PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
I managed to catch up with Wolf Drummer, Richard “Raptor” Holgren in the Pint and he shared the bands future plans and told me exactly what he thinks of the Metal scene nowadays.
So you’re back on tour with Evile how have you been finding it?
It’s been great so far, better that we thought. We’ve just come from Glasgow and Glasgow was great, Manchester was amazing. Glasgow had a great crowd; it always has a great crowd. Manchester was just a blast, really good. We played (Manchester) around the same time as Down and Orange Goblin, same date same time everything so we had a full house, that was great.
Are you happy to be back in the UK again?
Yeah, it’s been a year since we’ve been touring in the UK. We need to get back here because for Wolf it’s like home turf now.
The UK is seen as the home or birthplace of Metal, would bands like Judas Priest and Black Sabbath have been a big influence on you?
Of course, I mean we grew up with them. I was born in ’69 some of the other guys are a bit younger but we were all born between ’69 , ’73 and ’74 so we were brought up with everything from Sabbath and then into Priest and then we grew in to Motorhead and Iron Maiden. We’re still listening to this from the morning and to the evening, everyday; it’s nothing strange for us. We listen to a lot of music but that’s the music we were brought up with.
You’re last release was Legions of Bastards, what was the idea behind that?
I think there was no real idea behind it because it’s the album when we just said let’s stay home on our own turf, home region don’t let anybody influence it in any way, let’s just do what we do and we’ll see what comes out. We didn’t have anyone telling us what to do it all ours sound wise production wise everything. It’s exactly what we wanted so we got very close to what we set out to do when we started. So we’re very happy about that album.
So, you’re really busy in November you’re going to India, can you tell us a bit more about that and what else you have coming up next month?
Yeah, we go back to the UK tomorrow and then in November we’re going to Norway to play a festival and then late in November we do the Harley Rock Riders III on Bengarlu we are headlining there in Bangalore. We’ve never been to India before and so we’re really hyped about that. It’s going to be really good. The promoters have been talking to people over there and they’re really waiting for Wolf to get there, you know? It’s still a new thing there. We’re going to release the beast there.
Considering you’ve been on the metal scene for a long time now, do you think it has changed much in the years you’ve been in a band?
Yeah I think so, Wolf has been around since 1995. From 2000 it’s been very different. I think the metal scene is much different to what it was. There are still a lot of bands around but business wise it’s very different and there is a lot more control now. The metal scene is still not for everybody so people are looking for their kind. It’s still hard to get out there and play. It’s bullshit! Good music is good music. There are people who like playing and can play and then there are people who can’t play it’s very easy to sort it out – those who can play live are the good ones they should be paid attention to.
Do you have any advice for bands on how they should go about getting a name for themselves?
If they want to make a name they need to think about good songs. A lot of bands today only think about riffing and technique, they concentrate on that. But to do good stuff you need a good song because that’s what really sticks on people’s minds something that’s going to stick for 200 years or even 500 years.
Finally ,Do you have any plans for future recordings?
Yeah we already have been talking about that. After the UK tour and India we will plan to record. We already have skeletons and ideas for songs. During next year we plan to release it. Production wise we haven’t much in place yet. We need to headline out own show now I think.
