< Previousohan Hegg is one of us! That much is clear after this interview. A metal fan who sorely misses his favor- ite band Slayer, a festival vis- itor who camped in a tent for many years and had to carry a crate of beer on his shoulders to the camp and – well, that’s rather extraordinary – one of the most famous singers in the world of heavy metal. We reach him for an in- terview in the middle of the preparations for the biggest North Amer- ican tour that Amon Amarth have ever played. You just released the video to your new song ‘Saxons and Vikings’, a collaboration with metal legends Saxon. How was working with the band and their leader Biff in particular? Johan Hegg: We had lots of fun! We’ve known Saxon for ages. I think the first time we actually hung out with them was in Italy in the early 2000s at some festival. We’ve crossed paths on several occasions since then and always had a laugh. They’re great guys. So when we had the idea of doing this video, it felt natural to invite them to be a part – and we are really happy that not only Biff, but also Paul and Doug could make it to the video shoot as well. Is it true that you sent Biff lyrics and he tossed them out the window? Johan Hegg: (laughs) Well, here’s the thing: He didn‘t really know where I was going with them. The idea of the song is my idea. So I basically wrote lyrics for his part as well and I said to him: ‘All right, listen! This is what I The voice of Swedish metal vikings Amon Amarth since 1992: Johan Hegg Amon Amarth played the Wacken Open Air for the first time 25 years ago. In this interview, singer Johan Hegg remembers this gig, explains the secret of his special voice and reveals why Saxon frontman Biff Byford tossed his lyric suggestions out the windowwrote. You can use whatever you want from this.’ But he wrote his own stuff, and I’m really happy about that because it’s a lot better than what I came up with. Is there a possibility that we see Saxon on stage with you in Wacken? Johan Hegg: We talked about it, and it would be fun. But it has to work out. Everything has to align. That’s all there is to it. It would be a an honor to perform with those guys. 25 years ago, you played the W:O:A for the first time. Do you remember that show? Johan Hegg: Yeah, I actually do! We rented a van, drove down to Wacken and slept in the van and in a tent at the VIP parking area. We played at noon and didn’t really know what to expect from the audience. But we were surprised that we had In 2022, you had a phenomenal surprise show as the ‘Guardians Of Asgaard’. Can you describe that experience? Johan Hegg: It was a lot of fun! But it also felt weird because it was the first show that we played since the pandemic hit. And I don’t know if people such a good response. So for us, it was a great experience. What I remember even more is hanging out backstage (laughs). What do you associate with the W:O:A in general? Johan Hegg: A lot of people! It’s a big festival! It’s hard to understand what it really is, if you haven’t been to Wacken. You can tell people are there to have a good time. For me, the best part about going to Wacken has always been that you get to hang out with all these other bands and people. And then you play a show in front of an audience that’s always on board with almost anything you do. credits: Henryk Michaluk, Wacken Open Air In 2022, Amon Amarth played at the W:O:A for the first time after the pandemic – on a platform ten metres high between the main stages The announcement said “Guardians Of Asgaard”, but of course it was Amon Amarth themselvesWhat are your thoughts about how bands that really inspired you are now retiring? Johan Hegg: I can, in a way, understand them. A lot of these bands have had long careers. But even if you are Metallica or Slayer and play arenas, the pressure to perform is high and you are gone so much. It can be tough. I think the band that I miss the most is Slayer. I just love them and it was so sad that they decided to call it quits. I can still listen to all their old albums but I miss going to Slayer shows, for sure. I love them to bits. How has touring changed for you over the years? Do you still enjoy it? Johan Hegg: I have to admit that there was a while when I was really tired of traveling and the constant almost no time off. But in the past ten years or so, we’ve managed to a) travel comfortably and b) get enough time off in between so that we can recharge our batteries. You live in the countryside and post a lot of beautiful pictures of the scenic nature. Is that your place to balance out your loud and stressful tour life? Johan Hegg: Yeah, stress in general, I would say. We love going out to nature and we travel a lot here in Scandinavia to go hiking and stuff. We live in the countryside and have great hiking trails close by where we can spend a whole day just walking in the forest and have a great time. Not this time of