors were Vikings, and I am too, so it’s our heritage. We come from the north, and you know, that’s how it was back then. So, I have always had an interest to start digging into the history of things. Actually, I do that not only with the Viking tradition, I also like to read history about other cultures. It’s not just the Nordic culture, but if I come to South America, I would love to see their culture, Romanian culture, it doesn’t matter which. I love history. Countries’ history and people’s history, I think that’s very, very intriguing.
DinIntunerec: Do you remember why you picked up this name at the beginning of the journey? Is it a story behind the name of the band?
Johnny Hedlund: Like I said before, we had this meeting when we started to form the band. We had many different ideas. And most of the ideas were very silly, of course, and some of them were even stupid. So, we thought we’d put them in the trash can. And then we said, well, let’s have some kind of name that would remind us about what we think is most important. We all thought that the most important thing for a band is the live show. That’s when we can unleash hell on stage… That’s what we are all about.
You can listen to Unleashed music any day you like and just put it on the record or whatever. But the live show, that’s number one for us. And we said, well, what is that going to be like? Well, we will have to unleash all the damn fury and hatred we have and bang heads and go crazy. Unleashed, that’s it. So we thought, well, that’s the name right there.
DinIntunerec: What makes you feel more excited, working on new music or performing live?
Johnny Hedlund: Always performing live. But of course, I would be crazy if I didn’t say that I like making music and lyrics because I do that all the time. Actually, I do that a lot more than playing live, obviously. I mean, I’ve worked for like two years on the new album. The new album is almost ready and it took me about two years to complete everything. So, that’s a lot of work. I mean, lots of work. It’s not so much work to go down to Romania and Bulgaria and play the show because we just go and practice and then we play two shows and then go home. So, that’s kind of easy.
But making an album takes like years. So, you have to like it. If you don’t like it, it’s not going to be a good album. Anyway, if you ask me right there, which is most fun? Well, it’s more fun to play in Bucharest tonight. For sure. That’s what I like.
DinIntunerec: You already told me about your passion for history. Do you have other hobbies aside from music and history that you have already mentioned? Do you also have a job or does your music income allow you to live comfortably without having a job?
Johnny Hedlund: First of all, I’m a part time finance manager. So I work in finance, bookkeeping and stuff like that, taxes. It’s kind of boring, but it pays good money. And I do it part time, not all the time. But, my biggest passion is football. My son is a goalkeeper. He’ s 14 years old. So, I am his goalkeeper coach. And believe it or not, I’m his goalkeeper coach five days every week. We practice like crazy. He wants to be a very, very good goalkeeper. And I, like six, seven years ago, I started going to all the goalkeeper coach programs that I could go. It’s just been building up like crazy. I do that actually five times a week. Not many people know that. But since you asked me, it’s crazy, but it’s really fun.
DinIntunerec: Well, good luck with that!
Johnny Hedlund: Thank you, thank you.
DinIntunerec: Each band has defining moments or turning points. What are the main things, the key events that shaped Unleashed into what it is today?
Johnny Hedlund: I know what you mean. I don’t know if it’s a turning point, but the key point is that after a while, and I would say every band in the world, has a point where they practiced a lot, they’ve been on tour a lot, they played a lot, they drank a lot, and did all these things for maybe 10, 15 years, having a great time. But, there’s always a point where you have to stop and take a rest. Because if you don’t, you get burned out. There’s also a risk of things getting boring, because if you do the exact same thing all the time with no rest, then it will probably get boring.
So, we had to stop and figure out where to go from there. We did that in the end of the 90s. We took a break and came back even stronger. We started thinking that maybe we shouldn’t tour like crazy. Because if you tour like crazy, you don’t have time for anything else.
We want to last a very, very long time. Unleashed is not here for 25 years, we want to be here for 50 years if we can.
So, you know, we decided something very important! To go out when you’re hungry and play and bang heads and have a good time. Not like doing it all the time. And that’s why we’re still here, you know, 35 years now. I think it was a good decision not to play like crazy all the time. Also, we get to spend some time back home and stuff like that. So I’m happy with that, I think it was a good decision.
