Artist: Hellfueled  

Date:  26 October 2005 

When I first heard Hellfueled's new album 'Born II Rock' a few weeks ago it just totally blew my mind.  I hadn't heard anything this good since my teens, and boy was that a long time ago!  Eager to find out more about the band I caught up with lead singer Andy Alkman and kept him talking into the wee small hours.

When was the band first formed and how did you all meet?
The band was formed in 1998 with Jocke our guitarist and Kent our drummer, who had played together since they were kids.  Then Henke our bassist and I joined, we'd met each other in High School.  We had a common interest in drinking beers and listening to the same kind of music.  So the band was actually started in 1998, at that time we were called 'Below' but then we've had to change our name twice because other bands already had the same name.  So Hellfueled is a made up name so I think we are on our own.  No one has come forward to proclaim the name so I think we are alright.  Third time lucky hopefully.  Yeh.

The band will shortly be going out on tour, but you've already done quite a lot of gigs already this year, how have they gone?
Well last year we went out on tour with Europe and had lots of good times with them doing some Scandanavian gigs.  Then we're going to be going back out on tour in November in Europe.  We're going to play some gigs in Germany and Italy, Austria and Switzerland, Besides that we have just played at the Sweden Rocks festival which has to be the biggest experience we've had so far.  It was so cool, they had Motley Crue headline the festival and just about every old hero was there, Testament, Motorhead, and Dio.  It's really funny because that festival seems to relate to 80's in some kind of way and to play there was really really great.  Yeh that must have been an amazing feeling. 

Yeh.  We got to place on the first day of the festival and we expected that to be it.  If maybe one hundred or two hundred people had showed up for the concert we would have been satisfied.  We are a new band and we only had one record out at that time, and I think there were over five thousand people actually turned up and were out there, I tell you I was shitting my pants as went went on stage.  All I could think was ... oh what am I going to do?  I want to go home! ... but once we actually got on stage everything felt so extremely good, it was such an extraordinary feeling. 

Another funny story was that we had to do a signing session at the festival.  Here we were, we'd only released just one record and so far, everything had gone good, but then we had to do this signing session at the Sweden Rocks Festival.  Here we were with all these big bands on the line-up and when we walked through the dining booth I met Biff Bifford in the doorway, that was when I thought ... yeh here I am.  I will remember this as the time I met Biff Bifford the legend.  Everything there was so unreal it was extremely funny.  That was the coolest 2 hour gig or whatever, it was fantastic. 

We stayed at the same hotel for the whole weekend with the rest of the bands and we got to see them all Yngwie Malmsteen, Sebastian Bach, it was just great.  Did you have to pinch yourself to make sure you weren't dreaming? Yeh I had to actually regularly.  Then we came home on the Monday and then we had to go back to work to do our daytime job and everything went in a moment, but it is fun to think back.  

When you're up on stage in front of all those thousands of fans, what was going through your mind?
I felt a mixture of extreme happiness and at the same time I felt like I could almost shit my pants.  You felt nervous like hell, you just don't feel good before you walk on stage, I felt like was I really going to do this or should I run.  No, I am just kidding! (laughs).  It was just such an extreme feeling when you are getting ready to go out to play in front of such a huge outdoor festival.  It's like when you look at the old VCR's of Black Sabbath, there's a picture on one of them, I think it's a gig in Toronto, and the sun is shining and there's a lot of people and it really feels like happiness, everybody is happy there.  I had so many feelings that day but it was all really good.  Of course you get this fear before you go on, I myself wondered was my voice going to hold, when you're standing in front of so many people you can't just stand there and do nothing.  But I think we did a great gig as a whole and it really felt great. 

Have you ever forgot your words momentarily when you've been performing? 
Yes of course, it is very easy to forget your words.  With all the covers we have played over the years, when we first started out and played covers, I'd have something like 200 lyrics in my head.  So sometimes, but not on a big scale, I'd maybe mix the words of the chorus line up a little, but that was only sometimes, not on a big scale.      

The band are signed to Black Lodge is that correct?
Yep.  How did you come to hook up with them in the first place? Well we'd make something like 7 demo's for promotion purposes and a radio station in Sweden played it.  The record company heard it on the radio and got in touch with us and asked us if we had a record deal and we didn't at the time.  They offered us a contract and we said yes, it was all kind of a fast.  We actually got offered deals with 3 or 4 record companies but we turned the others down because we hadn't heard so many good things about these other companies.  They have been good to us so far. 
Have they been supportive of the band?
Yeh, now things have been very good.  At first it was slow but then again they had to pay for everything.  They paid for the studio time and everything so of course you can't get everything from the beginning.  I don't know if you know but we got 'best album of the year' award from Rock Hard magazine in Germany for our Volume One record.  Now the label are spending a lot more money on us by way of advertising.   Everything now is actually pretty good.  I would say it is better now than with Volume One and that feels good.  Ah they know you are a quality act and that they are on to a good thing! (laughs)       

How would you describe the band and it's music to someone who hasn't heard of the band yet?
I think the main reason we play this music is because in the 80's there was hard rock and heavy metal.  I think it is the same thing, hard rock and heavy metal.  Today you have death metal, doom metal, gothic metal, you have so many different kinds of heavy metal or hard rock, we have always tried to make music that holds a straight line to hard rock/heavy metal, period.  Of course the Ozzy influence is there, we read about it in every review and every interview, I always get a question about my Ozzy like voice.  I understand of course and in the advertising it always says ... 'if you like Black Label Society and Ozzy Osbourne then you should listen to this' ... it has helped us on the way, but I also think it is a bad thing for us because we don't want to be compared them. 

