Jorn Lande

We at the House of Shred are proud to provide a forum for musicians to communicate with their fans. We are very happy to give Jorn Lande a chance to convey his thoughts and perhaps shed some light into this unfortunate situation. As you read this interview, do keep in mind that there are two sides to every story. We have contacted Yngwie Malmsteen's camp and have offered to give him a chance to tell his side. [Update: Read Yngwie's response. -Editor]

Fresh from his stint as the lead vocalist for Yngwie Malmsteen's touring band, the House of Shred caught up with singer Jorn Lande to discuss the events that caused his tumultuous and abrupt departure from the band, as well as his ARK project and his plans for the future.

House of Shred: So, How are you doing?
Jorn Lande: I'm doing fine, I'm just getting ready to start my new solo album. So in a couple of weeks, I'll be working in the studio. And we have the new ARK album, Burn The Sun coming out in America as well on Steve Vai's label.

HoS: Really? Has that been confirmed?
JL: Yeah, that's confirmed.

HoS: So, Favored Nations is putting out the ARK album? That's great news!
JL: Yeah.

HoS: Do you know the release date yet?
JL: I don't know yet, we'll find out I guess within a week or so what the schedule is. It shouldn't be too long because the album has already been released in Japan, France, and Germany. Europe is pretty much covered, so it shouldn't be too long before it's out there.

HoS: Great! I love the album, by the way.
JL: Thanks man! We're proud of that one. It's really good. It's one of our better ones. It's a friendship thing. It's a creative thing, where people create something together, and that's a different and more real thing to do, instead of constructing something for other people like tools. Everyone has their own job, mine is to do melodies and lyrics, and the rest of the band does their own thing, you know? And it works together, it's like a chemistry that is just free in creating music and that's very important.

HoS: There have been a lot of rumors floating around. Do you want to set the record straight and tell us what happened in Cleveland and what caused you to leave Yngwie's band?
JL: Basically, the story is that all the way from the beginning, there have been hassles about certain things as well as unacceptable behavior from Yngwie and his family. We didn't actually find it amusing to have his whole family on the tour bus either, it kind of interfered with a lot of things, you know, personal lives, it just doesn't work to do it that way. And stuff happened with Hotel rooms that weren't fixed and their behavior when we tried to confront them with these things. I mean, the way they treated people, but I never gave in, so I guess I got a little edgy with the family from the beginning, 'cause I didn't put up with the shit. So, in New York I told them there had been delays in payments and things had to be set straight here or else we can't continue. And I told them I wouldn't continue and that I didn't think John (Macaluso) would continue either. And we both talked to them about it and then they freaked out and April (Yngwie's wife) freaked out. His wife is very much involved in this, so we also had to tell Yngwie straight out. I mean, you can't hide behind your wife and your family, you have to make your own choices and take control yourself of how things are going to be, you know? I told him, "it's you that we're playing with, it's not your family." Then, basically, things were about to turn out better and we were promised that they were gonna sort things out and make things better. Then, the next days after that NY show there was no improvement whatsoever and it became like they couldn't handle the fact that someone had confronted them with something. So then they started to avoid me in a way, so I started to feel that kind of tension. And that day in Cleveland I was just pissed because nothing was taken care of, and nothing had changed, things actually became worse. So then I just told them "This is it, this is too much of a Soap Opera, too much of an instigating kind of situation. This is not how I deal with things." I mean, there's three rules when you're working, you get your pay when you're supposed to get paid, you get your room when you're supposed to sleep and you get your privacy when you can, you know? So there are certain rules, but there are not many rules to remember to keep the business running. Very simple moral rules that everyone in the world, or at least most people, except for these people, understand. So I guess there's a lack of some mental thing there, I don't know if it's the background, or whatever. It's just not very professionally run. The way I see it, it's more like being on a gypsy tour, with Yngwie, (Laughs) know what I mean?

HoS: Now, there have been reports that you had gotten into an altercation, what happened?
JL: What happened was that I told them again just before the (Cleveland) show. Everyone was backstage and I said, "this is basically it, you're gonna sort everything with everyone now." And also, he owed me some cash from before and I said, "I'm not waiting any longer, you have to sort this shit out now." And his father-in-law is suddenly running part of the thing with his wife and they all say different things. So I just had to tell them, "You've all been lying, you've all been bullshitting from day to day, saying you're gonna sort this and sort that. You look at us and you say (fake Middle Eastern accent) 'Don't worry, don't worry we will sort it' and nothing happens." So, I got pissed and asked them "Who the fuck do you think you're dealing with." I mean, there were just fucking lies all over the place so I told them, "This is it! I have to sort everything now, or else I'm not going to stay here anymore, I'm just quitting the thing, because this is really not my way of dealing with things." They still didn't get it from last week, and then when I called them liars, the father in law stood up and said (fake Middle Eastern accent) "Are you calling us liars?" And then he got in my face and he grabbed my jacket and I had to take his hands away by force, you know?

