 Thank you for having me Lucifer what? Founder you're more than just a singer, right? I mean Hello, have you done? No, yeah, that's a question. Well, I mean I mean you're not the founder of Lucifer, but you're the founder of the Lucifer band Well, that's true. Yes. I'm the founder of the Lucifer band. I'm I sing I write I produce I do many things I'm the band secretary and The list goes on. Okay. All right tour manager, roadie All that as well. I've done all these jobs, believe me All right Joanna, do you go by your maiden name or do you go by Sardones or do you go by plateau Anderson? And well, I'm plateau is actually my maiden name Yeah, and I'm married to Nicker. So now my name is plateau Anderson But I know it's complicated call me Johanna from Lucifer So don't is is that's a German name or Greek name? It's actually a Lithuanian name. I was my name. Yeah, I Was married to an American with Lithuanian roots when I was very young and stupid. It was not a good decision, but I guess All right, so here it is Yes, Lucifer five out January 26 on nuclear blast records Of course, this is I guess the first question is what have you done different on Lucifer five that you didn't do on Lucifer four? Not much As always, you know, we put all of our heart and energy and love and passion into it we Produced and recorded it in our own studio, which is just outside this window and The only difference is that we didn't have time to mix it ourselves this time. So one of Nicker's best friends Robert Persha he Mixed the album and he did a really good job. He it's actually it It was so good that Nicker who mixed the album before said I'm not sure if I can mix any album ever again Because um, yeah, but that's a good thing. So you hit his peak. He's the bars. Hi, right the bars. Yes. Yeah, Robert Definitely lifted that bar. Yes Yeah, I mean we've been listening listening to it I've been following Lucifer a couple of years now and and this album. I mean it hits all marks every song It's it's like a new album 80s band that has sex with the ghost That's what I You know Or maybe or maybe ghost is influenced by Lucifer Exactly, you never know, right? No ghost was there first, I guess but it is funny. You mentioned those we have been on tour together This past November we supported ghost on a French arena tour, which was very interesting and I've seen ghost to grow, you know because I Used to put on shows in Berlin I was a small local heavy metal promoter I used to run a club night called kill em all club, you know dedicated to old-school heavy metal and hot rock and I would put on bands and I put on ghost and I think it was 2011 Before the first album came out and they played in front of I don't know 80 people there or something. So we go Yeah Like did they have the masks back on or they're just playing as a band? Um, no, no, they were masked and they already had you know, the the church robe was going Maybe they didn't couldn't afford the leather gloves. So they had these like black silicone gloves, I remember And but yeah, they had there the stick was there. Absolutely. Did you and just I'm just curious Did you think they're gonna be as big as they are back then today? No, but I didn't really think about it. The thing is I have seen another band grow like this I grew up with the guys from from Rammstein Because I come from East Berlin and Yes, and I have a brother who's 11 years older than me He was a GDR punk and it was a very small punk scene and the GDR because it was of course a problem with the GDR government, you know Politically, but Rammstein also came from that same punk scene So my brother was really close friends with Flake and Paul from Rammstein I know Flake the keyboard player since I was like Three years old or something. Wow Yeah, and My brother would have to drag me along, you know, and when he would hang out with his friends My mom would say you have to you know, watch a little sister So I'd be scared of Flake because he would like look down at me. You know, he was very tall Yeah, so I've seen a band rise from being, you know, I think okay Did you think they would become as big as they are? No But you know, you don't consciously think about it just happens and then you're like wow, this is pretty cool You know, and now the same thing happens with ghost. It's amazing and it makes me really happy because It is possible, you know, I guess I guess somebody's asking them the question Did you think Lucifer would become who they are today? You know, like a Lucifer still nobody Well, we are a very small band we are niche band and I'm aware of it But I think one of the reasons is also because I don't want to I don't want to change our sound and Of course, I could go to you know invest and and get a really fancy modern producer to give us this like sleek modern rock Sound that all the bands have We could do that, you know, and maybe it would make us more radio friendly or something We could write the songs to be more accessible for the mainstream, but we don't want to because we like what we do and Maybe this means we are doomed to remain, you know in the underground, but what I can say is that we have a very loyal following and So far The band is growing it's growing slow, but steady and From album to album so the curve never goes down We always sell every album a little bit more records than on the last one and I see it, you know when we tour The audience grow, you know, and we have fans that really Are like true fans. They don't fuck off again It's not like a hype thing that that happens quick and then it's banishes I think And It gives me the feeling that Lucifer might be here to stay which I'm hoping of course because I love what I'm doing Would you like to obtain the level of success of a ghost or a ramstein? Well, I mean who