THE HELLACOPTERS Announce Permanent Split With Founding Guitarist DREGEN Due To His Hand Injury

Swedish rock veterans THE HELLACOPTERS have announced a permanent split with their founding guitarist Dregen (real name: Andreas Tyrone Svensson).

Earlier today (Wednesday, September 16),THE HELLACOPTERS released the following statement — also shared by Dregen — via social media: "As most of you know, Dregen hasn't been playing with us for roughly three years now, due to his hand injury. All of us have been hoping that he would fully recover and return to the band at some point, but the tremendously sad fact is that the damage to his fingers is permanent. While he can still play some rhythm guitar most of our songs are just not doable anymore.

"As a founding member of the band, Dregen will always be a huge part of the family and he will continue to be with us in spirit. He has always had many cards up his sleeve and there is no doubt that he will pull out a few in the near future. LG Valeta, who has been filling in for him since the injury, will carry on with us going forward."

THE HELLACOPTERS were formed in 1994 by ENTOMBED drummer Nicke Andersson and BACKYARD BABIES guitarist Dregen.

THE HELLACOPTERS' second album, 1997's "Payin' The Dues", was the band's last studio effort to feature Dregen before his departure to focus full-time on BACKYARD BABIES.

In October 2007, THE HELLACOPTERS announced that they would be breaking up after the release of their seventh full-length album, "Head Off", a collection of cover songs. Eight years later, the band reunited, initially for an exclusive performance at the Sweden Rock Festival to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of their debut album, "Supershitty To The Max!"

Robert "Strängen" Dahlqvist, who played guitar for THE HELLACOPTERS for nearly a decade, died in February 2017 at the age of 40.

Dahlqvist was a member of THE HELLACOPTERS from 1999 until the group disbanded in 2008.

THE HELLACOPTERS achieved two gold certifications, won the Swedish Grammy equivalent and a Kerrang! award, and have amassed hundreds of millions of streams to date.

THE HELLACOPTERS released their comeback studio album, "Eyes Of Oblivion", in April 2022 via Nuclear Blast. It marked their first full-length collection of new material since "Head Off". Less than three years later, they released "Overdriver" in January 2025.

In the meantime, THE HELLACOPTERS celebrated their triumphant return by playing a show with the mighty IRON MAIDEN in Gothenburg in July 2022, and gigs with GHOST in Germany in June 2023, apart from their own string of headline shows throughout Europe. Eager to keep the rock flowing, February 16, 2024 saw THE HELLACOPTERS release not one, but two stunning versions of their classic "Grande Rock" album, which was originally made avaialble in 1999. "Grande Rock Revisited" included a remastered original version and a remixed and partially re-recorded version as a companion piece, showing how the album could have sounded in a parallel universe with Dregen being in the band at the time. After making rock grande again, the group set sights on new material, debuting the phenomenal single "Stay With You" in May 2024 and releasing it as a limited seven-inch via Lightning Records.

THE HELLACOPTERS' ninth full-length album, "Overdriver" was recorded at Strawberry Studio & The Honk Palace and was the band's first album entirely produced by guitarist/vocalist Nicke Andersson.

Pictured above is the current lineup of THE HELLACOPTERS