Interview with Ronnie of Grave 2008
By Bradley Smith
Dominion VIII has finally been unearthed for the world to hear. It is a bit of a regression as far as the songwriting goes. Why did you guys make that decision? How do you view Dominion VIII in regards to the current scene and Grave’s back catalogue?
Well... When we sat down to discuss in what direction we wanted to take this album, we all agreed upon to go back to the first 2-3 albums and try to get it more in that way both sound and song wise. The previous 2 albums were more "modern" so to say, especially production wise. To release an album with a production like "Dominion VIII" is very rare these days I think. Basically every death metal album today sound the same, over triggered kick drums and snare, the same kinda "clean" guitar sound and productions that are so slick that Backstreet Boys drools all over it.. I don't like those kinda productions! I'd say it's only us and Dismember that goes against that sound today.
You are somewhat new to the band, did you feel like you had big shoes to fill? Did you consider it to be an honor to be in Grave? What sort of mystique did this legendary entity hold for you before becoming part of its ranks?
Yeah of course. Both the previous drummers are very good, especially Pelle Ekegren which is an amazing drummer.. Lucky for me he didn't wanna do tours and be away from his family and stuff like that so he quit in august 2006. It's a kinda funny story behind my "audition" for Grave. Johan Jansson from my other band Demonical and ex-Centinex phoned me late a Monday (I think) evening and told me that Ola from Grave had been asking for the old Centinex drummer and that he'd heard that I lived in Stockholm. I told Johan to tell Ola to give me a call the day after due to the late hour... Ola phoned me the next day and we talked for maybe 20 min or so and decided that I should come to their last rehearsal for the DVD-recording they had coming up some week after. I sat at the rehearsal and just listened and thought that well.. I can play this, shouldn't be any problems drumming wise.. The thing was this... I hadn't heard any songs with Grave other then some live shows I'd been to and to be honest, I didn't pay that much attention those times haha, to busy drinking beer hehehe.. So, every song were new for me, even "Into the Grave" and "Soulless" so for me it was a fresh start and I had to learn like 12 songs or so for the upcoming US-tour with Dismember we had lined up a few weeks later. All I knew about Grave was that they were one of the "big 4" Stockholm death metal bands and that they'd been around for a very long time.. I'm both honoured and glad to be a part of the band and that we all 3 connect very good as friends.
We are coming up on 20 years of Grave’s existence. Does the band have anything special planned to commemorate this occasion? Can you see Grave being around for their 30th anniversary?
Nothing more then the new album unfortunately.. but we will do lots of tours this autumn and we also have some really cool things coming up for us next year. I hope so, although it's really hard to tell at this point.
Not too long ago the world was finally treated to an Epic tour of Swedish death metal with Grave and other elder gods of the Swedish scene Entombed, Unleashed and Dismember. How did this tour go and what took so long for something like this to finally happen? I asked Unleashed the same question but I wanted a different perspective on this topic.
That tour was a once in a lifetime thing I guess and we had so much fun within the bands. I mean, basically all of the guys knew each other from way back in the 90's (except for me haha) so it was more like a big high-school trip hehe. The guy who does the sound for Entombed I've known since 1994 as we went to the same school so that was kinda special for me. Promotional speaking it definitely could have been better but that was really not up to us but that's another story... We played at a rotating schedule, meaning that f.ex Unleashed headlined one night and the night after they opened the whole thing and that was something all of us agreed to do as we don't see any of these bands bigger or smaller compared to each other. As an experience it was much fun but I can't really see it happening again.
How can you hate Tequila? That is the best alcohol there is. What is it about it that you hate and have you had anything other than the garbage like Jose Ceurvo? What alcohols do you like instead?
Hahahaha... well I think it tastes like shit to be honest!!! I did have some "good tasting" tequila when we were in Mexico last year but it's really not the drink for me.. I'm a beer guy basically but some whiskey (not the fake American bourbon stuff), wine and Jägermeister mixed with red bull, that's the shit hehe...
I see that Mickey Dee, Snowy Shaw, and Ingo Schwichtenberg are your favourite drummers. What about those individuals separates them from other drummers? When listening to other drummers what in particular are you listening for? What impresses you?
