The Rockpit was created to champion the Hard Rocking bands that no one else did in the mainstream media and one of the bands that we’ve been with all the way is H.E.A.T. who we first spoke to way back in 2010 the year after we formed when ‘Freedom Rock’, their second album was just hitting the streets. We’ve talked almost every year since, most recently in 2020 we spoke to Erik and Jona about the album ‘II’ and the potential Tour of Australia. If you’re following closely then you’ll know that Kenny is now back fronting the band and Erik is now with Skid Row. The great news for Australian fans is that both H.E.A.T. and Skid Row are coming Downunder this year thanks to Silverback Touring – H.E.A.T. with Crazy Lixx (another band we’ve championed since the beginning). It’s a pairing made in Hard Rocking heaven and unmissable for Aussie Rock fans! The even better news for H.E.A.T. fans though is that their new release ‘Force Majeure’ their seventh full-length is right up there with their very best. We caught up with Jona to find out all about it!
Jona: Mark how are you my friend!
Mark: I’m exceptionally well Jona, hope you’re enjoying your walk. It’s been a while since we last talked about the wonderful album ‘II’ and even longer since we sat down for a beer at Melodic Rock Fest in Melbourne. There’s so much that’s gone on in between – Kenny is back and the new album ‘Force Majeure’ rocks! It’s great that the first trip didn’t scare you off and great to see you back with a full band!
Jona: Yeah, I mean that first trip I guess was a bit of a warm up for this full tour with the whole band.
Mark: I’ll get straight to the point I’m loving the new album, I thought ‘II’ was great but ‘Force Majeure’ is right up with your best. There’s so much energy and it feels so inspired – is having Kenny back in the band a big part of that magic?
Jona: I think having Kenny back has definitely been an injection of energy for everyone. Kenny is such a force of nature so it been great for us all for sure.
Mark: It must feel great to be back on the road again too after the awful couple of years we’ve had?
Jona: Oh yeah! Every night is a pleasure. I just find myself smiling thinking “This is awesome!”
Mark: And what a great show you’ve got for us coming down with Crazy Lixx. I know you’re familiar with the guys! Two of the very best of the new breed of Hard Rock bands.
Jona: Oh yeah! We’ve played together several times. I remember the third H.E.A.T. show we ever did in Stockholm with them headlining back in 2007, but we’ve played a bunch of times in Malmo together, but we’ve played in Chicago together too – we’re good friends. So it’s always a pleasure – they’re a great live band.
Mark: After a half dozen plays the new record is sat second in my list of favourite H.E.A.T. records.
Jona: What’s your favourite?
Mark: I still have a real soft spot for ‘Tear Down the Walls’ but honesty I love them all.
Jona: That’s a great one.
Mark: Let’s talk about the album, it’s been a couple of years since ‘II’ and of course we all got robbed of the tour for that one, how long has ‘Force Majeure’ been in the making, did you start more of less after ‘II’?
Jona: Yeah, I mean after Erik left and we got Kenny back it was during the pandemic so we couldn’t tour or anything, so the natural thought was to start writing and make a new record. It was also the best way possible to integrate Kenny back into the band you know, and to get his creative juices going as we worked together. I guess it it was late 2020 when we started writing and we went all the way through to 2021 and we started recording in August last year. So we had the luxury of about a year of writing.
Mark: With having that extra time did you take many tracks into the studio? Were there many that didn’t make it past the demos?
Jona: We made like 25-30 demos if not more, then we narrowed it down to maybe 15-20. Then we sent them to the record company and we kind of bounced back and forwards what they liked and we liked and then we came up with the 13 tracks that we recorded for ‘Force Majeure.’ And we put 11 of the on the record. The two we left off are really good songs too so I hope that we can release them in the future. So that’s how it came about.
Mark: It’s always great to get a few bonus tracks. I see you have the Stone Dead Festival in the UK coming up on August 22nd and I have a few friends going to see you there. Ironically it’s just down the road from where I grew up. It’s a Festival growing in reputation.
Jona: Absolutely, I was just talking to Jimmy about it because we are playing Portugal for the first time the day before. We’re flying in and we’re landing at Heathrow at 11.30 and we’ve got to make it there by 4.00! So it’s gonna be fucking stressful! But we’ll make it!
Mark: (laughs) That will be close I used to do Heathrow to Nottingham in about 3 and a bit hours so I think you’ll have about an hour to spare!
Jona: Straight off the bus and hop out on stage! (laughs)
Mark: Let’s hope all the baggage gets through!
Jona: We’ll pray!
Mark: (laughs)
Mark: The live shows with Crazy Lixx should be fantastic, there’s no shows in Perth where we’re based so I’ll be heading over to Adelaide and maybe Melbourne too so I hope we get a chance to catch up.
