How
did you first learn about Metal-Rules.com?
Ronnie.B: I discovered the site or more
exactly the message board of Metal-Rules when I was looking for some
sites for promoting JLN. Some may call this spamming but that was never
my intention 'cause I visited the forum quite a lot before I actually
made my first post. After that I began to read the Metal-Rules webzine
and of course kept posting at the message board.
Are you a regular visitor to the Metal-Rules.com webzine?
Danne: Yes, I read it every day.
Ronnie.B: I read it every day also, mostly the interviews and
reviews.
How important is Metal-Rules.com or the Internet in general for
getting your music?
TH: I would go as far as saying that it's the most important
source and the fastest way to get our music spread.
In
your experience, either as a reader or as a band, what has
Metal-Rules.com meant to you?
Ronnie.B: For me as a reader, Metal-Rules has meant very much
as it's a great way to explore and find out about new kick ass bands.
Bny: For JLN it's also meant very much as we've gotten 2
amazing reviews and we know that people has been checking us out after
reading the reviews.
Danne: We have a "counter" at our website where we
can see exactly from where the people visiting our site come from and
there's been loads of people coming from those reviews.
Do
you think webzines like Metal-Rules.com are, or maybe someday could,
replace traditional published magazines?
JLN: Yes we do, hasn't it almost done that?
Can you please list the members of the band and what they each
person plays?
Danne: Vocals
Bny: Rhythm guitar, additional growls
Nilsson: Rhythm and lead guitar.
TH: Bass, clean backing vocals, additional growls
Ronnie.B: Drums, clean backing vocals.
How long has the band been together and what goals would you like
to achieve in the coming years with the band?
Nilsson: We've been playing together as JLN for 7 years except
TH, who joined the band in late October 1999. He was a close friend to
the rest of us so he was the natural choice to replace Babbaen when he
left the band due to family matters. Our goals, well, to get out and
play live as much as we can, meet our fans and basically enjoy ourselves
and have a good time.
In your opinion, what style of metal would you say best describes
what you play?
Danne: We just wanna call it metal, plain and simple!
Who have been some of your main influences?
JLN: That's actually a kinda tricky question for us 'cause our
individual influences are so many and different. There are however some
mutual bands for all of us, like…Helloween, Iron Maiden, Dio,
W.A.S.P., Entombed, Blind Guardian and of course Candlemass hehehe.
Is your band currently signed to a record label?
Nilsson: We've ended the contract with Vile Music and we're
currently looking for a new deal.
Have
you contributed work to other compilation CDs?
Bny: Yes we have but not with an exclusive song and not for a
compilation of this extent.
Where did they hear about this compilation?
Ronnie.B: I read about it at the Metal-Rules message board.
Why did you choose this compilation to get your music to potential
fans?
Ronnie.B: Well, Metal-Rules is a big webzine so we thought
this would be a great opportunity to get our music out to a lot of
people. It's also done by serious people who live for metal so we knew
that it was gonna be an overall well done CD.
Besides your song, what is the best feature of the Metal-Rules
compilation and why?
Danne: I'd say that the line-up on this one is extremely
strong for a compilation album and we're just happy to be a part of it.
Why did you choose this particular song for the compilation?
TH: It's a song that's originally written for the From
The Mist Of The Ruins album but we weren't happy with it then so
we re-arranged it, changed some parts and it turned out really good so
we decided to use it on this compilation.
Where did you record the song & who wrote it and produced it?
Nilsson: The song is written by Bny (music) and Danne (lyrics)
and we've actually recorded it and mixed it our self. The drum parts
however are done in a studio in Ljusdal called "Kläppa Studion"
and they're co-produced and recorded by engineer Jonas Lindström who
also play drums in the band Withered Beauty. The rest, all the guitars,
bass and vocals are recorded in our rehearse room with a 16 channel
digital multitrack recorder. The drum parts and bass lines were recorded
and mixed on a Saturday in late September, the guitars were done very
fast too but in October. The vocals took a little longer than we hoped
for as Danne did catch a really nasty cold. This song is the first
"real" recording we've done our self if you don't count all
the demo songs we've done so we're quite excited about it and we just
hope that people will like it.
Would you say that your song on this compilation representative of
all your material?
TH: Yeah we think it is. It's got all the JLN trademark stuff
in it. Like clean, raw and growling vocals, melodic parts, fast and
heavy riffs plus lots of guitar melodies.
What is your song on this compilation about and what was the
inspiration behind it?
Danne: The lyrics is a story about the end of the world and
the inspiration…hmm, I don't know really, it's sometimes hard to
explain from where I get my inspiration hehe.