We have this music which is our own and so I think this can be both good and bad to compare us.  The easiest way to explain to someone is that it is like that, it is heavy metal/hard rock with some kind of Ozzy/Black Label influences I think, particularly on the guitar playing by Jocke. I would say that's a good explanation.  We play the best music, you can tell them that.  Well yes I would definitely agree with that, definitely.  You have definitely got a big convert to your music here! 

It is a hard thing to do to try and explain your music to someone else because when I try to explain music to someone what I'd heard I always compare everything to something else, otherwise you can't explain anything.  You can't say ... yeh the guitarist plays in A minor and the singer sings with a Harmonica, No I am just kidding with you but you have to compare it to other music because it's the easiest way.  I don't know if I would say Black Label Society but I would definitely say Ozzy in his 'No More Tears' era.  Yes, perhaps not Black Label Society but I mean Zakk Wylde in his guitar playing.  Yeh. 

What can someone expect from a typical Hellfueled show?
Well we play very loud and hard live.  Though I don't want us to sound like Manowar here.  What with all the leather?!? Yeh with all the leather! (laughs).  We don't dress up like that, of course we try to be like our idols but we have to feel comfortable in what we wear.  When we play live we give 100% from the very beginning.  We play really loud hard rock/heavy metal the way it is supposed to be played, loud.  We try to get the audience to sing along with us.  Yes we play hard and loud.  If you ask any heavy metal or hard rock fan in the world how they would like the bands to play they will say they want to hear them play loud and heavy.  So that is how we play. 

What about with passion for your music?
Well I don't lie when I say I grew up with this music and I really love it.  Like I said before we got sick and tired of all the different styles and we just wanted to hear hard rock/heavy metal.  We always liked the old fashioned way but we play it in a modern way of course.  We aren't trying to copy cat what Judas Priest did in 1983 or something.  We just make music we like ourselves.  

What are your favourite songs to play live and why?
Well most of the songs from the new 'Born II Rock' album we haven't had a chance to play live yet.  On the 'Volume One' album the first single off the album 'Midnight Lady'.  Also the song 'Let Me Out', you could download it from our website at the time and so many people recognised it and sang along with the chorus line.  It was the same with 'Midnight Lady' because people had watched the video.  I think those two songs and 'Eternal' which is also from 'Volume One' are always fun to play live.  They all have different tempo's and they have a kind of sing-along chorus line that the fans find fun. 

On the new album 'Born II Rock' we have only played 3 songs live maybe only 5 or 6 times.  It gave us a chance to try them out before we released the record.  It is handy to have a song that has you screaming out in heavy metal ... Born To Rock! ... because when you play it in front of the fans they end up screaming back at you  ... Born To Rock! Then we played the song 'Make It Home' which is towards the end of the album and it has a really catchy chorus line that picks you up, it must be the Pink Floyd influences coming through that no one know about (laughs). 

This Friday night we're going to be playing a gig in our home town of Huskvana with a band called Mustasch another Swedish band.  We're going to try maybe 6 or 7 new songs so hopefully our friends will come to the concert and give us a hand in singing all the songs.  Ah only kidding, I know all the words! (laughs).  It's going to be extremely good fun.  It's our last gig before we start our European tour. 

Now our European tour is for 2 1/2 weeks, it is not like in the 80's when bands toured and they said we're going out in September 2004 and we're coming back in September 2006! (laughs).  We start in the beginning of November and we return in the middle of November, nah I am just kidding with you, it's going to be a lot of fun we think.  We have had a very an especially good response in Germany and so I think it's going to be fun to come down and play for them. 

Why are the band not coming to UK on their European tour, that's what I want to know.  I feel very deprived that you have missed out England! 
Actually I don't know because we have a booking agency that is called The Agency Group that operates worldwide, I really don't have a clue why we are not playing the UK.  You tell them we want to hear you guys over here.  Yeh I will.  We would love to come over and play England in the near future I hope.                

Do you know if Ozzy or Sharon have heard any of your material yet?
Oh I don't know, we gave a copy of our 'Volume One' album to Zakk Wylde when he played at the Sweden Rocks Festival with Black Label Society.  But I don't know if he listened to it or not.  Ozzy is the greatest.  I just hope he survives for a good few years so I can see him perform live again.  He cancelled his gig that I was supposed to go to last time, I think it was an Oz Fest a few years ago.  I think Zakk Wylde said he had a back injury.  I was so looking forward to seeing him perform.  I don't know whether he's heard it, maybe he'll like it, he will hear it some day I'm sure.  I always loved his music with Black Sabbath and I always loved Ozzy solo career stuff.  He really is the greatest. 

