Interview: Hammerfall – Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken - STALKER MAGAZINE inside out of rock´n´roll

Hammerfall – Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken

– that’s what Hammerfall are or to say it more precisely, that’s how they call their current and fifth studio album: „Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken“. The STALKER met Magnus Rosen, the bass player among those true metal heroes, for an interview.

– that’s what Hammerfall are or to say it more precisely, that’s how they call their current and fifth studio album: „Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken“. The STALKER met Magnus Rosen, the bass player among those true metal heroes, for an interview.

When did you discover music for the first time and knew that you wanted to be a musician?
The dream to be a musician started when I was 14 years old and me and my friends put together a band for the first time in our lives called “Lazy Babes”. We played Kiss covers and other covers as well.

Who was your first musical hero?
In those days it was Gene Simmons and it was not because i thought he was an incredible bass player, but because he had a strong image and he looked very different from all the other players in the world. The first concert I saw was Alice Cooper and of course, that was something very special for me, too.

You decided to move from Sweden to California - why?
I played in a band in Sweden with a female American singer. She and her boyfriend decided to re-locate the band. I was asked to join them and said “yes, why not”. Then after two months I quit the band as it really wasn’t my style and I didn’t feel comfortable with it. I decided to stay there for a few years and then met Anders Johansson who became my room mate. The first band we played in together was The Billionares Boys Club with Jörg Fischer from Accept and vocalist Mark Boals from the Yngwie Malmsteen Band.

How soon after you got back to Sweden did you meet the members of Hammerfall?
In 1997 Oscar Dronjak or Joacim Cans called me and said they need to have a steady line up. At first it started as a project with members from In Flames. When we first got the record deal everyone had to decide who stays and who goes. The new drummer was Patrick Raffling followed by Stefan Elmgren as guitar player and then me. When they called I had never heard of the band before, I didn’t know what to expect.

How do you view your career with the band until now? Is this something you want to do for life or are you gonna start flying planes like Bruce Dickinson?
Actually Stefan is working to be a pilot. When I’m not playing with Hammerfall I’m playing around the world with my one man band giving solo concerts in South America, Japan, U.S.A. and Europe.

Rate the following bass players on a scale from 1 to 10.
1 being a complete amateur and a 10 being a god of thunder.

Jonas Hellborg: 10
Billy Sheenan: 9
Gene Simmons: 8
Marcel Jacob: 8.5
Dirk Schläcther: 8.5
Peter Baltes: 8.5
Steve Harris: 8
Glenn Hughes: 9
Ian Hill: 7.9

What do you prefer:
Callops or Swedish meatballs: Swedish meatballs
The band Rising Force or Silver Mountain: Rising Force
Kermit the frog or the Swedish chef: the Swedish chef
Roxette or Ace Of Base: Ace Of Base
Gotenburg or L.A.: Gotenburg
Billionares Boys Club or Von Rosen: Von Rosen
Simpsons or Futurama: hard to say, not a fan from either
The Rainbow club or the whiskey club (rock clubs in L.A. - the editors): The Rainbow
Ritchie Blackmore or Stuart Smith: Stuart Smith

Author: Gabriele Palermo, Photos: hfr., Translation: Melanie Haack
Date: 2005-12-17

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