HoS: This is Yngwie's father-in-law?
JL: Yeah, and I didn't do anything, I just wanted to tell them to sort everything out, and wanted to talk to them about the way that they've been treating people lately. John (Macaluso) had broken fingers and everything and there was some shit with the rooms and you know, just daily life. When you're travelling away from your family back home for a long time and need everything to be sorted out and it wasn't. They were treating people like shit basically and I never wanted to accept that. That's why they were kind of pissed or provoked by me I guess, or by the presence of someone that wouldn't stand for that. So that's basically what happened. And April came up to me after I took her father's hands away and started to like jump on me and I took her hands away too.

HoS: This was April?
JL: Yeah, and her mother was like holding her father back, and then April suddenly came up to me and I took her hands away too. Instantly, when I took her hands away from me I said, "What are you doing? Are you crazy?" I said, "Are you fucking nuts?" Then suddenly, at the same exact moment that I took her hands away she started to scream "Assault!!" and "Security!!" and "Police!!" and all that, like a Soap Opera kind of thing. And I thought to myself, "This would make a great movie." (Laughs)

HoS: Now where was Yngwie during all this?
JL: He was just running out like a scared rabbit, and I told him "You just fucking stay put there, I'm talking to you." And I was really firm, it started to look to me like he was just hiding behind his family, just running out of there. Then somebody came back with the police. Then security escorted me downstairs, and then he came with the police. Actually, he went out to get someone to get the police, and they were screaming and it was total chaos. And I basically didn't do anything but tell them what I thought about their behavior towards the people that they work with. And that to have the creative development and to have a relationship for the future which makes for good marketing and a good musical performance, you know? And also the business, I mean you can't work like that.

HoS: Now, Yngwie's father in law is the manager?
JL: No he's not the manager, he's just... it's like a family thing, you know? It's like Yngwie rose from the past and suddenly has this new family and new wife. And I don't know anything about it, I just know they're from Turkey. I mean it has nothing to do with me at all, I don't care who does what in that family. I mean the point is that you shouldn't involve your family in that sense, especially when they're not used to doing it, and when they're not used to being on the road at the same time and dealing with the full picture of us or of everyone surrounding Yngwie. Even fans, you know, people come with serious devotion to his music, and things happen there and things are being said that are just horrendous.

HoS: Really?
JL: To fans, I mean there's people that have come to the show that are deadly sick and stuff. And he suddenly turns into an asshole and says, "Get the fuck out of here." and "I don't care" and stuff 'cause he's tired of signing autographs. And these people, I mean most of them are fucking seriously devoted fans. That resulted also in us (the band) not taking part in that, and not being with him at that time. I mean we went by ourselves and we talked to the fans and did some socializing a little bit, you know?

HoS: He would actually kick fans out?
JL: Well, not directly, but he would be close to it and be kind of rude to them. Which is the wrong thing to do.

HoS: You mean he would do like a "let's get it over with kind of thing"?
JL: Yeah, but you know we're all in the same boat in that sense. I mean it's because of the fans that we're doing this.

HoS: It's really unfortunate that this happened.
JL: Yeah.

HoS: It's also been reported that you were left behind in Cleveland with no money and no way of getting home.
JL: No that's just a lie, the only thing was that a couple of weeks before that, my passport and credit card were stolen and I had to go to Miami to the consulate to get a new passport and stuff. I got that and then I was waiting for my new Credit Card to be sent from Norway and it hadn't arrived so I didn't have my credit card at the time when I left the tour, but I had enough cash you know, to get by.

HoS: So you were OK.
JL: Yeah, I was fine. I quit. It was me that quit.

HoS: So you quit the band and you were OK, you weren't stranded.
JL: No, no, no. I wasn't stranded, I decided the day before that it was the last day, that this was over and I told John (Macaluso), and I told Randy (Coven) as well. I told them this was the last day, 'cause we were talking about it and I told them that instead of us getting crazy about it now, talking about it, spending stupid time on that, we gotta just deal with it and we'll do it tomorrow. That was the deal and I dealt with it, 'cause no one else wanted to talk about anything.