year, though, because there’s too much snow. Is this setting where you can do your best writing –or can you work almost anywhere? Johan Hegg: I can actually write almost anywhere. But if I have an idea, I need to be able to sit with the idea for a while without being disturbed. So it’s easier to do it at home because I can close the door, go into my room, start writing and try different rhythms or phrases or words and just toy with the whole idea. You have a really distinct singing voice. How did you learn to sound like that? Johan Hegg: I started by growling along to some metal songs and didn’t know how to growl back then. I had just started listening to death metal in the first place and was imitating what I heard. But I began practicing and coming up with ideas on how to sing. Somewhere around 2007/2008, I had developed a very distinctive style of singing. Still I was struggling a lot when we recorded our albums. So our producer suggested that I would get a vocal coach to help me with a bunch of stuff. I learned some more techniques, especially breathing and warm- up techniques. I constantly tried to evolve and push it a little bit further. realized it, but our stage was very far up in a tower in between the two main stages. The drop was like ten meters or something… Yeah, ten is about right… Johan Hegg: It was high, and the railing reached only up to our knees. I have a little problem with heights, so it was a challenge for me in the sense that I was up there trying to do a show and be active, but still beware of the height. I thought: ‘Don’t trip here, don’t do anything stupid there…’ (laughs). But it was amazing to see the reaction on people’s faces. You could see from where we stood that people didn‘t really know what the hell was going on. And then all of a sudden, they realized – and just went nuts. It was great! Have you been a festivalgoer when you were younger? Johan Hegg: I still am in a way. It’s been a while since I went to a festival as a visitor, but I do occasionally go when I have the time and opportunity. But I get to go to so many festivals as an artist, and see all those bands. I’m fortunate that way. Back then did you do the whole thing with living on cans and sleeping in tents? Johan Hegg: Yeah, definitely! The first festival I went to was Roskilde in Denmark. Me and a bunch of guys would drive down. We put up a camp and had our little own compound. The first thing we would do was go to the store and get beer. We had to walk a really long way with cases of beer on the shoulders. Everything ached, but that was part of the experience (laughs). A giant on stage: Hegg in full flight with Amon AmarthDid you ever get advice from other singers as well? Johan Hegg: I started adding different ways of singing after actually talking to a guy who used to be a musical artist on the West End in London. I started implementing a slightly different kind of growling. Well, I wouldn’t even call it that, it’s more like belching. It’s hard to explain, but it’s a different approach to the whole thing. And my voice has changed since I was younger, so I’m not sure I would be able to sing the way I did on the first albums. I would say that I’m self-taught, and I’m teaching myself new stuff all the time. I’m trying to develop, but then again, I don’t want to change too much. As you say, I have a distinctive voice, I know that, and I want to keep my voice as mine, so that people can recognize me. All my favorite singers have very distinctive voices. I think that it means a lot to have that. Who are your favorite singers? Johan Hegg: What a good question. I have a lot of them. I think Ozzy Osbourne is one of my favorite vocalists of all time. I love Tom Araya and I really think James Hetfield has a great metal voice. And one of my all time favorite singers is Eric Adams from Manowar. JB Christoffersson from Grand Magus is phenomenal, his voice is insane. Alyssa from Arch Enemy is amazing, Lzzy Hale from Halestorm as well. There are so many great singers out there, it’s hard to pick one that I would put above the other. But one thing all these singers have in common is that they have a very distinctive voice. Last question. You have four cats and one dog. Could you finish one sentence? Life without pets is… Legend has it Slayer fan Johan Hegg was asked to become the singer after his colleagues heard him growling in a bar Johan Hegg: …boring! Yeah, it is. Pets are amazing. They‘re always a source of fun and happiness. Our dog is awesome. He’s like the nicest dog ever. We were away for the weekend, and when we came back home, he went crazy. I’ve never seen anybody that happy. And the cats are pretty awesome, too. I read this headline the other day. It said: „Scientists: Cats can understand us. They just don’t care!