I first heard Jorn Lande after the release of his tribute album to Ronnie James Dio, simply titled Dio. When I heard that album, I heard a voice that reached deep down into my inner most self and tugged on every string of my heart. I know, it sounds corny but it’s true. Jorn Lande was the voice I had long been looking for and I instantly became a fan. With a voice that sounded like a hybrid of Dio, classic David Coverdale, and Ian Gillan, how could I not love this?
I was so psyched when I finally had the chance to interview Jorn Lande and I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better interview. During our conversation, we talked about his approval of Axl Rose singing in AC/DC, we talked about his latest covers album Heavy Rock Radio
Jorn, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me this afternoon.
No problem. It’s great to talk to you, Don.
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Jorn, I have to say, I’m having a glass of wine for you so cheers.
Oh cheers [laughs]. I’m having a glass of wine too. A fan gave me a bottle of wine in Bulgaria. I kept it for a while but I opened it to day so cheers mate [laughs].
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Before we get started, I have to ask you, what is one question do you get asked so much that it drives you crazy?
Probably the story about Yngwie Malmsteen [laughs]. That’s probably the number 1 question that I usually get and I don’t go too deep into that one. Mainly just because it’s just such a long story.
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Well, you’ll be happy to know that I didn’t even have that as a question for you.
[laughs] Oh, well thank you very much for that, Don [laughs].
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Your latest release, Heavy Rock Radio is a really unique collection of some of your favorite songs. What was the deciding process for picking these songs? You must have had 100 songs you wanted to do.
Yeah, it’s probably 100+ but I picked between 40 and 50 songs that I really loved and I thought would sound cool if I “Jornified” them a bit [laughs]. Just put my stamp on them. Some of these songs were really personal to me, especially the early 80s songs. They were a part of my youth so it’s like they are in my blood. I thought about how songs like, “Running Up That Hill” and “There’s Something Going On” would lend themselves to a heavy rock arrangement. These songs felt like they were more heavy from the beginning. Like when Russ Ballard wrote, “There’s Something Going On”, I’m sure that he felt that it should have been more rock n’ roll from the beginning or have some additional power.
I really felt that way about “Running Up That Hill.” When I heard what you did with it I was like, “This is a metal song!”
[Laughs] Thank you, Don. Yeah, I sometimes thought that song would sound great up tempo and with some slightly progressive guitars but still played in a classic, heavy rock sense. The final arrangement of that song, I have to give credit to Trond Holter, my guitar player, for that. Even though I might hear a certain structure in my head, it’s usually the guitarists that create the final result and spinoff from the ideas that I have. When I said that the verses should have some darker tones or darker notes, he came up with those long, dark, almost Sabbath-ish notes to go under the verse. I just knew that there was something darker, more classic under there and he came up with that arrangement.
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For the most part, this collection of songs is older and more classic but then you have songs like Paul Stanley’s Live to Win and Iron Maiden’s “The Final Frontier.” What led to you wanting to do that one?
It’s not that old but the reason for that song being on the album is simply because, the first time I heard it I said, “This isn’t a typical Iron Maiden song.” With a cleaner production, it almost could’ve been a late 70’s, early ’80’s kind of West Coast melodic rock song. It has that kind of flavor to me. I also had the idea to make the keyboard intro sound a bit retro from say the early 80’s or so.
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Jorn, I have to say that, in my opinion, you took that approach with the DIO album. That was my introduction to you and you did such an admirable, amazing job paying tribute to him.
Thank you so much, Don. Ronnie was a big influence to me. What he did and what he wrote was so unique and so strong. Everything he did was coming from the heart basically. That’s why I was a big fan. When I did that record, people said stuff like, “Nobody can do the Dio stuff.”
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You got a lot of shit from people saying that it was just a “cash grab” but that was not the case at all.
