Ted Lundstrom (Amon Amarth) interview

It’s Melodic Death metal month on the podcast!

If you told teenage me that someday in the future I would be doing interview with bands like Soilwork and Amon Amarth, I would never believe you then. Still can’t believe that I get to interview some of the bands that I grew up listening to.

On this episode, I spoke to Ted Lundstrom – bassist of Amon Amarth about their latest album The Great Heathen Army, out via Metal Blade Records, the writing process and even beer.

Audio version for those who prefer it.

Read a transcribed version of this interview on The Metal Wanderlust 

Listen to The Great Heathen Army  – https://orcd.co/tgha

Picture courtesy – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:13-06-07_RaR_Amon_Amarth_Ted_Lundstr%C3%B6m_07.jpg

Bjorn Strid (Soilwork) interview

This is one I won’t forget for a long time.

I’ve been a fan of Swedish melodic death metal act Soilwork for quite some time now. When I first got into metal, I went through melodic death metal phase and Soilwork one of the bands that I listened to a lot. A Predator’s Portrait was on repeat for days.

Over the past 2 decades the band has consistently released new music and their twelfth studio album, Övergivenheten (The Abandonment in English) is out this week. 

I caught up with vocalist Bjorn “Speed” Strid prior to the album release to talk about it, writing for Soilwork and Night Flight Orchestra, their upcoming Australian tour and even what’s been on his playlist.

Audio version

A transcribed version of this interview will be live on The Metal Wanderlust soon.

Listen to Övergivenheten – https://bfan.link/SoilworkAlbum.yde

Groovebot interview

Groovebot is the studio project of Indian musician Chinmay Agharkar (Paradigm Shift, Hook). Last week Under Pressure, the 3rd single from the project was released featuring Anand Bhaskar on vocals and Roop Thomas on bass.

Chinmay shared with me how the collaboration came about, the impetus behind Groovebot and also his work in music production.

Audio episode

Songs played in the episode

Groovebot – Under Pressure

Feathers of Jatinga – Master who bleeds

Listen to Under Pressure  – https://open.spotify.com/album/5rtMFNilqpUD1GLijfxsMo?si=QwogJ4-OSjS6S-N372WkPA

Garry Brents (Cara Neir) interview

Garry Brents is one half of Black metal scientists Cara Neir and part of many others. Cara Neir released their 8th LP Phantasmal via Zegema Beach Records last month. 

I first came across Cara Neir through Metal Twitter and noticed how prolific a musician Garry Brents was. In this chat I tried to tap into his mind through his recent release Phantasmal and also upcoming album from Gonemage. We also spoke about how he manages multiple projects. Tune in to find out more.

Songs played in the episode :-

Cara Neir – Damnation

Cara Neir – Unkindness

A video clip of the chat

Check out Phantasmal

Links to all of Garry’s projects – https://linktr.ee/yerbacaster

Ian Blurton interview

Ian Blurton has been described as the “elder statesman of Toronto rock” by Canadian journalist Alan Cross. In a career that spans over 3 decades, he has been a part of bands like Change of Heart, Blurtonia, Bionic, C’mon, Public Animal and more recently Ian Blurton’s Future Now. 

Last month, Ian Blurton’s Future Now released their 2nd album, Second Skin via Pajama Party and Seeing Red Records. 

I caught up with Ian Blurton and spoke about writing and recording Second Skin, his production, Canadian metal and much more.

Here is the audio version

Listen/Download Second Skin – https://ianblurton.bandcamp.com/album/second-skin

Rainburn interview

Bangalore based progressive rock act Rainburn are setting out on the “Make Us Rich Now” tour this week along with Diarchy and Mocaine.

I spoke to band members Vats and Riju about the tour, touring in India in 2022 and also about their upcoming album “Vignettes”. Tune in to find out more.

Tickets and venue details for the tour – https://linktr.ee/MURNTour

Check out Rainburns’s music – https://rainburn.bandcamp.com

Rainburn live picture by Anurag Tagat

Update: Here’s a picture I took from the Mumbai leg of the tour

JJ Tartaglia (Thunderor) interview

This week I am mixing things up on the podcast with some heavy metal.

 His guest is JJ Tartaglia, frontman and drummer of Canadian heavy metal act Thunderor. The band released their debut album “Fire it Up” earlier this year via Boonsdale Records. 

JJ shared how the band came together, the experience recording “Fire it Up” during the lockdowns, recording their music videos and some Canadian metal recommendations.  

Put on that denim and leather and tune in. 

Audio version of the podcast

Listen/Buy a copy of  “Fire it Up” from the links below

https://thunderor.bigcartel.com/

https://thunderor.bandcamp.com/album/fire-it-up

Working on a video episode for next week. Stay tuned!

Conor Marshall (Conjurer) Interview

There has been a lot of buzz around the 2nd album from Conjurer, Pathos and I wanted to find out more about the album.

Last month I caught up with Conor Marshall bassist of Conjurer ahead of the release of the album. Conor spoke about the making of Pathos, signing to Nuclear Blast Records and even about their sound. 

Fans of Curse these Metal Hands still around till the end of an update on the project. 

Video version here

Here is the audio version

Check out Pathos on all platforms – https://conjurer.bfan.link/rot-single.ema

Stay tuned for more episodes.

I Built the Sky interview

Bringing back the podcast for the 123345 time.

Rohan Stevenson aka I Built The Sky is not stranger, I spoke to him last year when he released a collaboration with Jake Howsam Lowe (Plini/The Helix Nebula), an EP titled Coalesce. Check out the episode here.

This time, I spoke to him about going acoustic on his latest release, The Quiet Place Away, being a full time musician and a more. 

Yes there is video also.

The audio version of the chat for those who prefer it. There is a song from the album also in the episode (Didn’t want to risk a copyright strike from YouTube). Will be up on other platforms shortly.

Since I got the The Quiet Place Away, it slowly become the album that I use to wind down at the end of the day and sometimes even fall asleep to. Curious about the album? Hit play below

Check out The Quiet Place Away on other platforms here – https://listen.ibuiltthesky.com/tqpa

The documentary can be purchased here – https://ibuiltthesky.bandcamp.com/merch/the-quiet-place-away-documentary

Stay tune for more interviews (maybe next week, no promises).

Inferi

This year has been a rough one for everyone, even more so for Metal bands used to being road warriors. Some of them have embraced being indoors and have made productive use of their time. A few have done live stream virtual concerts and others have worked on new music. American Death Metal act Inferi fall in the latter camp. They wrote and recorded their latest EP, “Of Sunless Realms” that released earlier this month. Vocalist Stevie Boiser shared with us a few things about the experience and also their plans for the coming months.

Read the interview on The Metal Wanderlust