“ (laughs).Art Worx Merchandising has been creating the most popular accessories of the Holy Ground for almost 30 years. It all started for the Dortmund-based company in the punk scene, almost as a sideline, and with a legendary motif that we all know. Today, 2000 new shirts come out of their machines every hourW:O:A fan without a festival shirt? Hard to imagine! From the very first day, Wacken visitors rush to the merch stands every year to get their hands on the cov- eted item of clothing. Because the T-shirt with the striking three letters is more than just a piece of clothing – it is an expres- sion of belonging and a symbol of our big metal family. The Acker’s most sought af- ter accessory is produced more than 400 kilometers away: in the middle of the Ruhr region, in Dortmund. This is the headquar- ters of Art Worx Merchandising, now one of the largest fan article and textile printing companies in Europe. It was a different sto- ry almost four decades ago: “It all started in 1985 when I was 17 years old,” recalls Managing Director and company found- er Stefan Matuschek. “A buddy from my sandpit gang was training to be a print tem- plate creator back then. To earn a bit of money, he offered a course for children staying at home during summer holidays, where he showed them how to print their own T-shirts. But because all the kids went on va- cation in 1985, his friends had to take part so that the course could take place and the orga- nizer would have to pay the fee. That’s how we printed our first T-shirts.” Shortly afterwards, the buddies sold their first merchandise, made in Matuschek’s parents basement, at punk concerts. In addi- tion to the shirts, these were mainly patches with a now legendary motif: a fist smash- ing a swastika, ac- companied by the slogan “Against Nazis”. Matuschek remembers how it came about: “It was the summer in which the music scene split into two camps: the skin- heads and the punks. Until then, both groups could go to the same concerts because it wasn’t polit- ical. In 1985, however, the skins were infiltrated by the right and began to cause stress for the first time. Suddenly all the punks in Dort- mund were on the left and all the skin- heads were on the right.” Unfortunately, this was also evi- dent in the clubs that the scene fre- quently visited: “Everywhere we went to party, there were scrib- bles with swastikas, for example on the toilets.” Of course, the friends couldn’t leave it at that. Something caught their eye at a kiosk: “There were three differ- ent stamps: one with a smiley face, one with a heart – and one with a fist. And it was exactly the stamp that you could slap on the doodles to signal your disapprov- al. That’s how around 10 million screen prints are produced annually 10 tonnes of paint are used per year 99 per cent of the textiles that Art Worx prints are black more than 1000 customers from the music business are supplied by the company almost 100 employees from 14 nations work here 200,000 unprinted textiles are part of the permanent stock work is carried out on 5000 square metres of production space four screen printing carousels with a diameter of 6 meters and a length of 20 meters run in 3 shifts 5000 pieces can be delivered to any point in Europe within 24 hours Art Worx’ head of the company Stefan Matschuek in front of a massive rack of printing inks (top). Left: In the mid-80ies, Stefan started selling shirts and patches that were printed in his parents’ basementwe came up with the idea of the fist and the smashed swastika.” The young people then used the knowledge they gained from the vacation course to print their first own motif - which is now known worldwide - count- less times on sheets belong- ing to Matuschek’s parents. Patches were cut out of them en masse. “We sold a patch for one Deutschmark and at some point we ended up with almost 100,000 Deutschmarks!” recalls the company founder. Of course, the clique could have splashed the cash, but they decided to leave their parents’ basement to print on a larger scale and with a proper ma- chine. “We looked for rooms in the newspaper and found an interesting ad under ‘Other’: a brothel that wasn’t doing very well was renting out six rooms.” Stefan Matus- chek still laughs about it today. “That’s where the company real- ly took off.” At some point in the nine- ties – the Art Worx boss can’t remember exactly when – the first collaboration with the Wacken Open Air took place: “We sort of grew up togeth- er.”Today, the W:O:A keeps the four Art Worx printing spi- ders busy all year round, each of which can print 500 shirts in an hour: “At peak times, there is an absolute vacation ban here. Many of our employees used to go to Wacken regularly before they started at Art Worx. But those who work here can’t take a vacation during the festival be- cause there is far too much to do.” However, this also enables the company to react to all eventual- ities within a short space of time. “If it gets unusually cold or wet on the ‘field’ and there are no hoodies after the first