Swedish heavy metal band HammerFall has been building a strong following for more than a decade, proudly waving the banner of traditional heavy metal, no matter what critics felt about them. The band has always held its head high in the wake of adversity (and several lineup changes) and just seem to get stronger and stronger as time goes on.

Earlier in the week, we reported that HammerFall managed to crack the ceiling into a small bit of mainstream acknowledgement when they were actually talked about by the CNBC Olympic commentators during the Women’s Curling match between Sweden and USA. The band could not have asked for a better publicity bump with a headline North American tour a mere week away.

We sat down with founding member and guitarist Oscar Dronjak to get his reaction to all of this. Our conversation began immediately with the Olympic phenomenon.

In the wake of the amazing shock hearing HammerFall mentioned during Sunday night’s Olympic Curling coverage, I was wondering, are you following the Olympic events this year?

Yeah, yeah, yeah! Of course! For us, it starts at 6pm and runs all the way through 6am the following morning. It’s on all night here in Europe, so I watch as much as I can. I’m not a fan of everything, but I do love the Winter Olympics!

How did your connection with Curling and the video come about anyway?

The girls had read an article about them that said that women’s curling wasn’t very rock-and-roll, or something like that. So they said, “Okay, we will show them that it IS rock-and-roll!” And somehow the question of whether or not we wanted to make a video with them ended up on our booker’s desk. Of course, we’re huge sports fans, and the idea of doing a video for an Olympic team was a really cool opportunity, because the Olympics are really big here in Sweden.

The girls were really cool with everything – they even put on some of our clothes and rocked out to the song. They were not at all as stiff as you would think some Olympic athletes would be. It was a great experience.

I know HammerFall is one of the few metal bands that tries to keep “fun” in its music, but did you consider any repercussions from the metal community in doing a video like that?

Not really, but there was a bit of a backlash in the US. We only got good reviews from it here. Let’s face it, we’re sports fans. This was a video done for fun for a song that we had already previously released a video for four years prior. For us, it was just a matter of doing something fun with something that we liked, which is the basis for everything HammerFall does. The positives far outweigh the negatives anyway, in the end.

How does it feel to have a song that is eight years old be given a bit of renewed interest, based specifically on what is currently occurring on the Olympics?

It’s GREAT! “Hearts On Fire” is HammerFall’s anthem – it’s the song we end all the shows with. It’s very cool, because prior to the curling video, it was already essentially our biggest hit. It’s just the natural progression of the success of that song.

Are you still in touch with Anette Norberg and the girls, or was that simply a one-off pairing?

No, we’ve kept in touch since then. We sent them emails during the last Olympics to cheer them on, and they said that they listen to the song every time they go out to curl. That made us really happy. I actually sent them some emails earlier wishing them good luck for the finals tonight, and they replied just a couple hours ago saying thanks. I think it’s brilliant.

I’ve loved sports ever since I was a kid, and this makes me feel like I’m a part of the Olympics, even though physically, I’m not. It’s as close to an Olympic gold medal as I’ll ever get.

Well, hopefully you are a good luck charm for them tonight, as they have their work cut out for them, because the Canadians are really strong.

Yeah, they beat Sweden 10-1 or something like that last time in this tournament. We’ll see. What they’ve been saying about the Swedish team so far is that they’ve been okay but not great – they’ve been making a lot of mistakes. And in the semi-finals against China, I think they recognized their potential for gold. If they play like that, then there’s definitely a shot. I’m hoping they will win, but I don’t think it’s very likely.

Well, there was a controversy that broke today about the Canadian team being caught drinking and smoking in celebration after beating Switzerland.

Ooooh, that’s cool! Maybe we do have a bit of an extra chance then! Regardless, it will be fun to watch.

I was crushed the other night when Sweden got knocked out of the men’s hockey tournament by Slovakia. How did you feel, being a native Swede?

Oh, it was f***ing horrible! I hated it. I stayed up all night watching Canada/Russia and then Finland/Czech Republic, and then it came time for Sweden. Everybody did what they were supposed to do, basically, and then Sweden failed miserably.

In Salt Lake City in 2002, Sweden lost in the quarter-finals to Belarus – and that was the worst sports episode I’ve ever had in my life. The whole country was just baffled; nobody could understand what the hell happened.

And this was not exactly on the same level, but it was pretty close, because everyone expected Sweden to beat Slovakia and then go on to face Canada in the semi-finals. It was a HUGE disappointment. I didn’t know what to do, actually...all day, wandering around aimlessly.

