Helsinki, Finland 4.4.2003
President Hotel

A few hours before Hammerfall hit the stage in Nosturi I met up with Oscar Dronjak, the guitarist, in the hotel lobby for an interview. The whole band actually appeared before my eyes, but the rest of the guys probably felt too tired for this kind of work, so I had to dump half of my questions. After all they were for Joacim and many about the forthcoming Eurovision song contest...oh well, we'll see if his work will go that far in May. But Oscar was very talkative and thanks to him for this long interview.

TOURING

Satu - You've played in Finland once before, do you have any fond memories from that trip ?

Oscar - I have memories from that trip, people told me what Finland was all about before we went here. It was exactly what they said. It was fun, we played in the middle of the night in the morning and I never thought anybody would be watching the show. But they were. They were drunk as hell but they were having fun. So that was a great night and because I didn't expect that I was positively surprised.

Satu - You just came from Japan, what were the highlights of those gigs ?

Oscar - For me the best thing was going there with Nocturnal Rites, a Swedish band, 'cos we had so much fun together. It was four shows in a week and we had so much fun from start to finish. Then the japanese culture and the japanese fans are way different than swedish ones and finnish I guess. Everybody is different in a way of course, but the japanese culture is so fundamentally different from the western culture, that it's very interesting to go there. First of all you feel like you're the greatest rock musician on earth, 'cos there's people in the lobby waiting for you. Everytime you go there there's fans waiting for autographs or photos or whatever. Second of all they're so educated, they know exactly what they want, they know exactly what the lyrics are, when they're supposed to sing, when they're supposed to be quiet. Joacim was talking between the songs, it was spooky 'cos I bet you could hear somebody cough in the back. Everybody was looking at him quiet, not saying a word or making noise. It was like they weren't there. When the song started they went "yeah !!", that was weird but fun.

CRIMSON THUNDER

Satu - How inspired and idea rich were you when you started writing for "Crimson Thunder" and finally went to the studio to record it ?

Oscar - Normally we first write the whole album before we go to the studio. We spent like eight months writing it and everything, making demos, rehearsing, most of the stuff, like 80-90 percent of the stuff. And when we went to the studio we knew exactly what we were going to do. We didn't really fool around a lot or improvise, we played around with the sound to get the sound we wanted and Charlie Bauerfeind, the producer, was very good at that. He was very good at making everybody feel comfortable, so pretty much what we did was we went to the studio and did what we were supposed to do and we were very happy with the result.

Satu - How has the album done so far ?

Oscar - Great, I don't know numbers from different countries, but there hasn't been any complains yet and that is usually a good sign. I think they've been very good promotionwise. So it's doing well. I don't know how well, but we did a tour in the US and the sales went up so..hopefully the japanese sales go up too. Sweden's great and Germany also. It's going great everywhere.

Satu - Are you pleased from all aspects with "Crimson Thunder", do you have any regrets ?

Oscar - I don't have any regrets from any albums that we've done. It's not like I think we could've done things differently or better. I don't think we could've done things differently or better at that certain point in time. When we recorded "Legacy", "Glory To The Brave" or "Renegade" we did this to the best of our abilities at that point in time. Same thing with "Crimson Thunder". I think for me the song writing for Crimson was the highlight so far, there's something with the album that makes it more complete than the others, makes it more as a unit songwriting wise and production wise. And every song is different from the other song. But that only adds to the whole. Let's look at Europe for example or Iron Maiden. Many people say "The Final Countdown" or "Number of The Beast" are the best albums from Iron Maiden or Europe so far. But I don't agree with that. I think those albums have some fantastic songs, but then they have some songs that aren't as good either. If you take "Out Of This World" for example, the album after "The Final Countdown", or pretty much any album from Iron Maiden after "The Number Of The Beast", in the eightees they were more complete as an album or they have a higher level throughout, as "Number" goes up and down, up and down a bit. This is what Crimson Thunder is, on that level, it's high throughout the album. I'm satisfied with 99 percent of everything and I wouldn't do anything differently.

Satu - Were all of you along the same lines when you started making it ?

Oscar - Yes I think we were because...when we started recording it we knew what we were going to do. We rehearsed well enough I guess, not too much this time but it worked out anyway. Everybody was really satisfied with the songs that were written for the album. People had a good feeling about it I think.

Satu - Any whining from the Malmsteen fans about your cover "Rising Force" ?

