Ελληνικά
Hail from Greece & Metal Invader! Please give me a quick background history of the band.
D.E: Hey there, this is Daniel Ekeroth of Iron Lamb! I guess the origins of the band can be traced back to the late 2000’s, when Johan, Tomas and GRGA decided to start a pure rock band. Before I knew it I was in the band as well, and we recorded a slew of 7″ singles and the debut album “The Original Sin” within a few years. Then Jens joined on second guitar, we toured a bit and eventually replaced GRGA with DF Bragman on vocals for our new album “Fool’s Gold”. It’s been 6,66 years of fat riffs, beers and general chaos.
What does the band name, “Iron Lamb” refer to? How did you come up with it, is it something important or special to you or is it just a cool name?
D.E: This was before my time, and even if I have been told the story I cannot remember it. I think the name sounds a bit out of order, and I really like it for that. It’s odd, and it sticks.
JW: If you read the lyrics to the song “Iron Lamb” from “The Original Sin”, that pretty much sums it up.
Repugnant, Bombstrike, Martyrdöd, General Surgery, Dismember (Ghost ?)… quite an impressive and multilevel curriculum vitae you have all you band members of Iron Lamb, but you weren’t mostly the basic songwriters in these bands, as far as I know. So without this background how different would Iron Lamb sound?
D.E: You can add bands like Dellamorte, Tyrant, Vinterland, Diskonto and Subvision to that list…we have all always been playing a lot. Some of us were in fact main songwriters in our former bands, and the riffing just goes on. Iron Lamb sounds the way we do due to our musical taste, the fact that we have played together in different bands before so we are tight and that we have the same vision of pure raw rock.
JW: I think people shouldn´t get too hung up on our background. Our previous bands have nothing to do musically with what we do now, this is just something that record labels and promotion agencies like to mention… However, the fact that we have played in reasonably qualitative bands before somehow might make up for some kind of quality approved stamp. You can compare it to writing a CV. If you´re looking for a job as a plumber, it won´t really say much that you worked for 20 years as a mailman, chef or architect, right? But it somehow gives the employer an idea that you can commit to doing things in a proper way, as opposed to being unemployed for 20 years…
Besides the obvious ones such as Motorhead & Ramones what other bands you can name as your influences? I saw recently you mentioned Muddy Waters as one. Tell us more about it.
D.E: Thin Lizzy, Poison Idea, Judas Priest, Lee Hazlewood, Venom…a lot of influences. Of course old blues like Muddy Waters have had an impact, especially on DF Bragman’s ideas about vocals. You can’t beat that old, pure attitude.
JW: All music that is good music influence to you somehow, but for this band the goal is to capture the qualitative and in your face feeling of the classic rock and punk bands from the 70´s and 80´s mainly. Muddy Waters was one of the originators of electrified blues, which is in my opinion maybe the rawest, most basic form of heavy music. Without the likes of Muddy, Howlin´ Wolf, Buddy Guy etc no Rolling Stones, no Jimi Hendrix, no Mountain and most likely no Black Sabbath, Judas Priest etc. For me, hard rock started with the Sun Records and Chess Records era blues.
“The Original Sin” was out via Pulverised Records. Why did you leave from this label? Are you satisfied from High Roller or is it another step before you go somewhere else, probably in a bigger label?
D.E: We basically thought it would be easier to release the LP and CD on the same label, and since LP is by far the most important for us we went with the vinyl specialists. No plans to change labels at the moment – but if that ever happens, they would have to put a lot of effort making the vinyl look great!
JW: This band doesn´t have any goal of being huge or successful, we have normal lives and families etc, and limited time for musical activities. If we´re on a big or small label it doesn´t really matter to be honest. I´d prefer a smaller label that was really into the music and had good communication and attitude about things, than a huge label with loads of money and endless promotion.
What are the main differences between your debut and “Fool’s Gold”?
D.E: “Fools gold” sounds like we had imagined the debut to sound, I guess we were still too rooted in death metal to restrain ourselves in the studio back then…so it turned out pretty violent sounding. With our new album we achieved that warmth and atmosphere of the best albums of better days, when rock ruled supreme. 1976-1984 saw so many great releases…
JW: I think a big difference is also that this time around it was more of a band effort. For various reasons, more or less everything on the first album was written by me while this time around several members contributed with music and/or lyrics and everyone was more involved in arranging the songs. Also in the studio, during the production everyone had a lot of ideas about their own sounds, percussion and effects etc. I don´t think there will be as big of a difference between this album and the next one, at least not soundwise. Maybe the songs will differ a bit, but don´t they always?
Would you change something in any of your 2 full length albums?
D.E: No, they represent where we were at that time. I like what both albums are, and I like the fact that they sound very different.
JW: There are loads of things I would change if recording them all over again NOW, but we´re not, and I agree with Daniel that they represent where we were at that time, and that´s also the sole reason for recording, to document what you´re doing.
Your 7”s are brilliant. Any thoughts of releasing another one in the near future? You plan to use covers as b sides as you did with “Mental Hell” and “Angel of Death”? Which are these…???
D.E: Right now we have no fixed plans. We will change rehearsal room, and continue with our new songs. If any cool offers come up, we will decide then.
