The Devil Wears Nada interview

We recently came across a new band from Sweden (yes, again!) and they really impressed us... Here's an interview with Ludwig of The Devil Wears Nada!

Having done my research, I have learnt that you used to be called Adecence not too long ago. What prompted the name change?

Yes, that's correct! Well, long story short: people had a hard time remembering our old name (Adecence) - for obvious reasons (laughs). I remember getting a call from Swedish radio (P4) and this woman asked me how to pronounce the name, and when I told her how we pronounce it she just laughed. About a year later, after we had released our debut album independently, one of the record labels that contacted us asked if we were okay with changing the band name.

Are you aware of the band The Devil Wears Prada and are you worried that some people might confuse the bands?

Honestly, I wasn't aware of the band before. It was just a funny twist on the movie "The Devil Wears Prada". I had recently broken up with a girl, and the name seemed to fit the song we released back then (laughs).

Tell me about the background of the band members. I read that you have worked with mainstream pop artists and all kinds of things?

Yeah, or well some of us have worked with mainstream pop artists. Our mixing engineer, Jacob Assio Werner, is a really talented pop producer nowadays. He has previously asked me to record some drum tracks for some of the songs he produced. But my main focus is on this band/project now. I write all the time, and since this has been my "child" from the start - it felt natural to put more time in this project.

Henrik Westergren is the guitar player, and my "brother from another mother". We've played in bands together since 2011, since we were about 13 years old. The same goes with the singer - Linus Johansson. He was the singer in some other band in our hometown, Falköping. I always knew I wanted him as the lead singer - but I had to wait for the right time before asking.

Fredrik Svensson Carlström is the most experienced member of the group. When I asked Fredrik to join TDWN back in 2023 he had already toured in Europe, America & Asia with his previous band "Screamer". The only thing I knew about him was that he liked KISS, and that was enough information for me (laughs).

Although I wouldn't lump you in with the bands who are trying to be totally 80's in sound and style, you do have a strong connection to that decade. Can you tell me about this?

Ever since I first heard the classic 80's songs by the bands and artists I love like KISS, Heart, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Survivor and many others - I've wanted to make my own versions of those songs. There's just so much to love about the 80's music scene, don't even get me started (laughs).

Some of your songs have taken cues from horror movies and there's a certain theatrical vibe in some of them. Do you have aspirations to bring these elements to your stage show?

I guess we'll have to wait and see... Seriously though, you may find out in april next year.

On your first album, you have a fellow Finn, Sampsa Astala (formely of Lordi) guesting on one track. How did this happen?

Yes, and I even co-wrote the song "Elephant In The Room" with Sampsa on the new album. I've never been afraid of asking musicians and artists that I admire for guidance. We just felt like trying to write something together, and it felt natural. Perhaps it helped with us having basically the exact same musical references in our libraries (laughs).

"Last Forever" was the first song from you and I fell in love with it instantly. It's a perfect summer anthem with a touch of nostalgia and a classic rock track reference in there. Can you tell me about the creative process behind it?

Thank you! I wrote "Last Forever" on my guitar last spring. Basically I just wanted to write a song, or an anthem about my friends in the band. The main reason was that I felt like I wanted to try some new topics for the second album. Even though I like the spooky vibes on our first album - I really did not want to make another "spooky" record. This was also the first song that I wrote for the album, and after this one I knew where I wanted to go with the rest.

What I really liked about "In Lust We Thrust" was the lyrics weren't the usual AOR fodder which sometimes gets a little boring. Just how many songs called "Hold On" does the world need, you know... how important are the lyrics to you?

That really depends on the song in my opinion! The lyrics are basically the script that you want the listeners to take part of. But the melodies are always my priority. If a song has great lyrics but the melodies "suck", then I probably won't listen to the song twice. I usually write the lyrics last, mainly because I want the melodies to guide me through the lyrical topic.

Let's talk more about influences. I've read what people have said about you, and Ghost has been mentioned - are you fans of theirs? Which other bands do you rate highly?

Sure, I believe everyone in TDWN enjoys what Ghost does. For me personally, Ghost is the best thing to come out of Sweden in many years. I guess they are influencing my songwriting without even realizing it. I actually took some drum lessons from one of their old drummers back in the day. Great guy!

And speaking of highly rated bands, which albums would be your "desert Island discs"? Hard to imagine a desert Island with a possibility to play records but anyway...

This is always one of the most difficult questions to answer, since it depends on the mood... My current top 5 most played albums are:

Huggorm - En värdelös historia
Gregory Alan Isakov - This Empty Northern Hemisphere
HIM - Razorblade Romance
The 69 Eyes - Paris Kills
Ghost - Skeletá

What about gigs - I know you have the Wings Of AOR festival booked, but do you have anything else in the pipeline that you can talk about?

We do, but that has to be a secret for now. Let's just say that even though we released our new album a couple months back - there should be some very cool news out by the time of the Wings Of AOR festival in April...

Here's a serious question that's been on my mind for some time, what's your take on this: a lot of bands are using backing tracks, to the extent of having dropped keyboard players from their line-up. Will I see a keyboard player on stage when you perform or have you done the same? If so, is it a question of money or what? Are keyboard players hard to find these days?

The honest answer is that keyboard players are hard to find, at least nearby our location (Falköping). That's the main reason I play most of the keyboards on our records. But it's also the easiest instrument to use in backing tracks in my opinion, so I'd much rather have some cool keyboards on tracks than nothing at all. Keyboards are such a big part of our sound, so it wouldn't make sense to eliminate them live.

Where do you see yourself in 2 years? Oh damn, that's a traditional job interview question...

This is also a very hard but good question. In 2028 we will have another album out, and hopefully we have played at some of our own favorite festivals around Europe then. We had a great time in Germany this year, and we would love to go back - but we would love to play anywhere the fans are. Let your local promoters know about us!

Interview by Kimmo Toivonen

Photos from the band's Facebook page