would say no to that, you know, of course I Know I really love, you know like doing everything and to be really close to burnout before tour because I have to You know do 10 jobs at the same time and be like terribly underpaid. I really love that. Let's let's keep it this way I would love to have people around me that do all these things so that I could really just focus on the creative process And on playing the best show that I can I would love that. Yeah I gotta say, you know the you I think everything you're you're in Montreal I think it was almost sold out the show, right? You played North America just now. We're in Montreal I'm just later it was like a lot of there's a lot of buzz on the band And you do have a hard hard whore following which is amazing and that's how bands used to do it, right? That's how bands used to become very successful over time, you know Tour tour tour and great music and I think this new album is like incredible I think it's you've got the right you hit the right marks, you know and it and over time people will even love it Even more, I think you know and go you go script you are think of that I'll say I'll just say it. Okay. It makes me happy when I you know, because I have a lot of friends who play in bands I mean, both of my friends. I'm musicians and When they are successful It really means the world to me. I'm not competitive At all like that. It's the opposite if they do good I know this is good for music because the people that are my friends. They have the same Usually the same kind of influences. So if they manage to be successful With this instead of this horrible modern rock perhaps the generic shit that's on the radio often That gives me hope, you know for for my band because we try to stay true to or You know ideas of I'm just kidding. I love Rammstein and I love ghosts. Oh No, I have a sense for humor believe me, but I just want to want to say, you know that I think it's awesome when it works Yeah, yeah, you know, there's a lot of female fronted bands now I mean again this this morning all these new releases There's four or five female fronted bands when you started or where were some of your overall models when you were growing up and getting into music Um So hard rock and metal stole me away around the age of 12 or 13 Before that it was Madonna and I think and I think what sold me to her so much was that she was so provocative and She had so many she was so interesting to me because she did a lot of things that Even for like a mainstream artist a very like oh my god, you know and that somehow I always found appealing the outsider and While my mom, you know, they my parents listen to a lot of They were big zones fans and there was a lot of classic Rock stuff like, you know the purple and ZZ top and stuff at home But also, you know, the velvet underground and Roxy music and that type of stuff, but I Think blondie and petty Smith That's an early memory My mom Gave me a rock and roll compilation Cassette when I was six and it had like all these like classic 50s things on it like Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lucas and stuff And my favorite song on that was the Shangri-La's leader of the pack and I think there that was also, you know an early sign for my affinity to tragedy because of course the song starts with a car crash, right and I love those voices and Yeah, and you know and then later as a teenager, you know I loved like Susie and the Vanshee's Like if we speak about metal singers about female singers I mean and in metal there is not too many females like I like girl school a lot and the runaways I like the kind of like the, you know, the the tough unkid kind of females Yeah, that's my cup of tea Um, I love Stevie Nicks and I love, you know, 70s heart and Wilson is course, of course, that's maybe obvious You're an East Berlin, right? And I'm assuming you were sort of born with the transition period, right between when it when it became Western I guess right East Berlin even before I'm born in 79 and So I actually until I was six we lived in East Berlin But my parents were political enemies to the GDR government. So we applied To leave and the communists were very happy to get rid of us So we were able and after one year of application to leave from East Berlin to West Berlin. Yeah, so and These are all very vivid memories to me So I was actually able to cross the border my parents would bring me during summer holidays to the border In Berlin and on the other side my my biological dad or my grandmother would pick me up So I'd spend my school holidays in the GDR again, you know, so this I feel like a dinosaur that, you know, I still Have this in front of my, you know, mental eye how it was with the wall and What it meant, you know, and how different Berlin looked on this side and that side These are these are important memories, you know, these are important memories Do you have, you know, a lot of people can't say that, you know, who lived on both sides, you know What about if you want to describe the musical direction of this album compared to I mean, you said it's kind of like the same old Same old, but well, how would you describe this album is different that musically? I would say it has all the Ingredients that Lucifer album has always had hard rock a little bit of new wave and British heavy metal from the 80s 70s heavy rock, you know, you have doom in there You have some sort of pop sensibility, but more in an old-school sense as in Very subtle, but we do listen to a lot of 60s soul music as well and all these things, you know, flow into us and gets that out into Lucifer album, I think on this album We took these Typical Lucifer ingredients a little further and expanded a little bit. So You still have the doom and happiness and so on but you