Snowy Shaw

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Shaw 2007 in London with Therion

Snowy Shaw (* 25. July 1968 as Tommie Mike Christer Helgesson in Gothenburg ) is a Swedish multi-instrumentalist and singer. Occasionally he also works as a producer, photographer and graphic designer. In addition to being active in many different metal bands, Shaw also performs as a solo artist.

Life

Shaw as drummer for Sabaton at Wacken Open Air , 2013

Shaw was born as Tommie Helgesson in Gothenburg and grew up there. He has a sister.

From a musical perspective, he liked growing up in Gothenburg because the city was big enough to attract international bands but small enough that people knew each other well within the music scene. Besides that, he liked growing up in a liberal country like Sweden. Shaw's father was an alcoholic. The latter later commented: "My father was a hard working alcoholic while I'm just a hard workaholic [...]" He was nicknamed "Snowy" because of his snow-white hair while he was still at school; later, "Shaw" was added for his stage name. He later adopted the stage name as his real name.

Peter Criss and the Kiss album Destroyer brought Shaw to metal and drumming. He started playing drums when he was thirteen. His role models were Mick Tucker , Vinny Appice , Brian Downey , Ian Paice , Anton Fig , Stefan Kaufmann and, last but not least, Mikkey Dee . In 1989 Shaw Dee replaced King Diamond as drummer and stayed in the band until 1994.

From 1993 to 1995 he played drums with Memento Mori . In 1997 Shaw co-founded the band Illwill , which broke up a year later. From 1997 until its dissolution in 2004, Shaw was the singer and producer of the gothic metal band Notre Dame , for which he also worked as a multi-instrumentalist. From 1999 to 2006 he was a co-founder and drummer of Dream Evil . Since 2006, Shaw has performed very often with Therion as a singer. In 2010 he was an official member of the Norwegian dark metal band Dimmu Borgir for one day , after having been bassist and singer for the band for about seven months for their album Abrahadabra . He decided against any further collaboration because of the behavior of her manager.

Since 2011 he has formed the power metal band Mad Architect with Magnus Daun , which is currently only a duo. After the Sabaton drummer Robban Bäck left the band due to his fatherhood, Shaw was asked if he wanted to join the band as a permanent member. Shaw declined, however, because he wanted to focus on his solo projects. When asked if he would at least join as a live help for six months, he agreed. The contract was extended again for six months, then Shaw was followed by his former drummer and roadie Hannes Van Dahl . In 2015 Shaw performed at the Sabaton Open Air in Falun and played The Art of War from the Sabaton album of the same name, for which the band came on stage and joined him.

In 2014 he co-founded the Copenhagen- based heavy metal band Denner / Shermann as a drummer.

Furthermore, Shaw has worked for many bands as a guest and live musician and runs his own label, Wunderwurld Music .

style

Shaw says of himself that as a drummer, his main focus is on vocals. He told his drummer students to learn guitar or bass in order to get better. He mostly improvises for his drum recordings in the studio. Until 2002 he always used two bass drums instead of a double bass pedal. Shaw currently uses Tama drums . He is also known for his unusual drums. In the Memento Mori video for I Am , for example, he used a set with a bass drum that could be played on both sides and which was equipped with six floor toms.

Shaw has mastered both guttural and clear vocals.

Private and Trivia

Shaw as a solo artist at Wacken Open Air, 2016

Shaw is married, committed to PETA, and opposes any form of religion. He understands the alleged satanism of some metal bands as a "gimmick". His wife, who had been involved in the sport for a long time, introduced him to kickboxing , which Shaw does in his spare time.

Shaw had to tour with King Diamond for six weeks with a broken left leg, and he replaced the missing double bass parts with hits on a floor tom. As a touring drummer for Sabaton, he broke his toe in 2013, but did not stop touring.

Discography selection

As a musician

Only albums and demo recordings are listed. Exceptions are the guest contributions.

As a solo artist
  • 2011: Snowy Shaw is Alive! (Live album)
  • 2014: The Liveshow: 25 Years of Madness in the Name of Metal (Live album)
  • 2015: Live in hell! (Live album)
  • 2018: White Is the New Black
With King Diamond
  • 1990: The Eye
  • 1992: A Dangerous Meeting (Split)
With Memento Mori
  • 1993: Rhyhmes of Lunacy (also background vocals)
  • 1994: Life, Death and Other Morbid Tales (also voices)
  • 1995: Welcome to the Black Mark Festivals '95 (Split)
With Illwill
  • 1997: Revolution (demo)
  • 1998: Evilution (also vocals)
With Notre Dame

Shaw was also a singer and producer on every release.

  • 1998: Notre Dame (demo) (guitars, bass, keyboards, drums)
  • 1999: Hathor's Place / Abattoir. Abattoir du Noir (Split)
  • 1999: Vol. 1: Le Théâtre du Vampire (guitars, bass, keyboards, mixing, graphic design)
  • 1999: Nightmare Before Christmas (mixing, graphic design)
  • 2004: Demi Monde Bizarros (guitars, keyboards)
  • 2005: Creepshow Freakshow Peepshow (live album, bass)
With Dream Evil

Shaw was the drummer on every release.

  • 2002: DragonSlayer
  • 2003: Evilized (editing, photography)
  • 2003: Children of the Night (EP, photography)
  • 2004: The Book of Heavy Metal (some lyrics)
With Therion

Shaw was a singer for Therion.

  • 2007: Gothic Kabbalah
  • 2008: Live Gothic
  • 2010: Sitra Ahra
  • 2012: Les Fleurs du Mal
With Mad Architect
  • 2013: Journey to Madness (vocals)
  • 2015: Hang High (vocals, drums, bass, production, arrangement)
Further

In other functions

  • 2003: Nightrage - Sweet Vengeance (photography)
  • 2003: The Crown - Possessed 13 (photography)
  • 2004: The Crown - Crowned Unholy (photography)
  • 2004: Meduza - Upon the World (photography)
  • 2005: Falconer - Grime vs. Grandeur (photography)
  • 2006: Kamelot - One Cold Winter's Night (video director)
  • 2012: The CNK - Révisionnisme (sound engineering, singing in white meat )

Web links

Commons : Snowy Shaw  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ a b c d e interview on drummerforum.de
  2. ↑ Interview with Alicante Bizarro , accessed on October 23, 2018.
  3. ↑ Interview with mhf-mag
  4. ↑ a b c Interview with metalhead.it
  5. ↑ a b c Noel Smart and Craig Sternberg: Snowy Shaw Interview Continuation , in: sickdrummermagazine.com , accessed July 29, 2017
  6. ↑ Snowy Shaw (Therion) explains the Dimmu Borgir chaos , in: Metal Hammer , October 13, 2010, accessed on July 28, 2017
  7. ↑ Dimmu Borgir: Snowy Shaw replaces ICS Vortex , in: Metal Hammer
  8. ↑ a b Snowy Shaw: "I'm Far From Done, And I Like To Think The Best Years Are Still Ahead ..." , in: metalunderground.com , accessed on July 30, 2017
  9. ↑ Message on the official band website
  10. ↑ Shaw at Tama
  11. ↑ Article on headbangerslifestyle.com
  12. ↑ Sebastian Kessler: Sabaton despite injury in Wacken , in: Metal Hammer , accessed on July 30, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Shaw, Snowy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Helgesson, Tommie Mike Christer (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish multi-instrumentalist and singer
DATE OF BIRTH July 25, 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH Gothenburg