Oscar - Not at all, actually we didn't get much feedback on that so far. It's just a bonus track, so it doesn't really need the same concideration as the other songs on the album, this is just something we did for fun, a different studio and Jens (Johansson) playing which is great. I'm still a Malmsteen fan and to have two of the legendary Rising Force members playing the song...the song "Rising Force" is such a great song. And to have those two to actually record it in the first place is more something we did for ourselves rather than anything else. It's very personal to do this.

Satu - What has turned out to be the most popular song among fans ?

Oscar - I don't know. That's another good thing about this album and usually with many other albums, but people come up to us and say this is my favourite, that is my favourite, so they all have their own favourites. Many people seem to like the ballads, or girls actually. The lyrics are so deep, I don't know. Many people in general like "Hearts On Fire" best,'cos that's what they've heard the most on the radio or from the single or whatever. But my brother, who I always use as a measuring stick, if he likes it then it's good, 'cos he likes Hammerfall a lot and he would tell me if he didn't like something. And the first time he heard "Hero's Return" he said this is the best song you've done so far. I think that's another song I think is good, it's different from anything we've done before.

Satu - Some old fans don't like your latest album much, saying you're just copying "Renegade" and not offering anything new.

Oscar - I say they haven't listened to either "Renegade" or "Crimson Thunder", 'cos they're two very different albums. This critisism was valid between "Glory To The Brave" and "Legacy Of Kings" and between "Legacy" and "Renegade", 'cos these three sound similar in a certain way. "Crimson" stands out from these four, it's very different production wise and songwriting wise. But I don't know what these people expect us to do. Do they expect us to change music styles, because it has to be original ? Not everything that is unique, that nobody has done before means it's good. What we're trying to do is to record the perfect heavy metal album in our opinion of course. And with heavy metal you have to have certain ingredients which we have on all our albums. But I think we've managed to keep our sound and the songs fresh. On this album particularly you can't say that this song sounds like this one on the other albums or this song is just like that one. All the songs on "Crimson" stand out by themselves. So I think that critisism is wrong.

Satu - So you think you've found your thing here and will stick to certain things, with maybe a few changes along the way ?

Oscar - We will definately not make another "Crimson", 'cos we're gonna go into another direction, I don't know what's going to happen next, but it's definately not going to be the same album, 'cos that is one thing I pride myself on, I think we have accomplished a lot. Of course there has to be similarities between the albums, otherwise you're going to do Paradise Lost and that's not good, death metal one day, industrial one day, goth metal third day. Works for them, musically I think it's probably great for them, they can express themselves in several ways, but if I was a fan of the first album I would not like the other ones. They're too different. We have some cornerstones in our music, which is the guitarist, the heavy drums, high piched vocals, backing vocals, lead guitar playing and the pounding bass and those elements are always gonna be in our music. And how we use them is another thing. It's a very big grey area there. But we definately haven't found the concept we're gonna stick to, but a lot of bands have a certain pattern on doing things. They essentially record the same album over and over again with the same songs, this is the fast one and this is the slow one, they're built up the same way, I don't wanna end up like that. I hope I have the insight or forsight enough to say to myself "you can write a good album" or "you can progress with your writing". Or then I can hopefully say "that's it, I'll do something else then".

Satu - Eventhough I also think you're not offering much new with "Crimson", I like it a lot and "Riders Of The Storm" is a killer party track. There's a lot of these kinds of songs there, do you think you're going to continue writing songs like that ?

Oscar - I don't know. We have somewhat deliberately slowed down a bit for the "Crimson" album, the other ones were definately more faster. This one has a couple of fast songs, a few midtempo, slow ones and a ballad. And for me that is the perfect mix of songs. The other ones had maybe too many fast songs, there's so many ways you can do a fast song. I always concider Hammerfall to be a heavy metal band, with the roots in Judas Priest and Accept rather than in power metal like Helloween or Gammaray for example. And this time I think we've gone more in that direction, this is the most heavy metal album we've ever done. The mix between the songs, the tempos and the songs and the styles for me is much closer to the perfect album that "Renegade", "Legacy" and so on were. Having said that I don't know what is going to happen with the next album. We haven't started writing songs for it yet, but it's probably going to sound different. We don't write songs continuously. We write songs, a big break, recording, a promotion, touring, then we write songs for a while. Then we have new influences, new inputs and impulses that have been accumulating during these maybe a year and a half or maybe 12 to 14 months. Those influences create something unique each time and that is how I like to work.

