Tungsten
Anders Johansson
Hello, thank you! It is an honor to be with you. I have been doing well: Every year you manage to keep the Grim reaper from doing some grim reaping is a good year.
I was recording and was on tour with my sons in another band (Hulkoff) and I realized that they now are grown up and that they can manage to play in a studio and live situation. When forming Tungsten we wanted to create something a bit different. There are so many bands in so many genres and it is nearly impossible if you sound like 76 other bands. More about how we thought later down.
It makes things easier. They live close by and we rehearse in my studio. I think it is great since I can terrorize them to, and from, gigs as well as backstage with long monologues of what they should do or not do. I think they sometimes regret that they have me in the band. On the other hand, I teach them about the music industry, economics, touring, equipment and all that so it is good for them to have someone with 39 years of experience.
Arising and Nuclear has basically the same guys and distribution. When signing to Arising I contacted my old buddy Markus Staiger, that I knew from my days with Hammerfall. I knew he would like it and his crew would be great for us. On other labels we might not have had the personal touch and vibe we now have and we might have been forgotten among all their other bands.
Hammerfall is a pure heavy metal-band. True metal. Hammerfall once tried to slightly wear of their concept on the album "Infected" and the fans wouldn't have it. The music was the same more or less but the look changed. "Zombies! Where is Hector!? What is this shit!?" Hector came back and all was forgiven and forgotten. So no, in Hammerfall I liked it the way it was. Hammerfall is more or less Oscar's and Joacim's brainchild. They had an idea to form an old school heavy metal band. They drove it their way, against the music that then was popular. They did a good job. I wouldn't want to interfere with their concept. I sometimes wished the music was slightly harder, but I never said anything of course.
In Tungsten I'm much more involved even though the millennials are the driving forces. Mike, the singer, is involved with the lyrics and he and Nick is spending a lot of time to get the best results.
I think we have tried to make sure all musical elements are ok. And we tried to color the music with scales that are not so common in metal. We also put in completely non-metal-concepts and made them metal. And it is all mixed in with steady beats and industrial sounds. Then again, there are just 12 notes to a scale and many of them sound "jazz" so we aren't that different. But different enough to stick out a bit. It is necessary since there are so many great bands.
The millennials (sons) do most of it for sure. No doubt. Sometimes we do something joint in the rehearsal space.
He is the only choice. He is easy to work with and has musical talent. Has energy and is an easy going guy. He is also a music fan and he wanted to tag along just for the sake of music. When we started we didn't talk about records and such. Just make a cool song or two.
Yes, the same guy. Andreas Marshall. It was Markus (Staiger) who wanted him. We wanted an ugly green sunken boat. But Markus was so happy and energetic so we went along with him. Andreas has his style and it looks like Blind Guardian and Hammerfall. I think it is cool that you can tell that the artist has a recognizable style. He probably put a little extra HF in there just because it was Staiger and I who he knew from before. The guy on the cover is called Volfram.
"Volfram... a guardian of time and space, a traveller thru the future, past and present time. Good nor evil, crossing dimensions, he is a messenger, executioner and a judge. A ghost, a wraith and a savior to some. While defending the castle halls in a twilight world he says...We Will Rise!"
Tungsten btw means Heavy Rock (stone) in Swedish. It is a heavy metal. An element. The metal with the hardest surface and highest boiling point. We aren't the hardest band but we have the hardest name. J
I like "We will rise". "Animals", I like most of them though. This is unusual for me. I usually only like two songs on each album.
We want to play as an opener for a nice and cool band. We have to see how the people react to the record, if they like it, it is so much easier to get an opening spot. Standalone shows are also an option. We have already started to record album two so then we have to play a few of these or the show will only be 50 minutes.
Yes, there are legal reasons which makes it not possible for me to answer, thanks for understanding. I saw this from Manowar's point of view. All I can say is that things never are the way they first seem. But in the end all cards will be on the table and people will know the truth.
In general (has nothing to do with Manowar) I feel that old school people (like me) and the millennials are very different. I come from an era where it was normal to misbehave, fight in bars, and smash hotel rooms, and rental cars. This is totally unacceptable today. My sons shake their heads but kind of smile when I do strange things that are second nature to me.
I think the metal gods will still be playing as long as there is someone that want to listen. 30 years ago my brother Jens and I talked about the future of metal and we thought (wrongly) that metal would become a small special club scene like type of occurrence like the jazz-scene is now. But metal is stronger than ever. And luckily we were wrong.
I usually put on Spotify and browse around in modern metal. Then I pop back to classic rock. Then I listen to fusion. Then prog metal. Then classical music. I like it all… as long as it is (to me) good.
It is I who thank you for taking your time to prepare these nice questions.
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