Jona: I’m sure we will.
Mark: I hope so. The interesting thing I guess for fans is not only how much of the new album we get t hear, but also how much of ‘II’ which we didn’t get the chance to see when it was released?
Jona: I guess we’ll play the singles and I hope we add ‘Tainted Blood’ too, I really like that one, so at least three but probably four. And like you said we’ll play quite a bit from ‘H.E.A.T. II’ as well because we never got to tour it. So I guess for or five from that one too. Then we have to choose what we can play from the rest!
Mark: So we’re looking at about a four hour set then!
Jona: (laughs) Four hours! (laughing)
Mark: (laughs) Well if you want to get all of my favourites in it might have to be!
Jona: We are hoping for about 80 minutes maybe 90.
Mark: It will be great, I loved the noise the two of you made when I last saw you so I can imagine how good it will sound with a full band.
Jona: We will try our best.
Mark: The album starts off wonderfully with ‘Back to The Rhythm’ which is a wonderful opener, a great rock song. Can you remember the first song you actually wrote for the record?
Jona: It would be probably ‘Harder to Breathe’ that was first, I mean both ‘Harder to Breathe’ and ‘Back to The Rhythm’ were written for ‘H.E.A.T. II’ – we really liked ‘Harder to Breathe’ but we thought the groove was kind of similar to ‘Rise’ so we kept it in the drawer and ‘Back to the Rhythm’ came when I was going through my voice memos and I actually found out I wrote the verse for it the day before I wrote the pre-chorus to ‘Rock Your Body’ (Also from H.E.A.T. II’) – so those were written about the same time. But apart from those two tracks the rest was written for ‘Force Majeure’.
Mark: And who was the genius who came up with the chorus to ‘Hollywood’? I don’t think I’ve heard a catchier chorus in years?
Jona: That was Jimmy’s – it’s an awesome chorus – he’s like the master of a big-ass chorus these days! That’s Jimmy’s.
Mark: I also love ‘Not For Sale’ but I think you excel yourself on the ballad, it’s a beautiful song.
Jona: I love that one too, that’s Kenny’s track, he wrote it – I love it when he puts his heart and soul into a song and that’s one of those tracks. It really means something to him, it still gives me the chills when I hear it and I hope people appreciate it.
Mark: I guess it’s one of those songs that’s hard to play live, with the different set up?
Jona: We’ll see if we can do it for you.
Mark: There’s so many great songs n the record it’s a tough job to choose a favourite but the one song that intrigued me was ‘Paramount’ it’s a little off-centre. Tell us about that?
Jona: (laughs) That melody popped into my head in the shower. I shouted to my girlfriend at the time – get me my phone I have to sing into it! It was the feel of this 90’s anthem or something like that, so it may be a bit of an oddball on the album, but I still think it’s catchy as hell. I played the track to Grönwall and he was like “It’s the best song you have to have that on!” he wanted to do it with New Horizon, but I had to tell him that the guys in the band liked it too.
Mark: Was ‘Demon Eyes’ one from the New Horizon project?
Jona: No, me and Kenny are huge Maiden fans and he had that intro riff and it sounded like a ‘boss-fight’ from the old Nintendo games, real high energy and all that so it was a pleasure writing that one it just took half a day to write the whole song!
Mark: Erik and you are great friends of course and as we know he’s now joined Skid Row, who are also touring down here later in the year. Was it hard to keep a lid on that? I imagine you must have known for some time?
Jona: Yeah, we talk, we’re very open with each other, so I knew everything early on before he even got asked – they asked him to fill in first and I thought “OK this is going somewhere” there was some problem with the old singer I donlt know what, so I knew quite early.
Mark: Well they do get through a few singers Skid Row, let’s hope they stick with one! So let’s twist that around a little bit, you have to guarantee that you will stay with H.E.A.T. but if a band came knocking for you, who might entice you to join?
Jona: Well as a keyboard player I can’t think of many (laughs) but maybe playing with someone like Yngwie Malmsteen would be fucking awesome actually! Especially in the 80’s but then I’d have to practice more so it would be a pain in the ass! (laughs)
Mark: I guess there’s only a few like Bon Jovi or Europe that you could add to that list. But you donlt play bad guitar I seem to remember you having a few chords!
Jona: I’m OK (laughs)
Mark: Take us all the way back now, where id it all begin for you – when was the moment you knew music would be such an important part of your life?