That record was a homage to Ronnie and to everything he’s done. My intention from the beginning for releasing this album was totally different. The intention was for Ronnie to hear these songs. That was how the whole idea started. No one knew that Ronnie would suddenly pass away. My record company and I had a contract to do a covers album and we had already made some plans and they wanted to stick to the deal. They said that they would still release the album even though I said that it wasn’t a good time. I had my doubts about releasing it but in the end, the label thought it best to just go ahead and release it. I wanted to wait for at least a few months but then they said, “Do you know how many people will just run to the studio to record Dio songs?”
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A lot of people probably didn’t even know that you already had a very extensive and successful career of your own.
Yes. Some people in the US didn’t even really know about my past. I already had an established career as an original artist writing my own material which not many people knew. Everybody suddenly got familiar with this guy from Europe who sang the Dio songs. They were like, “What’s this guy doing? He’s messing with religion.” It’s not about competition or trying to be better. It was because I was a big fan. When you hear the songs though, you can hear that that I’m trying to do my own thing with them and not just covering them. It’s kind of like what I did with “Running Up That Hill” off of the new album. It’s very true to the original but there’s something personal in the performance. To me, you can never really match the original. You can make a great version though.
Did the surviving members of Heaven and Hell/Black Sabbath give you any grief for releasing the Dio album?
Like I said earlier, at the time, it was really a bad time but the good thing for me was when I felt really bad about it in the beginning, like when I got the call from Tony Iommi, when these guys said, “Jorn, don’t worry about it.” Most of the people in the Sabbath camp that were around Ronnie, even though they had mixed feelings, they were not blaming me for anything so I felt a lot of acceptance. That was a great confirmation and helped me not take things too personally and to move on and do my own thing.
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When Ronnie James Dio started to really get sick, were you ever called in as a standby?
When Ronnie was sick, I was asked to do some shows that they had already booked. I never really asked anybody in the camp this question but as far as I know, it was Ronnie’s decision that he wanted to go through with the shows regardless of his treatment. When Ronnie got weak and got into a really bad shape, the band discussed the possibilities of doing if not all the shows, some of them. They asked me if I would be up for it to do some songs and then Ronnie would be on stage to sing some songs so we would just go back and forth, just so they could make the shows happen. A few weeks later, I got the message that Ronnie had passed. It was kind of strange and thinking back now, I’m honored that I was asked at the time. Don, you are actually the first person I’m ever telling this to.
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Jorn, I’m honored to hear this.
Thank you, Don. Honestly, most of my connection with that I just usually kept it to myself for many years. Mostly out of respect and also because I didn’t want people to misunderstand things. I kept it to myself to just secure myself and to know in my own heart that I didn’t go out there and talk about a lot of it in detail to upset all the fans of Ronnie and Black Sabbath. I just kept it to myself and kept a low profile. Still, there was a lot of shit going but now that two years have passed, I’m so glad I did it. I’m really grateful for the experience and I owe a lot to Tony and Geezer and everybody in that camp. They were always so nice to me and treated me with respect.
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After Dio passed, you joined Heaven and Hell on stage to perform some songs in Dio’s honor and it totally made my heart soar. I was so sure that either you would join Heaven and Hell or maybe do another project with them. Did this ever come up?
Actually, I did some demo things with Tony back around 2005. After that, Heaven and Hell happened so we already have done some stuff together that has never been released. Nobody told me back then about the plans for them to do Heaven and Hell.
Was it somewhat disappointing that Tony and Geezer chose to go back with Ozzy rather than move forward doing something with you?
Looking at it now, it was obvious that Black Sabbath had a plan to finish and they had to look at their legacy and their health. On one side, I wish we could’ve played some more shows or I wish we could’ve written some more stuff together. Maybe it will even happen but who knows? It’s not something I expect. I have inner peace that I am doing my own thing and I’m fine that whatever happens in the future happens will happen. If it’s the right time in the future and it happens, that’s fine but I’m also fine if it doesn’t happen.
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Ok Jorn, this has been a pretty intense interview so are you ready to loosen up a bit with some kind of off the wall questions?
[Laughs] Yes, let’s do it!
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If Hollywood was to make a movie about your life, who would play you?
