SOILWORK announce guitarist SIMON JOHANSSON as new permanent member
14-03-2023
Just having finished the first leg of their European tour with their labelmates KATAKLYSM, Swedish melodic death metal veterans SOILWORK are about to embark on the second half of the tour with exciting news. The band welcomes Simon Johansson to their ranks, completing the lineup again. Simon Johansson will step in as SOILWORK‘s new guitar player.
SOILWORK states: “We are excited to finally welcome Simon Johansson to the SOILWORK family as a permanent member. Simon has been with us on a session basis since 2019 and not only has he proven himself to be a solid guitar player, but also a humble human being and a true gentleman in some of the most challenging years of the band’s history. We love you and we are grateful that you are part of our band”.
Simon adds: “I’m super stoked and very humbled to be the new guitarist in SOILWORK. I have been a fan of the band since way back and now to be a part of the SOILWORK legacy is a huge honor. We first started to work together in 2019 when I joined as their session touring guitarist and during this time my admiration for the band has just grown. Now happy and proud to be joining my brothers as a full-time member and I’m thrilled to be a part of the next chapter of SOILWORK.”
For the second leg of the co-headline tour of KATAKLYM and SOILWORK, the bands will be joined by their Nuclear Blast labelmates HORIZON IGNITED. The Finnish melodic death metal force released its second album, “Towards The Dying Lands”, last summer, globally lauded by critics and fans. The band will replace WILDERUN who unfortunately have to drop out of the tour due to family health matters taking precedence. The tour will start out from Denmark, adding another 28 cities to their record and finish their extensive tour in the Netherlands.
SOILWORK just finished the first half of its European tour with KATAKLYSM and WILDERUN.
SOILWORK‘s high-class creative consistency, which they have been delivering solidly throughout their career, is the virtue that probably best defines them. Founded at the end of 1995, SOILWORK released their debut album “Steelbath Suicide” in 1998, garnering a great early response. By 2001 SOILWORK had joined Nuclear Blast, and by 2003 they already had five records under their belt.
Continuing their tradition of high-quality musical output, 2022 saw their twelfth studio album “Övergivenheten”, which represents the band in their growth and their current phase of life — marked by a time that probably no one on this planet will forget so quickly.
SOILWORK is:
Björn “Speed” Strid – vocals
Simon Johansson – guitars
Sven Karlsson – keyboards
Sylvain Coudret – guitars
Bastian Thusgaard – drums
Rasmus Ehrnborn – bass
David Andersson Forever ❤️
— Soilwork (@Soilwork) September 14, 2022
Photo: Stewart Munro Photography pic.twitter.com/UgdXxmXeEp
In addition to being a longtime member of SOILWORK, David played in THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA alongside SOILWORK singer Björn Strid.
THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA said in a separate statement: “Goodnight sweet doctor. We all hope you’ve finally found peace. We will miss you so much. You were one of a kind and a brilliant musician. Sadly alcohol and mental illness took you away from us. It hurts so much. Our deepest condolences goes out to David Andersson‘s family on this difficult day. He’s music will live on forever. Thank you for all the unforgettable times together. See you on the other side.”
Andersson officially joined SOILWORK in 2012 as the replacement for Peter Wichers. Prior to becoming a member of SOILWORK, Andersson had toured on and off with the band since 2006.
In a 2020 interview with Hardrock Haven, Andersson stated about his musical evolution: “I tried to have a career as a rock musician and a songwriter when I was 20 and made a few records with a band on an American label, but it just didn’t go anywhere and we split. I gave up on music for a while then and became a doctor, but back in 2006 I got the chance to start playing with SOILWORK and that was when my career sort of restarted. I didn’t see that coming ’cause when I first gave up on my rock-star game I was, like, 22 or 23 so it’s all been my surprise. I’ve been on this level for around 14 years now and it just keeps getting better, I think… I hope. (Laughs) I’m still surprised and also extremely grateful that I got the chance to do this eventually, ’cause that’s what I always wanted to do growing up.”
Last year, Andersson spoke to Metal Insider about how he has been personally affected by the coronavirus pandemic. He said: “I’m a doctor myself, a medical doctor; that’s my day job. I’ve been working with COVID patients and I have good friends who are doing quite highly esteemed research on COVID, and so I’m quite well-read when it comes to the whole pandemic thing. And even the top researchers and experts in the world, they’re still a little bit unsure and it sort of pisses me off. When everyone has gone out on social media and thinking that they know the truth, when there are people that have devoted their entire lives to virology and epidemiology still being a bit unsure on what’s right, it’s a shame that.”
He continued: “If you have a bunch of doctors and professors and scientists saying that you should be careful, then you have some random dude saying, ‘I heard that it’s safe and we can just do whatever the fuck we want and drink beers and go to a rock festival,’ of course, if you’ve lived with this pandemic for years of course you want to believe that dude, who says it’s safe and it’s all fake news and everyone’s lying to you. I can totally understand why you would choose that alternative if you’re not willing to listen to facts, that’s just the way it is, that’s human nature.”
SOILWORK released its first studio album in three years, “Övergivenheten”, on August 19 via Nuclear Blast Records.
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