DinIntunerec: Was there a moment when you were tempted to quit?
Johnny Hedlund: No, never. We took a three years break. Some people thought we actually wanted to quit. But, I kept doing interviews online and we still made music. We’ve never thought of giving up. We just said to each other, let’s take a break and see where this takes us. Because if you tour like crazy, like I said, at some point you have to take a step back. Take some rest and think a little bit.
DinIntunerec: What were the main obstacles that you had to overcome during more then three decades of activity?
Johnny Hedlund: Maybe just to get a change of scenery. Because if you tour like we did… We toured maybe eight, nine years. We didn’t even meet people back home a lot. Because we didn’t have time to hang out with friends like we wanted to. And family and whatever. So, I think that’s one of the things that was really annoying… We spent more time on tour than we did back home. Even when we were at home, we actually weren’t because we had to prepare all the time… To keep practicing, or working on a new album or recording a new album.
If you have no time at all, then the next album is not gonna be good. Because you’re just gonna be stressed. And we started thinking that maybe this should be looked at as something that is a long-term relationship. Unleashed is a long-term relationship. It’s not a 20-year thing. Because then we would be gone by now.
DinIntunerec: Was your music perceived differently in the beginning? What do you think about the new generation? Do you think they pay attention to the lyrics and understand your message?
Johnny Hedlund: I think they do. I don’t think there’s a big difference, actually. We meet younger kids and those in their 25s and 30s. Also, some of them are 50.But, I think everybody is pretty much the same. I think that’s the good thing with the metal family. It doesn’t matter if you’re into Metallica or AC/DC or Morbid Angel or Unleashed. And I think it doesn’t matter which age group either. We think the same, we want the same and we like the live show. I don’t see a big difference, really.
DinIntunerec: What was the best or the worst or, an unforgettable incident, something that happened while you were on tour or during a live show?
Johnny Hedlund: Oh, that’s a lot.
DinIntunerec: I’m sure you have a lot of stories. Please tell us one which you consider amazing in a good or a bad way, you choose.
Johnny Hedlund: Yeah, well, I think one of the things that I really appreciate was when we played in Mexico quite some time ago. We went to see the pyramids, for example, in Mexico City. That was really wonderful. That’s some of the things that you speak with other people about, but you never get there because it’s too far away from home and too expensive. You can see things online, but you never get to visit them. But, we actually went up there and that was one of the things that I really, really loved. And, of course, the show was fantastic in Mexico City.
DinIntunerec: How do you see the underground metal scene nowadays? Apart from quantity, as it seems there are a lot of new bands emerging everywhere, do you think there is quality too?
Johnny Hedlund: I don’t know if that’s for me to say, maybe that’s for others to say. It’s impossible to keep track of every band. There are just too many. When I was young, when I was 20 years old, I kept track of most of the bands that came out. At least the death metal bands. And I knew many of them. Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Bolt Thrower and all those bands. We were friends even. But today it’s kind of impossible, because there are so many groups now. I don’t think every band can be quality. That would be impossible.
There are so many bands, so there must be some good ones among them all. There are plenty to choose from… It would be sad if there were just 10 bands. That would be horrible. So, I think that’s good with the metal family in general, that there are so many bands to check out. I really like that.
DinIntunerec: What is the most important life lesson that you’ve learned so far?
Johnny Hedlund: Oh, wow, that’s a difficult question. Those are probably many. The most important one is probably to wear earplugs, really. And I’ll tell you why. If there’s something that breaks on the microphone, that could destroy your ears. That’s an early important lesson. When I was young, I didn’t wear earplugs at all. They take away like 25% of the noise. But you can hear all the good stuff. So, I think that’s an early life lesson as a musician.
DinIntunerec: Thank you for your time. Any message for the audience tonight?
Johnny Hedlund: Let everybody know what we’re going for. It’s going to be a really nice show. And we’re looking forward to it. So, my metal family… let’s unleash ourselves tonight and make it a night to remember!