Cementing their reputation in the world of contemporary Heavy Metal this May with their ironclad new effort Sword Songs JB and his cohorts once again put on their metaphorical armour to ride into the battlefield of the stage. Bringing together quintessential elements of what makes up Grand Magus, thematically revolving around tales of the valiant and brave put together with their Maiden worthy choruses Grand Magus are beginning to become in a league totally of their own.
Performing on a soggy Sunday at Donington we were able to speak to the heart behind the rhythm Ludwig Witt regarding Sword Songs and some of the man’s personal collection of vinyl. Detailing all those important aspects that are oft forgotten in this day and age of screenshots, when a time was more simple, when you would gaze at an Iron Maiden cover and like Grand Magus‘ music seeing the subtle differences with each viewing. Drawing from what was a simplistic picture to create the end product of a fantastic work of art.
I’m here today with Ludwig of Grand Magus, how are you?
I’m great yeah!
How was the performance from the other side?
It was really good, we only had twenty five minutes so its probably the shortest gig I have ever done with Grand Magus but it was cool! There were quite a lot of people who were out there in the rain so hats off to them.
“Hammer of The North” was sung I think pretty loud!
Yeah we have a sound guy who likes to mix us loud.
Oh no I mean by the crowd!
Hahah oh ok!
So Sword Songs has just come out, what was that like recording the new album?
It was really cool. We recorded drums with a guy called Roberto Norgi from Gothenburg in Sweden and that was a first for us to work with him and it turned out pretty well I think. He’s worked with In Flames, he’s done a lot of Swedish bands that are from Gothenburg.
Was it easy being in Gothenburg, being a Swedish band I’m not exactly sure of where you are all from…
Well I am from Halmstad so I am very close to Gothenburg the other guys are from Stockholm they are pretty different cities.
Is that ever a problem logistically?
I guess it would be a lot better when we would live in the same town but you know its hard when you get older and you have families and stuff. It would be easier to rehearse definitely!
What about actually writing Sword Songs what was that like?
It was cool! I mean we had a couple of weeks where we got together and jammed in the rehearsal room and then we sort of did some demo’s by ourselves. JB recorded some guitars and vocals at home and send it to me and I would put some drums on it and send it back. We were discussing everything, maybe not the ideal way to work but we still have to do that because we live far from each other. I guess its something that we have spoken about to in the future to have the writing happen in a rehearsal room together instead of sending stuff back and forth. Its great that you can do that but its quite time consuming, instead of having a conversation for two minutes about how this riff works or not its two days of emails back and forth.
What about the artwork, how did the artwork get made, what did you decide on?
Well that was mainly JB who was in touch with the artist who did it. I think he had a pretty clear idea of what he wanted with the eagle and the sword and everything and then I know they were going back and forth a bit with JB explaining what he wanted. We’re really happy with it and its the same guy who did Triumph Of Power as well. I just think that its cool to have a piece of art there instead of someone doing something in Photoshop or whatever. To me thats what killed it.
Its a bit more Old School. Is artwork important to you? Do you collect vinyl?
Yeah, not as much as I used to but I’ve still got about seven or eight hundred albums on vinyl. I sold some and kept some.
Artwork is important for you then, with the vinyl format…
Oh yeah! Well its a big part of a record I think, like you say, especially when you get it on vinyl. I remember when I was a kid as well, when I started buying vinyls you could sit for hours and just watch Iron Maiden cover you know? Find out all the small details.
What about after having played Download now what is the schedule for the rest of the year?
Well next weekend we’ve got Graspop and Hellfest so that’s pretty cool! Then we’ve got a few more festivals for the rest of the summer, we’re doing the Summer Breeze and Rock Hard Germany and then its already out that we are doing a tour with Testament and Amon Amarth in the UK later this year. Very excited about that and we are also planning a headline tour early next year, you’ll see more of us in the UK!
Apart from Download you played with Enslaved last year as well?
Yeah that was right.
How was that tour?
Its always fun to tour in the UK because if you do it separately, you do a week and then you come back. It was really cool, we’ve got a good set up with the promoters so we just get in the van and go.
Do you think that it was a good mix between the two of you, between Enslaved and Grand Magus?
Yeah I think so! We always play with a lot of more Extreme Metal bands but it seems to work a lot better. I think we have more in common with Behemoth than Hammerfall you know? Some people might think that we are closer towards the Power Metal theme but no its weird, I guess its because we listen to a lot of stuff and that comes out.
I’ve noticed that Sword Songs especially, there are a couple of tracks that are pretty heavy, did you want to go for a heavier punch?
Yeah a little bit, we talked about that and there have been some almost Black Metal influences on songs for Grand Magus in the past. That was something that we talked about and we wanted to bring that back. Also its hard because you can talk a lot before you write an album and plan what you are going to do, then its kind of like what comes out comes out. I think there are a couple of bits to this album that come out more.
What about you as a drummer, who is your sphere of influence?
Well a lot of the classic Hard Rock drummers like, I grew up on Maiden and Priest, Saxon all that stuff like that. Then I got into a lot of 70’s Hard Rock as well Ian Paisley, John Bonham those guys as well. Cozy Powell, Vinnie, I don’t have one drummer that’s my favourite. I even like some Jazz drummers like Elvin Jones and Tony Williams people like that.
I wish I knew who they were!
Hahaha
Over the last six months to a year what have you been listening to a lot?
Well there is one band that I have been listening to for the last couple of weeks actually is Uriah Heep. I listen to all of the classic stuff but I listen to a lot of early eighties stuff as well, there’s one called Firefly and Innocent Victim I think it is. I’ve been listening to them a lot, they’re really pro. Its a cool period because some of the songs are ful on seventies rock and some are like trying to do the eighties ting but its still good songs. I like a lot of different eras of music its cool to see when things started changing from the seventies to the eighties, some interesting stuff happening there.
Do you think that that slowly drip feeds into the influence of Grand Magus?
I don’t know, its hard to say.
What about the name Grand Magus, where did that come from?
Well actually thats a good question because I wasn’t in the band from the beginning so to be honest I don’t actually know how it came about! I’ve got to ask JB about that one.
Well thank you ever so much for speaking with The Metalist, oh are you going to see Iron Maiden?
Of course! And Saxon and the bands playing tonight.
