Q and A: Jona Tee (H.E.A.T.)

By PAUL SOUTHWELL

SWEDISH hard rock band H.E.A.T have been steadily making a name for themselves over the years. As their career trajectory has been rapidly going upwards, their global fan base has also increased and significantly so with the departure of front man Erik Grönwall, joining the ranks of US rockers Skid Row. Since original vocalist Kenny Leckremo has returned to the fold, the band have lost none of their momentum. The band has several albums under their belt and to rave reviews across the globe. Their latest release, Force Majeure is a concise and rollicking musical ride. We spoke to keyboardist and producer, Jona Tee about their impending tour to our neck of the woods.

Hot Metal: The new album is fantastic. You must be looking forward to bringing this new material to Australia. How many new songs will get into the set list?

Jona Tee: “Oh yeah, we’re super excited. For now we will add three new tracks but maybe we will add one more for Australia. So, yeah, hopefully we will play four tracks from Force Majeure when we’re down there. We have to get some decent rehearsals in during the schedule.”

HM: How did the pandemic affect the completion of this latest album?

JT: “You know what? It was actually blessing and a curse in a way. We had our singer leave, as you know, with Erik Grönwall leaving the band. Then with our original singer, Kenny Leckremo, coming back. It was like perfect timing for us to all reconnect and to start writing music. We actually had the time to write a new album and that turned out to be the best way to integrate Kenny again, rather than if we had been touring, where we would have been doing the H.E.A.T II stuff. We would have been on the road for a while before we had then done the album. I do think that this was perfect, in a way. It did suck to not be able to play for two years.

HM: For bringing Kenny back in, there was the redone “Rise” video. Would you say that was making a statement about the direction of H.E.A.T?

JT: “Yes and also, we recorded those things not just to reconnect but also to see where he was at with his voice. Once it was done we thought it was awesome so we decided to do a video with ‘Rise’ and it turned out pretty well.”

HM: How do you think he will cope with singing Erik’s material? Obviously he will do it well but are there notable differences for you?

JT: “I think that Kenny does his own interpretation of the tracks because they are, well, a bit different as singers in the way that they sing,and in their style. Kenny has more of a soul style approach whereas Erik is more of a shouting, screaming guy and there is no range whatsoever. Kenny definitely adds a more melodic touch to the music and it sounds really good live. We’ve played over 40 shows already and he’s really cool.”

HM: How do you direct him when you’re writing songs? Do you give him the melody to sing or is it open for him to interpret?

JT: “Yeah, you give him the melody, then he changes the melody and you tell him to do the original melody, basically. Ha-ha, but he is a super creative guy, he is involved with everything and he likes to try stuff. He is so musical and has very musical personality; he plays all the instruments and everything. He is really good to have as somebody as a bouncing ball, bouncing ideas back and forth.”

HM: Your music, like most good melodic rock, gets to the chorus very quickly.

JT: “Oh yeah, for sure! We work on the motto of ‘don’t bore us, get to the chorus,’ as we say.”

HM: In doing that, it means the use of backing vocals becomes a big feature to make your sound work.

JT: “Yeah, absolutely and it is superb fun to just do the backing vocals. I think that I did most of it on this latest album and I think that is awesome to just do all the basic arrangements and to then try stuff. Jimmy [Jay] is also involved as he is a great arranger, and so is Dave [Dalone]. We all sing back-up vocals and we like those big choruses so that we try to sound like arena rock.”

HM: Your influences being bands such as Europe and Whitesnake, that approach makes sense.

JT: “Oh yeah, and not to mention Def Leppard, man.”

HM: Indeed – and a band like that with God knows how many backing tracks of vocal harmonies.

JT: “Yeah it is insane but these days you do as much as you like there. You can do 20 tracks then bounce it down to a stereo file and then re-do it as much as you want. Ultimately though, I think that we end up with a maximum of 20 tracks for backing vocals.”

HM: That is still quite a lot for when you have to do it live as well.

JT: “Yeah but if you have done it with just three or four tracks, it would sound huge as well. It is all about how you mix it and then it gets this kind of chorus effect when you do many overdubs.”

HM: How were the production duties sorted out on this latest album?

