If you want to know why Roland Johansson left Sonic Syndicate you better read on. Roland Johansson is currently recording new material with Jesper Strömblad of In Flames and if everything works out according to the plan they will release an album early next year! Roland is also back playing with his old band DODGE again!

Sonic Syndicate is one of the fastest rising stars on the hard rock scene. Back in 2006 they were offered a deal with Nuclear Blast records after winning their world wide scouting contest for the next big thing.

Since then they constantly have been touring (with bands like Deathstars, Nightwish, Amon Amarth, Soilwork, In Flames and many others) and producing high quality material. The music is intense and hard but still with an extremely catchy quality.

The band has had an extreme quality in their two singers, one clean/growling and one growling. Anyone who has heard early material by Sonic Syndicate knows just how much Roland Johansson added to the band.

When a member leaves a band it's commonly conducted under dramatic circumstances. Emotions are ventilated in public and the press cheer the combatants on. When Roland decided to leave Sonic Syndicate it was a whole different story. The band openly stated that Roland was about to leave the band but that he was going to fulfill the tour obligations of the band during the summer tour before he left. The band initiated a public competition together with Radio Bandit scouting for a replacement for Roland Johansson, this while Roland Johansson still performed with Sonic Syndicate. The new singer, Nathan J Biggs was even present at stage side during a few of the last gigs.

When asking band members regarding the departure they simply stated that Roland didn't feel like continuing with the band under the current conditions. He wanted to do other things with his life.

The smoke has settled and Sonic Syndicate continues as if nothing has happened. There are moments that will be impossible to replace, when Roland Johansson took center stage and kept the audience spellbound with his incredible vocal capabilities. He shaded the performance of the entire band. In some senses Roland is bigger than the band he was a part of.

But Roland Johansson has been silent, too silent.

Is he continuing with music? Has he got some great offers from other bands? Will he continue solo? Or did he just get enough of the good life? The questions are many, the answers have been few.

Until now!

HeavyHell: It has been awfully silent, what have you been up to?

Roland Johanson: Well I have stayed out of the limelight for a few months. All is just fine, I have been recording some demos and it sounds really good.

HeavyHell: We just couldn't resist getting in contact with you. People are curios regarding what you are up to.

Roland Johanson: It is OK, things are back to normal.

HeavyHell: We think that you are just a to good singer to give up your career completely!

Roland Johanson: Thanks, I will keep up with the music. I have been doing this since I was 12 years old you know, so it's just not something that you stop doing.

At least not me.

I would be a horrible person to live with if I weren't able to create and perform music. I really am a guitarist you know. Started at the age of 12 learning "Number of the Beast" with Iron Maiden on my Ibanez Roadstar II series.

Then I discovered Steve Vai and my playing got to a more "serious" level. He is definitely the one that has given me the biggest inspiration in life when it comes to music. For some time I worked as a guitar teacher in the music school in my home town.

I have been playing guitar ever since but maybe not that much during my time in Sonic Syndicate. During the last seven months I have been playing a lot of guitar and now I'm back were I were and have progressed even more.

So now I'm a deadly weapon!

(laughs)

I got a lot of songs in my backpack and I have now recorded some demos.

HeavyHell: We were photographing on the concert in Stockholm when you threw the a pair of boxing gloves into the audience. On that gig you also were the only singer on the stage during one of the songs and in that moment you really seemed disconnected from the band.

Roland Johansson: You know that thing with the boxing gloves was not so well thought through...

They belonged to the sound guy. He used those gloves during his last fight before he had to end his boxing career it because of injuries he had sustained. They had a great deal of sentimental value to him.
Anyway, I found the gloves in a box full of what I believed was garbage so I put them on because I though it was a fun thing to do.

I ran on stage with them on and I ended up throwing them into the audience. But the good thing was that one of the security guys found the guy who picked them up and we got them back.

Happy ending.

HeavyHell: Any particular moment that you remember with Sonic Syndicate?

Roland Johansson: The US tour with Nightwish really was something special. We were on a really tight schedule, one stop after another but we were treated as if we were co headliners. They made the whole tour easy in a way. Marco Hietala was a really great guy! We had our creative times along with the Jägermeister..

(laughs)

I would like to do something with him one day, we´ll see. We were touring the whole f**king nation in a motor home and that was interesting in a way. Because of that we could decide by our selves were to stop. Instead of having a bus driver that just goes from A to B and stops wherever he wants, we got the chance to see all kinds of stuff; like big ass shopping malls, the wilderness in Canada and the Amish people on their one horse power vehicles. We also did some skiing in the Rocky Mountains (but that was on the Amon Amarth tour) so in a way we could do what ever we wanted to. But in some ways it was also a pain in the ass, because a motor home is kinda small and you are basically sleeping on each other. No privacy here.

