ONE MAN ARMY AND THE UNDEAD QUARTET Frontman Rules Out THE CROWN Reunion

ONE MAN ARMY AND THE UNDEAD QUARTET frontman Johan Lindstrand recently spoke to LucemFero.com's Welsh interviewer Anthony Morgan. Topics of discussion included the Swedish group's second album "Error in Evolution", their relationship with former bassist Valle Adzic (IMPIOUS),doing military service with Christian Älvestam (SCAR SYMMETRY, INCAPACITY) and the reasons surrounding the demise of the singer's former outfit THE CROWN. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

Lucem Fero: Could you tell me about how "Error in Evolution" came about?

Johan Lindstrand: "Yeah. After the "21st Century Killing Machine" album was recorded and released, we did a lot of touring. The band got to know each other very well, as we've only been together for two years. I mainly wrote the debut album's material, though on this new release the whole group is more or less involved, so the process has been very smooth from the beginning. We have written nine songs and laid down one cover interpretation for 'Error in Evolution', which I think has become a really good metal record."

Lucem Fero: How do you feel this one differs from "21st Century Killing Machine" then?

Johan Lindstrand: "Yeah, the difference is this new one has much shorter songs – they're roughly three to four minutes long. The song arrangements are more classic metal based, whereas the arrangements on the first one are more old school death metal. "Error in Evolution" is much more melodic and more catchy from my point of view."

Lucem Fero: Could you tell me about the first time you left THE CROWN?

Johan Lindstrand: "The first time? Well that was after the "Deathrace King" album. It was a very hard time for me to keep touring and returning home with empty pockets and so forth, as I had a lot of bills to pay. It was also personal problems with the leading of the band, but one year later when Tomas (Lindberg, ex-AT THE GATES) got fired I got the question again from Marko (Tervonen, guitars) to join the band. By that time all my problems had vanished, so I said yes immediately. It was a great feeling; I came back with a lot of new energy etc., and we did one new album. All of a sudden though the band wanted to quit doing it, so I was very pissed off because I had quit my day job just to tour with THE CROWN — all of a sudden everything falls apart you know? Nowadays I don't think about it that much as I have a very good new band, though without THE CROWN this new band wouldn't exist. I have THE CROWN to thank for everything as it made me who I am today, so I'm very happy about the situation."

Lucem Fero: Did you consider leaving music for good the first time you left THE CROWN?

Johan Lindstrand: "Well, no, not really — I thought about doing music on a smaller scale. I contacted Valle at that time and recorded some demos at home together with a drum machine, messing around with some things. I didn't know where it would lead me or anything, though ironically when I devised ONE MAN ARMY I brought back one or two riffs from that period from when I first left THE CROWN, which ended up on 'The Sweetness of Black' and 'Bulldozer Frenzy' from the first ONE MAN ARMY album. So it's pretty cool."

Lucem Fero: Is there any chance of a one off live gig with THE CROWN or something similar?

Johan Lindstrand: "No, I don't think so because we weren't that big in the first place. It'd be too much work to do a one off show, as I think everybody's doing a lot of work with their current bands. It would take a lot of strength from us to just do that."

Lucem Fero: Would you be up for it?

Johan Lindstrand: "No, I don't think so because as I said the other guys wanted to quit, and I was very disappointed at the other guys when they decided to quit."

Lucem Fero: So THE CROWN is definitely over now then?

Johan Lindstrand: "Yeah, because if they want to continue they'll have to do it with another singer. I'm very happy with ONE MAN ARMY now."

Lucem Fero: Where would you like to take your career in the coming years?

Johan Lindstrand: "I'd like to climb even higher on the ladder. There are a lot of bands out there, but I know we have some very good qualities in ONE MAN ARMY AND THE UNDEAD QUARTET. I really hope we will tour a lot and take the whole year out for this new album, make some new music and I hope that people will open their eyes for us. I hope for the best, but who knows?"

Lucem Fero: Do you think people will open their eyes to ONE MAN ARMY?

Johan Lindstrand: "Yeah, I hope so. The album has been out since March 9th, but I don't know how it's faring. It will be released in the U.S. in May, and then the whole world will have it. Hopefully people will like it?"

Read the full interview at LucemFero.com.