THEM is a heavy metal band consisting of members Klaus Köönig (Troy Norr)- vocals, Markus Ullrich – guitars, Markus Johansson – guitars, Mike Lepond – bass, Kevin Talley – drums, Richard Seibel – keys. I was able to conduct an interview with Markus Johansson from Them via telephone to find out a little bit about the history behind the band, who they would love to tour with and what they have planned for 2016.
Side Stage Magazine: Can you give me a brief history of your band?
Markus Johansson: I was familiar with the band when it was a King Diamond Tribute band, probably around 2007ish? Myspace heyday type of thing. I remember seeing the articles pop up where Monte Conner (who was president of A&R and Roadrunner Records at the time)…it was a video of his office and he was in there with the front man Troy. Troy was belting out all kinds of King Diamondy stuff and everyone was kind of having a laugh, but at the same time it wasn’t a ha ha laugh it was an “Oh. Wow, Ok this guy is actually doing that. It isn’t like a joke.” So, yeah I was familiar with the band and Troy. It was actually the same time as King Diamond’s back surgery – one of a couple. I think he had a lot of down time around 2006 or 2007. The band THEM even had King Diamond’s bass player at the time, Hal Patino, and the other guitar player, Mike Wead, come to the states I believe and played some shows with THEM as a tribute band. So, I was very aware of this kind of entity for years and then my buddy Kevin Talley who is drumming for Suffocation right now. He was the one that turned me on to Troy, recently saying that Troy wants to do this original album and wants to break away from the tribute act and take it away into original territory. He has written a story and all this stuff. That is how it sort of came to be and the bass player Mike Lepond from Symphony X, I guess he used to check out the tribute band and go watch the shows and have some fun and all that kind of stuff. Everyone was kind of aware of the tribute aspect of it and then when he wanted to take it to a more full extent, and take the plunge into original material, he started hitting up some of us and that is kind of how it all started.
The single and the album have a very King Diamond overtone, especially the single. The album: the consistency of the vocals is all over the place. A couple people I have had listen to it have commented on how it sounds like it could convincingly be three different people. It’s just the traditional King Diamond vocals through the whole album. It definitely kind of bounces between a few different things, kind of what people consider to be Troy’s own voice and a few other different tonalities that aren’t just straight King Diamond. That is kind of the realm of where it originated from. I always give him credit because if people are going to try and charge you with a vocal perjury, that is a helluva tall order to fill. If you can convincingly do King you’re still immensely talented it’s not something that just anyone can just decide one day that s how they are going to sound or that is what they are going to sound like.
Live, I have some singer background myself, and the bass player situation is that Mike Lepond will be on the road with Symphony X. The album picked up so much speed after the single got released: labels reaching out, label involvement now, tour offers. It did kind of create a little bit of a problem with scheduling. Symphony X is going to be on the road, Suffocation got a tour thrown at them semi-last minute – so we have a little overlap. We will have a main vocalist and on a good day two backing vocalists live, to handle the layering. There is such an immense amount of layering on the record. It’s going to be a tall order for everyone involved. To make it as true to the record as possible.
Where are you based out of?
I’m in Chicago; no two people are from the same town. Technically we consider the back of our operations out of Troy’s place where we will do our rehearsals. Troy lives in Long Island. So New York is our standard response. Markus and Richard are both from Germany.
Who writes your music?
Markus (Ullrich)actually wrote the album with Troy’s input. I was told that Markus actually wrote all the music based off of the story working in collaboration with Troy. By the time we were all pulled into the fold and brought on board they were like “do you want to write a track or two for the album?” and I was like there is already so much done considering it’s a concept record and it tells a story, I was like just finish it off so that it’s as consistent as possible. It was phenomenal work that Markus did. It’s definitely a sum of all parts thing. Leponds bass playing constantly brings a smile to my face. Kevin is always amazing because he is so versatile. Everyone always assumes when you are death metal legendary drummer guy that you don’t need to get in your groove and play the slower parts and do all kinds of stuff. There is just so much finesse there.
It was so much fun to do. I played I think eight or ten guitar solos on the record. My input on that was minimal but it was a blast to do because it managed to capture a great vibe to it. It’s going to be a lot of fun to take that out on the road and play it in front of people.
Who produced the new album?
No producer had any involvement. I don’t recall any specific person. We were all scattered all over the place. It’s always been that way any time I’ve been involved with records. There’s always been some kind of remote aspect to it. It’s totally doable if everyone is on top of their shit. It can be just as convincing and I think this is another example of when you listen to it, nobody that has had a preview of it has said it sounds very disjointed or it doesn’t really sound like a band. It sounds like a bunch of …no, it sounds very well put together. I believe towards the end of it the mixing and mastering was done by Dave Otero at Flatline Audio. I believe he also has some production under his belt as well as post production stuff. I know Troy was out there during the post production at least during the start of it. I think Dave may have had some input but it wasn’t like somebody was sitting there from the beginning with endless amount of input. The story, the lyrics, the whole layout of everything was all troy, Markus put together all of the music and everything was sent to us individually. Once the album was completely written it went to Kevin and he did all drums. All the guitars got done. The bass got added in, they added in my batch of solos and then it went to vocals. It’s still a similar process how it was all done. We will just pretend it was the new Beach Boys record. We were all doing it but we were never in the same place at the same time. It’s very top secret stuff.
