Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
The leader of Dark Tranquillity and The Halo Efect, Mikael Stanne, discussed the sad death of At The Gates vocalist Tomas “Tompa” Lindberg in a recent interview with Argentina’s Rocktambulos. Stanne made this statement on Lindberg’s significance to the Gothenburg, Sweden, metal scene, as per Blabbermouth.
Tompa’s importance to the metal scene in Gothenburg and in Sweden in general cannot be overstated. He was, without doubt, the most important character in our city and where we grew up. He was my closest neighbor growing up, so that he taught me everything about music and the underground scene and tape trading and all those things. I met him when I went with a friend to see them rehearse with Grotesque, with this black metal band before At The Gates. And it was the most insane thing I’ve ever seen. And we’ve been we’ve friends ever since. So he was really just an inspiration to me, just because of his kind of vast knowledge and passion for the underground scene. And he knew everything. He’s one of those guys who just absorbs information and knows everything about every fucking album that has been released. He was in contact with all the musicians from all the bands that I loved, and we connected — us and himself — to everyone.
It’s been incredibly difficult knowing that he’s been really sick. And we had so many plans and we had so many things that we talked about doing and shows we wanted to go to, and festivals we would travel to, and other things. Now that he’s gone, I feel kind of like weird, because I wouldn’t be a singer if it wasn’t for him. There would be no Dark Tranquillity without him, there would be no In Flames, there would be no nothing without him. So, we all owe him everything, basically. He was kind of the hub for a lot of… That’s how I met a lot of my friends, was through him, because he was kind of the hub that kept everybody together.