also have, you know, with slow dance on a crypt You have a song that's maybe even more so vulnerable and balladesque than we've ever gone that far in this direction but then also, you know, with like maculat heart you have a Very classic rock songs that's almost Radio friendly or mainstream accessible. It has that pop sensibility and it's not very heavy anymore But it's not calculated. I think we still remain truthful to our path and to our, you know, to what we're trying to do with Lucifer and I also think that We say true to ourselves But the goal is always to not repeat a song that we've done already So hopefully you manage to keep the melodies interesting and new Yeah, I mean a slow dance in a crypt it's got even a bit of a bluesy feel on that one That's a really a big change. I think and it's one of the standouts on the album as far as I'm concerned Thank you. I was wondering, you know, like Bands like Rod in Christ Lucifer. How many problems have you had with promoters or people or church groups? You get a lot of you got a feat you get a lot of pushback from those people And it's funny that is a very American or North America. I know you're Canadian, but it's a It's more of an American problem. Let's say like this because and we live in Sweden where Everything is very progressive in terms of what role the church plays versus the government and Nobody raises an eyebrow at this name in Germany or Sweden at all It's not associated with the plague as much as it is in the States sometimes It's like I've seen comments and that's only always Americans that say This band would be way more successful if their name wasn't Lucifer in America And I see people, you know, sometimes somebody posts a Lucifer song into like I don't know the fan group of some 70s hard rock band to show their friends and everybody's like in their 50s You know and then you have the ones from the bible belt that are like, oh my god I can't listen to that with that name. So they don't even give it the you know the time of the day because of the name but I have thought about it, you know Am I willing to compromise and change that name because of that? No, I'm just gonna keep on going, you know, so I think Because I know that lucifer have you got any threats from the bible belt cities? No, nothing happened so far Um, not that I know of I mean Sometimes I do think about it, you know, because the last album cover had me, um, you know On the cross like jesus christ. That's that's pretty. Yeah, that was that was a nice picture But it was it could be in terms then again, there was thousands of people who were crucified So you doesn't mean anything really it doesn't mean anything and you know, it was also taking a little bit A twist on the witch on the stake which used to be tied to a cross too in europe, you know that's what they did to them and back then and But my mom I haven't heard anybody say anything about this except for my mother when She visited us in sweden and I said, um, yeah, this is by the way This is going to be the new that's the photo for the album cover and the reaction from my mom who's very like And who grew up to be a rolling stones girl and stuff. She's like, oh my god Somebody's going to kill you for this somebody's going to shoot you when you're on stage So I'm like, oh great. Great. Thank you for putting it into my head because now I always have that a little bit that we play when we play that I mean, that's not that I think about it all the time, but sometimes I catch myself having the thought Damn, you're really vulnerable on stage if somebody wanted to do something they could you know But um people have been killed for a lot less than that You know what I mean, it's not that I'm not trying to scare you but I'm just trying to But you know, um, you know, how does people maybe won't have the idea if we don't over talk Yeah, I don't think we should know what I mean. Maybe we're like spawning interest in this now But you know, it's interesting, you know, it's interesting I'll cover a loose loose full five Lucifer five It's sort of like that black Sabbath greatest hits, you know, you opened it up in the coffin of the lady I thought it was really cool Oh, yeah Oh, yeah, classy Here they are So it is worth it buying an actual Physical copy of an album because look how wonderful that is I didn't know that was a coffin. I didn't realize it. I thought I thought it was a picture first, you know, like on a house The coffin has no silver lining That is actually also me in the coffin in the garden in our garden. We had one This beautiful old transport coffin that's uh over a hundred years old and That I borrowed from a friend um and that we carried into the studio and Photos, you know, it was a huge very heavy metal coffin And now all the journalists are asking me why are you standing in the doorway and say All this work for people to think, you know, I'm just like Hey, you know in a door frame The following angels are great leaders single it's an album the songs are short, right? You get to the point It's uh, it's a joy mind. Like you said, it's gonna all be played on the radio every song as far as I'm concerned I totally agree. I think they should on the radio Yeah, but I think, you know The problem is I mean that would be awesome. Of course, um Just because of what enable us to continue doing what we love, you know, um, because it is hard sometimes but Probably one of the things that will hold us back from that is the name and the image and so on But I am not gonna compromise it. That's okay. That's I was like, I mean, what kind of trademark do you get for lucifer? I mean, you would think it would be already taken right like when you register lucifer like you think lucifer would have lucifer Yes, well, nobody for some reason It's so crazy