HoS: So you felt you had to stand up for yourself.
JL: I did it again, like in New York and the result was the result, you know? And like I told you, I couldn't have even dreamt of the outcome of that evening.

HoS: So things escalated beyond your control.
JL: Yeah, suddenly I was there in the middle of this movie.

HoS: And your intentions were just to get everything settled.
JL: I wanted to get everything settled and to let them know that they were pushing it too far and we've been nice about it too long and they had their chances and, you know...

HoS: But they had to deal with it right away.
JL: And they could have dealt with it right away if they wanted to or they could have reacted like normal people. I mean, it's very easy, it's like you buy the car with all the extras and you get the car a week later and the car is not the great car with all the extras, it's the regular sedan or something. And then you go back to the dealer and you say, "Look, didn't I fucking pay for the GTI with all the extras?" And, the guy will say "Oh yeah, that's right, I'm so sorry, I will make sure that everything is sorted." If I had gotten just a little bit of that, and if they were definite in front of everyone and if they had made sure that everything got sorted out, there would be no problem. There was just no communication.

HoS: And had that happened, would you still be touring with them?
JL: Well I guess I would, yeah. If they had taken care of all the stuff and made sure that the way they were towards everyone changed, I would probably have stayed on the tour, but I don't think I would have stayed for long with the whole family. So, I guess that could be a time bomb. It's hard to say what would have happened, 'cause that took too much energy to fucking deal with it. So what happened outside after was that I had to talk to the cops about everything.

HoS: Is everything OK now?
JL: Everything was OK. I mean, she (April) was out there and she tried to accuse me of all these things that were just bullshit in front of everyone, I mean in front of people in the band, people in the crew, people from Lizzy Borden. And she was lying to the cops, telling the cops a lot of stories about me, just to try to get me arrested or something or to try to make me pay.

HoS: But you never actually hit anybody.
JL: No, no I never hit anyone.

HoS: And nobody hit you.
JL: No, no, no. So, I was always cool, whatever. I never did anything, I just got pissed and I said firmly what I felt. And I was pissed and I spoke for everyone, and they're all witnesses to it, then everyone outside saw what the final result was. The cops came over to me and told me that they were trying to get her family to understand that what they were doing then was not going to lead to anything but chaos. And that nobody was going to win, everyone would lose in the end. Only because nothing had to do with reality, it was all built on fiction and lies, and the police, they see shit like that every day. They see hysterical women, they know when something's up, and that was good for me that they saw that instantly. After a while, they understood that they had to try and persuade his family to not go further with the matter. Because it was pointless, and they came to me and they told me I didn't have to worry because they understood where I was coming from. The people that were in the dressing room told the cops "Jorn didn't do anything but speak his mind and then the father in law came up to him and then April came up to him and the whole scene blew up. Jorn didn't start anything" and they knew that already from several other people. So the cops didn't believe them, they didn't believe them at all, so they tried to convince them to leave it and make them understand the consequences also for their sake. If it was a war they wanted, hopefully they got it. My point is that they never took care of what they promised to take care of in the first place, but I guess those have been his ways for a long time. You know, the ship is eventually going to sink and unfortunately the sinking ship this year is his ship.

HoS: That's unfortunate, because musically, the band with you and John Macaluso was phenomenal.
JL: The problem is that it's too bad, that people actually can't see that. As a talented musician and as a person, that he cannot be on an emotional level with other people and communicate. And that ego is such a big part of it. We're not from that planet you know, we're just people and we do our best effort in our work and we put our lives into our work and our thoughts about the past, present, and future into our writing, you know? We live for performing and creating, and it should be a good thing. It should be something that stimulates you, it shouldn't be a thing that brings you to the place where he or his family are at. I don't know where they're from, they're not from my world whatsoever. To me it's like they're from some other planet. I've seen the tendencies before. With all due respect to his guitar playing, but unfortunately you can't work with him. He'd have a great band if he could ever work with someone and become a guy that could be a friend, or a decent guy. And have people that can be creative with him. He could do some amazing stuff, but unfortunately that's probably not going to happen if he doesn't change. And let me tell you, it takes a lot to get me pissed off.

HoS: You're saying that you're a patient person...
JL: And everyone that knows me knows that I am. And all I want to do is move forward and have good people to work with. That's all I care about. And I have very strong values from where I grew up. I'm not coming from the world that they are from. So, basically for me to get pissed, it takes something extreme.