I don’t know what kind of announcers you have over there, but the NBC announcers here were already predicting that Sweden was going to go out. They said an apparent trend has developed in men’s Olympic hockey where the defending gold medalist gets knocked out in the quarter-finals.

Really? I didn’t even know that. But our announcers obviously are biased, because they want Sweden to win everything. They would never harbor any kind of negativity like that. But I’ve never heard that theory…well that explains it. I guess it’s all good, then. I don’t have to be sad anymore, because we were never going to win anyway.

I was primarily disappointed as a Red Wings fan, because Sweden had four of them in their roster.

Yeah, they had a whole line of them! [Laughs] But even they weren’t playing very well. Zetterberg and Lidstrom were not playing close to the potential that they did at the last Olympics. And the concensus here in Sweden was that Zetterberg was one of the guys who was going to take the team forward through the competition, and he failed in that. It’s sad.

I know that nobody does these things on purpose, and obviously beating Slovakia was not a given, since they had also beaten Russia in this tournament. But all things considered, Sweden should have beaten Slovakia in the quarter-finals; there’s no question about that. But everybody can have a bad day, I guess.

Sweden played really well up to that point. They were amazing against Finland – they controlled everything. And I think that’s one of the things that sunk us against Slovakia, because every team needs to have a scare to jumpstart their energy and passion again – maybe not a loss, but be really pressured, making them realize that they have to get moving if they want to win. And Sweden didn’t. Usually the team that ends up winning the tournament has been in at least one bad spot during the competition.

Hey, at least you didn’t go out like Russia did. It looked like they just lied down.

Well, I don’t think any team could have withstood that onslaught Canada brought to them in the first period. It was just incredible. They had so much energy, and the Russians had nothing. It was like the Canadians each drank a gallon of energy drink before the first period. The finals is going to be US vs. Canada, I have no doubts about that. When Sweden got kicked out, I realized this was going to happen.

So, was there any talk at all about getting you guys to (or near) Vancouver early to do a club show to support the Olympics, since you are mildly tied to it?

No, there was never any talk about it, but I think it would have been fantastic. But I don’t think it’s even possible to do anything in Vancouver without the city getting directly involved, because the Olympics is such a big event for any city. But we’re going to be there two weeks after the Olympics. I would LOVE to see an Olympic tournament live sometime.

So let’s talk about the band. In 1997, when you came out of the gates with Glory To the Brave, you were touted relentlessly as the flagbearers of classic heavy metal, being compared to Judas Priest, Helloween, and bands like that. Where does HammerFall stand in 2010? What is your current mission statement?

Well, it’s a little bit different now. Then, we were just paying homage to our heroes, carrying on the legacy, so to speak. We’re still doing that to a certain extent, but when we started out, no bands were really doing it. We did it because there was a void. We loved heavy metal, and none of our favorite bands were doing what we wanted them to do anymore, so we said, “F*** it, let’s do it ourselves!”

And now, with the renaissance of melodic heavy metal, everybody’s reforming and claiming something. It’s great that Rob Halford has back in Judas Priest and that Bruce Dickinson has been back in Iron Maiden for many years now; these things are important for heavy metal. But now, it’s time to move forward again. These bands are basically touring on old merits, and they’re probably not going to be around in another ten years. So now it’s time to look to something for the future, so that it doesn’t happen again. And that’s where HammerFall comes in. We’ve been around for 13 years, but we have many, many years left in us. If we get the chance, we’re definitely ready for it.

There are really only a handful of bands out there that seem like they are enjoying themselves and having fun with heavy metal. And I think HammerFall is definitely one of the keystones of that attitude.

Absolutely. I don’t think it’s worth being on stage if you’re not having fun. Touring is hard work anyway. It is a lot of fun, but it is also quite grueling to be on tour for weeks and weeks on end. And if you can’t have fun on stage, then the whole thing becomes absolutely pointless. I think it’s important for us to retain that fun element.

Look at it this way, we didn’t start playing this music because we wanted to get rich and famous. We started playing it, because we loved heavy metal and wanted to have fun with our lives. When we started the band in 1993, there was no future in trying to become a rock star.

I also think another thing that really helped you stand out was that you came out at a time when everyone in Scandinavia wanted to be in a death metal or black metal band.

I actually played in a death metal band in the early years, too, because when the death metal scene was starting to grow, it was very cool to be a part of something that was so fresh and new and to help develop a genre. But even as I was doing that, traditional heavy metal was always my main source of inspiration.

