HAMMERFALL Australian Tour Exclusive Interview With OSCAR DRONJAK

Interview by Kris Peters
There isn't much Swedish metal royalty Hammerfall have failed to
accomplish in their almost 30-year existence. With multiple
international tours, gold certification, a succession of powerful
and well-received albums, 100+ million streams and YouTube views
and a passionate global fanbase, you would almost wonder if there's
anything left to tick off the band's proverbial bucket list. But
there is one glaring omission.
Hammerfall have never done a full tour of Australia…
That terrible blot on an otherwise stellar career will be rectified
in January of next year when Hammerfall venture to this side of the
world for five shows that see them play in every capital city this
great country has to offer.
Not only that, but Hammerfall are also on the cusp of releasing
their 13th and arguably best album yet, Avenge The Fallen, on
August 9. With so much going on for the band, HEAVY cornered
guitarist Oscar Dronjak to find out why Hammerfall have neglected
Australia until this point and plenty more.
"We're very excited about this," he smiled. "We only did one show
there in 27 years of existence, so it's gonna be fucken cool. Every
time we do a new album we do press in Australia and everybody is
asking when are you coming back? We never had anything to say about
it, but finally now we do and it seems like it's… I have heard from
friends of mine in bands who have been there and say it's great.
Everybody wonders why don't you go there? I have no good answer for
that, only the fact that we are going now, so that's enough. We've
been all over the world for the most part, except Australia. It
should have happened before (laughs)."
We ask Oscar if he will be doing any research before he comes out
here on what to expect, or if he is more the type of person who
prefers to go in cold and see what happens.
"We've been there once - it was nine years ago now I think - and
that was a good experience," he replied. "If that is anything to go
by, I think we're going to have a really good time at the shows.
Ultimately - and this is my experience from touring all over the
world - but ultimately heavy metal fans are more or less the same
all over the world. They just wanna go to the show, be entertained,
have a good time, listen to some great music, and watch a good
show. That's all they wanna do. Hopefully, drink some beers too
(laughs). If that is the attitude - which I believe it is - we're
gonna have a really good time."
In the full interview, Oscar talks more about the tour and what we
can expect from Hammerfall, what planets must align for the band to
walk off-stage and be blown away, their upcoming album Avenge The
Fallen and what to expect, how the band keeps improving with each
album cycle, their recent tour with Helloween and more.


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