The artwork on the album covers is what drew me to HammerFall, then listening to the music it was just as powerful. Twenty years later you’re at the top of your game. Before I start singing your praise, let’s talk NAMM. Do you have any endorsements, or do you look at other endorsements, being a singer do you look at the latest microphones?
Joacim Cans: Well, I have a very good microphone. I don’t really need a new one. But it’s nice just to touch base with some people that I worked with in the past. Also, with the In Ear the Ultimate Ears, I had them refit and fixed and had these for like ten years. They are probably going to last another ten years now because they are so good I am not going to change. I am kind of that kind of person that if something works don’t fiddle about with it or don’t get anything new. Just let it get old and itself or whatever. But, as a band, we have a lot of stuff. Like the KLANG In Ear or KLANG Monitor Systems, so that’s why I am the only one here. I send the other guys to do that, with the strings and everything it’s not really my thing.
I am here for the party.
[laughs] Like a lot of people.
[laughs] That was the biggest lie today, let me tell you that.
[laughing]
I had the honor of covering your show at the iconic Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood California on May 9th of last year. It had been 19 years since playing at that venue, and you had quite the homecoming, a sold-out show. To be blunt, what took so long?
Which one was it?
The Whisky a Go Go on May 9th.
Yes, we played, the Whisky we played with Death back in 1998. But in the meantime, we played both the Universal Amphitheater with Dio. We played The Palace. We’ve been around in House of Blues twice.
Unfortunately, it’s gone now. Wow, to think about it they are all gone now.
Yes, they’re gone. Now it felt right to go back to The Whisky, it’s kind of a proper venue size and just being there makes me very, very honored and proud because everyone played there. If you never played the Whisky you are nothing.
You are nothing, yes, there you go.
Doesn’t matter how big you are but if you never touched base at The Whisky naaaa you’re nothing.
Well, it was a great show. I loved it. It’s the first time I’ve seen HammerFall live.
Okay. Cool.
And I was very lucky because when I got there it was jammed-packed. I didn’t think I would get down into the area to photograph you. I was set that I was going to photograph up top and write my article from there but a couple of friends from another band, they said, “Oh no, you are going to the front.” So they escorted me down to the front to photograph the show. It was amazing and a highlight for me.
Cool. Thank you.
The next wait wasn’t as long, it had been seven years since your last North America tour, now it’s back to back North America tours, I’ll take it. What do you think the contributing factor is, what’s changed?
We more or less gave up on North America, to be honest with you, after the 2010 tour. It didn’t really turn out the way we wanted to, and we also came out a really bad relationship with the manager. We are self-managed, always been self-managed, but all of a sudden, we decided to work with someone else and that didn’t really make things better. And we felt we can’t really focus on every territory on the planet because it’s big if you want to be everywhere. Then we signed with a new label and they said “You know what? You should really give the US another try and we have a band that wants to do a double headline with you guys.” It was Delain, I said “Yeah well, okay, let’s do it. Let’s try. If it doesn’t work this time we are not going to do it.” And that tour was so much fun. Every night was not sold out every night, but we had so much fun on stage. And that is the important thing. If you are having fun, you are doing the right thing. I think we got closer together as a band also on this tour. That led off to us postponing the recording and release of the next album because we wanted to go back and do another North American tour. And that’s going to happen now in May and June this year.
With Flotsam & Jetsam.
Yes. with Flotsam & Jetsam.
Which is perfect. I love those guys!
It’s really cool to be back as a headliner bringing a band that has really cool guys. I like the music and I met Mike, the bass player, two days ago.
Spencer?
Is it, Spencer?
Michael Spencer, yes. There’s two Michaels, Michael Spencer, and Michael Gilbert so they go by their last name, Spencer, and Gilbert.
Yes, that’s right. Really nice guy.
Yes. Both of your music complement each other. They are both within that genre. So, it definitely is a great tour and I am looking forward to it.
Inspiration usually comes from a situation. Before HammerFall to a break in 2013, do you think your music reflected the frustration of the situation?
