Started playing drums in 1981.... Still learning how to do it today.

A drummer since the age of 11, Adrian Erlandsson developed his style by bashing away in punk/metal bands, playing classic metal, including Saxon’s Denim & Leather and Judas Priest’s British Steel. Erlandsson:

"I started playing drums in 1981, pretty soon after i could hold my first beat down me and a friend that played guitar tried to form a band. We tried to be a heavy metal band but it sounded really lame with today’s standards. The first song we learnt was "I love rock n roll" by Joan Jett.

Unlike many players he wasn’t interested in impressing with blinding fills, focusing instead on making the songs happen. "I always went for the fastest, hardest and most moving beats", he smiles. Adrian's brother Daniel Erlandsson is very much a drummer in the same vein, pounding the skins with Swedish metallers Arch Enemy. Adrian recalls:

"I started playing drums in 1981, pretty soon after i could hold my first beat down me and a friend that played guitar tried to form a band. We tried to be a heavy metal band but it sounded really lame with todays standards, hahhah. The first song we learnt was "I love rock n roll" by Joan Jett. However as we progressed as musicians we got a couple of other guys in and pretty soon after that we were doing covers of bands like Def leppard, Dokken, Twisted sister, Thin lizzy, GBH, The exploited etc. This band went in and out of excistence from 1982-1988, during that time we had a couple of different names... the most outstanding beeing Berits Polisonger (swedish for Berit's sideburns, Berit beeing a girlsname).



In '88 I got in contact with some guys into thrash that looked for a drummer for their band, Penance....I joined and we wrote some classic songs.. Edge of damnation, Visions of insanity etc. However before we got to record our first demo, the band decided to quit."

At twenty Adrian Erlandsson formed At the Gates, which became one of Sweden’s most influential death metal bands.

"We got signed straight away after our first demo "Gardens of Grief", which got released by Dolores rec as an EP in 1991."

Several releases followed. After the release of "Slaughter of the Soul"(1995) the band toured extensively for about 7 months. To much touring lead to crack developing in the band.



When they got back from the last tour in the US, the band decided to quit in July '96. So, five At The Gates-albums later Adrian had moved on to The Haunted, which became a straightforward thrash band.



In 1999 Cradle of Filth sticksman Nicholas Barked parted ways with his band. Barker was temporarily followed up Dave Hirschheimer. Then Adrian got approached by Cradle of Filth at a gig during the Dynamo Festival 1999 where he played with The Haunted:

"It was only a session thing to help with some gigs and recording, but things went so well it became my permanent gig. (...) Our music is a great challenge but I like that. Moving forward as a player is very important to me."

It was originally intended that he only record one session with the band - he ended up performed on six of their albums before he left.



In September 2006 Adrian Erlandsson played for Brujeria in some concerts in Spain, using the nickname "El Podrido". In January 2007 he became the new drummer for Jed Simon's project Tenet. 2010 saw Adrian team up with British gothic metal pioneers Paradise Lost.



Erlandsson's technique is rather to focus on the "feeling" than on technique, however he does incorporate a lot of kickdrumming, occasional blastbeats and sometimes his very own technical odd time signitures.