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Band Info
Members
Urban "Ubbe" Ferm - Vocals, Bass (Dragon)
Robert "Robban" Johansson - Guitars (Dragon)
Daniel Johansson - Guitars
Cristian "Crille" Österberg - Drums
Former / Past Members
Björn Gladh - Guitars (Dragon, Hell)
Taiwaz was formed around 1985 by members of the band Dragon (active 1984-1985, featuring Urban, Robert and Björn). The name Taiwaz is from the Viking god Tiw/Tiwaz (god of battle and protector of warriors). Taiwaz recorded a demo in 1988 and played some memorable gigs in Östhammar and Öregrund. The band split in 1991, but in 2012 Robert had some beers with Gottfrid (bass player of In Solitude), and his daughter played their demo cassette tape from 1988 for him. Gottfrid wondered why he hadn't converted it to mp3 and put it out on the internet so people could listen to it, so he did. After a few more beers, Robert started to search for the others in Taiwaz (who he hadn't had any contact with in 21 years). Everyone liked the idea and Taiwaz was once again back together. In 2013 the band went into the studio and cut some tracks with Gottfrid as engineer. The material was later released by Electric Assault Records together will old recordings from 1988/89 on a limited cassette and LP entitled 'I Am All (2014)'.
Note: Watain have covered the Taiwaz song "Play With The Devil" (B-side on the single 'All That May Bleed, 2013').
Taiwaz was formed around 1985 by members of the band Dragon (active 1984-1985, featuring Urban, Robert and Björn). The name Taiwaz is from the Viking god Tiw/Tiwaz (god of battle and protector of warriors). Taiwaz recorded a demo in 1988 and played some memorable gigs in Östhammar and Öregrund. The band split in 1991, but in 2012 Robert had some beers with Gottfrid (bass player of In Solitude), and his daughter played their demo cassette tape from 1988 for him. Gottfrid wondered why he hadn't converted it to mp3 and put it out on the internet so people could listen to it, so he did. After a few more beers, Robert started to search for the others in Taiwaz (who he hadn't had any contact with in 21 years). Everyone liked the idea and Taiwaz was once again back together. In 2013 the band went into the studio and cut some tracks with Gottfrid as engineer. The material was later released by Electric Assault Records together will old recordings from 1988/89 on a limited cassette and LP entitled 'I Am All (2014)'.
Note: Watain have covered the Taiwaz song "Play With The Devil" (B-side on the single 'All That May Bleed, 2013').
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Biography by Robert Johansson The name Taiwaz is afrom the Viking god Tiw/Tiwaz (god of battle and protector of warriors. We started round 1985 and played until 1991. We drifted apart for a while and actually didn't have any contact for about 21 years, we were still friends, but our lives took different paths. In 2012, I (Robert)) had some beers with Gottfrid (bass player of In Solitude) and my daughter played our demo cassette tape from 1988 for him. He asked me why I didn't convert it to mp3 and put it out on the internet so people could listen to it, so I did. And after a few more beers I started to search for the others in Taiwaz on the internet and asked them if they were interested to play some tones again and everyone said HELL YEAH!. So here we are...