[Laughs] Oh man. Wow, that’s a tricky one. I should probably pick an actor that looks better than myself [laughs]. Maybe a long haired Mel Gibson? Oh. How about Russell Crowe? [Laughs]
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What is one metal album that EVERYBODY should hear and own?
Oh my, Don. There are so many great ones. If I could only choose one metal album, I would have to say Judas Priest’s Unleashed in the East. Now that is metal and that is everything all in one. You get Rob’s voice and the metal playing but you also get some of that sound of the late 70’s before it crossed over to be less organic and more produced. That record would be a strong one for metal. I mean, then again, I could also pick Number of the Beast or most anything from Sabbath but the word metal makes me think of Judas Priest first.
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When you stub your toe, do you let out an epic Jorn metal scream?
[Laughs] I do. [makes metal scream] [laughs]. Or I also do it like when I log into my bank account and I see a check in there for me. I just scream “Oh yeah!!!! It’s there!!!! I got it!!!” [laughs] I throw my fist in the air. When I was younger, I used to do those metal screams all the time but it’s like I stopped doing it. I do it with this Avantasia project because the songs sometimes have two harmony vocals.
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What song do you just have to sing along with every time you hear it?
Oh man. Well, it used to be “Back in Black” but now their new one, “Rock or Bust” is my new favorite. It’s so good. In the beginning, I first heard it and thought it was pretty good but then I just cranked it up and I said to myself, “Man, this is fucking epic.” [laughs] I played it over and over again a few times and I just love it. That’s what we all envy. I think everybody’s lying when they say that they don’t like to do the simple rock stuff because it’s old school. I think everybody deep inside envies Brian Johnson and Angus Young for having that recipe to be able to go on stage and just play those songs. How come more bands aren’t doing that; making music that has that kind of energy? That’s what real rock n’ roll is all about and can you get more rock n’ roll than AC/DC? I don’t think so. The music that most artists in rock and metal write today, it’s not as natural as some of these bands that we grew up with. The bands that we grew up with had something natural; something dynamic. I think that’s the whole key as to why AC/DC is so successful.
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So what do you think of AC/DC carrying on without Brian Johnson?
I was a bit skeptical but I was thinking, if Axl still has what I takes to do some of the stuff he did like “Welcome to the Jungle” with that same range or energy, I thought it would be perfect. When I listened to it, it actually went beyond what I expected. I think he’s really great and I think what he’s doing with them is some of his best performances ever. That shows that it’s not just because he’s a great singer but that AC/DC has a recipe that fits any good singer. I honestly believe that Axl Rose has never been a better singer than he is right now.
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I have to agree that Axl really does sound great but honestly, he has to because this isn’t his legacy. This is a legacy of a band that inspired him as an artist so he has to treat this with respect and truly give it all he’s got.
You could definitely say that there’s some pressure there but at the same time what he’s doing, he didn’t have much time to prepare for it. It’s still a lot of work and if you’re going to be confident and really perform these songs, you need to get your shit together. It seems like he’s doing it in a natural way and I really like it. People will always compare him to Brian but remember, Brian was the new singer after Bon Scott [laughs]. I think Axl was the best choice that they could have made to be honest.
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Jorn, I could talk to you all fucking night. I wish you would just come over to my house so we could talk all night and drink beers.
[laughs] We should definitely do this!
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So what can we do to get you over here to the states?
The reason for not playing too frequent in the US is just because I’ve either been in the middle of some productions in the studio or that the tours just didn’t have the right conditions. It can also actually be bad for your career if you do a tour and it’s not well planned or there are too many of the wrong venues. It’s not that I don’t want to play in the US but the standards and expectations that I had were higher than what was offered basically and I just ended up with nothing in the US. We’re not asking to play big arenas. We just want to play decent theaters or decent clubs. It’s just that, you expect it to be a certain quality. Maybe in the next year or two I will do some more stuff in the US.
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Jorn, I really enjoyed the hell out of this. It was so great to have a conversation and I hope you enjoyed it even a fraction as much as I did.
Thank you so much, Don. I really enjoyed talking to you. Hopefully we’ll have a beer in America! Cheers my friend.
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