JT: “I actually had the role of producer but I would say that I was more of a production leader in this sense because everybody was involved with the creative process and with the song writing. But I was the producer on the album and pulled all the strings on booking the studios and things for the mixing. The same guy, Tobias Lindell, has mixed all the albums since Address the Nation. He also produced Address the Nation, Tearing Down the Walls and Into the Great Unknown. He is a good friend of ours.”

HM: Given you are in the band and also the producer, how do you swap hats?

JT: “Ha, it is very difficult, actually. When you grow up together, like Dave and I have known each other since we were seven years old, so we are like brothers. At some point you get to the nagging part and you just have to ride through it, because when I produce other bands I can plan the day, finish things and be more of a product leader. In the band it is more like ‘hey, you shouldn’t tell me what to do because you’re sort of on an equal level’. It doesn’t make sense so it is harder but it is also very nice because you know each other through and through, so you can be very open and say what you’re thinking.”

HM: Sweden has some great bands coming out including Eclipse, Crazy Lixx, Crashdïet, amongst others.

JT: “Yeah, I don’t know and I’ve been trying to explain that one to people. Something in the water, maybe? We have a very proud heritage of assorted music and one the biggest songwriters and producers of all time [Max Martin] comes from Sweden. There’s Abba, obviously, and we have a kind of a rich heritage and we are proud of that. I am actually walking by the school we Dave and I went to, as did Joey Tempest.”

HM: Europe are great but they are so well known for a few hit songs and yet they have had such a massive discography since then. But when they play their shows, which are great, the biggest hit track ends up at the encore since there’s so many fans waiting for that one song.

JT: “Yep, I think they had a few more not as big hits like ‘Carrie’, ‘Rock the Night’ and ‘Superstitious’. But yeah, ‘The Final Countdown’ stands out, for sure.

HM: You’ve also got guitar god Yngwie Malmsteen and keyboardist Jens Johansson from Stockholm.

JT: “Yeah, Jens and Anders are also from the same place where I am at currently which is Upplands Väsby, a suburb to Stockholm. It is the same community which is kind of cool.”

HM: Every artist always says their latest album is their favourite. How does Force Majeure compare to your back catalogue, for you?

JT: “I love it and I mean, we wanted to build on the sound of our previous album, H.E.A.T II. I think that we did that but for the song writing, obviously, Erik is not in the band anymore. After myself, Kenny contributed a lot on this album and that was a big influence. We also had the song “Demon Eyes” which Kenny and I wrote that is basically a NWOBHM track as an up tempo, sort of British, heavy metal banger. It is super cool to be able to write those tracks being that we a huge Iron Maiden fans. It is awesome to have one of those on the album as well.”

HM: Is that your favourite track on the album?

JT: “I don’t know, I mean, love them all. It is like rating your babies, basically, which is kind of hard. It tends to be based on your mood and it depends. I tend to go back to the rhythm I really like in ‘Demon Eyes’ which is one of the faster tracks. I do appreciate the ballads though. The song ‘One of Us’, which Kenny wrote for the album, is amazing as well, and I get goose bumps every time I hear it. I think that is a very even album with not many fillers at all, in my opinion.”

HM: I gather it wasn’t a huge surprise that Erik went to Skid Row?

JT: “It depends on how you see it, I mean, he left the band in 2020 and he got offered to join Skid Row in late 2021. There was some time there and he had leukaemia in 2021 so he didn’t even know that he was going to be around. I know he made a promise because we were talking all the time when he was sick and when he was in hospital, and he said ‘if I make it through this, I will never stop singing, I will be on stage’. Then he gets to offer to join one of his favourite bands. When he won Swedish Idol in 2009, in his edition of the contest, he sang ’18 and Life” and that went viral in Sweden. It was huge and now he joins the band. It was like a fairytale, fucking hell, you could make a series or a movie about his life.”

HM: You also competed in Eurovision too?

JT: “Yep, in the same year that Erik won Idol.”

HM: It is all cyclic maybe?

JT: “Oh yeah, it really is, the whole world is cyclic. Ha-ha.”

HM: As you’re the principal song writer in H.E.A.T, how do you make it a democratic process?