SOFTIES FOR GIRLS !

Satu - What kinds of comments do you get from girls concidering your fast tracks ?

Oscar - Hah, well I think if you like Hammerfall you don't just like one song. Or you don't just like ballads. You maybe get into the band through the ballads or through the slower songs or whatever. Because I haven't heard anybody saying I like this song, I like the ballads but not this song, or not the fast ones. You kinda have to buy the whole thing. It's the concept that most people buy. Sometimes if you don't like it all, that's fine. But I don't think anybody buys a little bit of it, you either buy it or you don't. You get into it or you don't.

Satu - From ballad side I really like "Glory To The Brave" (dedicated to the memory of Klas Fors) and "I Believe" from your first album "Glory To The Brave". I was wondering what was the inspiration to those ?

Oscar - Well, "I Believe" was written together with Joacim and Peter Stålfors, who's actually the bass player of Dream Evil, but I think they wrote it in '96 or so, but I can't speak for the inspiration to that song. But with "Glory" I was definately a part of and I think the inspiration to that song was out of love for heavy metal. The lyrics are written by Joacim and I think they fit well to the music 'cos there's kind of a sad quality to the music. It's sad but also hopefull. It's not depressing sad. I mean it's hopefully sad. You lose somebody and it hurts, but life goes on and you are strong enough to cope with it and that is pretty much what the song is about. Don't despair just because you had bad luck or somebody left you or somebody died or something, 'cos life goes on.

THE LYRICS

Satu - Where does Hammerfall get the lyrical ideas from ?

Oscar - Pretty much everywhere. From tv's, books, movies. Most of the things, you know, you get an idea, maybe a frase or a line somewhere "oh this is a cool line, I'll steal this from the movie or whatever it is". You build your own interpretation of that, a line to fit whatever is going on up here (in your head). Joacim writes most of the lyrics, he takes bits and pieces that has a meaning for him and develops that meaning into something of his own. The lyrics I write also work in the same way. You find inspiration in things and then use that inspiration to create something of your own.

Satu - Some people laugh at your lyrics for being so corny, what would you like to say to those people ?

Oscar - I say read between the lines and try to interpret the lyrics instead of.. like I said in another interview, there's a big difference between the words and the meaning of the words. People who just see the words as how they are they probably won't get it. Well, maybe they do get it, but it you think that being positive and urging people to live life according to their rules is corny, then yes I am corny. But I can take that, it's our philosophy, to do things that make you feel good. You should do it because they make you feel good, not because someone else tells you to do it or it's appropriate. Whatever it is. There's some sadness in our lyrics like in "Glory To The Brave", that kind of sadness, but definately no depression. And I don't think there should be depression in heavy metal. Depression is so negative and unproductive. Heavy metal is so positive and strong. So when people fail to see what our lyrics really mean, it's their loss not ours. Not the loss of the people who actually understand the lyrics. And if they don't like it, that's fine by me, 'cos we're not gonna change a thing because someone says so.

C-C-CHANGES !

Satu - What has changed in Hammerfall from the day you started to this point ?

Oscar - Everything I would say, except me, I'm still here. The thing is Hammerfall started originally by myself in 1993 so we actually have our tenth anniversary here. You can also say the band didn't come wholeheartedly serious until Joacim joined the band, which was in 1996. Before he came along we weren't deadly serious when we played together, we didn't play together a lot, couple of times a year. We rehearsed a little bit, wrote some songs, that's what we did. But we didn't go out looking for gigs, we didn't go out looking for record contracts, we just had fun playing music. Because in 1993-1996 heavy metal was universally regarded as the stupid music, the one that you laugh about, the one that you remember from your childhood listening to when you were a kid. You can't listen to that now because you're a grown up now. But the point is we stuck with this through the whole ninetees and anybody who was there in the beginning of the ninetees and the middle of the ninetees knows how hard heavy metal was to get accepted. And I don't think heavy metal was accepted until...I think it took at least till 1999, maybe even 2000. And that was what we fought for a long time. I'm a heavy metal fan since twenty years and I don't think anybody can tell me anything about heavy metal I don't know. I'm sure there's bands I don't know of, haven't heard of, but I'm talking about the music styles, 'cos I've lived this for twenty years. But what a lot of people see is the album or the surface of Hammerfall, they don't get deep into what Hammerfall and the presence behind the band are all about. And it's their loss again 'cos they don't want to experience it. I definately think we have a lot more to offer than a lot of people think. But on the other hand I think we're doing really well. So I guess the minority of the people who don't get it is just that, they're the minority. I'm not going to force anybody to like anything, but I'll definately demand people to respect what we're doing, because we do it out of love for music, we do it out of passion for what we believe in. And that alone is worth the respect. Wheather it is a job at heavy metal or working here at the hotel or maybe owning it someday, everybody has dreams, right. You should follow them and if somebody ridicules you along the way that only makes you stronger, that only makes you fight so much harder to attain the goals you've set to yourself.