I don’t think so. I am not really sure. But I know that the outcome of the Infected album was somewhat coming from the frustration. We needed to change something. We needed a drastic change. And I think maybe we changed the wrong things. We should have just taken a break already then, I think. But we wanted to try a different type of production of the album. We decided to change the artwork, not having our warrior on the artwork anymore. And our fans, they went crazy. The judged the album by the cover. You should listen to music and they didn’t really. We ran into some problems. That tour was not really what we expected was hoping for. But after that, we really focused and came back on track in 2013/14 to record and release The (r)Evolution album which was, in my opinion, a milestone in our career because it sounded that fresh in 10 years.
HammerFall came back with a vengeance, releasing two killer albums (r)Evolution 2014, and the latest Built to Last 2016. I understand they go hand in hand, can you tell us a little bit about that?
Yes, like you said, after the break, I think we all felt that the hunger was there and the urge to write music. To go back out on the road, being on a tour bus, meeting the fans, being on stage. Because being on stage is still the biggest kick. It’s kind of the best drug ever, in my opinion. That’s why I never drink before I go up on stage because I don’t want to have the alcohol give me weird signals, or whatever. I just want to have this raw feeling which I get. Where was, I was about to say something else really clever, but I totally forgot it. What was the question again?
I understand the two albums go hand-in-hand, so explain, tell us about that. See? I lost my own train of thought. And I’m reading it.
[Laughing]
Yes. It’s just sometimes I get carried away talking about things. When that album was recorded we, all felt that this is something special, we have a really good and solid album. And also, the label, we were with, at that time, Nuclear Blast, the CEO and the owner he called us and said “You know what? I have the same feeling with this album as I had with the debut album Glory to the Brave”. But, unfortunately, didn’t really work out the collaboration with the labels, we decided to leave them after that album and go with another label Napalm Records. We were out on tour and unfortunately our drummer Anders Johansson left the band just before the tour started. And that was also something positive in the end. We get a new drummer that really gave us the energy, kind of the last percent that we needed, we need to be even better. And now, I think we have the best, I guess everyone says this but, the lineup we have today I think we couldn’t find a better one. This is fantastic. And then, of course, David now, the new drummer, he plays on Built to Last.
Now, he’s your tour drummer, correct?
No, he also plays on the album.
Okay.
He also plays on the album, but we had a different drummer on the European tour and for the festivals. So, David came back just a few months ago. And also, with (r)Evolution and Built to Last we went back to work with Fredrick Nordstrom to produce the first two albums. So now he was back as a co-producer. We just took the best bits of pieces throughout our career. Him doing the mix and the drums. I am working with James Michael of Sixx A.M. as my vocal producer for three albums now, three albums with him.
And what does James Michael bring to you?
Self-confidence and I really admire him as a singer, as a producer, as a songwriter, and we have a good collaboration going on in the studio. It’s like working with a friend. When he says something because he knows what it’s like to be in front of the microphone. He knows what kind of buttons to push in order to get me confident and feel secure.
HammerFall is known for their anthems, Hammer High will be the anthem that will stand the test of time. What is it about this song, that so many fans love?
I think it’s the hymn-like song, the chant, kind of invites people to sing along. It’s not complicated but sometimes simple things can actually be complicated if you just narrow things down a little bit. It gets stuck on you somehow in a good way. It’s not that type of chorus that bores you out after a third listen. This song still grows on you. The whole song has a very good groove I think, it’s easy to just “Yeeeah.” The verse, the pre-chorus, the chorus it just builds up. It has a good vibe and kind of tells everything that HammerFall is all about.
When I listen to this song, I feel I should be watching the opera, a musical, a play it touches me in a way I can’t explain Joacim your voice shines. Tell me about Twilight Princess? I love this song.
This is the only song I am not involved in writing on the latest album. That was Oscar’s he wrote everything on that one. The funny thing is that a lot of people think it’s “Oh you know it’s the Zelda.” It’s about the twilight princess from Zelda, or it’s a love song. But while it starts out being something like it, but then it kind of turns and it’s the voices in his head telling him to kill, or whatever. It’s a great song. I like that type of ballad. It really brings out my voice.
