Tomas Lindberg (Blistering.com)

Tomas Lindberg is quite the busy guy. Over the past decade, his raw vocal style has been influential in shaping much of the modern metal scene. His brash sounding vocal sound is distinctive and hard to miss within a scene of artists trying to find its identity.

He is best known as the frontman in At the Gates, the longtime Swedish death metal outfit that has been sited as an influence on many of today’s bands. Their final release, Slaughter of the Soul, is still one of the most talked about releases of the last decade.

He has been balancing new releases by his two bands, Disfear and The Great Deceiver. The Great Deceiver returns with Life Is Wasted on the Living, their third full length release [and their first for Deathwish Inc]. Shortly after, Disfear released their newest full length, Live the Storm.

After a decade of inactivity, At the Gates will be returning for a series of reunion dates. Lindberg talked about each of his bands, his approach behind working with each band, and balancing his hectic schedule.

Blistering.com: Is it ironic that both the Great Deceiver and the Disfear records were both released so close to each other?

Tomas Lindberg: It’s kind of weird because they were recorded close together. The Great Deceiver had been shelved for a while because of trying to find a new label. The Disfear record happened so quickly, even though the writing process was longer. It’s been like…21 or 22 songs had been in my head for like…four years (laughs).

Blistering.com: So how long have you been doing Disfear now?

TL: Since 1999. 1998 or 1999, I can’t remember. It’s been a while. I feel that it’s my band as much as anyone else’s.

Blistering.com: How did you approach the writing process behind the new Disfear record?

TL: I knew when we’re recording the last album, Misanthropic Generation, we already knew what we were capable of. We didn’t want to take all of the steps at once. We had a basic idea for the next album already then. We knew it would still keep the formula in tact in one way. We added Uffe [Cederlund, guitar] as the second guitarist. That brought in new influences that we could step up another level. We couldn’t really hold that back. Within the first couple of songs with Uffe, that’s when we realized that it was going somewhere. The evolution process was going faster than we thought.

Blistering.com: Uffe wasn’t part of the last record, is that right?

TL: He was a touring member for the last record.

Blistering.com: How did he get involved with Disfear? He was a touring member and then he’s now a full time member.

TL: We were touring with Entombed. He had happened to fill in. The first tour we did, not as a support band to Entombed, was his first tour where we asked him if he wanted to come along. The other times he was there. Then he said, ‘I wanna come along, but I want to be a member.’ He actually took the position in a way (laughs)! It was a really easy thing.

Blistering.com: Was that the reason why he quit Entombed?

TL: Not really.That’s probably something you have to talk to him about. For a long time, he was part of both bands. I don’t have enough knowledge to go into details about why he quit Entombed. There were a lot of other reasons but not Disfear.

Blistering.com: While you were writing the last Disfear record, you were involved with a number of other projects. Do you feel that you can focus more on Disfear now that you don’t have the other obligations?

TL: I feel much more relaxed now. I have only Disfear and the Great Deceiver to concentrate on. Even saying this, the Great Deceiver is not that much of a touring band. We do short European tours and stuff like that. We would like to come over to the States on this one. Disfear has more of a natural live sound. I feel less stressed after stripping down so many projects. These two bands mean so much for me to do them.

Blistering.com: Are you no longer the guy involved in a million projects?

TL: No. Now it’s only my two bands. Two bands is a lot for a guy who’s also studying full time at a university and a family. I don’t have that much time.

Blistering.com: You’re packing your entire day then.

TL: I’m doing school work when I’m talking to you and trying to have one eye on the kids at the same time. My wife will be home soon. I’ve got to do it, but it’s all fun. I love my school work. I love, of course, my family. I love both of my bands. It’s a constant problem (laughs)!

Blistering.com: What are you studying in school?

TL: It’s university for becoming a high school teacher in social studies. I’ll be teaching kids about social values. It’s another two years. I’m half way through.

Blistering.com: So when you write for the Great Deceiver and for Disfear, your vocal styles slightly differ. How much do the two bands really differ when you write?

TL: Actually, lyric wise – what goes into the lyrics are not that much different. I come to the point where I need to have something important to say. It’s always the same sort of subjects I want to deal with in both bands. They’re both political hardcore bands. Maybe it has more of a rhythmical vocal pattern with the Great Deceiver, with what you would call American hardcore vocals, with the more rhythmical approach. Disfear has maybe a straight forward aggressive vocal approach. Maybe that also comes with the tone, where Disfear is a bit higher than the Great Deceiver. Each song has its own feeling, which I try to portray with my vocals as well. It comes down to what my great writers bring to the table.

Blistering.com: I noticed the Great Deceiver has more of a melodic metal style with your vocals over it. The Disfear, especially on this one, has more of a punkier influence, like Motorhead type of feel. Are the musicians in each band influenced that differently?

