Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

How was the band formed? Thomas and Roland took guitar lessons and both were big Kiss fans. After some playback Kiss shows they found out that it is much more exciting to play live and so they started in 1983 to look for some like-minded metal heads.

Can you tell about your band? As mentioned in the beginning it was Thomas and Roland but it took not long to bring Siegfried (vocals) Manfred (drum) and myself (bass) on board. We immediately started to write our own songs and played them for our friends in the rehearsal room. It took as about one year before we had our first gig on March 31^st 1984

Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band? Except of Manfred, he come from Frastanz we all lived in Satteins which in in 3km distance. Beside our instruments we all did a lot of drinking, hanging around and traveling to concerts at Zürich and Munich because in our area there were no big bands playing.

What was the ambitions of the band when you started? As all of the young band in the 80ies and I think still today we wanted to become famous an tour the world.

Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? I can tell you the bands we are listening to and then it’s up to you to make up your mind. Judas Priest, Metallica, Saxon, Accept, Exodus, Iced Earth, …

Where was your first gig? In Frastanz (A) on the 31^st of March in 1984

Where was the latest gig? In Satteins (A) as support from Flotsam and Jetsam on the 3^rd of August 2014

Who writes your songs?/Who writes the music who writes lyrics? Thomas is doing most of the guitar riffs and Daniel and myself are writing the lyrics. Together we then arrange the song to bring in the harmony and expression we want to get.

Who has the best since of humor in the band? In terms of humor we are quite on the same level. There is a dry sense of humor we all like to share and which, if one of us is down, is used to bring him up on track!

What's good/bad with the band?/What genre do you feel you are? There is nothing at all bad with the band. The band gives us compensation to our daily life, lets us forget about problems for a view hours and makes possible that we can do what we like to do. Playing and listening to Heavy Metal.

Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about? Simply because we like it. The songs are about many different topics like horror, music, sex, politics, personal experiences, jobs and even sports, …

Do you write your own material or mainly covers? Only own material

Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they?
1987 Street Warrior (demo tape)
1987 No War EP
1989 Break the Rules (demo tape)
2009 No War and More (CD sampler of all our released stuff in the 80ies)
2011 Mortician (first full album)
2014 Shout for Heavy Metal (full album)

Do you have any clips on YouTube? Yes there are some. You have to search for Mortician Austria

How old are you? We are between 30 and 46

At what age did you start playing? We started with 15 years

How old were you guys when you first stood on stage? 16 to 19 years

Best/worst gig you've played? The two best gigs were Up The Hammers Festival in 2010 in Athens and the Keep it True Festival In Germany at the same year. The worst we do not remember. Too drunken J .

What places will you be playing in in the immediate future? Dornbirn (A) and Innsbruck (A)

Witch band is the best you´ve seen? There are so many good bands I’ve seen but one of the most impressive one was Metallica at the 100 Club at London in 1987

Is it always the same songs live?  Some songs are fixed on the set list but others vary. It always depend if we are headlining or doing support.

What has been the best/most promising gig so far? Keep it True and Up the Hammers

Have you had any bigger tours from start to now? No, not really. Mostly we have single shows but we had a one week tour with Lillian Axe in 2012

How big crowds do you usually play for? A range between 150 and 250

What are the plans for the rest of the year? The rest of 2014 we concentrate to practice with our new drummer Alex and beginning of 2015 we will hit the stage again for some CD release shows

Where do you usually play? Mostly in Austria and Germany.

How do you get psyched up for a gig? There is nothing special we do. Some worm up of our limbs and two, three drinks!

What are your goals with your music? The goal is to do our own songs and style and for sure we want to reach the people which are into the same kind of music.

Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? In our case for sure we got the inspiration from the old school bands

What are your sources of inspiration? If we talk about lyrics the inspiration comes during daily life. Things pop up in my mind and immediately a movie starts in my head. I make some notes on my mobile and continue when I’ve quiet hour.

What would be your dreams for the band? Playing some big festivals

What would be your greatest fears for the future? War

When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? Daniels beer shower! He usually gives it to himself but you never know.

Have you been in any other bands? Me not but Thomas played many years in Art of Fear and Daniel played with Dust n’ Bones and Grey Star

How important are your fans? The fans are what it is all about. No fans no drive. No fans no live shows. No fans no party. So it’s the most important part of the business!

How often do you rehearse? Once a week we all meet together to rehearse, talk and have some beers.

Where do you rehearse?  At our hometown Satteins. In the basement of an old textile factory.

Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? Inner Self, Promised Land  

Do you have any webpages? www.mortician.at And on facebook under MorticianAustria

Describe your show, visually and musically We do not dress very special. Some rivet belts, black clothes but the most important effect is Daniel our singer. His energy on stage and the ambition to involve the audience is one of our biggest trump live. Musically we try to bring a big fat wave of riffs and powerful sound on stage.

How do you view the music industry of today? To be honest we do not care and think too much about the industry. We are glad to be with Pure Underground-Records who are supporting us on the release and taking care of the distribution of our albums. For live shows we take care of our own So far no management is involved.

What advice would you like to give other bands? As long as you have fun. Keep on doing it! And never feel pushed to change your stile if you are not into it.

What are the biggest obstacles for a band? To find the right members so that you can say we are “one band” and to get enough possibilities to play live.

What is best/worst with playing the clubs? The near to the audience and the party afterwards is clearly a plus.  A minus is if we have to carry all our stuff by our own to the third floor or the basement of the club.

Tell us about upcomming gigs and why we should be at them? The next shows are our CD release shows. So it’s a must to be there to hear the new songs the first time live! The first is on the 16^th of January 2015 in Dornbirn and the second is on the 28^th of February in Innsbruck.

How would you describe your sound in one sentence Old school Heavy Metal

Do you have anything to add? If someone of you who read this interview owns a club or is organizing music events. Go in contact with us and we will find a way that Mortician comes to Sweden to rock your venue! E-mail to: [email protected]And if one of you wants to have a signed CD we can give it to you for EUR 15,-- incl. transport. Thank you for taking your time and your interest in Mortician. Metal Forever!