Candlemass

The Swedish doom metal band will play their epic music at this year's Inferno Festival in Oslo, Norway. Prior to the festival I got hold of vocalist Johan Längquist for a short chat about playing live and being a part of such a respected band as Candlemass.

How is it for you to do these old great songs that so many people have a connection to, now some 35-37 years later?

"Yeah, actually I think it all started out in Norway in the South. I don't remember exactly the town."

Kristiansand?

"Yeah, that's right. And the very first gig was…, I was very nervous, you know? A lot of people, they didn't know if I could sing at all after these years. Some said things like that, so I was very nervous but pretty much when we went on stage…, just after a couple of minutes I felt very good about it and keeping all the lyrics in my head. Leif is not the short lyric guy, so I had a lot to learn, but it turned out well and ever since I think it has even been more and more fun. What can I say? They're old but in my opinion great songs, and that is to me the most important thing. You know, I really do love to do all those old songs simply because they're great songs. When you're in front of everything you have to love what you're doing. You can't stand there as an actor, and I can tell that I really enjoy every single minute of it."

Have you been singing in various bands since the since the mid-80s?

"Yeah, I've been into music one way or another pretty much all my life. So, you know, I haven't been sitting somewhere for 30 years doing nothing. I'm a songwriter as well, or at least that has been my greatest hobby throughout my life. I've got a small studio myself, so I've been writing songs and being a part of a few records. People have called me up and asked me if I wanted to do something and I've written a couple of songs for other bands and things like that."

And you kept a voice by showering a lot and singing in the shower and…

"No, you know, I do my own recordings and stuff, so I sing pretty much every week more or less."

You have done the songs of course from "Epicus Domicus Metallicus", obviously. But you have also done songs from other albums, as far as I can see from the various setlists?

"I've done "Nightfall" and a couple of the other records."

Yeah, I see "Mirror Mirror" from "Ancient Dreams" as well.

"I didn't do those on the albums, but it's pretty much the same thing with those songs. They're great songs too, in my opinion, so I really like to sing them as well. I'm always coming back to that, you know, a great song is always a great song, and to do great songs is a big opportunity, and Candlemass have got such a big library of great songs, so that's not a problem."

I saw you at Beyond The Gates in 2019. I did not see you last year sadly, but I saw you in 2019 and I was like, okay what is coming now? Your voice was really great, and the band seemed to be on fire. I mean I'm 52 and I saw that you are 60 now, right?

"Yeah, young 60, ha ha. And the other guys as well, you know, so yeah, around 60. And Mappe and Jan, they're the youngsters in the band, a couple of years younger. We're doing pretty well, I think. I'm happy for that. I've actually met people after I began singing in Candlemass again…, some people were coming to me after the shows and they told me, "my god, I'm so glad to see you and I'm more than happy now". And I said, why? "Because you can still sing!". That's a good reason to do this."

And also the energy, I mean you have bands like…, it sounds like we are on the retirement homes but come on, I mean you have bands like Iron Maiden with Bruce Dickinson all over the place and you have Candlemass and you have many other bands that have been there for ages, like Mercyful Fate who still play live, Metallica of course…

"Yeah, we're about the same age, all of us. We're still having a good time. That is what counts. You know, it would be embarrassing if you, you know, continue with something that people don't like. But I think they like what we're doing right now, so..."

Yeah, I think the gig I saw in Bergen it was s impressive.

"You know, when you do a show as the one you saw it's about having a good time. I'm not that afraid of doing mistakes. I play around sometimes, and sometimes you go somewhere else for a second or two, but it's all about having fun and I really enjoy doing this."

A lot of people know the lyrics by heart, they sing along. Have you ever experienced that you, "oh damn, I began in the wrong verse but the audience, they begin with the right verse"?

"Yeah, of course, that has happened. Mostly what I was thinking when I started all this up again…, I didn't want to stay there with papers on the floor and things like that. So that was my biggest concern in the beginning, to learn everything and have it in my head. It works pretty well right now. You know, sometimes you get emotional when you're on stage and you can forget something, but I know every single song, I've got it in my head. But it can happen for sure!"

What do you do then?

"You just continue, and you just go on wailing or something, you know? You can't lose your face. Our audience, they know the lyrics."

