First of all I’d like you to fill us in on what’s happening in the Lonewolf at the moment ?
 Michael hellström : we are actually on the road to promote our last release “The Heathen Dawn”, we are really happy with the feedbacks of this new album and it’s definitively a pleasure to play the new songs on stage.Â
Can you briefly introduce your band and who you are ?Â
Jens börner: we are lonewolf, a french true metal band playing mostly in the german style. Originaly the band was born in Grenoble, but with the years passing by, petsons you meet and line up changes we are today two left of grenoble (michael/lead guitar and I, jens, rythm guitar & vocals) and the drummer bubu and the bassplayer rikki come from elsass, french border near germany, around Strasbourg.Â
Lonewolf was born in france back in 1992. could you please give the bands history so far ? how you formed ?Â
Jens börner: Lonewolf was founded in ’92,and split up in ’96. From this era remain two demo tapes (“the dark throne” and “the calling”), and most important thing a 7″ released in 1995, “holy evil”. We then split up after having signed a bad contract with rip-offs. We came back in 2001 with our first album “march into the arena” , released via a spanish label who ‘d also release our second one, “unholy paradise”, in 2004. Then we changed to the greek label eat metal records, who released a 7″, “hellenic warriors” (2004) and our third album, “made in hell” in 2008. One yearlater we released “the dark crusade” via karthago records (germany). Then we signed To napalm records to record “army of the damned ” and “the fourth and final horseman”. And since we found home at massacre records, who released “cult of steel” (2014) and”the heathen dawn” in 2016.
Why was the name lonewolf chosen as the band’s name ?Â
Michael hellström: the band’s name was chosen after the Running Wild’s song “Lonewolf” on the Blazon Stone album Running wild still was a major influence on the band since the early days.Â
What are your influences ?Â
Michael hellström: as said previously Running Wild, but also Grave Digger and the teutonic scene of the 80’s and early 90’s, but also some more extreme bands like Dissection who really take their full intensity on the guitar lines and melodies.Â
What is your music background ?Â
Michael hellström: I personnaly play in Elvenstorm and I joined Lonewolf last year so I’m 666% into teutonic heavy metal. My main influences as guitar players are Kai Hansen, Rock N’ Rolf Kasparek and Wolf Hoffmann. I’m a huge heavy metal fan before to be musician, some albums like “Walls of Jericho”, “Blazon Stone” or “The Reaper” have really branded my youth, this is a matter of passion more than everything to me.
What’s the most memorable show you guys have played and where are you scheduled to hit the stage in the near future ?Â
Jens börner: personaly i’d say 3: in 2014 we played an open air festival in germany, not long after germany won the football world cup. For the encores, Rikki and I went on stage with the shirts of the german football team and it became really crazy in the crowd. It was a fantastic moment. I’d say the up the hammers festival 2008 in greece. Sometimes, youdont know why, a gig becomes magic. This gig was magic, insane….And for the little story on this night jan bünning, paragon’s bassplayer, helped us out on bass. And as i’m a crazy paragon fan it made all even more magic ! And third the “foire au vin” festival in colmar/France. There were 8000 people and it was really insane!
Who writes the majority of your music or is it a whole band collaboration thing ?Â
Jens börner: it’s me and the other guitarist. The four last albums were mainly written by me and Alex (former lead guitar player) and now I work hard with our new one, Michaël, to give a good successor to “the heathen dawn”! It would be no problem if other ones in the band would bring riffs, but it just turned out that way of one or two composers per song. 8 What’s the most memorable show you guys have played and where are you scheduled to hit the stage in the near future? Jens börner: personaly i’d say 3: in 2014 we played an open air festival in germany, not long after germany won the football world cup. For the encores, Rikki and I went on stage with the shirts of the german football team and it became really crazy in the crowd. It was a fantastic moment. I’d say the up the hammers festival 2008 in greece. Sometimes, youdont know why, a gig becomes magic. This gig was magic, insane….And for the little story on this night jan bünning, paragon’s bassplayer, helped us out on bass. And as i’m a crazy paragon fan it made all even more magic! And third the “foire au vin” festival in colmar/France. There were 8000 people and it was really insane!
 How important are lyrics for the band ? Who writes them ? What kinds of themes inspire you guys to write about ?Â
Michael hellström: The Lyrics are really important to the band because it reflects in a perfect way the power of the music you create. Some songs like “Song for the Fallen” or “Viktoria” have really strong lyrics for exemple. There’s no current themes but Lonewolf’s lyrics are about courage in the daily life, the force to fight and never surrender in the whole world that surround us, and most of all the thing that unite us all as brotherhood: Heavy Metal. I personnally also really like the dark themes on the early days lyrics with songs like “Holy Evil”, “The New Inquisition”, “Pagan Glory”Â
What do you feel is the best & worst part about playing in a band ?
 Michael hellström: To play in a band in a real human experience as you have to stay united as one… a kind of brotherhood Of course there are some high and lows, but this is a band’s life. The most satisfaction to play in a band for me, is to write a page as little as it is in the heavy meatl history. This is the best achievement I think.Â
 Are there any countries you’re interested in touring or performing in ? Why?Â
Michael hellström : We would love to get back on stage on a full european tour and finally come back to Poland, Greece and Germany because these countries are breathing and living Heavy Metal like nowhere else. And this is still a huge satisfaction for us to play in different countries, to meet new peoples and friendsÂ
Please tell us about your latest release ?
Jens börner: “The Heathen Dawn” is true heavy metal, yet rather epic, beginning wirh the viking cover and going on in the music. The predessecor, “cult of steel”, was rather straight ahead german steel. This time the roots are the same of course, but our epic side is really present also. Sometimes beside our running wild/grave digger influences we also give course to bands like manilla road or omen. We focused more on the choruses also, they asked more work than on our previous releases. The album has been mixed and mastered again by charles greywolf in germany, and I am really happy with the strong and german sound.
How do you think your music will progress in the future ?
Michael hellström:With the line up change, and the new guitarist, the next album will be different than the previous one for sure. This is a new way to work, to write songs, but it will be 666% Lonewolf ! We are really satisfied with the new material for the moment and we are looking forward to deliver the new album. It’s pretty nice to see how the band is in constant evolution from the “March into the Arena” album to “The Heathen Dawn”. Just expect a pure heavy metal album.Â
What are the next steps for your band ?
Michael hellström: The next steps are to finish to promote “The Heathen dawn”, to release a new album and to get back on the road.
Is there anything that you’d like to promote or say to your fans out there ?Â
Jens börner: we are right now working very hard on the successor of “the heathen dawn”. After a line up change- even more of a guitar player- we are really excited to unleash our new stuff. True metal to the bone. Some things may surprise a bit, some things may exactly be what fans expect. …believe me there is a lot to come!!! A big hail to our fans, The release date etc will be known soon. Ses you – hellbent for metal !
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