Satu - How long do you think you have the interest of doing the music what Hammerfall has always done ?

Oscar - Well, as long as I'm having fun, because for me this is so much based on having fun. Of course there's the creative side, I want to get my music out, but still mostly about enjoying myself. I enjoy the hell out of heavy metal and playing it, because like I said I've been doing this for two thirds of my life pretty much. And if you think of how long I've been involved with this I don't think I'm ever gonna get tired of it, 'cos I still put on "Balls To The Wall" or an Iron Maiden or Judas Priest album, any album that I put on these days I get the same feeling I got when I was fifteen. So it doesn't matter. Maybe someday when I turn...well, I feel like a fifteen year old sometimes or at least in the mid twentees. But maybe I will go let's say from twenty-twentyfive to fifty just like that, that will probably happen when I turn fifty, but that's another twenty years away. Right now I'm happy with what we're doing and there's not one day that goes by without realizing, well, maybe not everyday but usually I stop and realize how fortunate we really are. We are living our dreams, something many people don't get to do and we are living our dreams on our terms and we get to do exactly what we want to do. That is very fortunate. I think everybody should strive for it and make it happen. But along the way people are gonna fail with this 'cos.. well, this is not just music but every aspect of life, but maybe somebody who works here (in the hotel) dreams about owning a hotel and this is a great place to start with that. So I think you should go for it and try to make it happen. Nobody's going to say "here's a hotel for you, run this for me please". You have to fight for it and work hard for it and without doing it you're not going to get anywhere. Unless you are the luckiest man on earth, or woman for that matter.

Satu - You don't feel like you're a little kid sometimes when you look at those people who are in their thirtees with their kids and all ?

Oscar - Oh yeah, that's very true. My cousin is three years older than me so we played a lot together when we were younger, we grew up together pretty much. He has a house and a girlfriend, he doesn't have a kid or a dog, but I think they're engaged too. But couple of years ago I went to their house to a Christmas party kind of thing with all their friends, people who'm I've never met in my life and they were all around their thirtees. There were couple of topics; kids, houses and cars. That's the only thing we talked about the whole evening and I felt like what the hell am I doing here ! Okey, they're nice people, but I have nothing in common with them. And I still feel the same way, I am a little kid, that's why I like Star Wars or things like that and I'll never stop liking it. And by having this lifestyle we are having we are home a lot, but we're also gone for a long time as well. We're home like couple of months in a row and sometimes we're gone like couple of months as well. But it balances out in the end. But when I'm home I don't have to do anything and then I can concentrate on what I want to do. I can pretty much live my life like I was a kid. I think I'm in touch with my childish side, 'cos I get that a lot, people think I'm acting, but it's just the way it is. I don't have a problem with it. You always come back to this, you should do things that make you happy. Live your life the way that makes you content, that makes you feel like you live a full life, doing something that makes you feel better or makes you feel good. Of course I can't do everything I want to do, but I do this as much as I can and that is important for self-fulfilment. I'm a kid, there's no way getting around it, I could talk about this all night, but I'm still gonna be a kid.

Satu - Do you think someday you could play pop music when you're in your fiftees or so ?

Oscar - I think so, I mean I'm not a guitar player per se, Stefan is a guitar player who plays lots of different styles. Heavy metal is all I know. I know how to write a good heavy metal song. I play ok, but that's about it. I could probably write other kinds of music, writing songs is one thing, but playing and performing them is another thing. I can write songs in various genres, but to go up there and play them in front of a live audience or to record them on an album and to think this is what I'm doing it would have to be heavy metal, 'cos that's the ultimate form of music for me. Pop and rock songs are cool in their way, but it's nothing I listen to and they're not passionate. Rock musicians are mostly old guys nowadays, who don't know anything else. So they just try to do this and it sounds unexciting. And heavy metal is still exciting for me. I think, and I'm just guessing, when I get out of heavy metal I get out of music business. At least playing and performing.