When HammerFall started out, it was very uncool to play heavy metal, but we loved it and said, “F*** what everyone else thinks, we’re going to do this and have fun with it!” It was also a reaction to those edgy bands who were popular, like Machine Head and Pantera. We wanted to bring back some of those lost melodies of our heroes. We really were reacting to the musical climate.

And after 13 years of touring and recording, the music on the most recent album, No Sacrifice, No Victory, is much, much stronger than the stuff you did on the first couple albums.

I have to agree. Those first couple albums had that youthful energy kind of thing going on, especially the first one. We recorded and mixed that in 16 days. I think you would be an idiot if you didn’t learn anything in 13 years. You really learn to write songs; it’s an ongoing process. And I definitely believe that No Sacrifice, No Victory is a much stronger song-based album than anything we’ve done before.

On top of that, the thing that jumped out at me the most was how strong Joacim’s [Cans, vocals] voice has gotten.

Yeah, he’s really learned how to handle himself in the studio. There’s a huge difference between him now and how he was only a couple albums ago. He’s older; he’s much calmer when he’s recording. He takes everything in stride now. It’s a great working relationship he’s developed with our producer Charlie Bauerfeind, whom we’ve had with us for the past four albums. They work really well together. Charlie really knows how to get the best out of him.

What does America mean to a band like HammerFall?

It’s a huge market, businesswise, so it would be great to tour there and make a profit out of it. Since band’s profits are shrinking because less people are buying CDs, it’s important for a band to generate a touring income more than ever to be able to survive.

Personally, I vacation in America several times – I visited twice last year. And I like the capitalist lifestyle. I mean the fact that I can go into a bookstore and find every book that I want without having to order them; whereas in Germany, you can’t find anything in English.

I’m a huge fan of UFC and MMA. I went to Las Vegas to see UFC 92 last New Year’s. And I’m also a big fan of standup comedy. While I think Britain has the best comedy overall, there are some unbelievably funny guys in the US. There’s a lot of stuff I like about the US.

Standup comedy is very big in Sweden, but not enough guys come over. I went to see Pablo Francisco, which was a fun time. In December, Eddie Izzard came over and did a huge show in our biggest hockey arena in Gothenburg – it was fantastic. I was in Los Angeles for New Year’s Eve, and I went to see Joe Rogan perform live. I’m going to try really hard to get some standup shows in when we’re on tour over there, but it’s really hard when you’re doing five shows in a week.

So what are you planning for this tour?

For the first time ever, I think we’re going to do a proper headline show – we’re not going to have any limits. If time permits, we’re going to do a proper HammerFall show. We want to come over and bring over the essence of HammerFall. Everyone is really psyched to come over. We played two shows in the past seven months – one in India in January and one in Germany in December. Before that, our last show was August 20th. So I think the first show in the States is going to be a bit of an overload for people, because we’re really, really anxious to get out there and play again.

HammerFall is touring North America this March in support of their 2009 release No Sacrifice, No Victory. Dates include:

Mar 5 at Jaxx Nightclub in Springfield, VA
Mar 6 at The Palladium in Worcester, MA
Mar 7 at The Filmore in New York City, NY
Mar 9 at Trocadero in Philadelphia, PA
Mar 10 at Club Soda in Montreal, QC, Can.
Mar 11 at Imperial in Quebec, QC, Can.
Mar 12 at The Opera House in Toronto, ON, Can.
Mar 13 at Peabody’s in Cleveland, OH
Mar 15 at Metro in Chicago, IL
Mar 16 at The Rave in Milwaukee, WI
Mar 18 at Station 4 in St. Paul, MN
Mar 19 at The West End Cultural Center in Winnipeg, MB, Can.
Mar 21 at Startlite Room in Edmonton, AB, Can.
Mar 22 at The Republik in Calgary, AB, Can.
Mar 23 at The Venue in Vancouver, BC, Can.
Mar 24 at El Corazon in Seattle, WA
Mar 26 at The Grand Ballroom in San Francisco, CA
Mar 27 at House Of Blues in Los Angeles, CA
Mar 28 at House Of Blues in San Diego, CA
Mar 30 at House Of Blues in Las Vegas, NV
Mar 31 at Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana, CA
Apr 1 at U.B.’s Bar in Phoenix, AZ
Apr 2 at The Rock in Tucson, AZ
Apr 4 at Bluebird Theatre in Denver, CO
Apr 6 at Trees in Dallas, TX
Apr 7 at Emo’s in Austin, TX
Apr 8 at Meridian in Houston, TX

For more information: Check out HammerFall at MySpace, Facebook, and at Nuclear Blast Records.

 

 

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