Jona: I think it was going from 5th to 6th grade. I think about 11 or 12 and I discovered Guns ‘n’ Roses and immediately thought “Fuck I love Hard Rock” I listened to ‘Use Your Illusion I and II’ and really blasted them over the summer and then discovered Iron Maiden shortly after and I was really hooked by 12 years old! So I started growing my hair and haven’t cut it since! (laughs)
Mark: (laughs) Were the keyboards your first instrument?
Jona: I grew up wanting to be a guitar player but I grew up with Dave Dalone, we’ve known each other since we were seven, and he was always so much better than me (laughs) so I kinda had to resort to other instruments! So I became average at many instruments instead of being ‘sick as fuck’ on one!
Mark: (laughs) I’d put you right up there – you’ve got a great sound on the new album.
Jona: Thank you very much.
Mark: The thing that always surprises me about H.E.A.T. and you have been around for 15 years now is that you are so damned consistent! If you had been magically transported back to the 80’s you’d have charted with them all, but rock seems to be coming back especially in Europe – what do you put that down to?
Jona: I don’t know it’s hard, people always ask me what’s with Sweden and Scandinavia putting out great bands, but it’s hard to say. I guess we just like great music! And let’s see what will happen with the States and Metallica on Stranger Things – that Eddie Munson character – Hard Rock is back in the mainstream again. I mean I’m biased as fuck, but I think Heavy Metal music is the best music in the world! I hope the new generation and the youth latch onto that!
Mark: I know, I had a 14 year old asking me about my favourite Led Zeppelin album the other day, it was strange yet rewarding, but I think they got bored after half an hour!
Jona: (laughs)
Mark: (laughs) If you could have been a ‘Fly on the wall’ for the creation of any great Rock album of the past, just to see how the magic happened in the studio – what would you love to have witnessed being made?
Jona: Can I choose two?
Mark: You can have as many as you like Jona.
Jona: OK, I’ll go for ‘A Night at the Opera’ by Queen and then ‘Hysteria’ by Def Leppard. You can just hear how many new thoughts were put into the the creation of those albums in the production. And any Iron Maiden album! Maybe ‘Somewhere in Time’ just to see Martin Birch produce, that would be sick!
Mark: You can’t go wrong with those selections. I get a bit of Def Leppard in ‘Hold Your Fire’ I can feel the love there and you’ve done it very well. I love it when a band understands the ‘essence’ but still manage to sound like themselves.
Jona: Oh yeah! It’s that Mutt Lange production Mark, Def Leppard, Bryan Adams, even Nickelback – it’s all made for Arenas – you can hear that Stadium vibe and if you listen to ‘Women’ on ‘Hysteria’ I totally stole that vibe for ‘Rock Your Body’ because I want to hear that live! (Jona sings) It’s a song to get you going, get you pumped!
Mark: We’re in for a treat when you come over!
Jona: We’re ready!
Mark: As a song-writer where does it start for you?
Jona: Most of the time it’s just a melody that pops into my head and I start singing. Like I see a tree or something and I’m like “Tree!” (Jona sings) “Trees are cool, trees are cool!” and then you think “OK that’s hooky!” And then I record it as a voice memo. Other times you just sit with a guitar and a riff comes. Then you put all these pieces together and think “OK that’s a good pre-chorus” and when you have enough material patch them together and all of a sudden you have a song.
Mark: And you save everything?
Jona: Of course – all the voice memos and the demos are all still there whether its in dropbox or on the phone and every now and again when I can’t sleep I’ll listen to them and label them – this might be good for H.E.A.T. or it might be a New Horizon song or whatever.
Mark: And for the final question I’m going to cheat a bit here and ask you for a second time – what is the meaning of life?
Jona: The meaning of life it’s to be as happy as you possibly can!
Mark: That’s a great answer. Leave us with three songs that you love that we should all have a listen to by the time you get Downunder?
Jona: Let’s see – ‘Wasted Tears’ by Iron Maiden – I love that track. Then ‘The Accolade’ Symphony X from The Divine Wings of Tragedy’, and something more modern – anything from Treat’s Coup De Grace is awesome!
Mark: That’s a great album. Have a safe trip, enjoy Portugal and the U.K. and see your Downunder soon!
Jona: Thank you so much for having me Mark! It will be a blast. Take care, have a good one!
Get “FORCE MAJEURE” Now!
https://Heat.lnk.to/ForceMajeure
Check out our review here:
ALBUM REVIEW: H.E.A.T – Force Majeure – The Rockpit
H.E.A.T – Australian Tour September 2022
Thurs, Sept 8: Manning Bar, Sydney
Friday, Sept 9: The Prince, Melbourne
Saturday, September 10: Woolly Mammoth, Brisbane
Sunday, September 11: The Gov, Adelaide
Tix from
www.silverbacktouring.com.au/heat-australian-tour-2021/
