"They don't give a shit about the new songs."

Swedish heavy/power metallers Tad Morose came to Stockholm for a show and Metal Covenant found an opening to a quick talk with the band's vocalist Ronny Hemlin.

Tobbe: You guys have a new album in the works.

Ronny: Yes, it's almost done now. It's actually being mixed right now. But it has taken a long time because, you know, with the pandemic and shit almost nothing has been done. It has been done little by little. I guess it has taken about two years to do it.

Tobbe: When disregarding the first couple of albums that most people kind of don't know about at all, Tad Morose has gone back and forth since those days between power metal and heavy metal. So what will people get to hear when the new record is out?

Ronny: Well, we think everything sounds the same, really. We just make music and then we're like "Well, this is a good song." and if that song ends up in a certain genre, then it's just the way it is.

Admittedly, we're flirting a little bit more with the '80s on this coming record, like kind of more riff oriented, and to some extent maybe a little bit in the style of Dokken and Pretty Maids, yet not, because it will still sound like Tad, or at least as we have sounded like on the last three records, you know.

Before that there were different people in the band. The first albums were some kind of synth based prog metal. And then Urban [Breed] came in and it became more power metal. And now, I don't know. [Laughs]

Tobbe: I have heard that there have been some lineup changes in the band.

Ronny: We have the same lineup on the new album as on Chapter X, except for Kenneth [Jonsson], who was replaced by Andreas Silén on guitars. But now Andreas and the bass player [Johan Löfgren] have left the band and therefore Bullen [Tommi Karppanen] is back in the band now and then we have Markus Albertsson too, who was in the band before we made my first record Revenant.

Tobbe: Has most of this stuff been recorded at home? Is there even a budget for a band of your size, whatsoever?

Ronny: No. I and the bass player on the record have our own studio, so we do most of it there. But guitars and so: Krunt [Christer Andersson] records his at home and Peter [Morén] has recorded the drums in Bollnäs. Then we merge everything in the studio and if anything is missing when we run through it, then they have to fix that on location, you know.

Tobbe: The band has been around for a very long time and has never gotten that breakthrough. Might a new album in this day and age, in 2022, within heavy metal, take you guys somewhere? Or do you simply make this album because it's fun to do it?

Ronny: We make an album because it's very fun to do it, and we make an album because of what comes afterwards. Like going out, and also play songs off the album and stuff. And we're pleased with that. If something bigger would happen some day, then we would be even happier of course, but that would just be a bonus.

But regarding getting a breakthrough; well, we don't believe that. I guess we don't give a shit about that now. But it's fun to do this. And that's why we do this, because it's so much fun.

Tobbe: Tad Morose, just like most bands during the pandemic, haven't really been out playing. Yet, even before that you guys weren't out so much. So will you guys make an attempt now to come out more often?

Ronny: We want to make a change regarding this matter. There have been way too few gigs for us, and as you said, even before the pandemic. But we did a few, but mostly abroad. But I don't know. And there has been some hassle with people on and off, you know, so.

Tobbe: When you guys play live you usually play a balanced set, with songs from both the Urban era and from the era you belong to yourself.

Ronny: Well, we rarely get more than 90 minutes, so we want to include songs from every album, you know. Well, not from the first couple of records. Yet, occasionally when Krille [Kristian Andrén] has come down to see us we have played an old one so he can come up and sing a song.

Tobbe: A lot of bands, new singer or not, stay alive just because they're playing their old songs. I guess it feels good for you guys to play plenty of songs from the albums you sing on as well.

Ronny: Yes, but I like the older songs too. You know, I liked Tad even before I joined Tad, so.

Tobbe: And on an emotional level? Any difference between singing songs from the three albums you have recorded in comparison to the old ones?

Ronny: When we play old songs like Anubis people really wake up. They don't give a shit about the new songs. It's just the way it is.

Maybe they think they're good and they dig them, but it's songs like Anubis and Matters Of The Dark, you know, who are kind of our hits. That's the way it is. I can't deny that. But I'm fine with that. It doesn't matter.

Tobbe: When you joined the band it was like you didn't replace anyone and it was almost like a new band starting up.

Ronny: Yes, they hadn't made an album in 10 years when we released Revenant. But still, every time we put something up on our social media someone writes "Oh, I miss Urban. Why isn't he in the band?" - "Well, because he quit.".

Tobbe: Like almost 20 years ago.

Ronny: Some people are still like "Where did Urban go?", like it was something that happened recently.

Related links:

www.tadmorose.se
www.facebook.com/tadmorose
www.instagram.com/tadmorose