WHAT IS THE SQUARE ROOT OF PI ?

Satu - You were a math teacher, how did you end up in that job ?

Oscar - I have no education of that kind. When I went to collage we had math, for one year out of the three I was there. I was on the lowest level, 'cos we were more focused on the languages and stuff. In the middle of the ninetees I thought it would be a good idea to get a full degree like I'll take math for three years in collage like everybody else at least. So I did that. And I was finished in spring time and when summer came a neighbour of mine came over and said there's shortage of teachers at our school, would you be interested in like half time job as a math teacher. And the funny thing was I was teaching the very classes I just took. So it was very fresh in my mind, I knew it, but I wasn't 100 percent sure how it was. So for me it was a big challenge and that was part of the reason I accepted it. Plus I didn't have anything else to do and I needed money. But it was a big challenge to teach people who weren't much younger than me. I was 24 at that time and they were around nineteen to twenty. They saw me more as a friend than a teacher, but I tried to be nice to them and at the same time hard as well, 'cos they had to learn ! If they didn't learn they weren't going to get a grade and they realized that eventually. So it was fun, it was different. I could see myself as a teacher one day, but not math, 'cos that's not my thing. I'm more a language or history kind of guy.

Satu - What plans do you have in your metal warriors helmets ?

Oscar - Well, we didn't bring the warrior today, it's not here and it's not going to be on the other tours in Europe. He was coming on stage during the intro and doing things, but it's not going to be here. We had to strip down everything a little bit, so what you see now is not the full production, we don't have any pyros today for example, which is a big part of the show. If Finland was closer to Sweden, if you could drive from Stockholm to Helsinki we would've been here a month or two ago, in February already. By going to Finland you lose one day by going over and one day going back and two travelling days when you're travelling with a production that is as big as ours. Two days for one show wouldn't break even in any way, because of the low guarantees and stuff, 'cos we don't play in Finland normally. That would not work, 'cos we'd lose too much money then for just one show. We invest a lot of the money back into the shows. I don't know if you saw any of the shows from the last tours, but our hydralic drum riser went up and down and we had the warrior coming out, we had pyros. backdrops falling and there was shit happening all the time. The Renegade World Crusade and the Crimson Crusades both have two different stage set ups actually, but still very costly. That's why we didn't come to Finland on that tour either. If you're on the road and you have a travel day or a day off you don't get any money coming in, only going out and we can't have too much that on the road, 'cos we lose a lot of money each day off because of the expenses from being on the road. Like now we don't lose any money I think, I don't know, but we're not spending that much money either, so it doesn't really matter. We have kind of a low budget now doing this, 'cos we thought it would be a good idea to go over to Finland and do it anyway, even if we can't have the whole production. Just to start something here. Just like you said we only did one show here before years ago and for us it's an opportunity to come and play for the finns and maybe start something so next time we go on tour we can come back here. But at least we make Finland a part of our touring schedule. We don't have the full production, but we did the whole US tour opening up for Dio and playing with everybody's elses equipment. That was definately just a band on stage with the music and the fans and that's it, so we're kind of used to that. Now we've at least got backdrops and big stage and full drum kit and all, but it's not the full show. But it's gonna be a fun show I'm sure. We play at midnight so finnish fans are probably awake then, hah, I don't know. We'll see, but it's going to be a wonderful experience I'm sure.

Satu - Where does Hammerfall stand in the Swedish metal business ? Are you taken seriously enough there and how popular are you over there ?

Oscar - I think we are taken seriously, 'cos we're one of the longest running metal band and definately the most succesfull band. So if they don't take seriously what we're doing I think they should because they don't have to like it to take us seriously, if you know what I mean. Because of the position we are in we can influence our fans by exposing them to other swedish metal bands. And that's why we have two swedish bands on this tour. We did three weeks with Nostradameus and three weeks with Dream Evil. And Masterplan was on both tours, but they're from Germany. That's what we wanted to do before but we couldn't find any swedish bands interesting enough or who wanted to invest in this, because it's an investment for them as well. But they're exposed to a lot of people now and their album sales went up, which is good, because the future of heavy metal in Sweden depends on more bands than just one, we have to have the variety of bands. And that is why Nocturnal Rites was so cool to be with, 'cos they are my favourite metal band from Sweden. My favourite swedish band ever. Just brilliant and excellent guys. So that's another band I would like to have on tour.

