Mat: You've been in the game for over 20 years now but could you just for a small introduction tell the readers in short of when and how the band came to be?

• Ronnie: 1982 - Two seventeen year old kids, from two different cities,sharing the same dreams and goals.
  

Mat: The overall sound and songs on Planet Panic are a bit heavier compared to Carpe Diem according to me. Was this intentional from the beginning or did it simple evolve that way as the progress with the album went along?

• Ronnie: Yes, from day one the overall intentions was to come out with an overall heavier and more riff oriented album, cutting down on the more commercial and AOR kind of songs ( though there was plenty of ideas for them ).
  

Mat: You've chosen to work with Tommy Hansen again on Planet Panic. Why did you choose him this time and not Flemming Rasmussen? Do you think you will work with Flemming again or is that episode over?

• Ronnie: We've worked with both Flemming and Tommy on several occasions and this time it felt right working with Tommy again, which doesn't mean that we won't work with Flemming somewhere in the future. They're both good guys, in different levels.
  

Mat: What elements do you think have improved the most in the band over the years? What are you especially proud of?

• Ronnie: If i'm proud of anything in particularly it would be that i think that we have managed to maintain a pretty good standard as songwriters and in general recorded good decent albums.
  

Mat: You've had a very long career up to this point but what bands have been your biggest influences during your career? Is there even any newer band/bands that have made an impression on you regarding this and in that case why?

• Ronnie: Overall i think a lot of the bands from the seventees such as Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Sabbath, Kiss, etc had a great impact on our music. Thats the stuff we grew up with and to this day i would say i still listen to a lot of these bands rather than listening to new metal bands unless it's something really special and with a new and fresh approach to it.

Mat: And while we're at the long career subject - by this day and age you have seen the metal-scene have both ups and downs. How do you keep your motivation and inspiration during the years and especially in times when metal is not so in style?

• Ronnie: We bassicly allways did the only thing that we felt that we were good at and thats playing music. After all we've had the chance to carry out our childhood dreams ( more or less ) throug out the years and even though it has sometimes been a little rough we allways had a good amount of fun doing what we do. And the day the fun stops, thats the day we stop.
  

Mat: Besides influences from other bands where do you get your inspiration when you write your music and lyrics? And is the entire band involved in the composing and lyrics- writing or is this a one-man job?

• Ronnie: Ken Hammer and I has been writing the songs since we started (we probably had the biggest ego's since day one ). Sometimes you get inspired by something that you've heard on the radio and then again sometimes it just comes from out of nowhere. In fact i think writing songs is an abillity that you either have or not and if you have it, ideas just comes to you quite naturally. bassicly i think that the best songs are the ones that you so to say write in five or ten minutes, then again at other times you can have a good idea for something, but then take months to finnish it up.

Mat: Due to the delayed release of Planet Panic your tour-dates in Sweden have all been cancelled. Can you tell us something more about the reasons for the delay? Does this also mean that you have rescheduled the Swedish tour already or is it permanently on ice?

• Ronnie: Unfortunately I must say that there's no plans for any dates in Sweden at this moment.

Mat: Sweden seems to produce metal bands that make quite known names for themselves but how is this situation in Denmark?

• Ronnie: Sweden was allways a much bigger market for Metal than Denmark and a part from a little die hard community of metal fans i don't think you can say that there's a metal scene in Denmark. And it doesn't help the situation that danish radio won't play this kind of music.

Mat: What are the plans for the band both regarding the nearest future and in a longer perspective? Can you tell the readers something about this?

• Ronnie: We're gonna do a few festivals this summer and what happens after that is a little uncertain at the moment.

Mat: And finally - any words of wisdom or funny facts about the nearest future
you want to share with the readers?

• Ronnie: ---
  

That was all I had for now, Ronnie - the staff at metalcovenant.com wish you all the very best for the future, and we sincerely want to thank you for keeping the spirit of Metal alive!

Related links:

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