Tell me about the beginning of Taiwaz, how you guys started playing together. Was Heavy Metal big in Uppsala around that time?Taiwaz is the outbreak of a band called Dragon, where Robert, Urban and Björn played 1984-1985 and Christian joined the band shortly after. There was not so many heavy bands in Uppsala at that time, at least not the kind of bands that Taiwaz was and still is. What were the bands you listened to the most, and that inspired the music of Taiwaz?We listened a lot to Black Sabbath, Kiss, Metallica, Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper. Where you in touch with any other bands from Uppsala around the time?No, not much, because we where really different to the other bands, we had a lot of darkness in our lyrics and music, they did not and in that time bands looked down on each other, especially if they where playing dark stuff. The lyrics seemed to be more about dark and evil things rather than the typical 80s party stuff. Who wrote them and what were the main themes?The most of the lyrics are written by Urban and the main themes are things that you really can't understand in your darkest of dreams and mind. Did any of the members of Taiwaz play in any other bands before you started?Yes, Urban and Björn were playing in a band called Hell, and Robert was playing in a band called Dragon, which Urban and Björn joined. How come you never released any of your material until now? Were you in touch with any labels back in the days?We tried a little, but we didn't know any labels except the really big ones and our kind of music did not fit into their frame. Now we have a lot of help from our friends of Watain, In Solitude and Degial, and people who don't just listen to mainstream music. Did you play any concerts in the first years of the band? Any cool memories from those?Yes, we did, on different kind of stages, I especially remember two of them, one in the garden of a Hotell in Östhammar (Sweden). The organizer said that they had druums at the place, but it was drumpads (I don't think he knew what kind of band Taiwaz was). Cristian left the pads looking moonlandscape and the organizer was not so impressed haha. The second I remember was a cityparty in Öregrund (Sweden), we where playing in the garden of a bakery. The neighbours called the police because they thought we played too loud and wanted us top stop playing, so the owner of the bakery bribed the police with danish pastry and asked them if it wasn't time for a coffee break, and it was, so we finnished our concert with no problems. What were your dreams and hopes for Taiwaz when you started out?Of course the dream was that we could live on our music and the hope was that Taiwaz was going to be Taiwaz and we where right in our hopes, Taiwaz is still Taiwaz. Interview taken from the 'I Am All' LP insert.
Biography by Robert Johansson
The name Taiwaz is afrom the Viking god Tiw/Tiwaz (god of battle and protector of warriors. We started round 1985 and played until 1991. We drifted apart for a while and actually didn't have any contact for about 21 years, we were still friends, but our lives took different paths. In 2012, I (Robert)) had some beers with Gottfrid (bass player of In Solitude) and my daughter played our demo cassette tape from 1988 for him. He asked me why I didn't convert it to mp3 and put it out on the internet so people could listen to it, so I did. And after a few more beers I started to search for the others in Taiwaz on the internet and asked them if they were interested to play some tones again and everyone said HELL YEAH!. So here we are...
Tell me about the beginning of Taiwaz, how you guys started playing together. Was Heavy Metal big in Uppsala around that time?
Taiwaz is the outbreak of a band called Dragon, where Robert, Urban and Björn played 1984-1985 and Christian joined the band shortly after. There was not so many heavy bands in Uppsala at that time, at least not the kind of bands that Taiwaz was and still is.
What were the bands you listened to the most, and that inspired the music of Taiwaz?
We listened a lot to Black Sabbath, Kiss, Metallica, Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper.
Where you in touch with any other bands from Uppsala around the time?
No, not much, because we where really different to the other bands, we had a lot of darkness in our lyrics and music, they did not and in that time bands looked down on each other, especially if they where playing dark stuff.
The lyrics seemed to be more about dark and evil things rather than the typical 80s party stuff. Who wrote them and what were the main themes?
The most of the lyrics are written by Urban and the main themes are things that you really can't understand in your darkest of dreams and mind.
Did any of the members of Taiwaz play in any other bands before you started?
Yes, Urban and Björn were playing in a band called Hell, and Robert was playing in a band called Dragon, which Urban and Björn joined.
How come you never released any of your material until now? Were you in touch with any labels back in the days?
We tried a little, but we didn't know any labels except the really big ones and our kind of music did not fit into their frame. Now we have a lot of help from our friends of Watain, In Solitude and Degial, and people who don't just listen to mainstream music.
Did you play any concerts in the first years of the band? Any cool memories from those?
Yes, we did, on different kind of stages, I especially remember two of them, one in the garden of a Hotell in Östhammar (Sweden). The organizer said that they had druums at the place, but it was drumpads (I don't think he knew what kind of band Taiwaz was). Cristian left the pads looking moonlandscape and the organizer was not so impressed haha. The second I remember was a cityparty in Öregrund (Sweden), we where playing in the garden of a bakery. The neighbours called the police because they thought we played too loud and wanted us top stop playing, so the owner of the bakery bribed the police with danish pastry and asked them if it wasn't time for a coffee break, and it was, so we finnished our concert with no problems.
What were your dreams and hopes for Taiwaz when you started out?
Of course the dream was that we could live on our music and the hope was that Taiwaz was going to be Taiwaz and we where right in our hopes, Taiwaz is still Taiwaz.
Interview taken from the 'I Am All' LP insert.
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