What has your biggest challenge been as a band?
It’s a communication thing as long as everyone is really clear and really thorough and as long as deadlines aren’t really a huge ordeal. It gives it a little bit of time, I think. Whenever you try to rush things in this setting at all its hard to catch lightning in a it can still be the same recipe for four guys in a room for six months and not get anything that resembles listenable. Everybody has got a real good amount of experience and I think that really shows that, when it came down to the actual tracking process, it’s very much a knowing the difference between wanting to record parts to accent the material and then showcase yourself. I think that’s another thing too, is that some bands kind of get a little bit into the guitar muscle flexing and always trying to prove every track every moment how bad ass they are. Not to say that you shouldn’t make bad ass music, but at the same time I don’t think that is the recipe for it. You’re always trying to make a statement as opposed to being to being able to know the difference. With Mike and with Kevin, such veteran players they knew what to play, after working with producers for ten to twenty years some of that eventually rubs off and you know hey, this a good part for this or no that doesn’t really make the vibe work kind of stuff.
Everyone stepped up to the challenge of if you are not going to be in the same room as each other you can still make things work. Whether it is flying out to jam with Malaki or the new 4ARM album that we did – they’re Australian, I was never there. It was a lot of file sharing and a lot of trial and error. I was fortunate to come in at the end of the process where the leg work has already been done. I have to tip my hat at those guys because it was a ton of work and something that is not to be shunned. It’s a helluva process.
If you could put together a tour, what band or bands would you have on the bill?
Everyone always asks about King Diamond. I just laugh so I am not going to say King. I think I have said it a few times – Huntress would be a really fun one. I know Jill and Blake and they have got that killer vibe of similar kind of thing. I know they called Jill the female King Diamond. They are a killer band with an awesome vibe I think that would be a lot of fun. It’s always good to get along with people too when you know each other. Huntress would be great to go out with.
When will your album Sweet Hollow be released?
January was initially the plan, but then the album got picked up by Empire Records – which I always laugh at because of the movie. It’s an awesome movie. They are in Belgium, I believe, and they picked up the album and I believe there will be a big release through them. I don’t know if it is going to be pushed back or not. Initially it was going to be an independent release in January before the tour with Helloween. I know that there is going to be box sets, cassettes even vinyl. They are going to hit every format which is fucking awesome for me because I jumped into the scene in the industry so late in the game where CD’s are almost a relic. To have all the formats and the cassette would be hilariously awesome for me. I can’t wait to see those. I don’t know if I can say who is doing the artwork, so I am not going to. When I heard who was doing it, I got really excited. If you go down the Huntress rabbit hole you might be able to figure out who. It is going to be really slick too that is going to bundled in together. I think that is what they are going for. I am just the guy that shows up to play guitar. I don’t know all of these things
Will you have a website with your merchandise for sale?
I am going to assume yes. I know it will be the digital formats. I am pretty sure its worldwide distribution and not done by territory. I don’t know exactly how that all will happen. There will be multiple outlets to pick this stuff up. Through us directly on the tour there is going to be some degree of merchandise, and the more limited stuff will be through the labels site. I am pretty sure that Them will have a site on the Empire page and will be linked to all the proper channels where stuff can be picked up. Its always just weird, you tell people where they can get your stuff and they are just like “Yeah on Pirate bay motherfucker”, they don’t care. There is a unique thing with this there has been a pretty good buzz in the circles that we have seen. When the single came out people were not expecting it to be what it was or sound the way it did. When it’s a group of guys, well I saw some releases saying that buzz word Super Group, whenever you see that it’s going to either be awesome or a complete train wreck. I don’t know if they can go either way. It’s one extreme or the other.
Is there anything you want to pass along to the fans?
I want to say thank you to Side Stage! And If anyone is planning on coming out to the tour with Helloween it’s going to be a little bit more than you would expect. With it being a first run for the band there is going to be a lot more involved than us just going up on the stage and playing songs. There is a lot of planning going into this a lot of effort on a lot of parts. If it works well I think it will be fucking awesome. If people are kind of interested to see what it’s all about, there will be more of a live element than a band taking a the stage on their first tour.
Upcoming tour with Helloween:
Feb. 28 – Corona Theatre – Montreal, QC
Feb. 29 – Imperial de Quebec – Quebec City, QC
Mar. 01 – Playstation Theater – New York, NY
Mar. 03 – Agora Theater – Cleveland, OH
Mar. 04 – Concorde Music Hall – Chicago, IL
Mar. 06 – Showbox at the Market – Seattle, WA
Mar. 07 – The Avalon – Hollywood, CA
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