TL: Not really. It would be different to play in a band that had a different approach than me. The guys I play with have their favorite bands in each genre. It happened that all of the players in Disfear portray that side of our musical light. It is the same with the Great Deceiver. The Great Deceiver could easily want to do a Disfear sounding song for rocking out, and same with the Disfear guys. We all love the melodic metal sounding stuff. This is our different sides of us. We feel comfortable portraying in the two different bands. That’s why it differs.

Blistering.com: Is there a meaning behind Live the Storm?

TL: It’s something that stuck in my head. I don’t know where I got it from. I liked the ring of it. It’s more of a command. I tell you to live the storm. This may sound pretentious, but to live the storm is like to live in rebellion, and to be against ruling powers and having somebody standing up against it. It’s about the punk scene in a way. The real punk scene (laughs)! It’s being against authority and nothing being punished for it. Not “right, right” and going home and eating your mother’s lunch (laughs). It’s the devoted anti-authority.

Blistering.com: It’s the spirit of the anarchist punk movement.

TL: It’s something like the cry of rebellion. I wouldn’t call our music political in that sense. It’s a cry for everyone to open up and to think about what is going on.

Blistering.com: Do you think your lyrics are still very politically or socially motivated as the days when you were in At the Gates?

TL: Yeah. That’s why I feel comfortable with At the Gates coming back together. I think it’s still the same style. I still have the same devotion to what I do. It’s still the same basic idea of standing up for solidarity and socialism. That’s what I believe in. It’s widespread between the bands for sure.

Blistering.com: When you’re not doing your music, what bands are you personally into these days?

TL:There’s so much different stuff. Every week it changes. For several weeks, it’s been like the New Wave of American Underground Black Metal, like Xasthur and Leviathan. I’ve been into a lot of that stuff, like Nachtmystium. Together, with the new wave punk, like the Vipers and Wire. It’s really stretched out, but it’s all obscure stuff for sure. A lot of stuff inspires me a lot to do my own stuff.

Blistering.com: You recorded the Great Deceiver record in the US?

TL: No. The Disfear record was record with Kurt [Ballou] from Converge in Salem [Massachuetts]. The Great Deceiver record was done in Sweden. It’s released on an American label [Deathwish Inc], so that’s probably why it’s confusing [laughs].

Blistering.com: What was it like working with Kurt on the Disfear record?

TL: It was amazing. We probably couldn’t have done the same record without him. We have great respect for his musical talent, the way he writes, arranges songs and the way he brings out the natural sound of the band and the off settings. It really sounds like us more than what we thought was possible. It’s natural, honest and aggressive. He had great ideas that we listened to.

Blistering.com: In 2006, you brought Disfear to the US for the Maryland Deathfest.

TL: Last year, we were in the States three times. We’ve been over to the States five times for the last record. We hope to do the same with this one. What we do is popular here in Europe too. We feel that the American audience has been waiting for a longer time for a band like us to come around. Now when we have the chance that the people are interested on that level, we really want to go for it.

Blistering.com: Are you doing a full US tour?

TL: There are different suggestions. It’s depending on all of our different schedules. Three of the Disfear guys are fathers these days. We have a lot of obligations. We really want to keep it shorter, like doing two weeks East Coast, two weeks West Coast, and some dates in the middle; instead of doing a six week American tour. But then, we got some other offers that threw that option out of the window in a way! (laughs) Right now, we really don’t know when or where.

Blistering.com: What about The Great Deceiver? Is there a chance of bringing it over to the US?

TL: There are some offers for that too. We have some people that we work with that we feel comfortable with. We have to find the right schedule for it. It looks like Disfear is the band that will come over first. We’re hoping to be over here before the end of 2008. Both of my bands have been over to the States at least once. We work slowly. We’re not 25 any more. We have time on our side. It’s more important that everything is done well.

Blistering.com: It’s well known that you’re doing the At the Gates reunion next summer. How does that work into your pre-existing schedule?

TL: It’s hectic (laughs)! But we’ve been talking about it for so long, and this was the summer that was least hectic for everybody. Everybody has projects and things to do. We’ve wanted to do this for a long time. It was time. We’re so psyched about it. Their other bands, as far as I know, are helping out. They understand that this is something they need to do…to get it out of our systems in one way. As soon as we got the dates to work around…it’s about scheduling.

Blistering.com: I know At the Gates is doing select European festivals. Are you doing US dates as well?

TL: That’s the plan at least. There are some plans already. I guess they’re too loose to talk about. We are coming to the States. It won’t be a full tour, but it will be select dates in select cities. But it will be spread out so people won’t have to travel that far, and trying to keep the ticket prices down as well.

Blistering.com: I read that you were doing guest vocals with a band called Nail Within in Israel.

TL: Yeah. They were some friends of mine. They released an album on Listenable like four years ago. I did backing vocals on their album. So we’ve friends all that time. They got back together for one show, like what we’re going to do. So they’re doing their reunion, and they felt it would be special to have one of their guest vocals on the album on the reunion show as well. It was a great time. They’re awesome guys and really talented writers. It was rewarding.

myspace.com/disfear