JT: “You know, I’ve written so many songs that I don’t give a fuck. In the beginning, when you had your two tracks, those were your everything, right? It was like, ‘Whoa, this is the best that has ever been’. Now, when you spit out so many tracks, you kind of get used to people not liking it. It is like ‘okay, you don’t like that song’ and then I keep it in a drawer for another project and you tend to not get offended. The less you write, the more offended you get with people not liking what you do. These days I think that it is kind of easy because we also like to involve the record company. If we have say 25 or 30 tracks, we narrow it down to say 15 tracks we like and then we send them all to the record company and they can have their say. It is like we have an outside opinion as well, that we value very much … and then we find the perfect mixture.”

HM: That is very co-operative on your part. There’s not a large amount of bands that would do that.

JT: “Maybe not, for sure, but we are smart enough to think that we are not the smartest, every time. Ha-ha. Sometimes we are, but it is always good to have a second opinion, especially from professionals.”

HM: Do you fully embrace the new digital technology in music production these days or also go for analogue sounds, since the band has that sort of vibe to it?

JT: “It is a mix, really, and I think that all digital stuff tries to be analogue anyway. We do record the drums in a proper studio, in a nice room, with all the big SSL desks and everything but then, the thing is for analogue, it is the real amplifiers, it is nothing in the box. We recorded with Marshalls, Mesa Boogies and pedals. Then again, when you do mixing, you do it in the box, and that is all digital. As you know, digital stuff is emulating analogue gear so it sounds pretty analogue. We do embrace it and I don’t care, as long as it sounds good but often times, it helps to sound good if it is analogue stuff. Live we do everything in the box [Kempers, etc.] but in the studio, it is proper.”

HM: Looking back over your back catalogue, is there any track or album that stands out for you?

JT: “I really think that ‘A Shot at Redemption’ was really cool, it stood out a bit and it worked very well. People liked it and it still is a good live track so I really like that one. Also, I think that ‘Keep on Dreaming’ from the first album was probably the first one that started everything with our sound and the direction that we were going to take, so that is a special track as well.”

HM: Over the years, you’ve probably changed the way you approach arrangements?

JT: “Oh yeah, you learn so much over the years, it could take weeks or even months to get a song. Now I write a song, record it and make a proper demo in an afternoon. We’re way faster now because of just having more know-how. I actually like writing with other people and that is probably the best way to evolve and to get inspiration. I would recommend that to anyone who is a songwriter as the way to stimulate your creative juices.”

HM: In that light, you’ve toured with bands like Toto and Scorpions, both of whom are celebrated songwriters. Did you pick up a lot from them?

JT: “Hell yeah, I listened so much to Toto, I probably lifted half their catalogue. Seventh One and Toto IV are the greatest; I love those albums, along with Isolation, all the early stuff. It’s so much fun, being able to open for them again for three days in Finland. The first show we did with H.E.A.T was opening for Toto in 2007 in the northern parts of Sweden, in front of 3,500 people. It was like, ‘Wow, what the fuck? We’re opening up for our idols on our first arena show!’.”

HM: Toto are impeccable at coming up with not just a good chorus but a melodic bridge that then makes the chorus return so much stronger.

JT: “Yeah, absolutely, they have so many different styles as well. They arrange from borderline heavy metal to super smooth stuff, and also add a lot of Latin vibes to their tracks.”

HM: How about supporting Scorpions? Did they have a huge influence as well? They are still smashing it as veteran rockers.

JT: “Playing with them was basically just an honour. I don’t know if we really picked up on what they were doing but I really like their music. I never was a big fan but they are a great band and totally respect them. I think that they are really good. Speaking of still smashing it, I also saw Saxon for the first time when they played in Wales, and Biff Byford, wow, the man can still sing. I was very impressed and they sounded so good.”

HM: His longevity must be from tea and biscuits. Back on Sweden’s hard rock pedigree, it’s great to see so many bands coming through, including Eclipse, and of course, H.E.A.T, with great songs.

JT: “Yeah, I think we are there to be inspired by pop music and to incorporate that into the metal stuff and it just turns out with the Scandinavian vibes. Eclipse are great fucking songwriters; awesome and super nice guys as well, and they deserve all the fortune they can get.”

HM: I get the impression that they ‘out Bon Jovi’, Bon Jovi, if that makes sense.

JT: “Yeah, yeah, I got you. That’s a good one.”