HAMMERFALL Found Out Through Booking Agency Drummer ANDERS JOHANSSON Was Leaving Band

MetalJournal.net recently conducted an interview with guitarist Oscar Dronjak of Swedish metallers HAMMERFALL. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the departure of longtime drummer Anders Johansson:

Oscar: "I don't know [why he left the band]. I haven't spoken to him. He says [there were] no personal problems, but I never spoke to him. He didn't return my calls. So I don't know what to think. It's his decision. We're moving forward without him."

On whether there has been any contact with Anders since the drummer's exit from HAMMERFALL:

Oscar: "Not from me. I think the other guys had some mail contact, and maybe some message stuff, but as far as phone calls and meetings, no."

On HAMMERFALL's announcement that David Wallin (PAIN) was joining the band as the replacement for Anders Johansson:

Oscar: "We knew it a little bit before that [Anders was leaving the band]. Anders told us… Well, he didn't actually tell us — he told our booking agency, who told us, which is another fucked up way of going about it, but anyway… We found out, and then we had a couple of weeks or whatever to find another drummer before we announced everything at the same time."

On how thigs are working out with David Wallin so far:

Oscar: "Pontus [Norgren, guitar] has known him for years; he's a good friend of Pontus from before. Joacim [Cans, vocals] and Pontus sat down with David and had a cup of coffee and just talked about it, and their gut feeling was to go with David. I didn't even meet him until we started rehearsing for the first shows in November — it was the first time I met the guy — but I trusted their gut feeling. And I think that was a wise choice. David is a great guy. He's really fun to have around, and he plays excellent drums. The drums make the sound of HAMMERFALL bigger and better. It's really, really cool having him as the drummer… We did a tour in Latin America; that was the first thing we did with him. It was an interesting time. If you don't know somebody, you don't know really what's gonna happen, but he fit really well into the group."

HAMMERFALL's new album, "(r)Evolution", sold around 1,900 copies in the United States in its first week of release.

The band's previous CD, "Infected", opened with around 1,700 units back in 2011. The CD debuted at No. 16 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.