Exclusive: Moonspell Vocalist Salutes Departed Tomas Lindberg of At the Gates, Says They Shared ‘Wild Nights’ Together
Many of us are still trying to cope with the sudden loss of Tomas “Tompa” Lindberg, arguably the best vocalist and lyricist in Scandinavian melodic death metal, last month. At the Gates, the band he led, helped pioneer one of metal’s best subgenres, also known as melodeth. Lindberg family, friends, bandmates, fans and anyone who reveres At the Gates are still processing and trying to make sense of his passing at age 52 due to a rare type of cancer called Adenoid cystic carcinoma.
Last week, Fredrik Andersson — who played drums for another legendary melodic death metal band, Amon Amarth, from 1997 to 2015 — expressed his admiration for Lindberg and shared an Irish wake laugh during an interview with The Bad Penny earlier this month.
On Thursday, we had the honor of finally interviewing Moonspell vocalist Fernando Ribeiro, one of the few melodeth vocalists that The Bad Penny had never interviewed before.
Here is an excerpt from my lengthy conversation with Moonspell’s Ribeiro that took place just a few hours ago:
Not to end on a sad note, but the last question I have for you is whether you were close with Tomas Lindberg, obviously of At the Gates fame. Were you guys friends? Did you perhaps not know him at all? Do you have any fond memories of your fallen comrade that you can share?
Yes, I knew him, and we had some wild nights together. The first time we played with At the Gates was in ’96, I believe. We were in Poland, cold and starving, as the venue had technical difficulties. I think we were closing that night. I don’t remember, but we said, “Just play your songs, man, and then if we have to cut a song, we’ll do it. We don’t have to be totally proud. I mean, people enjoy it; people enjoy us.”
It was different times. It was the end of the ’90s, and he never forgot about it. We’d been crossing paths, especially at shows and festivals, and he was just, like, this figure – one of the grandfathers or whatever, of this [melodeth movement]. He was one of the founding fathers of Swedish metal.
But he was very cool about it too. He never was the guy that was on his toes. Actually, one of the last memories I have of him was him inviting us to go to his table and telling us jokingly, “Don’t pull an In Flames on us.” I said, “What’s with In Flames?” Because we knew those guys too. “Oh, they always say they’re coming to see us play and come to our table – but they never show up.”
[Tomas] was kind of a humorous guy. The way he died, of course, was really violent for the scene, because it kind of uproots something that nobody can replace. There are some people that are more irreplaceable than others [and he was not one of them].
When we went to pay our respects to At the Gates and the families … I don’t want to leave on a sad note, but when someone dies, I always say, “Thanks for the music, because that keeps them alive.”
The two or three times I interviewed him, we talked more about literature than music. He was such a smart guy. Thanks for sharing what you did. I know it’s really personal, and I appreciate you talking about Tomas because his death … that one really hurt.
(Stay tuned for an in-depth feature on Moonspell, who have a very special live album coming out on Halloween.)
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