Anders Johansson was born on May 25, 1962 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Like his younger brother Jens Johansson he started on the piano, but soon became a multi- instrumentalist. A choice had to be made, so he decided to concentrate on drumming.



Anders Johansson explains when he decided to play drums:

"When I was younger we decided to form a band (Slem=Slime), and I just happened to be the best drummer. We were all multi instrumentalists back then but a choice had to be made. Mine were the drums. My brother, who actually can wipe the floor with most real drummers, choose the organ. A guy called Erik Borelius played the guitar. It was a three piece band. Erik has later become a guitar virtuoso and made several well received solo albums."

He counts Ian Paice of Deep Purple, Deen Castronovo and both Billy Cobham and Terry Bozzio as his influences.



He has played all sorts of music with many different kinds of musicians from around the world and this has helped him to gain experience, knowledge and technique.



In 1983, he turned professional with the Swedish metal band Silver Mountain and one year later, he joined Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force for five albums and a world tour, having first met Yngwie in 1982 in a music shop and having become good friends with him.



From 1989 onwards Anders worked together with bass-player Jonas Hellborg on several albums and tours. He also recorded with bands such as Bulldog, Snake Charmer, Billionaire's Boys Club (with Jörg Fischer, Mark Boals and Magnus Rosen) and others. He also released CDs under the name Johansson together with his brother Jens, whose solo albums he also played on, and played drums on fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth's album "Heavy Machinery".



In addition to doing lots of sessions all over the world as a drummer, Anders works as a producer and composer and he is also involved in running the label Heptagon Records AB.



Anders Johansson joined HammerFall and replaced Patrik Räfling as a drummer in August 1999.



In 2000, he participated in Yngwie Malmsteen's tour of Sweden, and he played an awesome drum solo on Rolf Munkes's first CD "No More Obscurity".



In 2001 Andersson played on "Warmth in the Wilderness", a tribute to guitarist Jason Becker, and another highlight is his drumming as a guest musician on the CD "Hypnotica" of Empire, the new band project of Rolf Munkes.



Johansson made a guest appearance on Swedish neo-classical metallers Narnia's fourth full-length album, "The Great Fall", released in 2003.



Anders Johansson was also featured on Empire's album "Trading Souls". (Empire is the brainchild of German guitarist Rolf Munkes).



NB: Anders Johansson is not to be mistaken with drummer Patrik Johansson who participated in Yngwie Malmsteen's Attack! tour through the US early 2004.



2005 saw Anders Johansson participate in the project Planet Alliance, also featuring former Ozzy Osbourne bassist Bob Daisley, Hammerfall bassist Magnus Rosén, Jamie Salazar (ex-The Flower Kings, Last Tribe) and Narnia guitarist Carl-Johan Grimmark among others.