SNOWY SHAW: How I Landed DIMMU BORGIR Gig

On August 24 — the day that he confirmed that he had been tapped by Norwegian symphonic black metallers DIMMU BORGIR to replace bassist/clean vocalist ICS Vortex on the band's upcoming ninth album, "Abrahadabra", and world tour, Swedish multi-instrumentalist Snowy Shaw (real name: Tommie Helgesson; THERION, DREAM EVIL, KING DIAMOND, MERCYFUL FATE, MEMENTO MORI, NOTRE DAME) gave an interview to Metal Assault about his decision to join DIMMU BORGIR and the reasons for his split with THERION. (Snowy has since quitDIMMU BORGIR's touring lineup and has rejoined THERION.) A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metal Assault: We've all heard the rumors that leaked out some time ago which not only came as a very pleasant surprise but also resulted in much speculation in the metal world. Now that it's official, I 'm sure thousands upon thousands of fans are now delighted, excited and relieved that those rumours were in fact true that Snowy Shaw is the new bassist of DIMMU BORGIR. How does it feel to be in a band that has inspired countless other bands?

Snowy: Oh, thank you. I'm so happy to hear that and that's the impression and vibe I've gotten so far from every single one for the last six months. According to them I'm the ultimate choice for DIMMU BORGIR and if I may be so bold and skip all the false modesty, they are right. (laughs) I mean, I'm certainly not going to argue with them about it. But, honestly, I'm perfect for this band, and I have so much to offer and bring to the table in every aspect, if I may that is, that is the big and essential question here. In a way it seem to me like DIMMU is to this decade what KISS was in the '70s, and that I love, of course.

Metal Assault: I'm convinced the majority of DIMMU BORGIR fans will welcome you with open hearts and minds and see that Snowy Shaw is the perfect guy for the slot. Do you feel any concern filling the shoes ICS Vortex left behind?

Snowy: Relevant question, Of course, it is always tough trying to step into someone else's shoes, and I have had some previous experiences with that. I hope you're right, but there will always be a few hardcore fans being critical, sceptical and negative about the new guy. I was no different myself when I was young, more stupid and basically just didn't understand any better. When my favorite band changed a loved member, I was very sceptical and thought: Who the fuck is this fucking guy who thinks he can replace Ace Frehley, Bruce Dickinson or whoever it might have been. And as much as I can still understand those feelings, it just proves how clueless you are and little understanding you have for how the politics can sometime work behind the surface in a band situation and in this filthy stinking rotten music business and industry. I know Vortex and he's just the nicest guy, he even called me up after he'd heard inside info on the news and wished me the best of luck and jokingly offered his condolences, so I guess you can say I have his blessing. And I mean, I most certainly had nothing to do with neither him nor Mustis getting fired from DIMMU, and as the last guy in I was hired to fill his void or position. As I was saying, I've experienced that before several times, taking over after Mikkey Dee in KING DIAMOND, and then when MERCYFUL FATE got back together and picked me over the original drummer Kim Ruzz and then many years later as a singer in THERION. No matter what, it's bound to be met with a bit of sceptism and suspicion from some fans. But I've always done a great job, won them over and have never ever heard of any complaints. If I may speak frankly, I'm pretty aware of my own capacity, qualities and assets, and so I can't say I have really reflected or worried too much about it to be honest, and besides, the DIMMU guys wanted me for the slot. It's more a question of whether the DIMMU organization is going to let me it to their inner circle and let me be me. Fans may sometimes honor you and pay respect by staying loyal to a beloved previous member. That's exactly what goes on right now with me after I quit THERION. People keep telling me all the time that since I quit the band it sucks, and that I should go back to NOTRE DAME, DREAM EVIL, KING DIAMOND, MEMENTO MORI, MERCYFUL FATE, etc. As flattering as I might find those nice comments, I have to take it with a grain of salt and don't pay too much attention to it.

Metal Assault: Can you tell us a little about the whole recording and writing process for "Abrahadabra"?