You just put the microphone to the audience, you just cover it up?

"I've seen those kinds of things, you know. But I don't do that, I try to solve it, solve my own problems."

About the last five, six years for you, you have done two albums now…

"And the "Pendulum" EP"."

Even though you mostly play the older songs live these days, you still have done the two new albums. How has it been for you to be a part of the new songs and make new albums?

"I could put my own touch to what I'm doing. I can tell you that we had really good times doing those albums, because I feel pretty free to play around with the melodies and things like that. So, sometimes they tell me "oh this was not good, but that was amazing". Even though I'm not the writer of the songs, I feel involved in them. But Leif is a great songwriter, so I like the songs that he's writing and that's important of course."

Do you have any plans to include maybe one or two more songs except for only "Sweet Evil Sun" that you play live, at least you have done this year?

"Yeah, we're planning something, but I can't tell right now exactly the name of the songs. It will be curious because I think the new songs fit pretty well with the older songs, despite... You know, we're a band, we have to listen to every single person in the band. Leif is making the decisions on the set list, and you know he has some trouble with his health. He's done very well lately I can tell. He's done pretty much every single gig. So he kind of, what do you say, steer the ship. Yeah, he is the captain. And we have to beware of his health."

I saw on your website that you are going to Japan for a couple of days and then you are doing some gigs in Sweden and one in the United States before you are doing Inferno. So you kind of, you don't tour that much, but you do gigs here and there just to allow everybody to play?
"Yeah, we're not doing all those tough tours anymore. We went to the USA, and we did, I don't know, six gigs in a row or something, and that's pretty much how many we're doing on the same tour. It could be two, it could be three, but not like some other bands who do hundreds of gigs on the road or something like that. And maybe that's good because of our age as well. I know that Iron Maiden for example, they're working pretty hard, but they're in good shape, I can tell. We met them a couple of times.They're great guys."

But have you been to Japan before?

"We've been to Tokyo and Osaka before."

I've never been there, but I heard that the audience are so quiet and then they clap a lot in between the songs but they are so quiet when you are doing the songs. Is that right or is it just a rumor?

"Well, I can remember there was a small mosh pit when we played there the last time. But you know, I'm not sure or I don't know if it's about the promotion or things like that. It's not as crowded and not as big places as we do in Europe and the United States, for example. So, you know, they're more like club gigs. Could be 300 people, could be 400, I don't know exactly, but it's not as big as it is when we're somewhere else. But we got a small group of fans that really want to see us and they're very polite in Japan. So they really do take good care of us when we are there."

That's really nice. But you're having a good time in Europe as well, because I mean you're playing now in Sweden and you're going to Norway in Easter. What can the Norwegians and of course all the fans that come from all over the world to Inferno, expect from Candlemass this time?
"Yeah. What can I say? I can say that we will give our very best as we always do, that's our ambition every single time. So I'm pretty sure they will have an hour…, I don't know exactly the length of the gig, but we will do our best and I think they will enjoy us."

How is it for you and your stamina to do a gig for like one hour and 15 minutes because even though the music is slow to mid-paced, it's still quite intense as you said with a lot of lyrics and you have to...

"Yeah, and I really push…, have to push when I'm singing but I'm okay with that, it's not a problem."

The festival is in Norway during Easter, what relationship do you have to Norway? I mean, except for having played here a few times.

"Yeah, I can tell that I'm fascinated about you guys, because you've got a very beautiful country, in my opinion, and every time when we get there, we do the show where all the people are very polite and very nice. I've actually had thoughts about moving to Norway because of the beauty and I'm a guy that like wilderness, being out in the nature and stuff like that. So you have a really beautiful country."

Do you get to see things when you are on tour? Or is it basically about doing concerts?

"We try to see some of the culture when we're out. But you know, sometimes we have a half day off during the day, and then we have a walk out somewhere and have a lunch and walking around and look at the surroundings. So we try to, but you know, mostly we have a pretty tight schedule. That's our ambition for sure, to see something when we are there. And it's pretty okay, you know, when you're in Europe and you have to go by a car or bus to the show where it's a one-hour drive. Then you get to see a lot of the area before the show. But we're not on vacation, obviously."

By Roy Kristensen