“Some people renovate cars, others save money for summer travels,” says Doomsday Kingdom bass player Leif Edling. “I collect records.”
The Doomsday Kingdom is the new solo project from Candlemass founder Edling. With a self-titled debut album on the way and a first ever live show lined up for this year’s Roadburn Festival — when he’ll perform live for the first time in three years — he’s got a lot to look forward to.
“The Doomsday King was created two years ago,” says Edling. “I was in pretty bad shape. I couldn’t go out, I couldn’t work, I wasn’t allowed to read, I couldn’t watch telly and I wasn’t allowed to work in front of the computer, so all I had was the music. And I created The Doomsday Kingdom, metal from the catacombs.”
For someone who only had music, Edling was luckier than most. A serious collector a records (“I’ve been doing it since I was born!”, he jokes), his racks are filled with the kind of serious vinyl that’ll have rock fans turning green with audiophile envy. A first pressing of Black Sabbath’s debut album? Check, sitting amongst dozens of other copies. A test-pressing of an unreleased live Rush album? He owns that too. The Ghost albums, each signed by the incumbent Papa Emeritus? Of course.
Edling sent us us video showing some of his collection (see below), so we decided to ask him more.
When did you start collecting?
My older sister listened to hardrock and glam in the early 70’s so I got to know Purple, Sweet, Slade, Heep, Bolan and Bowie pretty well, even before I knew that hard rock and metal was to become the way. My sweet mother got me Black Sabbath’s Paranoid when I was eight or nine years old, and after that she got me Not Fragile by BTO and Sparks’ Kimono my House the following year. After that I started my own newspaper round, and that money went directly into my record shopping fund.
How many albums do you own?
I have no idea. Not as many as Michael Åkerfeldt anyway! A couple of thousand vinyls and as many CD’s. Unfortunately I had to sell a lot of my vinyls when I couldn’t eat or pay the rent, so my Venom, Priest, Merciful Fate, Motörhead and Rush collections are gone. I do have some cool stuff left, but the main rule is: Never sell your vinyl!
What’s your favourite record you own, and why?
Oh my god… the hardest question of them all! But the boring answer is the first Black Sabbath album. I collect copies, and have about half a metre’s worth on the shelf. I bought it from my newspaper money after I got Paranoid, and I loved it even more. Must have been the dark, doomy, gloomy feeling surrounding it
What’s your favourite record shop?
It was the Heavy Sound record shop in Stockholm. I bought all my precious metal there. They had direct import and if you went there often enough you wouldn’t miss any metal gems like the first two Venom albums or Angel Witch or Manilla Road or Trouble or Medieval Steel or Hawaii etc etc etc…
What’s the best way to arrange a record collection?
Totally alphabetical. It’s the only way. If you start to go by country or genre it will just be a mess. But having said that, I have The Sabbath collection first, and then the “normal” vinyl, and then some weird pressings, and then my Candlemass stuff, so I’m not a very good example.
What do you think about streaming/downloading?
I don’t have much of a problem with it. I don’t hear much of that “culture should be for free” crap anymore. People seem to have realised that they have to pay a little bit for Spotify, for example. There they have access to most of the new releases by most artists, and it will sound good too. Only problem is that the artist doesn’t get that much money for the digital stuff. The record company and the Spotify people take the lion share of it. But I do hope it will change in time.
What can fans at Roadburn expect from your set?
We will play the record and I hope we can do a good job. I started rehearsing in February already because I haven’t played live for a long time, and I have also been burned out like a motherfucker, so my synapses are like crap. I have to learn how to play all over again. But I’m sitting here playing every day now, so I hope I can deliver at Roadburn. It’s a great festival, and I can’t wait to play live after several years in the sickbed.
It f**king has to be good!
The Doomsday Kingdom album is out on April 7. It’s available on limited digipack CD & limited double gatefold vinyl, limited edition double gatefold red and silver vinyl, and digitally. The band play Roadburn Festival on Sunday April 23.