They have groove and energy, hit the drums hard but still with finesse and that's something that I like! I'm so not into all these extreme metal drummers that can play a zillion beats/minute, to me that's totally un-interesting and has nothing to do really with music. Sure, it's impressive that they can execute double bass drumming in like 200-250bpm but it's nothing that I aim for, I did for like 10 years ago or so but realised that I would never be able to play like that. Today’s metal is way to focused on speed.. who can play the fastest blast beats and shit like that... many bands forget the most important thing when it comes to music, to write songs!!!! To me drumming is about groove and to lay down a beat that people can bang their heads to and that's what those 3 drummers in particular do! I mean, listen to the songs "Welcome Home" with King Diamond or "Ride the Sky" with Helloween.. oh my fucking God, that's what I call drumming! Snowy's drumming on the Illwill album "Evilution" are among the best and coolest drumming I've ever heard also, he's probably one of the most underrated drummers out there.. amazing chops! Mikkey's ride cymbal playing is classic stuff plus that he pushes the songs at the same time he's kinda behind the beat.. can't beat that! Ingo.. he's the first drummer I heard playing double bass drums so for me he's kinda the gateway into metal for me as a drummer. When I began to play double bass, the Helloween albums were the ones I played together to so for me he's a very special drummer with a unique style. He also like Mikkey, pushes the songs at the same time he's somewhat behind the beat.
How has Regain Records been different/better for Grave than your relationship with Century Media? How long is the current contract with Regain?
The main advantage is that they are a Swedish label so it's easier to have a dialogue. Things worked fine with CM as far as I know but we'd fulfilled the contract with them and wanted to try something new, lucky for us Regain showed interest and here we are today. I'm not sure actually how long the contract is but I think it's just for 1 album and 1 option but I'm not sure...
Tell me about some of your work in other bands. I noticed you were in Centinex which for me was a highly underrated band. What other older Swedish bands did you feel lacked the recognition they deserved?
I played in Centinex from 2003 until the split-up in 2006 and I'd say we quit when we'd released the best Centinex album, "World Declension". I, Martin Schulman and Johan Jansson formed a new band called Demonical which more or less is a continue of Centinex but with a more rawer and simpler sound, more back to basics so to say. I also formed and played in a kinda melodic death metal band called Julie Laughs Nomore which released 2 albums plus some self financed EP's and split album. We officially called the quits in 2005 if I remember correct. Hm, underrated older bands... I don't really have an answer to that as I never were into the whole death metal scene when it started.
There is a long historical culture of music within Sweden. Why do you think that is and what do you think are its roots? How does that play into the burgeoning death metal scene of the early 90s and today?
Oh my, hm.. this goes probably way way back in history but you have to remember that Sweden is a very small country so every band, every musician has to work twice as hard to get the recognition compared to say bands from America... We're also fortunate to be able to learn different instruments in school from the age of 8 or something and that's a very good way to build up an interest for music in general. Many of the musicians though from the early 90's that played or play death metal today began their career when they first heard bands like Slayer, Sodom and Kreator, at least that's what they've told me hehe.. they wanted to create something similar to that, also Massacre and Autopsy are very important for this genre, more than the historical culture of music within Sweden.
According to what I read, you hate political bands/lyrics. Why is that? Why don’t you feel that a band is the right place for a political discourse? Do you follow politics in your private life or is that a subject that doesn’t concern you?
Yes I do do, whole hearted!!! I'm so not interested to hear musicians bitch about what they stand politically. For me music is supposed to be pure entertainment, nothing else.. I wanna be able to put on an album or go to a concert without getting some other persons point of view when it comes to politics pushed down my throat.. Write a book or something instead but don't force your opinions upon someone who doesn't give a shit!!! The same goes for Christian bands. All politicians and parties have the same point of view 'til maybe 85-90% in my opinion, they don't differ that much so for me personally it doesn't matter who runs the show.
You have an upcoming European Tour with Nile. What are you looking forward to when you hit the road?
Lots of great shows of course. I think it's gonna be a good tour, the mixture of the bands are really good. Nile, us and Belphegor. "Massive Music", the company that've booked the tour are absolutely amazing to work with, very professional, so I know that it's gonna be an awesome tour!!!
I’ll leave any final drum fills to you. Take it away maestro!
Haha, that was a new one! Well... I hope you all check out the new album "Dominion VIII" and of course the video for the song "Bloodpath". You can find that one at our website: www.grave.se Hope to see you on the road very soon!!
Cheers!!! (with beer, no tequila)