day, for example, we print new ones im- mediately. We can deliver 5,000 items to any location in Europe within 24 hours,” explains Ma- tuschek proudly. Over the past 39 years, the idea of a few sandpit friends has grown into a company with around 100 employees. “But we don’t want it to get much bigger than that,” says Ma- tuschek. “We have now reached a company size that is great for us and is still fun. What‘s more, we don’t want to be the biggest print shop in the world, but rath- er the best.” Screen printer Kiki Kröska with another W:O:A design for 2024 Print template with a Wacken design for 2024 Four huge screen printing carousels at the company’s headquarters in Dortmund, Germany credits: privatx, Andrea Leim, Wacken Open Aircredits: privatx, Andrea Leim, Wacken Open Airpeth haven’t been on tour for a year now, which is why guitarist Fredrik Åkesson starts feeling an itch. He is particular- ly looking forward to the show at Wacken Open Air. You’re going to play a “by request” show at Wacken. The requests on your social media so far are mostly growling songs. Did you expect that? Fredrik Åkesson: Yeah, a little bit. We really enjoy playing those songs. A couple of years back, we played a few “anniversary by request” shows in Germany. And finally we got to play the song that people have been asking for for decades. It was ‘Black Rose Immortal’ from the first album, Orchard. That song is 23 minutes long and contains a bit more than 30 different riffs. So it’s a bit of a tricky one to get it into your muscle memory. I think we might play that again. I think that‘s appreciated. I‘m not sure how long we are allowed to play at Wacken this time, but we will try to cover as many albums as possible and there will be plenty of growling songs. Absolutely. How do “By request” set lists differ from what you would put together for a concert at W:O:A? Fredrik Åkesson: Of course there’s going to be a lot of songs that we have played a lot, What sounds like a musician’s fairytale is actually the story of hard work and discipline. Opeth guitarist Fredrik Åkesson (51) practised up to eight hours a day to achieve his dream Opeth’ Fredrik Åkesson with the instrument that changed his life: a guitarfavorites like ‘Demon Of The Fall’ and ‘Deliverance’, and maybe ‘Drapery Falls’ and ‘Blackwater Park’. Even later songs like ‘Devil’s Orchard’ and ‘Eternal Rains Will Come’ are popular. The fan requests are not that far from our own requests, really. It’s kind of close to what we would prefer. Which is good for us, because we know some of those, we don’t have to rehearse too much (laughs). You are working on new songs at the moment. Will the album be ready anytime soon? Fredrik Åkesson: We’re very much working on it right now. We haven’t started the actual recordings, but all the songs are done. Do you have a release date yet? Fredrik Åkesson: Yes! We’re going to start the actual recording pretty soon and our goal is to get the album out in the fall of this year. How do you feel about testing new material live before it’s released? Since you know you’re going to release a new album, is it possible that you try out a new song in Wacken? Fredrik Åkesson: Me personally, I think it’s a great idea. And if we will succeed on releasing the album in the fall, it might be a great idea to play one new song at the Wacken Open Air. It’s too early to say but I definitely wouldn’t mind. It would be a good introduction for the German fans and everybody else from other countries coming in. So we’ll see what happens. It’s a great idea. I’ll bring it up to the table. For you personally, this will be your fifth time playing in Wacken: three times with with Opeth and once with Arch Enemy. What is special about the W:O:A? Fredrik Åkesson: It is so big and mighty. When you stand on stage and see all these people, it’s overwhelming. And the setup is always super professional. Do you have a favorite memory from the festival? Fredrik Åkesson: I thought about that today before this interview. My favorite show was actually the last one we did with Opeth. From a playing aspect, I think we played really good. The show was in the dark and fires were lighting up. It looked really powerful and mighty. I was super happy about that gig, but Wacken in general is always a treat. You dropped out of school quite early to pursue your dream. What made you want to become a musician? Fredrik Åkesson: It started off when I was a kid. I was into AC/DC, Iron Maiden and Kiss. Then I saw this show from Dortmund called ‘Rockpop in Concert’. It was amazing. It was Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Scorpi- ons, Michael Schenker, Ozzy Osborne, Def Leppard… I saw Michael Schenker play the Cour- voisier Concerto and I was spell- bound when I saw what he could Åkesson joined Opeth in 2017 (pictured here with former drummer Martin Axenrot Åkesson considers Opeth’ 2019 set his favorite Wacken showNext >