HeavyHell: Why did you leave the band?

Roland Johansson: I just love the time when you are on stage. But there are so many things that are included being in a band. Things that people never get to see and can't understand. I just found that that kind of life wasn't for me. All of the time you spend going in the tour bus in between the gigs, it gets quite tiresome.

This all depends on what kind of person you are of course and were you are in life. I never became friend with the tour bus life. I just need to have some solid ground to stand on. It was really hard for me to find a meaningful way to spend my spare time in between the gigs. The fact of being away from home and your loved ones made it less satisfying. Some turn to fluid sources of inspiration if you know what I mean.

So I just decided that I didn't want to have that kind of life anymore. But also I just want to say that I'm a lucky guy that have had the opportunity to experience this that so few people ever will. I am satisfied with what I have accomplished in Sonic Syndicate. Now I have other fish to fry.

HeavyHell: Are you still friends with the rest of Sonic Syndicate?

Roland Johansson: Sure, we still keep in contact. You grow really close to each other when you spend that much time together.

HeavyHell: You have met Nathan, what do you think of him?

Roland Johansson: Yeah, I have met him. I think he is a really nice guy and will fit right in with Sonic Syndicate. You know he really was into Sonic Syndicate before he joined the band. I guess it was a good thing that we got to meet and he got the chance to talk to me as well before I left.

HeavyHell: Have you heard the new Sonic Syndicate material?

Roland Johansson: Sure I have heard two new songs. "Burn this city" sound a little bit different but I guess it's better to develop things a bit rather than just trying to make it sound exactly the same. It is hard for me to be objective. I start to think; I would have done it different in this or that way. But I guess everybody into music does the same thing with other peoples music.

HeavyHell: So how did it feel when you stepped off the stage after the final gig with Sonic Syndicate?

Roland Johansson: Let's just say that there was a lot of feelings going on. Not that I had second thoughts about leaving the band but I were captured by the moment of being on stage playing in front of all the fans with some kick ass band mates. A lot of the fans were quite upset. Sonic Syndicate got some of the best fans ever and I will miss them on tour....

HeavyHell: So what are you up to?

Roland Johansson: You know I stood you up on an earlier occasion, the reason was that I wanted to check before I went public. I got a really interesting thing coming up.

Me and Jesper Strömblad from In Flames are going to do a record together and that's what I have been doing lately. So I can assure you all that there will be some kick ass stuff coming along. The plan is to record the album in the beginning of next year.

HeavyHell: Do you have any project name for it yet?

Roland Johansson: Well we have a few, just haven't figured out which one yet.

HeavyHell: What will it sound like?

Roland Johansson: Well... You know the stuff I have been doing in Sonic Syndicate and Jesper Strömblad being a part of In Flames will give you a hint. To be honest with you we don't really know exactly how it will turn out yet.

It's too fresh you know.

It won´t be just screams, that's for sure. No melody and I get bored.

You just have to wait and see.

HeavyHell: Will you use Jonas Kjellgren (Scar Symmetry) as a producer?

Roland Johansson: that is to early to say. Me and Jesper Strömblad are quite good at what we are doing, but you never know.

HeavyHell: Do you have plans on taking it out on the road?

Roland Johansson: Sure, we will perform live, not being out on the road like Sonic Syndicate cause that´s why I quit you know but we will definitely play live.

HeavyHell: anything else going on that you want people to know about?

Roland Johansson: I am also writing for a few other artists but that is not in the same genre. Maybe I will put out a shredding guitar solo album

(laughs)

There is like no limit to the possibilities, right?

Yes, there is one more thing that I have to let people know and that's about a band called Dodge.

Just so people get their facts straight.

Dodge is not my new band and I didn't leave Sonic Syndicate to start that band.

The band and the songs are about 4 years old, but I still love to listen to the songs. I think Dodge were before their time and how should i put it...

Their sound is not typically Swedish. If I will do something with Dodge now? I don´t know for sure yet.

We haven´t played together since before the Sonic Syndicate era took place. We have had a talk and we decided to get together and see if we still get a kick out playing. Then we will decide what to do with Dodge. You can check Dodge out on: www.myspace.com/dodgesweden

HeavyHell: Thanx for letting use have this chat.

Roland Johansson: I'll keep you posted as we progress.

So for all of you out there that were really saddened by the fact that Roland Johansson left Sonic Syndicate, here is an early Christmas gift. One can only imagine how Jesper Strömblad and Roland Johansson will bring their experience and skills together. It will be a great promise for 2010 and the Swedish music scene.