Maybe he will do one more reunion gig and I will get to see him.  He did it in 1989 when he did the 'No More Tours' tour.  Now it is 2005 so maybe in 2015 he will do another one of his reunion tours.  I saw Lemmy when he played at the Sweden Rocks Festival, I got real close to him and I really stared at him.  He is rock n' roll.  Those black glasses he wears, he can't see anything through those glasses.  This was like 30 seconds before the gig when I passed him and then he came through the door and took his place and stage and started singing.  He really is an iron man!  That's what I mean, you had a chance to get really close to so many of your old idols at the Sweden Rocks Festival.  It is just so fantastic.     
The band have released 2 albums in pretty much quick succession, what with 'Volume One' and 'Born II Rock', dare I ask have you already got a third release in the pipeline?
  No we haven't started working on it yet.  We all have full time jobs and some of us have families and now everything is about this 'Born II Rock' album.  This is what we need to do now, it takes a lot of our attention.  We are busy doing interviews and we have a lot of gigs on our European tour coming up.  We all have a really tight schedule now so I think maybe in the beginning of the next  year we are going to start work on the next album.  We haven't actually decided when we'd like to record it yet. 
Can I ask what daytime jobs you all have?
Me and Jocke the guitarist and Kent the drummer, we all work for the same company that makes office furniture.  Henke our bass player, he is a carpenter. 

You must all have very understanding bosses to let you all have time off to tour and play all these gigs. 
Well it is hard to get everything to fit in.  I myself have 2 kids and I work for 8 hours a day and then I try to make music in the evening.  We all have very boring jobs and I think that is perhaps what made us do this music.  I think you can go there for 8 hours a day and do your job but all you think about is the music and the things that are surrounding you.  I think it perhaps a good thing to have a boring job because then it helps you to get all your anger out. 

Is there anyone in particular that you would like to tour with given the choice? 
I think it would be cool to tour with Motorhead.  I think one important thing is that you can tour with a band but the music has to be similar in some kind of way.  If you tour with a death metal band say, then the fans are going to be into death metal and that's what they want to hear.  We toured with Europe, but I don't know if the Europe fans like Hellfueled.  It went really good but maybe Motorheads audience would be more likely to listen to Hellfueled. 
What is your most treasured possession right now?
I would have to say my kids.  That and my 'Born II Rock' album.  I got a limited edition copy today in some kind of steel cover.  So maybe my 'Born II Rock' album limited edition and of course my two kids.
What's your overall aims for the band long term?  Do you want to get rich quick and then die the death or have a long career and make a modest amount of money?
Well as long as I can play my music it would be fun to try.  I just enjoy playing gigs and touring, that makes me happy.  Oh of course I want to be rich, why do I lie! (laughs).  No, I just really enjoy playing music and if I can be rich at the same time then of course it would be a dream come true.  To make money out of anything that you enjoy doing has got to be good.  Well, following on from that, if you were to win the lottery tomorrow, would you continue on with the band? Yes I would.  Good, that's the right answer! You've made me very happy. (laughs).

Finally, one last question, is there anything that you would like to say to all our readers out there?
 Yes, we are a bit chained in that we haven't been and played in the UK just yet but I'm going to call the booking agency and tell them what to do now.  I don't know, maybe come the time of the festivals we might get the chance to come over.  Now that you've mentioned it I can't understand why we're not coming over to the UK to play some gigs.  Maybe the booking agency don't think England will like Hellfueled. 
Hey this is Ozzy's homeland, of course we're going to love you!  Lemmy's from over here too so you have to come over here to play. 
Well yes we have to make an effort to try and come to the UK.  The thing is we did an interview with Burrn magazine in Japan and they asked us the same question, why haven't you been here, and don't you want to come here.  I was like ... yes I would love to come to Japan and play live but it might not be possible just yet.  But with the UK I think we definitely have to try and come to the UK.  We will ask the booking agency to try to arrange something, maybe the Hammersmith Apollo next Tuesday, would that be ok with you? (laughs).  No seriously we will have to try and arrange something so we can come over and play. 
Perhaps a tour slot with someone for your first trip over?  Yeh maybe.  Saxon are touring next year, come with them!  Yeh maybe we can come with them.  (laughs).  Yes they are another band I think it would be cool to tour with.  Saxon are definitely another band I would like to tour with.  I love them. 

Thank you for taking the time out to talk to us today and sorry for keeping you up so late!  Yeh I'm going to bed now because I have to be back up at 5 o' clock for work tomorrow morning.  Thank you.  It's been an absolute pleasure and I look forward to seeing you guys over here in the UK.  Yeh we will be coming soon. 

We'd like Andy and all the guys from Hellfueled every success with their new album and their forthcoming  tour.  You can find out more about the band and their breathtaking new album 'Born II Rock' via their website ... www.hellfueled.com

 

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