Road Trippin': Graveyard

EVERY TIME YOU PLAY THE UK, THE VENUES GET BIGGER. DO YOU FEEL YOU’VE TAKEN ANOTHER STEP UP WITH THIS TOUR?

Joakim Nilsson [vocals/guitar]: “I think we’re bringing more fans in every time we come over, and we’ve done opening shows with Motörhead and Soundgarden, so that helps. If you keep working, you’ll get a bigger crowd.”

YOU’RE TOURING WITH IMPERIAL STATE ELECTRIC, FEATURING NICKE ANDERSSON [EX-ENTOMBED/HELLACOPTERS]. IS THAT AN EXCITING PROSPECT?

“We don’t know them in the same way that we know Bombus and Spiders, but we’ve been fans of Nicke Andersson’s music for a long time. It’s weird to have him open for us, but it’s going to make for good shows because we have to compete with each other every night. We always try to be as good as possible, but this will make us raise our game. When you play with people that you look up to, you have to be really good.”

YOU’VE GOT THE NEW ALBUM OUT NOW, SO WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM THIS TOUR? WILL YOU BE PLAYING A LOT OF NEW SONGS?

“We’re going to be playing a lot of the new songs, almost every song, but also the show is going to be a little bit longer, so we’ll be playing a lot of old ones, too. We’re going to play for at least two hours – that’s long for us.”

DOES PLAYING A LONGER SET ALTER HOW YOU APPROACH THE GIGS?

“Yeah, you can’t wear yourself out after the first half an hour, you have to build it up. As we’re touring, I have to keep my voice for a long time, and it’s hard when you play long shows and don’t have much sleep. But we’ve never cancelled a show yet! We think about the dynamics of the set all the time, so we have diverse sets that aren’t in the same gear all the way through the show.”

Having freelanced regularly for the Melody Maker and Kerrang!, and edited the extreme metal monthly, Terrorizer, for seven years, Jonathan is now the overseer of all the album and live reviews in Metal Hammer. Bemoans his obsolete superpower of being invisible to Routemaster bus conductors, finds men without sideburns slightly circumspect, and thinks songs that aren’t about Satan, swords or witches are a bit silly.