In just a few days, one of the most iconic and beloved heavy metal bands of all time will be releasing a brand-new album. HammerFall will soon unleash ‘Hammer Of Dawn’ via Naplam records, which you can pre-order now. I caught up with frontman Joacim Cans to talk a bit more about the album, as well as his vocal stylings and inspiration, and what we can expect for tours. Sadly most of their European tour with the legendary Helloween is going to be postponed (New dates listed below). Joacim also speaks about how eager the band is to get back out on the road and promote this new record.
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Thanks for talking with me, Jokim! We’re excited to hear about the new album. First, how are you and the rest of the guys doing?
We’re doing pretty good, the restrictions in Sweden have been lifted, and it looks like the tour might go through in late March, but then again, you never know what can happen.
The new variant of the virus had been spreading quite rapidly, and there have been some cancellations here. How exactly has Omicron been doing in Sweden?
It seems that almost everybody has had it at some point, but it seems that no one is getting very ill from it. It’s like it’s just a typical winter cold or like the flu.
You have had a few cancellations already, with the Russian dates I think, is that correct?
Yeah, we had to cancel the Russian dates because they were planned for the beginning of March, which didn’t work out. No matter if they had even lifted the restrictions, I’m not even sure if they still have travel bans, but they’re just not selling tickets. They’re not selling tickets because they’re afraid of losing money because every single tour has been rescheduled three times already. But we are still hopeful that the United Forces tour will happen with Helloween as planned.
We are now almost two weeks out from ‘Hammer of Dawn,’ and every time you guys announce a new album I love looking at the artwork. Hector is such an iconic mascot. I noticed with Dominion, it seemed more demonic, and this one seems to be more angelic and heavenly. Is it just a coincidence that it ended up that way, or were you trying to go in the polar opposite of the demonic theme to the heavenly theme from the previous artwork?
I would say that it is the polar opposite, and that’s a good way to explain it. When Sam was done with Dominion, we had a discussion on where Hector should go from here. In Dominion, he was down in pandemonium, the capital of hell. So the question was, where do you go from there? So now it was time for him to be a little bit more angelic and for him to step into the light. And I think with this artwork, it somewhat promises a much brighter and much better future.
Though that was kind of a coincidence, I do think that this is a very positive artwork for the album. Hector, with the hammer of dawn in his hand, rising up like a phoenix from the Covid ashes! Promising us all a brighter and happy future.
That is definitely a good way to put it and a great outlook to have. Being two weeks away from the album, how are you feeling about it overall?
I just want people to hear the album in its entirety. We released two singles, but we’re not a band that’s writing singles. We don’t write singles, we write albums. Actually, I met a fan the other day, and asked him have you heard the latest single? And it’s like no, no, I want to hear for the album in one go. And that makes sense because they get the picture, because when we are writing an album, we want to have fast tracks, mid-tempo tracks, and throwing in a ballad in there somehow. Usually, when an album comes out, you’re so bored of it. Because we started writing this album in February 2019, when I was doing the vocals for Dominion in Los Angeles. It’s been a very long process and plus living with the songs day and night.
Were you sitting on the entire album for this duration?
Parts of it. Because some of the album was written just before we started recording at the beginning of last year. But nowadays, when Hammerfall writes music, it’s just a constant process. Back in the day, we did everything in a cycle. We took a break for eight months, and then we wrote songs. And then we went to the studio, we promoted, we released it, and then we went on tour. And then when that tour was over, we went right back to square one, eight months later of writting. But that got kinda boring after a while you know?
I always want to be creative while on tour. So now there’s always some little studio set up at the back of the tour bus or in Oscar’s hotel room because you never know when your creativity is going to hit you with something good.
You had some trouble with getting over here to the states to see your vocal producer, so you worked with someone else. Was that a result of the pandemic interrupting the process?
Exactly. Everything except the vocals went really smoothly, I would say. We recorded everything just as we did before the pandemic, but then I have planed to go to Los Angeles to work with James Michae. Thee closer we got to the date, the more worried I became because there was still a travel ban for European citizens to enter the United States. So I needed an alternative, and I ended up contacting Jacob Hansen in Denmark, and I just put the cards on the table. I told him, is there the possibility for me to come to you to record the vocals if I’m not able to enter the US?
And he did have a schedule open but he did inform me that if there was a big ass production I need to hurry up and make a decision. Eventually, I realized that I needed to forget about Los Angeles for this album, and jump in my car and drive to Denmark. And that trip actually took me longer than it would’ve taken me to fly to Los Angeles from Stockholm. So even if Denmark is around the corner, Sweden is a damn long country!
That must have been weird because you had worked with James for a long time now, right?
Yeah it was a good 10 years. We’re good friends now, and he knows how I want in the studio. Even if I haven’t seen him in two years, I can just go into the studio and everything is set up perfectly. He knows exactly what I want, and he makes it really comfortable. Maybe, sometimes a little too comfortable and he forgets to push me. And I think that’s what Jacob Hansen did. I have high expectations of myself in the studio, but he’s always like, we have everything we need, but just give me one more. Because the moment that you hear we have everything that we need, you relax, but then you give it another try, and usually, that’s what ends up on the album.
This must have been a real nightmare having to do it on such a short notice.
Yeah, it was short notice. This was at the beginning of summer last year, and then we started the production in late August. Due to the fact that Covid was on the rise. Last year was a weird though, in my personal opinion, 2021 never happened. Someone asked me to list the best albums from 2021, and I could only give them a list from 2020. (laughing)
You mentioned something earlier that I found very interesting and that I agree with, and that’s Hammerfall writes albums, not so much singles. How important are things such as the flow and the structure to you? Are you guys just going over every minor detail with a fine-tooth comb?