Snowy: Yeah, sure. From what I understand it's been a long and hard process, but I came in as the last man right before the recordings and by then most of the music and arrangements were already done in the pre-production. I recorded some additional vocal arrangement and suggestions in my home studio and we ended up adding one or two vocal parts for me, since they hadn't really calculated or hoped to be able to find a fitting replacement in the singing/bass player department when writing the album, which might explain the use of guest singers. I must say I totally love the witch-like vocals this Norwegian girl Agneta did on the single "Gateways"; just fantastic! "Abrahadabra" was recorded in a few different studios. We did the drums and all mine and Shagrath's vocals with Daniel Bergstrand in Uppsala, Sweden. All guitars, bass and keyboards were done in Oslo, Norway with Russ Russell as the engineer and then the whole shebang was mixed and mastered in England by Andy Sneap, and I must tell you it came out sounding fantastic, in case you expected anything else. (Laughs) Yeah that's right, a tiny little detail accidently slipped my mind. Norwegian conductor/composer Gaute Storaas brought in over 50 members of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and a choir of nearly 40 members to spice things up and to further enhance and achieve that very specific, symphonic and epic DIMMU BORGIR sound. I fucking love it! As for my own performance, it went pretty easy. They had set off a week to record the bass tracks in the studio, but I nailed it in about 2-3 days time. First I showed the guys my own bass arrangements, ideas and shit and then we worked on it together back and forth to get the perfect well balanced result in the end. I did five songs in 3-4 hours in the studio in Oslo right in the middle of a big party going on with all their friends and people just dropping by Friday evening. We decided five songs were enough for one day and went to check out a show or more correctly the aftershow with our friends KAMELOT who ended their European tour at a venue a few blocks away. Then the next day we changed bass which had a lot thicker strings and a fat ass neck which made it a lot harder and physical to play but it came out sounding way better so I had to redo the first five songs again. But that's OK, anything just to make the final product the best possible, that's my motto and mentality.

Metal Assault: How did this come about (you becoming the bassist of DIMMU BORGIR)?

Snowy: I knew the dimmu guys from before and had been working with them on various occasions and situations like designing and building custom-made stage props and decor for their videos as I was working with my friend Patric Ullaeus' Revolver Film Company, so we kept some sporadic contact every now and then. Apparently they were contemplating hiring me as a designer and visual supervisor of some kind before I even came into the picture as a musician. At the time THERION had taken an extended sabbatical year off after the 20th anniversary tour and I spent a lot of time, effort and my own savings on my band XXX and eventually I had to find myself another source of income while THERION was in this inactive period. So when the opportunity presented itself I jumped to it and for the first time in my life I began playing on a semi-regular basis in this covers band doing classic rock/metal songs as the bass player and second singer. To my surprise, it was a lot of fun and a good and well-paid experience; we'd play all over Sweden, Finland and occasionally various ski resorts in Norway. I had heard some vague rumours about them firing Mustis and Vortex in a nasty way but I didn't pay any attention or think too much about that. One day I read on Blabbermouth that DIMMU was working on pre-productions and from I could see they had not yet replaced their former bassist or keyboardist, and the next day Silenoz sent me some funny link and message on Facebook and as I responded and the moment I wrote to Silenoz that I'll be going to Lillehammer, Norway the following week to play bass and sing with this covers band, right then it suddenly hit me — Hey! Why the hell not!? I want to play with the mighty DIMMU BORGIR! I'd be absolutely perfect for this band and to put it mildly, DIMMU would be quite a step up from what I was currently doing. (Laughs) Although for the NOTRE DAME live shows I had been playing bass and sang but I guess it had never occurred to me before, and in fact those were the almost exact words the DIMMU guys used when replying to my idea or proposition in that second mail I dropped to Silenoz. They'd seen me as a drummer first and foremost and singer so it just never crossed their minds that I played bass as well, but said right off the bat that I might be ideal for it, besides we already knew each other and Gothenburg is just three hours away from Oslo and all. Despite having heard my singing before, making a voice sample would save us a lot of time and embarrassment if I by any chance couldn't pull it off or it wouldn't fit. So Shagrath mailed me a sample of one of the new songs which they wanted clean vocals on and I recorded my voice in my home studio based on the little piece of vocal line he'd recorded. Naturally I assumed they wanted clean vocals in a similar way that Vortex had done so I did that and mailed it back. Shagrath called me later and said it was very good and that they liked it but they had expected me to sing an octave or two lower and with my own style of voice which they'd heard with THERION and NOTRE DAME. So I did a new recording with that instead, and then they were thrilled and totally satisfied. We then agreed I should come to Oslo and rehearse with them and learn the vocal parts and bass on a few songs in advance, which I did. But when I showed up, they were in the middle of arranging the drums and rehearsing the new songs for the album recording, and I had obviously never heard any of it before but I just had to tag along the best I could. Despite these rather weird conditions they were just amazed with my playing, saying DIMMU had never ever sounded as good and tight before. Fortunately I'm a real fast learner, at least when it comes to music, if it'd be computer games I'd be dead meat (laughs)!

Read the entire interview from Metal Assault