HoS: So what you're saying is that it was a collection of many things.
JL: Yeah, it was very many things. So many things that if I went into detail, you would see. But it's not really necessary for me to do that. Daily life basically, a lack of trust, disrespect, and all those things.

HoS: Well that's really unfortunate man. But I'm happy that you're getting another shot at the U.S. with ARK.
JL: Well yeah, it's our second album in the U.S.

HoS: You're a great singer, and many fans were disappointed about not seeing you on the Yngwie tour.
JL: I'm really sorry about that, but I mean, there was nothing I could do. I just had to leave, and there was no way back after the results of that backstage confrontation that day.

HoS: There was no turning back after that.
JL: And I expected that something might happen, but I never thought it would go that far. But then, after that happened, there's no turning back anyway.

HoS: But you are moving forward with your career. You have ARK, and a solo album...
JL: Yeah, a solo album I had recorded drums and a few guitars before I went on tour, so now I'm going right back into the studio to start working.

HoS: Is your new solo album going to be original material?
JL: Yeah, only original material. I don't know when that's coming out, but I'm going to finish it, hopefully by summer.

HoS: Excellent. Will ARK be touring the US?
JL: We hope, we'll see how it goes. I think Steve Vai wants us on tour, the first thing he asked us was if we wanted to play. And of course, if we get a tour, we're going. So things happen for a reason. I guess the difference between me and some of the people that he worked with before is that they didn't have their own thing, their careers, and I guess they were kind of more dependent on him in a way. But I am different, me and John are in a different position. And in a way we did Yngwie a favor, but at the same time it was a favor for us because we hadn't promoted a lot before on the American market and now we did. So I came there to do a favor and I got a favor back in some marketing, and going the hard way out to the people before my next things come, like ARK. In a way, it's a positive angle.

HoS: So you're putting a positive spin on things which is cool. And you have some projects coming out this year, like Nikolo Kotzev's Nostradamus project.
JL: Yeah, I guess the release of that is just around the corner. And me and this keyboard player have a project called Beyond Twilight that's kind of a dark metal opera kind of concept album.

HoS: And when is that coming out?
JL: That's coming out on Massacre Records, I guess in a month or a couple of months.

HoS: In the U.S. too?
JL: I think so, yeah. It's a 28 country release.

HoS: That's great! And also, you did an album with Uli Jon Roth.
JL: Yeah, I don't know what's going to happen with that. We recorded it a long time ago. That album has been sitting on the shelf for three years or so.

HoS: Hopefully he'll release that too.
JL: I don't know if he's going to release that, because he sometimes changes his thoughts around his concept. And I did like 6 or 7 tracks on that album, I think it's a double album.

HoS: Is that Requiem for An Angel?
JL: Yes. I think he had Tommy Heart (Fair Warning) and Michael Flexig (Zeno) doing some stuff there as well. But for now, it's ARK coming first.

HoS: Yes, that album sounds very fresh, it's a great album. It's refreshing to listen to and I think that with the right promotion, it will catch on big time. Because it sounds like nothing you've ever heard, and it's very cool to listen to.
JL: Thanks man!

HoS: So hopefully we'll see out here again with ARK.
JL: It would be so cool to come back and do something with ARK, I mean, that's the plan, for us to go and tour immediately. I hope it happens, I don't know in which context yet, but we should definitely be there. Even if we are "Special Guests" or if we are headlining or both. We're definitely coming.

HoS: Listen man, good luck. And I'm sorry this happened.
JL: Oh well, I was over it the day after. As soon as I got on a plane and went to Tampa to see a friend of mine, 'cause I had to go somewhere anyway, I had to go either to New York or somewhere to wait for an extra day where I could catch the flight back home. So I just went to see a friend of mine for like two days and then I left. It was all taken care of, I got my record company to take care of everything for me. To me it was painless. And it was basically my own choice, the decision to not work with Yngwie unless things changed, and they didn't so, I was basically happier the next day. I felt like "Wow! I'm fucking free," I'm going back and doing my shit.

HoS: Well that's great! Listen, good luck with everything and thanks.
JL: Thank you and take care.

The House of Shred would like to thank Jorn Lande for his time and for using us as a forum to tell his story. For more information on ARK, check out the official ARK Website at www.arksite.com.

Read Yngwie Malmsteen's response to this interview.