JW: There has been talk about a split/compilation 10” with three other prominent Swedish rock n roll bastard bands, but there are lots of people involved and it could easily go down the drain so I´d rather not mention that just yet. You´ll know what it is if and when it hits you. But in general, I think we want to focus on doing another full length album. The music business is changing a lot the last years, and maybe in five years the album format will be totally dead. So I want to put out at least one more record before that happens, he he… Also 7”es are great to record, release and to collect due to the convenient size and format, but how often do you actually listen to them? I have hundreds of 7”es, but I listen to them maybe once a month, if even that… I´d rather put out stuff that people actually listen to.
How important was the coming of Bragman, and how difficult was it to find a new and more suitable singer?
D.E: I had played with him before in Tyrant, and I knew we had to get him. In the end, it was a no-brainer. He sings like a fucking god, and he is one of the coolest persons I know. He has taken us to the next level.
JW: I agree fully with Daniel. Bragman is the perfect man for the job, couldn´t be more happy with him!
Who wrote the music and who the lyrics? Is it a team work effort or is it a one man show?
D.E: First album was mainly Johan, but on “Fool’s Gold” both me and GRGA has made songs too. The lyrics was formerly made by Johan and later also GRGA, but since DF Bragman joined he has taken over that task. He’s the best man for the job. Some of the new stuff we are working on now starts with an idea, then we kind of jam until it all falls into place.
What do you answer to the ones that blame you for copying Motorhead? How important is originality in music for you generally and especially in Rock ‘n Roll?
D.E: Motörhead is such a unique band, that if you play music with the same attitude as them people will recognize it. However, most of our song styles are nothing like Lemmy & co has ever done. If you do more than scratch the surface, you will see that. Almost any Swedish death metal band sounds more like Entombed than we sound like Motörhead.
JW: I think people need to listen more to the actual songs and less to press releases, he he.. Seriously, obviously Motörhead is a huge influence, but they have always been, and for the first record people talked about Turbonegro (which have never been a huge influence). A lot of people only hear the voice, and it´s true that Bragman has a similar style to Lemmy´s, but if you pay attention to the songs you´ll hear that most of them don´t sound anything like Motörhead. Also it doesn´t help that the press release for the album makes us out to be some kind of tribute band, which is not the case at all. For me personally, originality isn´t necessary, or even important at all, but I do like bands to have an own identity. That can be present through several different things. Sound, lyrics, image or context. I think in today’s context, we definitely have an identity of our own. I can´t think of any other band active today that would have put songs like “Rip it Up”, “Deadend Blues”, “Pink Mist” and “Leave Me Be” on the same album. Also the goal with this band is playing music WE like, nothing else.
“Leave Me Be” is a neo-folk with gothic vibe tune. A strange song at least for me! Even though some would say that you acted like Lemmy did in 1991 with “1916” song and in 2004 with “Whorehouse Blues”…am I close..? Anyway please tell us something about it and the cooperation with Rob Coffinshaker.
D.E: That song started out as a garage-like punk song, but we decided to take it down a notch to broaden the album. The idea to use a guest singer came very late in the process, and I think it turned out pretty cool. I would say we acted more like Accept, where another great singer took over duties on some of the more mellow songs.
JW: I don´t even have a clue what neo-folk is, and I was never into gothic music… In my opinion it’s a slightly western sounding rock ballad. It´s true that we had intended it to be more like a garagey punk ballad thing, but it turned out more mellow in the end. Putting that song on the album had nothing to do with the Motörhead records you mention… If anything, Guns n Roses’ Use your Illusion albums are in my opinion the best examples of rock albums with a very wide variety of songs. I agree the song differs a lot from the rest of the album, but hey, if you think about it, most of the songs differ a lot from each other, don´t they? Or do “Pink Mist”, “One Way Track” and “Mockingbird” sound even remotely similar? Not in my opinion… When we had the idea to have someone else than Bragman singing the song, I got in touch with Rob through our mutual friend Paulo Staver (Primitive Art Records). Rob literally agreed within a few minutes and came down to Stockholm a couple of weeks later to put down the track. He also contributed some own ideas for the vocal arrangement and worked like a pro. Super happy and grateful for his job with the song.
Who is responsible for the cover artwork design? Beside the covers of the full lengths and the EPs your merch is also impressive.
D.E: DF Bragman stepped in to do all of that along with his vocal duties. He really has been important in developing Iron Lamb from the get go.
JW: Grga handled all the art stuff when he was in the band, after he quit Bragman took it from there. Both of them are very talented when it comes to visual stuff, but in slightly different ways. I ’m happy you like the stuff!
Even though Grga left the band still you seem to have a connection. Have you heard anything from his band? If yes, tell me your impressions. Do you plan on touring together or something?
D.E: His new band is basically our band, since both Tomas and Johan help him out. I love his stuff, and we are still very close friends. As it is today, I guess we had to tour together for it to work at all…ha ha ha.
JW: A reason for Grga leaving the band was that he doesn´t like touring, hardly even to play live at all, so I think that´s out of the question, he he… Thomas plays the drums on his solo stuff, and I play lead guitars on most of the recorded tracks. I think his stuff is very cool and original sounding, and he´s one of my best friends since many years. Total support!
Speaking for touring…any plans for Greece?
D.E: As soon as we get an offer, we will start to plan…
JW: We´ve had offers from Turkey, but never Greece. Would be awesome to do an east Mediterranean mini tour sometime, hope that happens!
The closing is yours…
D.E: Thank you for the interview! Remember to keep searching for that fool’s gold!
JW: Yeah, thanks for the support! Katse stoun fourno, malaka!