THE "FANS"

Satu - How often do you meet people that are looking for trouble, like the guy who hassled with Joacim and the bottle ?

Oscar - Not often, I think he was a lunatic, probably drunk or high on something. But the funny thing is people often want to say something like Hammerfall sucks just to get a reaction and when they get a reaction like "cool, too bad you think so" then they just laugh and then you talk with them and they don't mean anything by it. I think they just want to test us and see if we are floating around in the clouds, which we aren't. I think we've got our both feet firmly on the ground. And they don't know this, 'cos they don't know us. They hear a lot of rumours, I know what it's like with other bands. I mean other bands have rumours and reputations that you don't know are true, because you haven't experienced that yourself. I'm sure we have lots of rumours and reputations going around, but we're not rock stars. Swedish people think that if you're succesfull you have to be a rock star, 'cos that's the way it is. And they don't see that we're not, I don't know. Then some people maybe don't like what we're doing and they're kind of angry because we get recognition and exposure and their band or favourite bands don't. So they have a lot of frustration. I guess out of every hundred people that come up to us 99 come up and say you're the greatest.

Satu - And then you remember that one guy who says you suck ?

Oscar - I don't pay much attention to that, 'cos it's their opinion. If they think we suck he doesn't get our message. He doesn't get Hammerfall and if he doesn't get it there's not much I can do about it. So we just do our thing and everybody who likes it likes it and everybody who doesn't don't. Go like something else.

Satu - What does the band do together when you have free time ?

Oscar - We don't do a lot together as a band, 'cos Anders lives in Malmö which is far from Gothenburg where the others live. We don't have much free time either right now, 'cos we've been on tour constantly since the beginning of November. We see each other enough on the road. When we come home we want to be apart. You just want to be alone for a while. But otherwise we get together once in a while, hang out, maybe watch some hockey game, play some cover songs, clubs and stuff, things like that.

WRESTLE MANIA !

Satu - What is it in pro wrestling that interests you ? You even had your own magazine.

Oscar - If I knew that I would probably write a thesis or something on the matter, but it's something I've been heavily into since 1991. It's just the excitement what I like about it. A lot of similarities between heavy metal and wrestling I think. The ongoing argument by the people in the eightees and the beginning of the ninetees was that this is not real, so how can you like it ? But it's like saying this movie's not real, it's not a documentary, how can it be good ? But it's good because it's not real, it's entertainment. It's well- thought action normally. The wrestling matches also tell a story inside of the ring, like this guy beats that guy for a while and people want to see that guy come back and when he does everybody's gonna go "yeahh !". There's a whole psychological thing with the wrestling matches that people have no idea about if they're not involved with it. I don't know much about it, 'cos I'm not in the ring, I've studied it pretty close for the past ten to twelve years, close enough that I have a good feeling for it. I like to describe it as a soap opera, like an athletic soap opera, which is exactly what it is. There's an american saying "Spend your disbelief", which means that...I guess that comes back to the child within you, but if you think this could be real or I don't care if it's real or not. If I let myself get involved in it I think it's real for the time being and that makes it more fun to watch like a movie or a soap opera. I mean nobody thinks J.R. Ewing acts the way he does, I mean eventhough I love him and he's a cool character, he doesn't actually act like that. But people buy it, 'cos they see it acted out on tv and this is exactly the same thing with wrestling.

Satu - Do you have a favourite from the wrestlers ?

Oscar - Not really, I like wrestling per se. I have a couple of favourites, people who make me laugh, The Rock always makes me laugh, he's very funny, but he's also doing this movie thing so he's sometimes wrestling and sometimes doing movies. It's not so much like I said the actual people. Well, I used to be more into the characters when I was younger, more like "this guy rules, yeah !". Now it's the same thing sometimes, but also at the same time I wanna see great wrestling and great exciting stories. Before I was more fanatic, I still am, I think I grow more fanatic each day, but in a different way. I know you have a former pro wrestler in the parliament right now, Tony Halme, I knew him as Ludwig Borga in the WWF in 1993 or something. I loved him and the way he did those runnings in the corner. The funny thing was that, this is the ring (draws on the table) and he knocked the other person down, he was hanging from the corner of the ring and you'd see the camera angle on the guy, but you couldn't see Tony and he just came running or flying just like that. It was impressive. He was wrestling in Japan for a lot of years, I've seen a couple of matches with him there.

Interview by Satu Reunanen,

Photographs by Kari Helenius,
(c)2003 RockUnited.Com