Yes. It does. And, like I mentioned, I feel like I should be watching a musical or an opera, something along those lines. It’s beautiful.
That’s cool. I did work the musical, the theater for almost two years, in the Rock of Ages?
Oh, yes. That’s so exciting that I feel that when listening to this song.
The Broadway Stockholm, 150 shows. That was awesome.
Who plays the flute in the beginning?
That’s the bass player Fredrik’s sister.
Okay. I played it over and over and over again. I love it. There’s just, like I said, something about it just touches you in a way.
She can really play, so I think you really feel that. If I would have played the flute you wouldn’t play it over and over again. You would like to skip, skip. Skip.
[laughing]
I have a couple more questions to end this interview. As I stated earlier, twenty years of HammerFall. To celebrate a couple milestones there is commemorative Whisky.
The 18th Anniversary of Glory to the Brave, there is HammerFall Imperial 18 yr. old. Whisky. And for the 20th Anniversary named after the 1998 Legacy of Kings – Whisky for the Brave. A Sherry and Bourbon cask- matured single Malt Scotch Whisky. Who is the Whisky connoisseur?
I guess I am the guy behind everything when it comes to the alcohol. We just released a champagne too.
That’s next to discuss.
Yes. I’ve been drinking too many co-branded liquors that really taste horrible. No offense towards Kiss or AC/DC but it’s not a good wine and I don’t think they even know what’s in the bottle. And I think that is a problem that if I would put my name or the band brand on anything I need to know what it is. The people that really see HammerFall delivering high-quality music should know that if they go out and buy a bottle of whisky it is the best that they can get. You can’t really find anything better, period.
Are you personally involved with the making?
The tasting. When it comes to the champagne, that’s different because what’s important is that we don’t take a bottle like this and just remove the label and put something else on. That’s called a white label. We do not do that. We buy a barrel. “Okay so how much you have?” “We have this.” “Okay, we buy everything. So, this is ours now.” Of course, a lot of tastings before I find what I want to have. But with the champagne, it was a little different. I tried everything they had down in France, this Swedish-French champagne house. I found the best and the most expensive barrel they had. It was like 2.000 liters, a little less, maybe 1500 liters, that’s it. But I said “No. The acidity is a little bit too high. How can we change this?” So, we decided to put sugar on oak to add into the champagne in order to make it a little more full. That made such a great difference.
Did you study all of this before you got into it or just kind of learn as you went along?
No. It’s all based on interest.
I find that fascinating. Your champagne is a Templar Cuvee, 2008.
2008 is one of the best years in the modern history of champagne.
Okay. Now, we discussed this just a little earlier, May 17th you kick off the North American Tour with Flotsam & Jetsam. Like I said earlier, it’s a great pairing. I can’t wait. I have one request, please keep the Last Man Standing in the setlist, I love that song, it’s powerful to me, that you will be the last man, one, a person standing.
We’ll be the last band standing. I don’t think we ever excluded that song. No, I don’t think so. I think it’s always been there. Unless we played 45 minutes something else is going to happen.
Yes!!!
Sadly, for me, that is all I have. Anything else you would like to add?
No. Thank you, everyone, for supporting HammerFall. Without the fans, we wouldn’t be here. And, at the same time, this is also proof that we are doing something right that after 21 years since the debut album we are still considered a young and fresh band. Even though everyone is getting closer to 50 now, we are still considered being a new band, which is good.
I don’t know if I just see it because I am a photographer, but you are very expressive. Your eyes sing as much as you. I really enjoyed that. As I was processing the photos I am like “Okay. That’s it. You really have it.”
If you don’t have it here, you don’t have anything. You can try to act but if it’s not in your eyes your nothing.
Well, you have it in your eyes. You have it in your voice. I appreciate it and I am so honored to finally have met you for a little chat, and not just photographer photographing an artist.
Right, No I’m happy you see that. Thank you very much.
You’re welcome. 😊
