HAMMERFALL's JOACIM CANS Doesn't Want To End Up Like Many Of His Vocal Heroes: 'They Can't Sing Anymore, But They Still Go On Tour'

In a new interview with Angela Croudace of Australia's Heavy, vocalist Joacim Cans of Swedish metallers HAMMERFALL was asked if he does lots of vocal warming up before hitting the stage. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I need to be ready when I hit the stage since this type of singing is not meant for men sometimes, because it's so high pitched. You need to be ready.

"I have my ritual," he continued. "I've been doing the same things for 30 years now, and it works for me. So I would never change anything. Exactly one hour before the intro starts, I will go away for 10 minutes to find a room with a nice reverb, like a shower, in worst case, I have to go to a bathroom, but you have to do what you gotta do, you gotta do what you gotta do. So I'm starting up with my warmups. And then when I'm done with that, I get dressed, I maybe have half a can of Coke and a half an hour, 20 minutes before the show, I go back into the warmup room. And then I am starting to test my high pitch and see if I woke that up by doing the lower parts before.

"So you need to be ready," Cans added. "If you're not ready, you will probably lose your voice within a couple of songs… Whatever you do the day before the days before the week before the night before will affect your voice. So, just add fluids, and with fluids I'm referring to water. I'm referring to electrolytes that you need, because we're sweating so much on stage. If you wanna drink beer, drink wine, do that after the show. Sometimes I have half a beer before the show, if I feel like I just need to have a little kickstart. That's half a beer, but that's it."

Asked if it is exhausting performing with a band like HAMMERFALL, Joacim said: "It is exhausting, but you also need to be prepared for it. You can't be a couch potato and expect to deliver 90-plus minutes on stage. So, personally I'm out running three times a week. I'm doing approximately 25 to 30K in a week. And that is to get my pulse down as quick as possible. So if I run from one side to the other on stage, my pulse is going down. So I can sing without sounding like [I am out of breath]. Because a lot of singers, they just stand still because they can't move because if they move, they get exhausted. They need to catch their breath. They can't sing. I can actually headbang and sing at the same time because my resting pulse is so low.

"If you're 20 years old, it's different," he explained. "But this is what I do. I've been doing this for 30 years and I really hope to be able to do this for another 10 years. And now it's up to me. It's not up to anyone else. It's up to me if I'm gonna stay in shape to be able to perform and deliver.

"I don't wanna end up like many of my vocal heroes, that they can't sing anymore, but they still go on tour," Cans added. "And it sounds — I can't really find my words for it. It must be so shameful for them. They must feel so bad on stage, but they can't quit because they don't know anything else.

"Your body's like a race car. You need an oil change, you need to fix things, you need to get new tires in here. Otherwise it breaks down."

HAMMERFALL's latest album, "Avenge The Fallen", was released in August via Nuclear Blast Records.

In December 2022, HAMMERFALL, which started its career in 1997 on Nuclear Blast with its debut album "Glory To The Brave", announced that it was returning to the long-running German label.

HAMMERFALL's entire Nuclear Blast catalog, from "Glory To The Brave" to the 2014 album "(r)Evolution" was certified with a diamond award for over 1.5 million worldwide sales.

Following on from "Renegade" (2000),"Crimson Thunder" (2002) and "No Sacrifice, No Victory" (2009),HAMMERFALL's fifth studio album, "Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken" from 2005, became the band's fourth album to go gold in Sweden, while "Crimson Thunder" even went platinum, surpassing 60,000 sales in the group's home country.

In April 2023, HAMMERFALL released a special platinum edition of "Crimson Thunder" with tons of bonus material.

Photo credit: Tallee Savage (courtesy of Nuclear Blast)