Interview with Hednar (The Generals)
Hail The Generals! In February 2021 you released via Swedish Black Zombie Records your 3rd full-length, called “To Hell”, an excellent album what I’ve marked 10 in my Hungarian review in Kronos Mortus e-zine. What are the reactions to LP from the media and fans so far?
- Well, we’ve had very good responses from both media and fans actually. The re-views have stretched from great to superb. Mostly 8, 9 or 10-s, so that is extremely fun of course, but what really matters is what the fans think and that was also really overwhelming. So over all “To Hell” has been a really successful release and the label “Black Zombie Records” did an awesome job.
How went your common work with Eternal Master Tomas Skogsberg at Sunlight Studio? By the way, what are your favourite albums from those what produced Tomas through the years?
- That is always a smooth ride. Tomas is really easy to work with. We’ve done 2 productions with him at Sunlight and it is always really fun and easy going. It is really hard to pick just a few because there are so many great, but of course all his work with Entombed. “To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth” is my personal favorite Entombed album. Also Dismember obviously. We all love “Death Metal” and all the other albums. Other that I’d say “Super Shitty” and “Into the Grave”.
Would you be so kind to talk more about The Generals lyrics? Who is the main song- and lyric writer in the band? Are you working with new tracks to the next album currently?
- I am the main lyric writer (Hednar). I have written all lyrics except one. Martin “Metal” Svensson has written “Evil Transcends” from the second album “Blood For Blood”. Other than that, it’s all me, with the exception for a phrase here and there perhaps. I can write about everything. We don’t have a theme that we must follow or anything like that. It can be about everything from fictional zombie stories to more serious topics like equality or government formations for example.
The music is mainly written by Rickard Fäldt (guitar) and Martin Svensson (drums). Yes, we are currently working on new material.
On “To Hell” have been some guest musicians, namely Lawrence Mackrory, Christian Fredriksson and Kristian Karlsson, if I’m correct. What should we know about this cooperation? Who created the cover artwork and what symbolizes it?
- Well, not really. Lawrence did the mix and he is also the voice talking in “Evolution of the Flesh”. Other than that he hasn’t done any playing or singing. Christian and Kristian did some additional screaming but nothing else. Christian “CF” Fredriksson was sub for Marius at our latest EU tour though. The cover art was painted by William Persson Öberg from Obscenum Art and it symbolizes how small mankind really is and how little we matter if we think about what is really important.
If I’m not mistaken, The Generals celebrate 20th anniversary of the horde this year. Are you planning to release some special stuff to celebrate your anniversary?
- Yes, we are actually celebrating 20 years as a band. Time flies. We are planning to do a special live show on December 10th in our home town, Karlstad. What more is planned for that night is a secret, but I can tell you as much as there will be special merch and special surprises.
What should we know about live activity of your band? (I really hope that in the near future you could play near my area, in Slovakia or/and Hungary.)
- Well, we have a few shows booked but only in Sweden so far. We have nothing in sight for rest of Europe as of today but we have some ideas that we are going to discuss with our booking agents. I don’t know about Slovakia or Hungary though, we have never played those countries so we have no natural connections there. But who knows, never say never.
The line-up of The Generals since 2002 remains unchanged, what is awesome and very rare. How do you remember the beginnings of the band? What was your most memorable live show or another unforgettable event? Are you have any special hobbies apart from the music?
- That is not true actually. We were the same members for 16 years. In 2018 founding member Dick Johansson (Guitar) left the band and in 2019 Marius Tömte filled that space by becoming a full time member of the band.
We started out as a side project (we all had other bands at the time) but we quickly began to do live shows even before we had released anything so it came natural for us to continue with the band. Back then we played more action rock and stoner metal influenced music but evolved towards metal and by the time we released our debut (Stand Up Straight) we were labeled “Death n Roll”. Now a days we are labeling ourselves as a Swedish Death metal band but we surely have that rock n roll nerve always present.
It’s very hard to pick one specific shows (we have done around 400 shows), but the whole tour we did with ANNIHILATOR back in 2013 was really awesome. 5 weeks of sold-out venues and sharing the night-liner with Jeff Waters and the other guys was just epic.
Other hobbies.. 3 of us drive Harley Davidson. Martin (drums) spends a lot of time on his Dodge Charger. Marius is a tattoo artist as a profession so he spends a lot of time painting in his free time. Sometimes we have some of his original paintings in the merch on tour. Other than, that we don’t have much time left between the band and the families.
Your drummer Martin “Metal” Svensson played in the Thrash metal horde Invasion and your guitarist Rickard Fäldt still active with Doom/stoner band Haddock. Share with us some thoughts about these bands.
- They were both excellent bands. None of them exists now though.
According to Encyclopaedia Metallum, your band from Åmål (early) and Karlstad nowadays. Recommend to the readers some bands, interesting places to visit in your area and local foods and drinks as well, please.
- Yes, we were founded in Åmål back in 02 but everybody moved to Karlstad around 04-05. There are a lot of good bands from Karlstad. Of course, there’s VOMITORY and GEHENNAH, but some bands you might not have heard and should check out is VULKAN, REINCARNAGE, CUT UP, UNFOUND RELIANCE, CONDEMNED AD and INCARNIT to name a few.
Tourists should visit BORGVIK, an old steel mill that provided the steel for the Eiffel tower for example. It’s now a cultural center with a lot of activities, museum, restaurants and so on. We also did our last photo shoot there and also the mu-sic video for Blood for Blood back in 2013 is shot partly out there.
In Karlstad we have a local beer brewery called Good Guys, they have killer beer and amazing pizza. Definitely go check them out.
After the sad departure of Lars-Göran Petrov (R.I.P.) I decided to dedicate my humble blog to His Eternal memory as well in 2021. Are you have any favorite release from His heritage? The Generals shared the stages with Entombed and/or Entombed A.D. in the past?
- We were all devastated when the news hit about his departure. We met him many times in back stage areas on festivals or in clubs etc. and had many beers together. We are all real fans of his work and I in particular have him as great vocal inspiration. My favorite release is “To ride, shoot straight and speak the truth” by ENTOMBED, but as I said, everything is good. Yes, we have played support act for ENTOMBED back in the days, just before they broke up and ENTOMBED AD was formed.
Tack så mycket/Thanks a lot The Generals, I wish you all the best! Send your mes-sage to the readers in the end...
- Thanks. Now when we finally have our world back, I really hope that you guys start to attend live shows again! Please follow our social media channels for updates. See you on the road!
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