Yeah. Something I noticed with this album, as with the previous one, is that if there are singles, they are always in the top four songs. As for us we need to have variation and diversity on the album. If you put all the fast songs in the beginning, people are going to lose interest by the end. Or they might skip a song and be like, oh no not another fast track. And it’s the same thing with the midtempo. I think that it’s a balance.
But usually when you write songs you have a feeling where you are after the first six. Let’s say you’re write the first six, and then you’re like I know where were going, and work going to take this in this direction, and the songs are really fast, now we need to focus on getting more into midtempo or try something a bit slower to get all the variation and a little more diversity.
Speaking about singles, the title track was filmed at an amusement that park that you waited 20 years to film at. What was it like finally getting to shoot there at this landmark in the heart of Gothenburg?
Yeah, we had a great idea 20 years ago but back then it was much harder to get into that location. And after 20 some years of Hammerfall, and with some bands we’re now considered local heroes. So now getting in their was so much easier. When the video producer called, we we’re like ‘yes!’ It would be so cool to do it here. And they told us that we needed to keep in mind that it’s open, but it was around Halloween. We thought that was cool and we wanted to use all the tombstones and decorations. But the thing was, we had to do it at 11 PM. And at that point, staying up that late was a real challenge.
We are supposed to record the playing part of the band outdoors, but it was raining cats and dogs, and raining from the sides. It was just horrible weather. So we made a quick decision to move that shoot into the haunted hotel section. Which I think was way, way cooler.
And that park has been there for over a century, is that right?
It’s been there for over 100 years. We are supposed to do another shoot at the gigantic football stadium, but there was so much snow and a winter storm had hit the city, and we didn’t get to do that either. So the weather hasn’t been on our side.
I’ve have ask about the second single, which is something truly awesome with you guys getting to work with the legendary King diamond. How did that come about?
When Oscar presented this song to me before he started laying down the vocal melodies, he just kept saying that there was a part there, and he could hear King diamond doing. And I just said why don’t we just ask him, because we do know King, and Pontus is his FOH while on tour, so we told him to call King and ask. So he gave King a call, and sue enough he said he do it. We’re trying to not make too much of the big thing of it, because it is a cameo. It’s a very special appearance by King, but it’s not like it’s a duet or anything like that.
I’m just so proud that he decided to be a part of it, and a part of Hammerfall history. Both Oscar and I are huge King Diamond and Merciful Fate fans, so it was a huge deal for us. So at any time or day King wants me on his album, I’m there!
As a vocalist, and when you were younger who else did you look up to? I’m assuming it’s the legends such as King, and of course, Rob.
Oh of course. I think in the beginning I got most of the inspiration from King. Geoff Tate of Queensrÿche, I always have to say him as well . Rob Halford of course, and Eric Adams of Manowar. And he still sounds amazing!
He absolutely does. As we get older, the voice tends to go a little bit. And actually, your voice is still is as incredible as it was 20+ years ago, is there anything you do to take care of it?
Thank you. And yeah that’s something that you need to do. You need to take care of your voice, and you need to take care of yourself first of all. I’m working out a lot. I’m running three times a week. I’ve been doing that now for the past 7 to 8 years. Just to be able to deliver on stage and in the studio. Because I can jump around and I can run around and my pulse is still low. I don’t sound like someone who’s half dead, trying to catch their breath all the time. But you do lose your voice quality over time and as you get older, so we’ll see what happens in 10 years.
If you’re taking care of yourself is going to be timeless like the rest of the greats. Because exercise is the fountain of youth, and it’s super important for your line of work.
Oh yes! Absolutely, especially while being on tour.
Exactly, and as you said being fit helps with the stage presence.
It does, it’s great to be able to run from one side of a large stage to the other, and by the time it’s time to sing again, I’m perfectly fine because my pulse is so low.
I wanted to ask about Hector as well, because I’m a huge comic book fan and I know that he’s having his own comic coming out, as well as an action figure I think? How did that come about?
This was something we weren’t too involved with, because when they came to us, I thought that it was really cool that we could combine these two worlds. They had this really great idea to create this comic book and create an action figure. I think that this is really cool that this might interest some comic book readers who might want to check out Hammerfall. After all, Hector seems to be a cool dude, and hopefully they like that and the art and will come and check out the music.
Lastly, I just want to ask about touring. I know you have done a bit here in the US in the last couple of years, I was just curious if something is in the works for returning to North America?
It is. But during the pandemic, we had to cancel two tours, and that hurt a lot. We started off with the dominion tour with Sabaton in the US, and that was a fantastic tour. Then we had our own headline tour for late 2020, and that one got canceled. But we are always planning, but nothing at this point is ready to be announced. But I will say that North America is one of our main priorities for this cycle.
You’re one of those bands that have a great discography, and so many fan favorites, and of course you going to be primarily promoting the new album, but was it like coming up with a set list nowadays?
That’s one of the hardest parts. We need to have the variation, and the dynamics and everything has to be in there. First things first, you need to please the fans. You need to give them something off of the new album. As long as you’re releasing albums that makes a difference. You need to play new songs. Then there you have some bands who are just putting out albums which seems like it’s just an excuse to go on tour. You need to please yourself as well. You can’t just play the songs that you’re tired of playing. If you’d asked Deep Purple to play Smoke on the Water’s for two hours, they would say no way.
You have to throw in a surprise, something that people don’t expect. When you have to pick eight songs out of 12 albums; there’s a lot of darlings you have to kill.
Thanks again for speaking with me. We’re looking forward to the release. Is there anything else you’d like to say to the readers?
Thank you very much for having me, and I can’t wait for people to check out the album, and we cannot wait to go back to the US. It’s one of our favorite countries to tour in, and we have been sitting around for two years and were getting very tired!
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