In 1996, HammerFall were preparing for the semifinal of the Swedish rock competition Rockslaget when they suddenly needed a vocalist.
Mikael Stanne couldn’t make the show, so Joacim Cans was asked to step in for the night and sing the band’s three-song set.
What was supposed to be a temporary solution changed everything.
The chemistry was immediate. Cans and the band discovered that they shared the same heavy metal influences — and the same vision for what HammerFall could become.
HammerFall didn’t make it to the competition’s final.
But by the end of that day, Joacim Cans was officially in the band.
Sometimes losing the contest isn’t the important part of the story.
THE STORIES BEHIND THE NOISE
SOURCES
https://hammerfall.net/biography/
https://www.rockbladet.se/2022/02/intervju-oscar-dronjak-frn-hammerfall