like the most the most predictable thing wasn't sort of like, you know, uh I think the real lucifer really wanted me to have it Or that or that It's either or it's either But I mean, you know, I've always been a fan of alice cooper and his sense of humor in the band and you know, you listen You know slow dance in a crypt Nothing but left to lose my life. I mean, these are great titles at the mortuary. I think that's for me That's my favorite track on the album. So I'm glad we can have a little smile or listen to these songs as well Thank you. Actually at the mortuary is also my favorite song and it almost did not make it onto the album. Oh my gosh. Yeah Yeah, because um the arrangement was a little bit different on the demo and um nika kept saying to me We can't put this on the album. That's too weird. I'm like, what are you talking about this? I swear, this is going to be a single. That's the best song we've had and and we we sat down and uh rearranged it and recorded it and I knew it. I just made it a single. I dictated that and um, yes, uh It is actually really my the favorite song of My whole lucifer catalog is that It combines so many elements that um that we have in lucifer, you know, you have the kind of upbeat hopeful very driven melody And then you have the very like gloomy heavy doom parts You know, there's a little bit of everything in there and the spooky bits and everything, you know, you know what? I think alan you touched on something here. Um, you know what? It's great about this album. Even though your name is very satanic like lucifer, right? The songs aren't really that satanic. They're more like a spooky and they're more like gloom doomy You know, there's not really, you know, you're not, you know Drinking blood of, you know, a goat or something, you know, that it's a very nuanced. It's nuanced Of course a cup of blood that I drink Yes, but I'm just trying to say that it's it's still very tasteful like it's doomy. It's not it's it's not overdone you know, like That's what I'm trying to say. It's it borderlines doomy and dark and and you know what if you didn't have the name lucifer Nobody would even know that it was a sort of satanic ish type of band, right? But it's not But you know, if you look at bands like blue oyster cult or black sabbath You know, I mean the first if you wouldn't I mean, obviously We know black sabbath inside out, but um No blue oyster cult is a perfect example. It's doomy. It's it's it's it's got a groove. It's it's it's uh Is that that element? Yes, but they also have that name, you know, just like like sabbath. They have those names that first initiate a different thought and and they have that image and they have symbols that they you they use and they do have the dabbling in the occult as well and I think black sabbath and blue oyster cult are the two main pillars pillars as an influence on lucifer And that's of course also a little bit the blueprint where I took This the idea was always, you know as a framework you have the name And you use the figures and the the you know the images and stuff But it's it will be a band that will also have stuff in major in it, you know Besides the doom and all because the life Life is also not only death, you know You have ups and downs and you want to keep it interesting and you want to tell a story that um That one can relate to you know, and um, we've you want find you want to find comfort in a song But you also want to have a good time and rock out, you know and just you know enjoy So I think it's important to feed all these different desires I think you nailed it and you know what it's got you're sort of unique and you've taken all these elements And you've kind of created your own unique style. That's good. It's really good. Thank you very much Talking about rocking out you got the satanic panic tour in 2024 in europe you want to talk to me about that Oh, yes Yeah, yeah, it's starting in um in a few weeks and um We do some of the dates with angel which which is one of my favorite new wave of british heavy metal bands Great band really cool. So I'm very excited to play with them I wish they could have made the whole tour, but they couldn't they are a little bit restricted to a few countries uh for Reasons I can't reveal but So so we you know, um the other leg of the tour will be um with two german bands Attic and the knight eternal Which is probably something good for me to do for the german scene because you know, I removed myself from germany I'm living in sweden and lucifer is very much a swedish band and so maybe it's good to have a little bit of a Reunion with my country, you know and go on tour with two german bands for change, which I've never done before actually So i'm excited about that, but um, that's not gonna Be the only dates we are actually right now already planning More european dates for later in the year and uk dates and all that So there's a lot of stuff in the works because we weren't able to tour, you know with the last two albums either It was first three and four were both pandemic albums. So lots to um Lots to play All right, show the album one last time show your album there one last time the coffin on the 26th of january 26th and january lucifer it's a coffin for god's sake. It's not a doorway It's a coffin. It's a coffin. Absolutely. It's true Yeah, okay. All right. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much It was wonderful talking to you and good luck and everybody go get the album. It's really really worth it Yeah, it's really good to all the success that comes along with it I want to wish you and a happy new year if we didn't say so earlier. So Thank you so much. I love the merciful fate shirt also great band and I hope we come back to montreal Very soon and thank you for having me