What about this song made you select it for this compilation OR if
your band wrote or recorded a new song specifically for this CD, what
things did you have in mind when writing the song for use this
compilation?
Ronnie.B: First of all we think it's a great song and we felt
that it would suit this compilation like a glow. The other thing is that
we're planning a concept album for our next release and this song
doesn't fit that lyrically speaking so we were a little afraid that this
song would never be released if we don't put it on here. You know, songs
can easily be forgotten and it would've been a shame if this one had.
What kind of expectations do you have towards this particular
compilation? What do you hope to gain by being featured?
Bny: We have big hopes for this one 'cause as we said earlier,
this compilation has an extremely good and strong line-up. I mean,
there's not every day you get to have bands like Jag Panzer, Imagika and
Persuader on compilations, at least not the ones NOT made by record
labels. To gain new fans is our main hope and maybe get to played on
f.ex radio stations. I don't know to who and and where it's gonna be
sent to other than the people who order it so…
Are you hoping this might help you in some way gain the kind of
exposure that may lead to a label picking you up?
Nilsson: Yeah of course.
As you know, most of the bands on this compilation are not
extremely well known. Do you think a compilation CD with a group of
mostly underground bands is a great way to help get your music noticed?
JLN: We think so and this particular comp is done by people
who breath, eat, shit and live metal so there's no doubt that this one
is gonna be a success, and by success we don't mean profit, more the
success of getting noticed and getting the music of these great bands
spread world wide.
What do you think of compilation CD's overall?
JLN: We're quite united about this one. Compilations is a
great way to get noticed, but unfortunately many albums of this kind
don't have the same high quality thru a whole album. We got a bunch of
CDs sent to us a couple of years ago and honestly, 90% of it sucked but
hey…it's still a great way to get the music spread.
What kinds of things should a compilation feature in order to make
it worth purchasing and what makes a compilation worthwhile?
JLN: There are a few things that we think is really important.
Exclusive songs: It's more fun to get a song that's never been released
before and only an be found on that specific album. High quality on
bands, layout etc…that it's a well done product, genuinely produced
thru the whole thing, from recording quality to booklet!
If you had a chance to put together this type of compilation, what
would be some of the unsigned bands you'd like to feature?
JLN: Some of our friends bands of course hehe. Withered
Beauty, Forlorn, De Tweksamma, Necrocide, Sin Of Dismay, Vargmåne.
Would you be interested in sacrificing another song for
"Metal-Rules.com - Vol. II" if the opportunity presented
itself?
JLN: Of course, we'd be honoured.
Where can people order your other recorded material?
Danne: The split album we did with De Tweksamma can be ordered
directly from us, check our website for details. When
Only Darkness Remains is unfortunately nearly impossible to get a
hold of as far a we know. From
The Mist Of The Ruins can be ordered from Vile Music, that's the
simplest way to get a copy of that one.
What are your band's upcoming battle plans?
JLN: The recording of 3rd album which is gonna take part
sometime this spring. We just need to get the lyrical concept done plus
some supplementary equipment needs to be bought for our home studio,
then we're set to go. We're also gonna try to play live as much as
possible, something we didn't do this year unfortunately. We have some
still unconfirmed gigs on the way.
Do you have any live dates coming up that you'd like to list here?
JLN: Not any confirmed ones right now, just check our website
every now and then for details.
Spring
1995: Ljusdal, Sweden. The remains of the local heroes LOADED
finds a new drummer and tries to get together again as a band. The
lineup at this time is: Danne C. - vocals, Thomas - guitar,
Blomman -guitar, Babbaen -bass, Ronnie B. - drums. In the
beginning the band played some Motörhead inspired metal, using
the name BASTARD. BASTARD put of one live show at Ljusdals Folk
park, and a five-track demo before Ronnie decides to leave the
band. Shortly after he is replaced by Morgan Norman (another local
hero). This time things don't work out so well, and the visit in
Kläppa Studio under the name DIE LAUGHING is the only
"official" appearance for Morgan with the boys. He is
leaving the band to do military service in August, and once again
the band got no drummer.
January
1998: After having the split-CD out for about half a year
without the response they all expected, the band begins to write
new songs and stray away from the mainstream style they performed
on the CD. The same month Julie Laughs Nomore get the opportunity
to be the opening act for HammerFall at Snakepit in Gävle. The
show is a success for the band, and inspired by that they enter
the studio in the end of February to record a new demo.. This time
the Danish label Serious Entertainment shows
September
2000: The band signs a new deal with the German label Vile
music.